Chapter 182: Seo Yeon/ Seon-Ho

I woke up to uncomfortable pains I knew only too well as I tried to get up, only to see a handful of people sleeping haphazardly on the floor. My brother woke up at the same time and told me he had errands to run for the Prince, hopefully for the last time he told he ominously as I promised him I would look after my nephews until Hui-Jee came to collect them tomorrow. We held each other for as long as we possibly could just like always before had the servants make everyone breakfast for once as I tried to get some more sleep, only to wake up to my husband in a more than friendly mood since he had our hands full with the children. He took me up to my wing and we had some much needed time together before the children could wake up and make as much noise as possible to get our attention. We actually stuck out of the home like children ourselves and enjoyed each other's company as he had been so busy in the palace lately that he even kept my children behind to learn as much as possible at the same time. I even heard rumours of my babies having suitors already which I was not the only one who wasn't at ease with this. We secretly found out that Hyuk had been secretly exacting messages with that girl from the village much to Seon-Ho's constant amusement. His annoying grin was wiped off of his face as soon as other people in the royal circle started inviting Hana out for study and playdates as soon as they turned 10. He was in a bad mood as soon as he heard about the first one, but he couldn't hide her as he did to me all the time, and the connections he made through these 'dates' only benefitted him in his plan. His only solace was that Hyuk was not happy about this as well and shadowed his sister so we had nothing to worry about; Hana was the more dominant of the two but she had never gone against his wishes either. Hyuk had a horde of young women chasing him from a much younger age but thankfully he didn't care for such things and only focused on his potential career just like his father at that age. Hana wasn't too interested either I could tell but she never turned anyone down as to make her own contacts....and didn't mind receiving presents either. Both of my children behaved liked this and I couldn't be more proud of them, although we all knew they were only truly themselves when they were in my father's village, despite the luxury they had laying at their feet. But who knows, maybe they would turn to their father's world more as they got older.

We had breakfast outside together, walked together, bathed together in the river and talked endlessly about our plans for our children, the palace and the village before walking back hand in hand to the mansion before the children groaned at our little love fest and pulled us apart to sit with them. When my husband broke the news that he was going to have the boys over a lot more in the palace they all looked a little...bittersweet? I asked them about their opinions on it but we all knew; no matter how well-revealed they were, they all wanted simple lives in their grandfather's village until it was time to think about their careers, an even then they would rather live humble lives in the village because that was exactly the kinds of children they were. We all raised them to be humble and look beyond power and money and to just live their lives to their fullest potential. Seon-Ho promised them that himself and my brother were doing all they could to get out of the palace so we could all retire to my father's village and live peacefully so our children could have a choice in how they lived our lives unlike themselves.

******************

The children completely wore me out as usual but I would much rather take them on than anything at the palace. They wanted to start increasing their training whilst Hana started joining in a lot more. I was not really happy about teaching her but once again my wife convinced me that her safety was more important than anything else. I personally wanted to go over the boys diets, upgrade their weapons and go over their studies. My children had very luckily inherited our intelligence and were amazing at their studies. My nephews weren't too far behind but they preferred the physical stuff over studying. They could get a little lazy but they were smart when they wanted to be just like their father. Hana didn't need any help but she kept me informed nonetheless and that was why she had a room full of gifts for herself. But my chidden had the common sense not to outshine the royal children themselves, even though it frustrated them. They also inherited the sense of competition that was instilled in my by my wretched father, I guess the only way to take our there frustration was to be outside as much as possible doing psychical activities until they tired themselves out. The children loved riding horses and playing games against each other. And talking of my father...well I had avoided the topic long enough. My wife caught onto me mood just like she always did as she gathered the children who had finally tired themselves out as we put them bed. The twins were 10 now but Hana always found a way to be with me still as she laid her precious head on my lap until my wife told them everything about him while I kept silent. The truth was that I couldn't even open my mouth, the very mention of that man's name had always put me in a dark place that only Yeon could take the brunt of, but not my children, no way. We even told them about the predicament that he put us in involving the Seo's, we wanted to be completely honest as possible. And when I told them that the ridiculous stalker Chun-Ae was actually his bastard daughter as well they all looked at us in shock. I knew that they would have questions about our marriage, but I just explained to them firmly that although women were not objects in any way, that myself and Yeon had knows each other in childhood. I told them that it was because of that; that we had a much deeper connection that sometimes made me act irrationally to the world but that as my wife she understood every inch of me. We answered all of their questions as rationally as we could before they all fell asleep in their places. Yeon reached out for me as soon as it was over and she held onto me as she sung my praises about how well I managed to hold it all in together in front of the children and told me how proud she was of me. I didn't know how much i needed to hear those words again after all these years until I fell asleep peacefully in her lap.

I woke up to everyone still sleeping. I left the room as silently as I could to make arrangements to drop my nephews home; the children always loved the rides there and back as they made us stop off at every place they would get there hands on sweets. Even I was surprised by how mature they were about having a traitor as a grandfather and a concubine/ slave as a grandmother. It seems that the only person they could look up to in our family was my wife's parents until she pointed out that even her own mother landed in a gibang even if was due to circumstances. I planned to spoil them as usual before we took things up a notch in the palace for all of us, until I had a messenger from the palace call me around in an emergency. I had a sinking feeling for the first time and I made my way...but not before I locked up Yeon's wing where everyone was just in case something happened..