"…when it comes down to appropriateness and adherence to the duties of the harem, then Concubines Cho and Park seem to be better than the rest…" "Concubine Choi, who exactly allowed you to talk of such affairs?" "Forgive me, I just assumed that…" "assumed what exactly? Just focus on birthing my baby for me, that is all your duty is." "Husband! Where are you going!" "To see off my wife at her funeral!" To the funeral my foot, I could see my ex-lover strolling through the harem and right into Concubine Cho's residence with a smile on his face that I had never seen before. Apparently it was clear that I had never been able to make him that happy, and my curiosity got the better of me, so I couldn't help but to sneak a peek through the windows to watch him practically pounce on his sleeping concubine and whisper sweet nothings in her ears. "…I love how close you are to my favourites, but I want you to myself sometimes." "Yes husband, but do not evict them from my palace please, we all get so lonely without you." "Very well, if you insist…." "Aren't you attending your wife's funeral today?" "I am not and neither shall you, or the favourite Concubines. The rest shall have to go in your stead and…." "And you shall stay here with me all day long?" "If that is your wish. And when the spring comes, we can savour liquor in front of the flowering crabapples in the courtyard." "And when the snow-white pear flowers cover the ground, I will dance the started swan if I can, and in the summer heat, we can shelter together in the shades of the trees…" "…and in the winter, we can watch a sky of blowing snow, and we shall always be together." "Yes we will be Hui-Jae, I can promise you that…"
It was happening again; my anger was boiling over with no end in sight as I had to witness my ex-lovers current lovers live in opulent wealth and luxury and in the arms of the man who promised me everything that I had been working so hard for, everything that I had dreamed of and it was all taken away by his indecisiveness. Well, I wasn't going to just sit here and watch him spoil these others whereas silly, not after the hell that I had been made to endure during my time in the palace, and it was all thanks to him. And it was a rather long wait as I had to wait for him to emerge outside of his precious concubine's quarters and catch him on the way to the funeral which should be in it's last stages by now, and I was armed and ready…
"Protect the Prince! Protect him at all costs! Who shot him! Why is he so badly wounded in the harem! Who could have done this! Summon the physician quickly! And whatever happens, the pregnant concubines can never find out about this!"
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"What happened to my husband! Who was he with last! Who was it! Who is the jinx in the harem that made our husband suffer so!" "My Lady he was with Concubine Cho last!" "Arrest her and put her in the prison cell until we find out exactly what happen to The Third Prince and who shot him exactly! Nothing ever good happens to him when he is away from my sight! I warned him and now look at what happened to him! Will he only let his favourite concubines go when they kill him!" "But My Lady, you all share the same rank and you have no authority….""I am carrying my Prince's baby, of course I have some authority! And if anything happens to him then I shall personally kill Concubine Cho myself! And arrest Concubine Kim for not managing our harem correctly! Now go and carry out my orders at once!"
Not even a few minutes had barely passed after Concubines Cho and Kim were arrested before Concubine Park had launched herself at the mercy of the physicians and came up with some utter rubbish that she herself could help the Prince in his current state. Concubine Chi almost had a complete mental breakdown at that point and went into early labour herself. "Concubine Park! You are become more unruly and bold! How dare you become an obstacle in this situation! Just stay inside and do not interfere…"
"Here comes His Majesty, The Emperor!" "Your Majesty…" "Attendant Choi? The last time I checked, you were not in charge of my son's harem, so who are you to make any decisions on his behalf! Just return to your quarters and focus on your baby! And as for Concubine Park, let her through." "Your Majesty, you shouldn't! Your son ended up in this state because these whores distracted him from attending his wife's funeral!" "He never had any plans to attend that funeral, as you well know, Attendant Choi." "Come with me Concubine Park and let us see if we can help my son together…" "…why are his hands so cold? Please take a look here whilst I heat up some towels and water for him." "Quickly! We have to massage his limbs to get his circulation going!" "What is going on her exactly! How is The Third Prince?" "Your Majesty, his life will be at risk if we do not give him constant massages! It looks like The Third Prince was stuck by a poisonous arrow! I need a team of servant here to carry this out and to do it gently…"
"Your Majesty! Your son looks even paler! Please let me try!" "Very well Concubine Park, you can try but do not get in the way of the servants of physicians." "Your Majesty, it looks like The Concubine Park knows exactly what she is doing, the colour is already returning to His Highness's face! Concubine Park seems to be very familiar with massage techniques, she should stay here and do the job well along with the servants, for this will allow him to recover much faster!"
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"How dare she impede me once again! That selfish bitch! I should be the one to care for him! If that bitch hadn't played a few tricks in front of The Emperor, I would be the one attending to him right now! Servant! Where is she! Where has the ex-Mistress Han gone! Tell her to do what she does best in the palace and keep an eye on The Third Prince! The Third Prince, my love, my one true love, you must get well soon. No matter how many times you turn away from me, you must be well again, for our baby…and for myself. You will notice my capabilities and strengths one day, I know that you will. You will keep me in mind and you will love me more than anyone else has in my entire life…oh no, no, not now…..servants! The baby is coming! Quickly! I need help…"
"…this damned Mistress of mine! She didn't let me do anything when I waned to, but now that she has gone into active labour, now she lets me do whatever I want to do! And now she is making up excuses for me to carry out her orders like I did with my old slaves!" I puffed and pouted as I made my way over my lover after I had carried out my Mistress's orders when I could hear the physicians shouting a mile away behind me about my ex-lovers physical state. "Your Majesty! This doesn't look good at all! His Highness has gone cold all over! Didn't anyone notice it! Where is The Concubine Park! Where is she!" "But he was fine a few moments ago!" "Your Highness! It appears that The Concubine Park has also been poisoned! We need to treat her, quickly…"
"What on earth is all of the commotion? Has something happened?" "It is nothing that you will remember after tonight anyways my love…" "Stop calling me that! I am no-ones lover! I never have been and I never will be!" "Is that so? Then you can forget all about this opium that I have brought over just for you…" "Don't start fucking playing games with me girl, you are not the only dealer that exists in this kingdom…" "Nam Seon-Ho! Come back here! Look I have it in my hands just for you! But will it kill you to be a little nicer to me!" "Nice! To you! The bitch who made me a fucking drug addict during the pique of my career! I will never forgive you for this!" "How else was I supposed to make you come back to me! Who told you to chase that epileptic whore around the kingdom? You were only supposed to exploit her like you have done with everyone else in your life, including her brother!" "Fuck you! Don't you ever bring up the Seo's name from your filthy little mouth ever again! I had to abandon everyone that I have built relationships with just to…to be the man that my father always thought that I was!" "That is because you are, and there is no running away from it." "Not, fuck this, I have to go back…back to my family…"
"And how will you do that? Seo Hwi will kill you as soon as he sees you." "For what? I haven't done anything wrong!" "That isn't so, I mean, how is he supposed to feel when he finds out that his precious little sister killed herself along with The Lady Min right after you broke up with her and you broke her heart. Or he won't be happy with the fact that he will be arrested soon after the birth of his son…Chul, was it? For some illegal materials that you yourself handed over to him? Or the fact that your family clan will close in on his wife and newborn as soon as he is away from them? Or if that isn't enough, how about the fact that The Third Prince was just shot with a very poisonous arrow just over an hour ago…an arrow with the markings of The Nam Clan? Now will you think twice about leaving me ever again?"