"Lord Nam? Are you alright? Please come through my chambers so that I can tend to you!" "Hwa-Wol, you do not have to…." "You wife and my daughter will never forgive me if I do not. Come over here whilst the guards are distracted by the boat chaos." "Very well…" "Very well? Are you not going to explain to mw how the boat caught on fire a single day before The Emperor was to set out onto his tour? And how you managed to find out about the rebellion?" "I got the hint from you telling me about 'the lean horses', which led me to finding out the secret room on the ship and how close the assassins were on the boat that were hiding around the ship itself." "Is that really all? How can it be that simple?" "It isn't." "What do you mean? Is there something that I do not know?" "Your friend has been locked away in the dungeons permanently, even I cannot figure out what her fate could possibly be after this, but that is not all. It is about who sent those assassins to the ship in the first place." "Lord Nam?" "It looks like The Third Prince's patience has completely worn out and he has made the ultimate blunder." "Isn't that the scheming method that your wife prefers to use? Wear out her enemies with false accusations until they loose their patience and make mistakes?" "Well…" "So you really could not defeat your enemy without the help of your wife?" "Hwa-Wol…" "Forgive me, I shall not interrupt you again, please continue." "The man who sent the assassins is a man who claims to be the son of the woman who distracted The Previous Emperor's assassins on his own boat tour trip, but is somehow claiming that he is the son of The Previous Emperor and not his assassins." "Was this person working in the palace?" "It seems so, but he was made into a eunuch before he could tell his truth, therefore he harboured a murderous grudge against The Emperor." "But how did The Third Prince find him?" "Who knows and who cares? All I care about is the fact that I found out about it and put an end to it, making The Emperor's life indebted to me once again."
"So this man instigated the feared Third Prince and wanted to borrow his hand to wipe out his own family for the position of The Crown Prince?" "Or The new Emperor directly." "He most likely would have ended up betraying The Third Prince after with all of the evidence that he has on him, most likely to The Imperial Clan?" "Exactly; and the worse thing is that I am pretty sure that he is eater telling the truth or that he believes his own delusions for sure." "But if you were part of The Royal Family, how would you counteract such a claim?" "I would probably confuse the enemy with the evidence he has on him regardless…"
"My Lord? What is the matter with you? Why did you just stop talking all of a sudden?" "Hwa-Wol, go to the other side of the room and hide behind something, I can hear someone making his way here." "An assassin?" "Do what I say if you wish to live long enough to reunite with your children! Now!" She barely made it on time before I took care of the man who was supposedly sent to finish of Hwa-Wol of all people when she had done absolutely nothing wrong…unless they wanted her dead for the connection that she had to her late husband who surely had a lot of knowledge about the palace? Maybe I shouldn't have brought her here after all and took my wife instead? No, not this time and surely not my sister-in-law…it looked like I needed a new female partner in crime for the future, and what batter person than an aspiring female physician, even though they were still banned under Confucius laws? Still, it was a start and it looked like I would have to personally watch over her education a little closer from now on…
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Minutes turned into hours that turned into days that turned into weeks without my meticulous husband watching over my every move or those of our children. As for Hwa-Wol and her daughter, they were almost as close as sisters, so Bo-Geom was having a hard time adjusting to running her home without her mother, so I offered to help her out as much as I could whilst looking after my own little monsters who were well and truly in their chaotic toddler stage by this point. I only had one pair of hands that were perfectly suited to one toddler each, so I was grateful for Bo-Geom's help, who already took on my feisty daughter as her own sister and tended to her so well in her father's absence. I was extremely lucky that my daughter loved Bo-Geom in return, otherwise I would have had to constantly deal with her tantrums whilst pregnant, which I was not looking forward to at all. Her whole day could have ben ruined if she wasn't held by her beloved father and even my son would have cried if he could not climb all over him in his sleep, which seemed to amuse him the most.
