Chapter 23 – [1805]

During a study session on the wooden patio, silence took over until Changwoo instantly responded to the sudden sound made by the Crown Prince with a tilt of his gaze toward the lad. Changwoo, Junseung, and their tutor were seated in a triangular position; Changwoo and Junseung sitting behind each their own chabudai across from one another. There Changwoo noticed that Junseung had dropped his brush onto the ground beside his short-legged table, however, before the young princely made a move to retrieve his brush, their teacher who sat opposite of them offered him an unused one.

“Your highness, please use this instead,”

The Crown Prince did not hesitate to accept the brush and snorted, “Thank you,” Changwoo watched as their teacher lowered his head again and sat quietly. The older lad did not show it but Changwoo knew he must have been a little hurt. Afterall whenever the Crown Prince is locked up in the palace and forced to only study, it would lead to the younger randomly releasing the heat he had been bearing inside of him.

“Teacher,” Changwoo began to change the mood of the room, “when the Crown Prince becomes King, what is one thing you will like to ask him?” Changwoo could feel Junseung’s stare from the corner of his eyes, but it didn’t distract him from eyeing the teacher down for an answer.

The older let out an uncomfortable chuckle, “There’s nothing I could possibly ask for more from his highness. With everything, his majesty has given me more than what I could ever ask for,”

Junseung placed his brush onto a bamboo handle before including himself into the conversation, “Then let me ask you this when I do become king in place of my father, what would you like to see change? Or," there was a pause in Junseung's sentence as he scans from Changwoo back to the teacher, "is my father really perfect in everything he does, therefore, change is not necessary? But, not everything is perfect, right? So what could be refined?”

Changwoo and the teacher were taken aback by his tone, a rather unhappy and annoyed ring in his voice, “Your highness—” Changwoo’s attempt to suspend the Crown Prince from continuing failed when Junseung shuns his presence for a moment.

“You were a scholar hired to teach only I, but you know of my older brother correct?” the prince did not waste a second to proceed, “My half brother, an illegitimate child?”

“Y-yes your highness,” their tutor answered, his tone laced with discomfort.

Seeing the man who’s good enough to be his lecturer shivered gave Junseung the motivation to go on, “In the future, when I become King, I may give you more than my father ever has," the teen leaned toward the lecturer and whispered, "How does a promotion sound? Or a better home for your family or whatever else my father has given you that could be better,” the adolescent’s eyes sparkled with expectation as he wore a mere sneer, “but it all depends on your answer,”

“M-my answer?”

Junseung blinked in a sluggish and vexed manner, his lips retraced into a thin line before answering, “Straightaway every child of the King, despite being younger or older are seen as threats to the Crown Prince. So what should I do about the prince who’s potentially a threat?”

Changwoo gripped onto his brush this time and forced his way in, unafraid of any consequences or retaliation from the Crown Prince, “Your highness, you know Prince Youngtae does not have the heart to hurt you,” this time Junseung looked directly into Changwoo’s eyes.

“How would I know that?” a hint of mockery was heard in the younger’s voice, “He may not look like it now but who knows when he’ll change his mind and attack me for the throne?” Junseung’s eyes turned red, he was becoming angry. Quickly the lad diverted his gaze to their master, “So? What should I do to him when I become king? Banned him? Or no, should I execute him instead and permanently get rid of him forever?”

“Of course you should execute him,” the three turned to the familiar voice coming from around the building. Thrown off guard the trio noticed prince Youngtae standing with his arms hidden behind his back. Standing beside him was none other than his personal maid, Maid Ji. Plastered across the prince’s face was a smile, a weak and defeated smile. As the prince took three steps closer, he cleared his throat before proceeding, “I apologize, your highness, today’s weather just calls for a long walk after breakfast. I didn’t mean to eavesdrop and disturb your studying,”  

The older’s words sounded like a ridiculed after he already gave an answer. Gradually a smirk rise on Junseung’s lips and he dismissed the greeting, “Why give excuses when you know this was my studying quarter?” the same smile remained on Youngtae’s face before he answered. Changwoo on the sideline didn’t like where things were heading but he thought to keep silent at the moment. Besides their shaky and terrified tutor was distracting Changwoo as he knew it was better if Junseung focused on Youngtae rather than turning on the elder for questionings again.

“I wasn’t aware that your highness would be studying so late into the day, I apologize once more,”

Junseung scoffed a little, “Aware or unaware, you should have stayed in your room like you were supposed to. Besides, father granted you the freedom to roam the city, not the palace,”

Youngtae’s smile deepened as he bowed his head a little, “I apologize again your highness. I will keep your words for thoughts and stay in my room from now on,” as the lad his heels to face the woman, horrified to have witnessed the Crown Prince's words, the lad gave her a soft reassuring smile. He was alright was the thoughts he wanted to send to her. 

“Stop right there,” Junseung commanded before Youngtae could lead him and his maid away, “earlier you said I should execute you when I become King, right?”

