"I like you a lot Attendant Nam, to the point where I can see myself spending the rest of my life with you; I want to be with you without any greed like everyone else. I would like to eat and sleep with you, and I want to walk around in harmony with you. Do you think that we can do that?" "I can only help you if you help me Your Lordship because I will not lie to you; I think that we both know that my heart isn't into booming some Imperial Concubine." "Will you abandon me if I ever become useless to you?" "I really hope that you are not , Your Lordship, especially after the colourful insults that you hurled at me earlier on." "Forgive me, I am not exactly used to being around women that do not throw themselves at me..." "Hyuk? Can I ask you what type of woman that you are looking for? In a wife?" "I look for what everyone looks for I suppose; someone who makes my heart race, like I have butterflies in my stomach. Someone who I will miss in her absence and someone I am afraid to loose if I do not speak to her for a single day...""My Lady! His Lordship is coming this way!" "No, he cannot! He must not get into trouble with his adoptive father over something trivial like this! Please try to stop him and..." "Who dares to stop me! Why is it so damned cold in here? What exactly is Noble Lady Nam wearing? How long has she been stuck in here now?" "Greetings Your Lordship, Noble Lady Nam has been locked inside this library for almost 4 days now without a sip of water or a morsel of food..." "And why is she wearing such thin clothes? Where are the robes that I just gifted her?" "The Mistress Jeong has confiscated every gift that you gave her as part of her punishment! She took everything apart from the Shu Brocade Shoes..." "Your Lordship, please return to your quarters and let me finish off my work here..."
"Your Lordship! What exactly are you doing in there! Noble Lady Nam defied me and made a fool out of me! She is subject to disciplinary action and you have no say when it comes to The Imperial Harem! This is completely unacceptable! Please return to your quarters right now to regain your dignity! Do you not hear me! Your Lordship! Please do not challenge my authority like this so openly!" "What are your plans now, Noble Lady Nam? You have single handily managed to rile that woman up in such a way that I have never seen before, and I have known her since my childhood. The longer you stay here in the harem, the more that she will come after you, you know." "My Lord, can I ask you..." "The conditions of her stay in the harem are private despite her not being titled. All I can tell you that despite that, she has more connections than everyone in my harem combined." "So is she an integral part of your harem or not? Do you think that you can function without her?" I was beyond starving at this point; I was dehydrated and it was taking everything in me not to move an inch for if I did, I surely would have fainted right there and then and without His Lordship's presence, I would have surely died here and The Mistress Jeong's erratic screaming and shouting were not making things any easier for me. This library in itself was dirty, cold and severely out of use with each layer of the roofing tearing itself apart with every inch of rain that rested on it. My body felt like it was made of ice, but I guess that is what survival felt like.
"She isn't as integral as she thinks she is; she does need to be put in her place, but I am not the one to teach her such a lesson and upset my adopted father who gave her the position that she is in right now." "So...you are ok with he bring taught a lesson? That is your boundary?" "I simply do not understand how you can appear to be so confident in your words, it is almost as if you work for someone..." "My Lord, I am a concubine who also has a right to survival here and we both know that this harem is too small for me to share with her." "Let me hear the plan and I will see if i approve."
What a damned tricky man this was; he was every bit as manipulative and unusual as Hwan was. In fact, I had never stood as close to him as I did now, and maybe my vision was starting to blur, but I could have sworn that he also looked like Seo Hwan, whose face he had practically stolen from his father. Honestly, it was rather uncanny how much they looked alike, to the point where I could feel goosebumps rise up again my arms and the back of my neck. And not only did he look like him, he also shared the same mannerisms....but at that point I was just sure that I was seeing things since Seo Hwan was the very last person that I saw in our village and I though that I just might of have remembered his mannerisms at the last minute...
"Noble Lady?" "I...shall entice her to make mistakes...is that good enough for you?" I was taking an extremely risky gamble because of his womanising ways, I knew that he could just as easily revel my entire plan to The Mistress Jeong, especially if I ever gave him any reason to feel sad or make him angry, that is how slippery of a person that he was and he was clearly not to be trusted. But I still had no idea why he treated me the way he did; one minute he was insulting me and the next he was professing his sudden undying love for me. Maybe he was testing me, but maybe he wasn't and what other choice did I have? I was already doing my very best without and guidance at all and I had miraculously survived for 4 days without any food or water at all...maybe I had overcome these obstacles so far for a reason? Maybe I di have a chance of winning after all?
