The Love They Never Had

"Who dares to intrude the palace of The Third Princess Consort! Stop it! Who is taking Concubine Park away from her punishment! Don't you know it is a capital offence for a man to intrude into the harem!" "Physicians are allowed, Your Highness! And I shall let the judgment rest with His Majesty, for I am only here to protect The Royal Heir and I shall not hesitate to be punished!" "Your Highness! Look! There is blood on the ground! She must be miscarrying the child right now!" "Blood? No, how could this happen…she was alright to kneel in her second trimester…" "Second trimester? Your Highness, she is entering her third trimester this week!" "But it has only been 1 hour, how could sh be bleeding now? She didn't tell me that she was feeling unwell! And what is Moon-Bok doing here? How could he even be let in without my knowledge!" "Your Highness, she mentioned it several times but you ignored her…" "How could I have known if she was being genuine or not! She has always defied me with her smooth talk! But her pregnancy must be stable by now! Why is she bleeding after just 1 hour!" "Your Highness! Even if the physician gave the all clear, you still shouldn't have made her kneel! We begged you over and over again, but you just wouldn't let her go! There is always a chance that accidents like this can happen!"

"Your Highness! The procession of His Majesty has just returned to the gate!" "Already! Why did my husband return home so quickly! Wasn't he supposed to be… quickly! Is there any news about the baby!" "There is no news yet, Your Highness! You will have to humble yourself this time to comfort the victims…" "Why should I! I haven't done anything wrong at all!" "Your Highness, all that matters here is what your husband thinks. You can apologise simply to keep your image and reputation! That is all that you have left right now! Acing humbly will quell his anger and he will see your truth once he carried out an investigation!"

"Forgive me Your Highness, but it seems as though The Concubine Park has suffered a miscarriage due to heatstroke and being forced to kneel all day long…" "what are you even doing here, Moon-Bok? Why are you in the palace?" "Urm…Your Highness, your concubine will need constant rounds of medicine to revive herself every hour. And as to my own visit, I shall discuss that with you privately after I have finished treating your concubine." "Very well, and where the hell is my main wife? Where is she hiding! Bring that wretch out here to face me! Hw dare she go to this length to stop me from achieving success! By killing my child! Bring her here to me on her knees!" I could hear his anger ripple all throughout Concubine Park's lowly residence, which was very much unlike the time that I lost my own baby. I could remember quite vividly how he came home drunk with a pair of kisenags by his side when I lost his son and he didn't even blink twice at me. He didn't comfort me of grieve for himself, life went on as usual for him after I destroyed my own blood sister to be with him and now he was expecting me to bow my head to some lowly concubine that he favoured just to spite me? I would rather die than bow down to her…just like how I would rather die than loose my man at all. So what did l have to loose by bowing my head down for the first time? I had already lost all hope, the respect and fear of my husband's other women and I could already tell by my husband's demeanour that I had lost my position as his wife and Princess Consort. But I was already exhausted and I didn't' have any fight in me left. But I still wasn't done; if I was going to go down, then I wouldn't do it alone. But I had to at least stall for time so I could give my family a chance to start all over again. So I loosened my hair and my robes to make sure that my husband would also see me as a victim in this situation, since I really never intended to harm this new Imperial Heir.

