Another seven years have passed, and Young-Sik and Jin-Ri have been training and practicing their crafts for fifteen years. They are now twenty-three years old and have grown to be of perfect physical fitness.
One day, the now Prime Minister Lim Do-Yun and the Queen passed by the prince's practice area. They noticed that despite all the years he had been practicing, his movements were slow and awkward. He then had an idea to humiliate the prince "You said you would make the prince eat out of your palm, but he never did"
The Queen scoffed at her supposed failure "The King shielded that brat even from me, such a despicable man, not entrusting his child to me"
Minister Gi, chuckled "If he knew you the way we do, he would have you beheaded a long time ago"
"Enough" Minister Do-Yun said, "I think it is about time, that the prince's skills be tested"
"What would that accomplish?" Minister Gi asked skeptically
"Animosity…The father will be disappointed with the failure of a son. The son will think his father failed him in his wish" Minister Do-Yun explains
"Should I still take the role of a loving mother?" The Queen asked, her sinister intent evident in her voice.
"Of course, we will need every bit of power on our side, that inconsequential boy will still have a few ounces of influence and authority…and I want it all" Do-Yun greedily said, craving all the power and authority Chiongsun has to offer.
The Queen snickered "Let me take care of the prince's soon-to-be humiliating demonstration of his mediocre skills'
Later that day, the King and Queen watched Crowned Prince Man-Ju with his archery practice.
"Your Highness…we have already seen how adept the crowned prince is with his archery skills, but we have no idea how Prince Young-Sik fares with his skills." The dashing prince, now in his late twenties, stands at a confident five feet seven inches tall. He has long, smooth Black hair, a Lean build, Alabaster smooth skin, an oblong face shape, and narrow hazel eyes with long lashes. Rounded eyebrows, soft jawline full lips
The King turned to the Queen with a smile "Your Majesty do you want us to go and watch the prince practice?"
"I was thinking about a skill demonstration, the crowned prince has been learning archery for over five years now, and look at how good he is" They both looked at Prince Man-Ju who hit another bull's eye "Imagine how skillful Prince Young-Sik was, knowing that he has been practicing his swordsmanship for fifteen years"
King Seo-Jung, having thought for a while, agreed to the Queen's proposal, effectively falling for her trap "Very well, I will talk to the prince and we will have a skill demonstration for both of them in three days"
The Queen discreetly let out a sly smile "In three days, the youngest prince will fall out of the King's favor and grace for being a failure" she whispered to herself
Before the day was over, The King went to Prince Young-Sik's residence "Your Highness…" the prince bowed to his father "It is already late, there is no need for you to tire yourself, you should have summoned me instead"
The King takes a look at how his son has grown. Prince Young-Sik grew to be six feet and two inches tall. He has long black hair, an oblong face shape, narrow copper eyes with fringed lashes, eyebrows with a soft angle, a pointed nose, a muscular jawline, with wide lips. He has a slightly lean muscular build and velvety olive skin. The King smiled and embraced his son, who embraced him back "This is fine with me Young-Sik, at least here we are father and son, not King and prince"
The prince guided his father to the head of the room, once seated the prince sat in front of the King "How fares the throne father?"
The King let out a small frown and a sigh "A lot of our people are rebelling in the far-flung provinces; I even hear of villages ravaged by bandits and curses. Don't worry about the Kingdom, I am here to see how are you doing. How are your lessons and combat training?"
"All is well father, The masters said they have nothing left to teach me and that I should continue to practice what I've learned, so I can master the knowledge and skills that I have" The price humbly said to his father
The King smiles and nods to what the prince told him "Then would you oppose a demonstration of skills and knowledge? Even The crowned prince will participate."
"Well if the crowned prince will do it, who am I to sit on the sidelines?" Young-Sik confidently said
"Perfect, the demonstration will happen in three days, bring your very best self that day," The King said to his son. They enjoyed each other company and talked and drank almost the whole night. Outside, Man-Ju looked from afar, wondering when he would have a time like that with his father.