"...are you saying that you shall make her commit a crime?" "Small enough to put her in her place, that is all. Would I have your protection then, Your Lordship?" "As long as you do not displease my father The Third Prince, I am open to anything that you can do." "Can I take away her authority? That would work out in your favour since she will have to stay under your thumb and give you what you need much quicker." "If you can promise me that, then I shall personally escort you out of here myself and in my arms, no less. and I shall stay by your side tonight and have some of your favourite winter tea from China with plum flowers in it. For residence maybe the furthest one away from mine, but I do not mind going the extra mile for someone who will put in the same effort for me. I suppose that the apple tree will bare flowers for a nice candlelight dinner and I shall take you to the Hot Spring Palace for your first night of service..." "My Lady1 please do not fall asleep! You fall unconscious that way...!" I was dreaming I was sure of it, but why was His Lordship reminding me so much of The Seo's? And it wasn't just the siblings either; he had Geom's playfulness, Hyuk's serious demeanour when he displayed it, he also had Chul's air of seniority but his behaviour...it was almost as absurd as Hana's! She acted like she wasn't even affected by the rumours that surrounded her reason to lock herself in her quarters for so long. Rumours usually brought about the end of a woman's social life and it even had the power to stain her reputation, but Hana simply did not care what anyone apart from her family said about her. How brazen was it go her to act so bold without a care in the world, just like Hana...they even had the same facial expressions when they would converse with their close ones...
"My Lady! You are finally awake! Please, just sit up lightly and I shall get you some food right away! You will need at least a day's recovery before you can serve His Lordship at The Hot Spring Palace and really cement your place here in The Imperial Harem." "Where is His Lordship?" "He is currently at the chambers of The Mistress Joeng and giving her a lecture of some kind. We can all hear him shout at her and..." "close the doors and windows and dismiss the other servants." "My Lady?" "Just do it; I have some questions for you and it would be in both of our interests if nobody was to hear about it at all." "Yes, My Lady." It was irrational of me to ask this servant anything, sinner I had not seen His Lordship's face up close since the library, but I could not in good conscious go ahead and seduce someone who clearly had the face of another. It was too disturbing to the point where I kept feeling like I was in some sort of horrid nightmare where I was up against the very people who tricked me into becoming a concubine in the first place. And no amount of fine clothing, food and shelter was worth this mental torture that they had all inflicted upon me, especially Seo Hyuk who had gotten married straight after he left me here to rot away on my own knowing full well that he lead me onto following him all the way into the palace just to get a glimpse of him. I was ready to risk it all for him and in order for me to do it al over again, I needed to know exactly what I was getting myself into.
"My Lady? Why are you looking at me so intensely?" "Listen here servant, I know that you are a spy for the Seo's and I shall say nothing about it, but I have only questions for you and I expect for you to answer it truthfully." "Very well My Lady." "Is His Lordship related to The Seo's in any way possible?" "What are you talking about, My Lady? The Lord Nam himself made sure to destroy every last one of his blood relatives before he brought his wife back to her father's village. It was a big scandal that even brought down the family of a Crown Prince candidate, so it is not possible or even logical that he would spare anyone of his father's blood relatives here in the kingdom since he hated them all so much." "Are you sure about this?" "I have served him myself personally just before they relocated to your village My Lady; he hated them so much that even his wife had no choice but to help deal with them all during her second pregnancy..." "Second pregnancy? Do you not mean her first?" "Oh no, The Mistress Nam suffered a miscarriage during her first pregnancy, she only got pregnant with the twins after that..." "Is that so? In wonder if The Seo Siblings and cousins are even aware of that..." "My Lady?" "Get me a meeting with Seo Hyuk and his sister; tell them what you have just told me first to lure them into my chambers since we cannot avoid each other forever."