"So who was the one who prepared the water basin?" "It was done by my aunt's servant here, don't you remember?" "What exactly are you accusing me of nephew! Do you think that I dare pull off such an easy trick?' "Easy yet efficient; if the test went exactly how you would want it, who would question you otherwise." "And why on earth would I want to swindle my own family?" "You would frame me…only if you wanted to take my children from me and replace the ones that you lost!" "Aunty? What are you talking about?" "Go to the kitchen and get some desserts for yourself, BoGeom, and I will tuck you into bed soon. Go with your father and I shall fetch you soon." "Ok aunty, please don't forget, and as for you aunt, do you really wish to kill me?" "I told you that there were witnesses! I have no idea who tampered with the water, but I have nuns from the temple to prove that…" "Husband, I wish not to hear a single word about this more and I need to rest. I cannot let BoGeom wait for me anymore, haven't I already proven my innocence?" "Let us just eliminate this last witness then you can go to bed wife." "Husband…""Bring her in quickly before my wife falls asleep and mess up her routine entirely!" "Who is this nun that we are bringing in now? This is a complete waste of time and…" "Let us just bring her in now that we are all here." "Let us bring all of the nuns here then, since this witness isn't the only nun working there, shall we? To make it more fair and eliminate any chance of corruption." "No! What are you doing! How is this investigation happening! My word, has my nephew corrupted the entire Inspector General's office like this, nephew!"
"My Lady, I hope that the frostbites on your hands haven't come back, have they?" "It is you! They…sometimes they come back in the winter time, but they are getting better with each year that passes." "Frostbites? What are you talking about, wife?" My Lord Nam, I know your wife from the previous village where she was placed in…by The Third Prince himself of course, and I was a witness to the all of the hard work that the girl put herself through in order not to be touched or noticed by anybody." "What does that mean? What work?" "She did heavy labor for the entire time of her stay in those establishments, and only came inside to eat and sleep. Your wife even went as far as to chop wood for the winter season for our temple just to keep herself occupied. The Senior women would end up beating her or casting her out into the cold if she didn't chop up a whole tree in an entire day! So she would end up soaking her hands in water throughout the winter time." "Is that so?" "Husband, please, BoGeom is here so you must calm down your temper for her sake." "You were no different My Lady; you were so angry back in those days, angry enough to let those ominous women torture you with all of their might just so that you can get back at them even more, and that is exactly what you did, isn't that right?" "Let me ask you this, did you seem wife act inappropriately with any other man?" "My Lord, your wife was so angry in your absence the first time that it would be out of character for her to be with anyone else. Many men tried to get to her and she could have simply accepted to get out of that hell. But instead she worked outside no matter what conditions or limitations that she was facing at the time to stay true to the person that I myself heard her cry over every single night."
"I never really thought that this was possible, but I could also sense my husband's anger subside in an instant, and I could tell that something had awoken inside of him that I was not able to accomplish on my own. I was grateful to everyone that helped me through this tough time and I could only hope that my husband had nothing to hang over my head anymore or use it against our children.
"So what should we do about these lying witnesses here exactly?" "For their crimes agains religion, we must cut out their lying tongues, and I will let the Inspector General figure out the rest here. My wife is done with the interrogation and my aunt should be arrested here for wasting precious time and feeding false information to these servants here. The daughter of Seo Geom has been severely humbled and we will not let this go unpunished; I will write up a conformal complaint to The Emperor himself and get the rest of The Nam Clan as far away from me as possible!" "No! The Big Madame threatened to kill me if I didn't do this! And not just me, but my entire family!" Husband, your aunt is an old woman who has lost her good name and title ups her divorce, is she really capable of instilling such terror in the servants?" "That is a very good point that you have made wife, it seems that we need to investigate this matter deeper than we originally thought." "Big Madame? We will give you the chance to confess everything right now before we bring up this matter to The Emperor himself! We shall leave your own life in your own hands now." "You lowly bitch! You should have died along with that lowly mother of yours!" "So this is why you bitterly hatted me all of this time! Because of my mother?" "We inferior on all levels, so why do your parents get all of the glory in this life! Even after they renowned their noble titles to elope with each other!" "The Big Madame has been found guilty of inventing appalling rumours, disturbing the peace of the household and sowing discord between husband and wife. She shall be arrested until her case is tried by the judge and all of her servants will be flogged to death. The cut out tongue will be rewarded to her to make her manage her own and all of her precious items will be donated to the families of her servants who will loose their relatives due to this woman's selfishness. And it is time for you go to bed BoGeom whilst I set up a room for your father." "Ok, goodnight uncle!"
********************
"Forgive me as I wasn't strict enough to discipline my own children, and I know that I have troubled this entire kingdom with this marriage issue, but…" "Here you are, out schemed by your own daughter on the very same path that your own sister took out on your own fiancé at the time! And you were then stuck with a husband who would not fall for your own tricks and schemes and tantrums, so what do you want us to do about this situation now?" "Mother! You must help us! This situation has gone so far now and no amount of wailing and death threats that you lay against me can fix this at all. If it wasn't for you spoiling your daughter to the sky's limit, can she dare to do such an act that guarantees death sentences for other women! Well? Tell me!" "My daughter has gone for gain over morality, to lie for little benefit and to spare her own reputation, just like her damned aunt and father!" "Is that why you have aided in use rumours spreading everywhere? To complain about your daughter to our face and aid her behind our backs, daughter?" "I…I is far too late to deny this marriage now, so what else can we do now?" "So we should talk about this marriage with what face and power? And don't even get me started on what dowry we can give to the family since we have nothing anymore, not after your sister's arrest last night!" "My husband never cared about my children to marry them off themselves, so what choice do I have now! I had to use all sorts of means to seduce him just to get me these 2 children of mine and I cannot loose them like this! Thankfully my son is already married off and now my daughter has had only one wish in this life to marry a Prince who finally took notice of her! I would rather her get what she wants instead of living miserably like us in our marriages mother! If I were not for my children, who knows how I might have ended my own life years ago! We all knew the glory of these noble yangban's and not the dangers that lie inside!" "Seo Yeon had no idea either, and look at how she has thrived! That orphan girl has The Emperor on her side and you are unable to clamp your daughter's leg's together as I did to my own daughters!" "No you didn't! My sister managed to seduce my fiancé away from me, that is why her scandalous marriage went ahead! Because she was already pregnant with her son before the wedding night took place!" "How did you…" "We are all of one body in this family and we need to help my daughter save face so that we can preserve our own! So you figure it all out for me so that we can stop depending on my sisters nephew and take back our rightful place in the palace once again!" "Very well, jus because this matter is linked to the palace, we cannot beat her to death…" "You cannot away….due to her pregnancy…"