Lean

II

TAEHYUN

It took Taehyun less than twenty-four hours to loathe the city of King's Coast. The tedious journey on horseback that his family had undertaken to attend the late king's tournaments was quickly forgotten in the face of his growing resentment. He hated everything about the city, from the overpopulated streets to the stench of trash scattered in the alleyways hidden between large stone buildings.

He longed to be back home in the northern region of Mirage, within the walls of his castle in Frostholm. His hometown couldn't have been more different from King's Coast. Frostholm was nestled within a wintry forest, where the days brought more snowflakes than rays of sunlight. He was used to the cold, but now in King's Coast, he was sweating from the humid climate through his deep blue silk shirt.

It wasn't his idea to come to the King's Coast, but rather his father's. His presence was mandatory, as he was the leader of the Kang family. His father, Kang Seohyun, was a respected member of the realm. When he was around Taehyun's age, he had already won multiple battles against tyrants of other families to keep the Kang's territory in the north safe. At age nineteen, Taehyun felt like he needed to accomplish much more compared to his father's achievements at his age.

With King Shin now dead and his bloodline scattered with no heir apparent, the realm had to find a new king to keep all of the powerful families in check. His father, no doubt, was one of the top prospects. From conversations with his father, though, he didn't want the responsibility. Taehyun's father wasn't interested in the position, rather wanting to spend his time in Frostholm hunting and focusing on his family. Being the king was a dirty job filled with struggles of juggling corrupt power and people. Not to mention, the threat of assassination and rebellion lingering with every decision.

He found it suspicious the way the king mysteriously passed. With his bloodline and heirs gone, it only made the situation more complicated. Taehyun was convinced that someone had killed King Shin. It wasn't the first time a king had been murdered, and it certainly wouldn't be the last. Now the council of Mirage was faced with an interesting task; selecting a new king that wouldn't cause any conflict to break out in the regions.

When Taehyun joins his family in the stands at the tournament, he can overhear the whispers from other royal guests about the mysterious departure of King Shin's relatives. He listens to as much as he can, but he can hardly hear with his cousin chatting loudly next to him.

"So many archers," his cousin, Huening Kai, says next to him.

Taehyun nods as he watches the many archers participating in the king's tournament line up in front of the stands, waving their hands at the crowd. Many of them were decorated in the colors of the five main kingdoms in Mirage, while some others wore plain armor or secondary colors representing smaller families. His own family is represented by just two archers, Kang Daniel and Kang Seungyoon, both dressed in the deep blue associated with their lineage.

His gaze swept across the assembled archers, his eyes narrowing a little against the glare of the sunlight. Among them were numerous individuals from the Park house, easily recognizable by their attire adorned in shades of purple. The Park family's influence extended over the second southernmost region of Mirage. Nestled amidst fertile lands and verdant woods, they reaped harvests of fruits and grains. The Park family also raised many of the livestock in Mirage.

Next to them were members of the Lee family, dawned in the color green. They also grew numerous crops for the realm and their winding rivers within their region made it easy for transport. Once, he asked his father who their closest ally would be in the realm if suddenly the kingdoms broke out into a war. His father, after much contemplation, explained that only the Lee family was worth trusting. Taehyun assumed that since the Lee family were their neighbors to the south, it played an important role in how much his family was willing to trust them.