Alongside with a stuck breath in a throat lump, Chil Yook's eyes grew wide as well upon reading the written embroidery. There was a sudden sense of confusion that shaded his head. Things that could not patch up to his mind cycled all at the same time. It was as if there were enormous boulders crushing him spontaneously.
Is that a baby? Who is that? What is happening?
As Chil Yook was deeply thinking about the ludicrous situation, Lady Min handed the presumed baby to the Prime Minister, who was standing on Chil Yook's left. The Prime Minister signaled Lady Min to unlock the chains on Chil Yook's hand with a silver key. After unlocking the man, the matron removed the nylon ropes wrapping around the ex-Grand Marshal's body. Finally feeling the sense of physical freedom, Chil Yook slowly stood up. Breathing heavily and sweating copiously, he thanked the Prime Minister for letting him free.
"My gratitude, My Lord. I thought we are going to die already," Chil Yook said.
Jung Ho did not reply. He just raised a brow and rocked the baby slowly.
Chil Yook cleared his throat. "If I may, Your Excellency, may I ask some questions?"
"Speak."
"How did you find me, and where is Lady Jang?"
Jung Ho guffawed in response to Chil Yook's absurd questions. Lady Min grimaced upon seeing her Lord's exaggerated reaction. "Still no idea, I guess. I will return the question to you in quite a twisted manner, Chil Yook. How come that you woke up in here and not in those bandits' hideout?"
The ex-Grand Marshal just sighed. He bowed his head and shook it slowly. "So, it was you, My Lord. That is why their leader was very familiar."
"Speaking of their leader... Come in!" Jung Ho called.
The leader of the bandits entered, still wearing a black robe and baggy pants, but his face exposed freely. "Greetings, Grand Marshal!" the leader greeted, grinning.
Chil Yook's eyes widened as his muscles stiffened. He was right; he actually knew who the leader was. It was one of the fourteen hwarangdos in the palace—a disgrace in a hwarang clan leader. He walked slowly to the leader, tottering. "You! I knew it! Those men with you, are they all hwarangs as well?"
"No. Those people were actually from a big group of rebels. Different races. Some were from Silla; some were from Balhae, while others are descendants of Goguryeo and Baekje. They are nomadic. I have an acquaintance from there so the Prime Minister talked to me about this whole ploy, and he paid me and some of the rebels," the hwarangdo explained.
Jung Ho butted in, continuing the whole explanation. "This is to save your life, Chil Yook. The King is picking on you since you are the best hwarang. He thinks that if you were out, he could find some useful opportunity to defeat me. However, it was the opposite. Getting rid of you has made me think of a useful plan to completely destroy him in the future."
Chil Yook's eyes narrowed, perplexed with the Prime Minister's statements. He walked back to his Lord and asked, "What do you mean, Your Excellency?"
"This is the answer." Jung Ho handed the baby to Chil Yook. The startled former Grand Marshall held the baby carefully, tucking him into his chest. Suddenly, the baby whimpered. "Shh, hush little baby. Hush." he murmured, rocking the baby gently until it stopped crying.
"I do not understand, My Lord. Who is this?" Chil Yook asked.
"Give him respects... He is the King's son, Prince Sae Yoo."
Upon hearing the Prime Minister, Chil Yook swallowed, and his jaws dropped. He had received too much surprise in a day. First, the Prime Minister organized a major plan to save him, next, the hwarangdo being the bandits' leader, and finally, the most destructive bombshell: the King's son.
"My Lord, w-wh-what should I do with the King's son?" he asked, stuttering and breathing irregularly.
"Remember what I have told you before in that cell the night before the prosecution? That you will die on the day of the trial, and you have to follow my last order as Gukseon? Well, obviously, that was your last task as a Gukseon. However, your task as my personal hwarang does not stop from there."
"Yes, My Lord."
"I will give you another task, and it will take a lot of years before you can complete it. I want you to take care of that child for me. Raise that child. Teach him all of the skills that you have. From time to time, I will visit you. You will be under my supervision... By the time, he is fifteen already, you will give the baby to me, and I will be the one who will train him, as a hwarang. I will use him to defeat the King and eventually, he is the one who shall kill his father and his twin brother!" Jung Ho declared and stabbed Chil Yook with a devilish gaze.
