Jung Ho could not fathom how his most trusted person had successfully betrayed him. He started thinking different reasons why Chil Yook had done such foolish act. Have I not compensated him well-enough? I have given a satchel full of gold. Was there someone or something that might had convinced him? Who? Lady Min? No... Lady Jang? Probably... I should have killed that woman when I had a chance.
Among all of these thoughts, there was another that lingered in his stressed mind. Has he forgotten about what my mother had told him?
His head felt like bursting; it seemed like his entire skull would shatter into pieces anytime. Random piercing sounds from his thoughts screamed to his ears simultaneously. Despite this, he tried to find the balance from within. With his enormous ego, he did not wish that one unfortunate incident control him. He tried to relax—breathed in, and breathed out. He fought back his palpitating heart and battled with his unrelenting throbbing body muscles.
He clutched his head with both hands. "Think Jung Ho, think!"
As he was focusing on thinking how to find Chil Yook and baby Sae Yoo, a different memory flashed into his mind: the night when he had gotten Sae Yoo from the Head Nurse, Dong Hee.
~~•~~
[THE NIGHT THE TWIN PRINCES WERE BORN]
In that night when the twin princes were born, many mysteries had happened. One of them was the disappearance of Dong Hee's husband, Yong Woo. When Yong Woo had reached the foot of the Ojin Hill with his son, Il Woo, to meet his wife, he saw a woman, just as tall as Dong Hee, wearing a light blue robe, standing back beside a huge tree.
"Il Woo, my son, your mother is here already. Stay there and I will fetch her." Yong Woo's fingers played along with his son's hands. He descended from his carriage and approached the woman.
"My dear, you are just on time. How did the Queen's delivery go?"
The woman did not respond.
Pouting his lips, Yong Woo's brows carved into an arch. "Strange. What is the matter with you, my wife?
With just some split seconds, the woman turned around, revealing her identity. It was actually Lady Min, who posed as Dong Hee. She gave him a grin, and then, a group of hwarangs revealed themselves from behind the tree. Yong Woo gasped, and he ran immediately to his son, but it was too late. A hwarang was cradling the sleeping baby already.
"What do you need? Please do not hurt my son. We are just simple people, trying to move out from Seorabeol," Yong Woo pleaded, looking to his baby who was in the arms of the hwarangdo.
Lady Min just signaled another hwarangdo from the back, and the man jabbed Yong Woo in his nape, knocking him down.
The group left, and the next thing that had happened was another mystery. Lady Min gave baby Il Woo to the Prime Minister, and they prepared for one of their biggest plans. The Prime Minister traveled to the foot of Ojin Hill. Just as a perfect time, he saw Dong Hee running from afar going to the huge tree.
"Halt!" the Prime Minister commanded.
When the servants dropped the palanquin slowly on the ground, Lady Min opened the palanquin door, and the Prime Minister descended. He walked down the grasses and greeted Dong Hee.
"What a beautiful night!"
Dong Hee was shocked to recognize who the baby was. "Il Woo, no!"
After all the incidents of playing games—Dong Hee and the Prime Minister switching babies; unknown to the King, Dong Hee was captured inside the Prime Minister's palanquin. Inside the dim-lit mobile chamber were the Prime Minister's bed, different sets of furniture (small closets, tables, red lamp on the ceiling and small candles on the sides), and an additional: a small crib.
Dong Hee cried silently because a dagger was pointed near her neck and her mouth was muzzled. Lady Min gripped the poor woman's face, giving an ominous advice. "If I were you, I would stop crying. It annoys the Prime Minister. Getting on the Prime Minister's nerves would be your worst nightmare." the elderly matron hissed.
The poor head nurse just gave her a stabbing glower as a dam of tears continuously ran down from her eyes. After some moments, the Prime Minister opened the door of his palanquin. He glanced at Dong Hee as his eyebrows sketched into a frown. He asked Lady Min, "Where is it?"
From a small closet, Lady Min picked the stuffed pillows wrapped in a similar blue silk cloth to which Prince Sae Yoo was swaddled; obviously, it did not had any embroidered name at the foot.
"Here you go, Your Excellency." the elderly matron handed the fake baby to the Prime Minister.
Jung Ho cast a quick glance at the small crib beside Lady Min. "Make sure that the baby prince will not make any cry noises."