The King sends word to all his constituents of the two prince's demonstration of skills. Minister Do-Yun laughed aloud when he received his invitation "I can't believe it can be this easy, to sever the bond between father and son" Said Minister Do-Yun
"It's almost torture just waiting for that occasion to happen," Minister Gi said
That same day at the hidden village in Mt. Yangge, Jin-Ri was summoned by the chief. Moments later he was approached by a young lady. The chief looked at Jin-Ri all grown up. She is five feet and four inches tall, teardrop-shaped face Black bedroom eyes with long lashes and arched brows, Fair luminescent skin with rosy undertones, a low ridged nose, and thin red lips. Long jet-black hair in braids, and a slim body. Though her individual facial features are pleasing to the eye, she is somewhat plainly ordinary. Jin-Ri bowed "You summoned me chief?"
"The palace will be employing a batch of new court ladies, you will be amongst them" The chief then called out Yeng who is also now grown up, with similar features to Jin-Ri "Your friend will be going to the Cherry Blossom, she will join the new batch of Kisaeng." The two ladies bowed to the chief and temporarily went their separate ways to prepare.
"Wait, wait, whoa there…shouldn't I be the one to join the Kisaeng…I mean look at me" Jin-Ri bragged, pointing at her facial features
Chief Bong looked at Jin-Ri as requested "What am I supposed to see?" he asked confused and bewildered at what Jin-Ri was pertaining to.
"As I was saying, Yeng you will be with the Kisaeng group and Jin-Ri will be with the court maiden's group. All of you will leave in two days" Chief Bong, then left the ladies to tend to other matters of the village.
Jin-Ri turned to her friend "You think I am the most beautiful here right? Seeking assurance from Yeng
Yeng sighed and gave her reply "Jin-Ri you are my dearest friend, so I will say this" Yeng paused dramatically "Stop being delusional!" She turned around and hopped and skipped away from a bewildered and speechless Jin-Ri
Three days quickly flew by and on the day of the exhibition, all the ministers and officials gathered at the royal courtyard. Inside the great hall, the price waited for the event to begin. Wearing his blue dragon robes, Man-Ju paced around nervously "You know this is all your fault, I was roped in doing this exhibition" he said to his brother "Are you seriously sleeping right now?"
Young-Sik who was meditating opened his eyes "Hey…it's not my fault, father wanted for us to show off our skills, he said you already agreed so I said I'll join as well"
"Father only told me yesterday! And he told me you said yes, that's why I agreed!" The two of them laughed when they realized how sly their father was.
"Aren't you burning with that armor you're wearing?" Man-Ju asked his brother why Young-Sik was completely covered from neck to foot.
Young-Sik was about to answer, but they heard their names called. Young-Sik stood up and picked up the sword given to him twenty years ago. Man-Ju slings his quiver over his shoulder and picks up his ornate bow.
They entered the royal courtyard together, the place roared in cheers from the young noble ladies watching. They marched to the courtyard till they reached the foot of the great stairs. Everyone kept silent, as the crowned prince took his position, while Prince Young-Sik took his seat and watched. Man-Ju looked at four targets approximately a hundred meters or more away from him.
He pulled an arrow from his quiver and loaded his bow. Taking a deep breath, he released the arrow, hitting a bulls-eye. He repeated the same feat in rapid succession. All arrows hit a bull's eye. Everyone in attendance cheered on, but the prince was not yet done. Again, in rapid succession, he launched arrows at the four targets, always splitting arrows and hitting the bull's eye. Man-Ju only stopped when there were no more arrows in his quiver. A soldier then went and inspected all four targets. After a few moments, he then shouted "All Bull's eye!" The crowd all applauded the crowned prince and his incredible skills.
The crowned prince armed himself with three arrows. He instructed a eunuch to throw a silver coin. The eunuch threw the silver coin high in the air. Prince Man-Ju followed the coin with his eyes and when it was at its highest point shot an arrow at it. The arrow finds its mark and hits the coin on its right side. The coin was thrown up again, but this time it followed a leftward trajectory. The prince repeated the feat by striking the coin once more, on its right side, causing it to move further to the left, heading towards the King and Queen. He armed his final arrow and shot at the coin, striking it once last time on the right side. The coin flew straight towards the King who caught it with his right hand.
The King observed the coin and saw the marks that the arrows made. They were all beside one another. The King stood up and clapped his hands, at the impressive feat.
