[FIFTEEN YEARS LATER]
For the past years, the palace had faced several phenomena that almost broke its core and foundation. Natural calamities became frequent, which had killed thousands of lives. Small rebellions had risen from different parts of the kingdom. Despite all those, miraculously, the palace had still managed to cope up. Just like what the Prime Minister had promised during the eclipse prediction, the palace had always helped the people in various ways, using more adept and more advanced technology.
That was for the scientific level. However, people were not aware of any of those. Many of them thought that it was because of the King's son—Prince Sae Joo, who was believed to had opened a new era and hope to the whole kingdom. Rumors about the Crown Prince spread across the whole kingdom like a raging wildfire even without seeing an inch of his shadow.
Inside the palace's main hall, where the council meeting was held, the members of the Hwabaek were early waiting. Standing on both sides of the yellow carpet, the ministers exchanged chatters.
There was a little change in the members for others had retired already. Dae Wong and Yoo Min still looked almost the same; the only difference was a few facial hairs on their lips and chins. Yeol and Hoon had already retired due to their old ages, but they remained to be important noblemen in the palace. In the middle of their chatters, a eunuch announced, "The Prime Minister and Lord Jung Min have arrived."
Jung Ho and Jung Min walked down the red carpet. Jung Ho remained young as he was years back. The rumors must had been true—that he had been drinking babies' blood to remain youthful as ever. His broad shoulders and tall, stark physique still outshone all men in the whole palace. However, Jung Min might be his very close competitor. The crybaby grew up to be a dazzling, charming young man. Most of his features were close to his father, with a little variation from his unknown mother. He was as tall as Jung Ho; they had the same shape of sharp chestnut eyes, long pointed nose, thin red lips, and his best features—his perfect, angular, highlighted jaws.
Jung Min joined the council members, standing on the side of the carpet, for he had filled Hoon's position. He became the Head of the Prosecution Department a few years back. Jung Ho went a level up and sat on an elegant chair a level below the King's throne on the right.
Just after the father and son came, the King arrived. "His Majesty graces you all!" announced the eunuch.
Jae Joong strode down the carpet and sat at his throne. Through the years, his soft features remained the same, but his angelic eyes were nowhere to be seen. Due to the different stresses in the past years, his once sweet eyes became a bit tired and heavy. Prominent dark circles clung into his eyes, and his face was surrounded with few hoary gray facial hairs.
"Is the council complete?" the King asked.
"Yes, Your Majesty," Jung Min answered; his voice was thick and deep.
The King nodded, and he looked at an empty seat one level down from his throne, opposite the Prime Minister, on his left. He sighed, "Is the Crown Prince informed? Why is he still not here?"
"Sire, maybe he is still with my daughter. I reminded him last night after his painting class with Minister Yoo Min," Jung Ho answered.
A few moments later, the eunuch announced, "Prince Sae Joo has arrived."
Everyone looked at the front door as the guards had opened the door. The Crown Prince walked down the red carpet with his distracting long steps. The council members pulled their faces and bowed their heads as they saw traces of paints in the teenage prince's face. There were marks in his soft, almond eyes, near his small turned up nose, and heart-shaped scarlet lips. Patches of indigo paints tainted his obsidian-black, thick eyebrows. Almost all of his diamond-shaped face was covered. His tall, lean body accentuated in a white royal robe and an auburn cloak with patches of dried blue and green paints on it. Some of his hair strands dangled on his forehead, outside of his small crown pinned at the top of his head.
After passing through the council members, he bowed to the King and went up to his seat, opposite the Prime Minister.
Sae Joo smiled. "Forgive me for being late." he then chortled. The King just rubbed his forehead as he groaned.
After a deep sigh, the King cleared his throat and spoke, "Attention everyone! As we all know, Prince Sae Joo's fifteenth birthday celebration is coming near. When that day comes, the Head Priestess shall predict if he would be a perfect ruler for the kingdom. If the prediction turned out to be positive, he will start fulfilling his duties as a true Crown Prince—first, to be the leader of all Hwarangs. If the result turns out to be negative—"
Jae Joong paused as he turned his head to the Prime Minister and smiled. "We would conduct another council meeting."
Sae Joo's eyes grew large as he cocked his head towards his father. "May I beg your pardon, Your Majesty?" he asked—voice silky and silvery.
"Yes, Sae Joo," Jae Joong answered, pursing his lips into a thin, shaky line.
The Prime Minister interrupted and spoke, "Wangja-nim, if you worry too much about the responsibility that you would be having, I would humbly request Lord Jung Min to be your assistant." Jung Ho tilted his head and raised his brow to his son.
