act i, scene i.
"may we come to understand that no one or
nothing in this life will separate us."
The fifteen year old prince sat with his mother at dinner as he did every afternoon, and like every afternoon, he asked her the same question. It was a question that even after so long, he already knew the answer to. But part of him wanted to believe that things would eventually change. "Will his majesty be joining us tonight?" He paused in the eating of his meal to shoot her a small glance to see her answer in her eyes before she could even speak.
The Queen could never get used to the question-, even after years-but it was more that she could not understand how her son, Prince Wang Joo, could still love his father and yearn for his love and attention. From the moment that he was born, his mother was the one to love and take care of him, while his father coldly called him only her son. Queen Daemok had made it clear to him since he had use of reason that his father Gwangjong didn't love him. His marriage to his half sister Yeon Hwa had been out of pure convenience to the crown and to please the people. But the king had loved another and thus, he could not even bring himself to give his son any love. That love was reserved for someone else.
"I don't think so, Joo-yah." She told him with a sigh, trying to retain her composure, but the fifteen year old prince noticed her mother tensed at the question. She soon added with disdain and venom in her words upon recalling the reason he wasn't joining them. Each day it was like the opening of a wound that wasn't given the time to heal properly. "His majesty only has eyes for one person." She had also at one point desperately wanted the king's love. But he rejected her countless times because of the person she had been, and still was. The only person she was ever nice to now was her son Wang Joo.
Though she didn't say who that person was, Wang Joo knew it well.
His mother often vented to one of her closest servants that the king would much rather spend time with his illegitimate daughter who was in the care of his youngest brother Wang Jung. She was the person standing in between him and his father. She was the reason his father didn't love him, and though his mother tried to use that as the reason to poison the teenager against his father, he could only find hatred in his heart for one person.
Her.
His half-sister who was the light of their father's eyes. He despised her for being the reason he couldn't be truly happy with his family. The girl was unsuspecting of his hatred towards her, but he was planning to take action against her. He would make her suffer and he would make her pay for everything she caused. Though sometimes it was true, the just paid for the sinner's faults. Though she had nothing to do with it, she had merely been born his father's daughter, Joo blamed her for his misfortunes.
He blamed her for existing, for living, for breathing.
And he was going to get his revenge.
-
He knew that each year, his uncle Wang Jung visited the palace with his daughter, though he didn't understand the reason. And every year, they visited the king in secret.
Joo followed his father to their meeting place and watched them from afar. His heart ached as he watched the king of Goryeo, who was always cold towards him, transform into an entirely different person before his eyes. The man he had never seen smile, even once, was smiling at the sight of a young girl who looked around Joo's age. By now it had been about seven years since she was visiting the king once a year and she greeted him with familiarity. The happy king bringing her into a tight hug.
The crown prince could not hear what they were saying to each other. But the venom spread in his heart because he yearned for his father's love. Why couldn't the king love him like that? He wouldn't have minded, sharing him with the girl. But the king was uninsterested in loving Joo as well because he thought the prince was like his mother.
As the two men stood off to the side to talk, the king encouraged his daughter to wander for a few minutes, though not too far away. He had ordered for the area to be emptied, warning his guards that it would be their heads if anyone were to interrupt him on his walk.
The girl bowed her head and walked off into the surrounding trees.
That was when the prince took it as his opportunity to strike. His bow and arrow resting on his back. As she came into closer view, he was hidden behind the trees and watched her as she picked a few flowers and used one to adorn her hair. She was so pretty, he thought. It was truly a shame that she had to be his father's most loved child, his only loved child more accurately. She began humming a tune--the same tune Joo always heard from afar in his room on his father's birthday because he was never invited to celebrate with him. It was a tune that the servants murmured a court lady sang to him once, and he had loved her dearly. Now he had a musician come in and sing the song to him every year on his birthday.
The girl knew the song from memory, and it filled Joo with annoyance. He pulled the bow off his back in one swift movement and grabbed in arrow from his pack that was slung over his shoulder. There was no one around and he could easily do it, and get away with it no less. No one would ever know. He aimed it at her, his anger and jealousy enticing him to let the arrow go. It would pierce her heart, since he had good aim, and she would die quickly. That would be that.
He just had to let the arrow go.
But as moments passed, he realized he could not do it. Despite all the poison in his heart, he could not. And the little prince cursed himself for being so weak.
One more moment and the girl saw something hidden behind the trees--a pair of hate filled eyes watching her. Her own eyes were like that of a doe, big and wide, full of curiosity. She called to the person nervously, guessing that if they wanted to hurt her, they would have done so already. "H-hello?" She tried bravely, but he could easily tell she was afraid. "Who's there?"
The fifteen year old prince gulped and dropped his hands to his sides, the bow and arrow falling onto the ground with a thud. It was as though he had lost all his thoughts when he stepped into plain sight in front of her.
"I am Prince Wang Joo." He told her.
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super short author's note because im going to eat with my sisters in a bit. so i hope you all like the chapter. thank you so much for reading and supporting me.
have a wonderful day!
-clary
