"Are you finally going to tell me what is on your mind, wife?" "Husband, you need to calm down and give me time to process that I am your hostage once again…" "I know exactly what you are upset about, but you knew that I had no choice! I didn't realise that woman was still plotting behind my back until she visited me in the dungeons! And she got me out of there! I had already wasted enough time and I needed to get back to you! I knew that you were hiding in that stupid brothel where anyone and everyone could get to you, and do you think that I didn't know why you chose such a public place to hide! You knew that it would piss me off, so I worked harder and faster and essentially botched my whole career for you! So now you will make it up to me! You owe me!" My heart that I thought had wen numb from the moment that woman approached me in the brothel that she used to own wearing the exact same clothes that I used to wear as my first time as a hostage. Hui=Jae hadn't aged gracefully either; she looked as though she was 20 years older than her original age instead of 2 years older than my man and my brother. I had no idea how she found out where I was or what she wanted from me, but it become pretty clear when I pretty much saw a clone of myself from almost a decade ago, right down to the shoes and the hair accessories in the exact same colours that I used to wear, or rather the colours that my man chose out for me, and it didn't suit her at all, so much so that she had all eyes on her from the moment that she made her entrance, but for all of the wrong reasons. I myself could barely recognise her at first, that was until she called for me to serve her as if I was a kisaneg myself serving a man food and drink that was sponsored by the man who hated me coming here at all.
"May I help you…?" "What is the matter? Do you not recognise me at all? Even though you have stolen everything from me that you possibly could? Starting with my place in this very brothel that I grew up in…" "..that you sold out almost immediately for a man who has never loved you at all?" "Do not be jealous girl, who do you think gifted me all of these clothing? And gave me enough of an allowance to buy your most expensive meal set? I have to admit that it is a nice touch, but you still cannot full replace me here no matter how much you try. You haven't grown up with any women, so you may not be aware of the fact that women who all live together need a firm hand and…" "I have almost grown up with these women for a number of years myself and we always treat each other amicably. I do not own this place, so I have no idea where you get your delusions from." "I know, it is The Lord Nam who owns this place." "Excuse me?" "He bought this place years ago for me when I asked him to invest his father's wealth in it secretly. And he was going to hand it to me straight away after his father's death, but of curse you had already seduced him by then and he forgot all about me. But I shall get this place back with all of my might, no matter how much it costs."
"So, The Lord Nam is residing with you at the moment I presume?" "There is no need to hide your jealousy any longer, I have simply taken back what belonged to me in the first place. After the decade long bad streak, it is my turn to be happy now, with the family that I will give him." "Is that so?" "If you do not believe me, then I shall invite myself back here again where you can pertly dress me up for my engagement party that I will be throwing in our honour." I only agreed to her requests as I was getting angrier with each and every sentence that she uttered with the same amount of confidence that I used to have a long time ago. But the truth was that I was still doubtful of my lover due to the secrets that he held against me that were most likely about me. But why? What was he hiding from me? I knew that he more or les know everything about me, even the secrets that I hid from him from the start, even though he didn't say anything about it at all.
"Aren't you a little old to give him children? And have you thought about the consequences that it will have on your body?" "I am more experienced than you and I have my connections in the medical field, so you do not need to worry, although we will do it the right way and wait until marriage to fulfil our duties towards each other, just like you should have done, and maybe he would have married you a lot earlier." She got me there with that since it had always been an issue with me; how much he demanded my affection even before we could get engaged formally, which we still were not. We were supposed to be by now, but of course something had to get in the way of that as well. This made me appreciate all of our intimate times even more, but what on earth was I supposed to do from now on? How could I function without this man in my life ever again? Did he really scheme his way into her life again just reunite with her? After using me? I was already holding myself back from visiting him from the dungeons, and everyone thought that my family was dead, so what do I do now?
"You should probably think about settling elsewhere, as I do not wish to see you around here after our weeding, which will take place this month. The faster, the better, and…." "Do not let arrogance take hold of you, girl, as I will never leave the village that my parents chose to elope to. And I will not leave until he himself tells me to leave, I think you will be busy with his family clan in the meantime, as they will not approve of a bride not of their choosing." "You do not need to worry about such matters, as we are already quite close to each other…" I knew it! She was most likely the mastermind of that fire plot to begin with! But this was all her first time not asking me about my brother to the point of obsession…
She didn't drag the so called dinner meeting for long; it ended up with her insisting on footing the bill on food that I didn't trust to eat, so I gave it away to the brothel's children instead after having some guests try it for themselves. I did try to counter her with my own discount from the place, but she didn't want to hear it at all. In the end, I was left alone to cry my heart out all night in the fear that I had been abandoned for good. That was until the doors of the brothel had opened up quite loudly at 3am in the morning and I woke up to the sound of heavy breathing and the familiar scent of musk and the bluebell flower woke me up from a deep sleep with a hand big enough to cover my entire face had covered my mouth instead…
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"My Lady, The Lord Nam is making his way over here for breakfast! How exciting!" "Quickly! Get everything ready on the table and light up the incense sticks! Hurry!" "My Lady, he is coming to us despite his mistress's high favour? You must have won him over in some way, don't you think?" "Do you think that we have enough dishes for him?" "Well, this certainly looks like enough to me." "Husband! I mean, My Lord. Please wash your hands and join me for breakfast before you go to the palace for work." "Very well, I shall not mind if I do, wha have you added to this herbal powder, by the way? I haven't smelt anything like it before?" "My Lord, it used to be made with spikenard, Angelica, cassia twig and bamboo leaves, but now we added some aged pork spleen into it. But I know that you dislike the smell of cassia twig, so I replaced it with bark from magnolia and some sandalwood as well. This makes it more moisturising and fragrant, and long lasting…" "well well, you do come across so much more educated and elegant, even though you were supposedly a mere servant from the brothel that my woman found herself in once again." "Found herself in? Forgive me My Lord, but I have heard that she made a beeline right for the place and she…." "I see that you are careful about the things that you use and you seem to be rather attentive as well." "I thank you My Lord…" "How are your family by the way? Forgive me for not being able to attend them in time as I was stuck tending to a particularly annoying brat of a girl." "It is alright My Lord…" "I can see that your hands are also quite fair for a servant who was burdened with heavy chores doing your time in the brothel, and quite smooth as well." "Ah, my mistress gave me lighter chores and she let me borrow some of her cosmetics…" "There is no need for you to serve me personally, you can just have your lovely servants here do it for you, especially the articulate ones." "Yes, My Lord…" "I can see that you have had a good influence on them, which is why I have come to you." "My Lord?"
"You were housed alongside Seo Yeon, isn't that right?" "I have already confirmed with you that this was true." "Then can you tell me if I did something to upset her? Something that I cannot remember? She seems to be very upset with me at the moment and I cannot for the life of me figure out why." "My Lord…are you really sure that you want to hear about this? I mean, it wasn't really your fault because you were clearly very high at the time and…" "Was I? Did I really get that bad? Did I…do something to her? Did I hurt her?" "My Lord, we did hear her screaming one night in her room, but the doors were locked and nobody could get in. You were the one who locked it and kept shouting at us not to interfere…" "Are you telling me that I really did hurt her after all? I…forced her to do something? Against her will?" "Well, that is what it sounded like…forgive me once again I…My Lord? Where are you going? My Lord! Did you see that? All of you? Spent such good money on this meal and he just walked away without touching it at all! I was told that he was a frugal man, so how can he waste my good intentions like this! He hasn't even touched me yet and he just bores me as if I am nothing more than furniture!" "My Lady, I think that he is already suspicious of us…"