"…so you are saying that you have seen Seo Yeon and…her daughter in the kingdom? But didn't she give birth to a son? What exactly is going on here?" "My Lady…she refused all help from the palace servants when she gave birth…I think everyone just assumed that she had a son, but nobody can really tell after all of this time." "She gave birth to a son in the palace but she brings a daughter into the village? Very well…" "Madame! Bad news! The Third Prince…he has someone locked up in his residence! He has added security there and has made orders that he will behead anyone who tries to enter his evidence unannounced!" "What are you saying servant! He would only do that if he has a woman in there…where did you hear this from? Who is your source of information?" "All of the servants are talking about it! I barely got away in time before they all saw me!" "That man has access to countless women that he can have at his whim and he already does! No matter how much I try to get rid of them, they just keep on coming back tenfold! But why does he need to lock up a woman in his private residence? Who on earth can she possibly be?" "My Lady…I do have an idea about who it could be. I mean, other than Seo Yeon, there is another person of interest that is important to The Third Prince…" "Are you talking about the family that The Third Princess Consort destroyed in order to get her royal title?" "There are rumours…that in fact that the entire family was not indeed destroyed…" "My youth and beauty has faded, I am still wearing these unflattering clothes and these straw shoes that The Seo's used to wear and I am not allowed to wear any cosmetics…of course it was inevitable that he will throw me aside one day. I barely was able to make it out of the dungeons once again due to his boredom but this time…" "…it is said that there was a girl of the family who was sent away for a short amount of time to see a distant relative on her father's side. That girl must be around your age now, so that could be a potential persons that he is keeping behind closed doors…." "…he no longer seeks my counsel, I haven't seen him in weeks, he has halved my food portion and he hasn't sent me a single letter. And all of this happens around the time where Seo Yeon appears back into the kingdom? That must mean that it is her! It must be Seo Yeon that he has locked up in his residence! Does he intend to marry her? Will he divorce her form her husband? And make her abandon her family? Very well! If she can take my family, then I can take her's! I can take The Lord Nam back and be a better mother to her children than she can ever be! What does a disabled good-for-nothing orphan know anyways!" "My Lady? won't you at least try to seek out that woman?" "Didn't you hear? He will behead anyone who goes near her, isn't that right? No, I need to seek out a scholar of some sort who will recognise the fact that I have been with this man for so many years that I should be legal married to him at this point! I am even willing to do all of the customs by myself if I have to!"
"A scholar? They all work under The Emperor, so there is no way that any one of them will work for you or for the Third Prince." "Then I obviously need somebody outside of the palace, don't I! I need somebody on my side who hasn't been recruited yet! No, I need somebody who is green, somebody who doesn't think about wealth or fame or silver or gold…I need to find somebody who id dedicated to their art and will see me for the hapless woman that I am! I am…aren't I?" "We will find somebody! You should ask that boy that you have taken into to look for somebody on your behalf! It is about time that you put that overgrown man to use, isn't that so My Lady?" "After all of that time wasted on his education, his training and his exams…only to end up wasting away his days in brothels! He cannot even find his own women! He just goes after the ones that his uncle throws away like common rubbish! I simply do not understand, his uncle had only half of the resources that we have given to his nephew, and look at how he was turned out to be! He was a man of The Emperor himself, for goodness sake! And his lowlife nephew cannot even get an appointment with any of the official ministers! They all turn him down! He kneeled outside one of their homes all night long and they just ridiculed him about it! He doesn't even have the damned courage to get past that small hurdle and just…" "small hurdle? Madame, that was pure humiliation to him! And he has nobody to talk to…" "Oh, shut up you little slut! Do you really think that I have no idea that you are also one of his bedchamber maids? I say maid because you are the only one that he hasn't taken in as a concubine, right?" "My Lady…please forgive me…" "you need to find me that damed scholar! And offer him extra to mentor and educate our young Dae-Jung who cannot seem to function without his damned uncle! What a good for nothing loser! And as for that girl…maybe I should test out the waters to see what I can do about her."
"…The Mistress Han is here!" My arrival was announced, but not a single person came out of the residence to greet me at all, even though I came bearing gifts that I may or may not have had stolen from other Royal Family members for this mysterious female that The Third Prince had taken in. "The Mistress Han is here! Who dares to ignore me!" I tried to take a step closer, but all of a sudden I had half of the palace's Imperial Guard's facing me and asking me to retreat from my stance. They knew exactly who I was since they had seen me countless of times with The Third Prince, but I should have known that they would turn on me from the moment that I lost his favour. I knew that arguing against them would be a waste of time, so I had no choice but to compromise and instead wait outside in the cold weather just link Dae Jung did recently for hours on end. I even starved him that day as his punishment, although looking on it now, I didn't exactly have anyone to feed me either.
