King's Consort Hui

"Slow down! You eat like a pig!" Hui, the King Consort, scolded her son Hugon, who was sitting across from her, devouring the food on the table.

Hugon had already swallowed twice as much food as a normal person could. He ate with relish and without restraint so that when he came to the end of the meal all he could say for himself was that he felt no hunger, but rather an indescribable weight that made him lean toward the back of his chair.

Hui said heartbreakingly, "I can't understand why your father king lets you go on the road all the time and make you suffer so much. Does he not care for his own son?"

"Dear Mother, don't say that. As the eldest prince, it is certainly my duty to share my father king's burden. Besides, he is doing this to train me. " Hugon said.

"But you are always away. Without his order, you can not return to the palace, so I can not see you much, I am very worried about you, and miss you. But if I mention these things to your father king, he only gets angrier, and shouts at me." The king consort looked out of the window while Hugon finished his repast. The day was gray and dismal, but a ray of sunlight fell through the stained glass in the wall opposite them, casting blue shadows upon the floor.

When Hugon heard her sigh, he suddenly felt sorry for his mother. So he rushed to comfort her, "Don't worry about me, Mother. As a man, a royal son, these little difficulties are nothing. Besides, my father king has asked me to guard the frontier and organize the military affairs, so he has entrusted me with the most important matters of the kingdom, and in the face of such an important task, how can I not do my best? How can I just go back to the palace frequently when I have such a heavy responsibility? It will make people laugh, and is not conducive to the management of the army if I come back home too much. But I also miss you, my mother, very much, and I feel very guilty that I can't go back to the palace to visit you often."

"I'm not a person who doesn't understand the big picture either. Although I am worried about your suffering outside, I am actually more worried about your future."

"What do you mean, mother? Why do you have to worry about my future?" Hugon asked.

"Do you know why your father king summoned you back to the palace this time?"

"Of course, I know. The Queen gave birth to a son, which means I have a new brother, and my father king was so happy that he wanted everyone in the family to celebrate together. Moreover, I had not been back for almost a year, and he wanted to see me and hear my report on the year's affairs."

"And what did you see and do after you returned to the palace?" Hui wanted to enlighten her son.

"The first thing I did after I returned to the palace was to call on my father king and congratulate him. Then I went to the queen, to congratulate her, and to see my newborn little brother. He was very adorable, and his nurse, whose name was Nanss, told me a lot about my little brother. He was very healthy and intelligent. Then I came to you, my mother, for dinner." Hugon told his mother all the details.

"What else?"

"That's all, mother." Hugon was a little confused, not understanding what his mother wanted to know.

"Don't you see the hidden crisis behind this matter?" Hui was a little angry that her son couldn't understand her feelings.

Hugon shook his head, even more confused by his mother's words.

Hui, seeing her son so unenlightened, sighed and could only continue to enlighten him. "Before the queen's son was born, your father king had only two sons, both from king consorts, and you were the oldest one, so you were the most promising successor to the throne. But now after the queen has given birth to four daughters, she births a son. Your succession to the throne just becomes more uncertain."

At this point, Hugon finally realized that his mother had been worried about whether he would inherit the throne, which he did not think too much about. Because all along everyone, including himself, thought he was definitely the heir to the throne. Hugon had a younger brother only one year younger than him, named Hudd, the son of a king consort, named Airi. Hudd was a kind man who never wanted to compete with him for the throne. So Hugon seemed to have been the only candidate for the throne. But now he had a new brother, which made his mother nervous, fearing that the new brother would compete with him for the throne.

In fact, in Hugon's heart, he was not very eager for the throne, but for his mother's sake, he could only comfort her by saying, "My little brother is still too young, he has just been born. I think it's too early to start worrying about him competing with me for the throne. So there is no need for us to worry too much now."

"If it's as simple as you said, I don't need to worry that much. But you know what? Although the king blocked the news, somehow, I still heard that on the day your brother Min was born, a dragon appeared in the south of our kingdom. This is a very dangerous sign. I fear that someone may take this opportunity to support Min to inherit the throne."

"A dragon?" Hugon laughed, "This is all nonsense. Dragons only exist in legends, no one has ever seen one. I feel like some ignorant peasants, who tend to make a fuss about everything, are talking nonsense."

"You mean this is fake news made up by some official? " Hui asked.

"I guess so."

"Then let me ask you: Why would an official make up such a fake news story? What is his purpose?"

