Chapter 92: Gyesogdeonuen (Continued)

Both men were angry with me as I had expected, but Seon-Ho...his face looked terrible and I couldn't read properly at all. I felt his anger in his touch but I didn't dare to show him how much this was also hurting me, I wasn't going to give him the satisfaction of running to him this time. I couldn't read his intentions properly and I had a lot of messes to clean up...it was going to be hard but right now, I had to focus on a lot of other things besides him now. Besides; once I exposed his father Seon-Ho was going to finally be free and act how he wanted...with as many women as he wanted whose social positions could only benefit him...that very thought was beginning to set me off again and I had to remember that I was in front of my brother now this time. Nam-Jeon had been eerily silent this whole time but as the place guards dared to put their hands on him he had a little meltdown as he was being escorted to the court where just a day ago he was held to high esteem for over a decade. All we could do was watch as we watched the most poised man in our village almost tear his hair out in panic. Seon-Ho on the other hand made his way up the to Emperor's throne and stood on his right hand side which only enraged his father even more, although he had seemed to have lost his voice when he was being dragged in front of the Emperor and everybody else who he had considered to be lower than himself. And from the very moment he laid his eyes on the Empress besides him she had turned a very dark shade of red whist trying to maintain her composure. Prince Bang-Won was considered the most viscous prince amongst them all and they were not biologically related I couldn't help but notice the pure dread on her face when he stated eyeing her young sons who were the youngest of all the royal children.

The Emperor didn't really look surprised when he saw Nam-Jeon in the state that he was in, rather he just exchanged a knowing look with Seon-Ho before the Prince made his case with evidence and witnesses that nobody could refuse or deny. But the Prince didn't miss his chance to humiliate the Empress when it came about that she was the one who gave the orders in front of the entire court, the Emperor looked almost heartbroken as he had no choice but to give the guards escort her to her chambers where she would be privately interrogated. I will never be able to forget the look she gave both myself and Seon-Ho before she was humiliatingly dragged away in front of the whole court with her little children wailing after her and crying their hearts out. Thankfully they were too young to understand what was going on so I had one less burden on my shoulders. If they had been just a little older and decided to get revenge on us later, it would all be my fault if anything happened to anyone who was earnestly trying to help me.

Myself and my brother still couldn't leave the palace until the Prince had finished his own interrogation in which his son also had to be present for. In the hour that it took we time to catch up as I began to tell him what he needed to know before he could ask me anything. He looked upset for sure but I coaxed him as much as I could, especially when I told him that I may have found evidence to suggest that the had something to do with our father's death. This stunned him into silence when he realised why I didn't just escape to reunite with him. My mother had died soon after giving birth to me so our father was our king, our idol and the man who loved us so much that he was considering retiring from his job as the greatest swordsman in our era just to take care of us. Even though the loved us equally, as the only daughter in the family I was naturally a lot closer to him so he knew he couldn't talk me out of doing anything that involved bringing him to justice. But what I told him what that plan involved with he got so angry that I had to walk away to let him calm down for a while. But when we were called to the palace again he told me that he knew he couldn't talk me out of it and he gave me his support whist also making it clear that we would not be separated ever again, no matter what my plans were.

But no matter what they were, I still had to make sure that Seon-Ho was going to be ok without me for a while and there were so many different things that I had to tell him, but it was better for me to put all the information that I had to good use, like trying to distance himself from his traitor of a father, otherwise Seon-Ho would be a walking talking target for the rest of his life and he would never know peace. I would do this for him, even if it puts me at odds with him forever, because some things that I knew...I know for a fact that he would never stop looking for me even I hid myself on the other side of the world for answers. But to give him peace and to give myself some time with my brother, I had to do this. "Your Highness, there is in fact another charge that I need to bring up against Nam-Jeon." "And what is that?" "Familicide."

From the moment I brought up that term, the entire court was brought into chaos. Familicide was a common crime that occurred in the noble class but it was rarely brought up in any court because the high-class perpetrators usually bribed everyone in sight to conceal this crime that was high on the list of immoral Confucius laws. I could feel Seon-Ho burning his eyes into me even more, but I could not for the life of me dare to look a him. I was shaking so much that my brother had to almost catch me in his arms and I didn't know how much I miss this touch until it brought me to tears on the very spot.

"Familicide you say?" "Your highness, I have proof that Nam-Jeon not only murdered his own wife...but also his first born legitimate son. And he even blamed his second son for the murder and let him carry the blame of it for his entire life." "You...have proof?" "Your Highness, Nam Min-Ho was indeed the legitimate son and he was talented, but unbeknownst to all, he had a weak disposition and he was alway sickly in the last year of his life. Nam-Jeon is a well-known perfectionist and always strives for the best, and he cannot accept anything below that. The day that both boys were swimming in the river that day...Nam-Jeon sent the son of his servant to push Seon-Ho into his brother behind his back, which pushed both boys into the river together." "And what proof do you have of this?" "I have a witness who was there on the scene 20 years ago." "And where is this so-called witness?" "Myself, Your Highness. Because I was the one who dived into the river after them and I saved Seon-Ho myself. And I...I...i was the one who informed Seon-Ho's mother of the ordeal after Nam-Jeon stole their son from her. And the nest time I saw her...she was dead in front of her son's quarters." "And where is this servant now? And his son?" "The servant's son died in childhood soon after the demise of Min-Ho after suffering from an illness, and the servant himself died soon after the incident occurred. But he did leave behind a daughter in the care of Nam-Jeon." "And who is this servant?" "This servant is currently in the Nam residence; his name is Dal, Your Highness."

