JEONGCHEOL || Xiāng Féng

Beauty Like The Night

His Young Highness, Choi Seung Cheol is suffering from this terrible ennui.

Born as the only other son between His Majesty, the previous King, and the Queen Dowager, Choi Seung Cheol has lacked for nothing. Being a Grand Prince meant that he was above the other Princes in station, and the fact that his elder brother, now the current King, and he, have always been favoured by their Father, meant that he was pretty much free to do whatever he wanted. He's not in line for the throne, which means he doesn't need to have a harem full of women and men pawing at him night and day. His parents and older brother love him anyway, so they'll never force his hand into marriage. All in all, His Young Highness is living a pretty damn good life.

That doesn't mean he's a lazy person, though. He might not be an out-of-this-world genius, but he's quite decent all-round. He knows enough martial arts to defend himself (secretly his Brother thinks he does martial arts to keep fit to get girls), he was tutored properly as a Prince and so is articulate and knowledgeable enough (secretly his Brother thinks he learns poetry to get girls also), he behaves properly, converses properly, and knows how to play the gayageum properly. To sum it up, Choi Seung Cheol learns what he needed to learn, and not a percent more. The Grand Prince does not seem to have passion for any of the aforementioned fields. He knows just enough to get by.

Imagine for one moment, being someone who was born with a silver spoon in their mouth, who has never have to work hard for anything, and who has never strongly want to possess anything. At first, life may seem very pleasant. But when one does not have to work hard for something, then one will never feel motivated or determined at all. And a life without motivation or drive or purpose or attachment, is a bland one indeed.

His Highness Choi Seung Cheol is in desperate need of good entertainment. Or excitement. Or something that will spice up his life. Something that is NOT paperwork from the court officials petitioning for him to be married so that "the Royal Family's prestigious bloodline may become more abundant" or some crap like that. Seung Cheol knows that is a code for we have a bunch of daughters who are of marriable age and where better to go than to a Grand Prince who does not have any wife? As if they don't give him enough of a headache already by constantly "gifting" him with men and women. The Prince can, and did turn most of them down, but no matter how much freedom he has, these "gifts" are some of the only things he has to consider carefully. If the men and women are from high-ranking court officials, turning them down basically means slapping the officials in the face, so to his chagrin, at a rate of 1 to 2 at a time, His Young Highness Choi Seung Cheol finds his household accumulating one concubine after another.

His Young Highness Choi Seung Cheol hates it. The Grand Prince despises the idea of men and women selling each other out to be noticed by him even more than he hates getting married. Thus, even though the concubines keep coming, he has never once slept with any of them. Heck, he hasn't looked at any of them at all! Should he ever need to relieve himself, the Prince disguises himself and meet up with a Gisaeng. He is not a permanent patron, and rarely ever summons one anyhow.

His Young Highness the Grand Prince is especially frustrated this evening.

He has just fought with the Chamui (Secretary) of Gongjo (Ministry of Works) because apparently the imbecile could not see how implementing the new cultivar of rice can massively increase the annual yield and thus the State Reserve. One of his sisters, a Princess (Ongju) is about to be married off, and his Mother, the Queen Dowager, wants him to be a part of the procession that will escort her to another country. The Prince really does not fancy doing that. On top of that, his usual Gisaeng has just passed away due to a serious case of pneumonia, right when he wants to see her. All-in-all, today has not been a good day for Choi Seung Cheol.