The Crown Prince | BaekYeon

제 5 장

It was early morning when the news of the Crown Prince's disappearance reached the King.

His Majesty's subjects quivered in fear below him as he questioned the servants from the Eastern Palace on the Crown Prince's disappearance. Everyone looked down in fear when the furious King abruptly stood up from his throne.

The King was only notified about the Crown Prince's disappearance when Prince Jung came to him and told him that the Crown Prince didn't come back to the Eastern Palace when he went to visit him last evening.

"Am I not your King anymore?"

"No, Your Majesty," his subjects replied in unison.

"Why is it that when my son didn't come back, no one came to inform me? Do you all wish for something bad to happen to the Crown Prince?" the King asked.

"No, Your Majesty."

"Send out all of your men to look for the Crown Prince," the King ordered all of his advisors as he sat back down on his throne. "I will reward anyone who successfully brings back the Crown Prince."

At the mention of a reward for the Crown Prince's return, murmurs were exchanged among the advisors, discussing about the troops and men they have to carry out the mission.

"Your Majesty, we wouldn't want to let our people know that the Crown Prince is missing. A huge search would cause a lot of worries among the people," Tax Minister Kim spoke up.

The King glanced towards his son, Prince Jung, to see if he had any other suggestions.

"Your Majesty, perhaps we should send out only a few of our skilled men to look for the Crown Prince," suggested Prince Jung. "That way we can search without alerting the people in the village."

The King nodded and said, "Prince Jung, you may pick a few men you trust to look for the Crown Prince."

"I will get to it immediately, Your Majesty," Prince Jung bowed down to His Majesty before turning away to leave the room. 

Once he was alone, he gestured towards two men who were standing nearby to come forward.

"Your Excellency."

"What did you find last night?"

"No sign of the body," one of the men replied lowly, afraid to be overheard by eavesdroppers. "There's a river directly below the cliff, so after the Crown Prince fell off the cliff, he was probably swept away by the river."

"So you are sure that he is dead?"

"His Highness was stabbed in the lower abdomen, he wouldn't be able to survive the fall. Even if he did, he won't be able to get help because nobody in the village would go there."

"We need a body to prove that he is dead," Prince Jung lowered his voice and said. "There won't be a coronation for me if the current Crown Prince is still alive."

"Don't worry, Your excellency. We will leave the palace and search through the river again."

"Oh right, if he is alive and managed to be found by someone, he might be treated in the local infirmaries too. Search through those clinics as well."

"Yes, Your Excellency."

Being the son of the King's concubine and an illegitimate son, he isn't in the line to the throne. But it might change if the Crown Prince is dead, as the Crown Prince has no heirs and he will be the only one left to accede the throne.

***

"There. All done," Taeyeon pulled back and turned away to place all the equipment back on the shelf. "Why are you so shy anyway? I told you, I have seen a lot of naked men before because I helped my uncle in performing surgeries."