The Love They Never Had: The Nam Mansion

Chapter 32: Gaebal (Developments)

"This so-called Young Mistress of the household, she sure knows how to hold grudges. My sister only refuted her a few times, and my niece was punished by finding useful chores to do for the young master instead of just idling around like her other servants. All of our capable female servants are basically assisting the interior staff instead of paying any attention to the Young Master himself. This is very unbecoming of a member of a prominent family such as this one, especially for an unmarried young woman." "She is probably jealous of your beautiful daughter coming anywhere close to him. I have heard that they are both quite the pair, they are practically joined at the hip." "He probably just pitied her situation, but there was no reason for him to give such a young, inexperienced and unmarried woman such a huge task in her relative's household. And now she is being jealous over a few maids? It isn't like we all have no knowledge of what happens if a Young Master favours them." "The old trick of wandering around in youth and finding yourself a target to marry never fails. And it isn't like she can do anything about it anyways if it happens. No woman in her right mind will risk getting a bad reputation, especially us senior women who are old enough to be her ancestors." "Even if we are just servants, we cannot obey her blindly like pigs and dogs do, otherwise how would we differentiate ourselves between animals?" "Exactly; if we do not want to be bullied, then we all must stick together so we can make a footing in this home." "Imagine becoming a part of Nam-Jeon's permanent staff, can you dream about all of the doors that will open for us? Fame? A pay rise? Respect? We shall be treated like gods amongst the other household servants." "So we will only listen you from now on..."

"Do you see what I mean now. My Lord? This issue is much bigger than just holding the concubine here for entertainment." "So it looks like my household has been tainted by spies like these a long time ago. No wonder you have been on my case to re-evaluate them. And you say this started with the orphan girl that you are determined to keep my you under my roof?" "I always thought it strange from the beginning how Chun-Ae ruthlessly tried to kill her over and over again despite your instructions to keep her alive to use as leverage against her brother. At first you suspected me as always, but now as you can see, these servants have a mind of their own. It isn't just a few battles in the palace, our neighbours are determined to ruin your reputation by using such uncouth slaves, just as you have always feared." "Nothing is more lowly and despicable than the lower class, the leeches who throw themselves at us noblemen, only to suck us dry. But not even I could have imagined such a chaotic scheme." "And that is why we have to find more people who are loyal. And if you do not trust me, then you can trust Yeon especially when she does not recognise you." "Very well, I will pull her into this conspiracy, but no more. Only communicate with her when you need to and do not go over to that woman's quarters anymore. You haven't been there in so long..." "I know! I know that you do not want me to..." "just get it over and done with, and remember to keep Yeon's identity a secret no matter what your plan is. If she needs to communicate with the slaves, have your servants do it for her." "Of course." "And about her brother, when is he going to pay us a visit?" "As soon as he can I suppose, it isn't like I am keeping tabs on him. He will show up for Yeon at all costs." You son of a bitch, how dare you put me through this on top of everything else I have been through! Just you wait, you can curse Yeon all you like now, but you just wait until the day that you are as defenceless as I have been ever since you stole me from my mother and the disabled orphan that you despite so much helps me bring you down. Hwi, you had better show up soon and take Yeon away before I bring her into the final stages of my plan. I cannot hurt her due to my personal grudges...

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"So? What is everyone saying about me?" "Young Mistress, are you really not worried about your reputation?" "My reputation? What reputation do I have? I do not exist remember?" "That is true...." "Well?" "They are all saying that the Young Mistress of the Nam household does not give any importance to the elderly maids who serve you on bended knee, and for that you are being unfilial to the Master who keeps you." "Is it a coincidence that the senior maids are all widows? All of them? And they have been able to maintain good tempers with all of their previous employers, so they are well-known throughout the village." "They complain of your laziness since you are not allowed inside the main home..." "...because Nam-Jeon is hell-bent on keeping me a secret..." "...so they have never witnessed you paying your respects to him, even though you live with him for free. And because of the gifts that were sent to you, they accuse you of setting up your own manor and call you heartless for it." "I am surprised that I am not accused of beating anyone." "But you are being accused of not putting any importance on anyone that the neighbour has arranged for you, which is equivalent to being supercilious and unfilial, which go against moral laws according to Confucius." "Since I have walked this path, there is no use stopping now. I knew what I was getting myself into." "I do not agree." "What do you mean?" "Forgive me Young Mistress, but I feel like even if you were not as intelligent as you are now, somebody would always keep pushing you to walk this path." "Excuse me?" "I...I have to tell you..." "What is it? Why do you look so panicked?" "Young Mistress, I serve you and you need to know that I have seen...things and..." "what are you talking about?" "The Young Master, he...he..." "is he ok? Has something happened to him? Should I go and..." "He is watching you. Again." "What did you say? Again?" He is watching you from the main home."

