Struggle Chapter 1

A monster lives in the palace. Yes, you may find it hard to believe. But a monster truly lives there. And generally, the strongest and cruelest monster sits in the noblest seat. Sometimes someone who is not a monster sits there, and if there are no monsters at all in the palace, it passes without incident; but if there is even one other monster, what becomes of the one who sits there…

“Uncle, then have you ever seen that monster?”

“…”

Taerok stared silently at the gentle, clear eyes gazing at him. He pitied the way the question was asked without even understanding his meaning. His own reflection was visible in those eyes, black and glossy like obsidian Go stones. Taerok saw his own image in Nanyoung’s eyes and answered.

“Yes. I have seen one.”

Nanyoung had been weak from birth. He was born after only eight months, and everyone thought he would die as a newborn. As he was the legitimate son of the king, none could voice it aloud, but even his parents must surely have had such thoughts.

Making the fact all the more regrettable, Nanyoung was a particularly adorable-looking child. It was not something Taerok saw. He heard it said. When Taerok received the news that his second nephew had been born, he was in the middle of hunting a deer, and at the word that he was an eight-month baby, he simply thought he would die soon.

Taerok, the late king’s youngest son born in his later years, was thirteen years apart in age from Nanyoung. Had he been born just a little earlier, would something have changed? There was a seventeen-year gap between him and the king, his elder brother, who already had a son. How great was everyone’s secret relief that the sickly Lee Nanyoung was not the eldest son.

Taerok came to meet Nanyoung on his first birthday. He studied his face intently. The chubby, plump cheeks, the peacefully closed eyes, and the beaming lips were indeed a lovely combination, enough to be the talk of others. It simply failed to move Taerok.

“Taerok. Is my child not truly endearing?”

At the affectionate question calling his name, Taerok let out a scoff.

The child’s cheeks were plump, yet his limbs were on the thin side and his complexion was pale. Would he even live past the age of five?

“Though he is my child, he is truly endearing. Lovable.”

His elder brother the king was exceedingly affectionate by nature. For an ordinary husband and man, this would not be a flaw, but the problem was being a monarch with that nature. The dynastic name and royal clan surname had been changed, and only three generations had passed since. The wolves who betrayed the previous dynasty were still their allies for now, but no one knew when they might reveal their true nature again. Taerok, who had left the palace the year before, knew very well just how much they were fattening their own granaries.

As such, Taerok suppressed a sigh at the sight of his brother acting particularly soft. Then he looked at Nanyoung again. He had looked plenty just moments before, so how much could the child have changed?

“…”

Nanyoung opened his eyes. The moment his eyes opened, the lips that had been continuously beaming stopped. As if there were honey hanging in the empty air, he pursed his lips and made soft smacking sounds. Was he hungry? That is how all children are, but this particular nephew was exceedingly placid as well. Taerok looked at Nanyoung with eyes unbecoming of a fourteen-year-old.

“…His eyes are as black as Go stones.”

It was a compliment he had managed to find with some effort. At such a small remark, the king laughed heartily. It seemed novel to him that Taerok, who had until now been as cold as the ice from the Bingo to his other nephews, would say such a thing.

“Is that so? In your eyes too, this child alone seems lovely, is that it?”

It was merely a passing comment. The over-interpretation was excessive. Taerok sneered inwardly.

However, Taerok, thinking he might at least humor the king and play the part of a loyal subject for a moment, extended his hand. Taerok was said to particularly resemble his great-grandfather. His great-grandfather was known to have enjoyed hunting, drawn iron bows, ridden horses exceptionally well, and possessed a large and robust frame. Perhaps because of this, even at the age of fourteen, Taerok’s hands were large compared to those of his peers. When he extended his index finger, Nanyoung’s Go-stone-like eyes crossed inward to focus on it. Seeing this, Taerok, uncharacteristically, played a prank. He slowly drew a circle with his index finger. As Nanyoung flailed his hands while watching, he suddenly grasped Taerok’s finger firmly.

