Half of the wealthy men in Joseon era would choose to take another woman when their wives were pregnant.

Nine months were a long time, and in that era, they believed that a full with a pregnant woman would harm the baby.

It was common to take a mistress during the wife’s pregnancy, frequently visited a gisaeng house or even taking a second wife.

Sungjae was of course the part of the other half of wealthy Joseon men.

It was unusual to sleep on a bed with a woman without doing any —even when the woman was your wife, and staying with her until the morning.

Usually, wealthy husbands would return to their own bedroom after being intimate with their wives..

Sungjae slept on one bed with Sooyoung ever since the first night they were married.

It was a matter of course that pregnant women had trouble sleeping, threw up or had cramps at night. Wealthy men of Joseon were “pardoned” to bother with this unpleasant experiences, slept leisurely in their own bedrooms, and to be presented by the baby nine months later.

The poor or the common families who lived in small houses experienced pregnancies differently. Couples who lived in a small house couldn’t afford husbands having their own rooms, and therefore, the husbands were always present in all the wives’ struggles.

Sungjae was of course different.

He chose to be close to his wife as often as possible.

There were good days and bad days.

The good days found her glowing. As if her skin got polished and her cheeks tinted with the pink of cherry blossoms.

And he might have fallen for her more on those days.

But there were also the bad days.

Sooyoung had no morning sickness.

It always happened in the night.

She seemed to always worsen after dinner, throwing up an hour later.

She begged him to sleep in his own room, even pushing him out after the first time she threw up.

“I don’t want you to see me like this!” she cried.

“Why not?”

“It’s embarrassing. I don’t want you to see me throw up.”

“You’re pregnant because of me. Shouldn’t I share your burden as well?”

She would have said that she was really touched, but then she had to literally throw up again.

Instead of looking the other way, as she bent over the basin where she threw up, he was there beside her, patting her back and giving her water to rinse .

“Call Taeyeon unnie, jebalyo.”

He wouldn’t. He’d be the one who’d just carry the basin outside and returned to wipe with a handkerchief.

When it happened for the third night in a row, Sooyoung didn’t even have the strength to get up and walked back to the bed.

He carried her there.

As Sungjae carried her in his arms, her tears dropped. Her hands circled his neck tight and she whispered, “Thank you for being my husband.”

He smiled and kissed her cheek, “And I thank you for being my wife.”

*************************************************

She always threw up at night. And then woke up again two hours later, starving.

One night, during the first days of her sickness, not wanting to wake him up, she got up from bed and opened the wooden lock of their bedrooms on her own—it was heavy—and opened the doors.

“Madam Park?” a guard asked, shocked and worried.

She walked out the bedroom so Sungjae wouldn’t wake up hearing her voice. “Can someone bring me food? I threw up everything earlier and now I’m really starving.”

“Right away, Madam” the guard answered, sprinting to the kitchen.

“SOOYOUNG-AH!!!”

Sooyoung and the rest of the guards (all eight of them), were shocked to hear Sungjae screaming.

He arrived a few seconds later, obviously running (her bedroom was that spacious, it took sometime to reach the doors).

“What’s wrong? Are you hurt?”

“Aniyo, I’m just—“

“Did you throw up again? Did it hurt anywhere?” he asked insistently.

“I’m fine, Sungjaenim, mianhada for waking you up. I’m just starving.”

“Thank Heavens!” he said loudly, his hands pulling her to a tight hug. “I woke up and you were not beside me. Gods, Sooyoung, I thought you’re hurt!”

“Su—Sungjaenim, the guards are here—“

All the guards were looking another way.

Baekhyun and Taeyeon, who slept at the rooms next to the madam’s bedroom (they had their own rooms, but they laid mattresses on either rooms next door to be there immediately when they were needed), hurried up to see what happened.

“What’s wrong, Agassi?” Taeyeon asked, running, as Baekhyun came from the opposite side, his shirt buttoned the wrong way.

“Nothing’s wrong. I just went out to ask some food.”

Baekhyun rolled his eyes and sighed.

“Please return to the bedroom Doryeonnim, your guards are around.”

The scolding was there though he didn’t voice it: this is not the place to hold your wife, Doryeonnim.

Fifteen minutes later, with Sooyoung sitting in front of a tray of rice, soup and omelette, Sungjae scolded her.

“Never, I repeat, never, go out on your own in the middle of the night when it’s dim, lifting that heavy wooden bar behind the doors on your own, and asked someone else for help. Always wake me up, no matter what.”

“I’ve been troubling you a lot this week, Sungjaenim. I just want you to sleep well.”

“I don’t want to think of the worst during your pregnancy, Sooyoung. Please. Wake me up next time you need something.”

