.eight.

Minji returned to the general's home with the moon already up above, illuminating the sky. She was soaking wet and shivering from the cold as she walked up the dirt path to the already familiar house, where she had been spending the last couple of days since her accident. She hadn't even bothered to search for the nobles' bathing area and had forgotten to bring her clean clothes to change into. Now she regretted not thinking things through, since she could almost feel a cold sneaking up on her.

The guards let her into the house and greeted her with a friendly, yet confused nod as she passed them. She entered the house, into the living room area to find her sister Soon Deok with one of the princes. He was the one who had pulled Minji off Prince Eun during their fight at the eighth prince's home.

Just as she did earlier, Soon Deok gasped in surprise when she saw her younger sister drenched from head to toe. She got up from her seat, as did the prince, and both walked over to her.

"What happened to you?" She asked with concern.

Minji quickly gave a shake of her head, and raised a hand to stop her sister who took a step towards her. "Don't worry about me, unnie. I'll just change into something warm and I'll be okay."

The prince who was visited, opened his mouth to speak, his expression was one full of amusement as he recalled the events of that day. "You didn't tell your sister about your fight with my hyung?" He chuckled after he spoke, but his words had the opposite effect on Soon Deok.

Her eyes widened in horror, while Minji shot Prince Wang Han a glare. 

"You're such a gossip." She blew him a raspberry angrily, causing him to chuckle once again. 

He didn't find her to be threatening at all.

"I should go so you two can talk." The prince suggested, gesturing from one of the sisters to the other. He bowed respectfully to excuse himself and Soon Deok saw him off with a friendly wave goodbye of her hand.

The moment he was out the door, her sister turned back towards her. "What was that he said about you fighting Prince Eun?"

"He started it." Minji defended herself with a huff. "He was peeping at one of the servants while she was changing. He needed to be taught a lesson." To this moment, Minji still didn't regret beating him up. She knew that if she had the opportunity to do it once more, she would have taken it. 

"Now you've done it, Hak Soon." Soon Deok whined, stomping her foot on the ground in a tantrum.

Minji scoffed at the fact that her sister was so hung up on a guy who acted like a five year old. "You're better off without a guy like him, trust me, unnie."

"But I really like him." Soon Deok argued.

There was a silence in between the two girls. Soon Deok wore a frown on her face and stood there with her shoulders slumped, sulking at her now diminished possibilities with Prince Eun. He never gave her the time of day before, but knowing that she was Hak Soon's sister, there was likely no way that he would pay any attention to her now. All of her hopes and efforts had gone down the drain.

Upon seeing her sister like that, Minji's expression softened. She had only known Soon Deok for a few days, but she already felt that sisterly connection with her. Heaving a sigh, the fourteen year old finally gave in. "Unnie, tell you what. I'll apologize to Prince Shrim--I mean, Prince Eun--and I'll help you get his attention. Just keep him away from me when you guys get married." Minji joked at the last part, although part of her wasn't entirely lying. In the same amount of time that she had known Wang Eun, the two had grown to become sworn enemies of each other.

Soon Deok grinned. "Oh, thank you, yeo dongsaeng."

She jumped onto her sister and hugged her tight, not even caring that she was soaking wet from being in the community baths.

-

The next morning, Minji accompanied her sister as she practiced her sword skills in the backyard of their home. Minji was amazed at how easily her sister was able to wield a sword despite being as small and petite as she was. Soon Deok encouraged her younger sister to give it a try, but Minji tried to put it off as long as possible, and she thought she would later try to learn through observing Soon Deok and Jung.

Minji sat under the shade of a tree, absently drawing shapes in the soil with her finger tips. 

She looked up to ask her sister a question as she remembered her encounter with the tenth prince the day before. "Unnie," She called, and Soon Deok immediately paused what she was doing. Minji continued once she knew herself being acknowledged, "How many princes are there? Yesterday when I went to visit Lady Hae Soo I saw many of them."

Her sister stabbed the blade of her sword into the ground and went to sit by her sister's side. By that initial response, Minji already guessed there were many.

"His majesty has had to marry several times in order to gain powerful families as allies." Soon Deok began to explain, in her mind she was already mentally counting the members of the royal family. "I believe there are twenty five princes in total, and twelve princesses. But I think out of all of them, only ten are eligible for the throne."

Minji raised her eyebrows in surprise.

There she was, an only child--in the present time--and then there was the king of Goryeo with thirty seven children.

When Minji said nothing, her sister continued. "There's the crown prince, who will take over once his majesty can no longer do it. Then there's the third prince Wang Yo, from the Chungju household."

"Is there a second prince?" Minji wondered.

