The Love They Never Had

"I told you I was coming to see you tonight, why are you in bed so early?" "I have been transcribing sutras all day long, give me a break husband. And i am feeling cold and sleepy waiting for you to finally make your presence known to me. I also thought you said that you were going to visit your sister-in-law?" "We just saw her recently, why do you keep telling me to visit her?" "She lost her husband thanks to you, you can at least pay more attention to her. She has been feeling under the weather recently and she helped me with these sutras…" "Ok ok, i'll see her if it makes you that happy, I might as well drop you off to the Chung residence myself when you have your horse-riding lessons." "Aren't you going to ask me about the debate today? or are you just going to talk about her all day long? Unless something has happened...." "Maybe you are right in your predictions about her and..." "You cannot save everyone Yeonnie, especially when this has nothing to do with you. She is just another woman that has fallen into the traps of the palace and…" "...and she has your nephew that is the last in line of your father's bloodline, doesn't that mean anything to you at all?" "I honestly haven't thought about it yet, maybe i should make some plans for him after all." "Talk about not being able to save everyone, maybe i take after you more than you think…." "Be quiet woman! i save talent, not people…." "...He said with his face turning as red as the paint in this room." "Yeon!" "She was gifted the same items a I was..." "...out of sympathy…" "...and she hasn't stopped going on about it since." "You were given clothes and she was given cosmetics…." "Husband? what are you thinking?" "Hasn't she been ill recently? and instead of medicine, The Chung family give her cosmetics? For a throat infection and some bruises that she incurred that day of the banquet?" "It was scented powder…." "…to avoid using musk, they will use more tranquillising scented powders….and she thinks that this an act of great care when she thinks her own throat infection is a sign of bad luck and will take away her future fortune..." "Husband? what on earth are you saying? Has something happened....?"

"Never you mind and just save some of that worry for me instead. Now make some room so that i can stay where my heart is. Did anything else happen with The Chung's when they saw you?" "They all started ripping into each other after i tried to set the new concubine straight. And then the mother asked me some weird questions divorce." "Excuse me?" "I think that i listed everything right; being insolent to in-laws, being infertile, behaving lustfully, becoming jealous, being overly-talkative or becoming a thief." "It looks like this family has become very interested in you, too interested in fact. I am surprised that their servants are even capable of serving them at all when their eyes are fixed on us." "I feel that way as well, but i am far too exhausted to catch up on these plots anymore, so i just started talking about Sambulgeo." "Why would you talk about counter-divorce reasons when a man cannot leave his wife?" "To strengthen the relationship between the main wife and her husband, although they seem to get on pretty well already." "So The Chung family is keen on you, maybe this can help me out in the future. But as far as my sister-in-law is concerned, if you both drift apart, then just let it happen. It is not worthwhile for you to indulger her completing for favour and watching her fail miserably, she will only end up taking it out on you either way. She has no idea how to 'retreat to advance' and people's hearts change like temperature and are revealed overtime."

"You have been asking me to leave every night recently, will you finally stay in my bed this time?" "When do you ever give me a chance to reject you and take it seriously?" "That is a funny joke, i haven't heard you laugh like this for a while…" "Oh boy, I think i will just leave now…" "It is cold outside and you should stay here, unless you want someone to gossip about us." "Didn't you already take care of that earlier when you left me on my own?" "Keeping distance in order to capture the heart, didn't it work out between us?" "So the distance between us was only a means to an end?" "The timing of the capture was crucial, what can i say? My efforts to capture you were not futile, were they? Just like what happens when a beautiful girl refuses to reveal her face…" "Because men's love usually ends when beauty fades away. Only what one has lost and what one cannot obtain are the most precious…." "I can see that your work scars are finally beginning to fade away; thankfully they were not on your face. what a shame it would be to 'have a slight blemish in pure jade.' "I had no idea that you dearly cherishes my face to this extent…" "Your beauty deserves to be appreciated greatly, what can i say?" "i…i heard that there is talk of war once again, are you going to…" "Never again, this war will be pacified with an arranged marriage this time, so there is no need to send out any men this time." "The General Choi has already have done victories since his promotion, and if he wins, then his power will become unrivalled and become a menace to his Master…" "Is that so?"

