Winterthorn’s sky had been grey for months, but the throne room was darker than ever. Draped in quiet shadows, King Jaehyun sat on the cold obsidian throne...still wearing the grief of his father like a wound that refused to close.
His crown glittered on his head, but it felt like iron shackles pressing down on his skull.
He barely slept.
He barely ate.
Every night he stood at his balcony overlooking the distant borders... where Aurelis’s mountains lay hidden in mist.
Where Jihoon lived.
Where Jaehyun’s father died.
A thousand unspoken thoughts twisted like vines in his chest.
That was when Uncle Hojin stepped into the throne room.
The man wore a quiet, sharp smile... the kind that slid under the skin.
“My king,” Hojin said softly, hands tucked behind his back. “You sit alone too much.”
Jaehyun didn’t look up. “Leave.”
“I can’t.” Hojin approached, lowering his voice. “Not when you’re ignoring the truth.”
Jaehyun’s fingers tightened on the armrest. “What truth?”
“That your father’s death was not an accident of war.”
Hojin leaned close, whispering like poison.
“It was Aurelis. It was Them. It was their arrogance. Their hatred. Their endless jealousy.”
Jaehyun’s jaw clenched hard.
“You think they shot Father’s arrow by chance? You think they didn’t cheer when he fell?” Hojin’s voice dripped venom. “They killed him. Not fate. Them.”
Jaehyun inhaled sharply... but stayed silent.
“You’re king now,” Hojin continued. “You want justice? Take it. Burn Aurelis. End the bloodline that murdered your father.”
Jaehyun closed his eyes.
At first, he dismissed the words.
Too cruel.
Too final.
Too drenched in rage.
But Hojin wasn’t done.
He visited Jaehyun again.
And again.
And again.
Each time pressing deeper:
“Your father trusted Aurelis and died.”
“Your people whisper you’re weak.”
“A king who does not avenge blood invites more blood.”
“Do you want Winterthorn to think you’re a child king?”
The words began to settle.
Then root.
Then grow.
Because grief makes poison taste like medicine.
---
Jaehyun didn’t announce his decision.
He didn’t tell the council.
He prepared in silence.
He trained soldiers in hidden camps.
He forged new armor.
He doubled the griffin scouts in the north.
He built new siege weapons Winterthorn had never used before.
He planned every move Winterthorn failed in the first war.
This time there would be no intercepted letters.
No warning.
No mercy.
Jaehyun stood over the map of Aurelis one night, candles flickering.
His voice was low, almost emotionless:
“This time… I won’t lose.”
---
The Day the Sky Broke
Aurelis woke to thunder...
not from clouds,
but from Winterthorn’s war drums.
Without warning, Winterthorn armies surged across the eastern border.
The sky filled with flaming arrows.
The palace guard barely had time to raise their shields.
Winterthorn didn’t fight like before.
This time their formations were sharp, disciplined, brutal.
Within hours...
The outer walls fell.
The soldiers collapsed.
The palace gates split open.
And through them…
walked Jaehyun.
Winterthorn armor gleaming, blood on his blade, jaw set in unbroken iron.
The Aurelis king... Jihoon’s father.. never had a chance to run.
Nor to beg.
Nor to reason.
Jaehyun faced him in the throne hall.
“You killed my father,” Jaehyun said quietly.
“I..”
Steel flashed.
A breath.
A thud.
Silence.
King Aurelis fell where he stood.
---
Jihoon woke to shouting.
Then screaming.
Then the loud crack of steel meeting steel.
Guards ran through the palace.
Servants hid wherever they could.
The very walls trembled as footsteps thundered up and down the corridors.
He ran to his chamber window... his heart pounding painfully.
Winterthorn banners.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
The pale blue wolf sigil glimmering like cold moonlight across the courtyard.
Jihoon covered his mouth, breath shaking.
Jaehyun… he really came.
He wasn’t scared of Winterthorn soldiers.
Not of dying.
Not of war.
But he was scared for…
“…Father,” he whispered.
He had many reasons to hate the man...
but he was still his father.
Then he thought of his brothers.
His two older brothers who always fought for the throne.
Their sharp tongues and sharper tempers.
What would Jaehyun do to them?
His heart hammered.
But mixed with fear…
was something else terrifyingly bright.
Relief.
Joy.
Hope.
He came… for me?
Jihoon’s breath shivered.
His fingers clutched the curtain tightly as he pressed his forehead to the cold glass.
Then a guard ran past his chamber door and shouted:
“The king is dead! The princes are captured!”
Jihoon froze.
His throat closed.
His knees nearly buckled.
Dead?
Captured?
His father?
His brothers?
His mind spun... too fast to understand anything.
What emotion was this?
Grief?
Shock?
Numbness?
He didn’t know.
He only whispered:
“…Jaehyun…”
Because despite everything...
he wasn’t afraid of Jaehyun.
He sat on the edge of his bed.
Hands clasped.
Heart racing so hard it hurt.
He’s coming.
He must be.
He has to come to me.
The halls of Aurelis burned.
The throne room bled.
The country fell.
And Jihoon…
waited quietly in his chamber, staring at the door..
waiting for Jaehyun to walk in
and take him away.
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