White Dragon Stories

Wish

Hakuryuu was not a partier. He disliked big crowds and the noise that came with it. As part of the royal family he could not avoid some festivities, like the visit of another ruler or the birthday of the emperor. Such occasions were annoying for him, but he attended and often it was relatively nice in the beginning. As soon as the participants of the festivity started to get drunken he took his leave. It was only important that people saw that he had been there, since he was only the fourth prince people ignored him most of the time anyway, because he didn't hold an important position. So while everyone was having fun at the party, Hakuryuu sneaked away silently. He was not welcomed there anyway. He knew that his uncle would prefer it, if he stayed away from political gatherings at all, so his uncle could badmouth him. It was quite sad how an adult hated a child so much just because said child was the son of the adult's older brother, who was smarter, more popular and powerful. Hakuryuu had accepted how he was treated by his relatives, if they wanted to be so pathetic, he would not stop them. He had his own plans anyway. All he needed was a bit more power, so he could kill the witch and her follower and take back the empire. This was Hakuyuu's last wish and Hakuryuu was determined to fulfill it. Until then he would endure his relatives and stay low.
Today was not an important gathering, just a few nobles that would kiss anyone's ass as long as it meant more power or at least to maintain the power they already had. All of them looked down on Hakuryuu, since he was no longer the son of the emperor. He may have only switched from third to fourth prince, however he was not Koutoku's biological son, so he was even more "worthless". He held no military position or even a political one – some even went so far to say he was less worth than the princesses, because they could at least be married off. Hakuryuu on the other hand was too ugly, because of the scars on his body, because he was too weak and too stupid – according to them, which was not true at all – to be married off and maybe they also feared he would rebel against the empire together with the person he would be married to, which was not even too farfetched. He would rebel, but not only with someone at his side, he also would do it alone – and he was already planning his rebellion. Thereby he also would get rid of all those pretenders. Things would be so much better, of his father and brothers were still alive. Or if his relatives were at least good people. Yet one could not have everything and Hakuryuu had nothing. And nothing was not everything.

The celebration was held in front of the palace, due to the nice weather and the fact that the forecourt was very spacious. This had the advantage that it was easier to get away from the noise. If the celebration would have been held inside, one could not go anywhere without being disturbed by the noises. And one had always to fear to run into a guest, which was not a nice thought and could make one a bit paranoid. Hakuryuu preferred it to be himself in his private chambers, but he could not feel save as long as a guest was nearby. What if they accidently came into his room, while he did something embarrassing? What if he already wore his sleeping clothes? No, he definitely did not like this thought and it made him feel uncomfortable. Those despicable nobles should stay away from him. As a child he hadn't liked to be alone, now he preferred it, because the only company there was in the palace were either the witch's underlings – he included his relatives, the servants and soldiers as well as the nobles in the term underlings – or foreigner kings and queens. Those, of course, were not interested in making friends with him, they only cared about politics. Everything he said could be used against him or the country, so it was better to say nothing or keep it at small talk.
He had no friends or allies in this country, so why should he celebrate with the nobles and his family? By the way, what were their celebrating anyway? The empire's down fall? There was no reason for a celebration! Probably they just needed an excuse to waste money, which could have been used for the citizens, and to get drunken. They would lose face, if they could not make up some reason for their extensive alcohol consume – any reason was fine as long as it sounded like one.
Hakuryuu was done with that, he wanted to get some sleep. His days were filled with a lot of training and different lessons that he needed to be a good prince – although no one saw him as such or cared about his position. Sooner or later they would try to get rid of him – well they already were trying but had not succeeded until now. It may be true that he was weak, but he knew how to survive! A skill, which was extremely handy in his case.