The throne room

The room was dead silent. No one has talked or dared to make a noise. Not when the owner of the throne was so still and obviously furious. No one wishes to gain attention from an angry ruler.

"Palace Guard Heok with a message from the 4th Prince." The silent king that had been simply sitting on his throne till now looks up as the lone palace guard enters and kneels before the king.

"Greetings to the King. I have a message from the 4th Prince for Your Majesty." As the guard speaks, he holds out a book with a black cover out and Ji Mong takes the book.

"Palace Guard Heok," Ji Mong asks, "what is the current situation based on what you have observed?" Everyone in that room, the king's most trusted men knew that it was what their ruler wants to ask for it himself but could not voice it. Before the guard could reply, the guard at the door announces another entrance to the room.

"Crown Prince, Grand General, Captain of the Guards and Royal Doctor Hong enters." As soon as the four men enter and the door closes behind them. The voice of the king is heard for the first time since he had entered the room about three hours ago.

"Seal the room, do not let anyone, no matter who they are enter." The guards at the door obeys their master and forms a barricade around all the entrance. As soon as the king could see that the room was protected, he speaks again. "I demand an update from all of you. But first, Royal Doctor Hong,"

"Pyeha," the doctor was obviously exhausted but he stood straight as he gave his report. "I have spent the past few hours in Lady Hae Soo's chambers attending to her. She is in out of danger for the moment but she is still in critical condition. The poison was more of a slow acting one thus it took a while for her to exhibit any sign of poisoning. But the antidote, the one that was crafted to counter rattlesnake and scorpion poison had worked. The lady is strong not to mention her body had grown more tolerant towards poison due to the previous incident."

"But she is weak right now, quite weak as she had used all of her strength to protect her children. The poison would have cost her to lose the children and damage her fertility, but the heavens had sided with Lady Soo. The royal babies are alive though their heartbeats are a bit weak but I have left strengthening tea that the lady will have to take twice every day till she is in labor. For the well being of all of them, I have advised to put Lady Soo on bedrest for the rest of her pregnancy, only moving when necessary and not to take part in any stressful activity.."

"What about Lady Seol?"

"As I was focusing on her mother, I did not attend to her but Doctor Song and Jin did. They successfully got the antidote to her on time and the poison had left her body. But she lost blood and something in that biscuit or poison had the side effect of causing the young lady to have a high fever. Right now, both of the doctors are attending to her, but I concur with them that there will be no side-effects that the young lady will experience due to this though there is a chance that she will develop some sensitivity to the type of biscuit that the poison was in. The 4th Prince wishes for me to relay to you, Pyeha, that he will be absent from his lessons and the court till his wife and daughter wakes up."

"Royal Doctor Hong, you are saying that both the mother and daughter are currently out of danger. But they both need to be careful. Lady Seol is currently fighting off a fever while Lady Soo is currently sleeping due to exhaustion. Lady Soo will be on bedrest after she wakes up, while Lady Seol will be alright after a bit of rest. The 4th Prince will be absent from the palace till they both are well. Is this right?"

"Yes, Astronomer Choi."

"Palace Guard Heok, you are the only person that have seen them besides the doctor, are both of the ladies alright?"

"Yes, Astronomer Choi. Both of them were resting and the two doctors were monitoring them. Court Lady Oh, Lady Woo Hee, Lady Park and the 4th Prince had been staying right beside them. The servants are taking care of the household as well as delivering messages, while the room is under constant guard headed by my fellow guards. The young princes are taking care of things that their royal brother is sending them to before checking up on the ladies."

"Doctor Hong, you will be rewarded for your service handsomely. Palace Guard Heok, relay to the 4th Prince that I will be over to visit Lady Soo and Lady Seol once they have woken up, and I will require constant updates on their conditions. Consider your group of five guards to be under the 4th Prince's command till I otherwise states so. You both are dismissed."

The two men, one an elderly, the other man Heok who had just turned sixteen a while ago, both bows to the king before exiting the room. The entrance to the royal court firmly sealed behind them.

Lady Hae Soo's chamber

The two ladies, mother and daughter were each on a bed. The two ladies were lying parallel to each other. Lady Hae Soo was on a raised bed while Lady Seol was on a futon. Besides each of them was a doctor who was monitoring their situation from the head of their bed. Spread through the room were various people, doing what they could to take care of them.

