Body & Soul 🇰🇷 Part 1

Chapter 163: Park Hyo-Sonn

I could not believe my eyes when I saw him making his way to my home all after all this time! I screamed so loudly I was surprised that I didn't wake up the entire home! I had just came home from a very long day of work and I was completely ready to collapse into bed starving and covered in filth as usual. And of course the King sisters were as spoilt as I had imagined so they often bullied me to do their housework as well.

I caught him out of the corner of my eye from the window outside of my room. But before I had time to fix myself up he was already banging on the door non-stop calling for my name! Mine! For as long as we had known each other, I do not recall every hearing my name on his lips! And it wasn't the formal 'miss' he actually pronounced my personal name from noble mouth a few times that I found myself savouring it...until realised that he was slurring his words. Wait...was he drunk? As far as I knew he alway had a sober mind and body...when did he start drinking? I mean...he had started coming into work so late that I didn't have time to watch him as I used to...I was actually getting really worried about him but he wouldn't let me approach him at all.

I had to rush to the door and quickly run past him whilst grabbing his arm so no-one could see a man's concubine talking to another man. I had already ruined my reputation and I was suffering for it greatly, I couldn't let it happen again."Hyun-Ki. Is it really you? Why are you here? How did you find me? Did you...did you come here to give me a second chance? Hyun-Ki ...I" "Look...you're right, I...I treated you badly. I...I haven't m-married yet. But you...you are somebody else's...concubine...so how can we..." I felt as if I could scream in excitement for days and days on end. I...i really do not remember being...happy like this....ever. "No! No its not like that believe me! I...I promise you I haven't been touched my any man in my life. I swear...you can even take me to the doctor and he will tell you. I...i am still a maiden..." I trailed off in embarrassment. I didn't know it would be this hard to talk to him...my mind wondered to how brazen Yeon was with her man. They just seemed...other worldly; they didn't care about social etiquette or rules, they were not a coy couple like everyone else...in fact they were everything but. I remembered her either running up to him whenever he waited for her outside of work or she had her own personal escort to his office in the palace! And her certainly wasn't shy in his over-protectiveness or his...controlling nature over her...it was as if he was afraid that she would run away if he turned his back for even a second. But Yeon...you could see only him in her eyes. She was definitely...abnormal but she had devoted herself to him a long time before he came for her. I looked over at Hyun-Ki who was still drunk and starting to become incoherent and I wondered...no I wished I could be bold and happy in love just like they were.

When I was sure that everyone had fallen asleep I had taken him by the arm and practically dragged him back to the home. I knew the servants were all asleep on the floor outside of their mistresses rooms since there was no room for them. I had been through a lot of bullying but I had a very hard time manoeuvring a fully grown drunk man around that. In the end I managed to get him onto my bed and I cared for him meticulously, not even leaving his side for a second to meet my own basic needs all night long until I fell asleep by his side. It was only when I noticed subconsciously that he was trying to release his hand from mine that I woke up. "Hyun-Ki? Are you awake? Here, have some water, you must be thirsty after coming to find me so late. I actually...I actually made some ginseng soup last night for myself last night. It took me weeks to find it but it's ok! You can have it!" I couldn't stop talking all of a sudden but...well I had never hosted anyone before, let alone a man! All to myself! "You know I...I dreamed so many times of you coming to see me, and here you are! I guess this is...how s...soulmates think alike..." I trailed off, blushing like crazy, suddenly aware that he was just staring at me with a look I couldn't decipher. "Here, have the soup. Do you need anything else? Shall I...shall I massage your head for you?"

"No! No it...it is ok. I'm ok now" he shudders at my touch but I just figured that he was as inexperienced with the opposite as I was. "Listen...were you telling me the truth when you said told me last night that you are still a maiden?" "Yes...yes, oh god yes. Seon-Ho has never touched any of us at all. We were gifts from the King but he just dumped us here in this bare unfurnished home with no servants. The other concubines afforded them on their own but I...I'm not as wealthy as them so I have to do everything on my own" "You're right...hang on. A huge military personality like him has gifted his concubines a home to themselves but he wont't even visit you? He won't have you service him?" "That's right. We have to live on our own salaries from our jobs to buy our own provisions. Seon-Ho doesn't want anything to do with us at all. He's too obsessed with that slut who is no better than I am" "still? After all this time?" He asked me incredulously, as if he refused to believe it. "Her sister-in-law runs the biggest gibang in the village but he only goes there for personal reunions or for work. But he's known for rejecting all the kisengs that came his way, the same goes for her brother. They're all faithful to their women" "do you...do you know the story between them?" "Who? All three of them. The siblings and the general?" "Hmmm...she told me years ago when we were close that him and her brother were completely attached to each other since early childhood and Yeon had a crush on him since they met. Then her brother got sent to the army three months earlier than he was when he won the military exam. Yeon suffered from epilepsy straight after her father's public punishment, she couldn't be left alone so Seon-Ho housed her for maybe 2-4 years, I don't really remember. But apparently it was from there that he kind of...changed towards her. They only had each other so their relationship depend...and he's been following her around ever since. There were even rumours that he went ahead with wedding plans without even asking for her hand. And she just went along with it" I explained everything to him, hoping that he would change the subject of conversation soon now that I had him all to myself.

I didn't expect the look he gave me though...it was like he was horrified "so he...he married the girl by force? And kept her to his side before that? Wasn't he...wasn't he the reason she ran away and started working in the first place? He married her like that...then what? Is she some sort of...of...slave to him? She's a mother already so what...he has her bearing children for him? Like a love slave?" He was almost hysterical at this point and it alarmed me but...they way he said it...it did kind make sense. He was way too territorial over her and he still hand't shown his children around in the palace much apart from special occasions. And when Yeon was working in the palace he did keep her locked up in his office for a s much as he could...the ONLY time he had anything to do with us was when Chun-Ae would do her best to take over her official duties when when didn't show up when she was needed. And of course Chun-Ae stalked them in her free time. But before I could say anything Hyun-Ki had already stormed out the door.