CHAPTER 14

DAESHIM

I always thought I only had two choices in life. The worst and the second worst choice. But there could've been another, and I might've knowingly ignored that option. This is who I am, this is who I will be, the ruthless, cold, and cruelest bastard of the Yang empire, a bastard who was about to take over the majestic throne from the righteous hands of the first prince. This is me… the seventh prince of the Yang empire, Yang Daeshim.

The sun rose behind me while passing the valleys of Astrea mountain, my beloved horse, San seemed tired from the long journey which had taken 15 days, he had accompanied me through several wars but never have I ever seen him gloomy like this… his steps were slow and steady with no fierceness it usually had, "San-ah, why do you look so upset today? Is it because of the long journey through these rocky mountains? Shall we rest for some time?" I stopped by pulling the reins slowly and jumped down on the ground. We were surrounded by the dark green forest. The Astrea mountain had always made me feel ecstatic, since my childhood when my mother brought me here for the monthly prayers and offerings to Goddess Astrea. The goddess always felt as if watching me with her blazing eyes, maybe even she never wanted me to succeed on my father's throne. I was never supposed to be his successor, being the seventh prince and a child from his concubine.

I walked towards a small cave and tied San to the tree beside the cave. While sitting down, I noticed a few troops of soldiers heading towards the temple of purity. Soon they reached the cave and were surprised to see me sitting there leaning my back against the wall of the cave entrance.

"Your highness?" one of them spoke with a tremble in his voice.

I liked that diminished sound of fear. I always enjoyed the palace workers shivering at the sight of my name. I looked at them coldly, "I guess my loving Queen Mother wants to make sure… if I'm dead or alive."

"We've been ordered to bring you back to the royal palace, your highness", said their chief

"Bring me back?" Daeshim chuckled, "the moment I step inside your bloody palace, no one would see the day of coronation."

"His majesty Emperor Yang has ordered you to return to the royal palace for the spring festival, Prince Daeshim" a commanding voice behind the soldiers distracted me. I knew who it belonged to, "Oh, the naesi is here to bring me back? What a joke…"

(naesi - Eunuch)

"No wonder you're still being the rude bastard you were five years back when exiled from the empire," said the royal eunuch Lee Yoon Suk

"dog barking over his master? Guess what…. It's not far away…" Daeshim spoke with his eyes wide open.

"What is that?" Yoon suk asked with a tremble in his voice.

"The Downfall of the North Place" Daeshim had a raging anger in his eyes which made the royal eunuch step behind and bow down in fear.

"Her majesty wants you to be present next to the king's throne in the evening, to welcome Prince Ariho the crown prince of Arishillin, who will be accompanied by his younger sister Princess Arisa, our royal guests for this year's spring festival." Yoon suk walked with the soldiers towards Astrea temple.

I had to return to the palace, how much ever I hated the idea of being inside that dark prison… I had to leave… my life in exile after 5 years…

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The cavalry of royal soldiers marched towards the North palace of Namiseon, followed by a huge beautifully carved wooden carriage pulled by two horses. It was a peaceful procession with no commotion taking place, as they entered the main gate of Namiseon, residents crowded around the royal visitors with their curious eyes and whispers.

Prince Daeshim stood in his secret gallery situated at the peak of the palace and scanned their 'special guests' from far away.

A tall man wearing royal robes stepped down from the carriage and was guided inside the palace by the royal eunuch.

"He's the king of Arishillin? He doesn't even look like a prince", Daeshim laughed.

"How is a King supposed to look, our highness?"

Daeshim looked behind knowing the only person who could dare to step inside his private gallery,

"A King should look fierce, strong, cold, and ruthless, like your elder brother, like me…."

"You think you look fierce? How come I've never seen that fierceness", Seolhwa's face full of confusion melted Daeshim's heart for a moment bringing a sweet smile to his lips until he regained his cold posture at the sound of Iron bells going off, the indication of closing main gates of the kingdom once the sun has set.

"See!! You smiled just now for a second and then turned back looking like a stone in the next moment!! Seriously, why are you like this?" Seolhwa sat on the blue velvet chair inside the room adjoining the gallery.

