Chapter 162: Repercussions (Yeonghyang)

The day of the banquet rolled around quickly and everyone in our social circle was called to attend, so I ended housing everyone for a while. I was grateful for Hwa-Wol's help in managing the brothel for me that I gave her the anonymity that she wanted along with good pay for herself and her husband whenever they helped me out. Jeong-Beom was still working for the Third Prince and would meet us there with Chief Park whilst Hwi ran home to his sister so could look after him for a while. But we could all see that the Third Prince was really starting to wear him down and the only time he could ever find peace and his own footing in life was when he wedded her off to me as soon as possible. But he was sill having trouble with the fact that I was coercing him to hand over his sister to me or that her marriage to me kept everyone alive. He was under a lot of pressure mentally which just came with him being the older sibling and he like myself depended too much on his sister. This resulted in tantrums that I had to put up with and a lot of outbursts, but I had already expected him when I realised my feelings for her. If I hadn't of stolen her from him twice, then everything would have been normal between us and much happier. But the pressure that he was being put through by a prince that he originally wanted nothing to do with was really starting to get to him now.

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

I had known Seon-Ho ever since we met more than a decade ago; I knew every single line that appeared on his face, I could tell you what he was thinking when we were together and what mood he was in from a mile away. But I could no longer read him at all when it came to my sister, and it was making me a lot angrier that I imagined I could even be at him. My sister is my most precious person in my life and she always came first; I had never raised my voice or hand at her and I never even really controlled her or tried to tie her down with rules when she had a hard time with her epilepsy. I wasn't someone who liked to dictate her future, especially not after the way my father had raised her, I pretty much had no choice but to continue the pattern he had set for her. But I didn't really trust my so-called best friend right now, not after what his father did to all of us, including himself. Even though I could easily tell that he was being threatened by his father, this man didn't even have the decency to try to clear up everything between us, but he starts stalking my sister instead? It wasn't enough for him to steal her from me once but now he wanted her again? I knew him too well to know that part of this was a ruse to get to me but I had been observing them both all night and their relationship had indeed changed, and even blossomed over the years he took her from me? Even now he kept looking back at her before finally facing me with a smirk on his face that made me instantly punch him square in the face before I confronted him. But the fact that he just took it without batting an eyelid or saying a word was just showing me that everything I ad heard about him and my sister was true…and it was making me angry.

"What the hell are you doing around my sister? And calling her your fiancé? Because I do not remember asking you for her hand or even telling me how you feel about her." He just looked at me thoughtfully for a while before actually having the damned nerve to ask me if that was his fault. I looked at him as if he had lost his damned mind before telling him to stay away from my sister. I didn't know his intentions towards her and I couldn't trust it…until I saw what he could do for her. I tried to walk away but he stopped me again "You are already thinking to marry her off to someone else right? I'm not stupid, I know you're every single thought and concern. I know your sister is the most precious thing to you, but even you know yourself that you cannot trust her with any man apart from myself, despite everything that happened. I took good care of her and I even stood up to my father for the first time only because of her. So why bother asking you for her hand when you would always give it to me, especially since you haven't come up to me to clear everything between us."

As much as I wanted to throw him against the wall and punch him until I felt relief, he was right and he knew it. "Why should I come to you? After everything you put me through? Us through?" "You're right, and that's why I kept coming to you, but you were so lost in your anger that you didn't want to see me, just like everybody else kept avoiding me as if I carry a plague. You know I did everything in my power to keep you both alive. I was hurting as well; every single time my father barked an order for you I couldn't sleep or eat either. It was only your sister who kept me alive, she was the only one who cared about me this whole time and it's because of her that I am where I am now. So it is only right that she shares this life that she brought me, by my side." I heard the tone in his voice, it was the very same tone he used with me just before our military exam, which only told me how serious he was. "Look at her right now; look at her clothes, her smile and the respect people give her because of me. I can give your sister the life we both know that she deserves to live after everything she's been through and everything she's done for me." "You didn't ask for my permission at all." "You were ignoring me on purpose and you know it. And I took what you would eventually give me. But I'm warning you, if you try to take her from me just to punish me, then I'll do everything in my power to make sure that nobody else can have her." I tried going at him again but when it came to my sister he actually stopped me, just as the girls came running at us. My woman kept holding me back as did my sister but I couldn't help but noice the worried looks she kept giving him. As angry as I was, it was only when my sister was in front of him that I noticed a total change in him, from his demeanour to even the look in his eyes. They were both lost in their own little world that they must have created whilst my sister was being held hostage in his home until she finally managed to tear her eyes off of him and focused on me for a little while.

