Seo Yeon was the most beautiful, most kind and most gentle person…woman I had ever come across in my life. I was thrown into a life of slavery after the death of my sisters and then my parents soon after. I understood that both of my sisters had crossed paths with Nam Seon-Ho and one of them ended up working for hem, but i haven't seen or heard of them in years now, even though i missed Ae-Cha like crazy. But as far as he was as a man himself; he didn't exactly belittle us servants like his colleagues did but his eyes said it all…despite hm being born from a servant himself he still had the arrogance to look down on us as if we were dirt on his shoes. I had never been treated kindly in my life, not even my own parents who were too busy trying to suck up to the master so they could get better treatment and more pay…as if that was going to happen with a man like Nam Seon-Ho, who my true Master Seo Hwi passed me off onto. He didn't care about anything, not even his own life, surprisingly. I still had no idea who Seo Yeon was to him, but he even had me watching over him like a hawk. He even watched her sleep sometimes and only left when she stirred in her sleep. He didn't eat, drink or sleep for hours on end until she finally did wake up, he just worked in the meantime, but this was only the beginning. He was weirdly over-protective over her, more than I had seen most families behave towards each other. I had never really witnessed him interact with anyone else in the palace apart from his servants, so it was a complete surprise when we all witnessed how he treated her. None of us could tell if he treated her like a sister, a friend…or even a lover. To be honest I didn't think he knew himself how to treat her, which was why he kept his distance from her…to her face anyways. But more than once, all of us servants caught him practically stalking her behind her back. The look on his face, in his eyes and his whole demeanour always changed the minute she had her back turned from him, even from the first time she approached him. Myself and a few other servants had our ears stuck on the door, all burning with curiosity to how he would react to the only girl…woman we had seen him around and who clearly mattered to him a great deal in the harem where men where not allowed, but i guess that he had some sort of pass from his seniors.
But even if he was rich, not everybody could get what they wanted in this lifetime. It was always me that she was nice to, it was always me that she helped or complimented and it was always me that she came to if she needed any assistance. After she barely got me out of a bad situation that almost cost me my head with The Lord Nam I tried to be there for her whenever I could, and watch her whenever I could…but somebody else always beat me to it every single time. You wouldn't get within a mile of her quarters without witnessing The Lord Nam peeking into her room for long periods of time. It was a miracle that she hadn't been caught out by anyone else…I guess the saying was true; if you showed a dog a little kindness they really would become totally devoted to you. But that was all about to change when his own besotted maid found out what was going on much later than everybody else. At first she was in denial and stated that she knew the relationship between them, but as time passed by and The Lord Nam suddenly seemed to start waiting for her appearance, The Mistress Han could no longer deny it. At first she tried to attend to him herself a lot more, but he didn't like that at all and had a problem with everything she did for him. This wasn't right, that wasn't proper, this wasn't sweet enough, that was too sour etc…
I tired to approach The Mistress Han so that i could get answers about what had happened to my family, but she was only focused on The Lord Nam. So i tried to approach The Young Mistress Seo each time, but she would just distract me instead with her daily rituals in the midst of her loneliness. This was the only time I could approach Yeon properly, I always greeted her with a smile and a pick of flowers that I knew she liked the most from The Imperial Gardens. I also made sure to stay around whatever sweet dish was being cooked in the kitchen so I could at least try to smell nice as well. Not only was she beautiful, she was profoundly intelligent, although I had reason to suspect that she was hiding this even from her closest allies. We talked whenever I had the chance to get away from my chores; about our stories, our hobbies, our likes and dislikes…she was my first real friend who genuinely cared about not only myself, but everyone else around her whether they felt the same way about her or not.
But The Lord Nam's stalking habits did indeed manifest pretty much overtime and it intensified with his abnormal behaviour. I had a feeling that he…let me approach her out of guilt but now with every interaction we had now a servant and master, he seemed hell bent on torturing me if I didn't divulge him in every single one of our conversions and interactions. At first I tried to resist as much as I could, but then that bastard threatened to not only harm my family, but the rest of the servants and would openly blame me for their mistreatment. And if it came to that, the servants would push me out and I would loose my chance to stay by the only human who had treated me as such. So I had no choice but to report to him, not only every single sentence that was uttered, but her tone, body and facial language and even the emotions behind her words. I kept trying to look at him, trying to figure out where this was going exactly, but he always expressed the same sad, torn and depressing emotions. I did try to ask him why he kept asking me about her all the time when they both clearly had their own relationship prior to bringing her to his home, but he always had his back turned towards me and just dismissed me.
But I could no longer keep this to myself, as I had no idea what The Lord Nam was planning but he was getting more and more out of control. And even though it might cost me my relationship with The Young Mistress Seo, she needed to learn how to protect herself around him in case he did something to her. But for some reason when I told her, I was unable to get a proper reaction out of her. Instead…she just went pale and suddenly collapsed on the spot. "Yeon? Yeon!" "What…what do you mean he…is watching me?" "Can't you tell! He's practically obsessed with you! He watches you every single time your back is turned, he keeps asking to be served your favourite food, drinks and desserts, and he's even started buying you the clothes you wear out of his own pocket! Haven't you realised that the clothes you wear have been becoming more…fitting?" "I…I…why would he do that? Why…" "I think…think that he's in love with you. Or he's obsessed. Or both even." "Please…tell me everything that he asks you about me." "Everything; from the tone in your voice to the outfits you wear…he wants to know everything about you." "Could he…suspect me? No, this cannot happen right now…" "He doesn't suspect you of anything! I am telling you that he is downright in love with you." "No, you're wrong…he doesn't love me, he can't. Why would he…" "Yeon…if he was in love with you, then what would you do? Would you still leave with me? Or would you stay here with him? Yeon?"
"I…I do not believe you. I am sorry, but The Lord Nam is a very busy man and there is no way he suddenly has so much time on his hands to just watch me." I had no idea why she was always in denial when it came to him, but that no longer mattered since I knew that deep down, she knew that every single word I had told her was the truth. "Just because he has his tendencies, it doesn't mean that what you are saying is true." "Are you saying that i am making it all up? And for what? Why do you believe it when this information comes from everyone apart from myself? And you? Why do you doubt yourself so much like this? Why can't you just accept that there is someone in this world who loves you?" "People with disabilities are not loved in our era, even more so when they are forced to keep so many secrets." "You cannot rule out the possibility that it can happen; we all know what kind of a person you are, and most men who ignore you are fools to not want to marry you instead." "I am always the one who has been overlooked, thanks to my own ingenious plans of being someone that i wasn't simply for survival. Even when i did help him, all he could think about was somebody else, and that memory has not been able to leave my mind for all of these years. I remembered all of his birthdays, even though he spent them with her. I remembered all of his favourite food and i personally made him clothing that she took over behind my back. So what difference did that make? I simply came from a different world than them both with no intentions of escaping my own. It is understandable that The mistress Han still has delusions of grandeur just like he does, and i want no part of it."
"But you also get applause for whatever you do, and you also have your own following outside of the palace. And you shine more than her in he palace, the one thing that she cannot have no matter how hard she tries. You shave shown yourself in a way that she could never have done, and I has backfired for her completely. And she has nobody t share her misery with apart from the last man that chased her around, that is why she is so obsessed with The Lord Nam. It is her baseless desires that trap her here and…." "And trapped him here alongside her, which as all too easy for her to do with such a dangerously ambitious man…"