The rest of our journey was carried out in silence since had managed to feed my son before this journey and he had fallen asleep peacefully in hi father's arms without too much trouble. He was a quiet and well-behaved boy who hardly made a fuss and I couldn't be more grateful for his quiet personality during a time where I was going through so much turmoil and stress. But my daughter, my milky faced daughter with waves in her hair like her uncle, she didn't have a problem with being as loud as possible to get the attention that she was determined to receive. How do I raise a child like this? A young girl who was so determined to be seen and heard when she was a part of a twin set and this world was not tolerant of women at all…I really needed my mother now more than ever to help and guide me through this journey of parenthood. And how do I keep her safe from my enemies when she had also inherited my face? My son looked more like his father, which would becoming a blessing to him, but my daughter…dii I already endanger her life by biting her at all? The first granddaughter of Seo Geom who will also inherit his burdens as well as mine…we had to hide the twins as it was so I would have no choice but to hide her from the world, even more so that I was hidden away after my own father's death…no, I could not impose the same level of necessary cruelty that had been imposed on myself for fear of my insecurities. My goodness, why didn't I take out the time to plan my children's future more carefully? One would say that I had 9 months to do this, but because of everything I was already doing for my husband…
"…please stop stressing yourself out wife, our daughter is fine and she…" "We are practically strangers to each other at this point and I can only clam down once I have held her in my arms all night long. How is she without me?" "She isn't adjusting well, but I suspect it isn't your absence alone that is causing her so much distress." "Of course, they are twins and they should never have parted from each other in the first place." "I am so sorry wife, pleas forgive me…" "I am filled with a murderous rage that isn't going away anytime soon and somebody has to pay for this." "Your brother has brought The Third Prince on his knees to his own father and there is nothing else beyond that, that we can do…" "I want your ex-lover to pay for this, and I will make sure that she does." "Wife, please, she was never my ex-lover and you know this…" "Oh really? So where does her obsession with you come from? Ruining you with drugs, causing me to loose my first baby when you left me in the palace brothel…" "Hold on a second, what did you just say? What first baby? What the hell are you talking about? Yeon?"
"Before I returned to the place, The Lady Min suffered an accident that took her life when she also fell off the edge of the cliff in a carriage, much like The Princess did just recently. But what you didn't know was that I was also in that carriage with her, and I had no idea that I was pregnant. It was only a few weeks old, it was barely as big as a pea, but that was why it took a long time for me to enter the palace after you. And didn't say anything to you because I knew that you would find every excuse in the world to not kill her for her crimes that she has committed against us, that you have allowed her to keep committing simply because she knows that you will not harm her. I understand that it was necessary for you to decimate your paternal clan and she was the one who brought them to you, but did it really have to be during my first pregnancy? My very first one? I have been so focused on you ever since I was your hostage, but you…my grudges and goals have only ever been burden to you ,despite you helping me out with it simply so that I could help you much more quickly." The look of pure horror and shock did pacify me a little bit in my anger, but it also pained me to see how much damage his father had done to him and how it had overcome him in a way that I hadn't noticed due to me helping him as much as I could. And maybe I was part of the issue as well; Abe I had indulged him far too much to the point where had inflated his ego and made him feel unstoppable, which he truly was now and back then. But I couldn't continue with this marriage on a life of lies and now was the time that I needed to tell him to let him know that this was the time to do something about her, even if he didn't fully support me. "How could you keep this from me?" "You were high out of your mind on opium, remember? You barely remember anything that you did to me during that time, did you think that you would remember something like that?" "What did I do to you?" "Your forced me husband and more than once, and you know it deep down inside since you just reacted on your intrusive thoughts back then when it came to me." "Wife…why are you bringing this up now?" "To let you know that I will do something to end her once and for all now and to see whose side you will take. If you choose her then you can leave this family behind and be with her as you always wanted to , even if it was only for the sake of your pride." "Can you really let me go like this? So easily?" "You have left me on my own more than once husband, and I never in this lifetime expected for you to take a second plan in my direction, never mind marriage. I have proven to you, your father, your entire clan, the palace and even my brother that I love you and i can do anything for you, but I cannot force you to stay if your heart is not 100% with this family that you have created." "Have you…already started something? With Hui-Jae?" "Yes I have, and I will see it come to an end tonight."
