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- Thread starter MangaDex
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- Jul 15, 2019
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@meihualuhan: Thank you so very much for your kind words! I will never consider scanlating as hard work as long as you guys enjoy the end results. At the end of the day, people translate because they wish to bring joy to the readers and to make great art and storytelling known globally. As the saying goes, if you like it, share it. Now, about my bad habit of writing those long comments, I am always worried the administrators of the site are going to jump from behind a bush and hit me across the head with a stick. I am happy that these comments are informative to you and enhance the reading experience, rather than being excessively annoying. The fact is, when Koreans, and Asians in general, read historical webcomics, they know exactly what lies behind the unsaid and are able to read between the lines. It is part of their culture and their history. In our case, there is a lot of research we need to do to be able to understand the motivations and limitations of the characters and the setting of a story in general.
@Baraniel: You don't need to thank me for something I do for fun. Truth is, when I get obsessed over someone's art, I want to share it with the world. So, I am the one thanking you guys for giving Intorno's "Peony Elegy" a shot. All that matters is that you like it!
Welcome to Peony Elegy. This is exactly what I mean when I say that circumstances shape individuals or that there are no heroes and villains in this work. But before we address the little girl in the room, let us talk about Consort Sung.
Interesting woman, this Consort Sung. For one, she has no interest whatsoever in power. One could argue that Longhee doesn't either. But the thing with Longhee is that from the moment she gave birth to a son, the first son no less, there was a big piece of the power pie that was shoved onto her plate, whether she wanted it or not. Consort Sung on the other hand actively devises plans to avoid power, and the trouble associated with power. For one, she has used depression as a pretext not to serve the Emperor in bed during ten years. Avoiding the jealousy that comes with favor, avoiding having children and avoiding an act that she could very well construe as rape. Consort Deok calls Consort Sung a tribute and a foreigner. We know that to become consort, Longhee had to bear two sons, and that her just becoming concubine has been met with some political resistance. Empress Consort Sookjung reminded the Emperor that making Longhee consort would lead to some friction. But we see that Consort Sung, who also seems to be a young woman, maybe even younger than Longhee, who is also from a foreign country has already been consort when Longhee had given birth to Sogeo. This implies that Consort Sung has political backing, enough of it to be immediately made a legal wife, albeit a secondary one (only the empress is a first wife), when her foot touched the Empire's soil.
As we look at the expansion map of the Empire, by the time Emperor Sun had reached Songha, only two lands remained independent. The Barbarians to the North and Aniti (actually, more than two lands should have remained independent, namely Western Supyong, Dunjo and Amalrojo ~ however, I assume that since Intorno removed their names, he was trying to point to something). It is possible that Consort Sung is from either of the two mentioned lands.
Assuming the Barbarians to the North to be Intorno's take on the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, or any other members of the Five Barbarians (fives tribes made up of Northern ethnicities that were incorporated into the Xiongnu Empire ~ remember the Huns in Mulan? Those were the Xiongnu), if Consort Sung came from those regions she would not have been a tribute, but rather a show of Xiongnu power over the Empire. Xiongnu women in the Han harem were rare, since they were considered as inferior people and their presence meant that the Emperor had been coerced into taking them in. Thus, their very presence was a proof of humiliation. And in general, their women were avoided because they were trained in battle, and albeit they did not primarily take part in the Xiongnu raids and generally were more active in territorial defense (though there were Xiongnu female warrior tombs discovered in Central Russia), in a Chinese Imperial Harem, their way of solving confrontation might clash with the regulations of the Palace. Assuming Modu Chanyu, the legendary Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire, mockingly offered his sexual services to the very frightening Empress Dowager Lü and she had to humiliate herself by sending him back a very, very self-deprecating letter (when I read it, I felt shame by association, no kidding), I cannot imagine what would happen to the Inner Palace, or the Palace in general, if a Xiongnu princess were to be sent in as court lady.
