"Peace to My Ladies." "It is very cold today, I hope that Attendant Nam is having a good rest?" "She is, Noble Lady Jung and Attendant Kim. She has just woken up from her nap if you owl like to see her?" "Goodness, why is it so cold in here?" "Forgive me Noble Lady, but since my mistress has fallen out of favour, we also lost it at The Household Department." "That is exactly what I was afraid of, which is why I came to visit her. Please, accept this portion of charcoal and blankest on our behalf." "Inconsideration is inevitable for a powerless concubine such as myself, please do not trouble yourselves about it." "It id fortunate for you to have a tolerant mind and heart after everything you have been through recently, especially with your servants leaving your side." "Loyalty always outweighs the number of servants." "That is true I suppose...and with His Lordship occupied with these wars in the kingdom's provinces, this might give us a chance to clean up house whilst The Mistress Jeong is temporarily disabled by The Princess." "Attendant Kim looks just as ill as I do, but she even made me a pillow especially with the little fabrics that she was gifted due to her rank. Please, take a new servant from me so that you can be tended to as much as possible." "The Mistress has also stolen all of the gold wrapping paper for The Nee Year's gift exchange, so it will make us all look bad in front of our families; she is under the impression that she is upstaging us without realising how much damage she is doing to herself." "Leave her to it then, she cannot possibly blame us if anything goes wrong for herself in the future." What about the maid who has become a companion?' "She sings opera music all day long and is already trying to quickly rise to the top of the social ladder without a thought for anyone else or even her own rank." "The quicker she climbs, the higher that she will fall and once again she cannot blame anybody but herself for that, since she is desperate to cut corners like that." "But...." "We know Attendant Kim, that she was a rank lower than you and you are worried, but didn't you also spend a night with His Lordship already?" "That was only for dinner, and nothing else beyond that happened..." "Fret not, I shall see to it that you get a chance, but you also have to wait for the right timing, which means that it shall have to be after this so-called war gets extinguished, hopefully before His Lordship has to leave the palace at all." "Why do you say that, Attendant Nam? You sound like you know something that we do not?" "I am an unflavoured Attendant, what could I possibly know about politics?"
"My Ladies, the gifts for The New Year have come from The Princess, would you like to take a look? We also seem to have some extra gifts from that infamous astrologer that is also His Lordship's tutor?" "Why would he give any gift?' "Didn't you hear? He recently returned to his village to get married! To a friend of the family apparently, that he why he has also distributed some gifts to us as well...Attendant Nam? What is wrong with you? Why do you look so pale, all of a sudden?" "He...got married? The astrologer? When...did he..." "It happened just a few days ago I heard; he had a lovely private ceremony..." I guess that the saying was true; the saddest thing about betrayal was the fact that it aways came from those that you trusted the most, instead of your enemies. I had been left abandoned here by that man and his family and was tricked into becoming a damned concubine for the man...that they were plotting against? Was that the reason why I was the only one in the village who was embraced in their close family circle? They didn't befriend anyone but each other as closely as they did. Was that why I had received a kisaeng education? And why I was allowed to live with them? As an unmarried woman....that was practically unheard of...as a matter of fact, why hadn't I heard anything from my own parents the whole time? I was so swept up in the presence of The Lord Nam and his family and even his in-laws....that I must have temporarily forgotten all about my entire family...I cannot even remember the last time that I had a meal with them, and now I was stuck here in a harem that I could not leave unless I was dead. And now I would never see them again or step foot in the home that I grew up in poverty besides them...I had lost my entire life before my eyes for a man who was possibly tolerating me all of this time. He was always like that...to women he herald knew despite living with me for quite some time. As for this family friend...no, it could not possibly be Bo-Geom...she was at least a decade older than him, even if she didn't look like it...what was going on? Was this also part of the plan? To...fake a marriage....because of The Mistress Han's attempts to seduce him? Or was it The Mistress Jeong now? She was a long time lover of His Lordship, and she had yet to fall pregnant? It was a well-known fact that he had already sired half of the heirs in the brothel that I was forbidden to enter alone, so now...would she also use Seo Hyuk as a man to breed with? Yes, that should be the reason why he got married, or fake married...
