Less Than A Hundred Years
The First of Many
Prompt: Concubine
Troubles had been stirred while he was at his office, discussing the next steps of expansion with both the Vice General and General of the regular army. They had been looking over the maps, and after having gotten rid of the Japanese raiders their strengths were now moving north and into Yuan territory; their plans were yet to be discussed with the King but they needed a solid plan of advance so the royal would be pleased and would probably send them forward. Then there had been a knock on the door, and the three of them turned to find one of the many newly appointed chancellors, all laughs and smiles as he entered, unannounced to the office.
"The three men I was searching for!" He announced, lifting both hands and signaling them, of course, before putting his hands inside his belt, which was tight around his very round belly. The three soldiers stared at him, confused. "I am throwing a feast at my home and would like you three to come, in honor of the newest conquest and expansion of the kingdom." At first the three men simply nodded and thanked the man, who continued to insist on their assistance to the party and most especially about the WooDalChis to attend. "So shall I expect you three at my house, tomorrow around noon?"
"If the King allows us attendance we shall." Said Choi Young, in the tone of voice he usually guarded for those uncivil enough to cross his path.
Needless to say Choi Young presented his battle plan, was accepted, and before leaving (once the rest of the attendants to the meeting had departed) asked the King for a private audience. The King was interested in whatever the General was about to say, even without knowing what it was about. So when the General asked the King about the banquet he had been invited to the man frowned slightly.
"You have no need to ask my permission to attend such thing, General; it is part of your personal business."
"I am aware, sir, but it would be nice of you to deny my assistance to said banquet." The King chuckled, as he usually did in such tense moments, and lowered his eyes. "I cannot understand why I have been invited, since I am obviously not the banquet goer."
"Can you not?" Asked the King, still smiling. "Then you are not aware that Chancellor Go has three unmarried daughters?" Choi Young looked up at the King, having been unaware of the information, with slightly widened eyes. "Can you see now why he is interested in your attendance?"
"I am already married." He concluded seriously, about to stand.
"Yes, but in this time and age I understand men can take on concubines without much troubles. Though I am quite sure the High Doctor would not be pleased."
"Neither would I! I have no intention of having concubines…"
"We are aware of the fact, General. But the Chancellor isn't." Choi Young gave a curt nod, and looked down at the battle plan laid over the table, chest suddenly tight and uncomfortable. "If either of you three wish to go, then go, but as is your case, I'm very sure, either of you don't wish to go then I could conjure up some explanations of my own and have it written down."
"I would like that very much sir."
And so the King created a very complex explanation in a very thick roll, making sure the General would not be able to leave either house or castle, only capable of attending such celebrations when held by the Royal Household, and to avoid any proposals of marriage or concubine outside the usual channels.
Problem was that while Choi Young waited for this roll to be created the news had already spread around the castle, been disproportioned to high levels, and had reached both Lady Choi and the Queen. They were yet to tell the High Doctor, who was currently checking the Queen's pulse and general health, happy as usual and totally unaware of the happenings around the WooDalChi camps.
"Your pulse is strong and healthy, and to celebrate;" Started the High Doctor, suddenly reaching into her bag and pulling out several bars of soap. "Soaps for everyone!" And she handed four bars of soap to the Queen, whose lips lightly lifted in a poor excuse of a smile, and two bars were handed to Lady Choi, then a bar to each of the girls protecting them. Eun Soo noticed that everyone was rather serious, and/or down, and frowned slightly. There even was one of the girls, that upon been handed the soap, broke into tears. That go the High Doctor to frown. "Why is everyone like that? Did something happen?" She asked, sitting down in worry while looking at the two women before her.
Lady Choi turned to the girls, seeing one was about to start crying to join her partner, and hushed them out the doors, asking them to lock the doors tight. The Queen took the High Doctor's hand, what made her really worry. "What?" She asked loudly, frowning slightly.
"Unnie," Said the Queen, now in total privacy with Eun Soo. "Unnie, I have something to tell you."
"What? Did something happen to the General? Or the puppies?"
"Puppies?"
"The WooDalChi kids!"