If Consort Sung is from Aniti, then why has Emperor Sun made her a consort? When it comes to size, Aniti cannot compare to the Empire. It is possible Emperor Sun is trying to project an image of benevolence as did Sui Yangdi. Sui Yangdi married Empress Xiao who was a daughter (not even a recognized princess) of "Emperor" Ming of Western Liang, nominally an Emperor, but in reality completely reliant on the Sui Dynasty. Very much like Songha. Emperor Sun might be trying to conquer the world the soft way, now that he has established his military supremacy. But why not try to make a child with Consort Sung, then? I mean, the excuse of depression truly cannot go far as long as the Emperor does not accept it as being a valid excuse. And Emperor Sun was actively trying to ensure his succession. Little Soe (I am sobbing my soul out right now ~ this part of the story never gets any easier) was only three years older than Un. After Un, the Emperor also had many daughters. He even had a son with the Empress Consort, though they relations are at best difficult. So why note Consort Sung? Unless, she truly only ever was a political pawn for Emperor Sun and as such, if she truly tried to avoid favor, he would not coerce her?
Something else is interesting here. Longhee has been in the Palace for at least 13 years. Consort Sung seems to have been there for 10 years. They are both foreign women. And here is, Consort Sung, trying to get close to Longhee 10 years later. Now that Longhee has become consort herself, has two Imperial Princes as sons, the Emperor's favor, the Empress's backing. I sound like a cynic. However, when she hears how happy Longhee is, she does back off instead of trying to join the fun. Maybe she thought Longhee was like her? A sad, little plaything, abandoned by her people, cast aside and huddling in the dark for warmth. Consort Sung is a case of her own. One does not know what to make of her.
So, what to say about Consort Deok? She simply does not fit the description of an average court lady. All of the women we have met up until now have somewhat gotten used to their fate. The Empress Consort navigates the turbulent waters of her relationship with the Emperor. On one side, she is the Empress who mothers the world, the Emperor's Harem Butler, her family's FastPass to power. She does not try to fight against her position or her responsibilities. She on the contrary, acts in accordance with them and with her semi-political role in the Palace. Longhee has bought herself some peace in the form of two Imperial Princes. She is organizing herself a sort of cocoon, cut off from the cruel reality of the world. And then, there is Consort Sung who has spent the last ten years in solitude, avoiding her "duty" by the Emperor. Compared to them, Consort Deok is completely different.
For one, Chinese women were expected to stay at all times inside their homes, never step foot out of them, unless for precise reasons, and most importantly, they were not supposed to know anything of outside happenings unless their husbands and the males of their families shared any knowledge with them, and when they did, this was a great show of trust. The opinions of married women especially were useless. But it would be wrong to say that there were no women, besides the Empress Consort in a semi-formal and the Empress Dowager in an overbearingly way, could not play political roles. Some, like Shangguan Wan'er, who was the unofficial Prime Minister of China during Wu Zetian's (the only Empress Regnant of China) reign, succeeded to fight for their place in the sun by their own means and aptitudes. But it was not prevalent.
Again, Consort Deok is being this anti-traditional force in the harem. The one woman who does not fit the mould of the virtuous, tame, smiling Court Lady (this is the image these women tried to project and Consort Deok doesn't even make an effort to do that). Her discussing the idea of how Songha people were enslaved, her talking about how not one voice was heard in their cities proves Consort Deok understands suffering outside of herself. And that is one thing Ancient China women raised in their closed-up compounds with barely any outside contact besides their husbands, their husbands' concubines and the offspring, could not do. They could not comprehend the idea that others suffered as well. And that is the origin of those bloody feuds we read about in dramatic (and a bit ridiculous) Chinese webcomics. They could not grasp each other's pain. Again going back to the prologue: "Women sharing the same pain but biting one another like beasts." Though, I disagree about the idea that any woman in that harem shares Consort Deok's pain.
Anyways, here again we see that Consort Deok is an independent thinker. It is not her place to know about how many people were sold off into slavery after Emperor Sun's conquests, it is not her place to speak of his decision, his biases and to criticize it. At first glance, it may seem as a criticism of Longhee, though the political component of it does not match with Longhee's place in this story. Longhee is a token, nothing more. So here you have this Emperor being ever so benevolent, in the name of a concubine, however at the same time, he never visits his own daughter, his flesh and blood. The Chinese strongly believed that for an Emperor to rule well over a country, he needed to rule well over his family. How can an Emperor be good to a people, but tyrannical to his own kin? Of course, these were very hypocritical tenants. Emperors were horrible to their own kin. Tyrannical towards the people. The benevolent Emperor was the trope of Ancient China. Nonetheless, we see that Consort Deok is an idealist. But careful, I am not implying, though she may intellectually understand the suffering of others and though she may be believe that women also have a sense of national love (as she seems to believe is Consort Sung's case when she tells her about her own people), that she has empathy or sympathy towards others. To feel empathy and sympathy towards others, you need to have experienced it yourself. And to me, it is obvious that no one in that palace was sympathetic or empathetic towards Consort Deok.