The 13th Prince had brought out his gayageum and was playing a soft lullaby hoping that the soft tunes will aide the ladies to recover in peace. The 14th Prince, was obvious angry and did not like to stay still so he was constantly as silently as he could moving between the beds. The 10th prince were sitting firmly by Seol's bed and with him was Park Soon Deok who both of them were applying cool cloth to the child's body hoping to bring her fever down. Woo Hee was by Lady Soo's bedside where she was trying to persuade the two people who were holding a vigil at her side to drink something or eat a piece to keep their strength up. So far, both Court Lady Oh, who was brushing aside the sweat on Lady Soo's forehead, while her husband, the 4th Prince silently holds her hand in one hand while her stomach where his children were with the other, paid little attention to what Woo Hee was saying. Both of them focused on Lady Soo, and frequently glancing over to where the 4th prince's daughter was fighting a fever.

The five palace guards were all constantly in and out of the room, silently updating the 4th prince, while the servants of Byul make brief stops when they were needed to. Bring food, herbs, tea, and changing cloth, bringing water and such. At the entrance of the chamber, Tae and San both of them were standing at full attention while all through the properties, Jin and Yong were keeping an eye out. Heok was the main man that was relaying messages that they had received from Royal Doctor Hong and the King Taejo. Then when the 4th Prince or someone else had a message to send out depending on the location, a different guard was sent to relay the message.

Just like Lady Soo's chamber was silent and full of praying people, it was the same for Byul. The male servants were doing all they could to help the five royal guards out, while the females were in the kitchen, the herb storage or leading their children to the prayer stones by the pond to pray for the health for their ladies, as well as their master who had been silent and cold, with not even a single tear out of his eyes. They knew that he was numb, and that he has not eaten. He only talks to give soft-spoken commands otherwise, his eyes never moving from his wife and his daughter. It was going to be a very long night for the people around Byul tonight.

Meanwhile in the throne room,

"Pyeha, I can say this. My student, once he leaves his residence, there is going to be a bloodbath. My daughter had told me that the prince is absolutely furious but he is completely silent like he is planning something."

"Grand General, I know that child's temper. After all, he is the only one that truly inherited my terrible temper. I know the anger I am feeling as the father-in-law and the grandfather, for my fourth son it is his wife and daughter. Do either of you have any idea what he plans to do?"

"Pyeha, the Grand General and I have received a command from him through Yong, the palace guard, to prepare the men. It means to prepare all prisoners that we have connected to any of the attacks so far. The alive tongueless prisoners from the kidnapping, those disguised palace servants from the arrow attack, the bandits at the rain ritual, as well as the kidnappers. Apparently the 4th prince found some men in the market that was planning to hurt his sister and daughter and he had fought them till they were all unconscious and brought them to the palace in a cart. Along with them, he had a letter that what the men called their Lady sent them. It is the evidence that can be used to punish the right individual."

"Captain, I want that letter to be brought in secret to Ji Mong, he will start his analysis. How in the world, did the 4th prince want them to be prepared?"

"Pyeha, the 4th prince….."

"What is it General? I did not think you were a man to stumble over your words?"

"Of course I am not, Ji Mong. I was just trying to prepare to tell the prince's wishes in simple words. Ignore him, Pyeha. What the 4th prince wishes, well I say it is the proof that he had completely lost his temper. I do not think I would be able to handle it if the prince gets out of control."

"General, just say it."

"He wants all of those captured together in the same room, all of them bound to a chair, staring at the center of a wall. There are only 3 tongueless ones still alive, 4 out of 7 disguised servants, 3 bandits and 10 kidnappers. We have place all of them together in a large room in the palace prison. The 4th prince wants them all to be kept alive in that manner and the room must be dark all around them. Once it is dark, in turns he wants us to blindfold one group then move to the next group when we want to so all the men will at least spend some time being blind. This we all have done. But, what we came here is to receive the next part of this torture method that Yong told us by the message that it was in the book that Heok had delivered to you, Pyeha."

"In this book?"

"Yes, Astronomer. I will have to get what he calls the "Tales of a Monster" from that book, and have it read aloud to all the prisoners constantly. Never stopping the reading at least till the 4th Prince comes to personally interrogate the prisoners whenever that will be."

