These were the conversations that I was exposed to as I recovered in the side chambers of The Crown Prince himself. I was seriously unwell at the point and HwaWol stayed back for me as much as she could desire her own children needing her and I would forever be grateful for the help she has given to myself and my family over the years. MoonBok did his very best to help everyone who was afflicted by the fire, and it was only a few days later when the mother of The Crown Prince had to stand trial for her actions, along with her daughter. I could only be even more grateful for my brother's companions for getting me through my last trimester of pregnancy without my husband ad for staying with us despite the amount of trouble that we seem to give them. I myself was just about well enough when I was also summoned to The Emperor's inner chambers to witness what my almost killers had to say for themselves, but I was beginning to become more nervous than anything now. Myself and my husband had entered ourselves around far too many scandals now and The Emperor could only forgive us and take our sides so many times before he eventually become suspicious of us and even found a way to get rid of us ourselves. I wasn't usually a person who was riddled with anxiety, but now my hands couldn't stop shaking like they used to when I had my epileptic fits and my knees kept buckling under my heavy dress and I kept getting shivers down my spine. I was a compete mess without my husband and even though he was always sarcastic with his remarks of me needing him around to hold me together, certain events of late had made he realise that maybe he wasn't wrong in his remarks at all. Maybe he was the one who made me this way? On purpose? So that I could rely on him more just like he did with me?
"…Your Majesty; I am here to confess to my crimes that I planned to commit to The Seo Family…and The Nam's as well…" "And what would this be specifically?" "Your Majesty, I may have been responsible for the fire that was set yesterday. One of my stupid servants left my incense sticks to burn for too long and they didn't manage to wipe away the ash in time…" "And yet the fire hardly damaged your quarters at all concubine, unless you lit the stick right outside your quarters, which would really make so sense at all…" "Pardon the interruption, but 2 tragedies occurred yesterday both inside and outside the palace with the use of cinnabar at exactly the same time. My fellow companions here can attest to it, as well as the poisoned food that she gave me!" "Poisoned food? What poisoned food? All family members share the few cooks that we have here in the palace, so how could I have poisoned your food at all, Madame Nam?" "Then why don't you take a look at the food that I had packaged for you to give to you as a tribute? I have only left it with your servants and it has already turned black in less than a day. I haven't touched itquself since I handed it over to you, so the only explanation that I can get from this will be from you and your team of servants, My Lady."
"I…but I didn't! You gifted this to me, so why would I have poisoned this at all?" "Are you then casually suggesting that I have poisoned this and gave it to you when I have absolutely no grudge against The Royal Family at all? Myself, my brother and even my husband has countlessly risked our lives in service for this kingdom and family. Why can't you just admit that you have been a complicit ally of the infamous Mistress Han and you must have bribed her servants for you both to have committed the same crime on the same day?" "Madame Nam! No matter what I have done, you simply cannot put words in my mouth just because it suits you well!" "And murder within the palace is punishable by executing 9 generations of an entire family clan. So please think twice about the questions that The Emperor will ask you about…" How dare you! Who are you to scold me like this!" "Who am I? I am the woman that you have constantly come to for council about your children's lives. Your own servants can be a witness that myself and my husband both tried to dissuade you from marrying your children into a clan that we had distanced ourselves from and yet both of your children overruled my counsel and now you are trying to frame me into pressuring you to make decisions that caused the downfall of your own family? Even when I am heavily pregnant? I think not, My Lady! My father didn't sacrifice himself for his children only to be framed themselves by the family who cased his death in the first place! You poisoned my food and let snakes loose into the city of my residence before coming here, so the number of casualties are rather intense!" "Casualties? What casualties? What exactly are you talking about, Madame Nam?"