Consort Deok is a woman whose place is not in the Palace but in a brothel. You think I've gone insane, right? Did you know that Courtesans in Ancient China's Red Light Districts were women who shaped the societies they lived in. The brothel owners who bought them would invest great amounts of money to teach them to write, to play musical instruments, to converse. The goal was to charm men with their intellectual abilities to the point of making them forget their bodies. The longer a courtesan kept her "virtue" the greater her value. These women were poets and masters of music, they were politicians and lords of their own, in a way. More than one great scholar was chased out with ignominy by a courtesan if he did not abide by the rules she set on her own turf. These women were independent thinkers, hostesses to great personages of this world, fashion icons. They were outspoken, sensual, free. Until a certain moment when their youth faltered and they ended up marrying merchants (different from geisha who could start their own okiya).
I rather believe that Consort Deok's true rank, her true title of nobility is simply being Little Soe's Mother. That is who she is. Not an Empress, not a consort. Just Soe's Mother.
Being a parent is tough. Being parent without any help and support is very tough. Ever seen a parent when baby cries? Having a baby is so scary. Your child is there, crying, but you don't know what it needs. You've changed the diapers. You've fed baby. But baby cries and doesn't stop. Is baby hurting? It can't tell you where it hurts. Then you undress baby to look whether something pricks it. You don't find anything. You dress it up again. And the horror continues. And you MUST be a horrible parent because baby cries and you can't help it. A useless parent. And then you restart everything from scratch. Feed. Change diaper. Change clothes. And that is when you realize. An itchy tag. Some idiot thought it was ok to put on itchy tag on baby clothes?! And who is the idiot who didn't notice the scratchy tag?! That idiot is you. Then the milestones start. Why is baby fixedly looking forward without moving its head? Why is it not blabbering? Why is it not sitting up yet? Why has it not yet said its first word? Why has it not taken its first steps? Why is baby not advancing, developing, why is baby stagnating?! Why?! What have you done wrong?! And in the blink of an eye, fifteen years pass. There is some advancement through the years and you get excited. You believe that maybe things will change. Maybe the next day will be the day your child wakes up from this slumber. That hope destroys you. It eats you alive. Unbuilds you, block per block.
Consort Deok lives in a Palace where there is no pity, no empathy, no kindness. For the last fifteen years of her life, her whole existence turned around Soe. Not around palace intrigues, struggles for power. Around Soe. A child that cannot take care of herself, a child that cannot voice her needs, her desires, her emotions. A child that needs care. 24/7 care. And she took care of her. Because as Soe's name says, her mother had a heart and that heart had but one hope, Soe. Soe's existence has been destroying Consort Deok and she is happy that it has been destroying her. Consort Deok is like a night butterfly, flying towards a fire. She will burn, but she will be happy doing so.
Little Soe's existence is a shame to the Imperial Crown. Children with special needs existed and they never saw the light of day. Some of them were killed by their parents, some of them were kept in the darkest corner of their parental compound. If they were male children there was a whole other set of horrible occurrences that happened and that I do not have the emotional strength right now to write about. So why would Sookjung think about marrying her off?! And be so insistent about it?! That child cannot take care of herself. She would die in her own excrements and urine, from hunger and from thirst, tortured without being able to say a word in her defense. This here is hatred. You see, this! Soe does not have her father's protection and her mother has been losing ground ever since these new, young consorts started appearing. These new consorts who enjoy Sookjung's patronage. You know, Sookjung could have killed Soe right in front of Consort Deok's eyes. It is obvious Consort Deok has no backing, no one to interfere on her behalf, no one to speak for her. In the Inner Palace, the most important thing is favor. Without favor, no laws can protect you. You are cattle walking to your death. But Sookjung didn't kill Soe. She kept her. And used her to torture Consort Deok. Pushing her slowly, for fifteen years, into a corner. And what did Consort Deok do for those fifteen years? She grabbed onto her child and stepped back until she was pushed into a corner where there was not enough place to put a cot for Soe to sleep on. But why the hatred? Consort Deok told you. Before Longhee appeared, Empress Consort Sookjung and Consort Deok were the Emperor's only wives. And virtuous, cold, mathematical Sookjung had to face off beautiful, arrogant, passionate Deok Gwok in a battle for the Emperor's favor. How much resentment, anger, hatred there must be between these two women! Something intimate. Something festering.
