Chronicle of the Wingless Fairy | taegyu

Chapter 6: The Prince

A prince should be flawlessly virtuous.

A Prince should be strong and yet at the same time gentle, kind and firm. A Prince is obliged to be honest, clever, brave, and cautious. A Prince is to be levelheaded yet adventurous, practical and generous. He should be loyal but not possessive. He is trustworthy, but not naive. A Prince is intelligent but not presumptuous.

A prince should be open minded, but not indecisive or tyrannical. He is conservative, but not strict. He is progressive, but not reckless. A Prince that is confident, but not cocky. Self-assured, but not conceited, well mannered, but not meticulous. He is witty, but not prickly. A Prince that is flawless.

Everything that described Beomgyu.

"Young Highness, a feast table is now readied for you." A servant smiled at the young Prince and offered him a white glove he should wear before stepping out of his study office to make sure he would not touch things not worth touching.

"Is Mother there? Will she be with me to celebrate?" Beomgyu smiled widely as excitement took over his heart. He had just turned 9 and today was his birthday. He was excited as he could be. The servant hesitantly shook her head, saying that the boy's mother would not be there to celebrate with him.

"That's... Okay! What about Father?" Beomgyu asked as he was forcing a smile on his face.

"It has been a month since the King fell ill, young Prince. He is to be isolated." The four servants bowed down in front of the Prince. "We are sorry, Young Highness," A tear prickled his eyes yet he did not cry. He still managed to smile.

"Well, will you all dine with me? I cannot devour the feast by myself," Beomgyu spoke, inviting the servants to eat with him.

They picked fingers, trying to balance whether they could feast with a Prince. "Sorry, Young Highness, but a servant should not be dining with a Prince. It would be a grave sin to commit for us, young Prince," They smiled horribly, feeling sympathy for the Prince who had no one to share his meal with though it was his birthday and it should be a big deal for the kingdom.

The Prince ate his feast with a heavy heart.

"He is to be kept away! We cannot let a chagrin be seen by any creatures other than us!"

Beomgyu stopped his tracks when he heard a conversation coming from the throne room where the Queen was talking to her brother, a mere commoner. "Why should he be locked away? Wouldn't that be too cruel?"

"And it would be cruel if other kingdoms take our resources from us! If they find out that we have a wingless fairy, a wingless Prince, they will view us as weak! We have to keep our power!" The Queen uttered as Beomgyu stood behind the wall, hand slapped over his mouth to not make any sound and be heard.

"How are we sure that he is wingless? What if his wings haven't come through? We have to keep waiting."

And they did.

The day he turned 12, it was the day his wings should grow. So, they prepared a feast, a celebration inside the palace for the Prince.

"Dear, let's go? They're waiting for you-"

The Queen widened her eyes when she saw her son crying on the floor as he hugged his knees close to his chest as he wailed his heart out. "My God, Beomgyu! You're... You don't have them!" She entered the room of the Prince and placed her hands on her head as she panicked, fear devouring her. "Why don't you have them?!"

Beomgyu could only cry as he was sitting there on the ground, looking up at his distressed mother. "I'm sorry, Mother. I do not know what's going on and why I don't have-"