Chapter 304: Dang-Yeonhan Bell (Comeuppance)

"Forgive me, Young Mistress Seo, but for such bold accusations, i am afraid that we will have no choice but to impose this test on you, as i am afraid these rumours about you shall never rest until we do. and the very last thing that you wish to happen is for your brother to hear about such things." "Very well, but i will need to ask something before i carry out this rather humiliating test upon myself." "Go ahead?" "What are the consequences that shall be imposed on The Mistress Han when it comes to light that she has made such damaging false allegations against me?" "The punishments for false allegations in the palace are whining and permanent expulsion from the palace. So I shall ask The Mistress Han if she is cute sure that she wishes for this case to proceed?" "I do!" "Very well Seo Yeon, i will have Hwa-Wol waiting for you along with the palace nurses so that you are at ease."

"…why is this taking so long? It has been over an hour now, she wouldn't truly be a virgin if it takes this long to examine her!" "Quiet down, Mistress Han!for every single second she hasn't retuned is a second more that you are able to stay here in he palace...oh wait, here she comes now. Well? What are the results, Hwa-Wol?" "Concubine Park and Companion Choi, I can confirm that Seo Yeon is still a virgin and is ready for marriage…"

"What! But you said….Mistress Han, you told me about her constantly vomiting! And her clothes size…!" "You are welcome to ask the palace physicians if you like, my ladies. But it really isn't wise to pretend to have experience in front of such professionals who have spent decades to learn the craft of midwifery." No, this couldn't be happening right now! How could I have been caught out so soon! There were plenty of things that i wished to achieve in the palace once i got Yeon far away from this place as possible! Yeon was the only one outside of the harem that was allowed access to the Imperial Library where she continued her studies all day long! But it had been my dream since my childhood to access that place!Yeon was renowned for her embroidery and she frequently helped out the department in making clothes for The Royal Family Members, whereas i had no authority to step in such a place! Yeon also had access to the kitchens, there was no curfew imposed for her if she wanted to sleep on the closest balcony of the Imperial Gardens and she could even help The Lord Nam with his work upon the various researches that she carried out. And now here she was standing on top of me with clothes that I had long worn in my brothel, whereas i was forced to wear the robes of the common maid here "to hinder my beauty." I had been forced to kneel on the dirt that i used to play with as a child in the hot blazing sun without food or water and I haven't been this humiliated ever since my first confrontation with Seo Hwi, who was rather in a hurry to leave the palace…

"...she was splashed with dirty water by you both, what do you have to say for yourself? Companion Choi? Is this how you train your maids in the palace?" "No! I didn't…i had no idea…there must be something wrong with this! She spends so much time with The Lord Nam…" "They are close childhood friends for decades and Seo Yeon was forced to live with him for 3 years! And they are engaged to be married by the blessing of The Emperor himself! Seo Yeon is the fiancé of the rising star in the palace; if her brother has never questioned their relationship, then who are we to do so? it looks like i shall have to house her in my quarters once again until her brother collects her from the palace, so i will excuse myself to ready her chambers where The Lord Nam has permission to wait outside of, but he must never cross the harem line as usual. if he is invited to dine with us, it shall be in my husband's residence, or any other Royal Family Member. And as for you, Companion Choi, my husband has given me the authority to manage the harem, so I have the appropriate authority to demote you to Attendant Choi, just like where you started out."

"No! Wait! What is my fault! i only believed my maid! She should be punished alone, so why am i…" "Attendant Choi, the truth has been exposed to us in front f all of these witnesses just now, what more must we do for you to believe that your maid made up slanderous lies? What reasons would these nurses have to lie on the spot? And for a grand matter like ruining a woman's reputation like this! How many other women have been destroyed by gossip like this! How dare you want to pass this off as a simply misunderstanding? If we allow others to make the same mistake, then shall we be living in a kingdom with no rules at all? You even tried to frame me for using aphrodisiac incense which my epileptic condition makes me allergic to? Or were you working too fast to frame me for silencing others without a single weapon in hand? But this isn't even the first tie that you have tried to frame me; what about the time where. was made to work on the sleeping gown for The Third Prince? Who was the one who constantly interfered with my work by stealing my equipment? Or picking at my work in the most literal sense? Or swap my work so that others can take credit for it? And how did that work out? Didn't the poor embroidery maid loose her life because you forced her into showing off my work early and not even checking for needles left behind in the half-made clothes? And who was the one who force-fed me every single time that i missed your impossible deadlines? How much more damage do you wish to inflict in the palace? You sent inappropriate gifts to other concubines on behalf of your mistress, she made you kill any servant that dressed up like her, you even force-fed other pregnant concubines with mysterious medicines that nobody can identify, you had concubines transcribe sutras in the dark, and threatened them by promising to cut their tongues off if they spoke a word of this. Shall i carry on?" "In that case, it seems to be more fitting to cart her off to the cold palace, and her daughter shall be taken from her into another concubines care...."

"No! you cannot do this to me! You cannot take my child away from me! You do not need to go that far! i...i want to see my husband! He will set things right for me! He cannot do this to me whilst my brother is diligently serving him!" "You and your damned brother have already done a worse job than his main wife of making him look bad in front of his father! So with your resistance, are we taking this as you trying to provoke him into breaking the rules just to serve you? Attendant Choi?" "i...i suffered for 10 months for being pregnant for my husband! Being pregnant with a daughter didn't give me any merit at all, but hardships instead! And now you want to just simply take her away from me!" "I have spoken, now carry out my orders, or i shall punish these servants every single moment that they delay in my orders! You have already insulted the dignity of the descendant of Seo Geom!" "i was doing fine in my life as a concubine, I had no reason to target her at all! That was my maid who had a personal dispute with her, not me! I even housed her in my own palace, so why..." "You were contempt to punish Yeon without evidence, so why can'i enforce the palace rules onto the one who has committed such crimes? Wrong-doers should be treated equally without discrimination, no matter what your social background is." "My brother will not let you do this to me!" "Attendant Choi...your brother is as good as dead already."

"What about me? Why won't anyone speak up for me! How do you let Yeon go unpunished no matier what she does, but that isn't the case for me!" "Your actions differ and people have their own judgements, Mistress Han!we can differ between those who are selfish and the who are selfless, that is the difference between you both . You were the one who betrayed first, who went after things that were not yours to begin with! You do not trust anyone, but you want our trust in return? Hwa-Wol, i believe that i shall leave this girl in your care until she is expelled from the palace by the end of the day, you may call upon The Lord Nam to assist you with this task." "Thank you, Concubine Park, i shall do the upmost to keep this filth out of our lives forever."

A good friend will always stab you in the front; and if perchance a friend should betray you at all, to obtain what is yours, or spread evil about you, would you tamely submit to your fate? Or fight back with everything that you have, kicking and screaming?