"I think that you are talking to talking to the wrong one, Your Majesty." Joon Wo said coldly in his husky tone.
"I am?" She raised the corner of her mouth up in a wicked smirk. "As far as I know the king didn't yet choose an heir officially."
Jae I was sitting quietly beside her mother with no words to say. She doesn't like where this conversation was going but, what could she do?
Trying to joke this whole thing off didn't seem like an option with how wicked her mother was looking and how her brother was like a block of ice, a big block of ice in black.
"It's only logical that Yu Jun be announced as heir, he is the firstborn." He said knowing well that his mother didn't need that reminder. "And I've no plan of becoming king."
Truth be told, all he wanted to do was to let all this go and run away. Abandon his title, his glory, and everything else he got from being part of the Royal family and run away with no destination in his mind, he would just allow his horse to take him wherever his hooves would lead them.
"Do you think your father wanted to be king?" She looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "It was something that had to be done and he was the one who could do it and you, my son are the one who should lead after him."
She was starting to make him feel disgusted and he didn't even bother to hide it from his face at this point. What could she possibly know about him to say that he was the one meant to lead? She didn't even know what he bloody looked like!
"I'm afraid that I've changed in the past decade and I don't think being a king is in now in my area of expertise." Joon Wo said with his eyes closed trying to regulate his breathing and keep the flooding emotions inside him under control.
"Believe me my boy when I say that it's impossible for humans to change, not even after a Millenia." She giggled darkly as she took a bite of the biscuit that was served in front of them.
"Then I believe that I've achieved the impossible." He said standing up. "If you would excuse me now, I am tired from the journey." Joon Wo lowered his head as he turned on his heels to head to the exist when he remembered something important, the main reason why he was here. The reason why his heart was beating like a hurricane.
"I've one question though if you all me." He said looking at the door as he spoke.
"Go ahead, son."
"Is it true that the Pharaoh of Kemet is invited to attend the Chuseok Ritual?"
"You have heard correctly my son." She smirked. "They should've already departed to get here in time for the ritual."
Queen Eun Ae might know how the raven-haired prince cared for his family but, she had no clue of his feelings for Nefertari. He himself only came to know that years after Nefertari was gone.
It's just a stupid mild childhood crush, he kept telling himself since he departed from the far south all way here in the capital Kaesong.
He left the room without another word, finding the same servant who bought him here waiting by the side of the door. Joon Wo just looked at him and the man was already trembling in fear, just a look for Joon Wo was a death stare for other people.
But what can he do when he has been using this face for the past decade?
It's like his face has forgotten how to express and show other emotions, the only emotion it can express is the I don't give a damn emotion if that was even an emotion…
Without a word being said the servant man knew that the next step is going to be the 2nd prince's room. As they walked down the corridors that Joon Wo once knew by heart, they passed through one of his old favorite spots. The cherry blossom tree.
He could feel his heart soften at the sight of the forever familiar place; the place where they first met. It made his heart beat fast again as if he was running for 100 miles. He shrugged off that feeling, it was unfamiliar to him that it made his skin get goosebumps. He wasn't used to such warm feelings, not anymore.
Taking another close look, he noticed that someone has added little touches here and there around the tree making it a spot for people to sit and enjoy instead of being just an empty yard with a gigantic tree in the middle. He wondered who did that.
"When did all this happen?" Joon Wo said talking for the first time to servant making him yelp in surprise as he wasn't expecting the owl to open his mouth at all during his stay here.
"Huh?" He said panicking. "Oh, that. The prince's ordered a seating space here since they come here very often." He continued after he followed Joon Wo's line of gaze.
"I guess this place is still in their memory as well." He mumbled under his breath and halted in the corridor looking at the place which held more cherishable moments than his whole life.
He stepped from the corridor down to the yard and took his time with his strides as he admired what his brothers did with the place. The more he got closer the more he could hear someone's giggles which he didn't pay much mind too until recognition smacked him right in the face.
That giggle he heard was one he could never forget because it was something, he always teased his youngest brother with. It was the kind of laugh that you can't hear from two people. It surprised him how he recognized that instantly to be honest.
"Hey! Stop that!" Min Jun chuckled as he took steps out from the pavilion which Joon Wo thought that that's where they are sitting. His feet got petrified as his sight fell on his younger brother, comparing the last time he saw him with now. The boy in front of him was no longer short and weak, Joon Wo thought that he must be 18 now. He was no at a decent height and his figure was slim shortly, he was hit hard with puberty.
The young boy turned to look at the man dressed in black when he felt a stare going through him, he didn't recognize him.
Min Jun walked up to his brother with a friendly smile on his plump lips and said, "Can I help you, sir?"
Joon Wo felt a sharp sting right in his heart which has taken him aback. He always wondered how he would feel if he came across his brothers one day, he imagined anger disappointment fury!
This sensation he was feeling right now, the one he can't put into words wasn't on the list he made. Maybe because he was too young when he left for him to remember? He wondered.
Min Jun just gazed with confusion at the man who was staring at him with sadness in his dark orbs and wondered if they met before. He felt that those eyes were familiar to him but he couldn't go beyond that feeling.
"Hey, where did you…" Jin Wo said coming out of the same place Min Jun just came from and stopped looking at the two males in front of him.
"Who is that?"
Joon looked from his younger brother to Jin Wo who was walking towards them with the same wonder in the other one's eye.
Joon Wo felt the sting again, this wasn't right. This isn't what he should be feeling at this moment, this isn��t what he imagined how it would be. He imagined how furious he would be at his brothers.
Why didn't you ask about me! Why didn't you reply to any of my messages! Why didn't you care! Why didn't you wonder! … Why did you lie? Why did you fake caring?
Those questions used to fall down on him like a thunderbolt whenever he had time to himself. But the most frequent one was 'Was I the only one who cared?'
But none of these questions are coming to him now when he was experiencing the moment he always used to draw in his mind. He couldn't do anything else other than stare at them with longing and pain.
"Why are you both so quite?" Yu Jun said following the footsteps of his brothers.
As his eyes raised to look at the unknown man dressed in black, his eyes gradually fell wide open and he could feel his lips part giving way for a gasp to come out.
His brothers turned to look at their brother and got confused from the look on his face.
"Hyung, do you know this man?" Jin Wo said.
Yu Jun looked from the two confused faces to his long-brother and said…
"Welcome back, brother"