"...it was truly very kind of His Lordship to have sent you an entire garden of chrysanthemums, Noble Lady Jung! And only after a single night as well!" "It is the only flower that he could send for the autumn season I suppose, but still....a whole garden just for me..." "H must be very fond of you indeed My Lady..." "how could he not after all of those tests that The Mistress Jeong put us through! First it was the thorough b body checks, then it was the cooking test, the aptitude test, the fertility one and so on and so forth. They even brought back some of the ministers that used to work with The Lord Nam at one point...his uncle I mean." "The governors want blood ties to The Imperial house through The Third Prince and his son; especially the ones from each and every single province in the kingdom." "So this is a mutual means of keeping each other hostages I guess, it would be hard to keep tabs on them otherwise..." "Be quiet! You know that woman are forbidden from discussing issues of politics, even for maids such as yourselves!" "Forgive me, My Lady..." "But The Princess is right, their opinions carry more weight now than ever, so we must all be careful, especially when it comes to our comments and actions." "But what about The Attendant Kim Yeong! Think about it, she has practically spoon-fed everyone around her tips on how to get that man's attention, and it has worked, especially for you!" "I have no qualms about her abilities, but it is good that she is under us helping instead of being on top and becoming another version of The Mistress Jeong, especially as she clings onto the ways of Goreyo instead of Josean now." "What about that 'special soup' she made us all have after the morning assembly? And then insulted us all when we refused at first because she would not explain to us what it was at first? For insulting her so-called good will." "And then she made you al hold it over your heads for an hour until The Princess came and saw everything for herself." "Int was a strategic move to strengthen The Imperial influence of The Third Prince's reign, that is for sure."
"I hope you will be frequently summoned My Lady, we can all use as much favours as we can get in such a ruthless place such as this once." "These flowers are really so pretty; the white ones are called Spring Snow and the golden ones are usually called Dragon Clouds. Look at the ones snuggling together on the same stem! That resembles yourself and His Lordship!" "Stop it maid, the last thing anyone wants to do here is to show off so openly!" "But it is true, it does represent us together." "Your Lordship! Praise be to Your Lordship!" "How do you like the flowers? Noble Lady Jung? They were in full bloom in my courtyard, so i just had a few men send them over to you." "I thank you for your most thoughtful gift, Your Lordship. The flowers have bloomed for the first time against the ruthlessness of the cold ice and snow. The animals of the palace have also awaken from the winter-induced hibernation and the sun shines once again, bringing an end to the enduring darkness of the past 3 months." "Very good Noble Lady, why don't you say something about The Imperial Gardens now?" "The Imperial Gardens...how about this, My Lord? 'The Spring Day comes in as new rain, warm and light that embraces the sense of freshness abounds. There is hope in The Spring Day; hope in the new green growth that flourishes upon the earth and the warmth in the breeze that was not there before.' The chrysanthemums flowers never surrender to cold winds, which shows that they are flowers of integrity." "You are well-read indeed." "Forgive me, I did not mean to show off." "These flowers are known for its perseverance and solitude from the competitive Spring flowers. I will even find the rare green ones and have them sent over for you...if you can provide me with a favour, that is." "Your Lordship?" "It is my wish for you to learn about housekeeping for the palace." "Housekeeping, Your Lordship?" "Yes; it is not an easy job, so you should learn from The Mistress Jeong since sense you are a smart and responsible woman. I will have faith in you until you prove me otherwise." "Very well Your Lordship, I shall do as you ask." "She isn't a very considerate person, so try your best not to get onto her bad side if you can, for I cannot step in as much as I wish to when it comes to her versus my entire harem. I hope to have additional help in my harem which is why I am asking you for this favour. And one more thing....I hope that you will not also rely rely on Attendant Nam for this chore as well." "Your Lordship?" "Ah, what I mean is....that she has taken ill recently, isn't that right? How will you enjoy my favour if you insist on keeping company with a sick person?" "I...shall obey your wishes My Lord...although I cannot compare with her youth, her beauty or even her family's prominence..." "Trust me, you are far more luckier to be in my favour than she ever will be."