“Algesseumnida.”

“Say you promise.”

“I promise, Sungjaenim.”

“Good. Eat slowly. I’ll wait until you’re done.”

Nodding, Sooyoung spooned her soup.

***************************************************

Sooyoung’s health became more stable in the upcoming months. Her nausea in the evenings stopped, and the couple could both sleep better.

Her headaches completely stopped in her second trimester, and she began studying again. This time, she took up Literature. In Sungkyunkwan, the scholars analyzed literatures and aimed to write their own books at the end.

To graduate from that subject, Sungjae wrote a book about the benefits of having your own business. Small or big, he wrote, it would make you independent, more creative and more responsible.

Sooyoung already knew what she wanted to write. It would be titled “A Letter to The Father of The Nation.”

Basically, she would imagine she could write a letter to the emperor. In the book, she would address all her dreams and worries for the women in Joseon’s Hanyang.

********************************************************

One week in the middle of summer, Sooyoung, who, like most pregnant women had to stay at home until she gave birth, received two news.

Her sole entertainments were the visits of her friends and the letters from them.

In one letter, Bae Joohyun wrote,

I am sure you have heard about the fallen Park Dalhyang General. He had indeed fought bravely against a certain massive attack from China. The problem is, the emperor had assigned the Minister of Finance to arrange a grand funeral for this sad general. The Minister of Finance, of course, couldn’t be bothered, and he, in turn, assigned someone else, who happens to be my husband, to arrange the said funeral. You can imagine how busy he would be. This is a gross mistreatment by the minister indeed, for he has so many staffs! Why does he have to assign my husband, who is already swarming in duties, to arrange this funeral? He is already sleep deprived as he is! I implore you to pray for his health, my Dear Sooyoungie.

The kingdom was indeed mourning the gallant general’s passing. Yeri, Seulgi and Seungwan all wrote about how people went to the temples to pray for his peaceful rest.

On the same day, Sooyoung was visited by the Physician, Lee Young Ae, who had become a friend of hers as well.

After her skin was touched to feel her temperature (which was normal), Physician Lee checked her pulse.

Sooyoung found it strange how the Physician barely made any eye contacts with her.

A second later, Sooyoung saw water falling from the physician’s face.

She was crying!

“Omo! Unnie! You’re crying! What’s the matter???”

This unnie was the calmest person Sooyoung had ever seen in her life, so it had to take a lot for her to cry.

“Aniyo, Madam Park. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be too formal with me, Unnie. We are friends! Come, tell me. What is wrong?”

“It’s......I just help a mother gave birth before I went to this house.”

“Is the baby alright?”

“Oh, yes. The baby is well.”

Then followed an awkward silence.

“The mother? Unnie, what about the mother?”

“The mother didn’t make it” Young Ae said, lifting her face. It was wet with tears.

“Oh, no” Sooyoung began crying as well.

“I don’t think this is an appropriate topic for Agassi to hear” Taeyeon, who, as always, sat beside Sooyoung interrupted.

Sooyoung waved a hand at her maid to be quiet.

“I tend for this girl since she was a little girl. She’s a daughter from a good family. She always has a weak health. I already told her she wouldn’t be able to stand pregnancy and giving birth. But she married the first son of a rich family. And she told me—“

Young Ae stopped, wiping her tears who couldn’t stop falling.

“What did she say?”

“She told me, if she couldn’t have babies, she might as well just die, because then she would be worthless for her husband’s family.”

Sooyoung gasped and closed with her hand, tears falling down her cheeks.

“She became bedridden since the beginning of her pregnancy. I told her she should let go of the baby. I believe before the baby reaches three months old in the womb, if the mother is extremely unhealthy because of the pregnancy, the mother should be prioritized. And today—today she gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy. But she—she passed away thirty minutes later. The husband’s family is cheering for the newborn heir. I and her maids were the only one who cried for her.”

“Oh, Gods” Sooyoung sobbed.

Lee Young Ae cried even harder.

“I—mianhe, I shouldn’t burden you with—“

Sooyoung moved forward to hug the physician. Young Ae cried even harder, holding her tight. Taeyeon was also crying and soothing Sooyoung’s back with one hand.

For a while, they stayed like that, until their cries subsided.

“As I walked here, I saw hundreds of people going to the temples for General Park Dalhyang. But that beautiful patient of mine, who sacrificed so much to give her husband’s family an heir, no one is going to the temple for her.”

“I shall pray for her, Unnie. I’ll burn incense and pray for her for forty days. What’s her name?”

“Her name was Jung Dabin-ssi.”

“I’ll pray for Jung Dabinnim” Sooyoung assured. “I’ll pray for her to also protect me and my baby. I will ask my friends to pray for her as well.”

