Rise of Silla

1.17 poison

Jungkook focus

Jungkook heaved himself out of the hallway window he had entered the concubine's quarter through and landed back outside. It had been the only way to get inside, although it put a painful amount of strain to his wound. But if he did not want to lose the second portion of his payment, he had to take it like a man.

When he was about to walk around the corner to that side of the quarter that would bring him back to one of the paths where he could walk freely in his disguise as a guard, he had to pull back and hide because of a blue figure that was standing there and blocking his way. Cautiously he peeked around the edge.

What he spotted was dark blue robes, the hair of an unmarried man, and a broad back that radiated importance. And since the crown prince was still on the battlefield and the first prince had been spotted by Jungkook inside his rooms when he had dropped the poison, there was only one person left on the list of young males with blue robes. The third prince, Kim Taehyung, Dahee's brother. Interested, Jungkook kept his eyes fixed on the figure.

He was sure that he had seen the prince once or twice on the streets of the capital, but he had never been of interest to him, so he had not bothered to look closer. Now, however, he was curious what kind of guy the third prince was so that his sister believed he was a better king than the praised and glorified crown prince Namjoon.

"Stop chewing on that," he heard a deep voice before the man crouched down to lift something from the ground.

Jungkook had to suppress a snort when he saw the puppy head that was poking over one of the broad shoulders now. The third prince was raising a dog? Well, the palace probably thought differently about animals. And after all the things he had come to experience with the royal family, Jungkook would not be surprised if one of the princes held a pet pig.

"And you grow well," the deep voice continued with an audible smile to it. "I will bring you some water." The hand that was not holding the puppy caressed one of the plants that surrounded the prince's feet.

Now Jungkook could only stare in horror. The little princess' brother must be sick in the head. He was talking to radishes. Talking to animals, fine. Jungkook had been there, done that. But talking to vegetable?

"Little princess, are you trying to ruin your own kingdom?" Jungkook whispered to himself, still looking at the prince in disbelief. He had expected a regal, fierce man who wielded a sword like it was an extension of his arm, not a soft guy who carried puppies and talked to radishes.

He slipped back behind the corner and leaned against the wall to sort his thoughts. In the end, who was he to care? He was born in Baekje and raised in Goguryeo, so he could not care less about what happened to Silla. For all he knew, this kingdom could go down in flames or raise to the top of the three kingdoms. As long as he had food and wine, he would not oppose to either.

But he should talk to the little princess. Her brother was mad in the head, and someone had to tell her.

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The day before, Dahee had told him that he should shut up and follow her order instead of thinking too much about her brother. By her words, there was more to the third prince than Jungkook had seen, and she would know since she had grown up with him.

That had piqued Jungkook's interest. So, after he had fed the first prince another two drops of the poison, he was strolling the palace grounds to find the third prince and give him a second chance to prove to him that he was more than a weakling.

After some useless hours of searching and almost giving up, he had finally found the prince between the trees of the little hill at the northern end of the palace grounds. The puppy was still fiddling around the man's feet and Jungkook almost expected to hear the other talking to the trees when he crouched down in front of one.