Chapter 160: Responsibilities (Chaeg-Im)

I was quickly thrown out of the Nam manor following the argument with that kisaeng girl and was now currently homeless, but that wouldn't last long since I knew of 2 men who were desperate to get their hands on Seo Yeon and would do pretty much anything to have her. Yeon was now one of the most highly sought out person for marriage in the capital, which her brother had been handling on her behalf. But he couldn't control everything and I was going to consider this as his punishment for my mistreatment in the brothel the other day.

It was easy enough to find these men as they were still in the same brothel trying to nurse their wounds. I had once considered myself to be in love with the Young Master shortly after my ill-fate with the Prince's man had been revealed to the entire world. But now I had come to the realisation that love in a competitive world like ours meant nothing without power, and it turned out that the least conspicuous girl with the most inferior background had it all and she didn't even know it. Or she considered herself too pious to use it. She was such an ungrateful fool and unworthy of the Young Master's infatuation with her and blind to all of his live-saving gestures that he was so willing to give to her in return for her love and favour. Very well, if she didn't want anything to do with him, then who was to say that I also couldn't fight for his favour? I was technically an orphan girl with no family, no support, no backing and no money to my name, I had nothing, but I had recently been exposed to a whole new world that I wanted to become a part of and I had everything to fight for. I just needed to first find my footing and attend this banquet with these men on my arms so that I could face her and fight for what I wanted.

"…can you believe this? Seo Hwi dared to deny my hand in marriage to his sister? The Prince won't even take my side due to their close relationship. He isn't that way with any of us and we have known each other since our childhoods." "I also have been warned to stay away from the only woman who suits me as a wife. She could inherit this place and work alongside me, we could be set for life." "What if he already gave his consent? To that guy who is always following her around?" "All is lost then, he is a part of the Emperor's close circle and we cannot do anything to him. If he wants Yeon then…" "Seo Yeon isn't his yet, and I can bring you to her as long as you both help me out." "What are you talking about, Ae-Cha?" "Are you disappointed? That I am not the girl that you expected to see here?" "You shouldn't be here anyways and you know it." "I shouldn't come to a brothel but you had different thoughts abut bringing Yeon to a place like this…" "that was just for entertainment and nothing else!" "I just wanted to see you both again and give you Seo Yeon whilst I take the Young Master Nam for myself." "You shouldn't be around us anymore without her though."

"So you still won't accept me even though I want nothing to do with you anymore? Why can't you accept me even when it comes to making a plan to get what we all want?" "Because nothing you do or say works at all! You are incompetent in school and you give away your charms rather than using them to secure a marriage for yourself and…" "And whose fault was that! You made me believe that we were in love and that you would marry me and that…" "There is a reason why men and women do not mix before marriage." "And yet you have with Yeon and you haven't treated her how you treated me." "She is a special girl in the eyes of the capital and you were just a bored noble girl who was easily manipulated." "Well I am not that same girl anymore. The only way to have Yeon is to prove yourself at the banquet in the eyes of the prince who will relay everyone code of conduct to his father, the Emperor and he will surely consider your proposals more carefully due to your family backgrounds. Or you can just sit on your asses and dream of marrying Seo Yeon and all of the benefits that you can reap from it. But of course, you were never really serious about me and you never asked for my hand in marriage, so how did I expect that you sold be serious about her? Because you both do not have the guts to act on your ambitions. And that is why the Prince trusts his new recruit Seo Hwi over you. Because he has the balls to act and work on his ambitions. Why would he hand over his sister to a bunch of cowards like you?"

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I wasn't shocked by her work ethic as I had seen it before, but her dedication was something else. I had organised her supervisors to be fair to her and due to my new status I had women from her workplace flock to my side and started giving me free updates about her to win over my favour. And I started to understand why she hid her abilities from me that women were not allowed to divulge in. Her brother must have had her hands full with her when I realised that she had a certain habit of attracting trouble wherever she went. Her natural beauty and wisdom was indeed a source of jealousy when it came to her talent at work and not to mention my presence in her life. It was certainly a new experience for the both of us, and one that I revelled in to make up for all of the emotional abuse I had suffered ever since I was born. Yeon, on the other hand was far too principled like her brother to enjoy this, so it was humorous to play around with it. I made sure to fetch her from work for meal times and I would always make a big fuss over her work, which resulted in her always hiding behind me or hurriedly pushing me out of the door before I could get a word in. Anytime I complimented her in public led to her hiding herself in her long hair which I admired more when it was fully out. I kept undoing all of her hairstyles much to her annoyance but she never got frustrated at me. I embarrassed her a few times but she didn't get up and leave me on my own. She worked hard and long hours and barely spent any money she made on herself, not that I would let her anyway but she still found the time to tend to me as a wife did.

Yeon didn't say much because she was too busy with her own game, but I felt like we both enjoyed spending time with each other. After the day that she dedicated her time to me for the first time in a very long time, things had certainly eased between us. She had started to smile a lot more around me, and I could tell that she slowly began to let go of her insecurities which was a massive help to us. I now had hordes of people wishing to meet me for all sorts of reasons when not so long ago everyone who walked past me wold avoid me as if I had an untreatable disease and I wasn't treated kindly by anyone at all. It was only the Seo's who treated me with love and care, but now that Hwi was acting stubborn I only had Yeon by my side who was always there for me since we met. It still didn't feel real at times when she would make time out of her busy schedule for me to check up on me, make sure that I was fed, warm and well. She would jus sit by my side sometimes and converse with me for as long as she could and not only did she take an interest in my work but she helped me out as well. I knew that Yeon was still recovering her education about 3 times a week so I would go over her lessons with her after she came home late and tired but she still managed to cook for us and clean before she slept.

But I had yet another problem on my hands that only had one solution; for the first time in my life I found that my body was reacting to Yeon more than my heart and mind were. She was now in her early 20's and she was at exactly the right age for marriage. And I made sure to dress her in certain clothes that outlined her slender figure which I could just stare at for hours. She had gotten comfortable with me enough to start touching me on her own but it always left me wanting more. I had kissed her a fair amount of times but I longed for her to innate more contact first. It had come to the point where I had started initiating a lot more contact, and when I did I felt her feelings towards me with the same look on her face. Yeon was not afraid of my touch like any ordinary lovers, but I could tell that she was holding back, only for her brother's sake. I observed them a lot more when they interacted, and I could tell that the nature of their relationship had changed according to recent events. They no longer acted like siblings, they were more so like father and daughter. Hwi raised her on her own, and because it was myself of all people that wanted her hand in marriage, it was understandable that she wanted his permission and blessing before we got to that stage.

But it was beginning to frustrate me in more ways than one. I don't recall ever being an impatient or selfish person before, but that was all before this brat came into my life and turned everything in my life upside down. My true colours which I was not aware of all this had come out to play and it was hard to stop. I became selfish and possessive when it came to her, and became hungry in more ways than one. I had an emotional and psychical appetite building up inside of me that only she could fulfil. Her warmth attracted everyone but I wanted to capture it for myself and keep it in my pocket to make with me everywhere I went. I wanted her by my side at all times; I wanted someone to have my own private communication with, someone who would stand tall by my side and never leave. And I wanted only one woman for this, I had absolutely no desires for concubines ever since I witnessed my mother's miserable plight first hand. I also felt that a true man only needed one woman by his side who could fulfil all of his needs and Yeon was proving herself more than worthy without even trying. I was really blessed to have found a woman who could easily adapt to both worlds and all the trials and tribulations that came along with it. But I still had to figure out this problem that was not leaving me alone.