“Will you, really, Madam Park?”

“I swear I will.”

“That will be great. Please also say in your prayer, “Jung Dabin-ssi. You’ve done well. You’ve worked hard.””

“I will” Sooyoung promised.

After the conversation, Young Ae prescribed another vitamin tonic for Sooyoung, then left.

However, their conversation that day left a deep impression. A general was honoured so much after her death while mother who sacrificed a lot was forgotten.

If there were no women, there would be no mothers, and therefore no children. There would be no nations! How long do the centuries have to pass, until women could be respected as much as men?

She’d discuss this with Sungjae that night, feeling grateful that she had a better husband than that unfortunate Jung Dabin.

After praying for her soul, Sooyoung then sat down and began writing her book, starting it with the story of the forgotten death of mothers after birth.

*******************************************************

There were women like Park Sooyoung in Joseon, who dreamed about equality and mourned about the woes of women in her era, and Kim Sowon, the gisaeng whose ambition was only stealing rich husbands from their wives.

On the same day Sooyoung heard the sad story of Jung Dabin, Sungjae had to face the attempt of a trap by a certain gisaeng.

Kim Sowon’s obsession with Sungjae escalated to a more horrifying level.

Basically, she followed him everywhere during the day and served her clients at night.

Her motives to be close to Sungjae were various. First, she wanted a part of his money. Yook Family owned the biggest rice business in the kingdom, and it was a huge temptation for any women. Second, she wanted him for his physical appeal. He was indeed very handsome. And third, he was so devoted with his wife, and that made Sowon wanted to steal him even more.

Sowon knew this because she befriended Sungjae’s post officer. To be more exact, she seduced the man and slept with him. A post officer was an officer who’s ready to send your mail anywhere within the city of Hanyang and accepted whatever letters you have, compiled it and delivered it to your desk.

This kind of servant was owned only by the richest in the kingdom, and Sungjae was one of them. He received hundreds of business report letters per month, from his rice shop branches all over the country, and send letters back to them all.

To send his letters all over the country, he hired ten couriers. His personal post officer compiled all his letters according to the urgency and time it was received.

Also between these, ever since Sooyoung was known to be pregnant—the news spread really fast—he also received offers from various families. They offered their daughters in hope to be his second wife.

They came from respectable and wealthy families as well, hoping to get a chance to link their families together.

He asked Baekhyun to write rejections to them all, warned everyone in the house to never, ever let Sooyoung knew about it, and never even read the letters. He let Baekhyun saw all the paintings of the beautiful daughters offered to him.

Kim Sowon knew all of this thanks to her affair with Sungjae’s post officer.

She grew to really hate Sooyoung.

What does she have that I don’t?

That was the question that often ran in her mind. 

The answer was actually a lot, but she was blinded.

Finally, she devised a plan to show this Park Sooyoung that her husband was not that loyal after all. If only Sungjae slept with her once, he’d understand how much he was losing for only “playing with one woman”.

***************************************************

As per his and his friends' habit, they always met for lunch during weekdays.

One day, Sungjae received a letter from Changsub just before he headed out, saying they changed the lunch’s place.

At first, Sungjae was confused, because although he knew it was an expensive restaurant, it was at the shadier part of the town. Plus, there was a note to leave his servant, Baekhyun, by the door.

However, Changsub had the habit of liking to try different restaurants, and he was mischievous. The handwriting was definitely his as well. So, without much more thinking, Sungjae and Baekhyun rode to that said restaurant.

The letter was of course forged. Kim Sowon got the genuine letter from Changsub to Sungjae from the previous week and copied the handwriting.

Baekhyun waited outside the restaurant as Sungjae suggested.

“Changsub hyung might want to talk about something personal” he said, and his servant nodded, sitting down and playing chess with the other servants there who waited for their masters.

He was led to a very spacious and lavishly decorated dining room on the second floor. But his friends were not there yet.

Feeling grateful that he brought one of the new adventure books he bought, Sungjae sat down and began reading to wait for his friends.

***************************************************

This was the moment Kim Sowon had been dreaming off. She dressed in a beautiful hanbok dress with a transparent purple jeogori on top. Her face was beautifully decorated with colors, and she wore the most seductive traditional scent she knew.

She entered the dining room, carrying a tray of high quality soju.

“Doryeonnim, your soju is here” she said in a sweet voice.

Usually, in the gisaeng house, that greeting was enough to make her clients jumped her.

However, Sungjae didn’t even lift his eyes from his book. Turning another page, he said, “I prefer tea.”

Shocked and annoyed, Sowon got up to get a pot of tea and cups.

“Doryeonnim, your tea is here” she said after returning to the dining room.

Sungjae only mumbled, and continued to read. It was a very interesting novel.

