Chapter 152: Confrontations 5 (Daegyeol)

I really could not believe what I had just witnessed with my own eyes; there wasn't a lot that I agreed to when I came to Confucius laws, but I did agree with the marriage dynamic and how a woman should always reciprocate the way that her husband treats her. And I know that it wasn't easy for my brother to raise me as a child, but he always instilled in me the importance of respecting my elders and serving a man who supported me to the best of my abilities. Maybe it was my care for Seon-Ho that lead us both to where we are today, but I could't believe that Hui-Jae really had the nerve to attack a man who had never raised his hands on a woman before. I really shook me to the core, so much that I actually burst into tears like a child to see a big strong man like Seon-Ho who supported and loved me so much . I had to physically pull her off of him and throw her to he ground before I covered him with myself. The scene that I had just witnessed with my own eyes took me back to the days when he was getting abused by his father on a daily basis and it left him shaking on the ground just like he was now as I held him in my arms. I didn't care if that girl was unconscious or not, but I needed to quickly tend to him before he went ahead and tended to everyone else, no matter how twisted his mind could get. "Mon-Bok! Please get Hui-Jae out f here and attended to her! Quickly!"

I completely covered him so nobody else could see him in his most vulnerable moment, and it mostly worked for everyone apart from my brother, whom I had noticed watching us from the door when no-one was looking. I could only look at him for a while before he stormed his way back into his quarters without uttering a single word. My brother was angry, my man was assaulted and I needed to start getting started on my embroideries for work whilst saving Ae-Cha from misfortune and hosting Hwa-Wol and Moon-Bok at the same time. I was being stretched so thinly that I was surprised that I was still standing.

"Seon-Ho? Are you alright now? Please let me help you before anyone sees you…" "what did the doctor say? About your friend?" "Ae-Cha was tortured using a heated iron broomstick to hit her, so her body is full of wounds. The fingernails from both of her hands have been removed and she is completely drenched in blood that has stained this floor." "What a crazy bitch. What was that girl doing here anyways? I don't even allow you in this room a lot." "She must have been looking for me whilst we were…" "Gather a report from the doctor and Moon-Bok with their official stamp and send it to Hwi, he is going to shut that woman's brothel down once and for all with his own hands. And I I knew who Ae-Cha's parents are, so I want you to prepare a letter for them, telling them what their daughter has been through, despite the fact that they disowned her. They will still want to make their power known and tell them that Hui-Jae was the one who sold off their other daughter to another family and…" "Hold on, slow down; so you know Ae-Cha's story and who her sister is?" "Ae-Cha got taken advantage of the by third princes man, she go caught by her parents and disowned. But they quickly ran through their fortune, so they had to use the new wife's daughter to earn money in the brothel. Hui-Jae gave her to me to spy on me and you gave her away to another family because you already suspected the truth." "Seon-Ho…" "I am keeping that girl close due to my own plans, but I want you to cut ties with her as soon as I do. You do not need to be around such worthless people and I know that Hwi will also disapprove." "I know that you both don't like her and I know why. But have you ever considered that I might have my own plan? That centres around her…flaws?" "Then you need to let me know before I chew her up and spit her out in a brothel where she truly belongs." "Seon-Ho…" "Yeon, I will personally chase out every single person that enters your life until you tell me what plans you have for them. Because I know you do; you may be more extroverted than I am, but you never keep any friends and I know it is because you share similar trust issues as me, I see that now. So tell me about this current plan you have so I can help you. I will not ask you again."

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From the moment that I woke up, I already felt so guilty about how I had treated Seon-Ho. And not just recently, but since the beginning; at first I was completely disgusted by his aloofness, his manipulative nature and his constant scheming. I always wondered why he just couldn't be like everyone else since I just wanted to be a normal housewife at the time. But since Seo Hwi's death, everything changed for me; I had the urge to live for the both of us as I had always imagined him as my husband as soon as he found his own path in life apart from being his poor sister's carer. But he was dead and I only had his best friend left who caused the whole tragedy in the first place. But Seon-Ho…maybe he was just as misunderstood as I was. Growing up in a brothel in a time where men controlled the world wasn't easy in the least, any maybe I took the opportunity to bully him so everyone could get off of my back. But now I was losing him and I had to do everything in my power to bring him back to my side and make amends to him. Seo Hwi, i will reunite with you in every life that I live after this, but it looks like we were not meant to be in this one.