"Worry not, Your Excellency. The baby prince is sleeping like a rock."
When the Prime Minister got out from the palanquin, the King was shocked to see that his brother was holding the baby whom he assumed to be his son.
"This child is the root of our conflict. If you want to get him, kill me!"
"Jung Ho, no! Whatever you are thinking, please stop."
"We shall end it by ourselves, Sire. No hwarangs. No retinues. You send them back to the palace. I will do the same."
When all the servants had left, the two remained in the vast grassland. The Prime Minister mounted unexpectedly on his horse and galloped away until they had reached a cliff. After an intense confrontation, the Prime Minister fell off the cliff, together with the fake baby.
Unknown to the King, as he was desperately searching for a way to get down the valley, Lady Min secretly followed, just like what the Prime Minister had instructed before. Everything was part of an almost flawless plan: Jung Ho would lure Jae Joong to the forest, as Lady Min would take the baby prince to her house. Then, they would follow them down the valley to find his body. Perfect timing was an essential ally in this nearly difficult task. The Prime Minister had not felt a single fear at that time, just to accomplish his subterfuge. If he would die on that fall, that would be his fate. Nevertheless, if he would survive, then the plan would continue. He firmly believed that the best way to attack the King was through his emotions. Throwing the assumed baby to its death might had triggered the King; it would had caused a terrible fight between the brothers, but if Jung Ho, together with the fake baby would fall off the cliff, the King would surely go crazy.
If you come across this story on Amazon, it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.
On a strange twist of a mischievous fate, two things had happened at the same time: Lady Min and the hwarangdo had arrived successfully down the cliff, and the King had his way down the valley, continuing his distraught search. Luckily, the elderly matron had seen the Prime Minister first, lying on the ground, unconscious. The two got down from the horse; the hwarangdo crouched and checked his airways, "My Lady, the Prime Minister is still breathing. Let us hurry!"
Lady Min paused as she saw a silhouette of a trotting horse a few meters away from them. It stopped, and she noticed a human figure that dismounted and going to their direction. "We need to hurry! I think that is the King. He should not see us, especially the Prime Minister. I need to do something first."
She grabbed the blue cloth and the scattered pillows on the grass ground. Then, she hung the silk cloth to a bush attached to the cliff, but a little bit farther to where the Prime Minister had fallen.
"There. It is done. The King would go crazier if he found that cloth... Let us go!"
The hwarangdo carried the Prime Minister to his back, and altogether they mounted to the horse and left, leaving the half-insane King searching hopelessly. Lady Min had decided to bring her master to her house.
The next morning, after Dae Wong, with some nangdos, had found the King, the Prime Minister had recovered relatively faster. He woke up that morning, and he realized that he was at his servant's house.
"Your Excellency, are you awake?" Lady Min asked, holding a tray with some herbs and tonic as she stood beside the bed.
The Prime Minister clasped his head, trying to rise up from the bed. "Ah! My head hurts."
"Do not force yourself yet, My Lord. Please take a rest. Everything has been taken care of."
"Is that true? What happened to that Head Nurse?"
"When you dismissed us, we instantly went to the forest, and I ordered the hwarangdo to kill her. After that, I told him to bury the body, and I went quickly to my house to take care of the baby prince. I also reminded him to meet me at that valley to rescue you. Heavens was still on our side for we had successfully found you that easy, before the King. It seems like someone or something had guided us to you. It was amazing!"
The Prime Minister raised a brow and chortled. "It was fate that brought us here. Now, I will use this chance to go on. By the way, who took care of the prince while you were gone?"
"I asked a trusted court lady to take care of the baby not knowing his identity."
"Good. Make sure that court lady does not speak. Deal with her. How about her husband and uh... their son, Il Woo? Is that the name of the Head Nurse's son?"
"Yes, Your Excellency. The Head Nurse's husband and son have been taken care of, just like what you have instructed. You do not need to worry about anything." Lady Min smiled, handing a cup of tonic to the Prime Minister.
As the Prime Minister was about to hold the tonic, he yelped as he felt a strong pain in his right shoulder.
"My Lord, what is wrong?" Lady Min questioned; she was a bit alerted.
"My right shoulder hurts."
"If I may Your Excellency, may I remove your robe to see?"
Jung Ho nodded as he grimaced. The elderly matron assisted him in gently removing the robe. Lady Min was shocked to see the Prime Minister's shoulder swelling. The once milky white shoulder of the Prime Minister turned to rotting dark red.
