Chapter 78: Dobda (Help)

I knew that sooner or later that I was going to pay for this insult, and I had to prepare myself well for this? But as soon as Yeon arrived, my panic washed away with a single look she gave me. "Young Master, it is deep into the night now and you need to get some sleep to wake up early tomorrow in time for work. You do not have the luxury of getting drunk or drinking tea that will only keep you up at night." She skilfully tried to take away this tea that I was having concerns about, only to be slapped across the face by the concubine who had stopped her pitiful act the moment that she tried to go for it. "You damned servant! How are you try to steal from your superior! You..." "My Lady, according to the moral code of conduct amongst the noble class, one must not cause a scene in another person's house. This is the Nam's residence, and I doubt that you want to prove your power by dominating everyone you come across. Unless you want a husband who you can puppeteer at your will have him become a laughingstock of the entire kingdom."

I was by her side the minute she tried to go for the tea again and I tried to protect her from whatever else the concubine had in mind, only to be pushed away by Yeon who gave her a clear slap in return despite the differences between them.

"Seo Yeon! How dare you hit your superior! Only a lowly thing like you would do such an evil doing! Is there anyone worse in this entire kingdom than you!" But she didn't know who on earth she was dealing with and what she was capable of when Yeon just gave her a pitiful look in return. "I have made this clear to you before that you are not in your own home to act how you please. Only Nam-Jeon and the Young Master are the higher ups here, and you are just an unofficial concubine from a fallen family earring an unknown child. You hold no special title, you yourself have not contributed any merits to this kingdom and it's people, so why can't I hit you in return? Or do you expect your non-existent backers to hold up the sky for you forever? Why should they do that?" "You...you orphan with no backer! You lowborn with no money! You clearly haven't been taught to ingrate yourself with civilised society! How on earth would you know about righteousness and courtesy? Only these uneducated and ill-mannered orphans like you would be as ignorant as you are to your superior and commit such lowly and disgraceful acts! You just wait until I..." "Until you what? Run back to your family because you are unable to handle small matters like a fight on your own? Will you dare to bring your family against the Young Master's, whom you are currently trying to trap as your husband? So you can use him as a pawn against who to raise your status? Will you really ruin your own future prospects by propelling a lowborn like me into your society? Because as you have stated time and time again, if I can actively seduce the Young Master, then I wonder who my next victim will be?"

Underneath all of her new etiquette and mannerisms, Yeon was a real lioness when it came to her loved ones and she didn't care one bit about how she looked or came across. She didn't get emotional anymore like she used to when she was defenceless, her cool and calm manner really did impress me and she didn't mince her words at all. And there was a very clear moment between us in spite of the chaos that we just looked at each other and we...well I have no idea about her but I...I actually felt very safe around her. She only carried out a small gesture, but for me it meant so much. Myself and Hwi had each other's backs our entire lives, but we could not defy our birthrights to defend each other. Whilst Yeon on the other hand, just disregarded everyone around us to protect me. I had really never seen anything like it, just who on earth did this girl think that she was? How could she just do that for me when she was the more culpable one in this situation. "Young Master Nam, have you been coerced to drink this tea? More than once?" "I...yes I have..." "And you are aware that there is something very wrong with this tea, are you not?" "You bitch! What lies are you spewing out?" "Just what on earth is going on here! Why are you ...why are both women in my son's bedroom! Have you all lost your minds!" "Father...!" "My Lord, I have just caught the concubine actively trying to poison your son by mixing certain...fatal aphrodisiac substances in her tea that she keeps trying to serve him. Please serve your son justice my lord, he hasn't done anything wrong."

Seo Yeon might have been naive, awkward and too excited in her previous life before her memory loss. But the one thing that she would absolutely never do was to bow down to anyone, and it was even more unlikely with this new version of her. But here she was, standing in front of me once again as to protect me from my own father and bowing for me on her knees. And it touched me to the point where I found myself holding back burring hot tears that I haven't felt in such a long time.

"Is this true?" "I...no, it isn't! I..." "She clearly has not cooked the ingredients enough, hence the unusual smell. I was called in here to calm her down after the Young Master sent me a message that she had an emotional outburst earlier. If I had not arrived on time, My Lord, I have enough reason to believe that she would have trapped your son into an unfavourable marriage against your will. We currently live in a neighbourhood that has 2 renowned physicians, you only need to show them the tea and they can test it out for you."

We all held our breaths in anticipation for my father's verdict, who looked as shocked as any one of us before he followed Yeon instructions. And no matter how much of a scene that the concubine caused, neither one us were allowed to leave my bedroom which was now heavily guarded with my father's hired men. Each noble family had taken on the habit of hiring common people for their own private army and I had more than my fair share of bad memories of these men who followed my every step throughout my childhood. In fact, the memories were so entirely raw and the fact that I haven't seen these people in a very long time was completely playing havoc with me. I started having a panic attack out of nowhere, and nobody even paid attention, apart from Yeon who was by my side in seconds.

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Being caught between my brother and his best friend was emotionally draining; frankly I wanted to grab them both by their heads and bash them together until I managed to knock some sense into them. But I knew that the ultimate bad guy in this was Nam-Jeon, and the fact that I had to live with Seon-Ho and witness the side of him that he had been hiding from myself and my brother was very unnerving, and the fact that I had to witness Seon-Ho remembering another woman was enough to press on my heart every single night until it started bleeding. There were days when it was very hard to keep up my act around the Nam's; instead of spending my day's reading the books that Seon-Ho would send me, I would just often stare at the big gate that I had to cross the courtyard for and just pray that I could even get a glimpse of my brother to see how he was doing. I already knew for a fact that he had probably been watching me every single day and the fact that he hadn't come by the residence for a month or two now was really getting to me. I couldn't eat or sleep properly until I saw him again, but I also had reasons to believe that Seon-Ho was watching me a lot more than he wanted me to know. How was it that he was able to know things about I spent my days or the books that I read on specific days and other specific details that nobody else needed to know...