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"Doctor, is my baby truly healthy? Never in mildest dreams could I have predicted that I would conceive, not this late into my life anyway and you must do everything in your power to help me protect this child, I beg of you…" "Fret not My Lady, I will do everything in my power to…" "Husband? What are you doing here? The doctor is just giving me the good news…" "How can you all possibly be so calm after the wild rumours that are circulating about us? What is this I hear about cinnabar being used in this family? And dead bodies of servants? Even the death of my son…" "For goodness sake husband! Watch whose company you are in first! And why pay attention to rumours that carry no evidence…" "You there! Servant! Are you deliberately running away from the home with your Mistress's belongings? What on earth are you carrying in your hands! Show me right now!" "Husband! Will you just calm down! She is my regular maid that you sent me last week doing my laundry!" "Regular maid? That I sent you? I did no such thing!" 'What do you mean, husband? How else was she allowed entry in your home without your permission! You! Servant! Drop whatever it is you are carrying onto the floor and…is that blood on your hands? Where is that coming from? Di you hurt anyone?" "Mistress! Isn't that your menstrual blood on those undergarments that she is carrying?" "My Lady! You cannot act so ignorantly anymore now that you have been caught out! You were the one who just gave me the instructions to hide this because you wish to believe that you are pregnant now!" "I gave you the orders? What could you possibly mean by that!" "Mistress, please do not throw me to the wolves like this just because you yourself were not careful enough with your own instructions!"
"Slander! This I nothing but pure slander!" "Mistress! If I am slandering you, then why not ask the doctor who is right there to take your pulse again! Then let us see if I am lying or not! Please spare me, Master!" "What are you…no, you cannot possibly be that stupid enough to do something like this, not now, not when there is so much uncertainty going on in this family! Doctor! What do you have to say for yourself!" "Master! Please forgive me! The Mistress Han here…has been paying me quite handsomely to act as if she is indeed pregnant! Master please forgive me! She threatened the life of my family if I didn't go along with her plans to make her appear pregnant after what she did to your second born son…" "What do you mean, what she did to my second born son? What exactly did she do to him? My son? Concubine?"
"But I…my food cravings…my weight gain….I am even beginning to loose my hair…I even have a prescription that I paid handsomely for…" "Madame, I already warned you that these can be the side effects of overdosing on your prenatal medicines! Don't you remember me warning you about this at all…" "Slander! I am being framed! Husband! You yourself have witnessed my pregnancy symptoms!" "My Lady, I have the prescription in hand that you asked for to delay my menstrual cycle, that is the reason why you asked me to come over today, isn't it?" "No it is not! I am being framed here! Why doesn't anyone believe in me! Look, I have the pregnant prescription here in my quarters…" Mistress, don't you remember asking to discard of it only this morning?" "I…no I did not! You are my maid since my promotion, why are you'll acting so out of character now? Haven't I treated you all well! You all even saw me back in the says where I was raised in the brothel, how can you even think to slander me now! Tell me who I spaying you for all of this! Is it Seo Yeon! That is right, only she is skilled enough to bribe my servants because she hardly uses any herself…"
"Madame, My Lord, there are palace guards outside who are her ego arrest you both on the suspicion of murder…" "Murder? What murder?" "The murder of The Former Crown Prince had his family who were all killed in specific locations rather close to your home and with the same methods of killing that your family is rumoured to have used this past week alone." "Let me see if I can understand this; the same crime that Seo Yeon, the daughter of Seo Geom was charged with this week, I am now accused of doing exactly the same thing? Just as my wife is also being accused of feigning a pregnancy?" "Husband!" "Feigning a pregnant? Then you shall both be charged with the crime of deceiving The Emperor, since The Mistress Han as more than once reached out to the palace to provide her with sufficient funds and resources to carry her baby to full term…"
