The Prisoner of Oryn

40. Regret

Okay, like I said, these people are not being homophobic. They don't know about it. There's a very small line between being homophobic and not supporting it cos of not knowing about it. So please don't call them homophobic. They are NOT being homophobic right now. 

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Six months passed by without a single word or deed from the said Prince. Unlike how they dreaded, Seo Dae Hyun and his ministers had remained calm.

Hoseok had caught the other spy a couple of weeks after Namjoon's death. It had turned out to be one of the guards from the horse stables, and Jeongguk ordered him to be executed on the spot. 

After catching the guard, they had expected Seo Dae Hyun to make his move, but no such thing happened. Neither when Seokjin's wife gave birth to a boy two months later, nor when they held a public event a week after that to name their first ever heir as Kim Namjoon. 

Yoongi's wife gave birth to a boy as well, two months after the birth of Kim Namjoon II. He named him Min Joongi and none of them could be happier. 

A week after that, Jeongguk had arranged a public event in the biggest temple of Oryn and had renounced the Queen in the presence of Lord Buddha. Following that event, he had married Taehyung and had crowned him the King of Oryn. 

The mansion that he had ordered the guards to construct for Taehyung and Jimin had come to a completion two weeks after the marriage, but they let Jimin take the mansion completely as Taehyung had moved in with his King long before everything else happened. 

Jeongguk let Jeongyeon move in with Jimin after the public renouncement. She wasn't his wife anymore and he had no right to hold her back after that. He didn't want to, either. 

Jimin couldn't be any more happier. He didn't know such divorcing methods existed in the 16th century. When asked, Seokjin let him know that such divorcing methods existed only for the Royal family, so that they could renounce someone if they posed a threat to the Kingdom. 

Jeongguk didn't let his guard down. Neither did he let his guards let their guards down. He knew that they could be attacked at any moment and that he had to prepared for anything, but so far, no such moment came. 

The only problem was the people of his Kingdom, who had started to migrate to other Kingdoms, in search of a better ruler. They couldn't live in a Kingdom where their King came out as 'gay', whatever that was, and married a man. 

Jeongguk did feel bad, but he didn't want to impose anything on them, and thus, he let them migrate wherever they wanted to. People who didn't bother with the fact that they now had two Kings, remained in the Kingdom and continued living their lives peacefully. 

But the peace didn't last long. Warehouses and huge farms suddenly started catching fire and it took some time for Jeongguk to realize that it wasn't the work of nature. 

"I think this is a planned attack on our Kingdom" Hoseok said when Jeongguk gathered them into the courtroom. 

"I think so too. I also have a hunch as to who the attacker might be" Seokjin said. "I think everybody does" Yoongi said and Taehyung nodded along with him. 

"You should take action, Jeongguk. This can't go on" Hoseok said. "I know" Jeongguk said. "Let the rest of the ministers know, hyung. I want a full court tomorrow. I will discuss this with everyone and decide the course of action" he said. 

"About that....." Jimin said and trailed off, reminding Seokjin to tell Jeongguk about what the two of them had found out a couple of weeks ago. 

"About what?" Jeongguk asked. 

"Our Ministers are planning to boycott you because of what you have done" Seokjin said in a small voice, throwing a subtle glance at Taehyung. 

Taehyung immediately looked down. He knew that Jeongguk was facing a lot of problems because of the marriage. He had always known that his and Jeongguk's marriage was going to create problems in the Kingdom and there wasn't a day that he spent without regretting what he had done. 

Did he become too selfish? Should he have gone back to his century when he had had the chance? Was he bringing Jeongguk down with him because of his selfish deeds? Should he renounce the King as well and just run away from the Kingdom and let Jeongguk rule in peace? 

Jeongguk noticed his mood immediately and frowned at Seokjin. "Don't make it seem like it was his mistake, hyung. It wasn't. It was my decision" he said. 

"I didn't say it wasn't. I am saying that you've taken a wrong decision. You knew people weren't going to support it and yet you did it. A King must learn to sacrifice, Jeongguk. You should be able to put your Kingdom before yourself" Seokjin said. 

"Don't take this the wrong way, Taehyung. He has nothing against you. He is not trying to offend you, but this is the truth and you two have to face it" Hoseok said and Seokjin and Yoongi nodded along with him. 

"I get it, hyung. I am regretting it as well. I knew that this was the 16th century and I still thought everything would be alright if we just convinced the people that it was natural. What did I expect? There are homophobic people even in the 21st century and I have no idea how I thought it would be okay over here. 

I can't even blame them for being homophobic because that's not what it is. They just didn't know such a thing exists and thus think it is against the law of nature to marry a person of the same gender. I can't blame them. I can only blame myself for not cutting the plant when it was young" Taehyung said, referring to their own relationship. 

Jeongguk placed his hand on Taehyung's hand and rubbed soothing circles on it with his thumb. "It isn't your fault. We'll figure something out, okay?" he said. "Hmm" Taehyung nodded and looked down. 

"Alright, then. Let's conduct the full court tomorrow with or without the presence of the rest of the ministers and see what comes out of it. We can act accordingly" Yoongi said. "Yeah, let's do that. You can go back now" Jeongguk said and got up with Taehyung's hand in is. 

"You come with me" he said and took him to the lake to cheer him up. 

But unknown to him, there were already a couple of people present behind the bushes around the lake, waiting for almost three days for the second King to come to the lake, so that they could do what they were ordered to do.