[she looks up at him, then down at their hands, trying to decide whether or not she wants to talk about it. eventually, she takes a breath and starts talking quickly, as if afraid she will chicken out if she stops.]
...well. My father was always kind to me, and to my mother. They fell in love with each other when they were young, you see. But... his family opposed the match, because my mother was the daughter of my grandfather's concubine, not his official wife. Instead, they arranged a marriage between my father and my mother's sister, the daughter of my grandfather's wife. And my father ended up taking my mother as his concubine in order to stay with her.
[she sighs.]
He said that when we moved to the capital, things would change. That he would take my mother as his second wife to legitimize her. It was a prime opportunity; the people in the capital were further away from the influence of my grandfather's family. But... my sister, my aunt's daughter, quickly convinced her mother to introduce me as the daughter of our father's concubine when we arrived, and told my father that it would not reflect well on him if his colleagues at the palace "just so happened" to discover that he was disrespecting his first wife by taking her sister as his second. And so my mother remained my father's concubine.
Since then it has grown even worse. My sister dishonored the family and was disowned. My father divorced his first wife. But even then, he did not take my mother as his wife, since it would cause a scandal to marry her so soon. He did add me to the family register as his daughter, but... as my mother has grown older, he seems to have been less pleased with her. He... remarried. A different woman, the daughter of one of the officials at the palace, for the connections the match would bring him. And she torments my mother, because she is jealous, and my father does nothing to stop it. [she bites her lip.] ...and the man I met, who loved me and swore he would make me his wife - his family opposed our match, as well, because I am a concubine's daughter. So he took me as his concubine instead.
[tl;dr men suck.]
...it worries me, to think that my mother is there without me now. I cannot help her at all if I don't find a way back.
no subject
...well. My father was always kind to me, and to my mother. They fell in love with each other when they were young, you see. But... his family opposed the match, because my mother was the daughter of my grandfather's concubine, not his official wife. Instead, they arranged a marriage between my father and my mother's sister, the daughter of my grandfather's wife. And my father ended up taking my mother as his concubine in order to stay with her.
[she sighs.]
He said that when we moved to the capital, things would change. That he would take my mother as his second wife to legitimize her. It was a prime opportunity; the people in the capital were further away from the influence of my grandfather's family. But... my sister, my aunt's daughter, quickly convinced her mother to introduce me as the daughter of our father's concubine when we arrived, and told my father that it would not reflect well on him if his colleagues at the palace "just so happened" to discover that he was disrespecting his first wife by taking her sister as his second. And so my mother remained my father's concubine.
Since then it has grown even worse. My sister dishonored the family and was disowned. My father divorced his first wife. But even then, he did not take my mother as his wife, since it would cause a scandal to marry her so soon. He did add me to the family register as his daughter, but... as my mother has grown older, he seems to have been less pleased with her. He... remarried. A different woman, the daughter of one of the officials at the palace, for the connections the match would bring him. And she torments my mother, because she is jealous, and my father does nothing to stop it. [she bites her lip.] ...and the man I met, who loved me and swore he would make me his wife - his family opposed our match, as well, because I am a concubine's daughter. So he took me as his concubine instead.
[tl;dr men suck.]
...it worries me, to think that my mother is there without me now. I cannot help her at all if I don't find a way back.