A Tiger Called Rapunzel ✓ || TaeGyu || HYBEPride 2021

The Truth of Kim Heulin

The entirety of the Naeil Kingdom had forgotten, after eighteen years, that Kim Heulin was still the most powerful magic user in existence.

She had rivaled Namjoon in their magic studies for years, even beating him out in their final exams before graduating from magic school. Whereas Namjoon had preferred to focus on his civics classes, learning how to be a good king, Heulin threw herself fully into her magic, learning nearly every spell in the book and growing closer to Mae so their magic level would be raised. She believed that there were no limits to her magical power, and the more that she gained, the more respect and prestige she would also gain.

Heulin kept her poker face, accumulating skills as she discovered them. And then, after both she and Namjoon had graduated magic school, she approached her parents with an offer: that she would become the next Queen of the Naeil Kingdom, instead of Namjoon. She had enough magic power, she told them, that she could rule the Naeil Kingdom with an iron fist, the way she believed it should be ruled. When they told her that the royal line was patrilineal and she would never become Queen, she attacked both of her parents instead, bringing both of them close to death before disappearing in a flash of smoke.

She would find a way to kill Namjoon. She was sure of it. If Namjoon was dead, then Heulin was the only answer for the throne. But she had to make it seem like an accident, otherwise the people would never accept her as their Queen. And before she could form a plan, Namjoon had found Yoongi, and Heulin's father had abdicated the throne to give way to a new King and his Consort. So the plan had changed: steal Namjoon's only heir, raise the child as her own with her wife, and wait for the perfect time to strike the castle. Once Namjoon and his consort were out of the way, Heulin would reappear and save the Kingdom at its highest hour of need. She would be the greatest hero the world had ever known, and the people would make her their Queen.

Nobody ever had to know that pure little Cholongkkoch, Heulin's so-called adoptive daughter, was secretly the lost prince Beomgyu. Not even Cholongkkoch herself. There would be no need for her once Heulin became Queen, and she could live the rest of her days as a palace servant, hidden away from the world as she had been for years.

There had only been one major thorn in her side: this rebellious man the commoners called King, this Kang Taehyun who kept raiding the castle and stealing its gold reserves. Because of this, the castle guards were on call at all hours of the day and night, which meant there was no opportune moment to strike the castle and secretly murder the King. And making a move during the Tiger Festival was out of the question. So Heulin waited, for eighteen long years, building her own magic power on trips away from the Kingdom, building allies in the women she slept with, and keeping her obedient daughter in check lest she wander off and someone find her, start asking questions.

Turned out she had wandered off on her own.

"GIVE ME THAT," she shrieked, reaching toward Cholong and grabbing the crown from him. She knew that crown. She knew that it had been for the new Prince. She had literally watched the crown's design from its genesis! There was no mistaking that crown, the care that had gone into it, how excited Heulin's parents had been when they had seen it for the first time, knowing a king would someday wear it.

If Cholongkkoch had the crown, it meant she had to have gone to the castle, maybe for the Festival. Perhaps her brother already knew Beomgyu was alive; perhaps that's why Cholongkkoch's hair had been cut so short. Heulin's daughter was no longer sweet and submissive; she was thinking for herself and could be dangerous.

She needed to put a stop to this -- she needed to end Cholongkkoch's life now.

But suddenly, the crown floated right out of Heulin's hands again and back to Cholong's arms. He grabbed it from midair, then turned. Kai was right behind him, as he always was. He waved a flipper.

"Thanks, Kai." Then, he turned back to his mother, still clueless. "What do you want with this? I don't think it's yours. In fact, I think it might actually be mine."

He knew. Those words were confirmation that Heulin didn't have to hold back any longer. Her daughter, sweet, malleable Cholongkkoch, had the crown, and she understood the crown was not Heulin's to have.

She was no longer needed around anymore.

Heulin had intended for it to be quick. She had to call out the spell by name, since it was so powerful, and then Mae would fly to her aid immediately, diving on Cholongkkoch, ripping the life out of her lungs, killing her in an instant. It was black magic, for sure, magic only Heulin could tame. But before Heulin could utter the spell, she found her tongue unable to move. Mae could not be called.

Cholong looked over at Kai. "What are you doing?"

"Keeping her quiet." Kai looked incredibly angry for a two foot tall penguin. "You can't just decide to take this crown away from him! It's not yours to begin with! Don't touch things that aren't yours!"

Mae swooped through the tower from her perch in the living room, without being called. She dove upstairs and towards Kai with a fierce bird call. There was a rush of feathers, and then, Mae and Kai were facing each other in Cholong's bedroom. Mae was snarling at Kai, and Kai was holding his flippers up, muttering a basic shielding spell the entire time. Cholong ducked behind Kai, making sure the small penguin was the only thing separating him from his mother and her ferocious, overpowerful daemon. He started reciting the shielding spell as well, and it increased tenfold as it should; the human recites the spell while the daemon performs the magic.

Cholong looked down at the crown in his hands. There was something about it that was making his mother so mad. Why was that? And whose crown was this, anyway? His mom had to know whom it belonged to, otherwise she wouldn't be so angry. Whosevers it was, it wasn't hers, that was for sure. And so, he took the crown, he turned it around so that the red stone was in front, and he put it on his head.

"YOU WILL DIE!" Heulin screamed, and Mae let forward a huge gust of power that shook the entire tower. The base shifted. Kai held still, Cholong still muttering the shield spell that would keep them both safe. Now fully free from Kai's tongue-tying spell, Heulin screamed the words that would bring her certain victory, that would steal the soul from this man's lungs, that would kill this stranger whom she had never loved in the first place.

Cholong held onto Kai for dear life, still keeping him in front, still trying to protect himself.

Mae absorbed Heulin's spell, brimming with power so intense she was glowing. The hawk dove toward Kai.

They collided.

The tower shook one more time. There was a huge shock wave that reverberated across the hidden glen. And then, the tower snapped in two and fell to the ground.