Chapter 118: Deoch (Trap 1)

Typical Seon-Ho always knew what lines to cross to make me want to strangle the life out of him. And I was about to do so with no doubt, until a team of royal maids that belonged to the Empress stormed in and completely tore everything apart, wasting all of the food that my so-called future brother-in-law had prepared for my sister and chased away the kiseangs that were closest to my sister in the brothel to back up my case. "Seo Yeon? What sort of shady dealings are you up to now that you are wide awake at this hour?" "Aren't you also awake at this hour? I really wonder what shady dealings your team has with a disposed General Inspector?" I couldn't help but to wince again at my sister's blunt tone of voice that I hadn't heard since our father died, and even then she wouldn't dare to use it in his presence. But it was something that I recognised and I knew what to do and I knew that I had to physically hold Seon-Ho back the moment that my sister's name was mention. I had to admit, all of this time I really thought that he was just messing with my sister to get back at me somehow. But the fear in his eyes was unusual to say the least...it was as if he was scared that other's knew of my sister's existence as she was forced to expose her intelligence that I had tried so hard to hide since we were orphaned...maybe, just maybe, he really did have a genuine soft spot for her underneath all of those schemes I could already see his in greedy little eyes that he had planned for her. I could only hope and pray that my sister wasn't foolish enough to succumb to his temptations, especially after everything that we had just been through.

"The Empress calls for Seo Yeon to her chambers for an interrogation of..." "I wonder what I could have possibly done this time to offend an Empress that I have barely spoken to before apart from the trial that I have barely had time to recover from." "...How dare you! You are being called her by the Empress herself and you dare to insult her!" "Really? I cannot recall a single insult in that sentence that I sad, can anyone else?" "You...!" "Let us get this over with, before I miss out on my so-called 'bed-time'..." "Yeon....!" "Brothers! Relax, both of you! I haven't done anything wrong, so what are you worrying about?" "But...!" "But nothing! I just need you to keep quiet and act like my witness if you want to come along. But if you are just going to cause trouble, then just stay here and wait for news from me and do not make it worse for me! If you want this answers from me, then I need to see that you are mature enough to handle the truth, or you will get nothing from me at all and I mean it."

There were only a few people who could render this man silent, and I never considered myself one of them. I never considered my sister to be one of those people either, but now I could see that I was wrong. But he still didn't have any rights over her, and I was here to remind him of that. "You listen to me, you great big lump! You keep your goddamned mouth shut and don't you dare do or say anything to make this situation worse for her, or I will wire trap your mouth shut with my materials from the blacksmith shop. And if you loose your temper even once, then I will personally make sure that you never come close to her again, and you know that she will never disobey me! Do not make me go that far, do you understand me!" The look of both shock and fear gave me the answer that I needed before we both followed Yeon to the palace, even if I felt exactly how Seon-Ho looked. It was part of being the older sibling I guess, and i didn't like it at all. My sister had never given me cause to worry about her at all for over a decade and now I had a sinking feeling that our blissful sibling relationship was going to be anything but from the moment my so-called best friend stole her from me and regained a lot more than her lost memories.

We had arrived a few minutes later just as there was at team of physicians at the Empresses door, pleading for their lives with some poisonings that were apparently going on in the palace as soon as my sister had left. I didn't like it, but I didn't have a choice in leaving Yeon alone with Seon-Ho, whom I prayed could keep his temper in check just this once until I returned with Moon-Bok.

"...Your Highness, we really do need to keep the palace people inside to recover..." "We appreciate your benevolent hearts, doctors, but diseases are no child's games. Are you using the remaining lives of these illustrious quarters as a joke?" "Please, you must understand! The sick are vomiting, diarrhoea, headaches, dizziness and no sign of contagiousness. If this was an infectious disease, then it would have been widespread in the palace already. How could there only be 20-something people infected and only from your quarters?" "Because the Emperor's personal physician has diagnosed this to be infectious himself, are you insulting his intelligence? And what if your own diagnoses is wrong?" "Then we are willing to bear full responsibility for this."

