"I appreciate your service last night, even if you are pregnant." "I dare not forget my place, Your Highness." "Speaking of your place, I cannot make you feel aggrieved; you are my wife's partial maid, so I need to treat you generously don't I? I will promote you to Companion now instead of later when you birth my baby for me." "I thank you for your graces, Your Highness." "Remember to kowtow to my wife when you see her later, she is your Master after all, so you should thank her for promoting you."
"…well? Did my husband appreciate you service last night?" "He holds you to high esteem, so he made an exception to promote me ahead of time." "That is…quite an honour, I suppose. I assume that my husband likes you very much." "Forgive me, Your Highness, I was only promoted because of you, His Highness made that quite clear." "You are a Companion now, so you will need to be assigned more servants from now on, Companion Choi. "Whether I am a Companion or not, I shall always be in your service, Princess Consort." "Very well, you never forget you origins when you receive your favour., Companion Choi." "Let me help brush you hair since I am used to saving you, Your Highness." "I appreciate your thoughts, but His Highness hasn't asked to see me for some time now." "His Highness is preparing for the birthday banquet of the youngest Prince whilst Your Highness has unending blessing from heaven to enjoy your pregnancy." "I dare not merit your congratulations, as longs you behave well." "Does Your Highness prefer for me to be defiant?" That question was followed by a slap to the face as The new Companion Choi was left on the floor whilst my delusional Mistress was on her way to change her cloths by herself ever since she got pregnant.
"That woman is loosing her damned mind and is running out of luck at the same time, and is sill living in some sort of fantasy world that she will take back everything that she lost. She still thinks that she is unbeatable, but if she goes on like this, her days are numbered and so are ours. Bu luckily, The Third Prince still has you in his heart and you will have a bright future as soon as you birth his son for him." "Why are you telling me all of this?" "It is because as women, we know all sorts of grievances deep within our hearts, so we mostly have to suffer in silence." "Suffer in silence? No way, I will not let that happen anymore; I will tear down this so-called Princess Consort myself as soon as I have this baby!" "And how will you do that? There are already memorandums to impeach The Second Prince as soon as he reached out to his Royal Uncles. And now once The Emperor recovers from his sickness, he will have to decide if he is to send his own brothers to The Imperial Clan Court for failing inter duty to report this to him and choosing not to Amed or repent for their decision."
"But won't this also enforce The Emperor not to grant any favours beyond the law? Isn't that a good thing? His judgments will be well reasoned and…" "It gives The Emperor what he wants; a chance to reduce the risk of his only living brothers to make a claim on his throne when he passes. We all know that he chose his youngest son as The Crown Prince not because of his loyalty and devotion, it is because it extends his own reign." "But now that he is ill, that surely cannot be a good thing, right? He will be a sitting target for his older brothers to…" "And that is why you, Companion Choi, need to warn your family into talking more about filial piety and etiquette if summoned in front of His Majesty in order to appeal to him emotionally. This will remind him of your family's loyalty and create gratitude for your family's merits." "Thank you Mistress Han, I will do exactly that." "I myself have tasted poverty and destitution before, and I have absolutely no intentions on going back there myself. If you success, you have to take me with you." Agreed."
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"His Majesty is favouring Companion Choi again it seems." "Has it been any different in these last weeks at all, Companion Cho? He has a new favourite, it all depends on his liking." "But what kind of favourite is she, Concubine Park? She is no better than the Princess Consort's new slave, the ex-Mistress Han. But now she has openly climbed into the dragon's bed and paying no heed to her swollen belly; pregnant concubines are not allowed to serve in bed, hasn't that always been the rules?" "She is right, Concubine Park, and it disgusts everyone when thinking about how she is soiling His Majesty's bed just to gain favour for his main wife." "Ex-wife I think you mean, Concubine Kim." "You are both being rather frank and outspoken in this Imperial Garden in front of all of these servants, you must mind your words." "We are only speaking the truth, and since it is true, then I am no afraid of spreading this news around." "Maybe someday this 'newly-favoured' will turn into 'out of favour', who knows?" "We three are sill his top favoured Concubines, so there is no need to worry too much." "That alone should put her in her place."