Her sister shook her head sadly. "He died as an infant. Then there's the fourth prince Wang So. He was given away to Royal Concubine Kang after she lost her son--the second prince. The fifth prince Wang Min married and moved to the country side with his wife's family. He wants nothing to do with the crown, and has declined his spot in line for the throne. He always said the throne was a lonely place. The sixth and seventh princes--Wang Beom and Wang Dae--come from a royal Chinese bloodline. Their mother is a princess of one of the five dynasties over there and the King married her in case he would need support to defeat any feuding clans." She paused for a moment before she added, "They are ineligible for the throne because they are in line for their own throne in China."

Minji continued to sit quietly, taking in all of the information she was being given. But it was already starting to get rather confusing.

"Then there's the eighth prince--Wang Wook." Soon Deok counted them with her fingers to keep herself on track. "He, his mother, and sister were banished from Damiwon palace after concubine Lady Oh lost her baby and Queen Hwangbo was accused of being responsible for it. He is married to Lady Hae, the cousin of your friend."

"Yes." Minji recalled. "I remember him from yesterday."

She couldn't quite connect the rest of the names with their faces yet, only for a few of them.

"The ninth prince is Wang Won." Soon Deok crinkled up her nose. "I don't know too much about him since he's always been rather mean to me."

"He did appear mean." Minji agreed.

Her sister let out an enamoured sigh as she talked about the one person that annoyed Minji the most. "Prince Eun is the tenth prince of Goryeo. His mother's family is among the most powerful in Goryeo."

A powerful family backing a total moron, Minji thought to herself.

"Prince Wang Han is the eleventh prince--and Prince Eun's younger brother." Soon Deok added, a fond smile remaining on her face now that she talked about the boy who had just left their house. "They have the same mother too, but Han has spent most of his life on the battlefields with my father and me, learning martial arts and everything there is to know about war."

Minji could see the resemblance between the two brothers--but beyond that, they were nothing alike. Wang Han was mature for his age, while Wang Eun acted like a child. It was likely due to the bubble he lived in. He had lived in the palace all his life and was for the most part granted his every whim. He got to do whatever he wanted, without any consequences, because he was a prince.

"Twelfth Prince Wang Bo also comes from one of the five Chinese dynasties--though a different one from his sixth and seventh brothers." Soon Deok said. "He is also ineligible for the throne since he was in line for his own crown in China."

"Was?" Minji raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

Her sister nodded in confirmation. "Was. His family was of the Jin clan, but the Han clan--where his brothers are from--had the other four clans eliminated. They only spared their brother, but banished him to the country side to live as a slave." 

"Well why does no one here do anything to help him?" Minji asked, her voice full of outrage. It angered her to think that alliances and power were more important to those people over their own siblings and family.

"His majesty often sends him food and money." Soon Deok replied, "But he does it secretly because he doesn't want problems with the Han clan."

Minji sighed.

"The thirteenth prince--Baek Ah--is rumored to be the most handsome prince in Goryeo. But the other powerful families around here don't respect him and would never accept him as their king." Her sister said, and Minji remembered him. Tall and handsome, the thirteenth prince was impossible not to notice. Upon seeing the question in her sister's eyes, Soon Deok clarified, "He's a son of the fallen Silla dynasty. He is technically eligible for the throne, but like I said, no one would accept it. The last prince in line for the throne is Wang Jung, he is the youngest of his brothers."

The mention of his name was the only thing that generated a positive reaction from Minji. Jung had been a good friend to her from the very beginning--when she surfaced in the private bath and the other princes wanted to have her punished for spying on them.

"Jung oppa should be king." Minji commented with a grin.

Her sister shot her a look and brought her index finger to her lips. "Don't say those kinds of things so loud. You can't speak so freely when it comes to the throne."

"Sorry." Minji whispered.

"His older brothers are Wang Yo and Wang So." Her sister said after heaving a sigh, and looking around to make sure no one had heard Minji. "You basically already know a lot about him. I don't need to say more."

"Thank you for the run down of the princes." Minji smiled gratefully.

Soon Deok's eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Run down?"

"Yes, I mean. You know...an explanation of who the princes are." She clarified, making a mental note once again to speak properly and refrain from using slang. 

"Oh, yes. It wasn't any burden for me." Her older sister nodded her head with a smile and got back on her feet, going back to her sword. She continued her practicing while Minji watched her. But now that everything had been explained, Minji remembered learning in her history classes that the fourth king of Goryeo--Gwangjong--killed all of his brothers once he rose to power. He was afraid that they would conspire to kill him and take the throne away.

Her heart dropped at the thought. 

That meant that one of the princes was going to kill the others in line for the throne--and that included Jung.

-

a very filler chapter after nearly two weeks of not uploading anything into this book. thank you all for the 1.3K reads. it means so much to me and i hope you are enjoying this story. 

i did make up several more princes--that i mentioned in this chapter--for plot purposes. i might post a collage of all of them later. i already picked out who their face claims are too.

thank you again for all the support!

have a wonderful weekend.

-clary xx