"Wife? Are you alright?" "Where is Hwan going? What's he going to do tonight? And tomorrow? Will I also loose him as well?" "Fret not wife, we always knew that out of both of your brothers, that he will turn out the most like his father with all of his never ending plans and ambitions and..." "He is so sweet with his sisters...I just hoped that he would stick around until our baby was born and showered him with the same rare affection that he shows..." My ever-loving husband scooped me up into his arms and took me to our bed and to our unborn child straight away by handing me my medicine and rubbing the prenatal lotion all over him that my mother once possessed when she had all of us... "What are you thinking about husband?" "I am thinking about how much time I thought that I had left with my father and ow i was going to make up everything to him, but then your father just..." "My father cannot survive this life or any other life without my mother and uncle, so it is not a total surprise that he took them with him in death. Can you light up the incense and put it in the twin's room? They cannot go to sleep without it." "I thought that you hated it and it made you nauseas? Unless...." "Unless what, husband?" "Unless you seriously do love your sisters after all and you have just been hiding your fondness underneath the several layers of jealousy and resentment that you harboured against them. That is why your father could never embrace them fully in front of you after all..." "I told that man to stop having children after Hwan! Is it my fault that he went against my wishes? I clearly told him no more girls either and he promised me and...what are you laughing at husband?" "I do not think I am going to miss the days of you endlessly lecturing your father about your wishes and your goals and your art and the embroidery house...oh by the way, your brother is sorting out your father's will and it looks like your mother bequeathed it to you." "Oh for goodness sake! I know she did that because she knows I hate embroidery! I hate it with a passion!" "I think she left it to you because you are everything and anything under the sun apart from patient." "Speaking of patient, what do you think about this plan that you brother has come up with?" "It is an ingenious plan, because we can all make int work and incorporate my own idea into it flawlessly." "Which is?" "Husband, I think it is best that you grieve whilst you can before you hear about any plan and put it into use." "And what about you, wife?" "I am pregnant, what do you expect me to do? I cannot loose myself in grief, not now, so I can only plan ahead for everyone and anyone, which means that I will have to stay behind here with your little brother until I have given birth and Hyuk returns from the kingdom after getting his part over and done with so he can start his new family and look after the twins for us."
As soon as I said those words, my husband finally felt comfortable enough to let his cool and clam composure down that my father had created for him and he finally broke down like the child that my mother used to describe to me. My mother knew that Geom would always be everyone's favourite as the youngest child and she took in Chiul's absence for his education into consideration, so she always single-handily favoured him and spoilt him the most. My father clearly had high hopes for him and as for my uncle/ father-in-law, I could tell that he always missed his eldest son even if he would never admit to it. He just could never tell how much his own son missed him in return and never even had the courage to send him the letters that he write to him during his time in the village. My husband cried like the little boy he used to be who used to follow his father around everywhere and never letting him out of his sight. He cried until he fell into an unusually deep sleep that I did not dare to interrupt so that I could tend to everyone else as my mother would have wanted me to. Starting with little Geom whom I found in his father's room, crying and holding onto his mother's blanket that she made for herself and her husband that she never threw out after decades of marriage. It was her simple wedding gift to him and he always cherished it, he hardly left me wash or repair anything that his wife made for him which was indeed everything in their private chambers. My mother-in-law made all of their furniture, all of their clothes, and their perfumes and incense for their own personal use. I too held him in my lap and I watched my precious little brother-in-law cry himself to sleep on my lap before tending to my own precious brother whom I knew couldn't sleep. I had questions for him, especially before he just left us all to live this double or triple life that he was leading in the kingdom in my father's brothel that he owned. We all knew exactly what was going on there apart from my father whom had distanced himself from that place from the moment that he successfully married my mother and brought her tour grandfather's village for good. Nobody agreed with it, but none of could control that boy expect for mother and now...it was up to me to look our for his well-being from now on I guess, it would like be raising a second child from afar.