Have you seen what happens when one approaches a boar with its piglets? An animal has no discrimination. It will destroy everything on its path. And Consort Deok might have been a human fifteen, ten, five years ago. But she has been transformed into an animal. And you know what? I cannot accuse Consort Deok for being the poster-child of the world she lived in and doing what that world expected of her. This is how the Harem functioned back in those days. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. The favor someone's child enjoys is the death sentence of your own child. To me, Consort Deok is the most logical by-product of a society that had no place for women like her, women with no meekness and an incapacity to bend with the wind. I don't judge her. I empathize with her. Had it been me, I would never had had her will to live and fight. I would have chosen the easy way out for my child and myself. But Consort Deok was never about the easy way out. Soe wouldn't have lived to enjoy embroidery, had it been otherwise.
But where is the Emperor in all this? Why did he not once come and see his own child, however that child might have been? The Chinese believed in karma, the idea that the sins of one's parents were expiated by their children. Disabilities were seen as a proof of the parents' faults. Consort Deok has no shame in her daughter, she loves her the way she is. Thus, she feels no guilt. She stands in front of men and gods alike with a clear conscience. But what about the Emperor? Has he faults to expiate? Does he even love his child?
Ok. So, guys, I will be clenching my teeth and trying to go through Chapters 6 to 17 as fast as possible. After that, I promise that it all goes up the hill from there, believe me or not. There is happiness, a lot of happiness and laughter and love, in this work. Just that, like in real life, it doesn't come without a lot of work.
@Baraniel: You don't need to thank me for something I do for fun. Truth is, when I get obsessed over someone's art, I want to share it with the world. So, I am the one thanking you guys for giving Intorno's "Peony Elegy" a shot. All that matters is that you like it!
Welcome to Peony Elegy. This is exactly what I mean when I say that circumstances shape individuals or that there are no heroes and villains in this work. But before we address the little girl in the room, let us talk about Consort Sung.
Interesting woman, this Consort Sung. For one, she has no interest whatsoever in power. One could argue that Longhee doesn't either. But the thing with Longhee is that from the moment she gave birth to a son, the first son no less, there was a big piece of the power pie that was shoved onto her plate, whether she wanted it or not. Consort Sung on the other hand actively devises plans to avoid power, and the trouble associated with power. For one, she has used depression as a pretext not to serve the Emperor in bed during ten years. Avoiding the jealousy that comes with favor, avoiding having children and avoiding an act that she could very well construe as rape. Consort Deok calls Consort Sung a tribute and a foreigner. We know that to become consort, Longhee had to bear two sons, and that her just becoming concubine has been met with some political resistance. Empress Consort Sookjung reminded the Emperor that making Longhee consort would lead to some friction. But we see that Consort Sung, who also seems to be a young woman, maybe even younger than Longhee, who is also from a foreign country has already been consort when Longhee had given birth to Sogeo. This implies that Consort Sung has political backing, enough of it to be immediately made a legal wife, albeit a secondary one (only the empress is a first wife), when her foot touched the Empire's soil.
As we look at the expansion map of the Empire, by the time Emperor Sun had reached Songha, only two lands remained independent. The Barbarians to the North and Aniti (actually, more than two lands should have remained independent, namely Western Supyong, Dunjo and Amalrojo ~ however, I assume that since Intorno removed their names, he was trying to point to something). It is possible that Consort Sung is from either of the two mentioned lands.
