The Ally (1/1)

17th centuryA king reigned sometime before the reign of King Jeongjo (1776-1800) when Joseon created an ally with the Qing dynasty after the Manchu invasion. He was King Suho. The ally with the Qing dynasty was more than an ally.Suho the King was having a meeting with King Wufan from Qing. They both were accompanied by Park Chanyeol, Joseon’s best swordsman. Wufan was guarded by Lay, the high general’s son. Currently, the General was sick so he told his son to guard the King. The meeting was hold in a place between the border of Josoen and Qing, the royal border garden. The place was build because the late King of Joseon asked for it to appreciate the relation between Joseon and Qing. Near the royal garden at the south west side, there was a river that belonged to Qing. And at the north side, people could see mountains that belonged to Joseon.It was a clear summer when the meeting was hold. “Such a beautiful place, I’m thankful to your late father to build a garden here. It marked the friendship between Qing and Josoen. But, how can you look so worried, Jeonha?” King Wufan asked King Suho after he sipped his flower tea. King Suho’s eyes wondered from the mountains at the north to the river and forest at the south.“We may think it is friendship between our kingdoms, but those ministries, they think you want to eat our kingdom for the sake of Qing. I don’t understand them, why they ask for fight when our people are perfectly peaceful.”“Don’t be too anxious, Jeonha. The important thing is that we know we want something that will be better for the future. We can avoid war in the future if we execute our initial plan. And my sister, I didn’t let her marrying you for nothing, after she was made the Royal Concubine while she should be the Queen.” King Wufan was calm and precise. He was famous with his charismatic calm attitude.“I’m sorry. You know that I didn’t mean to make her the Royal Concubine. I want her to be my queen, that’s why I made Baekhyun the Crown Prince. I was struggling against those ministries to make your nephew the next King of Joseon. They were mad like food taken away from them.”“You know it’s always more than about food.” King Wufan giggled. King Suho smiled at his friend. He was grateful that King Wufan didn’t break their relation because Princess Liu Fan didn’t become the Queen even though she was the first woman to marry King Suho.Making Baekhyun as the Crown Prince is the beginning of our plan, please have a trust on me, King Wufan. I will restore Liu Fan’s position as the Queen of Joseon if I succeed the next plan. It’s all for the greater cause.King Wufan nod, like he understood what was in King Suho’s mind. They continued to enjoy their flower tea.Suddenly an arrow almost hit King Suho, but it missed.The guard was shocked and immediately covered the two Kings like they sensed for danger.There were steps heard from the ground. There were people running to the two Kings. “Father, I’m sorry. Are you okay? I was teaching Baekhyun to shoot. I distracted him and the arrow went toward this place.” Prince Luhan came kneeling before King Wufan, his father.“You should apologize to your uncle then. The arrow almost hit him.” King Wufan said calmly.“I’m sorry uncle, I didn’t mean to…”“I’m sorry, Father. It was my mistake. I am not good enough with arrow like Luhan Hyungnim, I mean Prince Luhan.” Prince Baekhyun came from behind the guards who follow Prince Luhan. He kneeled befor the two kings.“I told you to call me hyung!” Prince Luhan whispered to Prince Baekhyun who was beside him.“It’s okay. However, you should be more careful next time. You should be as good as Prince Luhan. You are his cousin, how come you couldn’t master the art of archery while Prince Luhan was best archer from Qing?”Prince Baekhyun lowered his head. Prince Luhan could see disappointment in Prince Baekhyun’s face.“At least Baekhyun is smarter than me, uncle.” Prince Luhan smiled and said to King Suho. He winked to him.King Wufan saw that his son winked to King Suho. “Ohooo!!! Luhan! How dar…”“It’s okay, King Wufan. He’s my nephew, after all.” King Suho giggled. The time for the Kings and Princes to go back to their own kingdoms had come. Prince Luhan hugged Prince Baekhyun when they were not with their Fathers.“I’ll miss you Hyungnim. It is boring in the palace without you there. You are more like my real brother.”“Hey hey hey, you have Prince Sehun after all. And your friends, that guy, Park Chanyeol and Kim Jongin are your bestfriends.”“They are not like you. Thank you so much, Hyungnim.”They parted before twilight. Baekhyun turned to look at the river behind him.“I want to go there, my mother’s land.”“Be patient, son. You will freely go to play with Prince Luhan, after your father succeeds his next mission, after we become one.”