I immediately went into the kitchen to make him some ginseng soup as a way to apologise to him for my recent behaviour. Growing up in a brothel, I knew that women acted crazier than usual when they got pregnant due to hormones that were exaggerated or stimulated or something like that. But no-one in our social circle had been pregnant before, so it was understandable for them not to be familiar with my exaggerated mood swings. But how on earth was I going to explain myself to him about this now? How Cani make him accept a pregnancy that he had no role in? What should I do? Should I…act like a kisaeng to keep him? If he really was sleeping with Yeon then…why couldn't he do the same thing for me?

I hadn't had any time to explore the manor yet and I was busy cooking like Yeon always was, so I had no choice but to make some adjustments to my outfit right there and then. I still had enough makeup on to complete my look and I just needed to have my hair out like he liked it. I didn't have much experience in serving anyone, but I did my very best as I made some elaborate decoration on the side to show him that I had improved in my domestic skills, just like he always wanted me to.

"Seon-Ho? I have made you some ginseng sup since you always work late and you do not care about your own health at all. Please drink it whilst it is hot, Seon-Ho? Are you even listening to me? Listen to me I…I am not used to doing this, but I apologise to you. Not just for my recent behaviour, but for my judgements from our very first meeting all of those years ago. Seo Hwi was a very wonderful man that I will always cherish and I cannot deny that…but he isn't here anymore. So I…I choose you…" "…as a second choice? You choose me because of Seo Hwi's death?" "What is the point of talking about that anymore? He is dead and I have no-one apart from you in this world. Please, I was wrong and I know it now, so please stop being so angry at me and stop ignoring me like a child."

"Like a child? Do you even know what your mistake is?" "My mistake? You are the one who betrayed me more than once and you expect an apology for that? I apologise for hurting you and misjudging you and…" "And for lying." "Lying? What on earth did I lie about? Look, you are busy all of the time and you are too busy for me, I understand that. Maybe you were too lonely to maybe Yeon seduced you and she made me get jealous because of how close you are…and always have been. We have previously discussed you taking in concubines for your power and you can take in that orphan girl if you truly like her so much. But you will not be able to show her off due to her inferior status and poverty."

"Just what the hell are you talking about? Why would I take in a girl that I have never before touched in my life as a concubine at all?" "What…what are you…but Sung-Rok said that you both…" "Sung-Rok slanders Yeon all of the time due to his animosity with her brother. Sung-Rok and Yeon both share lowborn statuses, before her ordeal with my father that was. Yeon is naturally carefree like a child and likes to act like a lowborn, but she isn''t anymore and you know that. How comes you do no understand? With hew new change in social status, Yeon can and will become my wife, my main untouched wife. So why do you keep talking about seductions when it is clearly you who keeps following me around everywhere I go? How did you even find me, anyways? I never gave you mu address here?" "What are you talking about? I received your letter to come here and…" "Someone must have forged my writing then, because I have no need to bring you here at all. And after what you did to Yeon's innocent friend…"

"What did I do to her? Why are you being so mean and menacing?" "Just for a misunderstanding or whatever happened between you two, you pulled our her hair and nails! I am responsible for everyone under my roof, just what the fuck am I supposed t say to her parents when they ask about her welfare? I am a General Inspector who couldn't take care of a teenage girl in my own home? That she was mistreated by a brothel madame? And for what? Well? Go on? Tell me!"

"Does she really bother you that much? Do you care about her that much? I have been through so much since arriving here and you haven't even asked about me once!" "Because you are not my responsibility! You never have been and you never will be! You are not even the same person that I met with Hwi! You were once so smart, so radiant, virtuous, refined and amiable. You had such big plans and now? All you can think about is money, socialising and being equal to men in a way that completely disgusts me and every other man in this kingdom if they knew! And who even knows about the many secrets that you hide from me! You may even be a spy for all I know! And now? You have become a busy! You proclaim to love me, but you do not understand me! Or even Hwi when it comes to it!" "I do not understand what you are saying!" "All of our lives, myself and Hwi have been bullied mercilessly by everyone! Bullying disgusts me and as a General Inspector, I cannot allow it! So how you suppose that I can ever fall in love with such a selfish and horrible woman such as yourself! When I have Yeon who has already promised herself to me! She is everything that you are not; she is a virtuous and refined woman who deserves all of the respect in this world! How can you even spread such horrible rumours that I have gone anywhere near her! I cannot possibly touch her before marriage, so what are you trying to do? Are you trying to come between an innocent woman that I am caring for! What is your game here you witch!"