But why? Why did I still wait for Seon-Ho to arrive home every night? Why did I go out of my way to make sure he had eaten a full breakfast before he left for the palace? Why was I the only one who rushed to pack his bags for him for his out-of-town trips and why was I so hell-bent of taking care of him as I used to with my own brother? I had pieced together what had taken place between the Nam's and my brother, and I myself witnessed how the Nam's continued with their lives as if they were not putting my brother in danger every single day? Why did Seon-Ho pick fights with me? Provoke me? Try to intimidate me and make me believe that he was as rotten as his father said he was? Why was he vulnerable with me now, of all times? But he was in love with someone else? He was't treating me as a sister anymore; sometimes he let me in and other times he pushed me away. Good god on earth, what was I doing with myself? Was this some sort of twisted punishment for betraying my brother like this? Or was he just confused?

And even now, I still couldn't't help myself but to keep stealing glances from him as much as I could, only to see him almost collapse on the floor and panting really heavily. I really did have to take a look around and just witness all of these noble people who had everything and more except for their hearts. No wonder Seon-Ho was hotheaded, recklessly impulsive and willing to gamble everything he had...even us. I looked over the at the concubine who had favoured him so much in the past to secure a marriage with him, only to look at him with pure disgust and anger. No-one was going to help him, and nobody cared enough to even ask him if he wanted anything. And as angry as I was at him, I wasn't going to leave him to die. No matter what he had done to my brother, he did still take very good care of me, and this was the only way that I could repay my debt to him.

I ran over to him as soon as I could and I had to help loosen his robes so he could breathe. This heedless man didn't care about his own health or the injuries that he had sustained, but I had already secretly placed my own medical box in his room in case he ever needed it. "What...what are you doing Yeon? Why are you going...through my things..." "Come over here brother, and put your head in this pouch that I made. It has calming herbs in it, I made for you when you were away at war." "You...why? I treated you so badly then." "...because you saved my life. I'm just simply paying the debt back to you..." even when he was in a dire situation, he didn't hesitate to grab me by the arm quite tightly and whispered to me that there was no debt to pay between us and that I shouldn't bring up such a ridiculous notion again. But he said it with so much pain in his voice that I had to close my eyes to feel that awful throbbing sensation that went through my heart whenever saw him like this. "Why are you so angry?" "Because I am the one who is supposed to be taking care of you, and you are the one who is taking care of me, more than anyone else has." "Do not be ridiculous, I can never replace your mother's care." I immediately regretted bringing her up as soon as I saw the fire in his eyes and he started digging his nails into my skin. But I had no right to complain, how could I? It only took me this incident to realise that the cold and distant Seon-Ho was sharing his pain with me in the only way that he knew how to.

"Why...why are you looking at me like that?" "Now I fully understand why he locked you up. You are too good and pure for this world Yeon, and you should always stay like this, no matter what happens to you in the future. And if I had my way, you wouldn't be able to leave my sight at all." The way he was looking at me, the tone of voice he was using and the way he was touching me was unlike anything he had ever done before, and it gave me chills all along my spine and my arms. And the moment that everyone had looked away from us, he pulled me close enough and quick enough to kiss me on the forehead before almost pushing me back to the floor so everyone else didn't suspect our movements. I didn't even have the courage to look at him when his father returned a few moments later and dismissed me from the room.

Anger, sadness, guilt, empathy, confusion...it all took over me in that moment and I ran to my quarters as fast as I could and I locked myself in there for an entire week. And he worst part was the he still wouldn't leave me alone; I felt and saw his shadow hovering around my entire room in every free moment that he had, although he didn't summon me even once. Every time I noticed him, I couldn't help but to hold my breathe and extinguish the lamps. I could only breathe easy when he left for another out of town trip and he had my servant do his packing for him and everything else that I used to do. That made me angry, but it was nothing compared to the horror I felt one night when I was trying to sleep and it was a lot colder than usual. It was only then that I had realised that someone had been poking more holes into my windows just like the one that I had poked in Seon-Ho's bedroom window before I recognised him.

No, this couldn't be happening, and certainly not now. The disaster relief...yes, i will help him one last time in an attempt to distract him. He should be away from home for a while to sort out this issue along with every other man in the kingdom...then i could contact my brother. Yes, this was the best plan and it had to happen now before something happened between myself and the Young Master that we couldn't take back and would change the course of our futures forever.

I could not for the life of me get any sleep, so I decided to look over Dal's plans for the disaster relief whilst he cleaned up the concubine's mess rather begrudgingly. I knew that he was working in my quarters specifically because he was hoping that I was going to help him out, but I would never go that far for Dal. I had no idea what sort of image he had of me in mind, but I only helped and protected my loved ones who had extended the same courtesy for me and that was all. I could be kind and sympathetic to others, but it was already unusual for a woman's intelligence to match with the opposite sex, so I couldn't be too lax. I had to protect myself at all times in order to help the ones i loved. I just needed to come up with a plan and hand it over to the Young Master before I met up with my brother and used the results of this plan to facilitate our escape together.