My life in the palace was either good or bad; The Third Prince took me out of the dungeons and into his chambers, but I hardly saw him and because I was still considered as a criminal, I was treated worse here than when I was a servant. I wasn't allowed to wear any nice clothes, I wasn't allowed to wear cosmetics, I wasn't even allowed to adorn myself with the simplest of jewellery, not that I had any left. No, all of the good resources were being showered upon The Lord Nam's nephew, whereas I had began to age after than everyone else. And Seo Yeon, she would have handled the circumstance that I was in better since she was universally favoured by anyone and everyone. She could eat and play whenever she wanted with that delicate figure of hers; and her hair was still glossy and as dark as a crow when I saw her last. She didn't have any grey hairs, wrinkles or bloodshot eyes like myself. Her eyes were still clear and bright, no wonder SeonHo liked to look at them so much. And she was a naturally playful person; I could only image that she was spending her days playing with her children whilst her so-called husband took care of them in every single aspect possible…just like he would have if I had only accepted his declaration of love for me sooner…
"My Lady! Have you heard the news! Seo Yeon will be accompanying The Third Prince and The Emperor himself on the tour on the boat!" "What! What did you just say!" "Seo Yeon…." "But why! Why would she come! Isn't she a new mother now! Who would even think to invite her…and her husband? Is he coming along! Tell me! Quickly!" "I haven't heard anything about it Mistress…"
"…neither have I, so it must be false news. You must relax woman and not be so guarded when it comes to Seo Yeon." "Are you kidding me! Now that we know that she is coming, the only way that you can survive her wrath for you is to carry out your rebellion right there and then!" "Aren't you getting a little paranoid now?" "And what about his nephew? Isn't he achieving every single goal that you set out for him personally? You knew how close he was to her, what if he wants to run to her from the moment that he hears about this!" "And here I was thinking that you could manage him for me, but you haven't even gotten half as close to him as Seo Yeon has." 'She helped her man to raise his nephew for him, what did you expect?" "For you to have the same initiative? Or is that too much to ask from even you? Then I truly do not have any use for you, do I?"
"Do not speak to me like that! Do you know much I have sacrificed for you!" "You mean that you couldn't regain that favour that you once had with The Lord Nam and you had nowhere else to go? So you poisoned everyone in your marital home only to find your way back to me? Not even Seo Yeon who is less experienced as you would have many as many mistakes as you do." "I tried my best! Why isn't that good enough anymore!" "Because your best isn't up to anyone's standards!" Seo Yeon! Seo Yeon! Why didn't you marry her instead!" "Are you kidding me! My life would have thrived if I did…but she was already in love with The Lord Nam and I knew that if I made Seo Hwi choose between myself and him…" "That you surely would have lost? You didn't want him to blame you and distance himself form you, so you put up with it? Even though you did loose him in the end after all? He hasn't even reacted to the series of attempts that you have put in place to tear his father's village apart? He simply does not care about you or your word at all." "I have no desire to kill him at all, just to make him bed to my will once again…" "But why? Why in all of the world do The Seo's get the most chances out of everyone! Why in the history of criminals that even died with false charges do they get to be exempt from that!" "Seo Geom knew what was doing with creating his reputation like that; even beyond his death, half of the nation are willing to help out his children despite his death status. That is what hard work gets you and that is what The Seo's are the epitome of; hard work. And as for you, did n't you manage to stay by his side even for a short amount of time when you took credit for Seo Yeon's hard work in tending to The Lord Nam himself? You couldn't even do that properly could you!" "I…"
"What is this that I hear? Is my aunt really coming back to the palace? For real?" "Dae-Jung! What on earth are you doing here! You know that you are always supposed to knick first and…" "Really? Is that your idea of scolding the boy? No wonder he doesn't listen to you at all." "Can I see her? Please? She did raise me after all and…" "If she didn't see you the last time that she came around or the time before that, what makes you think that she will want to see you now?" "She does want to see me! She raised me, so of course she does! I know that she is just following my uncle's orders strictly because he hardly lets her breathe…" "My Lady? There is a woman here by the name of Hwa-Wol that has just sent in a pile of Buhhda transcriptions with paper that she got from a rather well-known temple on the outskirts of the kingdom to the Senior Ladies. They were so incredibly moved to tears that they have invited her to stay in the palace until the The Emperor's tour takes place." "Hwa-Wol? My friend…ex-friend, she gets to stay in the palace? For some merer transcripts?" "Aren't those the same transcripts that you planned to do yourself to win over some backers on your behalf? And you couldn't even get that done?" "Mistress, she is accompanied by The Lord Nam…" "So can I go? Please? I will make sure to…" "you are dismissed for the rest of the day, servant! And as for you Mistress Han, allow me to say some words to you in private…" "Your Highness please forgive me…please just let me…Your Highness!"
