Chapter 117: Jigmyeon (Confrontation 1)

So this was the real Seo-Yeon; her little innocent act and high pitch voice couldn't fool me anymore. She was an extremely intelligent woman who always knew a lot more than she let on, that was why she was letting me touch her like his instead of shaking in fear under my hands and my gaze. She still smelled so heavily of cherries that I was beginning to loose my mind and her skin was still very soft despite all of the jobs that she claimed to have worked in that could leave anyone with callouses and bruises. She wasn't just intelligent; she was easily adaptable to any environment she was in and she always had tricks up her sleeve which always gave her a way out. This annoyed to me no end when it came to her brother, but for some reason it made Yeon all the more attractive to me. Looking back at the so-called crush that I longed to forget; it was Hui-Jee's boldness that attracted me to her, but Yeon was leagues away from her. Hui-Jee was bold and street0wise, which stated a man like me who was always caged in my own home. But she was also far too blunt, and there was not a hint of gentleness in that woman, or maybe she reserved it for Hwi. But even now as I had Yeon under me to do what ever I pleased, she was still silent and timid enough to touch me and give me all of the control that I craved but was never able to achieve. I had indeed broken her trust in doing what I did, but she still trussed me enough to do what I was doing now without thinking about the consequences in my mind 500 times like I always had to. I saw myself in her eyes, she let me act how I pleased and she let me finally open my mouth and talk to my hearts content without judging me or constantly correcting my speech or ideas like my father did. She was the one to freely engage in discussion with me and she shared opinions that I always had but were stifled by the noble company that I was forced to keep and their narrow minded ideas and opinions that disgusted me. It was through Yeon that I was able to really understand the class that my mother was forced to be a part of. It was for her that I alway harboured ambitious plans in the palace and I had spent almost all of my life planning, being so close to my goals and yet I seemed to always face the same problem as my father did; I always failed as soon as I got close to what I wanted. And yet it was Yeon who gave me everything I wanted without any effort at all, behind my back, she helped rebuilt my career just like all noble wives were supposed to though their contacts in arranged marriages. And in that moment I realised that there wasn't just strong feelings between us; Yeon had acting out a role as my wife during her stay with her meticulous care of me, and I her husband in protecting her the way I did and I took all of my father's resentment of her onto myself without hesitation or regret. Our souls were already married, so could our bodies not do the same in this moment?

"Do you not agree with this Yeon? You have already surrendered yourself from the moment you fell for me, and I am only taking what belongs to me." It wasn't right what we were doing, I knew that deep down inside but I was so very desperate in this moment to have her before she completed her life long ambition of being educated and her brother would separate us. In this case, if I proceeded with this, I would at least have a new strong bond with her that would keep her coming back to me no matter what she had going on in her life anon matter what Hwi had to say, at least for now. I knew the fears that Yeon had as a woman that she was not voicing out to me at all; a lot of women were abandoned by men that used them physically, leaving them in almost cruel environment that left them the subject of gossip, the loss of her reputation and with an unwanted pregnancy that they were forced to deal with on their own without any help at all. But the plans I had for Yeon in both my revenge against her and my own personal feelings that I was trying so hard to fight against and failed even in this moment, abandoning Yeon was the very last thing on my mind. In fact, I had no plans for that at all as I could only get what I wanted from her through marriage. I just had to be patient and earn my best friend's trust again, and marrying his sister would ensure the peace and friendship between us would return. But the prince...he wouldn't let us reunite since I was his enemy, so marrying Yeon was my only hope in repairing the mistakes that I made in my ambition of power and keeping the siblings by my side...

I was momentarily lost in my thoughts and I wasn't expecting Yeon to start tracing me the way she did with her fingers. She had tears in her eyes but it let me know that she was surrendering to me at long last. I could only breathe a sigh of relief as I felt my darkness that I had been battling with for practically my whole life leave me little by little as I had actually gotten Yeon's permission do what what I had longed to do for a long time now. Only Yeon could look at me in a way that was making me melt in return and have the effect that I had planned for Yeon to feel so I could have her. Please god, do not let me fail in this as I had done with everything else I had ever wanted somehow...

