The Love They Never Had: The Nam Mansion

Chapter 84: Sunyeowon (The Nunnery)

"Yeon, I need to ask you something and please answer me honestly; what is going on with yourself and the Young Master?" "Why are you asking me? Has something happened?" "Yes! He is in love and happy with the kisaeng from the brothel! He has been in love with her for a long time now and even you know this! So why did you kiss him that night! Why did you seduce him? Is it because he is rich? A nobleman? Who can give you a better life? Do you want to ruin his chance of happiness?" "I...i didn't mean to..." "Yes you did!" "Excuse me?" "You have made him crazy about you from the moment you went out of your way to take care of him!" "I only wanted to thank him for saving my life! You know how he is treated in that home! Here in the palace! And everywhere else! I just..." "you do not understand! Did you know that he has been watching you since your first year with us? Because you gave him the smallest amount of attention, he has been poking holes in your windows and he watches you all night long on his days off! Yeon? Yeon!" "What...what do you mean he...is watching me?" "Can't you tell! He's practically obsessed with you! He watches you every single time your back is turned, he keeps asking to be served your favourite food, drinks and desserts, and he's even started buying you the clothes you wear out of his own pocket! Haven't you realised that the clothes you wear have been becoming more...fitting?" "I...I...why would he do that? Why..." "I think...think that he's in love with you. Or he's obsessed. Or both even." "Please...tell me everything that he asks you about me." "Everything; from the tone in your voice to the outfits you wear...he wants to know everything about you." "Could he...suspect me? No, this cannot happen right now..." "He doesn't suspect you of anything! I am telling you that he is downright in love with you." "No, you're wrong...he doesn't love me, he can't. Why would he..." "Yeon...if he was in love with you, then what would you do? Would you still leave with me? Or would you stay here with him? Yeon?"

"I...I do not believe you. I am sorry, but the Young Master is a very busy man and there is no way he suddenly has so much time on his hands to just watch me." "Yeon...." "Please do not let him know where I am. Goodbye."

I almost sprinted inside the empty temple, only to collapse again as my legs refused to support me after what I had just heard. I had that conversation with Dal almost a week ago when i found the time to sneak into the dungeons, only for Seon-Ho to be transferred somewhere where i couldn't find him. No, it couldn't be true, Dal was the only servant that Seon-Ho trusted, so this must be him messing around with me again. I still didn't know why he repeatedly crossed the line with me, but now was not the time to focus on that. I should have asked Dal where the Nam's offices were before I ran away from him like that. Now what do I do? I didn't know anyone here and with my lowly status, I was pretty sure that no-one was willing to help me either.

I was eventually greeted by the servants an hour later and was informed of the events that had happened with disaster relief plan. Nam-Jeon and Seon-Ho were throughly questioned about the plan, and Seon-Ho backed up my thoughts that i had shared with the Emperor himself. Nam-Jeon, on the other hand, completely staked himself into the original under-developed plan in a panic just like i thought he would, and things couldn't have gotten worse for him. It looked like somebody who understood my concerns had riled up the army and the civilians that they were supposed to quietly surprise in this plan, which just led to full on revolts from almost everyone in the entire kingdom. And as for the Emperor himself, it looked like he had used this plan to weed out the corrupted officials who must have drained him entirely. And he used the lives of the people who could have avoided being injured or worse just to make Nam-Jeon himself pay for this, exactly like he said he would. All he cared about was his fame and his wealth, and now he was blaming me for his servnat/son of stealing it? Apparently, he had done everything that he could do in his power to see me and make me help him, but that particular issue was dealt with by my brother's new men. They came to see me when they could in the absence of my brother and we had definitely bonded a lot, but there was still one person who was missing in my heart and in my mind and i had no idea what to do about him. If i enquired anyone about Seon-Ho, then the third prince and my brother would have been tipped off immediately and i would have been in trouble. And my brother did send me letters whenever he could so i could regain my memories, but the other memories of what Seon-Ho did to me the night that...it was burned into my heart and it was starting to keep me up at night. I had gotten a taste of something that I shouldn't have, something that i never thought I would get to have...and it was intoxicating. I couldn't stop thinking about what could have happened if we didn't stop there...