"I simply cannot believe you, sister! How dare you pimp me out like this! I am your brother, not some kisaeng that will follow around any sort of woman and just..." "what are you complaining about, brother? It worked didn't it? Kim Yeong I snow in the palace as our cousin's concubine! I wouldn't have had to come up with this ruse if yourself and cousin Chul could actually find him before, isn't that right?" "You...!" "What? You are lucky that Hwan and Geom are as close as they are, how else could Geom have found him? Now he is acting like the owner of The Ihwaru Brothel and sending him all of the kisanegs that mother helped? They are raking it in now, so why are you so upset? Unless...." "Unless what you brat?" "Unless you are whinging like a little girl because there is in fact a girl that you care about, enough to be upset that she might misunderstand your new friendship with Kim Yeong..." "You evil brat! Come over here and I shall just..." "Enough! Both of you! My goodness, do twins normally fight this much?" "Not all twins! And we wouldn't be fighting at all if my brother here just rolled over and accept that his fate is in my hands..." "You little brat! Who says that you control my fate at all?" "Father says so, and so does our uncle, isn't that right, Cousin Chul?" "Stop it Hana; his face has already turned red, you don't want him to explode now, do you?" "It will do him good to explode cousin, maybe that way he can finally express some emotion instead of acting like he is constipated all of the time..." it was a good thing that my cousin was there to protect me from my brother when he suddenly lunged at me in rage, but I was not scared of him in the least. He was such an uptight human being and we had nothing in common at all apart from our faces, sometimes it was really hard to acknowledge that he was my biological brother. Absolutely nobody could read him which drove everyone around him crazy, including myself. I had no idea how my cousins were so patient with him, but they seemed to respect him instead of trying to lead him down a path and forcing him to do things like my father did. In the end, he had create this own path in life and I had no choice but to accept that, but that didn't mean that I couldn't join in the fun, could I? In fact, my father would be proud of me for helping guide his son back to his path and would maybe even reward me for doing such a thing. And speaking of my father...
"Hana? It looks like your father has just arrived in his carriage outside, but he hasn't come in yet. Maybe you should be the one to welcome him inside before he kills me for bringing you back here without his permission?" "That stubborn old fool; always wanting to be waited on everywhere he goes. Can you find Bo-Geom and bring her home? My father will soften up even more when he sees her, he always does." Very well, but rest assured that is the only time that you get to order me around in my own home..." "Your home, Master Chul?" "Yes yes, your father is letting us stay here for free but I am in charge here so...what? Why are you looking at me like that?" "So in the end, you are just another man who is looking to secure power and position and so on and so forth..." "I am just carrying out the mission that you father has set for me, and when that is over, I shall return to our village and reunite with my father, for I have much to make up to him." "Is that why he is always sarcastic with you whoever you come home?" "Let us not discuss this; bring your father inside and I shall make up a room for him..." "Forget it, you know that he will never part a night from my mother uncles he absolutely had to." "Just bring him inside then." "Yes Master, of course master, is there anything else, master?" "You can grow up whilst you are at it." "Why ever shall I do such a ghastly thing?" Myself and Chul usually went back and forth like this when we were in the company of others to keep the atmosphere light, but that was only because we hadn't been left alone yet with each other. Straight away after settling in here, himself and my brother would lock themselves away in his study to talk about god only knows what behind closed doors. I had kept myself distracted with Kim Yeong and Geom so far on his visits and they all played their parts well enough around her...but how I longed to be in his presence alone. The very thought kept me awake all night long despite our close familial relations. It wasn't right and I knew it and he knew it, but that fact didn't stop all of these feelings flooding inside of me every single time that I found myself alone. No wonder my father was the way he was with my mother, now I was beginning to understand him even more than I thought was possible...
"Daughter?" I didn't even give him the time to stand get off from his horse himself before I pulled him into a really tight hug and I just couldn't stop holding onto him. My poor father looked like a wreck without me even though we had only been parted for 2 days; he looked as gaunt and thin as I had ever seen him, he hadn't even changed his clothes since the last time that I saw him and he needed a bath and so much work done to him with lots of tender love and care.