The Crown Prince beamed and leaned forward. "Really Uncle?" he leaned backward and slouched; he pouted his lips and twisted his face in distaste, "As a matter of fact, I know nothing about the Hwarangs and all of that political issues. With this lean body of mine?" he flipped his head to the left and raised a palm, "Come on, please!"
"Sae Joo!" the King scolded; everyone in the court was startled with the King's sudden outburst. The young crown prince just bit his lips and bowed his head down. Jung Min, from below, stared at him, as he murmured, "What a big joke."
"The council members will deliberate on this matter: whether Prince Sae Joo becomes the Head of the Hwarangs or Lord Jung Min would act as his assistant leader. The birthday will be in a few days so I want everything to be perfectly prepared. Begin all necessary preparations after this meeting. That is all. This meeting is adjourned."
~~•~~
After the meeting, when everyone already went on separate duties, Jung Min went back to his pavilion. As he strode down the hallway going to his bedchambers, his boots stomped on the marble floor with too much savagery. All his ladies-in-waiting stepped back, terrified by the young man's flaring face. Jung Min slid the door and banged it as it closed. He sat at his table and gulped a whole bottle of wine. One became two; then, it became three. He grabbed a cup, gripped it and threw it at the wall. The crashing sound alerted everyone outside but they just turned a blind eye, terrified of their master inside.
"Sae Joo, you have treated everything... everyone as a joke! Then you are fine? Just because you are a Seonggol!" he hissed.
After a few minutes, the Prime Minister entered his son's room without asking for permission. He examined the room, and he saw the shattered pieces of the cup by the wall.
"I guess one cup is not enough." Jung Ho grinned."
He walked to his son, eyes flashing mockery at the drunk man. "Destroy as many cups as you want, and then let your shallow life crumble down."
Jung Min stared at his father with his eyes like a savage beast, holding his bottle; face nearly kissing the table. "What are you doing in here?"
The Prime Minister sat at the table, opposite his son. "I will go straight to the point. You do not want Prince Sae Joo to be the leader of the Hwarangs, right?"
Jung Min shook a finger at his father as we wobbled on the chair, head swinging. "The Hwarangs... must be mine. It has been... yours for the past years. I must be the rightful successor!"
"Well, we have to work together in order for that to happen. The Hwabaek deliberation would be tomorrow. I need you to arrange a dinner tonight at my pavilion terrace. We shall convince all of them for you to be the assistant leader."
"Assistant? You really treat me as a joke!" the intoxicated man scoffed, his head completely knocked down on the table.
"Just do as I say!" Jung Ho reproved.
"Fine! Is there anything else?"
The irked prime minister scanned the young man's wasted appearance. "If you really wish to get what you desire, you better get a grip of yourself. Look at you! You are stressing yourself just because of that teenage prince?"
He continued, "Being a Jingol was not our choice, but we can still write our own destiny. We are going to destroy the wall founded by the King's and Prince Sae Joo's bloodline.
Jung Min raised his head and curled his lips. He stood and reeled towards his father, clapping his hands with a loud laughter. "Wow! Speaking as a father, are you not?"
His face suddenly twisted into a razor-edged look, as it moved closer to his father. "Stop bothering about what I do. I have followed everything you have said for the past fifteen years. You are the one who made me this way!" he growled.
Jung Ho pushed his son, and the drunk man almost tripped on the floor but he had a grip at the table before he could stumble. "Tsk tsk tsk, stop talking nonsense. You are wasting your time! If I were you, I would get up from there and monitor Sae Joo's action, just like what your sister, Jin Ri is doing."
Jung Min grabbed the wine bottle and gulped forcefully. The wine spilled from his mouth and flowed down his chest. "Oh yes! Jin Ri. My sister, Jin Ri. What do you want me to do, my dear father? Do painting and sewing classes with Sae Joo?" his mouth opened wide, unleashing a loud, irritating guffaw.
"You fool!" Jung Ho shook his head and left.
~~•~~
In a small gazebo, just as near the deceased queen's pavilion and flower garden, Sae Joo was sitting at a small chair, painting a blue mountain and a rice field in a canvass, standing on an easel. He used various sets of colored paints and his small paintbrush. His painting was very raw, yet detailed—from the strokes of the blue sky, the fluffy visual textures of the cumulus clouds, up to the crisp colors and lines of the mountains and the rice fields. He had a gift in expressing his ideas and imaginations into visual representations. His eyes could also see through and recognize even the smallest difference in color hues. People around him could not deny the fact that he was a walking young artist. Every part of his personality was a composition of a living art.
However, despite these, there was one thing he was not able to accomplish yet—draw a real-life mountain and wild scenery. All his life, he had been staying inside the eight gates of the grand palace. Now, that his fifteenth birthday was coming near, a few moments of exposure in a real-life mountain, streams, and forest would be the best birthday gift for him.
