"…what an idiotic deed to commit indeed! She hasn't shown herself fit to be the main wife of such a prestigious household at all! And to think that there were so many suitable candidates for my son! This woman cannot rope in her husband or manage her children at al since they are so subservient to their father! They are all practically terrified of him! Much more than your own husband was rumoured to be with his own father! And with so much idle time, she doesn't even take the time to work on herself or better her husband's social connections! Our family are too noble to be brought down by the scandal of rebellion! Everyone can see how close he is to The Third Prince even though nobody talks about it! So she spends her time gossiping and scheming in her neighbours home, does she? But no, she is too meek to carry out such a vicious idea on her own!" "Madame, I have also been wondering about that, do you have any suspicions as to who…" "Are you really that unaware child? But of course, I have also heard of your pregnancy and I can understand if your brain isn't working at full capacity. But in fact, the wife of your husband's uncle and my daughter=in=law where quite close growing up, and I have no reason to believe that they have stopped communicating to each other at all. She should even apologise to you, but what elder does such a thing to the younger generation? She finally found a way to rid her household of such concubines and yet she unmercifully sticks them in other women's homes without remorse! What a betrayal to her own sex she is indeed! I shall go and visit her now as she walks in and out of her own home at all hours of the night…!" "Thank you My Lady, but I fear that she has already fled to her maternal home and taken your grandchildren with her." "Is that so! Very well then, I shall just give her a lesson that she will never forget in her lifetime, let me tell you that! Thank you for informing me on such a serious matter Madame Nam, however can I thank you for this selfless act of yours?" "Well, it maybe cruel for me to say, but I do have a replacement for your daughter=in=law in mind…."
******************
"Damn that Seo girl! She dare to fake her death in a family fire and now she dares to complain about me to my own mother behind my back! I cannot even do the same to her since she is an orphan and… no, I need to find Seo Hwi first and expose his crime of deceiving The Emperor first before anyone can turn the tables onto myself! But what can I do to my subordinate in return! What can I do….I have already has his woman and I pay his wages, so what else can I possibly do….and my wife! Does she really think this is a way to secure our family prestige? Just because Nam did one good deed, it doesn't mean that he will start rising fast to fame and glory! He is distancing himself from his own household, so he cannot be praised for his cousin's sibling wedding, and his wife is obviously on his side, the daughter of Seo Geom…she is still far more polite than the slut that he lives with and follows rules and decorum more than her. But she snubbed my family by not visiting us earlier and forcing my wife to go over to her junior's home instead first….she needs to be disciplined periodically, that is for sure. She needs to be put in her place, I need to have her home watched more consistently…I can use the kisaeng slut for that…I should have her under my thumb as I do her husband presently…she is a wife now and needs to pertain to Confucius laws now more than ever for the sake of her husband which she has never done before. Husband and wife need to be one at all times and just because I am not with my own wife, it does not mean that they are in the same marital condition as I am… for gods sake I have been married for 30 years and those newlyweds are more attached to each other as I have ever seen anyone, with the exception of her own father… they obey each other's commands amicably as far as I have observed and not even my own illegitimate daughter can change that. The Lord Nam is as inadequate as his own father is, but his wife is a different matter entirely, but she has been known to handle the various women that have come his way in the past before…I have to get in with the family…maybe if I use Seo Geom's matter to distract her? And my wife is friends with her in=law and everyone knows that they do not get along at all, so I have that advantage on my side as well…my wife and Seo Yeon are favoured legitimate daughters whilst the rest are not…I need to aim for an ever bigger post in the palace or gain some better connections before she belittles me like she did to my wife…nobody in my own household is as successful as I am, my sons are all as useless as each other! But my wife's family took me in as an amateur scholar so I cannot just abandon her no matter how weak and pathetic she is…they still gave me saving grace, but how many messes have I saved them from myself? A woman being mindful f her maiden clan is something common so I can forgive her for that at least, but she bends her elbows miles away for them! It even puts me to shame, and the fact that they are with them now instead of staying by my side like The Seo couple…I shall make her kneel al day long as punishment for defying me like this! She wastes all of my information…servant! Bring the Han kisaeng to me by which ever means and prepare her for service immediately!!"
