The Love They Never Had: The Chase

Book 5: Downfall of the 3rd Family. Part 14: The Brothel Part 3

Chapter 186: A Fresh New Start (Salon Sijag)

"My Lord! Where are you going? Are you going to look for that brat of a girl? Did you really make me walk on foot all the way to another village just to find that girl? Please do not leave me here on my own!""For fucks sake, you already know that I only have her in mind! I will never be able to appreciate your gold-digging affections for me, so what is the point in persisting so willingly?" "You mean...you are throwing away the opportunity for you to have a real woman in your life for a penniless orphan? But why? Wha is it about her that has bewitched you so? How does she feel about you, can't you tell? She is avoiding you just like everyone else in our village does!" "SHUT UP! DON' YOU DARE COMPARE YEON TO EVERYONE WHO HATES ME1 SHE DOESN'T HATE ME! SHE LOVES ME! SHE IS THE ONLY ONE TO HAVE EVER LOVED ME, EVEN WHEN I WAS AT MY WORST! The only reason she ignores me is because of sluts like you that will not leave me alone now that I am at the top of my game! She ignores me because she is jealous, that is all!" I could still feel his big hands wrap itself around my throat when he said that and how close to death I was if she hadn't walked into our accommodation at the time. But that wasn't going to deter me from the obsession that I had been thrown into by bettering my own life and that of my family by the hands of the man that i had fallen head over heels for. "Does she really care about you more than I have?" "Show some damned respect before I cut your hands off! Yeon! Wait!"
"Can I help you, Young Master?" "there is nothing going on between that delusional maid and myself!" "Young Master, your personal affairs have nothing to do with me whatsoever, so why are you telling me this? Please do no disturb me from my studies and work and i have pending..." "like i said, she is just being delusional! I gave her no hope between us at all! Please do not misunderstand me!"

"How comes you are so quiet?" "What will happen to Kim Aerum now?" "That is none of your concern, you will never see her alive again anyways." "So what happens now, that the war is over?" "I cannot meet Seon-Ho myself since I am entering my second trimester of pregnancy, but you can. I am going to give you what you want, and in return, you are going to distract him from the brothel that you took Yeon to by working on cases that the Princess Consort will hand over to you to bring him on the right path and accumulate so much wealth in the palace that he will become one of the richest men in the kingdom." "That is fine by me, it looks like we all share the same goal. So where are you taking me now?" "His battalion was attacked on their way home and he lying in one of these ditches that you see here. It is your job to find him, nurse him and bring him back to the palace as soon as possible and further away from Yeon as possible. Look after him how she does and emulate her as much as you can to make him move on from her and bring him to the place as much as you possibly can at the end of each case. When you find him, you will get in the carriage that is following us and take you back to his previous accommodation. You cling onto him as best as you can and you become his woman in any way that you can."

She handed me some ready made documents that I shoved down my robes before she left me on my own in a long stretch of the woods to find my golden ticket that was fated to chance my destiny once and for all. My hard work, humiliation and patience must have worked off as I found myself dressed in silk noble clothes, flawless makeup and jewels that I used to fantasies about when I was a little girl whilst Aerum was ready to face anther kind of reality that was far from the one that she had been accustomed to living. And it took me all morning and afternoon to find him until I actually did in the very last hole all the way at the very end.

"If the northern wind can hear the plum flowers, please spare the blooming wishes for a peaceful spring." This was a line of a poem that the Young Master and Yeon liked to recite together and it was the only line that I could remember, since it was my job to emulate her. I repeated this line over and over again until he finally returned to his senses, only to see me lying on top of him with my cloak covering the both of us in the midst of the cold winter season. "Yeon...Yeon, please don't leave me here...Yeon...Y-you? It is you? You were the one who saved me?" "I have been waiting for you every single day since that girl sold me off to the neighbouring family. And as soon as I freed myself from them, i searched everywhere to find you every single day since after the war..." "after the war? Wait, how long ago did that end?" "It has been about 4 days, Young Master, and I just found you accidentally in this trap..." "Yeon...where is Yeon? Where is she?" "i...she is waiting for you, I shall take her to you. Come on, let us go from here and go home."
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We only had a little less than a month to go but I suddenly had a really bad feeling in my heart, and my heart wouldn't stop falling down to my feet in worry every single day for the last month. I was unable to take it and I had no idea why. Since this war had started I had used all of my guilt and remorse to fight the enemy and accomplish my goals, but now I found myself almost undone when I read the contents of a letter which contained some things that made it very clear that what I was currently learning was true indeed .I felt myself almost collapse at how foolish I had been to not only leave my loved ones unprotected and in the midst of people that I had very clearly underestimated. I had failed them already, just as my father had predicted. I started getting so angry at all of the bad thoughts that were running thorough my mind at that moment that I started to feel numb as a darkness began to settle over me ever so gradually. I was still in full possession of my mind but heart felt as if it had been pricked with a poisonous needle that only felt the desire to posses and conquer. I felt myself like the small boy that I used to be, a victim to insults and neglect with my person that provided me with oxygen to breathe and the strength to overcome my obstacles...if I had lost her even for a single moment...then may the world burn around me and all those in it who could not cease to cause us pain and just leave us alone...

I picked up my sword and I got ready for the upcoming battle after I had sent many letters of enquiries about the disappearance of my closest man, Sung-Rok. And when the time came, I drew my sword upon any single person who came anywhere near me for what seemed like hours until I made sure to have at least 100 souls taste my wrath as a test for what was about to come...I had fought until I felt myself black out from pure exhaustion. I must have slept for hours on end until I woke up and I found myself to be in a ditch of all places with Ae-Cha's sister that I had long forgotten about. Now I had to figure out a way use this opportunity to sneak out as stealthily as I could to meet with the maid that had brought me nothing but disaster and stress, but I had more pressing matters to worry about.
I almost thought I was seeing things when I saw her again after all this time; I really thought it was my Yeon standing in front of me. But when she turned around I spotted the difference at once; she was much taller and older than Yeon. Her hands were coarse with servant work, are hair was already turning a little grey and she walked with a limp from the trauma that most likely came with her work. But the minute she attempted to smile at me like my woman did, the trance was broken, and before I knew it I had charged myself at her and pinned her to the wall "WHERE IS YEONNA!" If my woman saw me do this to another woman, then she would probably tear me apart with her own hand, but I couldn't think about that now. She seemed to be choking in my grip and unable to get a word out, so I reluctantly let her go. "It's not me...it's not me this time. it's...it's her brother...he gave his sister's hand in marriage to your brother, Dal. They married on the same day that you left for war, they are man and wife now and have been for some time now."

The very thought of it made me double over and almost collapse to my knees. She was lying, I knew full well that Yeon would rather kill herself than surrender to any other man...that was what she had promised me...she had never so much even noticed anybody else...apart from that damned servant who was always lurking around her with intentions towards her that belonged to me and me alone. I tried...I tried to trust her with all of my might but the temptation around her was to great. Only noblemen could ask for kisengs, noblemen who could even be better than me in some ways...if someone so much as looked at her, talked to her...touched her..."so what do you want?" "I have evidence to prove what they did, I can even take care of her in your absence...I just need some assurance..." "what kind of assurance?" "A stable life by your side...as your maid again. I have saved you life from the snakes and the bitter cold of winter, just let me stay by your side now that she has abandoned you once and for all. Please, just sign my new indenture so we can solidify this agreement and then we can go home." I had my seal handed to me as I stamped my signature without even really looking at that damned piece of paper that almost ruined my life. But all I could think about in that moment was how quickly I needed to end this and get back home to her before I lost her for good.