“Ah….”

What tiny hands they were. He had to use both hands just to wrap them entirely around Taerok’s index finger. Taerok was unexpectedly a bit flustered. The grip strength was stronger than he had thought. This tiny thing, like freshly steamed white rice cake that would crumble at a tap.

“It seems Nanyoung likes his uncle as well.”

The king whispered. Taerok was about to scoff but stopped. It was because Nanyoung pulled his hand and bit down softly with moist lips.

Softly. Yes. That kind of sensation. A soft, pressing sensation. Taerok frowned, but the moment the king turned his head, he roughly pulled his hand away. Yet Nanyoung did not cry.

“How was it? Is the young master truly as adorable as they say?”

As soon as he left the palace, Taerok answered his friend Sa-on, who asked in a sly tone, with a single word.

“Sickly.”

Four out of ten children do not survive past the age of five. That misfortune cannot avoid the palace either. After Nanyoung’s first birthday, Taerok did not seek out Nanyoung again. Just as he did with all his other nephews.

∞ ∞ ∞

Taerok grew into adulthood and turned eighteen. Thus Nanyoung’s age had become five.

In the time since, no notice of death had come from within the palace. So Nanyoung had defied everyone’s expectations and survived. At least up to the age of five.

During that period, the king’s health had also been growing frail. From the start, Nanyoung took entirely after his father. The great burden that the position placed upon him was also one of the causes of his weakening. From the very beginning, his nature was not suited for standing above others. Perhaps he might have fared better as a village schoolmaster in a small town.

Perhaps because of this, it was said that high-ranking officials and Confucian scholars had been troubling the king with other matters of late. Petitions demanding that royal kinsmen be forbidden from holding government posts were submitted endlessly, they said. It was clearly a move to keep Taerok in check. Taerok sneered. His brother, so long as Taerok showed his loyalty, would not approve such petitions. It was partly because he was gentle and affectionate, and partly because he was clever.

Compared to the private soldiers of high ministers and noblemen, the soldiers Taerok personally trained were exceptionally skilled and not few in number. At least, as long as Taerok was on the king’s side and was his brother, the king clearly understood that suppressing the power of the royal kin would be of no help at all.

Perhaps that was why. One day, the king summoned Taerok.

“Taerok.”

At the sound of his given name instead of his grand prince title, Baekan, Taerok tilted his head lightly.

“Could you look after Nanyoung?”

In private, the king acted as if they were ordinary brothers from a common household. Taerok thought that was truly a madness. At all times, the king must exist as the king. To personally call someone by name and make requests was to sully his own authority.

“Look after him? There are many others besides me who could do so.”

But because the king behaved that way, Taerok responded with the same attitude. The king, being unable to be harsh by nature and so affectionate and gentle, laughed off the fact that his younger brother was somewhat crooked. Though they shared the same womb and blood, unlike the king, whose spirit as well as body was weak, Taerok was born with the mettle of a warrior. Even the hands holding the same teacup were different.

“But still, is the one I can trust the most not you, my brother? Regrettably for Nanyoung, as I was unable to pay him mind, I have not found a teacher for him yet.”

No one had thought he would live this long, no doubt.

“I cannot teach scholarly pursuits.”

Taerok drew the line firmly. From the beginning, that was not what the king hoped he would teach.

“I would be glad if you could teach the child the sword and the bow. Is it not said that a gentleman must be proficient not only in scholarly studies but also in the arts and martial skills? Above all, for a child who is to become a grand prince, all the more so….”

Taerok sneered inwardly. To wish for proficiency in a sickly child… ‘Just grow up healthy,’ that saying is likely a well-wish only until about six or seven years of age. Born a grand prince, he could not be allowed to grow up completely incapable.

Yet at the same time…

“If he becomes too outstanding, could that not also become his misfortune?”

Taerok asked, turning a pointed remark.

“And so, it is why you are unfortunate.”

And the king, seeing through that point, returned it just as pointedly.