Young-Sik stood up as soon as Man-Ju took his seat. A lone soldier faced the prince, they were about to bow, when Minister Gi, stepped in "Your Highness… May we request that the prince battle one of my bodyguards, to make sure that the prince's opponent will not be intimidated by the prince's stature. So, he can convince us of his skills" All the left-wing ministers shouted "Please Your Highness…so the prince can convince us"
Master Im who is now a minister protested what the left-wing ministers wanted "Are you deliberately putting the prince in harm's way, Minister Gi?"
"Not at all minister Im, we merely wanted a fair exhibition, the crowned prince showed us his skills, and without a shadow of a doubt, he is skilled. We just want Prince Young-Sik to do the same" Do-Yun said
"It is all right Minister Im, they are right, I will comply with their request," Young-Sik said, to calm his master.
Having heard, that the prince agreed, Do-Yun instead called his most skilled bodyguard and not the bodyguard of Minister Gi, he then whispered to the man "Defeat that brat soundly, break his spirit, if needed you can break his legs as well…I want him and the King and all their allies humiliated" The man pulled out his sword and grinned.
The prince and his opponent met at the center of the courtyard, the man quickly attacked the prince, not giving him time to bow, Young-Sik pulled out his sword, but his enemy's speed and ferocity prevented the prince from unleashing his attack seeing that all he can do is block. The man pushed with his strikes, not giving the prince any breathing room for a counterattack.
The man then launched a brutal overhead slash, Prince Young-Sik was able to block it, but he was knocked over. Before the prince could recover, he saw the man's sword pointed at his throat.
The King's heart sank at Young-Sik's failure. All the left-wing ministers laughed discreetly at the prince "Practiced for fifteen years and he can't even land a single strike"
The right-wing ministers all bowed their heads in shame at the prince's seemingly sound defeat. Minister Do-Yun then had the brilliant idea to hold General Shin accountable. "Your Highness… General Shin has failed our prince he should be held accountable and punished"
General Shin, the prince's instructor, stood up and spoke "Why Minister Lim? The battle has not yet ended"
The Queen then stepped in "What are you saying, General? Do you take delight in seeing my son fail?"
General Shin faced the Queen and bowed to her "Not at all Your Majesty…I'm merely saying the prince has not yet shown his true abilities"
"Your Highness…the match has not yet ended, let me finish my match" Young-Sik requested his father
"But you barely able to survive his attacks," The King said worriedly
"It was just an experiment I tried to conduct, don't worry Your Highness, I will win easily," The prince said with the utmost confidence
Upon hearing the prince's cockiness, infuriated Minister Do-Yun, he went to the bodyguard and instructed him "If you kill that arrogant brat, you won't be arrested and I will make you a rich official" The man smiled and again went back to the middle of the courtyard.
The prince also faced the man, but before they started, to everyone's bewilderment, the prince began to remove his arm braces, greaves, shoulder, and breastplates, the prince's accessories fell and cracked the pavement where they fell. The ministers saw how the eunuchs strained to lift each accessory the prince removed. Even the King, Queen, and the crowned prince were shocked by the total weight the prince carried.
"Fifty kilograms," General Shin said "The prince has been carrying a total of fifty kilograms constantly for eight years" He went to the prince and gave him a different sword. It had a white ivory hilt, wrapped in a white handle cord. The sword's sheath was also made out of ivory, polished to make it glisten under the sun's bright rays. The hand guard, blade collar, and notch were all made of steel. The blade itself has a feathery pattern on it, indicating that the steel used to make it was folded a hundred times to increase its strength, a technique used by Aranese sword smiths. It was clear to everyone that it was the previous crowned prince's sword. "The prince wields a sword so heavy that it weighs three times more than a regular one."
The Left-wing ministers stopped laughing as they finally understood why the prince lost. Even Minister Do-Yun's bodyguard was no longer sure if he could defeat the prince. The King seeing the tables have turned, shouted "Begin!"
The man could not even react because of Young-Sik's lightning speed. Everyone was just stunned when the prince was at the man's side and the prince's blade was at his throat in a blink of an eye.
Not to be outdone, Minister Do-Yun requested the King "Your Highness…this trickery not swordsmanship" he said
Young-Sik, approached the minister and said "Let's play your game minister, how many would I defeat to shut you up?"
The anger can be seen in the minister's eyes after being talked down by a mere boy. He clenched his fist and answered "Defeat ten of my men and I will fear your skills with the sword"
The prince turned his back to the minister and said "Ten? Send Twenty." He then walked back to the center of the courtyard.