The Week of Shadows

King Alistair didn’t speak as he walked.

He didn’t shout.

He didn’t warn.

He simply entered Jihoon’s private chamber, closed the door, and turned toward him with the cold silence of a man who lost all patience long ago.

Jihoon stood trembling, hands clasped tightly behind him.

“Father… if I have disappointed you, I..”

The crack of a hand striking skin echoed like thunder.

Jihoon’s head snapped sideways, cheek burning, eyes watering instantly.

He stumbled but didn’t fall.

“You dare shame this family with the son of Winterthorn?” King Alistair hissed.

Jihoon swallowed hard.

“I only spoke with him...”

Another slap.

Harder.

“You are a prince,” his father growled.

“Not a fragile girl who wanders after pretty faces.”

Jihoon lowered his head.

It hurt.. physically, emotionally... but he knew arguing would make it worse.

“You will not meet him again,” Alistair said sharply.

“You will not speak to him.

You will not look at him.

You will not think of him.”

Jihoon’s voice cracked.

“But Father, I...”

The king seized Jihoon by the hair and slammed him to the floor.

“You shame me,” he spat.

“You shame this kingdom.”

Jihoon bit back a cry, tasting metal on his tongue.

“From today,” the king declared, “you are confined to this room.”

Jihoon’s eyes widened. “Father...”

“Silence.”

Guards stepped forward.

“Lock every window.

Guard every door.

He does not leave this chamber unless I command it.”

Jihoon’s stomach dropped to ice.

His heart pounded in panic.

The king left without another word, leaving Jihoon shaking on the floor... bruised, bleeding, but most of all… trapped.

Days passed like cold winters.

Jihoon couldn’t leave.

Couldn’t breathe fresh air.

Couldn’t see sunlight except through the tiny cracks where curtains met.

He stood by that crack every evening, wondering if Jaehyun also looked toward Aurelis hoping for a sign.

He tried everything... sending a message with a guard, calling a passing maid, tapping the window twice at night hoping someone below would hear.

Nothing worked.

Every knock on the door made him jump.

Every voice outside made him hope it was Jaehyun.

But it never was.

At night he cried quietly, face buried in his pillow.

He hated crying... it always made him feel weak.

But loneliness had teeth.

And they bit deep.

In Winterthorn’s temporary quarters, Jaehyun paced daily.

He sent letters.

Messages.

Requests for walks.

All were returned unanswered.

He even went to the East Pavilion himself.

“Prince Jihoon is indisposed,” a guard said coldly.

“Indisposed how?” Jaehyun demanded.

“Not your concern, Your Highness.”

Jaehyun’s nostrils flared.

He wasn’t used to walls being built around someone he cared for.

He wasn’t used to feeling powerless.

His mother, Queen Seraphina, watched him with concern.

“Jaehyun, darling, who is this boy to you?” she asked gently.

Jaehyun whispered, “Someone I cannot ignore.”

On the seventh night, Jihoon broke.

His eyes were swollen from crying.

His throat hurt from holding sobs back.

He wrote a letter with trembling hands.. ink smudged from falling tears.

When he finished, his fingers were stained black.

He waited until his guards changed shifts, then whispered desperately to a young servant who brought his dinner.

“Please,” Jihoon begged.

“Give this to Prince Jaehyun. I’ll do anything. Please.”

The servant hesitated, fear in his eyes.

“His Majesty forbade...”

“Please,” Jihoon whispered again, voice cracking.

“He’s the only one who will listen. The only one who will believe me.”

The servant trembled but nodded.

“I will try, Your Highness.”

Hope fluttered painfully in Jihoon’s chest.

He watched through the window crack as the servant ran across the courtyard toward the Winterthorn quarters.

Jihoon pressed his fingers to the glass.

“Please reach him…”

The servant gave Jaehyun the letter while panting, terrified.

Jaehyun ripped the seal immediately.

And as he read...

his hands began to shake.

The letter said everything:

The beatings.

The insults.

The confinement.

The bruises hidden under long sleeves.

The threats.

The loneliness.

Jihoon had written:

“I wanted to see you.

Just once.

Father says I embarrass him.

He says people like me deserve isolation.

Jaehyun… I’m scared.

I don’t know how to get out.

You were the only good thing in that place.”

Jaehyun’s vision blurred with fury.

His mother gasped when she saw his expression.

“Jaehyun.. what’s wrong?”

Jaehyun crushed the letter in his fist.

“War,” he growled.

Queen Seraphina stepped back in horror.

“War?! Over a prince you met a week ago?!”

“You don’t understand,” Jaehyun hissed.

“He’s suffering. He’s alone. His father is a monster.”

Queen Seraphina grabbed his arm.

“Jaehyun, think...”

But he had already made up his mind.

“If the King of Aurelis hurts Jihoon again,” he said darkly,

“I will burn that kingdom to ice.”

Jaehyun sent a reply to Jihoon... a letter full of promises, of rescue, of fury.

In it, he wrote his entire plan:

“Prepare. When the moon reaches full in three nights, I will strike Aurelis.

You will be free.

I swear it.”

But Jihoon never read it.

Because King Alistair intercepted it.

And the moment he saw Jaehyun’s war plan written clearly on the page, he smirked coldly.

“So. The Winterthorn boy thinks he can outsmart me.”

He ordered the entire army to prepare quietly.

Aurelis was ready before Winterthorn even marched.

Winterthorn launched the attack under a silver full moon.

Jaehyun rode at the front, fury blazing in his chest, heart pounding with one thought:

Jihoon. Jihoon. Jihoon.

But the moment they crossed the first hill...

Aurelis soldiers surrounded them from every direction.

Jaehyun’s eyes widened.

“…He knew.”

Swords clashed.

Arrows rained.

Horses screamed.

Winterthorn was overwhelmed.

And in the chaos…

A royal guard slashed at King Rowan Choi.

Jaehyun saw it too late.

“Father...!!”

Rowan fell from his horse, blood pooling beneath him like a spreading shadow.

Jaehyun dropped to his knees beside him, voice cracking:

“Father, stay with me...please...stay...”

King Rowan took one staggering breath.

“Be… a better king… than I ever was…”

And then he went still.

Jaehyun’s scream tore through the battlefield.

Queen Seraphina, watching from the carriage, collapsed to her knees, wailing.

Winterthorn withdrew, shattered.

Aurelis celebrated its victory.

But in Winterthorn…

A broken prince stood drenched in blood, holding his father’s sword.

And that night,

Prince Jaehyun Choi became King Jaehyun Choi.

His heart frozen.

His grief burning.

And the world didn’t yet know...

this was only the beginning.

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***