"I've made my mind, and it's final!"

"But Your Highness, I beg of you, please reconsider this! You know better than anyone else how much of a catastrophe it will be if you put Second Prince as the Crown Prince! The First Prince needs to be crowned as the tradition!"

"But you also know better that as my legal heir with his capability and advantages, the Second Prince has every right to be crowned as the Crown Prince! For goodness sake haven't you read your law books?!"

"Sire, the court will not allow this to happen! There will be war!"

"No there will not! The Soron Factions are backing up the Second Prince altogether, and I assure you, Minister, that they will handle everything for us, smoothly and cleanly, so just shut your mouth and do as I say, and you'll be fine. The Second Prince is the best choice this country can make, and also the safest heir we can put in line; I will NOT risk the safety of the First Prince for this mere stupidity. Got that?"

"Y-yes... Y-your Majesty..."

***

"Hyungnim! Hyungnim!"

A small boy, clad in his midnight blue jeogori ran and ran, aiming to reach another boy, a few years and a few inches tall apart from him; the boy he called 'older brother'. The smaller boy clearly did not care about the dozen of maids, eunuchs, and guards running senselessly after him just because they needed to follow their orders: keeping him safe. He just kept running and running. The only thing he could notice was the smile on his brother's face, as a result of seeing the younger.

"Crown Prince!" the older cried. "To what honor do I owe for letting me see you here?"

The little Crown Prince giggled. Clearly he did not fully understand his brother's words; he was two, for goodness sake! But hence, he was happy only to hear him talk like that; with cheerfulness and kind care in his voice. To the little Prince, simply the presence of the older brother he adored so much would be just the enough amount to keep his happiness alive.

"Yi-En wants to see Hyungnim!" he pouted. "Can't Yi-En see Han Hyungnim?"

This time it was the First Prince, Lee Han's turn to giggle.

"No, of course you can see me, Crown Prince," he smiled softly. "In fact, I am very happy that you are seeing me here,"

The Crown Prince Yi-En's eyes lightened up. "Really? Hyungnim is happy to see Yi-En here?"

Lee Han nodded.

"Then Yi-En is happy!"

With that only, little Yi-En instantly threw himself into his brother's embrace, inhaling the older's scent that he hadn't been able to encounter for a few weeks now after he was appointed Crown Prince. He had been crying and whining for his maids to bring him to Lee Han eversince.

Slowly, a pair of warm hands encircled around Yi-En's tiny body, securing him in the older's embrace.

They were Lee Han's hands.

Oh, if only little Yi-En could understand how much the older boy had also missed him, probably much worse than Yi-En himself, as the only thing he could do was to keep his longing inside his heart, knowing it might be dangerous if the two met and played together like nothing happened.

But of course, Yi-En couldn't understand that the two siblings now were not allowed to play around like how they did in the past years when Yi-En was still the Second Prince instead of a Crown Prince, the position that threats Lee Han's existence most.

He couldn't understand that now once he was the legal heir of the King and will someday inherit the throne, he had unconsciously made Lee Han a mere trash, ready for disposal any time. As how the King had personally treated him as since quite a while ago. Since Yi-En was declared Crown Prince, really. The only difference he had from normal trash was just the fact that he was still, however, a royal trash.

But trash is trash, however else you put it.

Lee Han smiled sadly. All of these burdens on his small shoulders, and he should bear them himself, huh? Not really a fun thought for a six year old.

Heck, he couldn't even tell Umma-mama about it. And he thought he was her favorite son.

Oh well...

Lee Han was just about to tighten his embrace around Yi-En when he suddenly noticed something. Or rather... someone, peering over from way at that side, watching the siblings' lovely interactions with terribly displeased eyes.

It wouldn't take one that long to realize the identity of that person. Clad in the burning red silk robe with the golden ornaments on the front, back, and both shoulders, and five scary looking un-geom behind him. There is nobody else in the world capable of having all those except for one man Lee Han currently has in mind:

The King.

Of course, at times like this, it just had to be the King.

Startled, Lee Han quickly jerked back from the confused Yi-En, and with one swift move, bowed orientally, head touching the ground, to the King's direction.

Lee Han had wanted to at least soothe the Emperor's fiery anger for even a bit by doing so, but judging from his expressions, nothing of the boy's doing has done any good. Even with his forehead plastered on the ground, Lee Han could still feel the laser from the King's glares directed on him.

Luckily, the little Crown Prince caught up with the wrongness in the awkward atmosphere quick enough. Feeling left out in the silence, he noticed that not only his brother had his head on the ground now, but also all his maids, eunuchs, and guards.

Slowly, he turned around, only to meet with his father's warm gaze.

Yi-En blinked. Once. Twice. Before a wide smile grew on his lips.

"Aba-mama!" he cried, leaping with glee right into the King's embrace, who welcomed him with open arms, just like that.

"Aigoo, our Crown Prince has grown so big, your father can barely carry you anymore!" the King cooed, earning a giggle from Yi-En. "And I heard you've started asking to learn from Cheonjamun? What a wise Crown Prince you are!"

And with that, the King tossed little Yi-En to the air, still giggling with glee, while the people watching held back their smiles at the affectionate father-son bonding.

Little did they know, that the King had tossed something else at that same time. He had tossed away Lee Han's heart. The only difference was that he never caught that heart again the way he caught Yi-En back in his arms, and instead let the poor boy's heart fall to the ground, broken and scattered into millions of pieces.

Lee Han bit back a bitter taste on his tongue.

He had memorized almost all the Chinese characters from the same book Yi-En read by now, and never did he receive any praises for it, however badly he had wanted it.

Ironic how that man complimenting his younger brother just then was his father too.

*Soron ; Noron : the two factions in the court of Joseon
*Hyungnim : older brother. Spoken by a male (it's really the same as hyung)
*Jeogori : a kind of clothing from the Joseon dynasty
*Umma-mama : the same as umma, but this is what the King and Queen's children use to adress their mother
*Un-geom : the King's personal guards. There are usually a few of them for safety reasons. (watch The Moon Embracing the Sun and you'll know, because Woon/Kim Jae Woon is one). The red sword on their right hands are called un-geom too. While the black ones on their left hand are called byeol-un-geom. Un-geoms are the King's hand, and byeol-un-geom are the un-geoms' hands.
*Aba-mama : same as appa, but this is what the King and Queen's children use to adress their father
*Cheonjamun : the book of 1000 Chinese characters. Used as one of the first thing to educate a child, usually.

Haha, heyyyy guys! *waves* it's the 2nd story teaser, and yeah, it's the story of Mark and Lu Han's relationship. Well, plus the King. Soooo there's already quite some drama going on here, eh? Haha, there's more, of course. Right, Krys? *wiggles eyebrows* This was, after all, only a chapter to show off a bit of my Korean history knowledge... hahahah /slapped

anywho, I hope you guys enjoyed this piece of crappy writing, and give us lots and lots and lots of love and support! ^_^