Assuming the Barbarians to the North to be Intorno's take on the Xiongnu, the Xianbei, or any other members of the Five Barbarians (fives tribes made up of Northern ethnicities that were incorporated into the Xiongnu Empire ~ remember the Huns in Mulan? Those were the Xiongnu), if Consort Sung came from those regions she would not have been a tribute, but rather a show of Xiongnu power over the Empire. Xiongnu women in the Han harem were rare, since they were considered as inferior people and their presence meant that the Emperor had been coerced into taking them in. Thus, their very presence was a proof of humiliation. And in general, their women were avoided because they were trained in battle, and albeit they did not primarily take part in the Xiongnu raids and generally were more active in territorial defense (though there were Xiongnu female warrior tombs discovered in Central Russia), in a Chinese Imperial Harem, their way of solving confrontation might clash with the regulations of the Palace. Assuming Modu Chanyu, the legendary Chanyu of the Xiongnu Empire, mockingly offered his sexual services to the very frightening Empress Dowager Lü and she had to humiliate herself by sending him back a very, very self-deprecating letter (when I read it, I felt shame by association, no kidding), I cannot imagine what would happen to the Inner Palace, or the Palace in general, if a Xiongnu princess were to be sent in as court lady.
If Consort Sung is from Aniti, then why has Emperor Sun made her a consort? When it comes to size, Aniti cannot compare to the Empire. It is possible Emperor Sun is trying to project an image of benevolence as did Sui Yangdi. Sui Yangdi married Empress Xiao who was a daughter (not even a recognized princess) of "Emperor" Ming of Western Liang, nominally an Emperor, but in reality completely reliant on the Sui Dynasty. Very much like Songha. Emperor Sun might be trying to conquer the world the soft way, now that he has established his military supremacy. But why not try to make a child with Consort Sung, then? I mean, the excuse of depression truly cannot go far as long as the Emperor does not accept it as being a valid excuse. And Emperor Sun was actively trying to ensure his succession. Little Soe (I am sobbing my soul out right now ~ this part of the story never gets any easier) was only three years older than Un. After Un, the Emperor also had many daughters. He even had a son with the Empress Consort, though they relations are at best difficult. So why note Consort Sung? Unless, she truly only ever was a political pawn for Emperor Sun and as such, if she truly tried to avoid favor, he would not coerce her?
Something else is interesting here. Longhee has been in the Palace for at least 13 years. Consort Sung seems to have been there for 10 years. They are both foreign women. And here is, Consort Sung, trying to get close to Longhee 10 years later. Now that Longhee has become consort herself, has two Imperial Princes as sons, the Emperor's favor, the Empress's backing. I sound like a cynic. However, when she hears how happy Longhee is, she does back off instead of trying to join the fun. Maybe she thought Longhee was like her? A sad, little plaything, abandoned by her people, cast aside and huddling in the dark for warmth. Consort Sung is a case of her own. One does not know what to make of her.
So, what to say about Consort Deok? She simply does not fit the description of an average court lady. All of the women we have met up until now have somewhat gotten used to their fate. The Empress Consort navigates the turbulent waters of her relationship with the Emperor. On one side, she is the Empress who mothers the world, the Emperor's Harem Butler, her family's FastPass to power. She does not try to fight against her position or her responsibilities. She on the contrary, acts in accordance with them and with her semi-political role in the Palace. Longhee has bought herself some peace in the form of two Imperial Princes. She is organizing herself a sort of cocoon, cut off from the cruel reality of the world. And then, there is Consort Sung who has spent the last ten years in solitude, avoiding her "duty" by the Emperor. Compared to them, Consort Deok is completely different.
For one, Chinese women were expected to stay at all times inside their homes, never step foot out of them, unless for precise reasons, and most importantly, they were not supposed to know anything of outside happenings unless their husbands and the males of their families shared any knowledge with them, and when they did, this was a great show of trust. The opinions of married women especially were useless. But it would be wrong to say that there were no women, besides the Empress Consort in a semi-formal and the Empress Dowager in an overbearingly way, could not play political roles. Some, like Shangguan Wan'er, who was the unofficial Prime Minister of China during Wu Zetian's (the only Empress Regnant of China) reign, succeeded to fight for their place in the sun by their own means and aptitudes. But it was not prevalent.