The prince turned around to eye his younger brother one more time, “Yes your highness. But I have been thinking, if it will make it easier for you then when you become King I will remove myself from the palace,”

An evil sneer appeared on the normally easygoing Junseung’s face, “Isn't that good news? I suppose after all you’re not so dumb for someone who has to lock himself up in the room all day and night,”

It became obvious that the others around the Crown Prince and Prince were uncomfortable with their unpleasant exchanges. It was so hard to hear that to a certain point Changwoo was slightly annoyed by Junseung’s words even when it wasn’t directed to him. Once Youngtae excused himself and dragged the upset maid away, Changwoo looked to Junseung who ignored the leaving party. As if nothing had happened, Junseung slipped his fingers around the brush and continued with what he was doing. Slowly Changwoo noticed the scholar, the man couldn’t lift up his head after all that he had witnessed. The elder knew the Crown Prince wasn’t fond of the prince, but for him to be so cold toward the latter was unexpected.

“Continue lecturing,” Junseung said moments later.

Yeong was nicely dressed for his outing, well worthy of his status from a wealthy family. The knowledge-lover was immersed in a disciplinary book he had picked up from off the shelf in the book store. Sneaking up behind Yeong was the bookkeeper Seokhwan, when he made an entrance with a loud cheer surprising Yeong. “Oi! How is it? Will you buy it? You’ve been staring at it since a while ago,” the older asked in a slow and curious tone once Yeong re-composed himself from a small jump, after being startled.

The younger man smiled, exposing his teeth, before shutting the book and held it out to the owner, “You’ve already sold me two copies of this book Mister Ahn,” the older chuckled out of embarrassment before taking the book.

“If you already have two copies then why are you looking at it?” the man and Yeong casually swap spots as the older put the book back, meanwhile Yeong study the store.

“Mister Ahn, don’t you have anything new? Every time I come here it’s always the same books, paintings, scrolls, brushes, and ink,” Yeong said, his words gained a heavy yet annoyed scoff from the store owner as the older pushed his way back behind the counter.

“Do you younglings have nothing better to do than to read? For the past month, no one came here to sell or trade any books so I have none to sell,”

An apologetic, yet, amused smile matured on Yeong’s face before he questioned, “Do you have others who had read all of your books too?”

The older took out a stack of books packaged together with threads, as he prepped them for storage, “Not exactly a lot but there’s another boy, ah he's around your age, he comes sometimes. But seriously Yeong. At your age, you should be playing instead. Once you get old like me you won’t have any time to play, you’ll just have to keep working to keep yourself busy or every day will be slow and lonely,”

Yeong’s grand smile returned when he knew too much about the old lad. The store owner was a divorced man with two children who lived in another town. When Yeong first met the owner at age twelve, all Seokhwan complained and nagged about was how Yeong should love his parents while he was still under their care. He would always remind Yeong that the teen cannot turn out to be like his good-for-nothing children.

“Ah, that’s right. How is our Right State Councillor doing?” Seokhwan asked, dropping his playful tone.

“My dear father?” Yeong asked, though he heard Seokhwan loud and clear. Seokhwan was one of the many citizens that listened to rumors but spread good words of Yeong’s father to the villagers, as the old man adored and respected his father. Rather a lot do, as the councilor distribute goods to the poor yearly.

“Yeah, everyone has been saying that that evil Left State Kim Jaemin has been manipulating the King to deny and decline any plans or ideas your father has brought up to help us, the villagers,” Seokhwan’s loud and thunder-roaring voice has turned into a whisper that only Yeong could hear, but with certain words the boy must read the man’s lips to fully understand. “Is what the others are saying true?”

“I,” Yeong pause to recollect any memories he had of his father, hoping he had noticed if something was strange or out of the ordinary with his father. “No, my dear father does not seem to be distraught when he comes home,”

The elder let out a disappointed sigh, as if he wanted to hear the details from Yeong but was left with nothing, “Well, our Councillor Baekhyun is a humble and modest man. He may be keeping a lot of problems to himself. Anyway,” the older said louder to break the depressed mood of the room even when the dull books had done just that, “will you be helping the Councillor’s with this year allocation too?” Seokhwan rested a hand on Yeong’s shoulder, earning a nodded smile. “Good,” was all the man said as he flashed the teenager a wise beam.

When Yeong was exiting the store, he heard the sound of running and kicking into the earth’s dry ground, which softened up the dirt. Charging toward him were two boys, one Korean and the other a foreigner.

“Get out of the way!” The one in the front, Asian, shouted to the men, women, and children out on the streets. As the boys ran through with the citizens screaming and shouting at them, what caught Yeong’s attention was the larger group of men. Shoving and tossing the villager’s goods aside to make selfish way for themselves. Unknowingly Seokhwan had joined Yeong at the door after hearing the sudden chaos.

“What’s going on?” Seokhwan asked as he approached the younger from behind. Seokhwan was thrown off guard when an elderly woman was pushed toward and caught by Yeong. “Ah! What is this—” Seokhwan’s growing anger were cut short when Yeong passed the woman onto him.

“Mister Ahn, please take care of her,”

“Oh?” the elder caught on immediately and nodded whilst placing a hand on the shorter and older woman’s shoulder, “Sure, I will take care of her, go after what just happened and see what the problem is,”

Yeong thanked Seokhwan with a nod, grateful for the lad's quick understanding, and wit to take care of the woman despite not knowing who she was. 

End of Chapter Twenty-Three.