The Love They Never Had

"…You may regard this as serving tea to your husband at your wedding ceremony…Young Mistress! How many times must I tell you to raise your hands higher!" "Are you trying to scald me on purpose!" "You only did that to yourself! Why are you shouting at me for! Do not wrongly accuse me in front of my Master!" "Are you being serious? Is this what you call 'teaching?" "How was I supposed to know that you cannot even hold a cup of tea firmly enough? It seems to me that you will have to start again from the basic greetings. Now hold your back straight! I said straight! Straighter! And lower your arms, why are they so high now! How many times have I told you…wait, what are you doing! Let go of my whip! How dare you defy me!" "I do not believe that my fiancé told you to hit me when teaching me 'the basics'. "I have full authority to discipline you as he wishes!" "But you cannot whip me more than once! Do I look like a slave to you! Oh wait, that is rightly are the slave here; one of many that he slept with under Nam-Jeon's roof. So he had to hire to you 'discipline' me and for what? Is he trying to evoke non-existent jealousy in me? Now get over here and kneel onto the floor!" "Stop! What are you doing! I represent your fiancé! If you hit me, you will hit him also!" "Dal is not my fiancé! He never has been and he never will be!"

"Just what the hell is going on here! I can't even receive my own tea in peace anymore now!" "Master! Please save me! The Young Mistress Seo just whipped me in succession for tutoring her on your orders! I only wish to mentor her as you please, but take a look at her! She is far to savage and unruly to be tames! Her broth ruined her with the amount of freedom that he gave her! She shows absolutely no regard for either one of us!"

"Well? Are you going to explain yourself to me? Because you would never let anyone slander you if you were around…my brother. Or your brother for that matter! Or do you just want me to outright punish you!" "That is because I always strive to be the best around the people that I care about! So why should I do the same thing for you? I do not care for you! I ever have and I never will!" "What on earth is going on here! Why are you twi fighting so god-damned much!" "Forgive me, Your Highness, my fiancé seems to be having trouble with her teachings…" "Your Highness, my fiancé is obviously trying to sabotage me by hiring his ex-lover to teach me etiquette and manners! She tells me that she represent him, but no fiancé in the world would let their tutor carry a while, right? Just because I was raised as a lowborn and am educated, it doesn't mean that I have to be whipped into submission!"

"As records have it, you were eager poised and educated in front f my father when giving testimony against Nam-Jeon all of those years ago. But then again, you can't beat a dead horse, can you, Dal?" "Forgive me once again…" "As long as Seo Yeon is willing to learn, then she can do well, but there is no point in forcing her against her will Dal, I hope that you understand that." "No mater how hard I try to learn, it is impassible for me to know everything overnight! I am not a lowborn who is trying to climb the social ladder after all!" "That is right Seo Yeon, you seem to have no interest in social climbing at all, which is rather rare in this nation and under Confucius rules and laws." "I am far to busy being beaten when learning against my will quite viciously, and I have the scars to prove it. If my brother should hear about this…" "For goodness sake! Stop dragging your brother into every and any argument!" "My brother is my guardian in my life, how can I not bring him up! Even though you have kept me from him for months now!" "They do say that a strict mentor can produce great disciples, and this is for your own good, wife! A truly good mentor wouldn't just lash out with typical punishment you know! 'The Master by order methods skilfully leads men on. He enlarged my mind with learning and he taught me the restraints of propriety.'- Confucius."