Again, Consort Deok is being this anti-traditional force in the harem. The one woman who does not fit the mould of the virtuous, tame, smiling Court Lady (this is the image these women tried to project and Consort Deok doesn't even make an effort to do that). Her discussing the idea of how Songha people were enslaved, her talking about how not one voice was heard in their cities proves Consort Deok understands suffering outside of herself. And that is one thing Ancient China women raised in their closed-up compounds with barely any outside contact besides their husbands, their husbands' concubines and the offspring, could not do. They could not comprehend the idea that others suffered as well. And that is the origin of those bloody feuds we read about in dramatic (and a bit ridiculous) Chinese webcomics. They could not grasp each other's pain. Again going back to the prologue: "Women sharing the same pain but biting one another like beasts." Though, I disagree about the idea that any woman in that harem shares Consort Deok's pain.
Anyways, here again we see that Consort Deok is an independent thinker. It is not her place to know about how many people were sold off into slavery after Emperor Sun's conquests, it is not her place to speak of his decision, his biases and to criticize it. At first glance, it may seem as a criticism of Longhee, though the political component of it does not match with Longhee's place in this story. Longhee is a token, nothing more. So here you have this Emperor being ever so benevolent, in the name of a concubine, however at the same time, he never visits his own daughter, his flesh and blood. The Chinese strongly believed that for an Emperor to rule well over a country, he needed to rule well over his family. How can an Emperor be good to a people, but tyrannical to his own kin? Of course, these were very hypocritical tenants. Emperors were horrible to their own kin. Tyrannical towards the people. The benevolent Emperor was the trope of Ancient China. Nonetheless, we see that Consort Deok is an idealist. But careful, I am not implying, though she may intellectually understand the suffering of others and though she may be believe that women also have a sense of national love (as she seems to believe is Consort Sung's case when she tells her about her own people), that she has empathy or sympathy towards others. To feel empathy and sympathy towards others, you need to have experienced it yourself. And to me, it is obvious that no one in that palace was sympathetic or empathetic towards Consort Deok.
Consort Deok is a woman whose place is not in the Palace but in a brothel. You think I've gone insane, right? Did you know that Courtesans in Ancient China's Red Light Districts were women who shaped the societies they lived in. The brothel owners who bought them would invest great amounts of money to teach them to write, to play musical instruments, to converse. The goal was to charm men with their intellectual abilities to the point of making them forget their bodies. The longer a courtesan kept her "virtue" the greater her value. These women were poets and masters of music, they were politicians and lords of their own, in a way. More than one great scholar was chased out with ignominy by a courtesan if he did not abide by the rules she set on her own turf. These women were independent thinkers, hostesses to great personages of this world, fashion icons. They were outspoken, sensual, free. Until a certain moment when their youth faltered and they ended up marrying merchants (different from geisha who could start their own okiya).
I rather believe that Consort Deok's true rank, her true title of nobility is simply being Little Soe's Mother. That is who she is. Not an Empress, not a consort. Just Soe's Mother.
Being a parent is tough. Being parent without any help and support is very tough. Ever seen a parent when baby cries? Having a baby is so scary. Your child is there, crying, but you don't know what it needs. You've changed the diapers. You've fed baby. But baby cries and doesn't stop. Is baby hurting? It can't tell you where it hurts. Then you undress baby to look whether something pricks it. You don't find anything. You dress it up again. And the horror continues. And you MUST be a horrible parent because baby cries and you can't help it. A useless parent. And then you restart everything from scratch. Feed. Change diaper. Change clothes. And that is when you realize. An itchy tag. Some idiot thought it was ok to put on itchy tag on baby clothes?! And who is the idiot who didn't notice the scratchy tag?! That idiot is you. Then the milestones start. Why is baby fixedly looking forward without moving its head? Why is it not blabbering? Why is it not sitting up yet? Why has it not yet said its first word? Why has it not taken its first steps? Why is baby not advancing, developing, why is baby stagnating?! Why?! What have you done wrong?! And in the blink of an eye, fifteen years pass. There is some advancement through the years and you get excited. You believe that maybe things will change. Maybe the next day will be the day your child wakes up from this slumber. That hope destroys you. It eats you alive. Unbuilds you, block per block.
