Chapter 102: Kim Chun-Ae/ Seo Yeon

My story of how I ended up in the palace was a complicated one. After I had been caught out on the ship I was thrown onto the streets with no means of survival at all, but the only thing on my mind was revenge. I hid around Ihwaru where I knew I could be kept up-to-date with news of Seon-Ho, and that was when I heard the news of his marriage plans. I was so compete heartbroken that I couldn't eat or sleep- not that I could either way as I didn't have the means. I looked after Seon-Ho with every fibre of my being but because of that bitch I was left starving. again. With no protection. again. And before I knew it I had absolutely no choice but to sell myself to survive. I had barely managed to block out the bad memories I had to go through in Ihwaru in my childhood but now I had no choice but to rely on them. The only thing that gave me comfort was the fact that each man I had been with I could imagine it was Seon-Ho...with every moan, every caress, every touch I could pretend It was Seon-Ho touching me like he touches Yeon for months on end...until I came across a certain someone who worked in the palace...

With his support I was able to recover before entering the palace as a maid under him. He kept me hidden from his wife in an isolated property quite close to the palace so I could watch them both leaving together as if they had no troubles in the world at all. But by the time I had passed the rounds of becoming a maid that little slut was already the main topic of conversation with al the servants and eunuchs. Upon her first day she was already taken under Prince Bang-Gan's wing, and router had it that she had not only caught the eyes of one of the most feared Prince's of our time but she had the nerve to reject his rare offer of becoming a concubine! We all saw how both prince's hovered around the girl and I couldn't believe it! Was this bitch a witch or something? How did she have some of the most powerful men under her like dogs? The jealousy felt around the palace was so I really didn't even have to do anything; well apart from tell a few truths about the other men she had outside of the palace. I only exposed her for the slut she was and the rest was history. I let everyone around her mess with her as much as possible whilst I worked on building up my power with my backer's help. I was promoted from palace maid in hard labour where I saw her occasionally to the embroidery room to working for the concubines...whilst taking dow a few competitive servants along the way and soon enough I was just as much known as she was for my efficiency. Now I just had to wait for him to come home whist I tried my best to drag Yeon down as much as I could so she could be forgotten.

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Almost a year had passed by hand I still hadn't heard anything back from my men. All was well and mundane in the palace. The prince's scheduled was lax so I had a lot of free time to cultivate my mind. I had overcome many obstacles, jealousy and schemes that nearly cost me my life over and over again, to the point where the Prince couldn't do anything more to me, although the continued to make his domineering presence known in my life as well as Hui-Jee in Ihwaru. It was her he really wanted; I suspected that he just wanted to take me away from Seon-Ho and keep me as a concubine to antagonise Bang-Gan who had been standing up for me out of nowhere. Where his brother and I suspected my man's other bride he started coming into the palace to see me personally at about 3-4 months into my work. He had me keep him company, and sort out his schedule, his foods and any other chore he wanted me to carry out. He pronely saved me from kitchen and hard labor duties himself and had personally punished every supervisor who abused their authority, much to my surprise. We hardly knew each other at that point but he was already being protective over me. We had a good talk about his bother's intentions towards me; and he actually promised to keep me safe. I was so surprised I asked him why he was protecting me; and the vague answer he gave me was exactly what I was hoping for.

I spent most of my time with the little boy I used to work with for my tuitions; I had found him a home at last but I still tutored him to get my mind off of worrying about my men. I had started looking wedding pieces when I could...I had even bought a wedding nice outfit to look when things got really tough and I couldn't handle it anymore. My dairy to him had long been filled up as I brought more and more, declaring my love to him over and over when I missed him so much...and when I craved him.

Everyone had investigated everyone in the palace that my father had worked with...until it came down to the last suspect as we all feared; prince Bang-Won. Hwi was still away but he was rumoured to return sometime this week which I had to mentally prepare myself for. Thankfully his friends had always helped cover for me when he tried to visit me, which I could only do on my days off and it had been about a month since I last saw him, but I could only keep this secret for so long until he figured out what I was up to, and I knew he was going give me hell for it.

Seon-Ho had never really talked to me about the other woman he was to marry...I was caught between not wanting to know to protect my heart and needing to know in order to protect myself. Chun-Ae was luckily kept rather busy in the palace since she had the desire to compete with me for everything...and recently another one of my enemies from work had arrived at the palace right next to me; Hyo-Sonn. I swear that these girls had become obsessed with me to the point where couldn't take it anymore and spend most of my free time in Ihwaru were they weren't welcome. Not to say that they didn't try though, and soon enough that had annoyed pretty much ever kiseng in the faculty trying to get to me...and then there was Da-In who I found out to my horror was actually step sisters with Hyo-Sonn and cousin to Chun-Ae! I began to curse my luck. I was either harassed, stalked or sabotaged in everything I did...it was stupid of me not to have seen where this would all lead into the future...then maybe my man wouldn't be going through all of this now...

I hate to admit it but thanks to the graces of me employer I had my own room close to the Prince so no one dared to enter it without my permission unless they had a death wish so, so at least my things were safe. And I was feeling bored again so I thought about messing with them once and for a to get them out of my lives for good. I looked up their family history in the registration archives and I figured I would pay their relatives a visit to see if it would help me get any clues on what I could use against them...the only relative they had in town was a paternal grandmother they were all raised under at some point or another. I decided to take a trip to visit her on my way for a surprise visit at my father's village to spend more time with my brother like I had been doing recently.

I was looking for a Mrs Kang Mun-Hee on the village outskirts...only to come across a run-down noble house on the verge of ruins. I had a bed feeling about this, and I usually listened to my intuition...but these girls had put me through so much bullshit that I needed to weed them out of my lives for good. I yelled a few times to ask if anyone was home before I entered the premises and I looked around. All I saw were ruined portraits on the floor, torn to pieces along with some shredded ribbons and shattered glass. My senses were on high alert as part of me recognised the scent. I was beginning to feel a little sick as I tried to leave...only to have a deep bear-like voice stop me in my tracks...as it called out my mother's name.