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Chapter: 122

While a life-or-death battle raged daily on the northern border, people in the capital lived their lives oblivious to it.

Prince Yehui was one of them.

Until yesterday, that is.

Last night, Yehui had heard news of General So\'s departure and had been eagerly awaiting dawn.

As soon as morning came, he abandoned his beloved late-night sleep and rushed to the inner palace.

Thump, thump, thump, thump-

His heavy footsteps echoed through the corridors of the inner palace.

Yehui was reckless. But no matter how much the inner palace was his mother\'s residence, it was still the dwelling place of the queen of a nation.

The palace maids tried to stop Yehui from bursting open the door, but who dared to stop him?

In the end, no one could halt his unruly advance.

"Mother!"

Yehui shouted as he flung open the door. The room was revealed.

Queen Woo, as if expecting her son\'s arrival, sat upright.

She greeted Yehui with a frown and pressed her fingers to her temples, as if suffering from a headache.

"What brings you here so early in the morning?"

"Why didn\'t you tell me?" Yehui asked irritably.

The queen sighed deeply before answering.

"Yehui."

"You deliberately kept it from me!"

When Yehui persisted, the queen sighed again.

She would have been sighing even if Yehui hadn\'t come demanding answers.

How could he be so immature?

Yehui was her precious son, the one who had secured her position as queen.

But at this very moment, no matter how much she loved her son, she had to silence him.

Looking at him now, he doesn\'t seem so different from that scoundrel.

Hidden by the eccentric behavior of the exiled Prince Ikwon, Yehui\'s shortcomings were less noticeable. Now that Ikwon was gone, Yehui\'s flaws were becoming apparent.

Of course, if she were the only one who saw it, she could have covered it up.

The problem was that many palace maids had also noticed. Unaware of this, Yehui continued to behave as recklessly as ever.

Just like he had a moment ago. Even without the ability to see through the door, she could imagine the scene.

With a pale face, she would have chased after him, trailing behind him as he stomped down the corridor as if the other maids didn\'t exist.

And yet, he seemed oblivious to the problem, still shouting loudly.

Her heart ached.

How cruel is fate.

She was angry, so angry she felt a surge of rage rising up her throat.

Glaring at Yehui, the queen said, "You should shut your mouth."

Immediately, Yehui shut his mouth and lowered his head.

The queen sighed inwardly.

‘I thought it was good that he listened to his mother, but it seems that’s not the case either.’

Yehui, a queen consort who had never left the capital, would immediately wilt if she frowned.

How could a queen, who had never left the capital, expect her son to be anything more? Yehui would immediately cower when she frowned.

What was she to do? How could a weakling like him, who would probably just do whatever the ministers told him, ever become a king?

‘But that boy...\'

She thought of Prince Ikwon.

She agreed with those who said he looked exactly like his mother, the deposed queen.

And of course, the deposed queen was her enemy.

Even though she was dead, she remained her enemy.

She knew she would hate and fear the deposed queen for the rest of her life.

Every night as she drifted off to sleep, the deposed queen would appear in her dreams, cursing her.

And now, her enemy\'s son was gaining attention. It felt like her insides were twisting.

“...Mother?” Yehui asked cautiously when the queen remained silent for a long time.

She took a deep breath and shook off her thoughts.

“I didn’t deliberately hide it from you.”

Her voice was softer than before. Yehui brightened up, but also pouted.

“But you hid it from my ears.”

“I told you I didn’t. It just didn’t reach you.”

It was a lie. She had deliberately kept it from him. There was no point in telling Yehui anyway.

And she never intended to let Yehui do anything about it.

“I want to know.”

“Alright, I’ll tell you. You should know.”

She agreed, but she wasn’t happy about it.

In fact, she had already heard about how the lords of Wolhan Fortress and the northern region treated Yegyeong.

She imagined him being treated like a fool, making a fool of himself, and returning to the capital to be ridiculed.

It would be even better if he died in battle, struck by a stray arrow or devoured by a beast.

She had imagined it. She had been grinning at the thought of ridiculing Ikwon.