Consort Deok lives in a Palace where there is no pity, no empathy, no kindness. For the last fifteen years of her life, her whole existence turned around Soe. Not around palace intrigues, struggles for power. Around Soe. A child that cannot take care of herself, a child that cannot voice her needs, her desires, her emotions. A child that needs care. 24/7 care. And she took care of her. Because as Soe's name says, her mother had a heart and that heart had but one hope, Soe. Soe's existence has been destroying Consort Deok and she is happy that it has been destroying her. Consort Deok is like a night butterfly, flying towards a fire. She will burn, but she will be happy doing so.
Little Soe's existence is a shame to the Imperial Crown. Children with special needs existed and they never saw the light of day. Some of them were killed by their parents, some of them were kept in the darkest corner of their parental compound. If they were male children there was a whole other set of horrible occurrences that happened and that I do not have the emotional strength right now to write about. So why would Sookjung think about marrying her off?! And be so insistent about it?! That child cannot take care of herself. She would die in her own excrements and urine, from hunger and from thirst, tortured without being able to say a word in her defense. This here is hatred. You see, this! Soe does not have her father's protection and her mother has been losing ground ever since these new, young consorts started appearing. These new consorts who enjoy Sookjung's patronage. You know, Sookjung could have killed Soe right in front of Consort Deok's eyes. It is obvious Consort Deok has no backing, no one to interfere on her behalf, no one to speak for her. In the Inner Palace, the most important thing is favor. Without favor, no laws can protect you. You are cattle walking to your death. But Sookjung didn't kill Soe. She kept her. And used her to torture Consort Deok. Pushing her slowly, for fifteen years, into a corner. And what did Consort Deok do for those fifteen years? She grabbed onto her child and stepped back until she was pushed into a corner where there was not enough place to put a cot for Soe to sleep on. But why the hatred? Consort Deok told you. Before Longhee appeared, Empress Consort Sookjung and Consort Deok were the Emperor's only wives. And virtuous, cold, mathematical Sookjung had to face off beautiful, arrogant, passionate Deok Gwok in a battle for the Emperor's favor. How much resentment, anger, hatred there must be between these two women! Something intimate. Something festering.
Have you seen what happens when one approaches a boar with its piglets? An animal has no discrimination. It will destroy everything on its path. And Consort Deok might have been a human fifteen, ten, five years ago. But she has been transformed into an animal. And you know what? I cannot accuse Consort Deok for being the poster-child of the world she lived in and doing what that world expected of her. This is how the Harem functioned back in those days. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed. The favor someone's child enjoys is the death sentence of your own child. To me, Consort Deok is the most logical by-product of a society that had no place for women like her, women with no meekness and an incapacity to bend with the wind. I don't judge her. I empathize with her. Had it been me, I would never had had her will to live and fight. I would have chosen the easy way out for my child and myself. But Consort Deok was never about the easy way out. Soe wouldn't have lived to enjoy embroidery, had it been otherwise.
But where is the Emperor in all this? Why did he not once come and see his own child, however that child might have been? The Chinese believed in karma, the idea that the sins of one's parents were expiated by their children. Disabilities were seen as a proof of the parents' faults. Consort Deok has no shame in her daughter, she loves her the way she is. Thus, she feels no guilt. She stands in front of men and gods alike with a clear conscience. But what about the Emperor? Has he faults to expiate? Does he even love his child?
In Season 4, chapter 73, fifteen years after these events, the Emperor wakes up after a horrid nightmare, reaches out for his nightstand and Soe's attempts at embroidery fall to the ground. During fifteen years, Emperor Sun kept his daughters failed embroideries by his bed. Did he love her, though he never had the desire, the will, the courage to visit her? Love is such a complicated emotion. It is sometimes express in kisses. Sometimes in crimes. And sometimes in silence and absence.
Ok. So, guys, I will be clenching my teeth and trying to go through Chapters 6 to 17 as fast as possible. After that, I promise that it all goes up the hill from there, believe me or not. There is happiness, a lot of happiness and laughter and love, in this work. Just that, like in real life, it doesn't come without a lot of work.
