"No…you have no right to do this to us…you cannot do this to us, you cannot…" "You clearly did this for your daughter's sake, which makes her even more dangerous than you yourself appear to be. We have even bought your eldest son here to be interrogated on your behalf since we knew that you would just quibble away like this." "My son! No, you cannot…he is too young and ignorant! He cannot bare to be startled either!" "I hardly think that a man of 20 years old can be that fragile madame! He also isn't an educated ma since we could barely get him to write down a confession at all! He even urinated all over himself as soon a say servant raised his voice at him! Dear lord, what sort of family is this? At least the late Seo Geom somewhat shares our status due to the merits that he has contributed to this nation! This is why I simply abhor it hen maids forget their places to seduce their Masters!" "No!" "We have even uncovered the silvers that you took from your daughter, but f I present it as blood money that you were about to pay another witch to commit the crime, then who do you think the people will believe?" "You…!" "Your son is an accessory to this crime and if you keep denying it anymore, I shall have no choice but to drag the rest of you family into this! Ah, here is your daughter now, she will be here any second now so you had better make up your mind you wench!"
"Mother? Mother! What are you doing here! And what are you doing on the floor! I thought that this was supposed to be a parent's lunch, so why are my parents on the floor like mere servants! Answer me!" "Hold your tongue you wench; of course they are servants! And who do you think you are; you are a concubine who hasn't yet consummated your marriage, so we shall also treat you like the servant that you were before you had the blessed fortune to walk into this yangban in those fine clothes of yours that are very clearly going to waste! Servants! Strip her of her outer robes and have her kneel next to her parents! Quickly!" "Have you all lost your minds! You dare to strip me in front of my own parents! My father!" "We need a clean admission for all of the black magic that has been going on in and out of this place and we hardly want such expensive materials going to waste!" "But they are my rewards! They were given to me by…!" "Let us cut to the chase girl, who exactly is going to take responsibility for such an abhorrent act! And in my very home as well!" "Mother! What on earth is going on here!" "They are accusing me of witchcraft! They are planning to use me as a scapegoat for their crimes! They have also implicated your brother and…" "Witch craft? Which form?" "The most common one of them all!" "Are you talking about doll magic? Oh mother…"
"…mother…father…why on earth would you do such an unsightly thing! And behind my back as well! Here, in my husband's home? Did you really have to do it! Answer me, mother!" "Have you utterly lost your mind, child! Exactly what are you accusing your own parents of! Do you know how rare and expense those dolls are? Who would even know when to start looking for them!" "Why else do you keep bragging into my quarters and stealing anything and everything that my husband gives me! Of course you alone and the means and motive to carry out a crime like this! You just blamed me earlier for not being able to take advantage of my husband! I have my servants that heard you! They are my witnesses!" "Why you little…!" ""Mother, father, admit to your crimes and spare myself and my sibling son this shame that you have caused and the responsibility for it! Please, I beg of you!" "You…why are you also doing this to me? My own daughter? Why?" "It is because I am sick to death of you taking everything from me lie a god damned leech! I have warned you of your favour beforehand, but you just wouldn't listen to me, would you? It is our own ego and stubbornness that brought you here today, not myself! And if this leads to an investigation, it would surely ruin our entire family! Your sons haven't even gotten married yet, so who can carry on our bloodline?" "I…what do I…" "Do not be delusional anymore and confess mother! Right now! Or do you want to be father's punching bag for the rest of your life?"
"That is right! It is I who has always been delusional! I did it…I found the…" "Servant! Take down the concubine and her family's confession! We can use this just in case the concubine decides t turn against us when she is shipped off to the palace…." "I think not husband; I shall not have this whore trailing after my grandson in the palace to humiliate this future bride!" "Wh…what do you mean! We agreed that you would help me keep my parents out of the way for the sake of your son and now you are…." "You lowly maid! What makes you so special! You cannot even consummate the marriage that you had here and I have heard my grand nephew shout at you for so many things that I can already tell that you will only drag my grandson down wih you! You will be the reason he will not be able to get on with his wife and cause her to washout at him wherever possible! Now lock them all up and we will do this; the mother dies today, the father tomorrow and so on and we shall have you meet death last, what do you say?" "And how exactly do you plan on explaining my absence?" "To who? Who in this household ever asks about you? The Lord Nam has never even mentioned your name even once, so who exactly will come looking for you? Servants! Take them all to her quarters, including her siblings! Pick them up on the way, and you know exactly what to do."