"Princess Seolhwa, you've grown physically into a mature woman, but now that you're talking like a child I'm quite relieved that I could still be humane towards you."

"You are a human being, brother…. What is so wrong with being humane towards our mother too? She wanted to see you since morning, even though she knows that you hate her from the core of your heart."

"She just wants to make sure that I'm alive, so that Namiseon's Spring festival proceeds without any uncalled situations and this is the last time I'm warning you to not call her our mother, Seolhwa… she is nothing but a selfish stepmother!! She is the Queen of this Northern empire who sent your brother, your only family into exile for 5 years!!"

"No… she has been the only one who stood beside me… the royal court could've easily vanished me from the kingdom for being the blood sister of the betrayer…. Queen mother let me stay in this palace… this kingdom… she allowed me to stay alive…. "

"Did you call me a betrayer? Seolhwa?"

"Weren't you? Getting caught stabbing the crown prince with your knife… wasn't that a betrayal towards our empire?"

"And you believe that happened?"

"I believe my eyes… that night 5 years ago still haunts me down in my sleep… your hands full of blood… the evil in your eyes… what if I couldn't reach the elder brother's palace at that moment? Would you kill him for the greed of this throne? You were about to kill our brother!!"

"HE IS NOT MY BROTHER! NOT YOURS TOO!! Don't forget we are supposed to be the filth of this palace!! Children of concubine… no… children of emperor's beloved concubine whose death was worse than that of the slave… Your Queen Mother was the one responsible for her death!! This ugly emperor did not even care to see her face at the last breath!! This hypocrite royal court and those hypocrite people of this kingdom… I couldn't care any less of them…"

Seolhwa's eyes teared listening to the hatred pouring out of Daeshim's heart. She stood up and walked near the wooden railing of the gallery to hide those tears.

"These 5 years have taught me many things while living alone in this Silent river palace… and the most important lesson was… to letting go of the past sorrows… to forget and to forgive… there were innumerable instances of humiliation, it was never easy to hear the gossip and face the judgmental stares… for being the only 'filth' living in this palace… the brother whom I was immensely proud about was not there beside me… but I endured… I survived… so that one day I could meet you"

"meet me again and blame me for being a betrayer?" Daeshim smiled in ecstasy.

Seolhwa turned back and was about to explain herself but her throat choked, and tears flowed down her eyes…

"that's enough for now, I'm in no mood of getting melodramatic with you. You admire your Queen mother, fine, I respect that. But do not expect me to display this behavior, neither in private nor in the public royal court. Does she think living in the forest would've washed off my brain? go and tell your mother that Prince Daeshim is still the same messed up person running after the life of her son! The betrayer of this kingdom!!"

Daeshim picked up his Lëishëng sword frantically and walked out of the gallery with wide glazed eyes. Seolhwa stood there alone again, from the gallery staring down at the back of her elder brother leaving her alone again… in the Silent river palace…

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ARISA

"Why did we leave after orabeoni left for the Yang empire? We could've gone along with his cavalry", I asked Min while washing my face with cold water from the river flowing beside me. Our carriage was guarded by soldiers and the chief general at a short distance waiting for us.

Orabeoni took his soldiers and left Arishillin two days before me and instructed the chief general of the military to accompany my carriage. Even though I'd insisted to go along with him, he wanted me to wait for the next two days.

"To protect you and your diamond core", said Min with a warm smile.

"Wouldn't it be safer to be with him rather than being apart throughout the journey?"

"No Arisa, his majesty knows that being with him will make you more vulnerable in the eyes of enemies as they would already expect you to be with him. It is your first time stepping out of Arishillin, there will be many evil entities trying to capture your diamond soul."

"Min…. How do you know all these things? Even I don't know half of these facts.."

"Because you're such an innocent and silly little girl with a pure heart, you don't pay attention to such vicious happenings around you; but as I've been appointed to take care of you it is my duty to know and keep a sharp eye over such small details."

That was true, Min was not just here to serve me… she was the best friend I'd found out of nowhere… somehow I've always felt this strange attraction towards her… her beautiful but seducing face… her extreme intelligence in various fields… may it be philosophical texts or weapon skills… she was good at everything… how was a common girl from rural village belonging to no royal bloodline like Min so talented?

