Black and White «COMPLETED»

Chapter Six- Da Yeong's story

Chapter Six- Da Yeong's story

The Central Palace, Gwang Guk...

Tae Jun didn't like coming here.

His summons to the Palace, were the few times he could see his father's face. It was like being able to see the sky, after spending months hidden away in some cave.

Still, he hated the Palace. The Palace itself held too many memories.

Tae Jun had come to the Palace after he had returned from Dong Guk and had been handed the Royal Summons.

Now, he followed Eunuch Eun, who was his father's personal eunuch and current Head of the Palace Eunuchs.

Eunuch Eun, for some reason, always personally waited for him at the Palace gates, so each time he came to the Palace, he followed Eunuch Eun straight to the Throne room, which was also the Government Hall.

Tae Jun found this a blessing. Since Eunuch Eun led him straight to the Throne room, he wouldn't be tempted to head to the east of the Palace, where the empty Moon Palace waited...

The place where his mother had been killed in front of him.

He wouldn't even think of heading to the west of the Palace, where the Sun Palace waited. It had been his palace in the past. Now his brother occupied it.

A brother who kept sending assassins after him...

He shook himself out of his thoughts, when Eunuch Eun and the accompanying guards stopped.

"Jeonha! Daegun is here to see you!" Eunuch Eun announced loudly from outside the elegant sliding doors, which led to the throne room.

Tae Jun subconsciously straightened the dark blue gonryongpo he had to wear, whenever he entered the Palace. It was to mark him as a Prince, despite his banishment.

He dropped his arms, as the doors slid open. It was time for another battle of wills...

.

Tae Jun sat before his father. The height of the throne and it's platform, clearly pointed out the difference in their positions, and as usual, Tae Jun felt a bit intimidated by his father.

He never showed it, however... He and his father stared at each other in open stubbornness. His father had just told him that he was to marry Lord Kim's daughter...

Tae Jun had come here fully prepared to refuse any of his father's usual requests.

Unfortunately, he had been presented with a proposal he couldn't exactly refuse.

He remembered the episode in the Dong forest and briefly wondered if Ju Won and Do Young had reached Nam Guk.

He had ordered them not to tell anyone who he was, but they seemed too loyal to their master, so he did not have much hope.

To think that their master was to be his new father in law... He looked up at his father in frustration.

King Jang Tae Yong, his father, reclined easily on his throne. He was a King loved by his people, comfortable in his own skin. Tae Jun had never met anyone as confident and powerful as his father, and he had always looked up to him.

He was still a handsome man, though advanced in years, and he was particularly striking in his traditional red gonryongpo with the jaded belt (The robes worn by kings). His feet were in exquisite heukhwa boots, and the Ikseongwan (crown) sat grandly on his head.

Tae Jun was aware that he had gotten himself in trouble this time. What was worse was the smug look on his father's face.

In Tae Jun's memory, that meant his father had made up his mind, and nothing Tae Jun said would change it. He wasn't going to give up without trying, though. He bowed fully, his head to the ground.