Chapter 149: Confrontations 2 (Daegyeol)

I had him in my arms and sleeping peacefully on top of me in our most intimate moment. No matter what good intentions this man had, it always came across rather forceful and unnecessary. Once again, I was having a rather hard time differentiating Seon-Ho's pure intentions from his own selfish desires…but I was also having a hard time caring about it anymore, just when he had thrown out a major pawn in his game just for me. The only man that I loved had travelled from the capital to find me and he accommodated me with everything that I could ever need, want, wish for and more. And in return, he just waned me to become his wife and help him with his career. What more could any woman ask for? Especially a woman like me who originally had no marriage prospects at all, not with my epilepsy condition. But I hadn't suffered from a single fit since my memory loss and not even when I got intimate with my partner. So maybe…maybe there was hope for the future after all. Maybe it didn't need to be as lonely as I had originally planned and maybe, just maybe he would never betray me again. Maybe he really did care about me underneath the layers of his schemes and plots, more than I had ever dared to hope for. He cared for me, he gave me a bed to sleep on, he gave me food to eat and he gave me such beautiful clothes to wear. I was completely stunned and overwhelmed in the outfit that Seon-Ho had chosen for me and forced me to wear, it was so pretty that I didn't want to take it off at all. It was a little dressy for where I was going but that didn't matter. I had to get to the workshop earlier than everybody else as usual so I could get on with my own private work and start again from scratch to make up for what that stupid servant had cost me. My work had been popular so far, so I had to continue my plan and probably find someone else who was interested in working with me, and taking me seriously. Fate seemed to be by my side today when only a few hours in, I had that big client waiting for me outside of he workshop once again. He took me out for an early breakfast before the rest of the workers were due and we talked again about our deal. I told him about my little problem and although it was a blow, I managed to produce the few embroidery pieces I had created last minute. He decided to give me a deadline to produce as many as I could before I started selling to him exclusively. This was the break that I needed and not even I was expecting this to take off so quickly but that suited me just fine. I want to go home to my brother and spend sometime with him before I was recruited into the palace for god knows how long. And now that Hui-Jae was now out and I left that witch with a family that suited her perfectly so she wouldn't interfere with matters that didn't concern or… anyone else.

To say my colleagues were ok about my new attire was a complete understatement; the minute I walked back into my workshop I had everyone whispering about me non-stop, whether it was insults or compliments, none of it mattered to me at all. I want't here to make friends, I just wanted to take back what belonged to my family before living my own life. But everything was being blown out of proportion, to the point where the workers would continuously do everything they could to ruin my outfit, to no avail. I avoided their tricks as much as I could as effortlessly as I could as I had a deadline to meet. That was until 'the owner and his daughter' decided to make their first 'surprise' visit to the workshop as if they were some kind of celebrities that they deluded themselves that they were. I closed my eyes, hoping and praying that I had changed my image enough to the point where they wouldn't recognise me at all.

The moment I heard my spoilt cousin's voice I felt shivers run down my entire body, as if I was about to be thrown into a pit of fire. I had such a bad history with this family alone, never mind my brother who only kept on defending me every time we interacted with each other. She had done so many things to me to add to my burdens, not to mention Hwi who was always so worried about me already. Every single frown line on my brother's face, every single tear of worry from him I was going to get my revenge on from this family I swear. Sometimes blood relations were not everything, clearly.

I waited for her to face me, completely forgetting my outfit for a moment until she had pointed it out in a not-so-subtle way. In fact, she threw one of her nonsensical tantrums and almost ripped the dress off of my body whilst everyone around me just laughed and pointed fingers at me like they would when I had my fits. No one was willing to help me as I was pulled to the side and unjustly harassed and bullied, but when she tired to strike me I caught her hand just in time and I pushed it back towards her. This made her act out more than usual until her father came running towards us to try and calm the situation down. When it was revealed that my team were responsible for one of his best selling designs he tried to take his daughter far away from me. That only seemed to upset her more as she dared to cross the line and started blaming her father for everything she lacked in life, which was only the outfit that Seon-Ho put me in himself. I closed my eyes and drowned out her shameful behaviour for a moment and my mind wondered back to when my father was alive. He would have never tolerated my behaviour if I acted like my spoilt cousin, but yet again he never did anything that was induce this kind of behaviour in me always, not even when we live din poverty I his last days so he could keep the soldiers alive who were dying of starvation back then. He never failed to meet our needs and wants but then again we didn't want much back then either, we just want him home a lot more. My dress, my brother's wealth and fame…we would trade it all just to see him one last time.

