Chapter 180: Bong Hyo-Sonn/ Kang Nam-Kyu

It had barely been a year since I got married and already my life was a living hell. My parents-in-law wanted nothing to do with me, they hadn't even acknowledged me from the moment I married their son. Well; in their eyes I was nothing more than a concubine since I was unable to consummate my marriage because apparently I was the reason why my husband was castrated. My mind wondered back to all the bullying I put up with in the palace, the humiliation I had to face in front of all the other concubines, especially Yeon. I picked at my various scars that I had from all the punishments I had to suffer from Yeon as I looked on at the young fair concubines that graced our table with the children I would never have. They were another pox on our family that was apparently my fault as well as the Bong family, just like most scholarly families did not take in concubines at all. They were all spoilt, all too young and had no idea what it was like to mother children at all. I could see the hope drain from my in-laws eyes as they had no choice but live in a home with unruly spoilt grandchildren, lazy concubines who took advantage of the family's good name and wealth...and Hyun-Ki who had no choice but to work in the palace as a eunuch under the man who castrated him. He had a bright future and was on the verge of a bug promotion in the palace that no one else in his family had worked for...but it was all taken away from him because of me again apparently...and so was my future.

I wondered around my empty chamber that was completely empty. I was a main wife to a eunuch that had lost everything the moment that bitch Yeon seduced him, and we were paying the price for it. I should be living a life of luxury with the only man I have ever loved just like Yeon was. Even her children were so revered as to be educated and playmates with the royal children. They were some of the most intelligent children around, even more so than some members of the royal family themselves unlike some of my husband's children who were well past their reading ages but couldn't utter a single word properly. The twins were so well behaved whereas the concubines themselves ran around the home like chickens who had lost their heads when they started inviting their sleazy slutty friends and had practically started running their own brothel from this once illustrious home. The minute I and those wretched concubines came into the family home my parents-in-law locked themselves away in their bedrooms and were too ashamed to step foot outside. I tired my best to tend to the them; the parents I always wanted. I saw it all; how they spoilt Yeon rotten just like everybody else who came into contact with her, how they paraded her around like she was a little golden girl and not an epileptic orphan. I just wanted...I just wanted a nice set of parents that doted on me...just like Yeon's brother absolutely doted on her. We both came from poverty but Yeon had they guts to go against normal traditions for a woman all the timed worked at jobs she shouldn't have, got away unscathed and pulled herself out of poverty on her own merit. I wanted to live the life of luxury her husband provided for her that she wasn't even interested in! I knew her long enough; she was still making everything herself at home, cooking and tending to their mansion herself, like she was still a damned servant.

I made my way to the kitchen to start on dinner as the servants didn't respect me at all. Nobody listened to me in this huge home; I might as well have been a ghost. They were all busy tending to the concubines and their children since they sure as hell didn't know how to raise children. I slaved over the perfect meal I could think of, laid it all down onto a tray exactly like how the other nobles loved it. It took me an hour to cook it with no help at all, placed it on a tray myself and walked to my parents-in-law, ready to wait on them hand and foot if I had to if that was what took for them to accept me. I knocked on the door and I left the tray outside their door, but before I could hear them talk about how much they missed Yeon of all people! They couldn't stop praising her even though they hadn't seen her for years now. In a nation where children where the first to be sold in unsettled circumstances, she held onto them and showed them such affection that was completely rare and her dedication to them couldn't be more evident in hew perfect they had become.

At this point I couldn't stop the tears from flowing down my eyes as I had been sent to my own personal nightmare. I hadn't even gotten a chance to produce children so how was that my fault? Everyday my husband was sent to Seon-Ho's office where he was continuously mistreated, undervalues and had to watch the married couple flaunt their love in front of him everyday...my once perfect knight in shining armour who could take me far away from all of my problems was now a lascivious, woman beating eunuch. Even in this state he had way too many urges that he didn't know how to deal with, not that I had a chance of helping him. He was just as disgusted with me as everyone else was in the family. He wouldn't let me tend to him, serve him or touch him at all. I was even lucky to be sharing a bed with him...when he wasn't having some sort of affair with there servants who were becoming more of status than I was in this home. The life he could once give me, that I so desperately craved all of these years with his love...was gone. I was the main wife in name only...but I was still a servant. I was constantly humiliated by everyone in this home; my in-laws, my parents who wouldn't stop selling things they stole from this home, the concubines who wouldn't control their children and I was reprimanded in their stead for their bad behaviours in front of our neighbours, relatives and superiors in the palace. Of course I still had to work as our financial situation had drastically changed since my husband's...transformation. And when I opened my bedroom doors; that was when I wanted to end it all there and then.

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The lowborn bitch who was now my mistress came back just in time to see me on her husband's lap as he fed me strawberries....well it was better than the muck they had been serving me as a servant for a long time anyway, even if I did had to seduce the damned eunuch for it. As for my 'husband', well he was busy with our master's leftover servant girls who were seeking fame and fortune...and a real man's...presence. In fact, we hadn't really spoken to each other since 'our wedding'. As for Hyun-Ki, well he was a stepping stone to a better future here than I was going to have in a long while...and my sister....

The look on that stupid bitches face was priceless as she burst into tears all of a sudden, it was honestly quite funny to see. The tears strained the makeup she couldn't put on properly to save her life as well as the noble clothes she had no idea how to match well. As her her jewellery well, it was a complete knock off from the market stalls down town. I rolled my eyes and jumped off his lap and left, but not before I took her jewellery box off of her table before she could get a word in. I giggled uncontrollably so she could hear me...but the smile on my face soon disappeared the minute I was out of sight. I closed my eyes as I made my way back to my room and I tried to remember the last few moments when I was with Hyun-Ki as he spoiled me...and I was pretending it was Seon-Ho all that time. I didn't know how it happened but from the moment I was sold to this home as a slave I couldn't stop thunking about him and...close I was to marrying him myself. I kept thinking about how great he was with his family, his work and his wife. He...actually cared about thing other noblemen overlooked so easily, not understanding that the small moments mattered. That was probably why I had been a stone cold bitch all of my life. Because I meant nothing as a woman, even a noblewoman apart from being a sexual object, whilst Seon-Ho treated his wife equal to himself and his daughter as equal to his son. I looked over at my husband who was enjoying his time with another woman whereas I went to bed alone like I had done for almost a year and try not to think about Seon-Ho when I used to watch him train...alone and shirtless...