"Your ex-lover represents you; those who know you would deem you as strict and those who do not will simply label you as cruel. Who would want to work with you then? Especially if you are abusing the daughter of Seo Geom! Who will want to be associated with malice like this, because you know that I will not keep my mouth shut and I am no afraid of you, despite your pathetic threats against me! So I only taught your tutor a lesson in order to save your reputation you fool of a man! You didn't even think of that, did you!" "Your fiancé is rather sharp-witted Dal, because she is right. Your standard of work has been slipping ever since you brought her to my residence and I am getting tired of making excuses for you…" "Master! She is lying to you to turn you against me! Please believe me!" "You represent my fiancé to a t, how can I dare to blame you any further? But be careful as not to make a laughingstock of your precious Master!" "Seo Yeon! Stop right there! Where are you going!" "Horse riding! I need a break!" "Yeon! Wait!" "Master Dal, are you really so incapable of having a conversation or a meeting without running after the girl every 5 minutes! We have work to do in case you have forgotten!" "Forgive me…" "How many times have you said that today alone! Look, you were the one who asked me to hire The Young Master Nam to make some set of competition between you two, and I am sorry to inform you that he is far more capable than you have ever proven yourself to be! The only useful thing you have done is to bring Seo Yeon into my residence so that I can use her against my Third Brother if he ever finds out what we are up to!" What do you mean? What has he done for you that I haven't?" "He is currently in the midst of taking down Third Brother's corrupted senior scholar that hands down laws that passes through this country, and you? What have you accomplished? My brother is also investigating his wife's brothel, and if your name comes up then. I cannot protect you unless I want to be dragged down as well!" "Your Highness! You cannot abandon me! What can I do! Please, tell me!" "My brother's wife is on the brink of deposition and she will bring him down with her, so we need to knock off his last standing legs." "What do you mean?" "His menu need you to get rid of his men so that he will be totally alone when his wife brings him down with her." "His men?" "All of them except Seo Hwi and his friends, I will have them under my rule soon enough."

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"Look at this; how did you manage to injure yourself, Young Mistress Seo? What kind of servant do you have that will let you act so recklessly?" "Wait, my servant isn't to blame at all! I was the one who went horse riding without her…" "Young Mistress Seo, you are clearly far too young to release that servants are supposed to be our guides and not our friends. All she did was scream in far when you fell and nothing else…" "she has a fear of horses, so why should I blame her?" "So what use is there in keeping her with you at all?""she has a weak disposition as all of us females do, I cannot expect her to fall into harm's way just for myself! Even an Imperial Guard has no strength to carry his Master alone…" "That is a different story; your hearts should be one and you need girls who can sacrifice their lives for you…" "enough of this! I did not even want a damned servant in the first place, go to the infirmary and get treated, I shall wait for you in my quarters." 'Young Mistress Seo…" "She is my loyal servant to do as I please with her, so back off, servant!" "Noble women must chose their own servants according to their abilities and yours should be sent away to do odd jobs to be an example to other lazy ones." "You may give me more servants if that will please your Master, but I will never rid myself of my most loyal one, let alone punish her." "If she stays here, she will remind your fiancé of this unfortunate incident and she will suffer worse punishments for it, which will make you both sad…" "I have just suffered a minor injury I have gotten into worse scraps since childhood, and since I am not complaining about her, then wha gives anyone else the right since I am the one who pays her. No-one can drive her away without my permission."

"Greetings, Master Dal." "My fiancé only knows how to argue as of late and nothing more, will I ever experience any peace with you, Seo Yeon?" "If you want peace Master Dal, all you have to do is to let me go." "Why ride horses if you are not good at it!" "Because there is nothing else to do here!" "You can start working at the brothel like you used to!" "Only you would let your fiancé work in a god-damned brothel instead of providing for her, or are you in a financial crisis?" "Forgive me if I wasn't left with any wealth from my father's inheritance, unlike my half-breed brother! Because you were the one who made sure of that, didn't you! And how can I expect you to enter the brothel now with your injuries when you have every opportunity to help me make some god-damned money!" "You are not even concerned about me in the least! And I am not your money animal! Stop blaming me for your plans not working out at all! You have absolutely no skills at all, unlike your brother! So why are you treating me like a hostage all over again!" "And why can't you think about me just once! You helped my brother all of the time, but you refuse to help me! You do not even fight for my attention at all! Do you even know your priorities at all!" "Your brother took care of me his whole life, that is why I help him! I owe you nothing; I do as I please, I stay up all night long, I socialise with the servants just like I did in your father's yangban and I speak to whoever I please! And you are far too busy to see me at all!" "It would be considerate of you to think about starting our family so that we can iron out these issues, don't you think? Instead of you acting like a n unmarried spoiled teenage girl! Maybe if you did that, you would see more of me!"

"I do not want to family with you, so there is no point in forcing this marriage at all! And it is very foolish of you to think that a baby can save a marriage, it just shows me how naive you are. If giving birth is the only way too retain a man's favour, then the sow that produces cubs everyday will also be highly favoured, but they aren't, are they?" "You…!" "Master Dal, you have a guest waiting for you in the courtyard…" "Who is it!" "It is your wife, Master Dal, your main wife…" "What! What on earth are you talking about?" "She is your main wife as decreed by The Third Prince, and she had brought your infant son with her." "What? She is here…with my son…"