The Love They Never Had: The Chase

Chapter 211: Present Hostilities (Hyeonjae Jeogdae Haeng-Wi)

 "I seem to remember your husband telling me about an incident including a voodoo doll and the poisoning of a concubine that took place in the Nam yangban? Could you care to explain what happened in the past so that I could help you now with this unfortunate incident?" "I was constantly provoked by a failure of a concubine who proceeded to show off her imaginative conceited favour, and somebody knew about it, so they set me up to harm her using blackmail, Your Majesty." "Is that so?""she was just a lucky lowborn slave who was no different than I was." "She was favoured beyond you, and her status would have been elevated above yours. Is that why you killed her? No just by using oleander juice and pollen, but by putting catnip in her food?" "I was forced to by my husband, so he could set up The Young Master Nam up in failure and walk away with The Young Mistress Seo." "It would be better for all of us if these seductresses were rendered infertile, so us women could simply rest easy about out husband's infidelities." "Your Highness?" "I am just simply stating that it would be better if these women didn't have offspring to rely on, no matter how much favour they gain. Now then, about your past crimes..." "Your Majesty!" "Do not fret, I shall never tell anyone abut your crimes, but taking other precautions might be better." "What do you mean?" "Han Hui-Jae is someone who also knows all about your secrets, and look at how she has betrayed me today. It can be you next, and if I were you, then I would want to remove future troubles, for both of us." "Both of us?" "Don't you see? My husband wishes to depose me simply because he had a pregnant woman who was ready to take my place. But if she remains infertile, then he will have to give up on the disposition sooner or later." "And what about the rumours of him wanting to court Seo Yeon...?" "That will never happen, but it is also my fault for taking the wrong approach to her. I should have just married her off to the Nam half-breed instead of punishing her in a brothel." "I understand, Your Highness."

There was nothing for me to do but to make a bowl of date soup that would help the pregnant kisaeng recover from her awful situation. But who told her to get involved with a Prince with the most jealous wife in the entire kingdom? She deserved it, especially after hoe she tried to steal The Young Master Nam away from The Young Mistress Seo when she didn't even have the slightest feelings for him, and now that she was experiencing rejection for the first time, she wanted to seduce The Third Prince to destroy the men who wanted nothing to do with her? No, she would cause endless damager if she was ever given a powerful position in the palace and there would be nobody to stop her if that ever happened, so it was best to put a stop to that now. And as for the Third Princess Consort, it would still take her some time to regain her noble status, so who could I turn to, to bring me to The Young Mistress Seo?
"Peace to The Mistress, I am here to pass on the date soup as an expression of goodwill and health from the physician's office." "Very well, we shall accept this." Right now, apart from the Third Prince, his wife and the team of Imperial Physicians, nobody else knew about this, nobody who had any interest in the Seo's anyways...apart from one person who still hand't received the news yet. And maybe it was time that she should know about this, before she fund herself another victim of her own sister's brutality.
"Lady-in-Waiting? The Third Prince's concubine has seemed to develop a severe stomach-ache and His Highness has instructed a through investigation into the matter." "Already? Very well I shall attend, by the way, is The Lady Min still in the palace?" "Yes, she is on lockdown in her quarters at this very moment." "Alright, let us attend to The Third Prince."

What struck me about this whole thing was that The Third Prince didn't look as devastated as his Mistress did, he wasn't even sitting anywhere near her to console her or anything. But he was visibly angry and somewhat shaken, to the point where it was having a very visible effect on his servants who were just as frightened as I was. But I knew what I was getting into when I was forced to commit this crime, and I already knew how to get myself out of this, I only had to wait for the right person to show up so I could get out of this unscathed. "Why is the Mistress Han experiencing such severe stomach-aches after her miscarriage? Well?" "Your Highness, it seems that The Mistress Han seems to have eaten something cold and poisonous in nature, which has now damaged her fertility..." "What? What are you talking about? Wha is he saying? Honey? Master? Is your physician saying that I could never have children again? Is he?" "Who the fuck did this? What the fuck dd she eat? And who sent it over?" I gathered all of the strength that I could muster as soon as The Princess Consort's personal maid arrived and I made my way over to the front of the line where the physicians were to kowtow and make my offence known, under his protection of course.
"Your Royal Highness, please forgive me! I do have information on this case, however, I am bound to my Master and I am very much afraid...." "What has your master promised you in return for carrying out this task? Tell me?" "She has promised me the concubine title of The Master Dal from the Nam Yangban since we have a child together..." "Ah yes, you are a servant from the Nam Ynagban? Very well, I shall grant you the position of the Main Wife instead of concubine since you share the same social status as your..husband if you tell me right now who did this and why?" "Thank you, Your Highness. It was The Third Princess Consort and her private team of physicians that made me personally make the bowl of date soup and hand it over to The Mistress Han." "And why would she do such a thing?" "It was because she knew of your plans of deposition for months, so she naturally wanted to stop that from happening, and I can prove it to you." "Is that so?" "But I can't proceed until her servant who has sneaked in here is arrested before I can give you what you want." "Very well, let us see what you can do for me to earn your title."
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"I have heard that The Mistress Han had become barren now; you were quick and efficient and you have done a rather good job. But His Highness is no fool, and..." "Your Highness? What on earth are you talking about? I followed your every instruction and I..." "My instructions? What instructions are you talking about? When did I ever give you any instructions? You were the one who clearly came up with the idea and implemented it, so how can you possibly expect my help anymore?" "Your highness?" "I have guided and protected you thus far, but what is the use in having a violent mother such as yourself? You have lost all capabilities in nurturing and protecting your own child now, and he cannot possibly reach adulthood under your care anymore, which is a really shame for barren women such as myself." "What does my child have anything to do with this?" "Because each and every task that you carry out, you do it with utter stupidity, you were even stupid enough to have over he date sup yourself instead of handing the task over to someone else. I already knew that it would be hard to save you, and your obvious methods showed the rest of the world exactly who was behind this monstrous act. And if I continue to help you, then you will just drag me down with you as well, and your baby is not favoured because of who you are to his father and you know that it I true." "I...am a useless mother indeed..." "and with a mother such as yourself, your babe will never amount to anything at all, so I will give you 2 choices; I can hand you over to my husband who will surely exterminate your family clam along with your innocent babe after I tell him everything about you and the crimes that you have commit thus far. Or I can let you end your life on your own volition and I can adopt your babe and give him the life of a Prince right here in the palace. He will have the finest clothes, foods, options and a great future in front of him."

"Your Highness! Please save me! I do not wish to die and leave my son behind!" "You were the one who was foolish in its extreme and I can no longer help you. And do not even think abut defaming me, since I still have much power over the servants here. For one; noddy shall believe you and second of all, I have done away with many useless girls like you since infancy." "Is that so, wife? Well ,what if I say that you have given me every single reason to depose you and your family right here and now?" The look on her face was completely priceless and I had the sheer honour of watching the blood drain from her face when she realised exactly what she had done to herself and she had nobody else to blame for her own predicament for herself. "Husband...what are you..." "Servant, go to my quarters and receive you're drawn up title and some deeds that I have thrown in there for your service. You are officially n longer bound to the palace and I will have a carriage send you to your husband. But you shall need to return here to be thankful for your graces before I personally bestow you your own wedding so that you can be recognised in noble society. Your hard work has officially paid off and you are now free from bondage and slavery. "Thank you, Your Highness."