The Love They Never Had

"Lady Min? Why are you kneeling on the ground like this…?" "I must covey my deepest apologies to The Young Mistress Seo, as I lied about your fiancé's feelings towards me." "My fiancé…?" "…my family desperately needs help to regain its clan honour and life, and who better a target than a rising star in the palace?" "Despite him being your brother-in-law's enemy?" "…to climb up the social rank. But he personally threatened to marry me off elsewhere. An incompetent woman like myself hasn't even found a decent marriage match yet, so I have no choice in my own marriage at all. I was simply anxious, that is why I refused to let him go. I have admired him since the war and I looked forward to reuniting with him again. But he didn't feel the same way and I seem to have over-estimated myself and his care towards you. I deserve to be humiliated in front of everyone and I have nowhere else to go now, especially when he fed my family a bronze mirror in my dowry. I cannot imagine how humiliated my family must feel…" "Lady Min…" "…but it is all different now, since you yourself have broken off your connections just as he started working for my sister…" "excuse me? What did you just say?" "I said that the arrest of The Master Dal was ordered by my sister for betraying her." "Seon-Ho has been working for the woman who put me in brothels in the first place? He… "Not even when he moved his lodgings to the same residence where you were kept in right after the war! And he knew! He knew you were there, but he didn't do anything, did he! He never reached out to you! He stopped taking care of you! He didn't even visit you once, did he?"

"Young Mistress Seo? Are you quite alright?" "Yes, I…I wish not to speak about that man anymore. I will not plead to him for you or even ask him about marriage. It is your affair from now on and I have no more time to waste on this…unrequited love. How many years does a woman have in her lifetime after all?" "Very well, and I shall be moving into the side chamber to wait upon him since he says he will start visiting here from now on. 'For if the northern wind can hear the plum flowers, spare the blooming wishes for a peaceful spring."

I was starting to feel more nauseous than I ever when I found myself following The Lady Min with some servants that I recognised from The Nam Yangban. They were all treating her exactly how they treated me, which only showed me where his loyalties lied once again. Maybe this broke business was simply too much for him because it reminded him so much of his mother now and maybe I had to break it off with him for good to allow him to move on. My father warned me years ago when he started training me that it was very unlikely for me to find a man who would want to marry such a headstrong and intelligent woman as myself and I kept warning Seon-Ho about that before he…inserted himself into my life with so much dominance.

"…Here is the main chamber, and on the east and west are side chambers and behind it are the bed chamber and a garden. And on the south of the main chamber is a summer residence…"Young Mistress Seo, The Young Master Dal already rerouted your chambers long before he was arrested, please allow me to show you around." "Very well, I shall accept it." "You will no reside in the brothel, but in it's outside chambers to conceal your identity more. You have similar chambers to The Lady Min with some added touches…" "such as…?" "This is a brothel essentially used exclusively for palace residence, so it scales on a much higher level and it is more concealed to the public. Hardly anyone apart from palace residence know about this place, not even the highest public figures in their respective offices…" "…and yet Seon-Ho managed to find it all out, for The Lady Min…"

"Your new chambers are named fr its pearl flowers, which look like falling pieces of jade from afar. And the apple trees bloom in bright red colour. You even have a spare room which is actually a disused theatre room. There is even sweet olive trees planted here for sweet wishes and the peonies in the yard need better care, I shall inform the gardeners of this. He also sent over some gifts in the morning for you…" "please make a record of them and store them away close to me." "Very well, your servant has also arrived and she is settling into the side chambers and waiting your instructions." "Dal took in my wishes for plants well…thank you, I shall be resting up now. And the ihwaru girls…?" "They have been waiting for you for a very long time, and all of the children from your previous brothel were transferred here as well with nannies to look after them for a change." "Very well, I shall reunite with them all tonight, but may I ask who you serve exactly?" "I serve The Young Master Nam and I have been put in charge of your safety." I couldn't believe this, how did his power and influence even reach this secluded place? Why was he still 'looking after me' when he knew perfectly well that I could take care of myself now? What was he up to this time? "I want tea Yeon, can you serve me please?" "Didn't you already have enough earlier?" "I want some by your hands. Freshly made please." I held her in my gaze as she rushed around the room to give me the best of everything she had that I had been secretly sending over to her.

"Thank you for your help this evening, it is thanks to you I now have a new focus at work.": "It is alright, it is the least that I can do for you. It is about time that you tried for a promotion anyways." This was a rare encouragement that I have never received from anyone before and I longed to hear more. "Do you really think that I am good at my job Yeonnie? Even though we both know I did not land this job on my own merit."

"Young Mistress Seo? Are you quite alright?" "Yes, I…" "You already have a visitor waiting for you, she was quite insistent that she see you." "Alright, lead me to her please." "Young Mistress Seo! Forgive my untimely interruption, but I…" "it is quite alright, your husband was arrested right in font of me this morning. I suppose that The Young Master Nam as reclaimed your lands and monies?" "Yes!" "So you ave nowhere else to go?" "Unfortunately…." "My Lady, I shall have n choice but to house yourself and your son here. You may even take over the main chambers since you will need more people to attend to you and your child whilst I move into one of the side chambers, I want to be on my own anyways. Please, take your time moving in and I shall call upon some servants to feed and bathe you." "Thank you, Young Mistress Seo!" "But…an I am sorry to ask you this at the worst possible timing, but there is something that I need from you in return…" "I understand, and I will fill you in on everything I know once I have settled down." "Thank you, I shall send for some herbal tea for you to clam your nerves and you can pick out any servant that you want to serve you. I shall also collect some textiles and send them over to you since we will both need to blend in a bit here to survive." 'I can never repay you for your kindness! But The Lady Min…she will surely bully us to distract her from her own shame…" "Do not engage with her, I shall handle her for the both of us. But forgive me, I am still not clear on what exactly has happened t her family clan?" "Oh My Lady, you really have no idea what has transpired just before the plague started, have you?" "My Lady?" "Young Mistress Seo, I think it is better that we dine together, for I have a lot to tell you, I truly do."

"Greetings, My Lady!" Master Dal's wife's new servants had just come in and we could both already spot trouble for the pair of us. All of these maids knew us from our pasts in The Nam Yangban and we could tell from the looks on their faces that they were going to be anything but subservient to us. "Go inside My Lady, I shall handle this, and I will see you tonight." "Seo Yeon!" "Servant! Who told you to address me as such! Can you not discern the differences in positions yet!" "But before, we all used to serve The Young Master Nam together…unless you have already forgotten everything, My Lady?" Now I knew that some had definitely sent her to anger me…or to keep me in check. And if I let her really affect me, then I would have fallen into someone's trap. They were all once my equals before I rose above hem in ranks, which already triggered their jealousy and disloyalty towards me, and there was also one other reason for this. These 5 servants were the closest ones to Chun-Ae before her demise, close to the time when I had began to regain my memory, and serving us were the very last thing on these women's minds. But unlike Master Dal's wife, I didn't bow my head to anyone before so they could not harm me as much as they could to her. But I would be seen as an ingrate if I was the one who punished her, but I still had enough belief in someone who could punish her for me.

"Very well, all 5 of you will serve us later at dinner time, and I expect a feast to be prepared for a party of 2 and anther one tomorrow when I reunite with some kisaengs that I know here." I know that you ladies will slack off, so if this is the attitude that you want to adapt here, then who am I to stop any of you?