"Your Majesty! You cannot listen to her accuse me of lies! I am also sharp and certain in everything that I have done for you and this family! Please take all of that in account before you…" "Anyone who serves me must do so with sincerity, unless you have brought this up because you have not been sincere to me? You have clearly been stretching out your female hand in politics and major affairs of state as soon as you unsuccessfully married of both of your children. And now your son has gone out o this way to form alliances and make collusions within my court even before he is even on my throne! You son still has a long way to go and now after the recent events, I have half a mind to remove all of you from the Imperial Genealogy! And I would do so if he didn't already have his own family! So for now, I shall ban him from the palace and have him set up his own household elsewhere in this kingdom even before he is official titled and married off! I shall even marry off our daughter elsewhere so she can be somebody else's problem and as for you concubine; you have caused multiple disturbances in our harem and court and you have been found guilty of colluding to instigate The Imperial Court! You shall be confined in your quarters for the time being and later on when i have assessed my son's progress outside, I shall send you to him if you both act accordingly!" "Husband! Will you really cast myself and my family aside like this! Will you really abandon us like this!" "My Crown Prince is incapable of making long term decisions and he is practically selling off his own sister to entice and seduce his supporters! You are all lucky that I am leaving you with your lives in tact after the sheer embarrassment that you have caused this family!" "So you shall just cut me off?"
"You seduced me when I was in a low point in my life and you haven't contributed to this family or this nation at all; you do not do charity work, you isolate yourself from my other concubines and you have airs of superiority that simply does not suit your personality or status at all…" "I only dud it because I love you so much…" "We haven't been together since our children are born; I do not know what type of delusion you are suffering, nor do I want to know about it to be honest. And it turns you have have stolen credit for The Madame Nam's ideas? After everything her family have contributed to this kingdom? How dare you deceive me like this? And it isn't for the first time, is it?" "No I did not! I did nothing of the sort!" "Then My Lady, maybe you can explain to His Majesty here your thought process of both of your children's relationship sixth the Nam's? You can tell him here why you chose them, what benefits you drew from it, if you agreed with they parents declining background and how you found the right matchmaker to bless their marriages before their father themselves!" It must have been the shock of being confronted that subdued The concubine for the first tie in probably a very long time for her, but that didn't ease my worries. I wanted to get the hell out of here as fast as I could, so I iddm't hesitate to rub salt in her already open wounds so that The Emperor would have no hook but to let me go. "Your system of marriage and then riding officials with your own daughter has done nothing but to bring down your family on it's head, and in such a public manner as well! I fear that I may have to raise my family with my husband in solution due to this scandal and how closely you have entangled myself in it also! You have shamed the people and let your ancestors and deities down with your selfish actions…forgive me Your Majesty, I am exceptionally hormonal today and I cannot retain my words, please forgive me once again…"
"And on that note; I clearly need to establish some sort of personal evaluation system for the pope who will be joining our family in marriage, as I recall some years ago, were you not a part of the disaster relief plan that helped your n=husband earn a promotion, Madame Nam? I shall expect your assistance with tis projects and then I shall dismiss you back home." "I thank you, Your Majesty." "Fear not, this useless concubine of mine will not outwardly resent you and cause you harm. In fact, she will be confined with all of the servants of her wing guarding her but never serving her again, not even for menial tasks anymore. I shall demote her to the maid that she once was and dispose of her nail guards once and for all! She will not need them after cutting off her own future herself!"
"Whilst I am no longer able to serve Your Majesty, please do not forget to water your plants by your bedside as they are the best for making scented blankets and the clothes that you love, the yoga ginger herbs are the best to chase out bugs from your office on a hot summers day and…" "That is enough concubine; the servants will now frag you out by your hair and we shall never in this lifetime or any other one meet ever again. You will be punished heavily for this and…" '…and everything I have done was for you my dear husband, so I shall be reunited with you soon up there when you time comes also." "I shall never see you again; a woman of the harem must believe in compassion for the world, she doesn't hear and doesn't talk and doesn't lie and doe snot commit evil. She handles everything wisely in her heart and despite her mortality with 7 emotions, she aspires to be somewhat of a goddess that can brith an Imperial Heir worthy of my royal bloodline, which you are clearly not. She must surpass rumours before they become her and…" "Your Majesty! I am not a favour fighting woman! I only made a few mistakes with my children and you demonise me like this so harshly! But if a home does not have high walls and if men are not seeking pleasure for their reverse nature, would there be any power struggle at all? Where else do competition for the crown come from? For the sake of the throne and fortune, do father's not kill sons and vice versa? Men are praised for being brave and intelligent for that, but why is it when it comes to women are considered small-minded and narrow? Is it because of the difference between dignity and contempt? How pretentious you all are indeed!" "Farewell concubine."