Once again, I was completely frozen to my seat and I had no idea how to proceed with this information. Now what do I do? Do I stay indoors? Should I go and greet him? Should I ask if he had eaten anything yet? Why was he not coming to me like he always did? Should I approach him this time? No, maybe I should just go outside and check on the flowers he had gifted me, and get a sneak peek of him so I could assure myself that he was alright.

But before I could even stand up, myself and my maid could suddenly hear all sorts of protests and pleading going on quite close to my quarters. Now that I understood the extent of the neighbours influence, it was time for me to do as much damage control as I could before Nam-Jeon started hearing about the rumours about me that were bound to get back to him. "What on earth is going on outside?" "The maid is fine-combing her way through the young master's servants just like you did. She must be under the impression that they are yours." "What a foolish girl, she really is easy for someone like the Young Master to play with." "Young Mistress?" "Let us go over there and see what we can do to salvage the situation before the Young Master finds out and does something he can't take back. What? Why are you looking at me like that?" "Who are you doing this for?" "Excuse me?" "Who are you trying to protect? The concubine or the Young Master?"

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"My Lady? The new maids have arrived." "Very well. If that cousin is going to act as if she is the only woman in this household, then she will be sorely mistaken very soon indeed. By the way, how is your investigation going?" "The Seo boy seems to have been enlisted into the military. But as for his sister, it looks as if she has disappeared. But..." "But what?" "People are saying she had a fit as soon as her brother was dragged away. And she was alone..." "I have heard that a person having a fit like that can never be left alone since they have no control over their body. If there were even a fragment of glass that were on the floor around her, it could have pierced her." "Do you think she is dead?" "Her brother was extremely protective over her, and they were orphans. There is no way he would have just left to war without housing her somewhere else, but who would be willing to raise a girl with a disability like that? If he really went to war, it must have been because something happened to her." "My Lady? It is time to choose the new maids." As I made my way outside, I had to admit that I was still finding the story behind the Seo's disappearance just as their best friend hd managed to rise in ranks in the palace doubtful. But the very idea that someone like the Young Master had become extremely attached to the woman that he was now housing was in fact his best friend's sister was equally laughable. That girl did not know how to speak, dress or even act around him, she was like a young girl of under the age of 10 in a grown woman's body...no, it was impossible. There was no earthly reason conceivable that these two women were the same person. I must be going out of my mind to even come up with that possibility...

But as soon as I came close enough with these new maids to realise that they all resembled the cousin in some way, I almost lost my mind right there and then. It took all of my restraint not to have them flogged, but I had no reason to and a woman's reputation was all that she had in this world. And I had just been promoted to the rank of concubine without securing her husband's favour. He very last thing I should do was to anger Master Nam even further than I already have. "Look at all of these women, who hired such seductively charming looks. Whoever hired them must have evil intentions to overthrow my new position! Al of these women look too delicate and fragile to work anyways. Who exactly are they trying to fool? Send them all away, none of them are fit to work. They are most likely here to seduce the young master away from me! What? What is it?" "My Lady, these maids are sent to work in this household by the Young Master himself. The Young Mistress only has the power to manage them, nor to recruit them." "Are you telling me that I had no power over anyone at all? Only the maids that I brought into this home?" "I...." "And why would you think that you have any rights to handle our maids at all, since you were one only a few hours ago?"
I really could not believe the nerve this woman had to be calling me out like that in front of all of the new maids here! And in that tone of voice as well! Although we were about the same age, I had much higher rank than her's! And I had been nothing but pleasant to her so why would she humiliate me like this?

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"Young Master?" "What have you found out Dal?" "We need to start wrapping this up quickly with the concubine?" "And why is that?" "She already has her suspicions about Yeon's identity and is starting to investigate the Seo siblings." "God damn it! Where is Yeon now?" "She is going to finally announce the new servant's roles." "Tell her to wrap it up and I will put the concubine to work by making her set up the banquet." "And what about the concubines servants? The one who is handling this investigation?" "You already know what to do. Do not leave ant traces behind."