"Your Majesty, this physician is highly skilled and speaks with evidence! If we were to make a big commotion and move patience at this time, it will be easier for others to misunderstand your good intentions. We should rather cordon off an area in the palace for patients to recuperate and let them be treated! Everyone shall be grateful to your benevolent considerations...." "Be quiet! How dare you come up with these suggestions when your are the very cause of all of this mess, Seo Yeon!" "Excuse me? What could I have possibly done?" "We have your...colleagues here from your work place as a washer woman telling us that you they have personally caught you poisoning the stream where you work, causing my entire quarters to suffer! And for what? Tell me!"

"Your Highness, surely even you can point out the holes in this conspiracy theory, can't you? Unless you have very specific evidence that I was the one who would put so many people's lives at risk." "Your Majesty..." "ENOUGH! WHO DARES TO INTERRUPT ME IN MY OWN QUARTERS! GET UT, ALL OF YOU!" I could hear her shouting all the way from the other side of the courtyard, which made me almost fly to my sisters side on wings with Moon-Bok in tow. "Forgive me, Your Majesty, but I am afraid that if I do not speak my mind today and inform of you of these mistakes, my death will besmirch your reputation far more than it already has. Everyone knows that the Emperor himself has refused to see you since he trial and that your sons are currently open targets for their elder brothers to pick on at their will whilst you have lost your husband's favour. Should you fall in his eyes even more..." "Well well, you certainly do not mince your words at all, do you? You are just like that damned mother of yours..."

I was standing a few feet away from the Empress, but even I could hear that last part of her sentence that had me shaking in my boots. The Empress...how did she know of our mother? She rose to her new position almost a decade after our orphanage...and more importantly, why wasn't my sister equally as shocked as me? Unless she really did know something about our parents and that is why she had changed so much from a timid little girl who was happy to hide behind me from a real lioness of a woman.

"If an illiterate, orphan girl can manage to save my reputation as you put it, then have at it. But if you cannot, then I will have your head by my feet, Seo Yeon."

"From what I have heard so far along with the rest of the kingdom about this so-called epidemic that is going on, only the lowly servants of your quarters seem to be sick, not you or any of your ladies-in-waiting. No-one else in the palace seems to have contracted anything else, which begs the question; why are you pinning lowborn deaths on an illiterate, orphan girl? The physicians seems to think that this is a harmless flu, which makes me think that the source of this disease might be from the food and drink- that explains why the disease isn't contagious. And all the attendants in the palace use the same source of water..."

"Your Majesty! She is lying to you! We all caught her red-handed a long time ago! And when Yeon caught us, we...she threatened us to to go along and go with this, I can only pretend to be in their command..." "Their command? More than one person? What on earth can you mean by this?" "Your Highness, she threatened us in the name of her brother, who is the man of your stepson and your own son's opposition..." I didn't expect to be dragged into this shit-show of an attempt to frame my sister, but even more so, I didn't expect my sister to go up to this so-called witness that I recognised from her work and give her such a hard slap from the moment that she mentioned my name. I had to really hold her back in my embrace in case she lost her composure, but now I had another rather suffocatingly and confused question in my mind. Was it really a coincidence that my sister had stubbornly insisted that she take on this lowly job of being a washwoman that she didn't need at all? Or did she take it despite my objections, knowing that it would lead to something that connected us to the death of our parents? Was this why she was ignoring Seon-Ho's affections for her and even my wishes for her not to work? Where the hell was she going with this? Just what on earth had she gotten herself into this time? And was this why she wanted me as far away from the Third Prince as possible? Good Lord, father, if you can hear me, what on earth do I do with this brat of a girl that you left in my care? Her first attitude, her cool and calm composure and her witty remarks, this has you written all over this. Just what on earth did you teach her without my knowledge? And why hide this from me in the first place?