Chapter 110: Busnsilmul (Lost & Found Part 2)

Hwi had been avoiding Seon-Ho ever since he asked for my hand and he was lucky enough be busy with work so he didn't have to see him. I, on the other hand wasn't so lucky. I had started keeping Hwa-Wol company in another brothel in a neighbouring village since she was just as upset as I was about my brothers work with the prince and I wanted some time to myself for a while. But I had other things on my mind, things that I could focus on for myself for probably the first time since my father passed away. I was one of the only women in the entire village of my stature to be educated amongst the noblewomen that commoners such a myself never really got to see because the village was pretty much segregated. Where my father's home resided, not many nobles made their way into that part of the village, in fact Seon-Ho was the only noble who came to us at all, whilst the rather noble people preferred to hang around the palace which was on the other side of the village entirely. It was already hard for noble women to commit to their studies, so having a woman like myself with my flaws and backgrounds was already unprecedented, but because I had the Emperor's support, no one could really do anything to me apart from bitch and whine and cause me a lot of trouble, but I was already prepared for issues like this. The servants in the Nam mansion were already a test that I have lived through for so many years, although I could not deny that I had Seon-Ho's support in everything that I did under his roof. But I had to start distancing myself from him now for his sake to allow him settle in the palace freely away from his father's influence for once. And it seemed to be working out for him even better than he expected, since the third prince dd try to indirectly link him to his father's crimes, but I guess the Emperor saw the same potential in him as I did. He was now a favourite of our monarch and everyone who was against him from the start was sure enough realising the mistake that they had made by judging him as his father's puppet when he was just so much more.

As for my brother, I was not happy with his situation at all. The prince still took him away from me every chance he got and he only could come home a few days at a time along with the other men that I had already taken on as my extended family. He in turn wasn't thrilled either but who could turn down a prince and keep their lives? My brother that I had to myself since birth, I now get like I had to share him with 100 new people at once and it was driving mu both crazy. But that was nothing compared to his lover that he was hiding from; I knew my brother well to know when he felt pressured into something then he would just keep to himself, but it was also putting me in an awkward position. Hwa-Wol had done so much to help me and Hwi, and we all knew that she was waiting for her patience to be rewarded with my brother's return, but my brother was so busy and we barley had any time to ourselves as siblings. I never thought it would be this hard to share him and it was putting me in such a bad mood for the first tine in a while since I also had so much to tell him. But thankfully, the prospect of being educated in a real school despite still living with Seon-Ho was a useful distraction. And as for Seon-Ho himself, I have been doing everything I could to avoid him and he was coming home late at night anyways. I know that he had a lot of questions for me but I could also see how angry it was at me, and not even I was expecting him to take it as deep as he was. I knew he was waiting for me to come to him, but all the drama that happened between us had not stopped Hui-Jee from doing her best to cling onto Seon-Ho now that he was more powerful than she was. Even my brother didn't have a problem with that, but apparently Seon-Ho had different ideas.

"Yeon, will you stop bouncing around the walls? Your brother will be here soon." "I cannot help it, I start my class tomorrow and I am far too nervous to even think about sleeping." "My goodness, you're making half of the kisengs dizzy just watching you. Has your guardian said anything about this?" "When are you going to address him by his full name? You act as if he is poison." "Isn't he?" "Hwa-Wol!" "Ok ok, for the sake of your little crush that you still have for him, I will address your stalker." "I haven't got a crush on him anymore." I pouted defiantly whilst remembering our intimate times under his father's roof before I ruined it all by myself. I really couldn't stop thinking about it at all on top of the 100 other things that I had to think about, like my brother, his future, school, our new home, my education and my own future...and Seon-Ho's. And it was now more than ever that I was really starting to regret not surrounding to him sooner, maybe that would have better defined our relationship than what it was now, whatever it was. "And why on earth do you call him my stalker?" "Because he's sitting at one of our tables with a right face on him and he won't stop looking in your direction just like he has done every single night since you started coming here?" "What!" "You might want to pick up your jaw off of the floor before it falls off." "What on earth are you talking about? Why didn't anyone tell me?" "It was pretty obvious to everyone." "He is probably here for you." "Why do you keep doing that?" "What?" "Both you and your brother, whenever something good happens to you, you both brush it off and pass it to someone else." "Well..." "Yeon, I can assure you that he is not here for me, otherwise he would have made up all the excuses in the world to bump into me or talk to me like he used to." I couldn't help but to sense a hint of melancholy in her voice that seemed to substitute her bitterness for Seon-Ho. In regards to his feelings for her, all I have seen for myself is them talking privately and rather intimately at times like they were sharing secrets, but not much else. But as for Hui-Jee herself, I could not help but notice that ever since my brother had been avoiding her, that she herself was now finding ways to provoke Seon-Ho. I do not know what happened between them, but Seon-Ho now had nothing but bitterness for her, which took us all by surprise. I could tell from Hui-Jee's reaction that she was more shocked and hurt than the rest of us, which just made me even more confused about their whole situation. But it was really starting to hurt me and it was giving me all the signs that right now was the right time to pull away and focus on myself and my brother now. "I...I..." "Girls? How many times has the Young Master Nam followed Yeon here? And how many times has he paid you to spy on her?" "Excuse me?! What on earth..." "Too many times to count, so don't stop coming her Yeon. Your presence here alone is making all of us rich." "Are you pulling a prank on me? Do you really expect me to believe that Seon-Ho has been paying all of these women for information on me?" "What on earth did you think he was doing with them?" "Well...what? Why are you all laughing at me?" "The Young Master Nam isn't exactly the type of man you think he is Yeonnie. It really is such a shame; for a young and vigorous man who is as handsome as he is, he really is stiff around women." "No he isn't!" "Oh really? And how would you know?" They all started laughing at how red my face was getting and I suddenly felt a little overwhelmed so I had to step outside, but instead I ran right into Seon-Ho head first. And believe me, he was not happy with me at all, he made that perfectly clear when he grabbed me by the waist before I could topple down and before I knew it, he hoisted half of my body on top of his shoulders exactly like my brother used to whenever I was being stubborn with him. But Seon-Ho had never done this to me before and he was taller than Hwi was, so I could not help but to scream a little when I saw just how tall this man really was.

"Are you crazy? What on earth are people going to think?" "So now you care about what people think?" He snarled at me and I had nothing to say after that, so instead of making a scene, I just let him take me wherever he was taking me quietly. I hadn't been this close to him for such a long time now and I honestly missed his smell so much that I couldn't help myself but to quietly take in as much of him as possible before he undoubtedly unleashed his anger upon me. "I haven't heard your voice for a while. Did you finally find your tongue again? My Lord?" He was spiteful digging his nails into my flesh and once again I had no choice but to just let him do what he wanted to do. It wasn't until I saw that he was taking me back to the Nam mansion that I felt overwhelmed again with all of the memories of that animal who locked me up in here. Thankfully, Seon-Ho had finally realised the difference between me acting up and when I genuinely was distressed, but that didn't stop me from taking me to his quarters and locking the door after he had basically dropped me onto the floor without so much as an apology.