"Arisa, don't our real purpose to get out of this kingdom! Don't forget who Min is!!", a sudden inner voice startled me.

Arin… I-I completely forgot about her… Her? Was she different from me? She is me… right… and now we're two souls in one body… and Min was… Goddess Adrestia… how could I be so easily swayed away with her eyes…

"Arisa!! Arisaaa!! Where did you get lost?? What are you thinking so much about??"

Min shook my shoulders, my mind was messed up with these complicated thoughts. The confusion between me and Arin, the ambiguous feelings towards Min, Min being here to take away diamond soul yet pretending to protect me from evil entities… everything was messed up… can't I have a normal life like other princesses? Why did Goddess Astrea bless me with this diamond core? My life could have been so different without it… simple and beautiful….

I looked up at Min with teary eyes, "Let's go Min-ah… we have a long way to reach Yang empire… " she extended her hand towards me and I held them. She pulled me up but I lost balance as my feet got entangled in the silk robe I was wearing, thankfully Min was there to hold me tightly without letting me fall on the ground. Suddenly I noticed the space between me and Min was negligible and our faces were extremely close to each other. Min looked deep into my eyes, my heart gave up on me… it was about to burst out loudly… Is this what they call a temptation? If yes… then yes… I was tempted… tempted to surrender myself to Min…

"Your Highness!!! Princess Arisa!!! Is everything fine there?", My temptation was broken down by a scream from our Chief general. I immediately pulled back myself from Min's arms and walked away from her. She followed me. I said nothing and climbed up the carriage, sitting down on my seat I raised my hand towards Min to stop her from getting inside the cabin. She understood and walked towards the front seat outside the cabin attached to the horses. The carriage moved ahead and I rested my head on the seat. I needed some time alone with myself… just myself…

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"Are we even going the right way?", Daeshim kicked his horse san to run in a different direction. After leaving the palace in raging anger he had run madly deep into the woods crossing the borders of the Yang empire. He had no sense of direction as the sun was almost set down and darkness crept up making the forest a maze of trees. For a long time, after going round and round in circles, Daeshim pulled back san and sat down under a tall tree. He knew, there was no point in running like this with no direction, also it was tiring for both him and San. He decided to spend the night sitting there until dawn. He leaned back on the tree with his eyes staring in distance… there was complete darkness… he didn't even bother to gather a few wooden logs and light up a fire with the matchstick he had with him… he was used to this darkness, and he loved it, the eerie sounds of leaves in the darkness brought an evil smile on his lips… he felt chills going down his spine… he wanted to feel those chills for a long time… he closed his eyes feeling that extreme rage and hatred flowing in his blood… cold breeze touched his bare face and hands… he loved it, he wanted it… the icy feeling… all those words he had heard from Seolhwa's mouth warmed him up with emotions and he hated that warmth was melting his heart… he needed this cold darkness to bring himself back to his original senses. He lifted his face towards the sky, half-moon was sitting still in the dark blue colored sky, he stared at the moon for a long, long time… Moon was calm, but Daeshim's heart never met this calmness, never wanted this calmness after what had happened five years ago… he wondered what it would've been like if that incident didn't take place? Would his life be any different from now… he would not have to leave the palace being labeled as the betrayer but would his palace life be any better than living in the woods hiding from the world? He hated the life of the seventh prince with absolutely no power in his hands and being called the unwanted prince of the Yang empire… the unwanted son of the emperor… he was older than the crown prince… but still had to bow down before him calling him the older one… why? Because he was the legitimate, righteous son born from the womb of the Queen, and Daeshim was a mere concubine's child…

Tears flowed down his eyes while staring at the moon, Moon was his only companion along with San throughout these years in exile. He hated those tears, so much that he wanted to pierce his eyes with Lëishëng sword, but then he had planned many things which required his vision to be sharp and perfect, he pulled out the dagger from the belt tied to his waist and cut the skin behind his shoulder. The pain instigated him, he laughed like a maniac with pain in that dark forest. Trees and leaves, birds sleeping in their nests, and animals resting in their caves, were stunned at the sight of the human turning into a demon. Blood flowed down his shoulders, he screamed in pain, and laughed in madness… the warmth in his heart was completely washed away…

Dawn broke in the sky and darkness was replaced by the orange tint of the rising sun. Daeshim lay down resting. San began tapping his feet to wake up his mad master.