"Peace be to Your Highness, please forgive my actins today as I seem to have been carried away with myself after The Concubine Park disrespected me time and time again and I just couldn't restrain my anger just this once…" "Just this once?" "…and I only intended to impose a modest punishment upon her. I had no intentions of losing yet another Imperial Heir." "You didn't have the intention! After I caught you red-handed causing my last Mistress to miscarry?" "Husband, she was a kisaneg! She wasn't of noble blood! Could you imagine how miserable that child's life would have been if he survived here in the palace? Trust me, killing that child before he had a chance to breathe in this corrupt world was an act of kindness towards him! And you cannot deny that because I am right and you know it! So I hope that you will forgive me once again…" "Did you forget that she was pregnant? Is that the reason why you did this?" "Your highness, The Noble Princess Consort insisted many times that Concubine Park's pregnancy was stable enough to let her kneel under the scorching sun for 2 hours straight!" "Your Majesty! Please forgive me! I must have lost my own head in the heat today for me to punish her so harshly! But I was a palace physician who let me know that her pregnant was stable enough to let me carry out punishment! What tonic did he give her to weaken her that he wants to blame on me now! We can even carefully examine her recent prescriptions and leftover herbs!" "Your Majesty, it was Concubine Park who called me in to tend to her until her own physician returns to her and did advise Her Highness in writing to waive her daily greetings, but she…and she was already feeling unwell, but The Noble Princess Consort simply didn't care at all!" "Moon-Bok! What on earth are you talking about! I haven't seen any note…!" "That is because you threw it into your fireplace as soon as you ready, ergo your reason for lack of evidence against my written warnings! But there seems to be another factor that has caused this unfortunate incident Your Highness that I must report; The Concubine Park reported to me just before she was dragged to this so-called meeting which she was unwilling to attend that she has been experiencing anxiety lately, which caused her pregnancy to become unstable. It was also mentioned to me that these concubines have to attend long-winded meetings for hours at and sometimes up to 3-4 times a day?"

"What? What did you just say? What meetings?" "That is just what I heard this morning, you can question the servants if you wish about it, but it wouldn't have caused any issues if she rested, just like I advised her more than once. But The Noble Princess Consort's servants didn't give her a choice when they bullied her to attend the meetings, even when she was on the verge of passing out." "You lily physician! How dare you spew such nonsense against me! Do you have nay idea who I am! Well! Do you!" "You wretch of a woman! You pox on my life! I shall no longer spare you or conceal your evil actions anymore! You knew she was pregnant and you still punished her like that! You couldn't have waited until the weather was cooler? Or just confined her to her quarters like your betters have done before you! And you don't even show a silly sign of remorse for killing yet another one of my children! You vile scum!" "Your Highness, I ave already explained that I was acting on the physicians orders!" "Are you claiming ignorance to cover up your cruel and twisted intentions! You had to punish her in the cruel heat! What a viscous heart like snakes and scorpions! How can I tolerate your evil presence in this palace any longer!" "Husband! You have ignored me for decades now, what do you expect when you keep bringing in these whores!" "I am a Prince that is entitled to a harem just like any other Prince! You knew that when you met me!" "Then you should have treated me better so I wouldn't have become so jealous! Do you think that I like acting this way! You should have favoured me above everyone else as your main wife so that I could have done my job properly instead of abandoning me at each and every turn with these sluts to vent my anger out on! You were the one who disappointed me first! You let these bitches insult me when they can! How can I possibly tolerate this disrespect!"

"You fool! No, I am the fool for entrusting you with palace affairs when Seo Yeon would have handled the harem efficiently within a week instead of the decades that you have tried and failed to manage even this day of yours! You cannot lead and you cannot give me children! What use do I have for you, especially after the fall of your clan!" "My father can still be of use to you!" "I very much doubt it! You couldn't even do your 2 duties and your father has proved to be a worse failure that you are!" "What other punishment do you impose for their sheer arrogance then! And it isn't solely my fault that you keep loosing your children! I have also experienced such a loss, how can you be so cruel to me!" "You have hereby lost your power to assist in palace affairs, and you will not be seen to until summoned! I shall write up a divorce and deposition petition and hand it over to my father before I go back out there to find that physician!" "Will you not have mercy on me this time, husband?" "What mistakes did the other concubines make! You also made them stand up in the heat for hours to watch my pregnant concubine being tortured! So you will endure the same punishment every single day for 4 hours under the sun until this plague is over!" "You have never been this angry at me before." "I have always hated you and now I have found a reason to be rid of you at long last." "We are both of one body and mind in this lifetime, if you dare to drag me out of the palace by my hair, then I will drag you out with me also." "And how will you do that, wife?" "If you really write out those depositions and send them to your father, then I will have no choice but to let Seo Hwi know whoo really killed his father, and you know that nothing can stop me when I have a specific goal in mind, don't you, husband? Oh, and one more thing; Moon-Bok here has already come up with a remedy for the plague and has already handed it over to your father in your absence, so I am afraid that your one and only chance of serving your father before he deposes both of us has gone and you can finally spend some time here at home by my side."