The Love They Never Had

"Congratulations, Young Master Nam; your last minute plan worked out to perfection and I never have to see that slut ever again! How dare a lowly kisaeng think that she can steal a Prince away and then what? Take over my position as Noble Princess Consort! The sheer nerve of women these days! It looks like I will have to do something about these brothel whores once and for all!" "That may be a good idea, Your Highness, we do need to teach these lowly women a lesson after all." "So? What are your plans for now? Involving the Seo girl?" "I will find her and I will teach her such a lesson after what she has put you and your family through that she will never forget. I shall torture her as much as humanly possible before I take her on a concubine at least, for her brother's sake. I cannot just use her and dump her like these kisaeng girls are good for, lest her brother complains to your husband and he has my head for it, just like your poor physicians that I head about." "Do no forget that you are to contact me as soon as your find her, s I can pay a visit to her of my own." "Forgive me Your Highness, but I cannot do that and risk everything that we have worked hard for. Look at what happened today, you were almost caught out by one kisaneg girl, and look at the damage you have suffered through her hands already. If your husband finds out, it will be the end of you." "Very well, there is plenty of time to meet her after you get married. I have waited all of this time and I can wait some more I suppose. But don't forget, she can never open her mouth about the brothel that I put her in myself, or I will put an end to the Seo family myself, what is left of it anyways. I suppose that you have no issues with that?" "I have already repaid my debt to Seo Hwi, I owe him anything anymore. And his sister betrayed me when she chose to stay in the brothel and humiliate the both of us after everything that I did for that girl. I haven't even have contact with her for a year now." "So you will have no issues but to…establish bonds with her? You will still marry a headstrong girl like her?" "As long as she sacrifices her happiness for this marriage like I did for her, I am ok with marrying her. I will not raise her social status after marriage, so she alone can be her own laughing stock." "There are many ways to establish bonds between nations, but it is usually at the sacrifice of a woman, what a pity. Very well, you are dismissed, and do not forget to give me updates."

"Of course, Your Highness." I walked away from my true Master after I accidentally found out whom The Fifth Prince hired alongside myself, and let us just say that I wasn't best pleased when I found out exactly what sort of a situation I had been placed in after serving my Emperor and country in probably the very last war that I would partake in, for a while at least. And as for Seo Hwi, well he couldn't blame me, not anymore, no ever since he ruined his sister when he gave her far too much freedom instead of focusing on her marriage. And as for myself, my ambitions always mattered just a hair more than the Seo's ever did, and they knew that when I betrayed them the first time around.

"Noble Princess Consort! Is this supposed to be some kind of a joke? I only resent that I do not have such a successful family clan like she does! Isn't she just lucky after getting away with everything just like it didn't happen at all! How is she still in he prime after almost being deposed!" "Calm down sister-in-law, this is exactly like 'The Commentary of Zou', didn't you read that book?" "I have forgotten a lot of things about my past life brother-in-law, and a book isn't exactly on my mind right now." "The general was a supporter of the regent Oboi who simply amassed too much power, and The Emperor Kangxi could only be generous with him a few times before he could no longer tolerate him." "So what is the point?" "We needn't care about such an obtrusive family who shows such imperious conceit over unrivalled power." "That is true, we have all heard the rumours about The Princess Consort's father becoming too arrogant and domineering, even arousing controversy by making this neighbours homeless in the middle of a plague! But The Third Prince isn't doing anything about it at all! What sort of Prince lets his people suffer like this? Good god, what sort of world will my children be born into? Husband…"

"Wife, you must calm down in order to avid harming this child! If an ulcer festers, then there is a reason to eliminate it faster, isn't that right Seon-Ho?" "The more it festers, the more easily we can pull it out of the root. We just need to wait for the right timing." "What else?" "We need to wait until they reach their highest peak of power, when they think they are the least susceptible to live the torment of being dropped by their only Royal backer at all. And I hear that he has visited his wife more during this plague than throughout their whole marriage, so she must feel like her husband finally holds her in high esteem, that will make her fall that much harder." "I can only imagine the conversations she is having about his after almost framing me for causing a miscarriage of a Princess." "And what news of her father?" "Practically anyone and everyone is conspiring to gather evidence against him since The Third Price seems to ignore the various memorandums that are sent to him about his wife's family. But if we want to do it, i mean Hwi and his friends, they have to do it in one manoeuvre t break off the connections between you once and for all. And what better way than t use the fact this his wife almost killed yours and your unborn child? The first grandson of Seo Geom."…

