The Love They Never Had: The Chase

Chapter 213: The Final Piece (Majimag Jogag)

I was no longer aware of how many hours I had been asked to come to he Fifth Prince's quarters, but I could already tell that it wasn't for anything good. Ever since we all heard the news about that the maids had done to the century old wine caskets, a new or old enemy of mine had come out of the woodworks to attempt to harm me in every single way. First, they put marigold leaves in my water this morning to maim my face, and I was lucky enough to catch the deceptive sweet scent in time to throw it back into the servant's faces, where they all burst into tears of hysteria. Then the put something hard into my food that would have surely broken all of my teeth apart, which my personal servant caught on time, so I reversed the situation and I made the servant eat all of the food 'out of kindness' or my 'fiancé' would have them flogged in defiance. And now I was called to the Prince's personal quarters, even though I knew he was personally absent and on his way to an important funeral. But I had plenty of time on my hands due to my confinement, so let us see who this new enemy of mine was.
"Young Mistress, how are you still in the mood to order tea after waiting here for hours now?" "Why are you s aggrieved?" "Because this shows us how capable and powerful this person is to call you to a Prince's personal quarters and cause us more trouble!" "I haven't done anything wrong, what is there to panic about? But we have been here for too long, let us retire to our quarters now. I have been here for almost half a year and I haven't had any interactions with The Fifth Prince anyways, so why would he suddenly wish to meet with me?" "I really can't figure it out either." "He must be on edge since the casket ones had been destroyed and he put hundreds of servants to death." "But what about you? How are you the only maid to have survived that catastrophe?" "I am protected by the Young Master, that is why." "I really do not know how Dal accumulated so much power to protect you. But why did you change your loyalty? Weren't you faithful to the Young Master Nam?" "Young Mistress..." "What? What is it?" "What on earth makes you think that I have changed my loyalty at all? I never said that I serve any Maser, apart from the only Young Master that I have ever served?" "But how...Seon-Ho has never come to see me, after the war ended, so how..."

"Men! We need to search all of these quarters for an expensive item that has gone missing! Quickly!" "What...what did you say? Who do you serve! Tell me!" "Search every room now! Hurry up!" "Wait! Stewardess! How can you let these men search the women's quarters! What on earth has happened! And wha sort of disrespect is this!" "Forgive me, Young Mistress, but a rare treasure has recently been stolen and we need to find it, as the Prince plans to hand it over to the Emperor instead of the casket wines that he no longer has in his position." "We are mere guests, who would have the guts to steal such precious jewels, let alone enter these private quarters un-detected? This must surely be a misunderstanding?" "This misunderstanding will be uncovered when the truth has come out from this search." "Stewardess! We have found this in the Young Mistresses quarters!" So this was the new trick that they were playing against me? Very well, hopefully I would be punished be going int exile from these quarters and start my life somewhere new, since I now knew that my so-called husband had long abandoned me. Maybe I should just stay with my brother for a while.
"How could it possibly be her? She has always been so well-mannered and reserved, she will never do something like this!" "Young Mistress? Do you have anything to say for yourself?" "I am a witness that..." "Shut up, you ungrateful servant! You dare to be her witness? Don't you know who your actual Master is?" "I know perfectly well who my Master is stewardess, he is the same one who granted me hunting dogs in case of a situation like this! Men!"
Hunting dogs? My servant was granted....hunting dogs? In case of a situation like this? So this was a premeditated act? From someone who was supposed to protect me? But from whom? Dal? Or was it possibly...no, it couldn't be. Seon-Ho would never really go that far to... to have me killed, just because we weren't together? Because he was the one who abandoned me first?
"...whoever begs for this woman will be punished in exactly the same way! Now drag this thief out by the hair and hand her over to the magistrate! And get rid of those dogs!" "Why the rush, stewardess? Are you not a servant of the Prince? Will you not be blamed for not doing a thorough enough job? These huntings dogs were even a gift from the Royal Family themselves, so how can you deny an opportunity for a thorough search to be held? And we shall know who the actual thief is in a few moments."