"This is serious, My Lord! I am going to apply some herbs."
"Do not make too much fuss about it. Apply some herbs and get it done! I want to go back to the palace already... That cliff was not that steep though. Indeed, the Heavens is still on my side."
Lady Min applied some crushed herbs, which had alleviated the burning sensation on Jung Ho's shoulders. After an hour, the elderly matron prepared all the Prime Minister's things as he was about to go back to the palace.
"For now, you stay here for a while. Take care of the baby prince. I will just summon you if I need you to go back, together with the baby. I will arrange the hidden tunnel under shrine, near my wife's pavilion, so you could sneak the baby prince when the right time comes. Do you understand?"
"Yes, My Lord." Lady Min nodded.
~~•~~
Going back to his senses, Jung Ho shook his head, disregarding the random memory he just saw in his mind. He stood, and started pacing back and forth in his chambers, thinking on how he could find Chil Yook and the baby prince. When an idea suddenly popped in his mind, he summoned a lady-in-waiting.
"Anyone out there?"
A young lady-in-waiting entered and bowed her head.
"Call the hwarang leaders of the Red Dragons, Indigo Beasts, Vermilion Snakes, and the Purple Ivies... Now!"
The lady-in-waiting bowed her head again and quickly went out of the room. After a few minutes, four hwarangdos came. Each of them wore their signature colored uniform robes, baggy pants, thick leader boots, colored leather vests depending on the clan, and their headbands with their own insignia.
"Your Excellency, how can we serve you?" the leader of the Red Dragons asked.
Sitting at his table, the Prime Minister said, "This mission would be dangerous; however, the reward would be fulfilling as well."
The hwarangdos stole awkward glances from each other, having no clue on what the Prime Minister just said.
"I want you to find the ex-Grand Marshal, Chil Yook. You do know there was a massacre that happened a few days ago, and there were reports saying that the ex-Grand Marshal is dead."
He paused and raised a brow to the hwarangdos. "But those reports are not true. The former Grand Marshal is still alive, and he is freely roaming all around the kingdom. If he continues to be free, the kingdom's safety would be compromised."
The leader of the Vermilion Snakes stepped forward—a young man with a broad shoulder and tall, lean physique. "May I ask a question, Your Excellency?"
"Yes?"
"Does the King know anything about this?"
"No. not yet. I will be the one to tell him privately. I have received the information a few hours ago. This mission has to be kept confidential. The whole palace must not know that the ex-Grand Marshal is still alive. I do not want any fiasco or chaos to arise. Do you understand?"
"How about some troops? How many should we bring with us in this search?" the leader of the Purple Ivies asked.
"In order to keep this a secret, only you four shall go out of the palace regularly to look for his whereabouts. I will conduct an assembly tomorrow to assign proxy hwarangdo leaders from time to time."
Jung Ho picked a scroll from a pile on the center of his table. He unfolded it, revealing the entire map of Silla. "Now, pay close attention. I will assign you to each region of the whole kingdom. Basically, there are four: the North, West, East, and South."
After thorough discussions and briefing, the hwarangdos left the room and started with their mission. Jung Ho was left in his room, still thinking about what Chil Yook had done.
The days had passed, but every time Jung Ho and the hwarangdos secretly met outside the palace after every week of search, there was no single report about the former Grand Marshal's whereabouts. Days turned to weeks; weeks turned into depressing, long months, accompanied by different problems such as drought and earthquakes. The foresighted nefarious events brought upon by the wrong prediction of the eclipse happened. However, the palace was still able to cope up with different measures. Months became years. Jung Ho did not want to admit to himself that he was defeated already. He was still firmly holding the belief that his former henchman would be found. There was no single day when he did not think about Chil Yook and the baby prince.
As the years progressed and as the seasons changed so as his plans, the people and the entire palace.
__________
__________ [https://em.wattpad.com/00f0588b686cf34d079a515ec1e2fed9712ed2c7/68747470733a2f2f73332e616d617a6f6e6177732e636f6d2f776174747061642d6d656469612d736572766963652f53746f7279496d6167652f38696d764d4a36393859697942513d3d2d3635313431343630342e313536363338366334313964613631303738383030353138303932372e706e67?s=fit&w=1280&h=1280]