"Young Master Nam? We have found a witness that has reported the sight of a girl machining your description almost being thrown off of a horse a last week in the same location as The Fifth Prince's unofficial residence…" "what! She was thrown off of a damned horse!" "Master…." "Forgive me I simply lost my composure momentarily…I still grew up with the girl, so….so Dal is moving her around in different locations? And where exactly is this witness? Bring him to me immediately!" "He thought that he broke the law and tried to escape, but we found him and bought him here." "Ask him what the colour of her outfit was?" "He said it was pink." "Pink? Yeon hates the colour pink, she would never wear it even if her very life depended on it. Very well, bring him with us and let us go to his residence…" "Young Master Nam I have another report to hand into you?" "What is it now?" "The Third Prince, he is on his way to visit Seo Hwi." "So the time has come; here, pass on my very last instructions to them before I…torture his sister to the brink of death. After this letter is sent on, he is on his own from now on, and I hope that he can survive long enough to see his son being born." "Very well, I shall report back to our Master; The Third Princess Consort. I mean, The Noble Princess Consort now." Seo Hwi, this is my very last time asking you to forgive me."

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"Husband, what exactly is going on here! Why am I, your main wife, being barred from entering those private quarters of yours? Who is in there? Is it a woman? One that you like? Since you like her so much, why are you hiding her? Or are you ashamed of even making her your concubine? Because she cannot offer you what I have?" "I still don't understand what on earth happened! I worked hard to pull up my own status, and here you are telling me that we are of that high status when The Third Prince granted us the title with the baby that I told you to get rid of? And we are expected back in the palace to give him our thanks?" "..or is this girl from a poor family? Is suppose that it only matters if you like her or not, we can be sisters and…" "Are you already waiting for the day when you will rule over concubines? As they have ruled over you in the past? "Will you calm down husband?" "I think that you are already too stressed out from even thinking about managing our residence; why do you always seek to interfere in things you should have kept your nose out of? If you did that, you could have managed to retain my favour as well." "Forgive me husband, I seemed to have overstepped my boundaries; but now I am really curious about who is making you so emotional?" "This person who is close to The Fifth Prince is already emotionally unstable herself, what makes you think that she has the same effect over me?" "Because the victim today could become the villain tomorrow; everyone is harmed and everyone inflicts harm just like a vicious circle."

"Since when did you get so wise? And why mention marriage when we both know that you will do everything and anything in your power to drive her away from me, just like you did in the past when I caught you. I can still use that against you , you know?" "I mentioned it because I can already tell how much you care for her, to the point where you have fallen under her spell and is now focusing on this 'hard wrk' nonsense instead of being the social climber that you really are at heart. And we are already engaged and technically married under The Third Prince…" "I already have someone that I love, and I will only formally marry her. So you can say quiet and be my concubine or get lost with that bastard child of yours." "But marriage comes under the order of one's parents, the advice of a matchmaker, and is practically a degree from a State Prince himself, can you still get away with defying it?" "Before meeting her, I would have grabbed onto an opportunity like this one, but now I have my own woman and you would clearly be wasting your time in this so-called marriage. Do not waste any more time and simply find someone else to marry and be the father of your baby." "That baby is your son and you know it! How comes you are not happy about this at all? You haven't even made a single attempt to see him and you are waiting for what? An epileptic orphan to maybe get healthy enough one day to birth you an heir when you already have one? If you weren't so heartless as to abandon us, we almost lost our lives the day that I delivered him all alone! I needed you to be there for us…" "since the moment that you chose to defy me and keep that baby, you lost me and now here you are, using him as a tool to keep me around. You are not fit to become a mother at all. And the only reason why you are able to stay here is because of The Prince's grace, not my own, so for goodness sake do not embarrass us and keep that baby out of sight!"

"Stop right there! Are you really rushing to see that girl? Well, enjoy whatever time you have left with her, because it will not last long at all." "And why is that?" "Because The Lady Min has accompanied me here and do you know what she is doing here? She is waiting for her man to arrive, the same man who has been spotted coming out of the palace gates only just this morning as we left. Nam Seon-Ho has returned and he is on his way here, and we both know which woman he is truly coming for, even if you did manage to keep her in the apex of your heart for all of these years. But guess what? Nobody cares at all about who you love, just like I have to disregard our past so that I can survive now and in the future for our son. And we both know from our time in the Nam yangban that those two are very intricately close to each other…" "No, you are lying to me…" "Both Young Master Nam and The Third Prince shall arrive here in just a few days, and none of them are interested in you. They both want her, and they will leave with her, where you do not have a chance in hell to win her over. So read the signs already and accept our marriage so we can flourish now."