A Nine-Tailed Love

Kingdom Coup

Dae-Hyun

Spring. The chirps of the finches, the skittering of squirrels, and other small critters scurried across the open field behind the palace as everything slowly came back to life after a harsh winter.

Large puddles of ice scattered amongst the dull grass making it difficult to ride without getting dirty. I glanced over my shoulder at the few guards that joined us on our mid-afternoon run. I flashed a goofy face at my best friend before turning to my father, the king.

He took in a deep breath of the dewy air and smiled as he exhaled through his mouth. He released his hold on the reins to his horse. "Ah, what a great day for a ride. Don't you think Dae-Hyun?"

I scanned him from head to toe. How is it that this man stayed clean during this run? His red and gold hanbok remained unsoiled, yet his horse was drenched as we all were. I gave my father a sour look of displeasure, "Yeah, easy for you to say. You Are not covered in mud and whatever animal droppings like we are."

My father and the guards broke out into hysterical laughter. I rolled my eyes and huffed, turning my horse, Baek, around to go back into the palace gates. I hated being this dirty. Granted, I didn't mind helping the local farmers or doing actual laborious tasks but being drenched in this? Not in the slightest.

Upon arriving at the main gate, I dismounted from my horse and handed the reins to the guard. "He needs to be cleaned." I stated and stormed off toward the royal baths, not even bothering to wait for a reply.

As I entered the palace, my arrival was announced by the magistrate. I lowered my head and used my hand to cover my face as I shuffled past the throne room toward my destination. I needed to be clean… Now! 

I took the rest of the afternoon to relax in the baths. I didn't care much about hanging around for the important stuff. After all, I am the crown prince, but my father had already taught me everything I needed to know about running the kingdom when it came time for him to pass. 

I never took the opportunity to think about the timeline. How long was it going to be until responsibility was put onto my shoulders?

Giggles invaded my thoughts as I floated on my back. I groaned internally and flipped onto my stomach before wading through the bath. "What do you ladies want?"

One of the concubines giggled, shielding half of her face from me. "It's nothing your majesty, we just thought we would stop by and join you."

I rolled my eyes, pulling my hair over my shoulder to conceal my torso from them, "I do not need anyone, especially you. Now get out of my sight."

"Oh Dae, you act so innocent. You know you have needs too." My father's loud voice boomed over their giggles.

I glanced over my shoulder at him and rolled my eyes, "Needs I can satisfy well on my own." I retorted in anger.

My father grumbled under his breath. I rolled my neck and shoulders before wading over to the steps to exit. "I'm going to go visit the gardens, alone." I shouted back at my father, who stood between the gaggle of women.

After I dried off and got dressed, I stormed off toward the garden. The flowers were slowly coming back to life, and I enjoyed the solitude. It was also my mother's favorite place, and I was starting to miss her more and more every day. It had been several years since she had passed. Our physician said it was some sort of heart condition but refused to do a complete autopsy. 

Everything about her death was strange, and yet all evidence was removed or destroyed. Every alarm bell went off in my head.

Once I had made it to the garden, I strolled through the sleeping cherry blossom trees and sat down on a nearby bench.

"Dae-Hyun, what are you doing here?" Gon's voice sounded from above me.

My eyes shot up into the tree and landed on him. He was leaning against the tree with his legs kicked up on the branch. "Well I could ask you the same thing. But I would already know the answer to that."

"Peace and quiet." We both said with a chuckle.

We both relaxed in silence as the time passed. The howling wolves in the distance pushed us to get back toward the main building of the palace.

A magistrate stopped Gon and me on our way into the palace. "Crown prince, your father requested your presence for dinner." 

I rolled my eyes, casting a glance at Gon, "Tell him I am on my way."

The magistrate bowed his head and scurried off down the corridor. Gon turned to me, clapping my shoulder. "Well, I will see you in the morning then."

I slumped my shoulders and waved him off as I made my way down toward my father's room. The halls were eerily quiet. The shattering glass broke the silence.

"What's going on down there?" I shouted to the guards standing outside of his room.

The two stood there as if they didn't hear me shouting at them. I furrowed my brow and saw that one of the guards was slumped over leaning against the door frame, and the other was frozen still. My heart raced as I rushed up to them. 

"What the hell is going on?" I shouted, shaking the two of them. "Yah, wake up!" I screamed before throwing the doors open and rushing inside. I found my father lying on the ground with his hand around his throat and scratch marks along his neck like he had been clawing at his skin.

I immediately rushed to his side and knelt, placing my hand on his cheek then to his neck to check his pulse. His pulse was weak, but his eyes were staring at the ceiling, bloodshot. 

"I need some help here! Somebody! Gon!" I yelled as loud as I could. My voice broke as my eyes frantically searched the room for any signs of forced entry only to find the table he used to eat on flipped over and his food scattered amongst the room.

A thunderous clap of footsteps paraded down the hall and into the room. My eyes were filled with tears as I finally realized that my father had been poisoned.

"Dae, what happened? What did you do?" Gon asked as he dropped to his knees beside me. 

Clutching my father's hanbok, I stared down at him, "Someone poisoned my father. I don't know… the two guards outside are dead. I just… I don't know." 

Gon began shouting at the others in the room. In my state of shock, I couldn't hear anything he was saying, nor could I react to the commotion that started up around me.

A pair of guards approached, rolled my father's body onto a makeshift stretcher, and took him away. "Please try and A pair of guards approached and rolled my father's body onto a makeshift stretcher and took him away. “Please try and save him before announcing anything.” My voice shook. “He’s still alive.” I glanced over my shoulder and watched as they took him away but something seemed off about the group of magistrates standing beside the door. My father's advisor stood amongst them with a sly smirk on his face.

Why was this i***t smiling?