"B-bu-but, My Lord. I know nothing about taking care of a child."
"That is not my problem! Do you prefer to be at Tamra Island, with no freedom? Exile is tantamount to death, you fool! It gradually kills the inner you... I will not argue with you on this. You will follow me. Now, there is a carriage waiting outside. It will take you to the jetty. You will ride a boat going to Ulleung Island. Once you were on the island, a man named Man Suk will welcome you, and he will take you to your new home. You will start a new life with that child. Of course, you need to change yours and the child's name. Do you understand?"
With a deep inhale from his lungs, Chil Yook nodded slowly, bounded to another impossible task given to him. All his life, an image of being a father had never crossed his bloodied mind; he never imagined that someday, he would marry and eventually have children. Of all the different tasks assigned to him by the Prime Minister, this was the toughest.
"Perfect. Now, I need you to have a weapon; you have the King's son with you," Jung Ho said. He signaled the hwarangdo, and the man unsheathed his sword and gave it to him. Studying his reflection at the sword blade, he snickered, praising the quality of the sword. "Hmm, this is a good one. Now, let's put it to a test."
With all of a sudden, he swung the sword and slashed the hwarangdo's throat. Lady Min screamed out of shock. She almost fell on the floor, seeing the man's blood spattered into the jars, and to the Prime Minister's face and forest-green robe. The poor man's eyes dilated in extreme shock. While gripping his hands to the cut, a bloody spit escaped from his mouth. In just a matter of seconds, the helpless man slowly fell on the hay floor—dead.
Jung Ho chuckled; his face was covered with patches of blood. He gently raised the bloodied sword again, swinging it slowly into the air. "Hmm, perfect! Take this, and go to your destination. Go."
Chil Yook accepted the sword. He snatched a short glance to the dead man on the floor as he wiped the sword into his pants. He gave his final bow to the Prime Minister and left.
Jung Ho ordered Lady Min to take care of the body before they leave. "Get that trash out of my sight. Another chamber of secret might unlock, endangering us in the future. Then, I need you to call the three hwarang witnesses. Tell them to meet me here." he smiled and left.
~~•~~
After giving the dead hwarangs a good burial, Dae Wong and his men went back to the palace. The sun was almost on its straight position in the sky, the air turned humid, and the beam of light shone straight above on everything—everything on the busy palace. As their troops entered the gates, they noticed the guards, hwarangs, and palace court ladies preparing for a banquet in the main courtyard, just at the front of the King's pavilion. Flags were hoisted at the corners and at the balconies. Long colorful fabrics were hanged in the air as well, traveling from one balcony to another. Hwarangs and guards assembled the chairs, the carpets, and the tables, while the court ladies were busy placing table mantles, food, flowers, and other decorations to the tables.
"Minister Dae Wong!" the King called, who was walking down the courtyard after observing the preparation. The minister and his troops dismounted from their horses and bowed before the King.
"Well?" Jae Joong asked.
"I wish to have a private word with you, Sire." Dae Wong dismissed his men, and the King commanded his retinue to stay put. The two walked down to the courtyard while discussing.
"Sire, it was not an ordinary massacre. I believe that it was staged," Dae Wong reported.
"Staged?"
"Yes, Sire. The witnesses think that the bandits are the culprits. The hwarangs' clan rings were all missing. With that, the culprits are trying to convince us that the real motive is robbery. But, no. One of my hwarangs noticed something strange: the arrows that were used to kill our men. The materials were made from here, from Seorabeol; from the weapon house owned by one of our hwarangdos," Dae Wong explained.
"Someone from Seorabeol must have organized this ploy, but those arrows are not enough proof." Jae Joong frowned, thinking that it could be no other than his brother. He paused from walking. "It is my brother. I know he is the one behind this. Chil Yook is one of the few people who knows all of his evil doings. When he dies, his secrets would be safe... It frustrates me that he always gets ahead, gets whatever he wants. Maybe he is right, I am a king, but Jung Ho is the ruler. I may have the heart, but he has the brains."
"Fret not, Your Majesty. As long as he does not get the throne, everything is under control. I think it is best to lie low, think of new strategies, study his behavior more, and attack him when the right time comes—especially when Prince Sae Joo grows up."