"Attendant Choi? Whatever is the matter?" "It is that horrible Companion Kang! She almost ran me over with her sedan chair and used the excuse of the slippery roads to not greet me at all! She even shouted at me to move our of her way so that she could meet His Lordship...!" "And then what happened?" "She barged into another concubine behind me and startled her own men enough to drop her onto the floor! And yet she had tea audacity to blame her for it! She had the Imperial Guards arrest her on the spot and her servants beaten!" "To where? Surely not The Department of Penalty? That is a jailhouse for servants, not concubines!" "You are right Attendant Kim, but Companion Kang just didn't care at all! She said she will old anyone responsible who reports this to His Lordship and The Princess!" "I have never heard of such a ridiculous thing before! Can Companions really bully Attendants like that!" "Life is indeed miserable with His Lordship's favour, as you well know, Attendant Nam." "She sings at night and punishes higher ranking concubines at will; I can already see her downfall becoming similar to that of the previous concubine that we just lost to The Scarlett Red punishment only last month."
"Attendant Kim! There you are! I have been looking for you everywhere!" "Eunuch? What is the matter? Where else can I be other than here? And what are those flowers in your hands? Aren't they out of season?" "Attendant Kim? Why does that eunuch have green chrysanthemums in his hands for you? What exactly is going on here?" "Congratulations, Attendant Kim! You have been selected for tonight with His Lordship! Please come with me as we need to start getting you ready for service." "He gifted Attendant Kim with the same kind of flowers that he was gifting you all along, Noble Lady?" "He said that... green chrysanthemums were the hardest to grow...." "Are you sure about that? I heard that he also gifted them to The Mistress Jeong when they first met..." "Attendant Kim, you had better be on your way to fulfil your service to His Lordship. And as for you, Noble Lady, we were all aware who it was we were serving. It is even better known that he has an entirely separate harem in the ihwaru Brothel alone, as well as several others." "My Ladies! Forgive me, I have just received word that The Mistress Kang has already been summoned by The Princess, who already made an edict to release Attendant Lee from The Department of Penalty as soon as she heard about what happened just a few minutes ago! Attendant Kang has been placed under confinement for a month for disregarding Imperial Harem rules now!" "It looks like you were right once again, Attendant Kim, although that was a pretty fast development..."
"She will suffer far greater losses than this in the future, and that will be 2 concubines down in the first three months here." "What exactly are you implying, Attendant Nam?" "Can't. You see what is going on? this is an experimental harem after all and His Lordship isn't taking anyone's safety int account at al after going through so many women at the mercy of his Mistress who has been given a place in the hare, despite not being titled? It is as if we concubine are being held hostage here, as our female relatives are in The Third Prince's harem." "Attendant Nam! What a thing to say! Unless there is something that you know..." "My Lady? The astrologer is here and waiting to see you outside of your residence?" The astrologer? Hyuk? Seo Hyuk? He was here to see me? For the first tine...in all of my life as I can recall...
"Sir? Our mistress has not given permission for you to enter her residence!" "Peace be to Your Ladies, and forgive me for my rash behaviour, but I have some urgent news from the starts that I must share with you immediately!" "We shall then take our leave Attendant Nam, as this is a private reading...." "But why is he so flustered? Isn't he usually cold and distant with everyone? Why has he totally lost his composure today?" "Hush Attendant Choi! Let us leave theme and..."
"...I have just returned from stargazing My Lady, and I just happened to notice a suspicious happening in the sky surrounding your birth pillars!" What was happening? What was he up to? Never in my entire life had I witnessed such a stoic man behave this way. It was really unlike him...
"...this indicates the destruction of a dynasty! You yourself must never in your life speak upon political issues within The Imperial Harem, unless you wish to turn The Royal Family against it's own ministers who give their lives to the citizens of this kingdom!" "My goodness! Is that true! Attendant Nam..." "Attendant Choi! We must leave now! Good day, Attendant Nam!" "But....but...Noble Lady-"