"What?" Queen Eun Ae said feeling lost in words. "The Pharaoh has been invited for the Chuseok ritual?"
"Yes, Your Majesty." Her head maid said looking down at the ground. "The king has already sent an invitation a week ago."
"And you only come to inform me about this now." She narrowed her eyes as she looked at her maid making the maid flinch. "What's with the sudden act anyway." She went back to being normal in split seconds, letting her off the hook this time as her handmaid was usually very helpful for her to get any information she needed.
"It is said that it's an act to keep the good bond as it's been a long while, Your Majesty."
The Queen hummed. Honestly, she couldn't care less about this. There was something else much more important she was thinking of at the moment.
What else would it be other than the throne, duh!
"What about the matter that I've asked you." She said.
"It's as you heard, Your Majesty." The maid said. "The king is going to announce the official heir after the Chuseok."
The Queen raised the corner of her mouth in resent, she didn't need her maid to continue for her to know who it is he was going to give him the throne.
It was Yu Jun, his firstborn. There was nothing wrong with the young man, to be honest. He has done his duties splendidly so far and he was a hard worker she gave him that.
Always with a book in his hand, preparing himself for what's waiting for him in the future.
That is if the Queen allowed him to have a future…
"I need you to send a letter to the Wangs in the south." Queen Eun Ae said. "Tell them that we would like to borrow Joon Wo for a while."
If she was going to make her son king, she needed him to be here.
Maybe 10 years away from the palace was too much? She thought. Maybe he needed to be here for his father to recognize him as a potential candid as an heir, after all the age difference between him and the first-born Yu Jun, was just 2 months.
Well, it wasn't in her hand that Joon Wo wanted to stay for 9 months in her womb while Yu Jun lessened the stay by 2 months!
She didn't think that her son being here was going to make a change, so she just let him be there for 10 years, all alone.
But she did in fact wonder how he was hanging in there after the last message he sent to her complaining about badly he was treated. She didn't hear from him since and all his letters for his brothers were burned to ashes by her own hands.
She used to wonder when the hell is that boy going to give up sending messages because she made sure that the letters sent from here never reach him as well.
She had affiliates all over the kingdom so it wasn't hard to make that small request from one of her birds down south.
Yet, he was persistent! He kept sending them for almost 2 years! Hoping that some sort of reply would come but poor boy, nothingness is the only thing that came as a reply.
She wondered how that boy has turned out to be. Hope he is not that sucker for the family as he used to be, she thought.
It was amusing to her, to see the monarch she created.
~~~~
Knock, knock.
Joon Wo knocked on the door to Lord Wang's chamber.
After hearing the response from inside he slid the door open and entered. He bowed his head at Lord Wang who was sitting on the cushion on the floor, on either of his sides sat his son Dong Hyun and his wife Lady Soo.
Dong Hyun eyed him up and down as he sipped on his tea which Joon Wo didn't even notice that.
If he stayed for the past 10 years noticing and caring for every look and glare, he took from the people here, he wouldn't have been able to survive, now would he?
So, he thought himself the art of not giving a damn about anything or anyone. To be honest, the reason why he is actually here is now so dull that he wasn't exactly sure about it anymore…more like, he didn't give a damn, or so he thought.
"You called, My Lord." Joon Wo said, his voice was now husky and deep, almost like a wolf. He spent too much with the Wangs that he believes he has already turned into one of them.
"Oh, yes indeed I called." Lord Wang said in the same sarcastic tone he always had, and it never seized to make Joon Wo wonder if he was in his right mind. "Your other family in the palace is asking for your presence." He said with that creepy smile on his lips that used to make Joon Wo shiver in disgust.
But now guess what? He didn't give a damn.
Joon Wo took a minute to understand the phrase. Did he just say, 'other family'? It almost made him scoff in reality but, one other thing he learned here is to keep the fun things to yourself. The thought that this man even considered this hell his home and the people here is family was sickening and disgusting.
But wait? Why was the Royal family asking for him after all this time? It astonished him; he will give them that because there is nothing that could astonish him anymore.
"And what is the reason for this sudden summons?" Joon Wo said still keeping his voice emotionless that he got the gaze of both Dong Hyun and his mother.
"Something about the Chuseok ritual." Lord Wang moved his fingers through his beard trying to remember the contents of the letter that came this morning.
Joon Wo looked at them with the are-you-serious look. He was never summoned back to his so-called home for the Chuseok ritual and he has never even given it much thought.
Why would he when they never even cared to reply to any of his letters? He kept sending his brothers who pretended that they care when he gave them his farewell but not even once getting a reply, not even the sister who was the cause for all of this.
He never regretted it though. If they were to rewind the past, he would do it all over again because it was the right thing to do at that time.
He was starting to believe his mother about the fact that when the time comes, the blood that runs in their veins won't matter. But something didn't feel right, everything is falling perfectly in place for him to hate his brothers which were suspicious
"Oh," Lord Wang said after recalling something, "there was something mentioned about Kemet. I think they invited the Pharaoh."
They WHAT! His inner voice yelled so hard that he felt the echoing going inside his brain.
"Anyway, you will depart on the morrow to get there in time to make preparations." Lord Wang said and took a sip of tea and waved him off. Joon Wo bowed his head and exited the room with a look that couldn't be explained on his face.
Was he sad? Was he happy that he would finally be reunited with his childhood crush?
He only came to realize his feelings when became an adult. He finally knew what that ache that stung his heart whenever he would think of her when he is all alone and tired in his bed staring onto his ceiling.
He always wondered and still is wondering if she got his news from his brothers, wait…right, he didn't even write to his brothers for 6 years.
What could be on her mind? He thought as he walked the halls of the house by instinct.
Never the less, he couldn't lie about what he was feeling now. He was glad. Glad that finally after all this time he would meet with the person he could still call precious.
But was it? Was she still indeed a precious person? Does she still care about him?
Questions on top of questions came crashing down on him making his head spin. But the moment he hoped for that to be true, he was slapped right in the face with his brothers and how they acted towards him right after he left and they were his brothers?
If his brothers, his own flesh and blood turned on him like that, what would a girl from a foreign land do?
He has seen too much here to even dare have his hopes up. Whenever he would go to sleep telling himself that it will all be better on the morrow it never happened, it never did get better.
In a matter of fact, it got worse. Just when he says that he has finally gotten a grip on his life it comes back at him and stabs him in the back.
In this place he grew up in for 10 years he has turned cold and hard, never allowed anyone in and none tried to come in.
Now for once, he wanted someone to come in, he was getting sick and tired of always having his guards up.
A specific someone.