Secret of the Two Kings (89 CHAPTERS - ON HOLD)

제 52 부

Jung Ho crumpled the paper, his lips carved into a thin line. His fair skin turned red, orange actually as the ray of the sun meddled with its raging color. He breathed heavily, sucked air slowly, push them gently outwards. A suppressed and controlled anger. Because he had been very occupied by different stressful situations—the Tang envoy, the hwarang mass recruitment, Prince Xiao Ji—he did not had the time to think of a backup plan just in case his plan failed. He rationalized, he contemplated, staring into the mid-air. Because he was he, the issue of 'who did that to them?' or 'what would I do?' did not bother him the most. More likely, it was, 'what happened to me? why did I not see this coming? is this because of old age?'

He knew he was not as youthful as he was twenty or thirty years ago. His face might be flawless, impeccable, exemplary—but it was only on the superficial level. A dazzling cover of ancient scripture. The physical aspects of his body looked young. He was Silla's standard on how to define a handsome, charming, hormone-rising man. However, he felt that his mental acumen was not as harper and accurate as before. Rust has tainted his gold. Fifteen years ago, he was able to manipulate anyone so perfectly. The eclipse, Chil Yook and Lady Jang's execution, and ultimately hiding the other twin Prince. Everything that he had done in the past seemed to be cohesive and very well-calculated. Ever since he became Prime Minister, he had never tasted the sensation of failure. But when Chil Yook had betrayed him, he admitted—it distorted his world. It messed up everything, the reason why he was very eager to kill his former henchman. It seemed like a catastrophic chain reaction, unstoppable, spontaneously dangerous.

The plan obviously failed. His only lead, his only light to find Chil Yook and Sae Yoo shattered into pieces. He needed to patch himself up, instead of lamenting about what the hands of time had done to his body. He would start to scratch, a new blank blueprint in which each detail was needed to be sketched precisely. As he was in the middle of his thinking process, his daughter came, dressed in a white, silk night robe, with a faint red lip and cheek tints. Her hair was simply braided in a jade hairpin. Jin Ri bowed to her father, and Jung Ho offered a seat, erasing all worries painted on his face.

"A pleasant morning, my darling. What makes you visit my morning tea party?"

"Father, may I ask for a favor?"

Jung Ho smiled, "Anything for my sweetest daughter. Speak."

"Father, I have heard that you need to deploy hwarangs to Dokdo Island... Shun, please send Shun there. I do not want him in the palace anymore."

Jung Ho crossed his arms, squinting at his daughter. Perplexed, baffled with Jin Ri's exaggerated behavior towards a nangdo. "Darling, tell me the truth. Why are you so bothered with this Shun? He is just a mere trainee. He touches you, and he goes home with his family brutally murdered. Relax."

The spoiled daughter bit her lips and shifted her head to the left, fingers itching to clump together. She knew Sae Joo's new behavior was still raw. Juvenile, inexperienced, fragile. One blow and he could go shatter again back to his original gullible, immature, incompetent self. Jin Ri was aware that Shun was one of the Prince's key strength—source of the fire that had kept him with what he was now. She was a hunter in the dark woods, lurking and stalking for her prey. She wanted to hit two flying cranes with one stone. Retaliation and manipulation.

Jin Ri forced a half-smile across her lips, "I think you do not understand me, Father. This is not just to get even with that lowlife. I am not going to stoop low just for him. There is a bigger picture that you need to see."

The Prime Minister could not help but scoff with what he heard. "What is that bigger picture then?"

"We could use Shun to destroy Sae Joo bit by bit. Everyone thought that Sae Joo has changed, that he has matured. But no, he was still the young boy that I have known. He cannot stand on us by himself, he depends on people around him. Now, in order to prevent him from being that strong person, we need to kick out people that give him strength, that inspires him. One of them is Shun."