I had new life growing in my belly now; another one that I did not expect, but it was another one that I was going to treasure with all of my might and try to protect it from its unpredictable father who seemed to like to leave out of the blue and keep his family waiting for god only knowns how long. But he hadn't pulled anything that his father would have yet, so I guess that my family was safe for now…
"Uncle Nam! Mother! Your home! Finally!" I do not recall ever seeing my husband blush so much when Bo-Geom practically launched herself at my husband until her mother hand to practically pull her away from him and into her own arms where her other children joined in. And as for my unusually dense husband, he had the nerve to just kiss me on the cheek quickly before swooping up the twins in his arms and playing with them like never before, not even stopping to rest or bathe as he usually would have in the past. As much as I loved watching my man create memories with his children that they would most likely forget when they got older, I was still mighty angry with him for just disappearing on me for two months as soon as he got what he wanted from me. And all of his talk about moving back into the kingdom, what if that was still what he wanted? How was that fair on any of us? What about my pro brother who wad waited for me for almost a decade to come home to him? And my nephews? And Bo-Geom? And the rest of the womenfolk who were looking at me to support them? My sister-in-law still needed a lot of help in terms of being a leader for the villagers here in my brother's absence and Hwa-Wol needed support with her own children now that her husband had passed away in the most comfortable conditions that we could offer him…
I was so lost in thought that I almost tripped up on the baskets of flowers that had suddenly covered almost every single inch of our floor where the twins played in the most, and it wasn't chrysanthemums this time. Never in my life had I even seen so many coloured lilies and hydrangea's in my lifetime, both flowers symbolising the love between a man and his wife. I was honestly too touched and stunned at the same time to even think of anything to say, that was until I could hear my husband walking in behind me in far too good spirits than I preferred him to be in now, no matter how unusual it was for him. But before I even had the chance to storm off in a huff, he pulled me into him from behind me and rested his sharp and chiselled chin into my neck and he had such a grasp on my belly that I feared he would accidentally injure the baby before he was even born. "Do you truly have nothing to say to me, wife?" "What can I say when you just think you can leave whenever you want for god only know show long?" "Is that statement a reflection of how much you have missed me in the meantime?" "Your second son has missed you more than I have, husband, do not be mistaken!" "Are you sure about that? Why is your heart beating so fast then?" "It is due to all of the stress that you give me, husband! And what are you so happy about when I am this angry at you!" "You know what, I shall just keep the information to myself since you are so angry at me…but I still want a bath, so fill it up wife." "Keep dreaming!" "Very well, then I shall just hire another young maid and…" "Oh for goodness sake! You do know how to get under my skin, don't you!" "You can join me if you wish to cool down your hot temper, which surely isn't good for my second son." "I think you mean my second son!" "And who do you belong to exactly, wife!" "Husband!"
No matter what had happened between us, it really was unusual that my husband be this elated and for this long as well. So he told me everything that had happened in the palace with Hwa-Wol's help, it was enough to celebrate my husband's achievement all week long. I truly hadn't seen him smile or laugh this much since myself and my brother was introduced to him decades ago. The villagers themselves could also relax now and enjoy all of the utilities that my brother provided with them for the rewards that Hwa-Wol brought in with her ideas, which included gold and a lot of small jewellery pieces for our daughters that they both delighted in.
And as for my current pregnancy; my husband couldn't have spoiled me more even if he tried, which is exactly what I needed because I suffered through this one like I never had before. From back pain to suffering from morning nausea to headaches and even swollen feet, this baby was surely punishing me not having him earlier or something. And my poor husband, he was as sympathetic as he could be, but this period of torture on me allowed him to become the best father that he possibly could be to our twins, although it was hard on him at first. He had to tend to them as much as possible without the interference of the villagers whilst helping Hwi rebuild everything and equating his nephews and nieces. In fact, he turned out to be quite the teacher and son enough, we had all of the villager's children outside of our home wanting to receive lessons from him personally. In the end, he had no choice but to enlist the help of Bo-Geom's siblings to set up a space to fit everyone in and my help to come up with basic lesson plans for the rest of the children who were not in our close circle. But apart from that, life in my father's village was going well and by the time my second pregnancy had come to an end, my children were old enough to start talking and endlessly running around in this precious little village of ours with their barefeet soaking up every texture, tasting every flavour and smelling every scent that made this village unique. They got to taste freshly baked bread and soup in the morning, and ripe persimmons for dessert. They instinctively knew when it was going to rain so they helped out the farmers as much as they could with their ploughs. All of the children wore clothes and robes from my embroidery house and trained under the watchful eye of my husband, my brother and the trainees that were left under the late Chief Park. My twins studied with Geom and Bo-Geom's siblings whilst Chul and Bo-Geom herself was old enough to start higher studies in their respective fields. It wasn't easy for Bo-Geom, but she was carefully nurtured by my husband and his contacts to be the best female physician that she could become that would be placed in the village for now until my husband found a better position for her that would take her on. And as for Chul, he had grown up to be a formidable General-to-be when the timing came from him, and yet he still made the time to help out his father in the village and watch over his little brother who of course wanted to become just like him.