Taeyeon blinked a couple of times, the information received yet to register in her brain. Lady Daughter of Rosegarden? Hwang Miyoung? Isn’t she Mi Seohyun, a servant of Hwang’s Family Clan? What was going on?

“Hwang Miyoung? Isn’t your name Mi Seohyun?” Taeyeon asked, still confused about the situation.

“Mi Seohyun?” Sooyoung frowned. “No, you’ve got yourself confused. That’s Seohyun.” She pointed to the pale servant amongst them.

“Hm..my name is Juhyun.” She said shyly. “Seo Juhyun.”

“That’s Seohyun.” Yuri confirmed, Juhyun sighed. “And that is Hwang Miyoung.” Taeyeon blinked. “The Lady Daughter of Master Hwang, the Master Lord of Rosegarden...”

And if Mi Seohyun wasn’t so quiet, Taeyeon would have thought they were lying about that, but as she didn’t make any move to deny it, Taeyeon started to actually believe in what they were saying. “Is it true?” She asked, a little bit serious.

Mi Seohyun nodded her head, Taeyeon started to feel her mind in a twirl. Didn’t she say all the Hwangs were dead? Was that a lie? Was that a lie the whole time? How could she lie to people like that? If she was a Hwang, why didn’t she tell her? Why she had to lie to Taeyeon like that? And now that Taeyeon told Lady Hae-Jin about it, the lie would spread out like fire.

Taeyeon got angry with the whole situation.

“I’m...s-sorry…” She tried to say, lowly. Taeyeon shook her head, gritting her teeth. “I’m sorry...I didn’t m-mean to…”

Taeyeon didn’t let her finish, pulling her arm in to get into the brothel house.

“OIY! What do you think you’re doing?!” Juhyun shouted, trying to following them.

Taeyeon didn’t listen to her, walking inside the house dragging Mi Seohyun with her.

“Don’t let the servants come inside.” She said to Soojin in the hall.

“As you wish, Taeyeon.” She bowed, going her way to close the door of the entrance and not allowing the girls outside to come in.

Mi Seohyun gulped, feeling a little tense when Taeyeon put her inside the room she was minutes earlier. “Was that true? Are you a Hwang?” Taeyeon asked, feeling her heart a little angry with the girl in front of her. “Why did you lie to me?”

Mi Seohyun closed her eyes, her face clearly emotional from all of that.

“Why did you tell me the Hwangs were dead when you’re alive?” Taeyeon asked, angrily. “How could you lie to me like that? Telling me Master Shin had murdered the Hwangs? Are you out of your mind?”

Mi Seohyun was still silent.

“Why didn't you tell me the truth?” Taeyeon cussed, shaking her head in anger.“, man, you are a noble??” The way she said those words were raspy and cold. “You were a nobleborn this whole in’ time??” Taeyeon almost felt bad for the woman in front of her when she noticed her eyes shimmering with tears. Almost. “You...are...a highborn...yet you didn’t do anything??” She gritted her teeth. “You could’ve stopped that execution! You could’ve stood in that plaza and tell him to in’ stop that! Yet you did nothing!!” She said angrily. “I could’ve died! I almost died!” She cussed. “And you just stood there… watching… not saying a word!” She delivered, gutted.

“I…I’m s-sorry!” She tried to say, her voice cracking down. “I’m s-sorry…” She was almost in tears.

Taeyeon exhaled, feeling angry. How could she even do that? How could she stay silent when that woman was a noble herself? Taeyeon couldn’t believe she just risked her life to save a nobleborn.

“I’m sorry...but I couldn’t say anything!”

“Of course you could! You are a noble! You have a position higher than anyone in this in’ city! Do you even realize what Master Shin will do if he finds out you’d been lying about the Hwangs and all?”

“I didn’t…” She started, lowly. Taeyeon frowned her brows. “I didn’t lie about that…”

Taeyeon stared into her eyes.

“I’m...sorry…” Mi Seohyun said. “I… didn’t know who you were… I was afraid you could do something bad with me...if you knew about my lineage…” Taeyeon gulped, her heart a little fiery. “I didn’t know who you were… and I was afraid you could hurt me…”

Taeyeon gritted her teeth.

“I was running away from him…” She hugged her own arm as an act of protection. “For he had murdered my family.” Mi Seohyun gulped. “He made me see it. Everything.” Taeyeon closed her eyes. “I couldn’t just stood there and live with him. So we ran away. I’m sorry I stood silent in there but I couldn’t just show my face and just gone back to his hands!”

“You decided to run back to the plaza! Remember?” Taeyeon recalled.

“Well you decided to me till the gate! I never asked for that!”

