It is early dawn.

The guards stood guard at their posts, feeling queasy and uncomfortable as the ears-piercing screams of agony could be heard all the way from the interrogation room. They sneaked glances at each other, wondering how long it would take for the screams to end. But everyone knew it is just the beginning the moment the doors opened, and the Crown Prince finally arrived.

They quickly bowed down to his royal highness as he walked past them and into the interrogation room.

"Your highness," the torturer stopped to greet the Crown Prince. His royal highness nodded at him and glanced at the victim before taking a seat on the chair in the centre of the room. "He still hasn't said anything."

"Perhaps my presence will make the process go faster," said the Crown Prince, staring down at the victim that is seen to be drenched in his own blood, with some blood bubbling from his broken teeth. The Crown Prince was unfazed by the gruesome sight in front of him, he's so used to seeing blood shed that he is no longer the young boy who used to cower in fear at the sight of blood. Without wasting any more time, he grabbed a tiny yet deadly weapon from the table behind him.

"I... will never...betray my master," the victim spat out.

The Crown Prince jabbed the sharp dagger into the victim's palm, causing him to let out another loud piercing cry. Twisting it into his palm, the Crown Prince finally let go of the weapon, leaving it stuck on the victim.

"Tell me, who ordered you to put mercury in the late Crown Prince's bath?"

The victim simply laughed as more blood bubbled out from the side of his mouth. "Aren't you glad... that the late Crown Prince died? So that now... you can be Crown Prince."

The Crown Prince didn't seem affected by his question, he pushed the dagger deeper into his open wound instead. The victim screamed in pain, but he kept his lips sealed till the end. The previous hours of torture clearly lowered down his defense walls and he is now trying to say things that will sidetrack the Crown Prince's interrogation.

"Where did you get mercury? Who are you working for?" he continued to ask, applying more pressure on the dagger so that the victim will beg him to stop. "Tell me and I will stop."

The pain looked excruciating and several men in the room had to look away as more blood flowed out of the open wound. It was a very gruesome sight, and they were even more frightened by the bored look on the Crown Prince's face as if torturing the man was just an innocent hobby.

"I...won't... tell you... anything..."

The Crown Prince turned around to grab a different torture device, so when the Crown Prince wasn't looking, the traitor quickly bit on the suicide capsule that's inside his mouth and quickly swallowed it down. When the Crown Prince realized what was happening, he quickly tried to get it out of the traitor's mouth, but it was too late.

"Was that inside his mouth the whole time?" the torturer asked his men.

The Crown Prince grabbed the traitor's throat to take a closer look at the inside of his mouth and noticed that the suicide capsule was implanted behind his teeth.

If he had it all this time, why did he only kill himself after enduring so much torture?

"Who else came down here before I arrived?" asked the Crown Prince.

"Just two other guards," replied the torturer. "But they left after their shift was over."

"Bring them in," the Crown Prince ordered the two guards in the room.

"Yes, your highness."

After a few minutes, the guards came back empty-handed. "Your highness, we searched the palace and we couldn't find them."

The Crown Prince glanced at the guards and asked, "Where did you two go to look for them?"

"The break room, the field and the sleeping quarters, your highness."

The Crown Prince nodded and swiftly pulled out the sword from the torturer's socket and slashed it across the guards' necks. Within a split second, they fell on their knees and struggled to breathe on the ground before succumbing to their slow and painful death.

"Your highness," the torturer was shocked by the sudden killing of the guards.

"If they really searched all of those places, how can they return within a few minutes without a single drop of sweat on their face?" said the Crown Prince as he passed the sword back to the torturer and spun around on his heel to leave the room.

"Your highness," greeted the Crown Prince's personal bodyguard, Soo and Eunuch Nam, who have been waiting outside the interrogation room. Soo passed a clean white cloth to the Crown Prince for him to wipe off the blood that had stained his fingers.

"The guards have been compromised, whoever is behind this, found out that we have been investigating the late Crown Prince's death," said the Crown Prince as he walked out of the place. "All the palace maids at my quarters have to be replaced, as well as the guards guarding this place."

