Chapter 81: Chepo (The Arrest)
Luckily for me, Dal was still waiting in a very long line of officials that wanted to see the Emperor to come up with a plan for the disaster relief with a very big smirk on his face and with what looked like Yeon's parchment in hand. What a lowlife; was he actually going to start a career for himself on the back of a woman's work? I had been too busy with Hui-Jee recently to forget that Yeon was still a vulnerable young woman alone in my home with a scumbag like him hanging around. But do i handle him? Or should i let Hwi do the job? "Are we not going to do anything about that weasel?" "Let him savour his last moments of freedom, I will get to him when it is his turn." "But..." "But what?" "Think about it, if his background is known to be linked to yours, then your family will also get in trouble for a less-than-perfect plan in this stressful time. If anything happens to you..." "Can't you see that Dal is trying to break away from my family to try and obtain his own freedom? I knew that he was up to something after that river accident, and now i know." "What are you talking about?" "He wants to take over my plan with Yeon's help. He wants her for himself and thinks that she will elope with him on the promise of her freedom." "So..." "My father and Hwi are not going to let Yeon go anywhere until this third prince mission is over." "Even if she cannot remember them?" "That isn't all." "Then?" "Have you ever been in love?" "Excuse me? Is that supposed to be a joke?" "When you love someone, you do not want to part from them, no matter what obstacles may occur. Yeon hadn't regained her memories yet, so i am all she has. She will never leave me." "Are you sure about that?" I could only reply with a small smile as i vividly recalled the events of last night with an excited tingle running down my spine when i remembered how good she smelled...and tasted. And it was only right of me to reward her for finally giving me an opportunity to ged rid of Dal, and maybe the concubine myself if things went according to my predictions. And going back to Yeon once again, I knew i owed her quite a lot for the various altercations that she had with the concubine, so i would find some way to reward her at long last. Just you wait Seo Yeon, i will have you out of my father's home by the end of the week if I could bring down Dal and find the time to reunite you with your stubborn brother before I could bring my father into this. I will be sure to entrap him with this plan that he will not have the time to remember the Seo's at all...
"Royal Inspector Nam Seon-Ho?" "Yes?" "You are hereby under arrest for the provocation and slander against His Royal Highness, Yi Bang-Won." "Excuse me? What on earth are you talking about?" "Before you entered the palace today, your men conducted an illegal search of the Prince's quarters without a warrant or proof for it. And secondly, the Prince's artillery rooms were found empty. You have gravely humiliated His Royal Highness, and you will be detained in the dungeons until you are interrogated and tried for your crimes against the Royal Family."
My life as i knew it had come to an end. If the prince himself was the one who was issuing my arrest, then I could be damned sure that i wasn't getting out of that prison alive. But what about the Seo's? What were they going to do without me? My father would for sure find a way to kill them as soon as Hwi betrayed the third prince and Yeon...no, no, NO! Not for all he suffering in the world did Yeon deserve such a short lifespan! And Hwi himself, after everything that I had put him through, he didn't deserve to be ripped away from his sister, no whilst he was trying to reunite with her after 4 years. No, i need to find both of the Seo's and hide them before... "Resistance os futile! You can either go straight down to the dungeons or you can be sent to the third prince's residence to be directly interrogated by him yourself!" No, no matter what happened to me, I was never going to give that bastard the satisfaction of seeing me flustered and caught off guard, I simply had too much pride for that. My father may have wanted him dead due to the fact that he had become an obstacle between himself and the Emperor, but I could never let this man even touch the throne of this kingdom. If I did, all of the illegitimate children in this nation would meet their death on that very same day. And i had to protected everyone, even the poor illegitimate children who already barely stood a chance at surviving anyways with all of the restrictions that we had placed on us.
The Emperor himself was only a few yards away and i did not want to cause a scene, no matter how devastated I was. As an Inspector General, i was now being put in a place where i myself had handed over so many criminals...my father's enemies...Dal. Dal accompanied me during my work, Dal made me a plan of how, when and where to capture them and Dal made me use their families against them...what was going to happen to me now? Even Sung-Rok was being arrested alongside me and I had no-one to help me and bail me out...
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I had just managed to arrive in the palace with my brother in tow who directly took me to meet the third prince himself. I was fully aware of the reasons why Seon-Ho opposed this prince and i had to say that i supported him. But on the other hand, he was my brother's only lifeline now until we fully rid ourselves of Nam-Jeon. So i had no choice but to betray Seon-Ho for now as I needed to prevent Dal from carrying on with my plan that was still faulty. But my brother was now the one who was facing the biggest gamble of his life as he decided to face the prince that he had been deceiving from the moment that he met him. Yi bang-Won was a ruthless prince for a reason who wasn't above killing his own brother's to become the crown prince himself. And he was the most paranoid prince; if he knew that he would be used, my brother's head would roll. But telling the truth was the only option that we had now and if my brother's life would appease his anger, then he would have to make my life as well. And as for Seon-Ho...he had his woman to look after him, the one that he really loved. He would probably be relieved of my absence now that i was no longer a burden onto him...
"Brother? Are you sure..." "It is our only option now. Stay here and wait for me, do not even thinking about leaving this spot, do you understand me?" "But brother..." "Do not question me Yeonnie, everything i do is for us." I was completely overwhelmed with fear and the many other emotions that I had to deal with the Nam's. I could only listen to him but i still didn't forget to throw myself at hime for possibly the last hug i could ever give him. We were both tearing up but I still held onto his hand until he had to walk away from me, potentially for the last time. I still had not recollected all of my memories of him, but I felt something powerful when he touched me; he was my protector and he knew it. And it was enough to dissolve me into visible tears, even in front of all of the maids and servants who were looking at me in disgust and amusement.
It was in that moment that I saw Nam-Jeon himself making his way somewhere with a ring of officials around him. I should have stayed where my brother told me to, but once i heard the whispers around him that his son had been arrested for going up against the third prince and failed, my feet started to walk before i could fully register what was going on. He was the one that started all of this, and now he was going to have to save the people that he hurt to save his only son. Maybe this would make him understand how much he should really cherish the living son he had instead of loosing his only man like this.
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After waiting for what had seemed like all morning, I had finally been called into line to present my idea to the Emperor. He was still unaware of who I was, only those in the Young Master's office would identify me, just in time for the Lord Nam...my father to see how much he would regret not recognising his own son...
"My Lord Nam! Please! i beg of you, do not let your son's servant Dal present his fault plan towards the Emperor! The Young Master himself has come up with it, but it hasn't been perfected yet! Please do not shame the Young Master Nam anymore! Please!" I swore that I had felt a chill run down my spine when i heard Yeon's unique high-pitched voice screaming and pleading for me to not take credit for the plan that she made? Why was she giving the Young Master all of this credit anyways? Was she out of her mind? Did the Young Master pathetically try to seduce her again to control her? She was the one I was doing all of this for so why...but i didn't have time to think about that. I had to save her from Nam-Jeon who looked at her in such a murderous rage that I thought he would kill her right there and then.
"Seo Yeon! What are you talking about! Even His Majesty as just complimented my plan!" "The Young Master Nam's plan is still faulty! I cannot just stand on the sidelines whilst thousands of victims suffer just because you want to steal the credit for this work!"
"Men! Take this mad woman away from here..." "Please My Lord! I will do whatever you want me to do! I will carry on being your hostage in your home of my own free will! I will let you force my brother into slavery for your own means! Just do not let the victims of such a disaster pay for your mistakes! Just like how you forced your own son to look into the third prince's artillery rooms to show proof that he still had his own private armies to sow discord between him and his own father!"