"But we still have one problem: We have not seen Lady Jang and Chil Yook's bodies yet. What if they are not yet dead?" the King worried.
"We have to deal with our problems slowly, Sire. As of now, as long as the two do not appear near the palace, we would be fine. Our main focus should be your brother and the protection of your son, the Crown Prince."
"You are right. Who knows? Sae Joo might be the one who could contend with his prowess. I will raise him to become a strong, good ruler."
"Come with me prepare everything for the banquet," Jae Joong continued.
~~•~~
Inside the carriage, traveling to the docks—east of the kingdom, Chil Yook was thinking about his future, together with the King's son. "What am I going to do with you?" he mumbled.
Staring at the saffron-yellow ceiling, his thoughts were circling around his head, crushing, and rumbling with each other in disastrous turmoil. A diverse set of negative thoughts and paranoia whispered in his chaotic head. These ear-splitting sounds were even louder than the trotting hooves of the horse.
He was distracted with a sudden bump, which made him bounce from his seat. The horse whinnied loudly that it almost woke the baby. He opened the window and asked, "What is that?" The coachman turned his head and answered, "My apologies. A woman just crossed the trail. We almost hit her. Good thing, I was able to pull the halters quickly."
Chil Yook groaned, closing the window. However, before he could fully close it, he had a sudden, random thought.
A woman?
Then, he heard the coachman shouting. "Hey woman, what happened?"
Out of his curiosity and unsettling thinking, he placed the baby on the side, and he opened the carriage door to find out who she was. He walked slowly and saw a woman lying on the ground, unconscious. As he got closer, he was able to recognize the poor lady. It was Lady Jang. Her hair was frowzy, and she had bruises on her face. Pretending not to recognize who she was, he volunteered to carry the unconscious woman calmly and walked back to the carriage.
"I will just attend to her for a while until she wakes up, and I will drop her off," Chil Yook said, looking at the escorts at the tail. One of the escorts just nodded and opened the door. Chil Yook entered, and the carriage moved once again.
~~•~~
Drums orchestrated throughout the palace courtyard, as the simple coronation ceremony for the Crown Prince, in front of the King's pavilion begun. Under the faint beam of the sun, covered by cotton clouds in afternoon skies, the courtesans assembled elegantly to the front, dancing and performing with the accompaniment of drums and geomungo, as the people watched on their tables. The palace officials exchanged chitchats as they enjoyed the spectacular number from the colorful performers, the wine as old as their ancestors, and the food as delightful as Heaven's delicacies.
Just after the short performance, a eunuch announced. "His Majesty graces us all!" As the main door of the pavilion opened, all people stood and bowed. The King, wearing his maroon ceremonial robe, yellow cape dragging on the floor, and his towering gold crown, walked ceremoniously from the pavilion down to the courtyard, tucking his baby on his chest.
"People of Silla! The Heavens is still benevolent to us. After the dark times of the eclipse miscalculations, the death of the Queen, and the exile of the traitors, another ray of light has been bestowed upon us. Our kingdom has fallen into its deepest pits, but we were given a chance to rise. This embarks the new era for Silla, for a new ruler has been born; our savior, our Crown Prince, Prince Sae Joo!" He lifted the baby into the skies, and the eunuch announced, "All hail to our King; all hail to our Prince Sae Joo!"
The crowd followed and cheered. As usual, the Prime Minister, who was at the front table in the courtyard, did not praise the King and the Prince whole-heartedly. He transfixed his eyes as sharp as nails at the two, as another thought came across his mind. Sire, if you think that you already have the world, just because Prince Sae Joo was born, you are deluding yourself. I have a stronger weapon that could deal with your Prince.
He turned his head and gazed at Jung Min, who was standing before him. His hands run along the boy's pitch-black hair. The boy glued his eyes on the Prince, but not in a heartwarming gaze—his young hazel eyes turned blistering red as he anchored a glare to his cousin. Sae Joo, this is your fault. If you were not even born, the King could have saved me from my monstrous father.
__________
NOTES:
Ulleung Island (울릉) - a small island 120 km. east of the Korean Peninsula.
Geomungo (거문고) - a traditional, wooden Korean stringed instrument plucked by a short bamboo stick called suidae (수이대).