From commoner to concubine to commoner again and now I was heading outside of the capital to find the location of my fake parents after finding out what Hanna had done to my real parents. Or what her husband? Or her brother? Seo Hana; she takes everything she possibly can from me and watches me get humiliated by the world. And now that I had no parents to go home to, I was now forced to revive her family business back into the palace. And as for Seo Hyuk, even when the heavens gave us another chance to reconcile, he still wanted nothing to do with me at all. Why? Because I was an abandoned woman? Who suffered from a miscarriage? Because I belonged to someone else first? I believed that I was kind and tolerant enough to wait for him after all of this time, so why couldn't he do the same thing to me? What so great about Bo-Geom! Did I have to utterly humiliate him in order to have him once and for all? Bur right now I was in mo position to have him as I was nowhere near powerful enough to have the freedom that I lost within The Imperial Harem. I could not yet give him my heart and my love despite all of my sacrifices that I have made for him. And what can I do if his so-called family is always lingering around him and locking him in like that? Bo-Geom has never gone out of her way to please him like I dud back then, so why ruin my chances like this? My entire life is ruined by her false friendship just like Seo Hana.
"Just what are you thinking about Lady Nam? You have been rather quiet since the whole debacle at the coming-of-age ceremony." "It is nothing, I am simply thinking about the sand mine situation that you have uncovered for me, it has nothing to do with our carriage ride there." "So what exactly are you thinking about?" "I am thinking about how The Imperial Court closed down this mine, who could have been powerful enough to have opened it right under the government's nose? Unauthorised mining is a crime of treason, so how could the local government dare to open it up again in secret?" "It must be from His Lordship them." "But if I am to return to His Highness's Imperial Court with this information, how can I possibly denounce his late adopted son for this? Especially when he is protecting his bastard son from this scandal even now?" "We need too think about that later and focus on how we are going to apprehend the spies first." "Won't you have your men meet us where we are going?" "I will, but we still need a plan."
"What news from The Palace? Is His Highness still ill?" "He's and old man now and not capable of much and The First Prince is still very young and uneducated, so Prince Han-Chul has been stepping in from time to time to handle the more serious matters." "What about Concubine Kim?" "I think you mean Imperial Concubine Kim now; she interferes with politics as much as possible as she is certainly t he most educated concubine in the entire Imperial Harem." "Is that so? How is she interfering with politics without getting in trouble for it?" "She is the foster mother of The First Prince and she has single-handedly come up with a strategy to re-establish old positions within The Privy Court to perfect the hierarchy chain, especially amongst the governors." "Really? A new hierarchy chain..." "Lady Nam? Is everything alright?" "I suppose that there has been talk of...installing her as The Empress soon after she did that isn't that right?" "How did you know?" "It was just a lucky guess I suppose; for accomplishing such a feat and stop various factions forming at the sane time...positions cannot be shared, but the honour can be. The course of power will shift into a pre direction entirely and...did she revive The 3 Excellencies position?" "How do you know all of this?" "Reviving posts with equal authorities to The Grand Chancellor will keep everyone out of trouble for a while....I expect Prince Han-Chul should be might pleased with this arrangement as well. He is next in line to take over The Throne, is he not?" "It looks that way; but honour can be used as either a shield or a sword, depending on who uses it. And his previous Princess Consort was poisoned to death for acts of currently that she blamed entire on her late husband." "I suppose it will be The 3 Excellencies who will start asking for her to be raised to the highest position possible? Is nobody against this?" "Nobody really has a reason to oppose to it as she is the most ethical and educated concubine that His Highness has." "But she is the daughter pot a spice merchant!" "His Highness has raised her family's status of course, even the 6 department heads, deputy minsters and even councilmen of the Privy Council agrees with it." "Such a smooth procession at all, she must be getting the right kind of help that I was never entitled to in my entire life..."
"The only problem she is facing is the issue of tribute women from some of the governors that she cannot seem to dissuade, not even The Ihwaru Brothel can sort out, even though she has attained the biggest concubine residence 'to plan thing out for her husband." "Whoever holds the trade rights Ould need assistance from The Imperial House....Imperial Concubine Kim, there were many poisoning cases involving her in His Lordship's Imperial Harem. Had anyone els been accused of it?"