**********************
"After the way that madame indirectly scolded and berated me, why should I respect and honour her at all? Nobody in our circle has outright asked us for favours in order to not trouble us with their burdens and yet you still go out of your way for them voluntarily, that is perfectly acceptable. But coming to our home wih full fanfare to wield authority over us jus shows how much their family is really fixated on us even after all of this time; hopefully The Emperor will pick up on it sooner rather than later." "You could also be seen as not being obedient anymore and reaching high yourself wife, be careful of that." "But unlike myself, everyone in her social circle finds her to be a pest and only your aunt is considered to be her true friend and the one who pays attention to her, when it suits her anyways." "She must be concerned about her children's lack of talent and must be begging her friends to find them work, but she cannot beg for favours forever. And her husband must have found out what she did to his daughter, so they cannot hope to curry favour and honour with us. Have you thought about going the grain route as well husband?" "I am thinking about it indeed, but I need to think about it more, I cannot be seen to sneak behind The Emperor's back or he will never listen to me ever again, so it might have to wait a while. But we will let him know about his daughter soon, in fact I cannot wait to see his face in court when I bring up the poison soup incident." "Husband, I want you to examine the poison further before you report it, just in case something comes of it." "I already have wife, the report is on top of my desk." "Ginko sprout?" "Ginko îs edible in its solid form, but the sprout is not and even uneducable by silver needles. The more juice you squeeze out, the more fatal it is." Ginko sprout…" "Wife? Why are you staring into space like that? What is on your mind?" "The poison of the soup…isn't there a chance that your aunt's mother is giving this to her own husband? And if it the same poison, then who do these 2 parties have in common?" "Are you saying that my aunt…?"
"Master and Mistress Nam? The bride and groom are ready to leave the residence." "Very well, we shall join them in a few minutes, gather everyone together in the courtyard outside! Are you ready wife?" "Let us get this over and done with, I am already getting tired just by changing into these robes?" "Come, let us go and resume this conversation quickly; the sooner we go the sooner that we can return."
*******************
"…Fear no concubine; for if you can fulfil your wifey duties and not get in the way of The Princess, then you can control this Nam Clan from the palace itself and The Lord Nam will come running to you when you need him to. You will now have a distinguished status and not even the lowborn Seo Yeon will be able to defy your orders then. You all be as powerful as he wants his woman to become and he will eventually forget Seo Yeon as time takes away her beauty and skill as it did to me…." I had The Mistress Han's words ringing in my ears s we approached the palace slowly full of decorum and prompt. I had been full of miseries and dread ever since I was forced into the tackiest wedding dress that The Madame Nam could find for me, but my anxiety was at an all time high when The Princess's servants that had previously stalked me around The Nam Yangban started running around my wedding palanquin and shouting at me to come though the side door due to my status as an official concubine even though there was a downpour of rain currently drenching the servants that accompanied me from The Nam Yangban. "But it is currently raining and the ground is too wet for my mistress to walk upon; she will surely slip and harm herself! Please have mercy upon us and…" "As a fellow servant, you should know the rules better than us since you have come from such a prestigious family after all and this is no the first time your mistress has been made into a concubine! Rules should always be obeyed regardless of the situation and she should hurry lest she misses the auspicious timing, otherwise we will simply have to return her back to her former Master. It is also an inauspicious time to use umbrellas today if you paid any attention to the daily horoscope readings!" "My Lady, this is simply too much for her wedding day…!" "She also needs to consume raw pork to prove her fertility chances to us and…" "My Lady! There is and news! The Young Master Nam has been arrested on his way here during the wedding procession!" "WHAT! What do you mean! Arrested by who! What has happened! What has he been charged with!" "My Lady! The Senior Scholar has arrested your fiancé for taking in concubines of the former Third Prince!" "That is impossible! My servants never reported this to me and why would he do such a thing right before our wedding? Has he lost his mind! Doesn't he know who I am! I thought The Nam's were loyal and righteous subjects! Was he formally arrested and not simply taken away for interrogation?" "Your Highness, he was drag out of his palanquin and arrested with rope tied around his hands in full view of everyone! This is a disaster worthy of clan elimination!" "No, this cannot be real! Call upon The Lord Nam to…." "Your Highness, The Lord Nam is now The Master Seo! He changed his name to his wife's paternal clan name and he is in this moment moving to his new home with his pregnant wife, so he has no more connections to his paternal clan at all! He is as much as an orphan as his wife is!" "THEN BRING HIS PARENTS OVER TO ME AS SOON AS POSSIBLE! And settle the concubine in her place, I shall have to deal with her later on!"