Requiem for an ugly dream
"The winters that I've spent longing for you.
Pay them all back."
The King of Joseon, a corrupt womanizer who spent most of his time devoted to lazing around, buried himself in alcohol and beautiful ladies. Whilst the King was occupied with his leisurely activities, the citizens of Joseon were suffering from a myriad of problems.
Shen Yuan had served under the King of Joseon's rule for countless years. Having born from a lowly servant woman, he was destined to follow in her footsteps.
Witnessing the corruption that led the kingdom down a muddy trajectory, Shen Yuan resorted to treason. Rounding up an army, Shen Yuan finally seized the throne, and publicly executed the King, slaughtering the King's illegitimate sons, his harem of a thousand beauties, and only after this sanguinary bloodbath was finished, settled down as the sole regent that oversaw the Kingdom of Joseon.
Though.. there was one person he mercifully spared the life of. The Crown Prince. Soon, a heinous rumor stirred up the Imperial Jade Palace. Once spread, it was like wildfire that couldn't be doused. Mouths flew quicker than birds, creating a final, pronounced result. "The current regent ruling over Joseon was in love with the late King!"
Unable to bear his father's name being associated with sodomy and dragged through filth, even after his dishonorable death, the young prince, now a young King, found Shen Yuan to be a repulsive individual. This one-sided hatred stemmed from a memory belonging to the past that became a catalyst that catapulted the loath between the two. Whilst the regent remained steadfast, the young, impulsive King hated Shen Yuan.
The regent hid an ugly truth, a small fragment that had been forcefully buried deep in the soil of his heart. He truly loved the dead King.
Original novel; a work of collaboration between a fellow writer and I.
baexuxi · LGBT+