Her voice was getting louder and louder and I focused my memory on my feelings when Seon-Ho walked in on my life again like it was fate when I had done everything I could to avoid him. The way he provided for me, made sure I had a roof over my heat and food to eat seemed a lot more genuine this time. He wasn't restrained anymore now that his father was dead, but every time I looked into hie eyes, it felt like he had 100 things to say to me but was probably still having a hard time expressing himself. That was probably the reason why he became a little…forceful with me. He touched me a lot more than he had done in the entirety of our lives and whenever he did, it was always a little too hoard, like he was trying to tell me something. After he pulled me out of the carriage that day he pulled me towards what looked like some sort of…spa where inly noble ladies want for all sorts of treatment. He threw me in there without another word while I had all sorts of things done to my body, my face and my hair that I only dreamt about growing up. He took me breath away when I saw the outfit he made me wear by force since he apparently had the workers give him the clothes I was already wearing that day and he refused to return them to me…and it seemed like I took his breathe away the minute I walked out of there. He…Seon-Ho was no longer just my brother's best friend who took me in without questions all of those years ago. When I saw the effect that I had on him for probably the first time I felt something stir deep down into my soul for him. I wanted to surrender to him right there and then, he could use me how he pleased as long as he never let go of me…and I wanted to be his every single day…but I cousin't, not right now anyways. I had a few things to do before I returned to my brother, but when I would come back to the palace, I vowed to myself that I would confess to him finally.

*****************

Imagine the shock I got when I noticed the girl who looked just like my lowborn cousin Yeon who I hadn't seen in years. There were a few rumours that swirled around the village that she had died in one of her pathetic fits when her brother got taken away into the military by force and hardly anyone had seen her again. I hadn't seen her brother in a few years either and as for their rich half-breed friend of theirs that was always hanging around them was always stomping his little feet around the village as if he was owed something. But now he was a high rank in the palace that he gained quite quickly off of the back of his father's death, nobody messed around with him anymore. And now he was defending that lowborn worker of ours exactly like he did with my cousin…something was off. Why was a member of the royal secretariat being so protective over a lowborn like that who dared to wear something better than even I had owned for quite a long time. And why was he spoiling her like that? The way he looked at me when I touched her…you would have thought that I had just threw a large amount of mud at someone. He dared to look at me like I was manure that came from horses! He clearly didn't know who my family were or who I was at all.

But no matter what I did, I couldn't get that girl and her…lover off of my mind for quite a while for some reason. We looked to be the same age but I was obviously more fortunate than her, wealthier and more prettier than she ever could be. I had men asking me for my hand in marriage since I was old enough but…nobody had ever treated me the way that he treated that girl…like she was golden or something. She was just a lowly girl who's life could be crushed at any moment…so why did people rush to her like she was a precious piece of jade just like they would do to Yeon. I had been hurt, ignored and neglected over the years despite all my wealth, good standing and splendour and nobody ever treated me like this.

My mind wandered to Yeon's brother Hwi who I had somehow inadvertently fallen in love with over the years, even before his father's death. He was just so…protective, and he knew how to not only read people but to heal them as well. He had a strong presence despite his current situation with his poverty and his social status being revoked. But every time he looked at me I could tell how deeply he cared for me, even when he was forced to look out for his lame sister.

I decided to have my people look him up now that I hadn't heard from him or seen him in years. I…I missed him and I wanted to see if he was still alive at least before I found him I had so much to tell him…and to make give him a chance in life to make something of himself…by giving him a chance to have a good marriage…to myself. And in the meantime, it looked like I had a new plaything to occupy my time. I schemed and I planned every vile action I could take against her to make herself miserable when she would eventually had nowhere else to go and would crawl back to our workshops. I didn't believe a man like him would keep a lowborn like her and not even take a single look at me, he was just probably one of those men who liked to play with women of that kind before they married women that were more suited to their noble status.