"Lord Nam, what on earth happen to Madame Seo's meal! She could have been killed right in front of me along with her unborn baby! Who dares to pull off such a trick in my presence!" "Your Majesty, I must ask that you hand over your meal to the physicians, as it is suspected of being poisoned." "Poison! What sort of poison! What exactly is going on here!" "Your Majesty, I highly suggest that you remain in your quarters for the time-being of this investigation and seldom leave the palace in case somebody tries to attack you as soon as you step foot outside!" "Very well, but I shall not leave this room until I find out the result of what exactly is going on here! Why would there be poison at a private dinner like this! And what sort of poison was used to harm her…unless it is the result of what happened today in the palace when I humiliated The Concubine Chung by your suggestion?" "Your Majesty, you cannot possibly suspect that I wish to harm my best friends wife! What motive would I have for such a thing? Seo Hwi has untangled himself from The Third Prince and palace politics a long time ago now…" "That is true, so the only other suspect could be The Chung Family, in order to take revenge or cover something up…the book…" "Your Majesty, I have word that there is a servant of yours who is desperately trying to give you important news despite my measurements to seal off this place…?" "Let him in, then have him watched as soon as he leaves my line of sight." "Very well, let him in."
"Your Majesty, it is just as you had expected; under Master Chung's orders, more than half go the palace resources that were under his concubine's watch have been secretly transported to him and the army to take down General Choi. But it seems as though they were ambushed along the way by General Choi himself. Some of the provisions included silver that was made from the profits of today's events." "Is that so?" "But My Lord…that is not all that I have found out…" "Speak quickly man!" "The Chung family seemed to have been the accomplice of another family that The Lord Nam here is well acquainted with…" "And which family is this?" "A family that yourself and fiancé have ad difficulties with during The Fifth Prince's banquet which resulted in some ladies and there families being arrested?" "I have nothing to hide; the daughter of my family worked in the same embroidery classes as my fiancé, which was over 3 years ago. I was the one who helped bring the family to an end, right in front of The Emperor here himself. So what does this have to do with The Chung Family?" "They are accused of helping that previous family of forming sects, doing some dirty business, behaving cruelly to their extended families and neighbours. From these crimes alone the family should be raided, imprisoned and exiled." "If we do not count all of their crimes, then how can all possible criminals be captured and eliminate the root cause of such rebellious acts? Arrogance really is the act of rebellion after all, and it is time to strike back with a thunderbolt before they have time to hit back at us. So this is why they attempted to poison all of us here at the dinner."
"They helped to extort the 80 million pieces of silver along with several noble houses to officials in the palace all those years ago." "That fool of a man that my son chose to keep by his side, just like the greedy fool that he married and almost brought our country down to ruin. And now the country is at civil war with each other due to his dead concubine's brother that he entrusted out military with. He canonised him as prefect, only to turn our country into ruins. And as for this poison in my presence, is it confirmed that my food was tainted as well? Lord Nam?" "Unfortunately Your Majesty, I can confirm that it was." "And what sort of poison was it?" "It seems to be diagnosed as arsenic poison for rats in the palace. I also have reports of The Concubine Chung already receiving word of this and is currently starving herself whilst kneeling…" "She voluntarily kneels to be punished for her family in her quarters with her face bearing minimal makeup will cause people to have more compassion for her. But unfortunately, to use the while garments that were originally clean are now tainted with greed, jealousy and desire. And when they mix with these emotions the pure white intentions are tarnished, so if she begs me again after kneeling all of this time, I shall kill the entire Chung clan immediately."
"Give me your orders, Your Majesty." "I want you to get The Valiant Cavalry to reach The Third Prince and give him the orders to behead both The General Choi and The Master Chung together. And if he fails to do so, then I will eliminate his man's family altogether and I will not be subtle about it. In the end, they all aimed to usurp my phone one way or another, so I will have their titles revoked and I will act accordingly to this tentative list of crimes that they have all come up with, including my own son." "Your Majesty?"
"There are about 8 crimes in total; disrespecting The Emperor, betraying The Emperor, form a faction based of personal interest, undermining the authority of The Emperor's court, repressing the channels of reports, assaulting officers, subverting The Emperor, abusing military influence…and even t come up with this blasphemous book written in the tone of The Emperor. Any one of these crimes call for capital offences and are unpardonable, and these villains themselves are not being treated unjustly in the slightest." "Will Your Majesty really sentence them all to death?" "Even Emperors must forgive the unforgivable, but this is enough. Not only will I impose a death sentence on The General Choi and Master Chung, I believe that I now possess more than enough evidence to have my son thrown into exile. He is to be deprived of his noble status and demoted to commoner at least. I know that you will not agree with me, but he is still my son and will be imprisoned in The Imperial Court Clan for the rest of his miserable life. His harem will be disabled and everyone shall return to their marital homes; even though this has never happened before, I do not wish to be reminded of him in my palace anymore. His supporters will also be eliminated with strict rules and harsh punishment to set an example and prevent further turmoil." "Very well, Your Majesty."
"My Lord Nam, there has been a reported incident involving your nephew, it seems as though he has fallen unconscious due to a high fever." "Very well…get my sister-in-law to check out the situation on my behalf, whilst I carry out The Emperor's orders…and check in on my other sister-in-law whilst I am at it. It has been a very long time since I have visited her already, and maybe she has cultivated her virtues in the meantime since I last saw her."
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"…The Madame Seo has a great fortune indeed! She has secured 2 dragons for herself in such a short amount of time, even after the poisoning failed! So she will have a lifetime of honour and riches beyond gaining her father-in-law's name, and now bearing 2 of his grandchildren!" "My Lady, we both both given brith ti children, it is nothing special anymore. We will see if she is even capable of bringing them up or not…what? Why are you looking at me like that?" "Talk abut being a good mother; you do seem rather calm after receiving the news that your own son has fallen ill, so much so that he is unconscious now." "Who cares about that little bastard? I never received any wealth or acknowledgment by bearing him even before his father met his end." "What an ill-omen I am stuck with after all! N wonder none of my plans have come into fruition with you hovering around me like this!" "My Lady! Why do you constantly seek to blame me for everything! If you believe yourself to be so capable, you would have found favour with the husband that you seduced first, never mind finding secure footing in the palace without him! And what can you do after being diseased from confinement! What is the situation with your family right now? Well?" "You bitch! Hw dare you talk down to me like this! A mere widow that nobody has claimed since your criminal husband died!" "And your family will perish alongside the enemy! You shall join Commoner Choi in hell sooner than you think!" "Do you dare to compete with me? An ill-fated widow? You already come from such lowly beginnings and you have been on equal footing with me for so long that I should remind you of your place once and for all! I have tolerated you for long enough now!"
"Mistress Nam? The Lord Nam has summoned you to lunch before he sorts out a deal to release you from your confinement." "Really? My brother-in-law has returned? Just to see me again? After everything that has happened? Yes…he is still my family and he will always save me, no matter what…"