Chapter 18: Seon-Ho/ Seo Yeon

I watched her make her way through the market with a huge smile as usual her face lit up when she saw new book editions on the market stall. She lingered on the books she wanted for a while before she made her way to the fields...and met up with the man who's been helping her get to the village. Maybe it was my previous relationship with her as her brother's best friend since childhood but I really hated it when I saw her with him; smiling at him, talking to him, looking at him, and letting a man I knew nothing about escorting her to anything I didn't have any knowledge about.

First, she made her way to the bookstore to drop a couple of things off before she went to collect the children she tutored. I loved it when she did this, she was the biggest child I have ever seen with them; playing with them and looking after them...she was the only person I knew who didn't discriminate between class, age or gender, none of it. She genuinely cared about people; there were no monsters in her world.

After her tuition had ended I had noticed for the past couple of weeks that she was getting close to a little boy dressed in noble clothes but he looked disheveled and almost malnourished. She took him to a remote corner and I hid behind the tree she took him to. I couldn't help but notice his warm looks at her as she placed him on his lap.

"How are things at home now? Any better?" She asked him softly as she rocked him on her lap but he just nodded quietly without saying a word. "Hmmm, your marks have improved though. Maybe if you showed them to your father it would help things?" He hung his head in a fashion I knew all too well when it came to fathers. "Well, I understand how things can be with parents like yours. But you know what? It won't always be like that. When you grow up you will be able to determine your own destiny, just like someone else I know". Both of our heads shot up at this. "What do you mean?" He whispered. She just smiled at him "Well...there's another person I knew who's just like you. And he was born illegitimate and lost his mother just like you. But he isn't the monster everyone thinks he is because of those labels. He is extremely intelligent, caring, loving, patient and the most underrated man I have ever met in my life. If only others saw him the way I do...well, maybe he'd be a lot happier now even though he's a quarter noble just like you". The little boy's eyes widened; he looked like he just got the biggest gift ever. "Is there really someone out there just like me? Who is he?" She just laughed warmly at his reaction and suddenly become shy "Well... let's just say he's an inspector who works at the palace."

Hot tears were burning my skin; I was shaking and my heart was beating so fast that it almost beat out of my chest. Not for the first time, I couldn't control myself around her again; I was an emotional wreck. I had to get the hell out of there before anyone saw me. I had no choice but to run as fast as I could back to the mansion and barricade myself in my room for the rest of the evening, trying to distract myself from the guilt I had towards her and her brother that had long swallowed my heart.

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After a long day at work, I came home almost ready to fall into bed when I heard some of the servants panicking and pleading with Seon-Ho to come out of his room and to have his dinner. But there was no answer. I started to get worried and I started knocking on his door myself but there was still no answer. I just sighed and asked the servants to prepare his food anyway and that I would get him to have it. I was too tired to be patient today so I just barged into his room only to see him passed out with so many bottles of liquor in front of him.

I just sighed, remembering the days when I had to sort out Hwi when he came home drunk and I was not looking forward to this cleanup job. But no one else was going to care for him, no one else did.

I had no choice but to clean him up and put him in clean clothes and tuck him into bed. But before I left I couldn't help but notice how pure and innocent he looked in his sleep. And I couldn't help but trace his features with my fingers before I felt chills all over. I felt new sensations flowing all over inside my body that I didn't know how to deal with so I planned to get out of there fast before he woke up but as soon as I got up to leave his hand shot out for my arm to stop me. I felt a strange tingle when he wrapped his big hand around my small arm. I turned around to see if he needed anything but he already pulled me down to him with his eyes still closed.

He was holding my arm so tight I thought he was going to snap it off. I tried with all my might to prise his fingers off of me but I couldn't. He started murmuring in his sleep and I bent down closer to hear what it was...but as I did his other hand instinctively pulled my head down...and my lips just so happened to...be stuck on his.

I froze for a long time before I registered what was happening and I tried to wrestle away from his grip while he was still unconscious. It took a while but I managed it and ran away as soon as I could, completely unaware that Seon-Ho had 'coincidentally' opened his eyes behind my back with the biggest smile on his face.