We were so close to finally doing something again that we had always wanted to do, until we could both hear loud footsteps that were immediately making their way towards us. I could not help but to release a shout of frustration as I picked up Yeon in my arms who looked as equally as frustrated as we began to redress ourselves before resuming our positions around the feast of food that was still waiting for us. We already recognised the voices and could not do anything else but to wait for the confrontation that I had no choice but to face in this moment even though I had planned it for much later.

"Where the hell did she go to at this time of night? How can he do this tonight on all night's? He of all people should know what tomorrow means for her." "I keep telling you that he isn't worthy of your friendship and you just keep on giving him chances. I have no idea what spell he cast on you both but isn't it time to get over it" I couldn't help but to snort in laughter, I was angry but I knew that I didn't even have to defend myself as I knew exactly what Hwi would say to rebuff that ignorant opinion of her's. "Weren't you the one who was supposed to be watching her? How could you let her out of your sight when you know how he has been acting ever since she finished off his father? Acting drunk and following her around everywhere, who knows what he'll do to get his revenge on us?"

I always knew that other people around Hwi disliked me, like some women he had been hanging out from Ihwaru, but never as much as I was witnessing with my own ears. And no doubt Hwi had been avoiding her after most likely overhearing our last conversation before Yeon did what she did. It was the only thing I could think of anyways, so now she was trying any means to bring him back to her by even defaming me. And now more than ever, I couldn't wait to see the look on her face when we became in-laws.

"If I wanted revenge on your sister, I would have already killed her instead of simply feeding her like your little girlfriend failed to do." I raised my voice so Hwi could find me and get this confrontation over with so we could settle Yeon's issue. To protect her, the first thing I did when I woke up was to sign a registration document, making me Yeon's legal guardian in her brother's absence, so I technically shared the same rights over her as her own brother did in case eh didn't make it from the Liadong war. Due to the mess that my father made, I will never separate Yeon and Hwi, but I wasn't about to let him take her away from me either. "Just what on earth are you playing at! Why did you take my sister the way you did!" "Because your little girlfriends has been so busy with the brothel all day that she neglected to even feed Yeon today." "And just what business is that of yours?" "I'm her legal guardian who has been feeding and clothing her for the past 4 years, of course her meals are my problem. I wouldn't want you to accuse me of doing a bad job of looking after Yeon now do you?" I asked with my eyebrows raised and Hwi looked like he was ready for another round. Our roles were sadly yet ironically reversed; throughout our entire childhood it was Hwi that would crack the annoying jokes that made me want to constantly fight him out of sheer irritation. But only when the subject of Yeon was brought up that he let go of his happy go lucky carefree nature and grew as serious as any old men that I knew.

"Your statement is unfounded; of course I feed Yeon and look after her in her brother's absence, what exactly do you take me for?" "You do realise that the Seo's diet for almost the entirety of their lives I different than the muck they serve in a brothel right? Besides, I just had all of Yeon's favourite dishes made which I'm sure she missed compared to the plain noodles Ihwaru serves its kisengs every day." "And just how do you know what her favourite dishes are? You have never paid this much attention to her in your entire life!" "The minute she lived under my roof, everything about her become my business since she was under my protection. Her eating and sleeping habits, the books she reads and the clothes that she likes and the accessories that she picks out for herself, I know about it all. How else was I able to accommodate her so well and raise her..." "...as your sister?"

We both couldn't help but to wince at that part, especially since I had to cover my legs with a cloth to hide something that suggested that I had stopped thinking of Yeon as my sister a long time ago. She had been quiet the entire time and it was only when I looked over at her and realised that she had fallen asleep onto my shoulder that I finally got down to business and go head to head with Hwi.