All the king's horses

Try not to feel the cold

Are you sure you took care of it?

"Yes. They say the castle itself was turned into ashes."

What about Yeongji?

"I destroyed them all."

He is my son... but how dare you betray your father?

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정인

'son...?'

I don't want to pass the throne to his son, but...

Good work. Go ahead.

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정인

'Its son...'

I hurriedly left before my father found me.

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정인

'I don't want to put his son on the throne... That was clearly meant for me.'

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'If you don't want to put me on the throne because I am your son'

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'There is another woman's son who is not my mother.'

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'The son betrayed his father, and the father killed the son...'

I couldn't believe what I heard either.

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'It won't work.'

I felt so frustrated that I ran out of the room and headed to my teacher's house.

I knew it would be rude to go to the main gate, so I knocked on the window of Changbin's room on the second floor.

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창빈

what?!

Changbin opened the window in surprise.

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Sorry... I'll just excuse myself this once.

I said, panting.

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Take me to the teacher.

Changbin saw my expression and took me to the teacher without saying anything.

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은광

What's going on? You haven't contacted me in the middle of the night?

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Do I have any brothers?

I blurted out the question that had been on my mind while I was running here.

The teacher was silent.

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Did I have a half-brother?

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은광

... When I came in as the prince's teacher, the queen set one condition for me.

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But now I'm starting to wonder if there might be a better way for the prince.

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I'm eighteen now.

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As an adult, I have now been officially named successor...

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I'm not that young.

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Yes, I think it's time you knew.

The teacher took a deep breath and began to tell the story.

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은광

Eleven years before the prince was born, the prince's father fell in love with a country girl and took her as his concubine.

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은광

The woman whom the king loved so much became pregnant as soon as she entered the palace as a concubine and gave birth to a son the following year.

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The king wanted to pass the throne to his son, but the woman was still a concubine, so she tried to kill the prince's mother in order to become the queen herself, but was caught and banished from the palace.

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The woman was banished, but her son, who was the only son of the royal family, remained in the palace and was adopted as the current queen's son.

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Naturally, it wasn't very well-loved.

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The King wanted to hide the truth from his son, but he could not keep the child ignorant of the truth forever.

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은광

Eventually, the son found out the truth and disappeared when the prince turned five and was old enough to be taking lessons to become his successor.

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So you're saying I have an older brother who is ten years younger than me?

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Yes, that's right.

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So where is that person now?

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Nobody knows.

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I don't think anyone has seen a single hair on his head in the 10 years since he disappeared...

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I hope you are doing well somewhere.

For a moment, my mind snapped.

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Oh, sorry for bothering you so late at night.

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No, I'm just a little worried.

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은광

Let's get in quickly, before anyone notices.