“Because you told me you were a servant!”

“I never told you anything! You came up with this conclusion on your own!”

“You let me believe you were a servant! Why didn’t you tell me the truth??”

“Do you expect me to tell everything to a bastard boy I had never met in my entire life??”

“It was your fault all of this happened!” Taeyeon said, angrily.

“My fault? How is my fault?” Mi Seohyun seemed just as angry.

“You decided to run back to the plaza! If you hadn’t done that-”

“They would’ve died!” She said louder, interrupting Taeyeon. “They are my friends!” She said back. “They risked their lives to save me from him and I couldn’t dare to leave them behind!”

“Of course you could, you are a in’ noble! All you highborns do is cheat and lie and kill innocent people!” She put it angrily. Taeyeon gritted her jaw, her chest aflame, when Mi Seohyun shed a tear. “And now you’re offended…”

“What does a bastard boy even know what it means to be a highborn?” Mi Seohyun rose her head, her eyes still emotional but her voice cold and disgusted. “You think what? That my life is full of roses and gifts and music and festivals??” She asked, disgusted. “I didn’t have a choice! I never did! Not In my entire life!” She backed up angrily. “My own marriage was a deal made by my father, my brother and my husband, without even asking me what was my opinion about it! Classes and more classes with tutors and maesters telling you what to do, what to say, what to read, how to act, how to behave, how to eat, how to drink!” Taeyeon backed off. “Everything in my entire life was ruled by elder men who believed what was the best for me without even bothering asking me what the hell did I want.” Taeyeon lowered her eyes. “And on my wedding day, my in’ husband whom I never wanted to marry anyway murders my entire family!” Taeyeon gulped. “And when my friends risked their lives to help me run away from him, there comes a bastard boy giving me for being a highborn and not showing my face to Shin Yunsuk!”

“You could’ve stopped it…You could’ve stopped that madness…” Taeyeon said, still hurt.

“He would have killed ‘em all and put me inside his palace.” She said and Taeyeon raised her eyes to her. “I couldn’t have stopped, I couldn’t have said anything or Shin Yunsuk would get what he wanted. My friends dead and me back to his hands!”

Everything was such a twirl in her mind, Taeyeon turned her back to Mi Seohyun, sitting on the bed of the brothel and covered her face with her hands.

“You know nothing about being a highborn!” Mi Seohyun left it, making Taeyeon felt her chest ache when she heard those words. “You know nothing about how Shin Yunsuk does his game. It’s not that easy to show my face up and tell him to stop it. It doesn’t work like that.”

Taeyeon gulped, trying to calm her thoughts and emotions down. “You are… a highborn…” Taeyeon said, and her voice almost sounded disgusted. Mi Seohyun noticed it. Taeyeon grew up hating highborns. “Now...it makes sense..” She said, nodding her head. “It all makes sense…”

“What does make sense?”

“You being all haughty out of sudden… your fancy vocabulary… you growing up reading poems and sonnets and fancy books…” Taeyeon said. “They are written in Chinese and only nobleborns can read Chinese...”

Mi Seohyun looked down, her head a level lower. “You seem not to like...highborns…” She commented, making Taeyeon look her up.

“Truth to be told, I’m not very fond of ‘em.”

“I’m not a nobleborn like Shin Yunsuk.”

Taeyeon closed her eyes, sighing. “You are still a highborn.” She said it back, lowly, and she saw how it hurt her feelings.

“Then that’s it huh?” Her voice scoffed. “That’s how we are gonna be? After everything, that’s how we gonna say goodbye to each other...” Mi Seohyun nodded, coldly. “I can’t believe...I…”

Taeyeon raised her eyes up, staring at her.

Mi Seohyun wiped the tear from her cheek and Taeyeon felt like something was tightening her chest down.

“I can’t believe I just...I wasted my time…” She continued. “Waiting to see you again...to thank you for what you did… and that’s how we’ll part our ways…Angry at one another...” Taeyeon gulped. “I was so stupid to believe you…”

“I what?”

“Wouldn’t be such a bastard.” Taeyeon was the one feeling offended this time. Not because of her bloodline but because she understood what Mi Seohyun was implying with that. “Anyway… I just wanted to thank you. For what you did for me and my friends. But I guess it was a mistake to spend this whole time in here, waiting for you to finish in’ all the in this house so I could talk to you like a decent person!” Taeyeon closed her eyes. “Goodbye, Bastard Taeyeon!”

And Taeyeon felt her heart tingling and it seemed like the pain from before had re her back and limbs for her whole body started to ache. Mi Seohyun had left the room, not making any effort to even slid the door closed.