"It is just like the Captain said , Pyeha. A personal interrogation of prisoners by the 4th prince will be bloody, and I do not wish to see the blood afterwards. At least, he did not ask us to set this up in public. Now, Ji Mong, just what is this tale that the 4th Prince wishes for the prisoners to hear?"

"Ji Mong, open the book and read it aloud to us."

"As you wish, Pyeha." Ji Mong opens the black-covered book in his hand then starts to read to King Taejo, Crown Prince who had been silent till now, Grand General Park and Captain Jang.

"If you have obtained this book, you must have either stolen from my residence near the Dongii lake or I have this delivered to you through the hands of Heok, one of the palace guards or his descendants. If you have stolen from me, I pray for your souls because you will need prayers in order to read this book. If I have delivered it to you, then let me tell you what this book is." Here Ji Mong stops as he flips the page then look at the words like he could not understand what it is telling him. Finally, he looks up to the King who had been staring at him and says, "I'm sorry Pyeha, after this it is all written in some kind of code because it does not make sense."

"Ji Mong, let me look at that. I taught my brother how to make up unconventional ways to write when he was little, I may be able to figure it out."

"If you wish to do so. Here is the book, Crown Prince." As Ji Mong hands the book to the Crown Prince, the eldest of Taejo's sons flip open the book and stare at it. Then he moves the book around in his hand, as well as flip over pages. Finally, when he seems to have found what he wants at the middle of the book, then he holds the book sideways.

"Pyeha, my brother simply have switched the sequence by starting it up from the middle after that first page. He had also written everything sideways." Here, the Crown Prince flip the book so all of them could see that there were two direction of writing on the page. The words making complete sense when the book is held sideways.

"Who knew that 4th prince could make codes?"

"It is something that I taught him when he came to play with me when he was young. I did not know that he remembered it. The 4th knew that I will be here that is why he did not tell us how to read it." Then the Crown Prince Mu hands the book back to Ji Mong who was in front of him, open to the page he had found. Taking the book back, Ji Mong once again starts to read.

"This book is intended to be given to Pyeha. Though I do not know when or whom the king is that this book is given to. If it is King Taejo, my father, I assume that I have delivered it to you. Most likely I knew that I will be causing a stir in the royal court so I wish for you to have this book as a compensation for all the troubles that I am going to cause you. Abeonim, let me tell you that I understand you. I understand just what sitting on that cold and lonely seat is doing and how it is affecting your heart and your mind. But, you are a wise king, even if you could not be a father to me or any of my brothers, know that in my times at Shinju, that single mask that was delivered each year was a source of reminder and strength to me that let me know that I had a father who still cared about me. You do not know the happiness that I felt that day when I saw you hiding as Ji Mong hands me the black mask."

"That foolish child." No one missed the soft whisper of the king, but no one mentions it.

"If this book, went to my eldest brother Wang Mu, I once again think that I had this book deliver to you, as a book to help you. For in this book, I have written the information I know on all the clans of this nation, their family history, the scandals they are hiding, the illegal deals, and so forth. Any of the things that I have discovered or may have heard the rumours of about any of the clans. At the end, I have proposed some actions that I think may be able to deal with that clan's particular crime. Hyungnim, the only brother that I truly knew, the one that took my bleeding body to the doctor, one of the first one to look me in the eye when I had that hideous scar. Please have a long reign, become a powerful and wise king that you were destined to. Do not listen to the murmurs of those who doubt your place, you are the rightful Crown Prince and you are the second king of Goryeo. Manse, Manse, Man Manse, my Hyungnim."

"This brother of mine, just how much does he wishes to…" once again no one miss the words that left the Crown Prince's mouth but they did not bring attention to it.

"If this book is in the hands of 3rd Imperial Prince Wang Yo. I presume that our mother had succeeded in her dream. To be the Queen Mother, the king-maker. Then I think it is likely that you had taken this book. I urge you to never, I do mean never to harm my family or force me to make a terrible choice to save my wife. Because I will not be a dog to the one on the throne. I wish you enjoy the throne that you so wished for. It is not a seat of glory no it is a seat of responsibility and paranoia if you are not careful. I truly hope that you will get out from under the claws of our mother and live for yourself without fear. That woman may have bore us, but except for Jung, she had never given us love or even true motherly affection. It was all for her greed. We both love her, but I hope that my brother will be able to look at her and see her as the snake that she is."

