Yi Hyun, Crown Prince of Joseon, doesn't want to get married, until he absolutely has to. Especially when he can enjoy his freedom with his close friend, Son Eon-jin, the daughter of Right State Councilor Son.
Until the king takes the matter to his...
It is always a good sign for Yi Hyun, Crown Prince of Joseon, whenever the sun is out in the morning. It means he can take his horse out for a ride around the land. It also means he can clock in more hours for archery and swordsmanship before his morning study begins.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Those two activities are such luxury for the young heir whose life is already tied to one of the biggest historical footnote in his father's reign. Something he can never run away from.
Although people may never know about it— considering his birth mother is no one. Only a royal noble consort who stole the heart of the current ruler of Joseon, King Minjung, when she was young.
She deeply fell in love with him, she chose to be his concubine and shared him with three other women, including the queen. The fact broke her heart, pieces by pieces as days went by; every time the king spent the night at the other women's residence, every time he chose the queen to accompany him for a long visitation outside the palace and left her behind, and every time she heard the birth news from the other concubines, thinking that the king would never touched her again.
Never mind that the king's affection toward her was genuine, never mind that he spent most nights in a year with her; she could never consolidate it in her mind that he truly loved her, knowing he still fathered children from his many concubines, all daughters.
She knew it was because she remained childless for a few years, and the king was required to produce an heir. But the doubt remained. When the news of her pregnancy finally came on the fourth year of their marriage, the king was ecstatic and he never left her side until his birth.
Finally, the king had a son. An heir to the throne was finally here. But his birth was also the last straw.
The royal court took him and brought him to the East Palace — the crown prince's residence — where the court ladies nursed and fostered him. And his mother couldn't accept the fact that she couldn't care for her own son.
They found her hanged on the ceiling of her residence on the day he turned one year old. Lifeless. But a peace on her face. That was what Ko Sanggung told him when he asked her about his birth mother, and that's the only tale he knew.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