With increasing annoyance, Sowon came back and forth carrying the dishes for lunch.

Even when Sungjae stopped reading, he only looked at the food, never at her.

When he started to feel hungry, he took the bowl of rice and wanted to begin eating.

“Can you please look at me once?”

Confused with the strange waitress, Sungjae finally lifted his eyes and looked at Sowon.

He saw a strange woman wearing too much colours on her face, and a far too revealing clothes.

Sowon, on the other hand, was sure that Sungjae began lusting over her. That was always what happened with the clients at the gisaeng house, after all.

“If this is a plan to rob me, I only bring enough money for lunch.”

Sowon was really shocked.

“Sungjaenim, I will never rob you” she said in a sultry voice.

Sungjae frowned. He looked around, and realized his friends hadn’t arrived. And it finally clicked. He was tricked. His friends were not coming.

“What is this? Did you make me come here? Who sent you?”

He thought of his business rivals and regretted leaving Baekhyun downstairs. He only brought a small knife as well. If he was ambushed—

When he was busy thinking of what he should do if a team of robbers attacked him, wondering whether his tea was poisoned or not—Sowon suddenly untied her jeogori.

“What are you doing?”

Sowon took off her jeogori, showing off her cleavage and white shoulders.

“Sungjaenim, you won’t regret my service.”

Sungjae stood up in a second, and quickly walked to the door.

Sowon ran and backhugged him.

“HOW DARE YOU!!! DON’T TOUCH ME!!!”

Furious, he shrugged the woman’s body so hard she fell to the floor.

“Sungjaenim, don’t you remember me?” Sowon asked, untying her chest cover.

“I know no es!!!” Sungjae denied, nearly reaching the door.

But Sowon chased him. And backhugged him again.

This time, Sungjae could feel the woman’s bare chest pressed against his back.

And he shivered.

“GET OFF ME, YOU DISGUSTING WOMAN!!!”

That was when Sowon finally felt shocked.

He was three steps away from the door, yet Sowon ran to the door, blocking it, showing her s in full glory to Sungjae.

“I’ll show you all the fun your wife can’t give you” she promised seductively.

At the mention of his wife, Sungjae had enough. He took his covered, jewelled knife from inside his shirt, unsheathed it, and lifted it.

“You can’t even win against one finger of my noble wife! Get out of my way before I ruin your face!”

Entirely angry and humiliated, Sowon stared at Sungjae with eyes full of tears.

Sungjae pushed her away, and she didn’t resist, falling to the floor.

He opened the door and ran downstairs.

Baekhyun was surprised to see his master leaving the restaurant so soon, holding his knife too.

“Are you done, Doryeonnim? But I haven’t seen your friends’ servants.”

“I’ve been tricked.”

“What?”

“A gisaeng tricked me to come here” Sungjae said, climbing his horse. “I’m sure my friends are at the restaurant we agreed to meet before.”

He then rode his horse really fast, kicking its sides to gallop even faster and faster.

“DORYEONNIM!!! WHAT’S WRONG WITH YOU??? YOU’RE TOO FAST!!! SLOW DOWN!!!”

Sungjae ignored his servant’s scream and galloped even faster.

Baekhyun could do nothing but galloping after him.

At the restaurant, in the dining room upstairs, Sowon was hugging herself and weeping on the floor.

It’s the first time a man had ever rejected her, and she felt humiliated and extremely angry.

When she stopped crying, she found Sungjae’s jewelled knife cover on the floor.

Holding it, she smiled.

Hell would have to freeze first for her to give up on this Yook Sungjae.

She wanted him even more.

*************************************************

Author’s Note:

Tadaaaaaaaaa!!!

I hope you like my update!

It’s the start of Ramadhan. I wish you health, my fellow Moslems!

The headmaster seemed a bit happy in his second class observation of me, so I’m feeling better.

I also have ten days of holiday starting from today!

We are moving to a new house and I have to pack, but I’m sure I’ll be able to write more Sungjoy still.

I hope you like the sweet beginning.

I cried while writing the scene where Young Ae and Sooyoung cried for the dead mother TT____TT

And I hope you’re disgusted when reading about the restaurant scene!

As always, I do wish for your comments. If you like this story, please let me know!

Thank you so much for reading!

PS: I listen to Maeil Geudaewa on repeat to write this, so maybe you need to try listening to this song as well.

PPS: If you like Red Velvet, maybe you'd like to read these stories I wrote: 

Her Favorite Mistake: Chanyeol/Seulgi in highschool AU: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1369077/her-favorite-mistake

Not The Best Laid Plan: Irene/Sehun in an arranged marriage AU: https://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/1305905/not-the-best-laid-plan