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"For the first question of the day; what do you believe is the difference between a turbulent and a peaceful time?" "The time of a sage Emperor os called a peaceful time, and the time of a futile Emperor is called a turbulent time." "Then what do you believe is The Emperor's duty in turbulent times?" "He mist be wise in his ways of handling wars; and not raise armies recklessly. 'Give not unless you see an advantage and fight not unless faced with imminent danger." "Can you elaborate yourself, Lord Nam?" "The Emperor must first try to solve the pending issue through diplomacy to avoid war….: "I am afraid that is incorrect, Lord Nam." "Excuse me?" "Taking military action to make the enemy take a step back is a key to diplomatic strategy, that is the way to win a war and bring benefits upon the kingdom." "If we must fight, then we must fight to win, however; what is more important than victory is ending the war quickly to spare the people from distress and loss of family members." "Senior Scholar; do you believe that this is a turbulent time? Is The Emperor's duty in turbulent times vital in these times of peace? Why do you pose such a question?" "If we are to relax our vigilance even when our kingdom is currently at peace; the military government becomes restful and we will certainly become more vulnerable." "But if we have a worthy Emperor and worthy ministers to follow, we will be able to handle danger sagaciously. And i will consider your question as your high expectations for me, Senior Scholar."

"And for the very last question of this debate; there are desires of the flesh and the heart. Explain which desires are different in the 2 phases." "The desires of he flesh is the wish to eat when hungry, sleep when tired and drink when thirsty. This is personal desires that do not concern others, whereas the desires if the heart is purely private and personal."

"Very well, both parties have answered their questions admirably and we shall decide on who shall take on General Choi in their current state of mind…." "Give me my child! My child is sick! how dare she get to this state! Who exactly is taking care of her!"

Fortunately for me and unfortunately for The Third Prince, his deranged concubine had somehow broken out of the cold palace and was currently making a scene in front of the examination hall based on a rumour that i may or may not have fabricated myself. "Mistress Nam! Where are you! My child is sick and you treat it as if nothing is wrong with her!" "My Lady! What on earth are you talking about? i am not responsible for your daughter!" I was still being detained in the examination hall, so there really was nothing that i could do to stop the barrage of insults that The Commoner Choi was throwing at my sister-in-law, although i had a feeling that she wouldn't see it that way at all. "Do not lie to me! Are you not in charge of all of The Royal Children! So return my daughter to me! And return her to me healthily! You bitch! How could you neglect my daughter like this! Just because her mother's family has fallen! How could you target my daughter like this! especially when The Lord Nam described you as being kind, virtuous and even noble despite your maid origins and the fact that you gave brith to your bastard son out of wedlock! But how are you taking care of these children compared to your own son! Those children have no manners at al and they run amok all of the time! And yet it is only my child that falls ill under your care!" "Commoner Choi! For the very last time, i am not in charge of your child! It isn't my fault that she has a fever…!" "You bitch! You just admitted it! How would you know whether she has a fever or not unless you were the one who caused it!"

"Commoner Choi! Just what the hell is this about! Why are you causing such a scene! And why now, god damned it!" "Husband! Look at what this unruly maid has doe to our daughter! Our daughter who is barely a year old! She has been lying in bed with a fever for over a week now with diahorrea and barely any changes in clothing at all! Husband! I know that i have committed many mistakes that i shouldn't be forgiven for, and i have even given up my only daughter by your decree! And now look at what she is being put through because of me!I can be punished and scolded all you like, but is this how a child with royal blood in her is to be taken care of? How can she be separated from her mother like this? Seeing my chid suffer away from me, of curse i will act like this! I am a human and not a sage, of course i will make mistakes? Or please hand her over to The Chung family where they can certainly raise her well!" "The Chung family? What are you talking about…" "And you can help them to assist in raising our daughter! Give her over to Concubine Chung and then she can educate her well and she will not be neglected and..."

"Commoner Choi, are you not being too anxious right now? We can just let a physician look after her and determine what exactly is wrong with our daughter…" "our Highness, i have already sent someone to check on her before Commoner Choi here started making a scene. It looks like your daughter has been inflicted with cold air....but it is so strange…" "Why do you say that, Mistress Nam?" "I only heard the news of your daughter's illness just as her mother came here in a rage, and targeted myself, even though her daughter is placed in anther concubines care. And as for being inflicted with cold air, there are no windows where she is being placed, so how could she have fallen ill, all of a sudden? She is even covered wih multiple layers of blankets that were given to us by her mother and she is eating stimulated meals like chicken soup to bring back her energy levels..." "Are you kidding me? Is this some kind of a joke? The mother of my daughter is the one making her sick with over-feeding her stimulating meals and covering her up too much!" "No! it wasn't me! i haven't even seen my own daughter ever since my confinement, so how could i make my own child sick? It was The Mistress Nam's plot to kill our daughter so that mu husband would loose this debate! because this is how ambitious The Lord Nam is, just like his late father!" "Commoner Choi, no matter how ambitious i am, not even i could dare to break out of The Cold Palace, so how did you do that exactly?" "i...i was told.... that my daughter....." "By who exactly?" "It was…Concubine Chung…"