The Love They Never Had: The Nam Mansion

Chapter 22: Yugam (Regret)

"Young Mistress? What is the matter? The dinner has been made, you have your best dress on and the young master will be amazed by your looks..." "Did you see that? How he walked in to protect his cousin in that manner, instead of letting his father rant and rave like he usually does in his old age?" "'They are family, of course he will look out for someone as pitiful as her." Was I simply imagining things? This so-called cousin of his looked so much like the sister of his best-friend who used to look at him in exactly the same way that he did at her tonight. Maybe I was just being paranoid with Chun-Ae's last words about her, but a part of me did think that he looked like he wanted to just collapse into her arms if he could...no, this wasn't right either. I had no concrete proof about what was going on between them and I was not going to make the same mistakes that my predecessor did if I wanted to survive in this magnificent home.
Looking back on our interactions today, she seemed to be a very mature person despite her young age, which was nothing like the friend's sister. That girl was very child-like and naive, even at the age of 16. And I had to admit that I hadn't seen her often, but these two women looked so much alike...and her high-pitched voice that was just like...but it didn't make any sense. Seo Yeon was a penniless orphan with a disability, and Nam Seon-Ho was the most manipulative, scheming and ambitious man this village knew next to his father. And coming back from this war, everyone knew that he was just waiting for a position in the palace. What sort of value did someone as simple as Yeon have to him? But this girl who's name I barely knew, she seemed to be almost as smart as he was. But not enough to benefit from all of the advantages that she could have if she played her cards right. If she was in fact his cousin of the same blood, then why wasn't she allowed to enjoy the same family privileges as the Young Maser did? Unless they were ashamed of her condition and just wanted to lock her up and hide her existence from the world.

I was still deep in thought when I realised that it was now almost midnight and the food that I had worked so hard to prepare for was stone cold by now. I couldn't believe this, where exactly was he? He wasn't in bed, he wasn't even in his quarters. So where was he? Had something happened to him? I was far too nervous to spend my first night with the young master on edge like this, so I personally made my way to look all around the residence, completely forgetting the elegant clothes and jewellery that I was wearing which came from Chun-Ae's personal belongings. I had been waiting for weeks to wear this and hopefully woo the Young Master Nam that no other woman in the village wanted, only to a candle lit at Yeon's quarters. Curiosity got the best of me as I simultaneously prayed silently that the Young Master had not abandoned me for his cousin as I had feared. There was just something about her that I could not explain that seemed to make me weary of her and I was beginning to feel as if she was able to cast a spell on the Young Master that no one else could break before I even had the chance to rise up the ranks to concubine of the Nam family.
But there she was, personally serving a full plate of food to the Young Master with the greasiest fried egg on top that I had ever seen in my life. The strong smell was coming straight at me through the hole I had poked through the paper windows with my finger and it almost made me throw up right there and then. "Did you miss me when I left?" "Excuse me?" "How did you spend your time here in my absence? You must have been bored out of your mind without me." "I hate to burst your bubble Young Master, but my world does not revolve around you. I kept myself busy by raiding your book-shelf." "You god-damned brat, you cannot just rife through my things like that!" "Why? Do you have something to hide from me? Well?" "Be quiet and let me eat in peace for once. All you do is talk and talk and..." "how many blows did you take to the head in the war? We always eat separately, apart from today. So since when do I make so much noise? You cannot just bully me because I am shorter than you and lower-ranked. What? Why are you laughing at me? Stop it..." "Ok ok, I take it back, ok? Just let me eat in peace." "No-one is stopping you, you know." I was always under the impression that noble families more than ever were very formal and courteous towards each other. And yet this pair of 'cousins' interacted so flawlessly, it was as if they could read each other's minds and finish off each other's sentences.