The Crown Prince (Taegi AU)

prologue

It was raining heavily.

Clouds rumbling, the sky was grey and the atmosphere was cold, sending a chill down the spine of whosoever present.

The streets were empty and not a single soul in sight.

The kingdom of Mingyu was waiting for this day, the day their crown prince was born.

But nobody rejoiced.

There was no banquet.

There was no music.

Not a single sound of celebration could be heard.

The child was born under the ominous star.

The king and queen called upon a famous prophet to come and give his blessings to the newborn baby but once the prophet saw the face of the little crown prince, his own face twisted in fear. He refused to give his blessings and warned everyone, "The child's birth has caused great anger to the heavens. He's born under the ominous star and would attract great misfortune. He'd bring ruin to the kingdom and would not live past 20 years of age."

The king was greatly angered to hear the prophet and ordered the prophet to be beheaded on the spot for cursing the crown prince.

Nobody dared object to the king but they also dare not hold a celebration for the newborn in fear of further angering the heavens.

And this was how the cursed crown prince was born.

On his birth, rain flooded the rice fields and the flood destroyed the crops. The prophet who divined the child's future was beheaded and the neighboring kingdom had started infiltrating the borders.

Even if the king wanted to forget the prophecy, deeming it to be nothing more than rubbish, deep in his heart he too believed that the child was surely misfortunate.

As years went by, nothing good happened and the kingdom was constantly under crisis, when one problem was solved another would arise without fail.

One day, in a drunken state of mind, the king was deeply agitated and tried to kill his own son. If it were not for the queen, he would've surely succeeded. The 4-year-old crown prince survived but with a scar on his right eye, a scar that would remain there for a lifetime reminding him of this day, the day his mother died while shielding him and protecting him from his own father.

Thankfully the king never tried to harm the life of the crown prince again and from an outsider's point of view, it could even be considered that he was a loving and doting father.

But no matter how much favored the crown prince seemed, in the end, it was all for show.

The child grew up in isolation and never received any love. It could even be said that he didn't even know the meaning of love, pity, or empathy. He grew up in coldness and his heart turned even more so.

He was deeply feared by all the citizens.

Tales of his curse were widespread, some true and some filtered-down nonsense.

Not many people dared to look at his face, and if any poor soul was unfortunate enough to even glance at the scar, he would not live long enough to tell the tale.

But everything had exceptions and in this case, it came in the form of a hostage prince from the neighboring kingdom, Kim Taehyung.

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The neighboring kingdom, Gim, had 2 princes and 3 princesses.

The elder brother, Hanyu was the crown prince entitled to the throne. He excelled in all aspects, from studies to martial arts. He was considered a one-in-a-million talent.

Unlike his brother who was destined for greatness, Kim Taehyung was the opposite. He was considered a useless prince who would not achieve anything in life. Literature made him sleep and swords scared him to death. A coward and a dumb prince who was worse than an ass.

So when the war seemed to be inevitable and the country at disadvantageous situations, the queen decided to send her useless son to the neighboring country as a bargaining chip, a hostage. And through this sacrifice of a useless prince, the queen avoided war and ensured the safety of her reign.

Taehyung was not a simple character to judge and understanding him was much more difficult than understanding the will of the heavens.
If there was a word to describe him, it would be 'troublemaker'. He loved causing trouble, doing what others warned him not to do, listening to his heart, and not using his brain to think. His own people deemed him to be useless trash and he seemed willing to live up to that reputation.

He had no ambition and no dreams and so nobody even cared to ask for his opinions.

He was ordered to go to the neighboring kingdom and he complied without any objections.

But with his rebellious nature, he was sure to cause trouble in the foreign country.

Most of the citizens placed bets on how many days he could survive there, everyone believing he'd be killed within a week.

But contrary to everyone's expectations, the prince not only lived happily but had also managed to churn up the cold heart of the crown prince of Mingyu, Min Yoongi.