"I will do so immediately, your highness," replied Eunuch Nam, grimacing slightly at all the blood shed in the room before quickening his pace behind the Crown Prince. "Also, the King has requested your highness to meet his majesty in his chambers right now."

***

"Your majesty," the Crown Prince greeted his father with a bow. He glanced to his right to see his younger brother, Prince Byun Baek Jung, sitting in front of a table while he sipped his tea.

"You are late, your highness," said Prince Jung.

"I had some matters to attend to," replied the Crown Prince as he took his seat in front of another small round table.

"Hyun," called the King. "I heard you have been putting off your duties."

"Your majesty, I have been fulfiling most of my duties as the Crown Prince. I have only been pushing back the selection process of the Crown Princess."

"And is choosing your Crown Princess a minor matter?" the King asked. "It is extremely important for you to get married. How many months have it been since you became Crown Prince? You aren't just a Prince anymore, you have duties and responsibilities to fulfil."

"I understand. But marriage can wait–"

"No. Did you think that I didn't know what you have been doing?" questioned the King. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop investigating the late Crown Prince's death? There are other more important matters to attend to."

The Crown Prince casted Prince Jung a cold glare, knowing that his brother had told their father what he had been up to. And it is no doubt that he was the one who planted the moles beside him to spy on him.

"I am suspicious of his death," the Crown Prince muttered under his breath. "He was healthy, he wasn't sick at all."

The King slammed the table and raised his voice saying, "The case is closed! Stop living in the past! I want you to focus on your duties!"

"I am! And when the Crown Princess has been selected, I will not complain or intervene with whoever you have chosen at the end of the selection process and marry her."

Prince Jung smirked and interrupted the conversation by asking, "And you will stop investigating?"

The King stared at his elder son, waiting for him to give him a satisfying answer.

"Yes."

Though the Crown Prince showed that he had no choice but to comply with his majesty's request, he clenched his fist tightly under the table, feeling frustrated that no one but him, insisted on investigating the late Crown Prince's death.

Could his majesty know something I don't? Why did he stopped the investigation?

He glanced at Prince Jung who had a cocky smile spreaded across his face.

Jung must be behind this.

"You have my word. Is there anything else, your majesty?" he asked his father after a silent moment. The King shook his head and the Crown Prince dismissed himself and left the King's chambers.

***

"Your highness, your highness!"

The other servants watched in pity as the Crown Prince's eunuch ran after his highness. The Crown Prince's attendants watched as he swiftly got onto his horse and charged away before the eunuch could catch up to him.

"Where is the Crown Prince going this early in the morning?" the eunuch stopped running after him to catch his breath. There was no way he could catch up to the Crown Prince, his highness was way too fast and light on his feet that he didn't notice the Crown Prince walking past him and slipping out of his chambers.

"His highness went to investigate," the Crown Prince's personal bodyguard, Soo, informed him.

"And why didn't you follow him?"

"His highness said he needs to do this alone."

The eunuch nodded in understanding and dismissed the other guards to return to their posts. The late Crown Prince, Crown Prince Byun Baek Beom had died from a mysterious illness. Crown Prince Byun Baek Hyun loved his brother, and he was the only one who believed that his brother was murdered. Ever since then, he started to do his own investigation secretly regarding his brother's suspicious death.

"Let's hope he comes back soon before the King finds out about it," said the eunuch before turning around to walk back to the Crown Prince's chambers. Once he was alone, Soo glanced at the crumpled up letter in his palm once more before throwing it into the fiery lamp to burn.

The letter was sent in at dawn, when the Crown Prince was asleep in his chambers. Soo had came back from the village to deliver the secret letter to the Crown Prince, notifying him about the new clue their ally outside of the palace have found. If the contents of the letter were seen by anyone other than the Crown Prince and Soo, it will send the palace into total chaos with people trying to stop the Crown Prince from finding out the truth.

Soo, who grew up beside the Crown Prince, could tell how much the late Queen's and Crown Prince's death has changed him. The happy glint in his eyes have dissapeared, the young innocent Prince he knew once was long gone. Crown Prince Byun Baek Hyun is hot-headed, conflicted and erratic. His heart is filled with so much rage and angst, that people around him could only cower in fear when they see him.

And that was what earned him the nickname, 'Prince of Darkness'.