"But he needs me!" "Who needs you? What can you even fight for favour with? You were born into a lowly household and not even your parents regularly check up on you unless they come for money and various other materialist items. And those who disillusion what isn't there's must be pushed severely. And as for Madame Nam's servant who wasn't diligent enough to notice what was going on, she is punished to kneel outside in the heavy rain all night long without any sustenance whatsoever! Anyone who is caught helping her will be whipped until they bleed to death!"
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Never in my entire life had I experienced such overwhelming feelings before as I woke up in my bed in my brother=in=law's home. My wife was in bed with me, but she could hardly look at me after what she had confessed to. She had turned the other way and I could tell that she also hadn't slept all night long. I really had to take some time alone for the first time to figure out exactly what the hell I was going to do with this woman that I had worked so hard to make mine. Just who exactly was she? I mean, I wasn't very surprised when I realised that everything she did from the moment she stopped being my father's hostage was for the sake of her own family, but did she really have to go that far? Just what on earth was she trying to prove? That she could do it all just because she was a woman? No, she was still a child when she left my home, so how could she…
"…and just where the hell do you think you are going, wife?" "I want to spend some time with my nephew so that Hyeon doesn't have to wake up so early, she is hardy getting any sleep with her second son as it is." "So you will now take care of him instead of tending to me? You won't even look at me?" "I…think that I shall give you some space…" "No; no more space, no more distance between us and no more distractions. You will never in your life step foot inside a brothel again, you will accept a decree to change your social status when I get you one and you will continue to serve your family hand and foot. I chose you as my wife and the mother of my children for the qualities and intelligence that you have, but you're freedom and boldness as you know it comes to an end." "Husband…?" "You are not a child anymore; you are about to become a mother and you will put them at the centre of your world." "Of course I will, but I…" "No buts. And I am getting you the hell out of that madhouse once and for all. I shall deal with everything in that home…" "You cannot deal with the women alone! You need my help to…" "Enough! I just told you that you will only worry about our family, and I swear upon the heavens that if anything affects your pregnancy, then I shall not spare you at all! And I…why are you looking at me like that!" "This is exactly the reason why I did not want to tell you anything at all! This is also the reason that I tried to cut off contact with you! I knew that no man could accept me at all…"
She suddenly broke in tears which was completely unlike her before she ran off to play with Chul who must have heard me shouting at her for the very first time. She instantly picked him up in her arms and rushed off before I could say another word, leaving me to tend to myself for the first time in some years now. Yeon always waited for me to wake up first before she go out of bed, and then she would instantly get a bath ready for me and was able to make my breakfast at the same time. She would then layout my clothes for me before she got changed herself and always insisted on dressing me up first and would scent my clothes just before she let me leave for work. There wasn't a single time where she put herself or anyone else above me, apart from the times when she carried out her schemes by herself….and I resented her for it. I do not know; maybe I was a cruel person by nature because I knew exactly why she did it and I knew it was for a noble cause…but she could have lost her life at any given moment and if she had really departed from this word without me, then I could have never forgiven her for that. I knew that taking away her freedom would cripple her, but she needed to understand that she just shone too brightly, even for her own good and I wasn't a good enough person or I lacked the necessary tolerance to trust her with the unusual freedom that her family had given her. I was also aware that it had even contributed to my success, but I really could not risk loosing her anymore. My entire world would collapse if she found someone better than me and I would not handle it well. It could even cause the friendship that I had with her brother to come to an end, and I could not risk that happening either. Forgive me wife, but for the sake of your new family, I have to constrict you, even if you end up hating me for it eventually. But I could not run back and forth between resentment and confusion forever, and I also knew that much unhappiness has come into the world because if bewilderment and things left unsaid. It was also rather undesirable for me to hide myself from someone who also overthought things like I did. I did not want to risk provoking her and aggravating her by my rare indecisiveness, but now I had to re think our entire future together and the future of our children, and I didn't have a long time to do it either.