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"How bold is it of these ministers indeed to send prostitutes onto the boat disguised as dancing women!" "The men do need their fill of entertainment after working so hard for this kingdom…" "And that is what they have wives and concubines for, isn't that right Princess?" "Throughout the tour, my father will be constantly testing out new offices, inspecting the river works, giving tax amnesty where he can and even consoling the citizens. Himself and his office will commit many meritorious deeds, but the ministers still want to take advantage of him at this old age and seduce him with all sorts of minxes. They clearly do not care about his honour or his reputation at all! And I will bot be stuck with one where I will be critiqued for allowing my father to be allured by seductive tones of filthy music like that…" "You are right Princess, but even if the men do not agree with you, then you only need to find a new angel to preach upon that." "And what do you suggest, Madame Hwa-Wol?" "Well, let us take a look at this women first shall we? Then I can draw my conclusions from there I suppose." "They all have charming smiles and beautiful figures, what could you deduce from that?" "The uniqueness of the temptation; all beautiful women look alike, but doesn't Confucius say that having beautiful women in a beautiful scenery like the boat na paired with beautiful winnow which man can resist the temptation?" "Surely your own late husband along with the spouses of The Seo Siblings? They are surely the only men in our entire kingdom to have never even entrain other women, let alone never having any concubines at all. You sure are a lucky women when you met your fated spouse, Hwa-Wol." "I was indeed and I can only hope that my children can have the same fate as myself. But maybe the men will heed your warnings if you gave them the same lecture in a different perspective? Maybe your own?"
"Whatever do you mean?" "The appetite for lust and luxury are only natural; so if we use this on ourselves and even make an example of bing serviced by handsome eunuchs, won't that incur they're jealousy?" "That does sound like something that the playful Seo Yeon would suggest…but maybe she has a point after all…" "Doesn't all of this lead to power eventually? With power, we needn't to be as insignificant as we are now, with power; we needn't be locked up away in our respective houses and forgotten like this and be cut off from our families….oh forgive me improper speech. I am only recalling what I last heard from my old friend, The Mistress Han who held nothing but words of contempt against you Senior Ladies without regarding any of the sacrifices that you all have made just to be here." "Is that so? So this is what she thinks of us as she tries to gain our favour with illegible Buddha transcripts? Here I was thinking to indulge in her request to join The Emperor on his boat tour, but now I have made up my mind on what judgement to give to him about her instead!" "My Lady?" "There are women who indeed hold power Mistress Hwa-Wol, but there are also others who are controlled by power and if we keep giving her any more chances to live like this, then she will surely consume us all and bring out our family to a gruesome end if we have women like this who consider themselves too equal to men! That is why she has lost everyone close in her life, but I will not let that extend to any of us!" "Exactly right; do we have to really live away from our families like this just to suffer these baseless insults from a kisaneg of all people!"
"And what if The Third Prince refuses it?" "Then we will simply have to sow discord between them and make him choose between his own position and an ambitious tramp that this kingdom is not short of. Maids, noblewoman and prostitutes are all the same to him, so it isn't like he has a specific use to him, he is only keeping her to irritate The Lord Nam for taking away his chance to marry Seo Yeon himself." "With such unrestrained and licentious behaviour; someone else needs to put her down and remind her of where she belongs in this kingdom!"