Chapter 257: Mutiny 1 (Gongdongche)

"Young Master Nam, we have successfully transported Moon-Bok out of the palace safely and he is on his way home to his wife." "And he has no signs of infection at all? The man has 2 children and I need to keep the from him if he is ill…" "We tested him, and he seems to have found a way to protect himself." "Good, did you hand him over my letter of instructions? Myself and Yeon should pay them all a visit soon anyways." "We have, but I have more information to report to you, regarding The Second Prince." "The one that is closest to Yi Bang-Won? The Third Prince?" "Yes, Young Master." "Very well, let us speak in Yeon's chambers, I need her to hear this as well." I hadn't seen much of Yeon for the rest of the week as I was kept well busy, as was she with work that I had delegated to her so that we could get this done as quickly as possible and start anew since the palace had taken up far too much of out time already. I had already gotten to The Fifth Prince via my so-called brother and Dal was as good as dead in the palace person where he belonged. The Third Prince was finally on home arrest for the very first time and his wife was a good as deposed by the end of this month at the latest. I had absolutely no recollection of what my father's plan was, but I now had achieved more than he ever did and I am now half his age when he died. And now I was onto the very last Prince of importance and Yeon was taking care of the last man sanding that was close to The Third Prince so that we could marry straight after and I would become a father myself soon hopefully…I was ready for it now, I could feel it in my bones after this victory that I would take against The Royal Family themselves…and my children would never know about my father. I had fully stopped caring about his opinions or his threats anymore, if he didn't want to treat me like a son then I would no longer treat him like a father, never mind the lord of the manor. But I tried to keep calm for Yeonnie's sake, and I didn't care what it cost me to keep her alive and well, even if it destroyed everything I had worked so hard for. The same went for her brother although he could handle himself pretty well so I needn't worry about him too much.

I tried to restrain myself from staring at her when she arrived but I couldn't help it, her scent was too alluring for me not to notice her at all. I looked over at Yeon who didn't even blink, in fact she just looked as bored as I did. She did give me a small look as if she was telling me not to talk to much and before I knew what I was doing I just nodded in agreement. I was interested in what she had to say and it had honestly been quite a while since she had provided me with some sort of entertainment.

"…It seems as though The Second Prince has stared taking advantage of his feared brother's confinement and he has taken over the military that has been left unattended and ill since the peak of the plague and he has found out about what occurred in the village that was supposedly sealed up. He had also began to accept bribes to arrange the high-ranking posts fr his growing subordinates, with help from his father of course." "Of course, the very last Prince that His Majesty wishes to see on his throne is his 3rd son." "…and his subordinates have acted on impunity with his power, those who all mostly are related to new the Attendant Choi of The Third Prince, and that is not all." "What else is there?" "His personal eunuch Choi has been acting exceedingly arrogantly and has made all the nobles bow down to him in his presence as his Master seems to be the first active Prince to compete for the throne outright, but he didn't even cast a glance at them" "He is a fool of a man who cannot rule, but everyone would much rather choose him over The Third Prince. Our Prince who has suffered for his same sex tendencies is finally getting a taste of unrivalled power, which will ultimately lead to his downfall. Who is his backer? Do not tell me that it is The Third Princess Consort?" "It is, and it looks like she will eventually pull The Lady Min back to her side…." "And she in turn will want to use me to control her brother-in-law The Third Prince whilst The Second Prince exercise dominance over the all of the officials, isn't that so?"

"Young Master, on the pretext of re-training the military until the plague is completely cleared up, The Second Prince has detained many of the children of the officials in his encampment and he is forcing his least favoured generals and so on to retire, and making the very few sons that he has take over those positions." "You mean that he is forcing them so their powerful mothers can lend their family power to enforce his rule over his father's kingdom whilst The Emperor himself is also being treated for the plague himself. Very well, you are dismissed until I call for you."

"…Lady Min, The Young Master is very busy with work matters and he is unable to dine with you today, please dine without him for now." "That woman exhausts me completely, but I still need her here in front of me until I can bring down her sister once and for all, who knows what she is doing now to regain her power." "Would you like hot sweet soup? It was cold with ice earlier and it is warm now, and it is better not to have any cold food this late at night. And I have put jasmine flowers in my chambers so that you can sleep soundly at night….what is it? Why are you looking at me like that?" "Do you have nothing else to say to me?" "Hmm, the sun is blazing in the summer and the gold hairpins can be dazzling to the eyes, but those made of fishbones are hardly noticeable at all. Which one do you think that I should wear?" "Yeon…" "It is important for a girl to dress nicely for her man to make him happy." "Of course, this is of paramount importance; try the coral one that I bought you, I have never seen you in that colour before, but every colour suits your milky skin…so you will not speak up for my sister-in-law and the injustices she is facing from being separated from her son?" "We can tell the strength of the horse from the number of miles, and the heart of a person over the coming days, we can deal with this now, can't we?" "Is that why you kept requesting to see me, even when I was busy?" "I haven't seen you for a week, am I not allowed to request for you?" "I wish that you would request to see me for something else." "Like what?" "Like calling me over to your bed instead of me always fighting my way there. I am tired for this game between us wife, and you need to start treating me like your husband." "I do! When don't I wait for you, cook for you, bathe you and…" "But you never call me over to your bed." "Because we are not yet married and I am becoming increasingly uncomfortable with how much we are doing this behind my brother's back." "Or is it because something happened in the brothel that you are hiding from me? Did something happen with you and Dal?" "I never let that scumbag touch me and you know it! I didn't let anyone touch me and you know it! Why is it so hard for you to believe!" "Because I cannot stop thinking about you! You and him whilst I was fighting a war!" "Just because I extended my stay there, it doesn't mean that I planned to be dropped off in a damned brothel! And if you didn't go and fight for a country that doesn't support people like us, then we would have been married by now! And with all the children that you want! But you have been sleeping with me everyday and it's making me feel as if I am some sort of secret whore of yours that you are keeping as a dirty little secret!" "That wasn't my intention at all!" "Then why? What is your plan now with me? Tell me!"

"Do you really want to know?" "Tell me, or I will never touch you again." "I…I just heard some rumours about you, that is all…" "A rumour spread 3 times is more dangerous than a tiger, but you have known me all of our lives and you know what kind of a person I am, so you wouldn't believe any one-sided stories about me, just like I haven't for you. If you had any doubts about me, then you wouldn't be here with me, would you?" "Why do you trust that I have no doubts in you at all?" "It is because you are the one that I share my pillow with. If I do not trust you, then who can I possibly trust or rely on?" "Do you really not want me to touch you anymore? Because I can just stop because you want me to." "Let us become real lovers, sex isn't our only bond, is it? We can start again when we marry, just like you want." "I can only try, I cannot promise you anything." "As long as you try, that is all I care about, so now what shall we do? I need to finish this so I can go see my brother in peace." "We shall live with him until we marry, if that is what you wish." "Thank you, I want to help him wife with her pregnancy, so that I can learn from her…" "I will take on The Lady Min, you will assure my sister-in-law and get her help before we can help her in return. I will also deal with The Second Prince whilst you take on The Third Prince's last man and that should topple everything else." "And The Emperor?" "What about him?" "I find it rather odd that he was the very last person to catch the plague as soon as it was clearing up." "So what?" "Nam Seon-Ho, you answer me this question and you do it truthfully; did you poison The Emperor to buy you more time to take down The Royal Princes?" "Why ask me a question that you already know the answer to?"