Rise of an Empress

The Sooner,The Better

Emperor Sinjong decided to stay the night in a royal inn of Guangdong. Concubine Seo has been kept in one of the rooms of this inn alone. The Emperor didn't even utter a word to her after the surrender.

Concubine Seo has decided to keep herself strong. No matter what, nothing better could happen even if she stayed in the palace. It's better now that she has tried her best for her baby this time. If she stayed in the palace, she would’ve had to endure the pain of losing the baby again. She doesn't want to bear this meaningless life anymore.

Concubine Seo comes back to her senses at the sound of the door being opened. Emperor Sinjong enters the room. Is it important to show respect anymore? She thinks that she is already a traitor to him, showing respect is not going to change anything.

"Don't you have anything to say to explain yourself?" He stands in front of her. Concubine Seo is sitting on the floor while leaning on the wall and staring downward. 

The same thing happened before, didn't it? Concubine Seo was broken that day as Emperor Sinjong accused her of infidelity with Chinese Emperor Zhu Quizhen and the same crime of getting pregnant with the first child of the Emperor. He asked her almost the same question that time.

"Sir Lee doesn't have any fault. I begged him for help. He didn't want to at first. He was just a kind person to help me. I kept my identity hidden to him," Concubine Seo says while still staring down.

"How dare you talk about another man in front of me? A concubine of the palace has been found with a General of the Army outside on the same horse. Are you aware of the pride of the royal family?" Emperor Sinjong tries to control his anger.

"Sir Lee didn't," Concubine Seo is about to say something, but he interrupts her by shouting.

"Did you escape from the palace for him or with him? You two stayed together all these days, didn't you?"

"Are you accusing me again that I have committed adultery behind your back?" At last, she looks into his eyes. Nothing has changed since then. Concubine Seo almost shutters.

"How do you pay him for help? With your body?" She can see only anger and hatred in the Emperor's eyes.

"Please, not at least with him. How can you accuse me of infidelity, when I am pregnant with your baby? All I did was just to save the baby," Concubine Seo holds herself strong to prevent from breaking into tears. Emperor Sinjong never trusted her then.

"How did you find out that you are pregnant?" 

"Why won't I? It's my body, you have the right to whatever you want to do. But you don't want any consequence out of your expectation. Is it my crime, if life wants to grow up inside me because of you? What's my sin? Is that just because I am low rank? Life is not even aware of royal politics or rules. I don't have any desire or whatever to give birth to your firstborn." 

Is the explanation going to change anything between them?

"For you, only for you, I lied to the whole palace. You have committed an act of treason, do you have any idea that treason is unforgivable to the royal family? I covered your crime to the royal family for almost 10 days by saying lie after lie," Emperor Sinjong says impatiently. 

"You have taken a long time to find this traitor."

"Yun Hee, you are still acting arrogant. You are not seeking forgiveness for what you have done. What's wrong with you?" His control on his anger shatters.

"Forgive me for conceiving your precious, yet not acceptable, baby to the royal family and for giving you trouble every time to deal with this unacceptable crime. Why me always? I didn't want much except to live silently in a corner of the palace. My punishment started the day you accused me of infidelity behind your back. For the first time, I started to realize that life in the palace is different. The royal palace is not somewhere I belong. Every time I wanted to adjust forgetting the previous hatred, everyone reminded me I am nothing but a low rank. The time the royal physician told you the news of pregnancy, I came to know about it. But you didn't give me any choice, you wanted to keep it secret. I wanted to request you to let me keep the baby hidden from the world. But later, I could understand the baby would have a more miserable fate then, so I wanted to live on my own for the baby. I thought I won't be able to endure the pain of losing the baby again. I didn't have any idea that leaving such a meaningless concubine would be such a shameful issue to the royal family. Can I have a request for you?" Concubine Seo was talking without looking at Emperor Sinjong's eyes. She looks into his eyes at her last sentence. 

He realizes that everything in the palace was so hard for Concubine Seo. They never get enough time between them to understand each other. She has undergone so much pain because of the higher ranks of the royal family and everything has forced her to do this. He never did anything ever to comfort her and the concubine can't trust him like others in the royal family.

Emperor Sinjong just nods at Yun Hee's question. 

"Can the announcement to my family about the punishment be delayed after my death? They won't be able to tolerate it. After the punishment, it will be easy for them to tolerate the news. Can you do it here please, not in the palace? My punishment started so long before. Don't make the miserable baby suffer, it's growing up with every moment. The sooner, the better," a tear escapes from her eyes. She has tried to hold herself strong for so long.

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