"She should be worried more about her family being criticised in the memorandums" "Or should we be more worried about ur husband being known for being unfaithful in his favours to rebuke such high-tiled officials." "It I shed family's conduct that is improper and upsets our husband, what else is he supposed to do? They haven't contributed to anything to our state for a while now, and every memorandum that goes against Companion Choi's family for The Second Prince must send shivers through her heart. The only thing that is saving them all currently is her unborn babe and her never-ending seductions." "All members of any and all harems are inextricably intertwined with the powers of The Imperial Court, this will even compromise our own husband. What if everyone starts to think that The Second and Third Prince are in collusion together to rebel against their father? And then what? There are clearly people both inside and outside of the palace who are trading information, and if this was ever to be taken advantage of by ill-intentioned officials, they will determine The Price's current positions and possibly give them immunity in the future, can you imagine what they can get away with in the future?" "I have often heard that 'an industrious maid will never age', but she will start speculating on her superiors soon enough. No wonder The Princess Consort has chosen to back the likes of her, we could never think of bestowing such favours, even as she is still suspended from her duties."
"But as our husband has a solid reputation, why doesn't his father let him rule? I just cannot understand it?" "We as Royal Harem Women have always been lead to believe that when we become mothers, we bece distinguished for an esteemed son, but it is also true for the son via the mother herself." "What do you mean, Concubine Kim?" "It is said that The Emperor dislikes his son's ruthlessness and fearsome reputation, which was not unlike his own when he himself was rising to power. And it is because his mother was heavily rumoured to have been a menial maid that His Majesty had sexual contact with after a fierce argument with his brothers that his second son has reached out to. His own father was so angry at him that he almost disowned him for that mistake, which was of curse reported to him by his brothers." "So these brothers almost caused him to be deprived of his title and status of nobility for having his third son?" "The maid was said to be unbearably ugly and from a very humble background, so His Majesty never liked her and barely visited her during her pregnancy at all. She died shortly after his birth and that is another reason why he is alway sobering shunned, out of sight and out of mind, until he grew up that was." "And now with hi brother's rebellion, he will seek the opportunity to get his petty revenge on them and take over their affairs and expand his own rule even more…"
"My Lady? The Third Prince calls upon Companion Cho at this very moment and wishes to dine with all 3 of you tonight as usual." "Very well, take me to him please."
"…Your Highness? Did you call for me?" "I have a complaint against you from The Companion Choi, who said that you made her cry earlier on today with all of the insults that you stated quite openly in The Imperial Gardens only minutes ago. You know that she is pregnant and it is in her nature to be strong-willed and rather determined, even more so now that she is pregnant." "So? What does Your Majesty intend to do about it?" "During this tenacious time, I will have to make a move against you and my own will. And evenly own brother is acting more presumptuous, and I have no more tolerance for it. I will act in such a way that I do not wish for you to be fearful of me, so I will have to move you somewhere safe and for your own good." "You are a Royal Prince, a son of heaven, and since this knife has been in your heart for a while now, it is time to remove it." "i have refrained until this moment and in order to remove it smoothly, I will have to impeach my own brother before he drags me down with him." "And what abut your other women?" "They all guide you to become sweet and well-behaved, and I hold it dearly in my heart."
"What will you do with your brother?" "My older brother who disrespects the Emperor, our father, betraying me, his younger and closest brother, forming factions for his own personal interests, undermining the authority of the court, repressing the channels of report, assaulting officers, subverting his superiors and abusing military influence. Anyone of these crimes are offensive and unpardonable, and carry the crime of treason along with it. He has become conceited by his current merits when my father is most vulnerable and he has disrespected me on more than once occasion." "Will you not give him a chance to repent? It if becomes more serious, at least you displayed your mercy upon your brother as you should." "No, I will have Jeong Beom decapitate his eunuchs head for now. But before I deal with my brother, I must cut off all of his wings, which refers to my uncles." "Your Highness I have been thinking long and hard about this problem for you, and I may just have a solution which we will discuss with you at dinner tonight." "We?" "Yes; we."