I followed the second incense scent that came from our home that my brother no doubt lit himself despite years of protest against it simply because it was my father's favourite scent and he always demanded our mother to light the one that she made especially for him, at least when my father was out working in the field along with my uncle. And there I found him, laying on my father's side of the bed of all places; it was the one space that he was always forbidden to approach unlike myself and my twin brother. We always used to crawl into our parents bed in our youths and wait for them to wake up and play with us a little before waking up for the day. But Hwan was somehow much more clingier to my mother than even my twin brother was, so my father banned him from sleeping with them because she was already attached to her hip all day anyways. "What are you doing, little brother?" "What does it look like I am doing, noon-a? I am dying every single rule that old man gave to me since I was born." "And why do you think he treated you differently to us?" "Because he was jealous of the relationship that I had with my own mother, unlike him..." "Hwan! I am warning you, do not take that too far! I am your big sister and I have no problem with slapping you back to your senses!" "Of course, you will go to any length to defend him even beyond his death since you were always his favourite." "Fathers and daughters have a special bond, just like mothers and their sons. Do you have any idea how jealous you made Hyuk? He could't even hope to have our dear mother look in his direction when you were around." "Is that why he would always run away from me every time I used to find him? I used to cry when he did that to me." "But he could never follow through with it, remember? You were the only one who used to follow him anywhere and everywhere and he would eventually always come back for you and take your hand and play with you." "Getting my big brother's attention is nothing short of a miracle...where is he by the way?" "He is implementing father's will as a way to keep himself busy." "Did father leave me anything at all? Or has he forgotten about me, even there?" "Honestly, even I am surprised about how much he left to you." "Forget it; he hardly gave me anything when he was alive, why would I want anything now that he is gone? I only want ihwaru, you can give my twin sisters the rest of it." "There is no chance brother, father already went over everything with Hyuk last year and it is ironclad."
"What did you come here for? To lecture me in his place?" "No, I have actually come to talk to you about your little plan..." "What about it?" "I have a better idea that is a lot less time consuming; even farther himself would not want us to dedicate our entire lives to this revenge of his or any other plan that we have carried out for him." "So what are you thinking about?" "Brother, by the time you get into The Third Prince's harem, our sisters would have grown up to be of marriageable age and you know it." "So what do you suggest?" "I suggest that you have our cousin set up his own harem as the adopted son of The Third Prince who will then have no choice but to set up a harem with the relatives of his own concubines." "You saying it is the same harem but on a smaller scale? For his adopted son?" "Geom has already put in the work and Hyuk has already become his tutor after I did what I could to become acquainted with The Princess." "Ah yes, the infamous silk scene in the kingdom embroidery shop, how could I forget? That was probably your best acting yet, I mean with the help of that girl that you picked out from the village so that nobody could see your face at all." "Yes, I set her up with the best silk that mother could provide at a discount, which is what funds the village partially since she always buys in bulk. I also told her that The Mistress Han was planning on out-buying her, so she bought everything out for a year straight. Mother was really not happy with me about that, it was only the grace of my new sister-in-law that I wasn't severely punished." "And you already poisoned her and the servant that you used to make The Mistress Han jealous?" "Yes, but then I sent Bo-Geom specifically to tend to The Third Princess, via Kim Yeong of course." "Are you going to use that route to suggest to The Princess that her father should set up a harem for Dae-Jung?" "She owes me her life, or rather they owe my woman their ives, why won't they take that suggestion on? You are already providing him with all of the kisanegs from Ihwaru, and you can control most of the woman since they technically work for you, isn't that right?" "I would be employing girls from the kisaengs family, isn't that what you mean? That would certainly liberate them all and you can bring in any girls that you like...even men." "Do not mention that in front of Hyuk, he still doesn't know." "I am pretty sure he does, he is just pretending not to, you know how straight up of a man he is..." "Still do not mention that; I do not need my big brother knowing that I like men and that I am hiring them in the brothel....to bring in more clientele of course..." "Right, it is for the clients and not to make these men fight to the death for your favour and for Peter condition in the brothel?" "Who am I to stop anyone if they wish to throw themselves at me? Do not look at me like that, sex is different for men than it is for women and you know it. It is a game to us...but I think you plan is even better, thanks sis. I will make you a promise in return." "And what is that?" "I will try my very best to come home before my niece or nephew is born." "So you knew all along?" "Tonight was the first night that you passed up on drinking our grandfather's favourite wine, how could I not notice? Congratulations, by the way." "At least you noticed, unlike that stupid big brother of yours." "That stupid big brother of mine notices everything, he just cannot get past your...possessiveness of him." "We are twins, what doe she expect?" "Yes yes, everyone is a twin apart from myself." "My goodness, you are still not sore about that, are you?" "Sister, this will only work on one condition." "And what is that?" "Kim Yeong, she needs to be our candidate in Dae-Jung's harem, and you need to train her yourself to be the perfect concubine to entice Dae-Jung and favour her the most whilst I take out cases against everyone and make his harem crumble, that will lead to The Third Prince's harem crumble also, and we can put another Prince on the throne...one that Chul and Hyuk choose and help themselves. And Kim Yeong has to be close to Soo Yang."