In order to reach the top of the mountain, you need to fight against snowstorms, you have to get up after you fall down and you need to be patient and stay strong. No matter what happens, you have to stick to your goal and keep going.

Just like climbing a mountain, living a life as the 7th prince of Goryeo was exhausting and unpredictable. Kim Seokjin was already said to be a waste when he was born and he proved to be even more useless as time went by. Or at least, that’s what his family thought. That’s what the palace’s servants assumed. On the other hand, there was this one special person who didn’t care about the stigma around him; who didn’t believe the gossips and who didn’t even get scared when he got slapped for taking the prince’s side. Myungeun was his last ray of hope but she not only painted his starless, grey sky scarlet-red like her cheeks when she heard a compliment from him but also sent stars that he could wish up on. One by one, beside her, every of his wishes came true.

Seokjin apparently changed but in the best possible way. He wasn’t that lanky, physically weak little boy that he was at the age of 12. He was a well-built, strong and outstandingly tall young man, on the threshold of adulthood. He was now the 2nd prince since 5 of his brothers had already died before he turned 19. One was killed by an assassin from Silla, one was poisoned in the palace by another one who hang himself up with a rope after he had killed his brother, the 4th prince was actually killed during a revolt between the people of Goryeo and the people of Silla while the previous 2nd prince died of heart-attack.

It wasn’t peculiar though. It was actually natural for the royal family to die out like that, however, it was detrimental for the boy who was growing up beside them, witnessing some of the cases with his own eyes and bearing the consequences of their death. He should have been delighted because his brothers didn’t abuse him anymore since he learned how to fight them back and since they were already dead. Nonetheless, all he felt was fear. He was terrified that the Crown Prince would also die soon and he has to take his place. Which means that as soon as his father - who was sicker than ever - steps down the throne, he has to take it. He didn’t feel ready to take over the kingdom at the age of 18.

He was quite sure that the King had planned something against Silla as a revenge for the previous revolt between the two kingdoms’ citizens but he didn’t want to think about it further until he really had to. Therefore, he lived his life as usual, not even changing his behaviour around Myungeun.

“What do you think will happen now?” asked Myungeun one day as she was walking in the palace’s garden with the 2nd prince of Goryeo by her side. The garden looked flawless in the dim light of the spring evening, scenting like a bouquet of her most beloved flowers.

The girl became a mature, wise young lady, despite the fact that he always knew that she was intelligent. Yet, he never really realised that he would see her turning into a real woman by having curves, losing her baby cheeks and smiling like an angel all the time. The joyful twinkle never left her brown orbs, she was just as beautiful now as she was when they first met – if not more. Honestly, he couldn’t compare her to her old-self because she was really a child then and she was a woman now. A woman with all the beauty and love in this world. The definition of humility.

“I don’t know,” Seokjin shook his head and looked down at his intertwined hands. “If the negotiation goes according to plan, nothing extraordinary will happen. However, if it doesn’t go according to plan, we may have to be ready for a war,” he concluded wearily, letting out a heavy-hearted sigh.

The Crown Prince was currently trying to reach an agreement with the king of Silla in order to secure the barriers. He had to take this responsibility on because the king of Goryeo was so sick that he couldn’t even leave the palace. He could hardly move, yet the outside world was led to believe that he was on a political trip to Southern Tang to seal a deal with Emperor Liezu. Taking everything into consideration, providing the current unstable situation of the later three kingdoms, Seokjin wasn’t sure that the negotiation would go as smoothly as they wanted to.

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