"If this book is in the hands of 8th Imperial Prince Wang Wook, I also congratulate you on fulfilling your responsibilities towards your clan and for your brilliance in how you must have gained the throne. With you, I know for sure that I did not deliver this to you or hand it over to you. I give you the same warning about the throne I gave to the 3rd prince. I also wish that you are not under the thumb of your mother or your sister, two of the most ambitious woman who hide their true face. Warn your sister, I know that she loves to use snake poison, just like my mother does, to silently kill. Tell her, even if she pretends to be shocked or even make it seem like she had also drank poison, I will not rest till I personally have her punished if she had ever dared to hurt my queen, prince and princesses. For Hae Soo is my one and only queen to my heart, and I will never love Hwangbo Yeon Hwa, nor have any feeling for her except for the usual numb feelings I have towards the women that are not my family. I urge you to make sure to keep her two favorite court ladies, Min and Yeon from my mother and your mother's households, as well as her two spies in Damiwon, Seung and Cheon protected because if your sister had poisoned someone I love with poison, these ladies will be the one that I go to squeeze the truth out of them."

"If this book is in the hands of someone that I have not mentioned, I will think it is in the hands of my brother's descendants, so in the hands of my nephews as they ascend the throne. Then I, your fourth uncle, Wang So, gifts this book to you as a present. Use the book well, consolidate your power, get Goryeo out from the power of the clans and move it to the power of the people. Take care of this legacy of your grandfather. And if you could look after my wife and children if I am not around anymore, I will be grateful. May the heavens be with you on your reign."

"Finally, if I have sent the Grand General to you, the book's owner and he asks for the "Tales of a Monster," tell him this. That story was written to instill awareness and fear to the prisoners who had went against the throne under the command of corrupt royals or nobles. The tale is hidden behind the broken rock right at the entrance of the Astronomy Tower. Make sure that the man reading the tale out loud to the prisoners have a strong stomach or set up shifts, I'm afraid it is quite a bloody tale."

"Pyeha, that is it for the introduction. Afterwards, like the 4th Prince had written there is a pages of information for each clan in order based on what the 4th Prince had gathered. What? A mistress from overseas? Why didn't I know of this? Just how?"

"Ji Mong. Give me the book."

"Yes, Pyeha," Ji Mong climbs up the small steps to the throne and hands the book over. He does not mention the fact that he could see that the king had watery eyes. Clearing his throat, the king now addresses the men in front of him.

"Crown Prince, Ji Mong, from tomorrow we are going to go through this information, I want to personally read this, and as future king Mu will also have to know just what those he will command is up to."

"Grand General, Captain, find the two Damiwon maids mentioned and have them arrested in secret, and put them together with the prisoners you hold right now. I will get my wives to turn the two court ladies over to me then you can them down over there as well."

"I think all of us want to see just how hearing this tale will affect the prisoners. You are all dismissed for the day. Ji Mong, tell the guards to unseal the room, then retire, I will meet my queens alone. Captain start the reading of this tale, tomorrow at dawn and do not stop till you have my royal command."

Dawn

Byul

The silence in the room was broken when a pair of eyes open sluggishly and the people around her bed notices it. But before anyone could say anything, that pair of eyes say a sentence that freezes the room.

"Who are you? Where am I?"

Prison

"My name is not important. I have been called many things. Child, Son, Beast, Monster, Lover, Uncle, Prince, King. But in here, it does not matter who I am, I am telling you the stories that I have. They had either happened to me, I have witnessed it or I have heard it. Once again it does not matter, all that matters is that the reason that you are reading this tale is because you have went against the owner of the book called "Nobles." And you who went against the royals deserve to hear these tales." A page flips in silence.

"Now, if the man called Wang So, Fourth Imperial Prince is alive, then let me tell you that the man is coming for you. Because if he had told someone to read this story to you, know that it is to prepare you. Prepare all those who had committed crimes in the eyes of the 4th Imperial Prince Wang So that he had deemed to be deserving of death and only death. And these are the tales of what he had done, had seen being done, had wished to do to his enemies."

The lone palace guard in the room dressed in plain hanbok flips the page in the book, as he prepares for a long reading. In front of him, tied up in chairs with guards holding sticks behind them were the prisoners as well as the court ladies who had incur the wrath of the 4th Prince.