Shining in Armour

I

Jaehyeong was cleaning out one of the palace stables when two maids walked by gossiping, because that's all they ever seemed to do, normally he would just ignore them until they left but this time something that they said caught his attention. ''Poor boy locked in that tower, he must feel so lonely.'' 'Who are they talking about' Jae thought. ''That damn king, always wants everything for himself, I just cant believe he would lock his own child in a tower, that's horrid!'' The maid said angrily while the other just nodded in agreement. 'The king has a son. Since when? and why has he locked him away? His head was full of questions and his curiosity got the better of him, he walked slowly behind the maids.

They didn't notice until he said ''Hey, what are you gossiping about this time?'' Startled they quickly turned around with shocked faces. ''Oh, Jae what are you doing here.'' Jae rolled his eyes. ''I work here.'' He stated, the maids let out a nervous laugh before they looked at Jae with serious faces. ''How much did you hear?'' They questioned. ''All of it, have you ever heard of this thing called whispering, because your not very good at it.'' He said with a hint of sass and he swore he could hear someone in the distance go. ''Ooh, burn.'' but it was probably just in his head.

''Jae, you can't tell anyone about what you just heard or their will be serious consequences, the King doesnt want anyone to know.'' the maids, who now Jae recognised to be Patrisha and Janice, he only recognised them because they were the ones who gossiped the most, whenever someone had a secret, those two would find out what it is and spread it to everyone in the castle, they are like sisters and they cant be seperated, if Patrisha had to run errands, Janice would go with her even if she was off work and its the same the other way around too.

''Dont worry i wont tell anyone, but only if you explain to me what you were just talking about, cause right now i'm very confused.'' They sighed but gave up, it was no use trying to hide it if he had already heard it. ''Okay listen carefully...'' Patrisha whispered, they all huddled closer so no ne could hear. ''18 years ago Queen Mina had a baby son, they named him Woosung he was very precious to the Queen, However the King could only think of himself and how Woosung would take over the throne, he didn't want that so he decided to lock Woosung away in that tower.'' She pointed up to the tallest tower, they all looked up in unison, they observed the tower but there was nothing that gave away that someone was living up there. ''The poor boy only had his mother and us until that rotten King Jinho wanted even more power and got rid of Queen Mina, nobody know exactly what happened but we think he killed her. Woosung doesnt know what happened to his mother, i bet he feels so lost.'' she explained with a long sigh of sympathy.

''3 years later here we are now, he's still locked up their all alone only we visit him to give him food and fresh clothes, all we see him do all day is read or draw, i think that book, what was it called again...'' Patrisha thought until Janice spoke up. ''Ah!, Repuzel thats it, he reads it everyday, its all he has left of his mother, that and the silver necklace she gave him for his 15th birthday.'' The silver necklace Woosung never took off was a very delicate looking snowflake with a light blue jewel in the middle, his mother gave it to him and told him that a part of her is in the necklace and if he wears it he will never be alone, since then he has never taken it, not once.

After the maids finished telling the story, Jae just stayed silent thinking about what he just heard, how could a father be so egotistical as to do that to his own son, Patrisha and Janice waited for his reply but Jae was speechles. They were surprised to hear what came out of his mouth next. ''Do you perhaps...have another key?'' ''What! why do you want a key.'' Janice questioned with a shocked face. ''Because i want to meet him, plus hes about 18 so hes only one year older than me, we could be friends.'' the maids looked at each other, wondering if they should give him the spare key.

''Thats nice that you want to make friends Jae but if the king catches you, you'll be banished, also that is very possible since you have to go through the castle to get to the door.'' Jae paused to think for a moment before saying. ''Thats okay i can sneak in through the maids entrance around back and if anyone catches me ill just say im running some errands for you guys, you'll back me up right?'' he asked with a pleading look, they gave in, nobody could Jae's puppy eyes.