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Anger couldn't even begin to describe what I was feeling; betrayal, shock, confusion were added to my already disturbed state as I watched another version of Yeon come out from her little cocoon that she had wrapped herself in after probably all of her life and take charge in the court as the only woman who had set foot there after the Emperor and Empress. But the worse thing was that she didn't even look at me even once, which meant that she knew I wasn't going to let this lie. But I couldn't think about that now; all I could think about was the incident that kept me awake all night longer since it happened. I had a hard enough time keeping away from Dal until i came up with a plan to make him pay for what he had done to my mother, but now the truth was that it was my father? I knew it, i knew it this whole time, but i couldn't think about that when i was under his control in his home. And as for Yeon and when she first came to stay with me, I almost had nightmares about it again after such a long time almost immediately. But I had already blocked out most of my memory of that incident, and I certainly could never remember how on earth I got out of the river and found myself awake on the riverbank itself. From the first day of her stay, Yeon awoke such different emotions in me that I had long forgotten about, she made me doubt everything in my father's world that I was forced to be a part of and she gave me such hope that I could be my own man with or without power. And I wasn't stupid, I knew that I would need her by my side to accomplish everything but...why didn't she confide in me when she got her memories back? Why didn't she say anything at all? Why did she keep everything to herself? I had known her for almost 2 decades now, why didn't she say anything about my mother? Or that she herself saved me from the river? She saw what happened? But why didn't she tell me? I had so many questions for her, but I could already tell by her new frosty attitude against me that she was already looking for a place to hide away from me. Fine, if that was the game this girl wanted to play, then I would play along with her until I got what I was owed from her.

It had been a few hours since everything took place and I felt like everything Yeon had done was finally beginning to sink in, leaving me devastated and full of rage. Who knows what on earth that girl has been up to, how much she knew and what the hell she was planning on next. I didn't even have time to think about it as the Empress had finished her interrogation and still had the unsurprising power to punish my father as the Empress had only been using him for his dirty work but had kept him well away for every other matter which had truly offended him. She served the appropriate punishment by having him on house arrest for a month so she along with his other enemies could bask in his disgrace before being called back into the palace for his final sentencing. I was then called for a private audience with the Emperor who had told me everything that Yeon had done for me and only felt more conflicted towards her. She had broken my trust although she was not in the wrong because I had broken her first by lying to her about her brother and not being there for her even though my father threatened me constantly about what word happen to her if I got too close to her. I dreaded to think what else she was hiding from me, as if she would ever tell me or her brother; she knew me too well to know how angry I got and what I was like when I got into that state.

This was one of the most significant days of my life; ever since I had been dragged to my father's home alone and neglected I had been plotting my revenge on him, to let him use me how he saw fit in order to get what he wanted, only for me to build up my own power in the meantime. Although my father was not being punished directly by my own hands it was equally satisfying to see him being punished for his deeds, but I had checked out from the moment Yeon cleverly got her confession out of him. Despite my very conflicted feelings towards her I knew that she owed me a conversation. She had to be extremely foolish to even think about running away from me but in the event that she did...well I knew how to find her however far she went. I was still thinking about her when the King told me that it would be best to move into a separate accommodation in the palace whilst my father returned to his mansion that was soon to become mine during the week and not to spend too much time around him. That was when I started to get a really bad feeling of what was to come during my father's last month on this earth; I had no idea what was in store for me when we returned home but I wasn't looking forward to finding out.

It was at this point where the Prince distributed his own rewards from my father to them; apart from becoming his right hand man he was going to take out a healthy chunk of my father's money as compensation to Hwi. But when it came to Yeon however she got onto her knees formally and requested her own rewards to the Emperor. Normally he wouldn't allow it but he seemed to be relieved to have a reason to get rid of my father so he was in a rare mood today. And just like old times, Yeon really milked the situation for everything it was worth. Not only did she asked to be educated as compensation, she was also asking for my father to pay for it...and to grant her stay at the mansion whilst she took her time to reconnect with her brother, and the day my father got sentenced she would return to her brother. Yeon's case was unprecedented as it it involved a psychical illness and memory loss, and she also spun some story about how I was tutoring her at home so she wanted my help with her studies. The Emperor agreed but made it clear that he would not grant her anymore favours. I felt my heart drop and my anger rise; I knew that Hwi was just as unhappy with this but at the same time the prince conveniently needed him for a mission so he wouldn't be home for a few weeks anyways. It was had to break away from a prince and Hwi had no reason to break the alliance they had. I caught's Yeon sad look before she noticed I was staring at her again and she changed her look immediately. I was about to step out of my comfort zone and reach out to console her, but the look on her face made me furious. Fine, if this was the game she was going to play, I can play it too. But it had to wait until I came back since I was given a sudden promotion at work. I was now working with both the office of general inspectors and the office of censors, so there was a lot of work to be done in the morning and for a while. I guess this is was Yeon's way of keeping me distracted from everything she had done and kept for me. Well she could keep on dreaming, because now more than ever I had a reason to hold onto her. In fact, I had several now.