An emergency meeting between King Won Bin and the five regents was being held inside the inner sanctum of the Oracle’s temple. Jaejoong was not allowed inside. He had to remain in the outer hall where most pilgrims and supplicants usually wait for their turn to talk to the Oracle. But today, only he and his mother, Queen Na-young were in the hall.

His mother sat beside him on one of the benches that lined the walls of the corridor. The bench was near the corner of the hall, providing them a clear view of whoever would enter the door from the courtyard and at the same time giving them enough privacy because the shadow from the large archway hid them.

Queen Na-young came to Jaejoong’s side, the moment she heard about the Oracle’s pronouncements. She spoke no words of comfort to him now. But her hands held his right hand firmly, giving him strength and courage to face a new future he was never prepared for.

"This cannot be right, Mother!" Jaejoong’s emotions broke out of control. "I was, I am the rightful heir! The Sword of Truth should have chosen me instead of that Lee Donghae!" After Wisdom had renounced him as the rightful heir of the throne of Haldor, she even had the gall to tell everyone the name of the thief who would now become king! "I am father’s only son!" He paused and stared hard at his mother. "Or am I? Has he fathered another son?"

"You are your father’s only son, Jaejoong!" was his mother’s quick and firm answer. "He has always been faithful to me. And he had sworn to me that I will be the only woman in his life after the death of his first wife."

"Then who is this man that the Sword of Truth had chosen and the Oracle now supports? Why did the Sword of Truth suddenly chose him?" he demanded. "He's just a simple hunter from Ferrest! No king had ever come from that region."

His mother looked troubled. As if she had just remembered something.

"What is it mother?"

"Your great-ancestor, Kim Tarim , was just an ordinary miner of Gorge when the Sword of Truth chose him. Our world then was full of warring tribes. There was death and bloodshed everywhere. The world was in chaos when the Oracle appeared and gave people hope. And through the vision of its incarnation Destiny, the Sword of Truth and the Eternal Spring was found. Many would-be-king died when they tried to take the sword out of the spring. Only Kim Tarim succeeded. He was proclaimed by the Oracle as the king and savior of Haldor.

"With the help of the Sword of Truth and the Oracle, peace and prosperity was brought to this land. And from Tarim's bloodlines came eleven more kings including your father. Most of them father and sons and grandsons. But sometimes, the Sword of Truth does not choose our next king from Tarim's bloodline. Simple men were chosen and given the responsibility to rule Haldor before. They were chosen depending on the current need of our world.

 "And when the chosen king do not come from Tarim’s bloodline, he usually marries the current king’s daughter in respect to the Kim family."

"What has that got to do with what is happening now? I am more qualified than that hunter to rule and ensure the peace and prosperity of our world!" he insisted. "I bet he only knows how to hunt and he won’t even know what to do when he finally face this coming darkness!"

His mother sighed.

"Destiny’s vision foretold that the man chosen by the Sword of Truth will fight and save Haldor from the coming darkness. We all thought that you would be that chosen one, Jaejoong. We failed to notice that she didn’t name you as the chosen one."

There was truth in his mother’s words. But his mind could never accept that! He was the chosen one! He was the rightful heir!

"Are you saying that I cannot fight this darkness, Mother? That I am incompetent?" he snarled. Anger was boiling inside him. He wanted to lash out, shout the unfairness of everything!

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