"To make the king happy?"

"They have many ways to make your father king happy, why did they choose this way?"

Hugon was speechless, unable to answer.

Hui continued, "If, as you said, some official made up the news, then it means someone wanted to use such suggestive news to support your brother Min, so that he could inherit the throne in the future. "

Hugon never imagined that there was such complex reasoning behind a seemingly ordinary event.

"So it's possible that the officials are conspiring against me, so that I cannot become the next king."

"No, dear son. They are not plotting to overthrow you from your future throne, they just want to put their friend, Min, in the position of power," Hui explained.

"But why would the officials be supporting my brother? "

"Because they believe that if he inherits the throne, he will be able to achieve peace in our country. That's all."

"But if it is true that dragons really existed and appeared in the south, then it must mean a great calamity to me is coming, and there is no way I can stop it, and I should not worry about being a king anymore."

"How can you say that?" Hui cried. "Just keep calm and be strong, so that you can defend yourself from any disaster."

"These things are really too complicated. If God wants my brother to be king, I'm perfectly fine with that. I don't mind if he becomes the king. Actually, I believe that he will be wiser and more capable than me. I just want to protect the kingdom." Hugon said.

"You stupid son of a bitch! You silly piece of shit! You dumbass! How dare you?..."

Hui suddenly became furious, cursing. Hugon was so frightened by the sudden scolding that he fell to his knees, trembling. When Hugon saw his mother's eyes turn red, tears began to well up inside his own eyes.

"Mother... I'm sorry.... Please forgive me ..." Hugon wept, even though he was not very clear why his mother so angry.

"You will never ever say something like that, nor will you think about it."

"Yes, mother!" Hugon hurriedly replied.

"From the moment you were born, you were destined to be king, and you had no choice other than that. This is your mission, the mission I gave you." Hui, in a rage, was panting loudly, her chest heaving, pointing her finger at Hugon's head, and shouting at him. Her voice grew louder and stronger until she was screaming furiously into Hugon's ear. "Even if not for yourself, for your mother and me, you must sit on this throne. You don't understand anything, you don't understand your mother at all, do you know what I have been through all these years?"

Hugon was too frightened to say a word, afraid of angering his mother again. His whole body shivered. Suddenly Hui stopped speaking. She stood up, walked over to the window, stared blankly out, and wiped the wetness off her cheeks. After a few moments of silence, she turned around and looked straight at her son, "I love you dearly, but I hope you understand my suffering."

"I'm listening, mother!"

"The queen, that bitch. In terms of age, she is not as young as I am; in terms of looks, she is not as pretty as I am; in terms of wit, she is not as clever as I am; in terms of children, I gave birth to the King's first son. In every way, I am better than that bitch, but because she is the queen, every time we meet, she doesn't even look at me, and I have to bow down to her. I can not help myself but only count on you. I hope that you will sooner ascend to the throne so that I can also be powerful. After all my years of waiting, you say you don't care about the throne? This really hurts me too much."

Hugon had gone from fear to panic. If his mother's words were to be heard and reported to the king, both of them would be executed and burned. But these words were not the end of the story, and worse words were yet to come.

"It doesn't matter whether the news about the dragon is true or not, what matters is what your father thinks about it, whether he wants to pass the throne to your brother. Your father king's thoughts, none of us know, but I only know one thing: anyone who stands in your way of becoming king must be killed! And your newborn brother, who is the biggest threat to you becoming king, should never have come into this world."

Although he sensed the meaning of her mother's words, he didn't dare to be sure, let alone ask. The thought, he didn't even dare to think about it. A chill ran through his body.

"When did your father ask you to return to the army?" Contrary to her son, Hui looked very calm. It was obvious that she already knew the answer.

"I need to go back to the army one day later, according to my father king's command," Hugon answered.

"What's the rush?" Hui asked.

"There are rumors that a group of rebels has gathered in the north, trying to rebel against the kingdom. We haven't been able to find them, so my father sent me back to lead a small force there."

Hui sighed. "I can't keep you on my side too long, I know that, but I didn't expect you will leave so soon. When you are back in the army, you must work hard, let your father see your talent, and let the generals and soldiers respect and support you, which are the solid foundation for you to become a king in the future. I will write to you when there is something important in the palace. Well, that's it for today, you can go back to rest."

Hugon thanked his mother for her teaching and dismissed himself .