Until she opened the letter with news from the northern border.

‘How could he...?’

It said that Ikwon had slain countless beasts.

And that he had persuaded the surrounding lords to join his forces before the royal command arrived.

It was hard to believe that it was the same Ikwon she knew.

Wasn’t he just a useless bum?

How could a man who couldn’t even take care of himself achieve such feats in Wolhan Fortress, where they fought beasts every day?

Maybe he had found a double to take his place.

She had countless suspicions, and eventually, she bribed the palace maids who served Ikwon in his private quarters, Hyeonnyeongdang.

When she questioned the maids, who she usually treated like furniture, they said:

-The prince has been training his body every day since he changed.

-He seemed to be learning swordsmanship, but he didn’t have a separate teacher.

-We thought he was just being eccentric at night.

She was so shocked.

‘He deceived me.’

She didn’t mind Yehui teasing Ikwon. The king didn’t care about the relationship between the brothers, and since Ikwon didn’t resist, she could just ignore it.

But that seemed to have been a problem. He had clearly used it to deceive her.

‘Though he’s half-brother, he’s still of the So clan…’

It was a haunting thought.

The queen looked at her hands. Without realizing it, they were trembling.

‘What if the king takes a liking to him...?’

She was terrified. Nothing terrified her more.

‘He must not become king. Absolutely not... It’s a separate matter from Yehui becoming king. If he becomes king, he will definitely kill me. And he won’t just kill me. He will kill my clan, and then... and then…’

Even if he was her relative, there would be no exceptions.

Yehui would also be killed. She hid her hands in her sleeves and briefly told Yehui what she had learned about Wolhan Fortress

She deliberately downplayed Ikwon’s achievements. Even so, she couldn’t stop Yehui’s face from contorting.

“That’s impossible!” Yehui exclaimed in shock. “That idiot is fighting? Against beasts?”

Yehui gritted his teeth.

“Watch your tongue.”

While the queen\'s dislike for Ikwon stemmed from his position as the eldest son, his symbolism, and his maternal family, Yehui\'s hatred was more raw.

He would have hated Ikwon even if he wasn’t his half-brother.

Moreover, Yehui’s bodyguard had resigned from his position shortly after being defeated by Ikwon.

“You’re joking, right? You’re joking, Mother?”

“I wish I were... but unfortunately, it’s not a joke.”

Yehui’s expression crumbled. He looked at the floor for a moment in silence, then suddenly shouted.

“I’m going too!”

The queen gasped.

“No.”

“Please let me go, Mother! If he can do it, why can’t I? I will also go to war and earn the King’s favor.”

Even after she told him that Ikwon wouldn’t return to the capital until he had defeated the beasts in the wild lands north of Wolhan Fortress, Yehui seemed not to hear.

The queen groaned.

“No. His Majesty would never allow it. With Ikwon fighting for his life on the battlefield, how could I possibly put you in danger? At least one royal prince must remain safe to protect the kingdom.”

Yehui’s eyes lit up as if he had a good idea.

“Then I’ll go south. I will ask His Majesty for permission myself. Will you allow my departure then?”

South.

The queen’s eyelids flickered. She spoke slowly.

“The southern battlefield...”

The Taeryeong Mountains bordered the southwestern border of the Mokryeo Kingdom.

Surrounded by these mountains was a place called Seopyung.

It was a place where war with the Huawei Empire had been ongoing for a long time.

“Since he went to Wolhan Fortress, I will go to Blood Cloud Fortress. There are constant battles there too, so it’s no different from Wolhan Fortress. Since I’ll be fighting humans instead of beasts, you can rest assured about my safety.”

‘Blood Cloud Fortress, Huawei Empire…’

The two words swirled in the queen’s mind.

She turned her head and looked at the paper on the table. It was paper she had prepared for writing a letter.

She bit her lip. A good idea had come to her.

“Very well. If that’s what you want.”

With the queen’s permission, Yehui immediately went to the royal palace.

And the king granted Yehui’s request to go to Blood Cloud Fortress.