"What else do you want to do?" "I have just explained already and don't you worry, I shall explain this to the Prince myself. Rare treasures often come with unique scents that are in-laid with them, and it can latch itself upon human touch for hours, generally. And if it turns out that I am responsible after all, then you will have an enforced reason to arrest me, right?" "You...!" "Stewardess, why do these dogs seem to interested in you? Look, they are all coming for you!" "No! Help me! I haven't done anything wrong! Keep them away from me!" "These are hunting dogs Madame, they are coming to you because they are attracted to your smell!" "Guards! It looks like we have found the culprit! Arrest her immediately!" "No! This must be a misunderstanding! Who is trying to frame me! These dogs are..." "are what? What are these dogs, who were gifted to my fiancé from the Royal Family! And it was a rare treasure that was stolen that one of us can afford! And you just said that whoever can afford it must be severely punished! Your words are still ringing in our ears!" "No! Please, wait!" "The fragrances were found on your body, what else are we waiting for!" 'I....I must have accidentally touched it when I..." "Stewardess, have you forgotten that you were the one who called myself and my servant into those private quarters for hours? And we haven't got any unique scents attached to us at all."
I finally managed to get back to my room as soon as that stewardess was arrested by the Prince's guards themselves, but I also lost sight of the servant amidst all of the panic and confusion. But who was trying to harm me? Who did my servant serve, besides myself? Why wasn't Seon-Ho chasing me anymore? Did he really want to have me killed, because he couldn't tolerate me living without him, even though I now had this huge stain on my reputations which was nearly impossible to rid myself of? Where do I go now? Who do I turn to? Who can I trust? Who could keep me safe? Wh could help me? And why was I so mentally unstable now? Was it after living with Seon-Ho for so long, that I could truly no longer function without him? And why was I finding it so hard to breathe now? What was happening to me? Why couldn't I keep my eyes open anymore? Once again, just like in the carriage on the way here, the world started going black before my eyes and i soon lost control of all of my senses. My limbs were going limp and the last thing that I felt was my body collapsing under me and i swear...I could have sworn on my life that I felt someone stroke my hair in a way that only my husband did before i passed out. "Husband?" "I am here wife, i am always here for you, just as you are for me..."
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"Your Royal Highness, the Lady Min has been publicly found guilty of minting counterfeit coins at the Kim funeral in front of many noble families that were instigated by the Young Master Nam and Seo Hwi's new wife..." "My sister, my god-damned sister who chases after my husband's enemy, not only has she immorally held onto so many men, she now does this! DOESN'T SHE KNOW HOW THIS WILL HARM MY HUSBAND! THE EMPEROR CAN DISOWN HIM FOR THIS AND...and the Crown Prince, the position will be lost to him, all because of my foolish and selfish sister!" "Your Highness, that isn't all. The Master Nam has openly named Han Hui-Jae as the source who confessed to this..." "WHAT!" "...and there is one last thing. The Lady Min also openly confessed to Han Hui-Jae as being pregnant at present, and that is why she hasn't been showing up here for quite a while now..."

"She...is pregnant? An unwed ex-kisaeng girl is pregnant? And she hid it from me this entire time? She didn't come to me for protection or to look for the father of her child or...or to even find her a husband that is willing to take on another man's burden...where is she now?" "Her location varies every few weeks, Your Highness..." "With all of the wealth that we have given here, she could easily rent out the most expensive homes in the capital! So why is she changing her location so often? And who is she hiding from?" "Your Highness, do yo have any instructions for me to carry out?" "Here, you can send her this present of my behalf; it is a red jade necklace. The colour looks cool and vibrant, and it is currently too bold for a childless Princess such as myself, but it shall suit her young flesh very well." "Your Highness, isn't this..." "Yes, it is red musk beads; it looks like red agate which is rarely seen in the palace anyways. It also has a less-than-subtle scent, which comes from the glands of a male musk deer, so long-term expose will cause deep harm through the human skin and lead to infertility and miscarriages. It is exactly what the Empress gifted to me on my wedding night. And just like myself, no physician will dare to tell her when they recognise where this rare piece of jewellery came from." "And what about The Lady Min?" "My husband will sully get to her before I do, as per usual if my family can no longe protect her. I shall just have to leave this to his judgment and..." "But Your Highness! Suppose he uses her against you to.." "To what? Divorce me? Expose me? Depose me? He can never do that, he loves me far too deeply and he can never let go of me. I know that he cannot, because I have made it so. We shall never part in this life, for we were made for each other as soul-mates..."