"Do you mean to strangle me to death, daughter? How dare you leave my home without my permission? And my blessing? I didn't raise you like this, you know! How could you just..." I interrupted him mid sentence when I made him scoop me up in his arms again just like he would when I was little and I held onto him as tightly as I could so that he would have no choice but to dissipate his anger and just hold onto me like he used to until I was ready to let go. "Forgive me father, but you know that mother would have had her reasons to send me away." "Oh really? What reason could trump your father's word I wonder?" "I cannot tell you or you will get angry with me and marry me off somewhere to keep me away for my own safety..." "Daughter? What on earth have you gotten yourself into?" "All you need to know is that I am doing everything for you, my dear father." "Hana..." "I didn't give him the chance to say anything more as I dragged him by the arm inside our home where I had a pot of his favourite tea waiting for him. And the smell of the incense that my mother gifted me seemed to have bought some life into him again. I also had a plate of pastries ready for his eventual arrival which he gladly ate to his hearts contents as I washed his feet for him. "Your mother taught you well, girl." "I know what to do to keep my old man happy." "Who are you calling an old man?" "This man whom feet I am washing? When was the last time that you ate anything father? Tell me the truth?" "Do you expect me to consume anything in your absence? Our home is far too quiet without you, apart from all of the noise that brat Hwan makes at home." "Wasn't I just as loud as he was at his age?' "For twins, yourself and your brother hardly made any noise at all; you only cried when you needed to and you hardly had any tantrums, well, I can say that for your brother, but you..." "Yes yes, mother has told me of all of the times I would make our peaceful home a living hell in your absence." "You would either cling onto my legs or block the door so that I could not even step out of our home without you, and yet here you just leave without any warning and..." "Father! I have my work to do here; I will not just sit at home and rot my future away just because I am a twin! I have too many talents to just waste away like that." "Are you at least being careful girl?" "Nobody has paid attention to me and I cover my face whenever possible father I can assure you. You can ask your son if you do not believe me!" "Of course I believe you my girl, I am just worried about you. I still have far too many enemies here in the kingdom, and the last thing that I need is that..." "trust me father, you need not worry about your enemies anymore." "And just what exactly is that supposed to mean? Come on girl, do not act so mysteriously as your brother does..." "Does that mean that you still haven't figured out what he is up to?" "He is as tenacious and cunning as you mother used to be..." "i hardly think so father." "What do you mean girl? What would you know of her youth? Unless...she has told you something?"
"I am not going to lie to you father, I came across mother's diaries at a young age and I pretty much know everything that she has been through, what you both went through before you even got married. And let me tell you what I have always thought from a young age." "Daughter?" "Mother isn't as innocent as she claims to be and even you must know it to some degree. She could have shielded all of this from you entirely, but...." "But I pursued her, so..." "She let you pursue her father; she exposed you to everything for you to make the decision if you wanted to stay in her life or not. Father?" "Who else knows? Tell me the truth, does your brother know about it? Any of it?" "He doesn't father, rest assured that I have kept him away from it all and you would know otherwise he would do something in her defence by now." "That is true, he was always attached to her, and now Hwan..." "Mothers are a boy's first love, as well you should know, just like father's are a daughters first love." "I suppose so..." "So? What news from the village?" "Other than your sudden disappearance? Are you even going to tell me about your plans with Kim Yeong and why you have her in your close circle? And mine for that matter?" "You can worry about that later, just give me some news. How is mother? How is that little brat Hwan?" "He is on a warpath without his big sister to spoil him rotten like you used to, just like your mother. But there is news from the village and I need you and your cousins to keep an eye on." "On whom? What has happened?" "Kim Yeong's old friend, Shin Saimdang..." "The second daughter of the man who become a Confucian Scholar, thanks to your help? Hyuk's old tutor? What about him?" "He is dead." "What? What do you mean?" "Something happened at Woonpyeongsa mountain, a massacre of some sort. I am still investigating the scene, but it has lead to the father's death and some hush wedding to some brainless wannabe Confucian Scholar who has failed the national state exam several times now. It is such a pity, since she was your only real completion in the village..." "She was never my competition father; I wholeheartedly embrace women who are pro-education, just like mother has taught me. I do not abide intelligent women taking advantage of this rare opportunity to divulge into cheap tricks thought. And it is a shame since she is very talented ;enough to become a female patron in this day and age. What about that Lee Gyeom that she was always with?" "It looks like his guardian and her father got involved into making some kind of deal to marry her off to keep the both of them safe? Anyways, I do not have the full details yet, but I want you to keep a close eye on that family, I will send you some servants to recruit on my behalf and insert them into the families you need to watch until your return to the village." "Very well father." "Bring your cousins and your brother to me; I have already been spotted in the village and been asked for a round of drinks in the brothel that I am assured that you stay way from?" "Of course father; Hyuk will explode from anger before you do if he ever saw me go in that direction." "Good girl; I shall be out with them all day long and will most likely have dinner with them before I go back to the village, I cannot keep your mother waiting." "How much do you want to bet that you will crash her tonight drunk instead?" "Watch your tone, girl." "Forgive me father, but you know I cannot stand it when you drink."