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

One of my biggest fears were coming true right in front of my eyes as I was now being torn between the only 2 men that I loved. I wanted to tend to Seon-Ho's bruises but I couldn't do that in front of my brother who was still refusing to speak to him because of me. My brother kept looking at my outfits and I started feeling guilty, but before I could say anything he grabbed me by the arm and started pulling me away from him and told me in a tone that I had never heard him use before that we were going home. I felt my heart sink as I tried to protest but before he could fully pull me away I felt Seon-Ho's big hands wrap around my other arm. Hwi stopped in his tracks with his back turned towards all of us and I could feel the frustration in his touch. "Brother I know you've heard some bad things about myself and him but you know that's not what I came here to do. I've almost finished with my work and then I'll come home like we agreed." "And what work could possibly be more important than my word? Seriously, what are you up to this time? And what does it have to do with our cousin who's now come back into all of our lives like a loose bull because of you." I felt so guilty that I was redbird speechless for a while before Seon-Ho spoke up for me "isn't it obvious? After sorting out my own family she's doing the same thing to yours; she's trying to take back what your uncle stole from your mother. Why else would she be working in his workshop with a different identity."

I tried to cover my mouth with my hand so no one could hear my gasp; I had no idea that Seon-Ho could not only figure out my plan so well but he could also read me as much as I could him. I was trembling all over again but right now I had to focus on calming my brother down who looked like she had been given a huge shock. In fact he had to sit down when he heard what he did and this was the reason why I didn't want him coming here until I had completed my plan. But for some reason I didn't expect Aerum to make the mess that she did and even propose marriage to my brother! Now I had an idea of how miserable my life was going to be working for her, but that didn't matter as long as I achieved my goal.

My brother looked like he knew what I was thinking but I took his face into my hands and I reassured him that my work was almost over and I could come home to him peacefully and I would help him take care of Aerum myself. I was my father's favourite whilst my mother was my brother's queen. They had the closest bond that any parent could have with their child so he knew I was doing this for him as I barley remembered what she looked like. "I want to come home to you and we continue our lives like we used to. But I won't stop until I return our parent's glory that was unjustly taken from them, I don't care about anything else. And Seon-Ho has just been taking care of me and nothing else. I don't know why he's acting the way he is now and I never agreed too be his fiancé. He didn't even propose to me or you, he's just doing that to give me some kind of protection now that our cousin has sort of found out about me. You know what her family is capable of doing to me now that I'm so close to finishing it all and only Seon-Ho's protection can guarantee me a permanent place there so I can get this done quickly and come home to you."

My brother looked at me thoughtfully for a while before I took him into embrace. "Why didn't you tell me form the start? I could have helped you and protected you…" "how? How can you protect me when you always have to follow the prince everywhere and do his bidding by doing god knows what? I have no idea how Seon-Ho found me or why but he's been dong everything he can to help me out and its honestly helped me get everything done faster. He wants to give me an actual work shop in my room so I haven't been in any more trouble at all." He looked at the both of us before he tried to convince me to work from home one last time, but before I could get a word out, Seon-Ho came up to us. "The work your sister has been tirelessly working over is currently locked up in my accommodation that is heavily guarded. And I spend quite a bit of money on the equipment that she needs. If she wants to retrieve her work, she has to come and work in my place, or I'll burn everything and she has to start from scratch."

I felt shivers running down my spine when I heard his threats over something that wasn't even his issue. I was too scared to face him right now and he knew it. Hwi gave him a final death stare before asserting his decision that as soon as this was over I had to meet the man my uncle recommended of all people and prepare myself for marriage. I couldn't even protest, not with how angry my brother was now but I felt Seon-Ho's painful stare at the back of my head and even more so when he started digging his nails into my arm. He had a habit of doing that to me sometimes and now I knew why; he was in pain. And when he was in pain he wanted me to know rather than him acting out on that pain. I looked down a the ground for a minute to collect myself, but when I looked up again by brother gave me a sad smile and he embraced me one last time before making his way home. When I tried to walk away, Seon-Ho grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into his embrace for almost everyone to see "if you leave me, I will ruin your reputation so nobody else will have you. So you had better make your brother agree to our marriage or I'll tell him everything that happened in the inn- and in between. You've been warned." And with that he gave me a long lasting kiss before dragging me into his carriage and having some of his men make sure that I got back to our accommodation.

I still couldn't fully make him out; he seemed genuine and still angry at the same time. He was now using his power to get his way with me…which strangely didn't make me as angry as I thought that it would. He even spoke to my brother with such confidence about me that I had no idea how to react at all. He acted like he was so sure that he was going get what he want for whatever reason, but the fact that he wasn't telling me why I had become his new obsession didn't bode too well for me I feared. I wondered if I would actually get any freedom in this so-called relationship that we had or would I become his puppet? Right no wi had something to distract my feelings but I knew now that he was not likely going to stop until he got what he wanted…