"Shut up San!!! I'm not dead!! Can listen to you!!" he grumbled and opened his eyes. He saw beside him the grass was drenched in blood. He touched his shoulder, the blood had clotted down over the cut. The flowed blood was dried on the skin.

"Need to wash up… cannot return like this in the empire… That bitch would think her son was killed last night…"

He untied San and pulled himself up over his back, the horse immediately walked at the soft kick from his master.

After running a few leaps, Daeshim spotted a group of people coming from far away. He couldn't see clearly because of the trees standing in between them. He decided to wait there until they reached closer.

"This is not a usual main road to reach the Yang empire, who would travel through this forest?" he thought, as they came closer he could see a golden carved wooden carriage being guarded with soldiers and their general walking towards him. He smirked as he got a slight idea of the situation that might be happening.

He jumped down the horse and fell over the ground screaming in pain.

"Help!! Someone HELP!! Aaaaaaahh…. I'm about to die…." saying this he closed his eyes and fainted.

The soldiers were startled by his scream and ran toward him.

"Hey! Who are you?! He's injured!! Did a wild animal attack him?", soldiers talked among themselves

"Leave him there! We need to reach the Yang empire before sunset!! His majesty must be waiting for us!!", a deep hoarse male voice commanded the soldiers to return to the carriage.

"What is going on Chief? Why there is so much commotion?", a soft female voice asked in a worried tone.

Daeshim lied down on the ground, carefully listening to the conversation between the general and that female voice.

He sensed someone coming closer to his body, soft silky cloth touched his hands, the sweet fragrance of jasmine flowers filled his nose and he could feel an extremely strong aura surrounding this person. He wanted to open his eyes and look at that person but he had to control his curiosity while pretending to have fainted.

"General, this person is seriously injured! How could you just order our soldiers to leave him in this situation? Is this what the principles of Arishillin teach us?"

"Your highness, forgive this foolish general, but his majesty must be waiting for you anxiously in the Yang empire. We can't waste our time helping this person, we need to quickly reach our destination. I'll make one of our soldiers stay with him and bring him safely to the capital"

"Let's just take him with us! Put him inside my carriage, there's enough space inside."

"No, Arisa!! What are saying?? How could you let a stranger inside our royal carriage!! It is dangerous!!", a deep female voice followed back.

"Dangerous… not more than you… General, it's my order, put him in the carriage right now! Let's leave and move further without wasting our time"

The General lifted Daeshim and placed him inside the carriage.

"Your highness, please do not close the door of the cabin, it's my request to you"

"Don't worry, I'll be sitting out of the cabin."

The carriage moved further and as the soldiers walked away, San followed them quietly. The horse knew his master's intentions were never straight and he was trained to follow his wicked plans all along these years while spending time with him.

Daeshim slightly opened his eyes blinking toward the door of the cabin. He could see a young girl with a slender tiny physique wearing lavender colored silk robe dress, he could only see her back as she was facing the opposite side of the cabin. Her long hair fell loose below the waist touching the wood of the carriage, jasmine flowers were engulfed into the small braids in her hair. She moved suddenly and was about to turn back, but daeshim kept his eyes open in the same way as before.

"Are you awake?", she asked

He replied nothing

"Rest for a while, we will reach the capital of the Yang empire soon. You can consult a physician there", saying this she turned back again.

Daeshim had to regain his consciousness as he was completely smitten by Arisa's beautiful face, he lied down calming himself as he felt the rush of desires taking over him.

On the other hand, Min sensed the growing desires around her… she knew it since the moment she saw Daeshim's face… She knew who he was and what was about to go down in the Yang empire… She was the Goddess of temptation and lust, but the aura she sensed through Daeshim was beyond those feelings, she had sensed the evil within him… an evil who must never know, what a diamond core could offer him….

But here at the opposite end of the carriage, Arisa was having a deep conversation with Arin, who was telling her that Daeshim seemed familiar, his presence felt extremely familiar to Arin although she didn't know him… something told her that she knew him… for a long time…