**************************
"...Mistress, the chrysanthemums in The Imperial Garden are not nearly as beautiful as the ones that His Lordship has gifted to you! Flowers are indeed just as beautiful as their owners! And your ones put everyone else's to shame!" "Mistress! Look over there in the corner! I have never seen such luscious green ones before! His Lordship must have found some to send directly to you! Maybe this is his way of apologising for not dining with you last night?" "They are special indeed...you! Over there! Are my flowers too heavy for you to carry? In that case, you can just hand them over to my servants over here and...what it is? Why are you looking at me like that?" "Forgive me Mistress, these flowers are specifically for The Noble Lady Jung...please forgive me..." "what are you talking about? It has been only one day and there is already a Noble Lady in the harem? Doe that mean....that he actually slept with her? Is that why he has been so reluctant to come and see me recently?" "My Lady...The Third Prince intends on making him a Prince...that makes him entitled to have 4 wives, 9 consorts, and 27 concubines..." "Shut up and slap yourself! And go to my chambers and immediately take out every single chrysanthemum that you can see! RIGHT NOW" "Mistress....please calm down, nobody can surpass you in status..." "WHAT STATUS! I DO NOT EVEN HAVE A STATUS! I AM A MERE MISTRESS AND...what is that plaque over her chambers? What does it say?" "The..chamber of...chrysanthemums..." "I never want to see any of these flowers again in my chambers! And as for these damned concubine that he insists on having...if I cannot get rid of them yet, then I can certainly make them as ugly as possible, so that he would never want to look at anyone of them even again! Starting from right now!"
"...Mistress, we have implemented both marsh marigold and hellebore into the washing water of all of the concubines to give them hives, we have even put rocks in their food to make them loose all of their teeth!" "What about that Attendant Nam?" "Everyone is questioning her from the first day she settled in here! They keep asking the staff if she is a tribute girl from Goreyo..." "A tribute girl?" "With all of the help that she is giving away, I think they are starting to feel embarrassed by competing with her here in the harem when she will not even put up a fight for her place." "Is that so..." "Mistress! Bad news from the harem!" "What? What is it now? Does His Lordship have someone else in his bed! Who? Who is it! Tell me!" "It s nothing like that...it is the Attendant Nam! She has figured out all of our tricks and used them against the servants!" "No...there is just no way...has she told him yer? She cannot! I cannot give him a reason to kick me out of the palace! Not this soon! Not even before I have conceived a child for him..." "Mistress...I cannot explain it...but she I doing everything in her power to avoid His Lordship at all cost...she will simply not acknowledge him at all."
Relief washed all over me in that moment as I felt my knees buckle under all of the pressure to become His Lordship's wife without having any of the political backing that my competition did. All I had was a lousy uncle The Master Jeong who was in cahoots with a Commissioner Park, a Judge Choo and Chief State Councillor Yoo, who was the biggest fish of them all. If he was protected, then nobody would be able to come after my own measly family. And to strengthen my family, I had to have a child and fast without anyone suspecting that it wasn't His Lordship's...if he was willing to passover other children as his own, then he would surely have no qualms about doing the same thing for me, especially when he seemed hell-bent on breaking his promises of love and stability to me...I only got to where I was no in the palace harem without a title due to my uncle's sizeable donation to The Third Prince's army...I just had to work on securing the rights to The Ihwaru Brothel over to him as he wanted and then I would be endowed with a heavy rank even before His Lordship was to officially marry someone from the court as a main wife. This should have happened first, but everything has been happening in compete chaos. No, even before I bore child, I needed to keep the concubine under my thumb at all costs without The Princess's interference... the soup that I served them all on there first day...if I could just carry that on...but for that to happen, I had to learn about the household management in the palace, that wold be my only way to access all of these concubines at once and...the worts case scenario was that if I couldn't bare a child at all, then nobody could at all. It was going to be a risky gamble on my behalf that I would have to put my life on the line for, but The Third Prince was so powerful despite his blunders in his old age, who could possibly stop him? I could become The Princess Consort to his son at this point...yes, this is what I crawled out of that damned brothel for. I was not going to end up like that infamous Mistress Han. She had a choice between The Third Prince and The Lord Nam, and she lost everything going after the latter, all because she had nothing to offer him. And the woman that he chose instead? A disabled orphan without a piece of silver to her name, and yet her father's title granted her and her family immunity from the day he died. Seo Geom was the only criminal in Korean History to not be overcome by his fake criminal record and his legend carried on through the lives of his children, to the point where they were able to accomplish astonishing merits despite their low background growing up in poverty. His son become the right hand man to my husband's adopted father and as for his daughter Seo Yeon, she was no less a female patron herself who did not only survive one but two brothels without damaging her own reputation at all, not even her lover left her side. He even married her, and they became the first power couple outside of the palace. Yes, if I wanted to achieve greatness, I had to become someone first; I shall not die a nameless kisanegs death and I shall become an example of greatness in the palace and even surpass the great Seo Yeon herself...
"Servanta! Get me the household management book from His Lordship! At once!" "Mistress...the book has been granted to The Noble Lady Jung, by order of His Lordship..." "Noble Lady Jung and Attendant Nam, I shall be coming after you both first of all before I make my way through everyone, including the Princess..."