"They say that someone was accused of poisoning her son, and the rumours are persistent about his declining heath." "His declining health...His Lordship did have a minor case of asthma ever since his accident that crippled his leg, maybe that is it." "And no amount of memorisation of etiquette and genealogy can make up for that, and she wants power of The Inner Court, through The Imperial Office via The Office of Treasury." "If I were to come back, she would surely let me take charge of everything and blame me behind my back viscously..." "Excise me? What did you just say?" "Nothing, I was just t honking aloud under my breath." "What were you saying about someone trying to ostracise you?" "It is nothing at all, please do not listen to my meaningless ramblings. And what news of...The Imperial Scholars?" "It seems as though they wish to strengthen the current state of the government by appointing old officials to restore old state exams..." "Before Confucius, isn't that right?" "Yes that wish to reduce the number of military officials in there meantime to..." "But nobody has ruled the world with ink before; we have progressed through our ancestors goals with blood, sweat and tears....why are you looking at me like that?" "Nations are founded through wars, but what holds them together are ideology and knowledge. Looting and murdering innocent people cannot be justified in any way shape or form." "A predator needs prey in order to survive. And as for The Royal Treasury issue; a new group of merchants should be formed. But years of famine and post-war have left the people in misery. I cannot use His Lordship for influence and revenge anymore...the governors must inly provide a minimum amount of support. Minerals should also be collected from each province, and sell them to the military for a profit? To feed the starving commoners? But what if Prince Han-Chul backs out of this deal? He hates corruption to the core and he will not hesitate to slaughter his entire Imperial Court for it...strip them on their noble positions and confiscate their assets...that will also fill up The Imperial Treasury! And kick out the spies in his Imperial Court for good measure! The sea route is the most heavily recognised economic trade route with other provinces...but then again, they can take the silk road in retaliation...an embargo...and exclusive trading rights...ginseng and ramie cloth should be at the forefront...the longer this lasts, the more pressure their should be on the expeditionary forces...the saltpetre and surfer and everything else, this is why His Lordship demanded those resources in particular!"
"My Lady, you seem to be having some sort of nervous breakdown...shall I get you some water or..." "Forgive me, I tend to thunk out aloud in stressful situations, it I snot as if I have parchment and ink with me at the moment, is it?" "That is true..." "You can go our of the carriage and give the driver and break to command the horses if you find my outer thoughts unsettling. Now for Concubine Kim...we can sow discord between her and His Highness by writing false letters from a false lover...and explosives from those resources despite the embargo...collusion to be caught in the act...using said profits to build up military to take back old territories...to avoid new rule? Tryanny? A false ledger? Or a real one? The keshig? Or a new group pf elite soldiers? Who can they report the contents of the ledger to? Unless she hands it in to absolve herself? To win over the key officials? Including the military? Will she also manipulate public opinion? Through war wars a fool's errand, and bestowed with honourable titles to ensure their loyalty. So will they praise her for feeding them as well? No proof can be left behind, not at all...not even The Imperial and Court Seal...she won'r be hold responsible at all and can even gain his trust...selling government positions and accumulating wealth by the wrong means...they fail to protect the people correctly..." "Lady Nam?" "..and as for my parents trail...what can I say?w which witnesses can I summon to The Judicial Review? I have to prove no acts of corruption, and key father's people who know the truth are imprisoned along with them? Embezzlement from the previous disaster relief funds? More plans and evil actions...when they were on duty, where did the money go? The village...building dams and footpaths...to bribe the people with? Trying to embarrass the goodwill of those in the capital who live lavish lives? Who own thousands of acres of land? What if their appearances can prove their tortured state of mind, after all of this time? Kind advice is hard on the ears and nobody can abandon such upright officials and even merchants like this; eradicating the corrupt ones and it needs further investigation! Yes! That shall be my argument in court! But what about me escaping with criminals? How can I refute that charge? Morale is at an all time low now and...no, if the primal is disproved from being a criminal, then there is no criminal charge at all, right? May parents were brought down and taken hostage when I was deposed as a concubine, my family business got shut down and I still suffered from an unknown miscarriage. My whole family suffered from one disaster to another...framing and hiding witnesses...framed in my own case against Concubine Im. And then there is the case of The First Prince at the same time! She will be blamed for his ill-health eventually and accused of being ignorant and neglectful...unless they hatched this plan together to frame someone yet again? Whose position is Concubine Kim eyeing this time? Suicide or execution? Family sent to the borderlands as punishment? The loser should be the one to punished and humiliated greatly so that they dare not mess with me again or make me loose my status ever again. Nobody can refuse me again or even show their guilty conscious to me at all. And as for me trying to get pregnant again...sour foods for a girl and spicy for boys..."