To answer why he didn't marry her after his brothers death; it was illegal to marry a deceased brothers widow in the 1800’s. And strictly prohibited by the church. Bastard children or children born from adultery rarely inherited titles or wealth. Also titles belonged to the king so if they created a large enough scandal, they could have lost their ancestoral land along with their titles so a lot of reasons to keep all that secret.
I stumbled into something pretty awesome; so far, I'm really liking this and I have a feeling ahjussi will clear up this misunderstanding quickly, he's not the type to knowingly hurt someone or to let it fester.
To answer why he didn't marry her after his brothers death; it was illegal to marry a deceased brothers widow in the 1800’s. And strictly prohibited by the church. Bastard children or children born from adultery rarely inherited titles or wealth. Also titles belonged to the king so if they created a large enough scandal, they could have lost their ancestoral land along with their titles so a lot of reasons to keep all that secret.