After the strong winds came the rain; I was getting entirely soaked along with my team of maids, but that didn't deter me. The Third Prince was the only lifeline that I had in this world now and I did not intend on loosing out on it; I would not let my life and betrayals all be for nothing. "I never knew that such a high standing woman such as yourself turns out to be yet another one of the Prince's temporary pastimes." "I am only here to offer you complimentary gifts and nothing more, Miss…" "I already have an abundance of gifts, thank you very much." "Then you must know about palace etiquette; people often come out and give their greetings to express their gratitude." "I think that I might have even more than you, will it not be disrespectful to thank you in that case?" "You ungrateful and illiterate bitch! I shall no longer disturb you then! But you had better mind your manners in the meantime!" "How shall I mind my manners if I become The Second Princess Consort to The Third Prince? Please do tell?" That voice was beginning to irritate me now, but I could not interfere with someone from an external residence, unless I wanted to insure the wrath of The third Prince and be kicked out of here for good. I could not risk crossing nay more boundaries, with the exception of finding my own people on the outside of this palace, or ones who were in it with less power and influence. "My Lady, I am not sure if this will be of use, but I have heard something…" "Spill it! Do not keep it to yourself!" "There are many in training to become an Army General who have their own connections inside and out of the palace. They have the highest honours in the palace, so that is worth taking a look into." "Is there no talk of new talent? No new scholars who have caught the interest of the people?" "My Lady, the palace remains as nepotistic as ever, the likelihood that they have recruited new talent that does not have a blood or close relative in the palace is slim to none." "So we look into the army generals in training then?" "We also need to find someone who is in the astrology department to sway The Third Prince's opinion of this so-called woman that he is keeping locked up in his residence…"
"My Lady! Please come and take a look! That girl in The Third Prince's residence is being reprimanded harshly!" "What? Already? We just came back from there…what on earth could have happened in the space of 5 minutes?" "My Lady, you were just discussing needing to find an astronomer for this inauspicious guest that The Third Prince has? Well somebody from the department just made a comment about the guest and…well, take a look for yourself! I guarantee that you will not regret it, My Lady!"
"…what is the meaning of all of this! Why are the servants leisurely having tea and snacks around me? What is the meaning behind this defiance! How dare you flaunt these luxuries in front of me! You lowlife bitches!" The woman still refused to come out of her residence, but took up a new hobby of screaming at everyone instead to make her arrogance and displeasure known. "…you are all trying to find a way to seduce The Third Prince and steal him away from me, aren't you! You bunch of disloyal dogs! You do not deserve to even serve him yourselves!" "Whoever this woman is, it looks like she is well versed in victory and defeat; but still does not know how to accept her misfortunes. Give her some of that fragrant tea for her sore throat. Let it be a lesson to her to accept humility and kindness from others."
"Since The Third Prince has instructed us to leave her alone as he offers her good food and drink, maybe we shouldn't disturb her, Mistress Han?" "Greetings My Lady…" "I always thought that you were obedient to your Master; first with my mother and now my father who lives in exile." "I understand, but since I ham his closest confidant…" "His confidant? Do you really think that you are still his favourite? Maybe I should give you the entire hot pot of tea instead to bring you to your senses. Maybe I should have some of your tea instead, if only I was in your residence to ask you instead of you trespassing in my father's as per usual." "My Lady, what gives you the courage to act so outrageously? Just who do you think you are? You are also in a bad position due to your father's predicament! How dare you humiliate me instead of trying to help your father regain his place in the palace!" "His place in the palace? Wasn't he given multiple chances? Didn't he fail them all? He is a useless father as much as he is a useless Prince, go only knows that his own father will tell you the same thing." "My Lady! This Mistress Han has done nothing but humiliate me since my arrival!" "My Lady! You must not listen to any of her nonsense!" "Shut up! Enough of this! Servants! Go and close the windows of the residence to heal the lady from her cold. I will call a physician to look up on you!" "No! Why should anyone come to check up on her at all! She should be the one to leave! Not myself! All of you! Leave! Right now!" "Servants! I have just about had enough of this woman! Bring her back to her residence and take away her food allowance for the day! Again!"
"My Lady, it looks as though your new acquaintance was right about The Mistress Han; she is slowly loosing her mind and surely will bring your father down even more." "You are right; she came up with a good plan to use one of my servants as bait for this so-called mystery girl that my father has taken a shine to. I will have her and her useless adopted son kicked out of here in no time. Why don't you invite her and her personal physician that always follows her around? We still need to put that part of the plan to use…" "My Lady! Your servant! She is dead! The…the tea The Mistress Han threw on her…it was poisoned!"