Jeon Jeongguk, the crown prince of Jeonseol and the winner of one of the bloodiest wars ever. The great prince, who went on a voyage after the war and never returned.
Everyone knew these facts. Everyone including Kim Taehyung, one of the most famou...
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"He has already lost the battle, Father. If he is still there, I shall show you who is a better candidate for the throne. I shall show you why you should have chosen me from the start instead of that imbecile."
"What do you mean by 'if he's still there'? Jeonghyun, what have you done?!"
Jeongguk could hear the panic in his mother's voice. He could hear teacups slamming on the table. He could hear his father slamming his hand on the table.
And he couldn't take it.
He finally opened the door and stepped in, ignoring his mother's shriek and frantic questions in favour of not breaking eye contact with his brother as he walked towards him with his bloody sword still dragging behind him.
How had he never noticed the fire that his brother's eyes contained?! Maybe he was too blinded by his love for him to see the hatred burning in his eyes.
And now that he had finally seen it, he couldn't un-see it anymore.
Without even acknowledging his father, he walked close to his brother and threw his bloody sword in front of him. The sword clanged loudly on the floor, making a few drops of blood displace from it. They fell on his brother, one drop making its place right on his forehead.
Jeonghyun stared in shock as Jeongguk bent forward and smudged the drop of blood until it made a huge horizontal mark on his forehead.
Without another word, Jeongguk sat down right where he stood, just a couple of feet away from his brother, the sword, his mother and his father.
"You want to fight me? In a one-on-one battle? Why, hyung?" he asked despite already knowing the answer. He was just in a shocked daze, unable to properly process anything yet.
Jeonghyun didn't talk for a few seconds, but when he did, it made Jihyo shriek again and rush forward to slap him on his face left and right.
"I do not want to battle you one-on-one, little brother. I know you would win. But it is not individual strength that matters for a ruler. It is the strength of people. I have people behind my back. People who are ready to sacrifice their lives right now if I ask them to, just in order to kill you for me. And that is exactly what I'm going to do. I'm going to show Father what a useless weakling of a King you would make with no support behind you."
"You've made a mistake, brother. You are blind for not being able to see how much I loved you. If you had just asked me for the throne, I'd have gladly given it up for you. But now that you've gone down this path, you leave me with no option but to show you what it is like to betray me."
Jeonghyun let out a bark of laughter.
"Betray you?" he got to his knees to lean closer to Jeongguk's face. His eyes burned harder than ever as he growled. "The throne belongs to me, little brother. If anything, it's you that has betrayed me," he said.