While he was painting, a soft pair of hands from behind covered his eyes in an instant. He dropped the paintbrush and touched the hands to recognize who the person was.
"Hmm, who are you?" he chuckled.
He wiggled as he tapped his fingers repeatedly to the soft hands, up to the lean arms, tickling the person who was playing him a prank.
"Okay, I give up. You won!" said by a lady with a thick, sultry voice. She removed her hands from Sae Joo's eyes, and the Crown Prince turned around.
"Ha! I knew it. It was you, Jin Ri!" he laughed.
Standing before him was a teenage lady, wearing a fuchsia robe and skirt. Her hair was intricately braided, rolled at the back of her head, decorated with exquisite hair ornaments. Two thick strands of hair fell perfectly to her chest. Her amber-brown eyes with long and curly eyelashes shone brightly together with her perfectly lustrous beam. Jung Ho's bloodline was extremely prominent for she possessed skin as fair and white as a milk.
The young lady held her skirt and turned. "So, how do you like my new skirt, Your Highness?"
Sae Joo's eyes twinkled like a star as his hands ran along the garment, praising the cloths' fine and pure elegance. "Did you sew this?"
Jin Ri pouted her lips. "Yes. I did this firsthand. Do you like it?"
As Sae Joo's breath stood still at his throat, he burst out and exclaimed, "Yes! I love it! You are the best, Jin Ri! I mean look at the hemline and the alluring embroideries at the sides. I am sure anyone would stand out in the crowd wearing this elegant skirt!"
"I was just wondering Your Highness, why do you need a skirt like this?"
Sae Joo winked as he smiled, "Secret. I will tell you on our birthdays."
Jin Ri smiled. She noticed the prince's painting, and her eyes rolled in extreme astonishment.
"Wow! Look at this painting of yours, Your Highness. It is very beautiful."
"It was a pleasure hearing that." Sae Joo mumbled, looking down.
"What is wrong, Your Highness?"
Sae Joo signaled the young lady to sit opposite him. He leaned forward, grabbed her soft hands and held it gently. "I really appreciate that you liked my painting, my art... and me. But, I feel like there is something missing."
"What is it, Your Highness."
"My craft and my artistry... they all seem unnatural to me. They all lack... life."
"Your Highness, your artistic skills are one of the finest, matching the skills of those tenured ones."
"Yes, I can paint, sculpt, write a poem, sing, and dance but all of my artworks seemed dull and lifeless because they are all roots of other art forms. I could only paint a mountain because I have seen a painting of a mountain. I am a mediocre artist who lacks originality!"
Jin Ri smirked. "Are you saying that you want to see a real mountain?"
"Yes, I do. But, I could not. Ever since I was born, I was chained into this palace; the only thing that my eyes have laid were my family, the court ladies, the guards, the hwarangs, and the grandeur of this huge walled place. People have caged me as their savior, a sacred person who needs to be taken care of, but I have never even seen our people. My eyes and my soul are craving for something new."
Jin Ri nodded, sympathizing the Crown Prince's sentiments. "I may not have experienced all the things that you have said, but trust me, I know how it feels. My father was also too protective to me. Maybe this our destiny, our curse: freedom would always be the best luxury we could only dream of, especially in your case since you are the kingdom's savior according to our people."
The Crown Prince's mind was suddenly tickled with an extreme sense of curiosity. "What is it like to go outside? How do our people live? What do their houses look like in real life? I have seen some illustrations in books but I do wish to see a real one."
"I want to experience something new. I want to feel what they feel too. I want to feel their love, their pain, and their kindness. In that way, I could only prove to myself that I deserve the title of being their savior."
He continued, "This is very difficult for me. My father wants me to become the leader of the Hwarangs, to be a true prince in the making, protecting the people, but he does not even want me to have even the slightest glimpse of our people. I feel different. Politics is definitely not for me. I can help people in my own ways. I just wish they could understand that."
While holding hands, Jin Ri stood and she pulled Sae Joo, making the Crown Prince stand up too from his seat. The young lady glued her eyes into the Prince. "Do you really wish to see what it is like outside?"
Sae Joo smiled and nodded.
Jin Ri stepped forward closer. She held his arms and hugged him. Her arms wrapped passionately into the Crown Prince's body, and her fingers danced into the young man's onyx-black hair.
"Would you really do that?" Sae Joo asked.
Before Jin Ri could even say a word, she looked straight into the garden, where the Prime Minister stood from afar, smiling at her. The young lady gave her father a short nod, and then she said, "Yes, I would help you. I would gladly help you.
__________
NOTES:
Wangja-nim (왕자 님) - Korean honorific term for, "Prince"