"No, not…" The Queen bit her lip, halting her words and frowning slightly, while Lady Choi sat beside the doctor, sighing.
"According to what I've heard," Said she, making both Queen and Doctor turn to her. "That newly appointed Chancellor Go has planned a party for tomorrow night; he's invited several of the men from high ranks, among them that punk, his right hand and the regular's general, so he can offer his three daughters as concubines." Queen and Doctor continued to stare at her, the first's face full of anguish while the second was totally bare of emotions. "And the three of them are going."
A second was too long a time for any sort of reaction from the High Doctor.
"WHAT?!"
"High Doctor!" Called the Queen, after the woman shot up and slammed the doors open in her raging path of surprise and anger, leaving several devastated crying maidens behind. Lady Choi scolded towards the girl, who simply hid away while continue to cry, and shook her head.
"That hot head of hers will get them into trouble." She commented softly, making the Queen nod.
"They are meant for each other, is it not?"
Lady Choi simply pursed a smile, but after so long beside her, the Queen was sure such things were just to suppress a smile.
"Didn't we take that gossip a bit too far?" Asked the Queen, suddenly, feeling sorry for having said such terrible things to the doctor, while Lady Choi frowned slightly.
"No, I don't think so."
So then the fault will lie on the aunt, not the queen.
.
.
The fight that issued in the hallway that lead to the medical center was not loud, they weren't usually loud about their fighting, but it was devastatingly painful for both of them. She'd been accused of doubting him, of pushing him too far away for them to really understand each other, and while the matter of the roll stuck in his robes was kept from her, Eun Soo simply did not deny the fact that the simple action doubting him made it harder for her to love him.
And she was in all her rights to doubt him after having heard such things.
After the fight, which forced the WooDalChi guards to empty the hallway and medical center until the General emerged angry and face hardened with anger, Eun Soo dropped to her knees behind her working space sobbing away her pain and regrets. Had she gone too far? Had he gone too far? These were the sorts of moments in which she missed Doctor Jang Bin the most, at least he would offer a kind hand, a comforting shoulder, and listening ears, providing at the very end some wide advice.
It was Deo Gi who found her, and did all these things; the herbalist had grown to become a gorgeous woman, and was now more aware of the doctor's feelings, they spend most of their days together after all.
For the first time since they got married, they ate separately; their days usually ended together, today he'd been busy at the barracks, while she had walked home followed by the maidens and Dae Man (probably sent by the General himself), hiding not to be seen. She made a quiet dinner for them, at least to keep her company, and sent them off to rest. Dae Man was the only one to remain, even when the General arrived. A room had been separated for the boy, so he now stayed some days with them; tense the General walked into the house in silence, not announcing himself and out of custom she turned to him with a smile.
"Oh you are here?"
"I'm here." And without another word he went to take a long bath, reminding her they had fought.
.
.
He felt the dip of the bed, as his companion sank beside him. Eyes closed and breaths even he didn't bother to move as the sheets were fixed and accommodated around the warm body to his left. Eun Soo had urged him sleep closer to the windows, so she wouldn't be cold, and probably to show off her amazing new skills as gardener; the large flowerbox right outside was full to brim with healthy wide yellow mums. The covers around him were slightly pulled, as she searched for more warmth in the chilly air, and Choi Young took a silent deep breath, releasing it through softly opening lips.
The tension between them was palpable to painful levels, stress levels still high… He felt like he was waiting for an ambush to take place, for some reason, and his every sense was fully awake, except his sight which was currently in hiding behind closed lids. There was a while of silence, only the sound of the sudden gush of wind, or the dog somewhere outside…
"My mother once told me never to go to bed angry with my husband." She said suddenly, hurt evident in her tone. "So I'm going to get up and I will go find some water to drink. I don't expect you to follow but at least you'll know where I am." And with that she unfolded her body from under the covers, put on her slippers and dragged her feet, as she usually did when feeling defeated, out of the room. Choi Young finally opened his eyes and turned to see her hands closing the double doors of their chamber, sighing.
He followed, because there was nothing else to do for him but to follow his Imja. For they were one, no matter how badly they struggled between themselves they always returned to each other; so barefoot he moved quietly through the house, and before sliding the doors open sighed, and entered the herbal room. For even if she said she was searching for water, Eun Soo liked to be surrounded by those plants that seemed to be part of her bloodline. Sure enough there she was, sitting beside a particularly large ginger plant, caressing the large leaves and looking pale under the moonlight. Choi Young could not help but to lean against the door, and watch her, admiring her beauty because even in anger Eun Soo was gorgeous to the eyes. She knew he was there, so no words were required from him.
"My heart was always hard to appease with men." She started softly, her voice low; she was either crying or about to. "Every time I would meet someone and I would think I was in love, it would tell me, No, not this one. I was even engaged to be married once, but I cut the engagement short because my heart screamed it was the wrong person." She trembled under the moonlight, and her hand fell to her lap. She'd been engaged? Really? It was the man's loss really; because no matter how Choi Young looked at it, it was his gain. "I know, in this Goryeo it's not wrong for men to have a second or even third or fourth wives, and women here are willing to share their husbands, but I'm not. I'm not from Goryeo but some unknown land that you wouldn't understand. I don't want to share you! You are mine and I've struggled too much to share you with another woman. And if I push you away it's because I don't want you to see this ugly side of me, this selfish person; I don't want you to see her because it's so disgustingly…" But she didn't get to finish.
Choi Young was not vaccinated against her tears and they always managed to break his heart. So he pulled her up and around, hiding her against his collarbone as she cried; Eun Soo wrapped tightly around his back, clawing at his robes to get him closer as she sobbed, while soft kisses were delivered to her reddish hair, and finally to her lips, drinking away the salty tears as he went. She sniffled and looked up at him.
"Imja doesn't have to worry about me taking a second wife, or even a concubine, because there is no other for me, but Imja."
"But they said you are going to the party tomorrow."
"The what?"
"To the banquet. To meet the daughters of that Chancellor."
"Who said that?"
"Your aunt told me today." Choi Young's eyes narrowed, not at her but at the news, and he seemed to think for a while. She sniffled, leaning to hide against him, as her husband caressed her back. "She heard it in the hallways."
"See, Imja, that's how gossip is created." He said softly, unable to help a smile forming on his lips. "I was indeed invited, but the King did not allow my assistance to the banquet; he even gave me orders to avoid such things outside the palace, and even offers of concubines or second wives…"
"He did?"
"Imja is the only one for me, even the King sees it." Her face was still showing signs of pain, less than before, and he caressed her cheek. "Would you like to see the roll?"
"I can't read it."
"I'll tell you exactly what it says." He kissed the top of Eun Soo's head. "I'm sorry for causing you pain, I should have gone directly to you instead of to the King."
"No, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have gotten so angry, I said so many mean things…"
They were two fools in love, apologizing for something that wasn't their fault.
.
.
The night of the banquet Eun Soo made sure Choi Young was trapped home, with food and enough comfy pillows to sedate even his sleeping habits. He didn't seem to mind, so he rested against the pillows and stared up at the ceiling, without stirring much trouble. They shared their days, as was usual for them, and she sat beside him with a big bowl of fruit and nuts, peeling and offering him from time to time, stealing some of the ones already peeled for herself.
"I think she is pregnant, but doesn't want to tell Choog-sik, so she can surprise him on his birthday."
"Wow, the Vice General is going to be a father. Again. He's the kind to take care of children, just look at how he cares for the other boys."
"And those puppies sure have been a handful lately. And hour or so earlier I had to stitch up a couple of injured… Oops! You weren't supposed to know that!" And she laughed, while he shot up with the information, filling her mouth with peeled nuts and turning away. "But Young-ah?"
"What?"
"Did you tell that Chancellor Go about the decree the King gave you?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"I sent my apologies along with Dae Man, Deok Man and four other WooDalChi boys to the banquet. At least one of them would marry one of those girls, right?"
"So you are now playing matchmaker?"
"Sort of. And it means we are alone tonight." He turned to her, smiling, and grabbing her arm to pull her down, his lips quickly finding hers.