The True Successor of Throne(Completed · Tusundre) Official authorized
  • Wung carried Seorin to Yoongi's chamber.
  • Yoongi was scared to death to see the unconscious Seorin.
  • Wung put Seorin on the bed and he explained to Yoongi what happened at the Park Manor.
  • "Go and run to the palace to tell Taehyung," Yoongi said.
  • Wung rushed out of Yoongi's chamber to the horse carriage.
  • Yoongi was scared of how Taehyung would react to the news about Seorin being injured.
  • Yoongi washed his hands and was prepared to examine and clean Seorin's wound. But he looked at the wound on her chest then he looked out the window. He saw a maid and summoned the maid.
  • "You come here," Yoongi said.
  • She calmly helped examine Seorin even though Seorin's chest was bleeding.
  • "Have you washed your hands properly?" Yoongi asked.
  • "Yes," the maid said.
  • "Firstly, take off fifth prince's wife's dress," Yoongi said.
  • "Use the bowl of water and cloth I prepared to clean her wound," Yoongi said.
  • "Yes," the maid said.
  • "What colour is the blood?" Yoongi said.
  • The maid passed a piece of Seorin"s dress to Yoongi.
  • "Good, she's not poisoned," Yoongi said. "You can bandage her wound."
  • "Done," the maid said.
  • Yoongi dared to turn around and he checked Seorin's condition.
  • Yoongi was scared to see how much blood Seorin lost. He was surprised the maid was calm while seeing that much blood.
  • Yoongi decided the maid was suitable to help him examine people in the Park Manor when they were ill or injured. After he was certain Seorin's condition was stable, he and the maid walked outside his chamber.
  • Yoongi looked at the maid who was staring at him strangely. She stepped closer to him.
  • "Physician Min, the sight of blood makes me queasy," The maid said and fainted.
  • Yoongi looked at the "calm" maid who fainted in front of him, he realized he overestimated her calmness.
  • Inside the horse carriage, Wung gripped Dami's arm and Wung cried pitifully.
  • "I'll be dead soon," Wung said. "Fifth prince is going to skin me. What do I do?"
  • Dami endured Wung's tears that were dirtying her clothes.
  • "Don't worry," Dami said.
  • "Will you help me beg fifth prince to be merciful toward me?" Wung asked.
  • "No," Dami said. "I promise I'll burn incense sticks on the anniversary of your death."
  • "Thank you," Wung said. "But you need to keep the incense sticks for your grave too."
  • Early that morning Taehyung and Hoseok were summoned to the palace. Taehyung was relieved the imperial court meeting finally ended after two hours. But Hoseok asked to escort Taehyung to the palace gates.
  • Taehyung thought it was true if someone received good news, their body would emit a happy aura like Hoseok. Although the crown prince position was vacant, Hoseok acted like "if father isn't going to pick me then whom can he pick?"
  • "Fifth brother, I didn't think there would be a day Second brother would be in this unfortunate position," Hoseok said.
  • Taehyung smiled politely and he didn't offer his opinion.
  • Hoseok purposely baited Taehyung. He gave Taehyung an opportunity to gain his favor. But Taehyung insulted him by not taking the bait. "Last time I looked for fifth brother to drink wine, fifth brother declined. Fifth brother, are you free to drink today?"
  • "I'm free today but I'm scared I'll waste hyung's free time," Taehyung politely declined.
  • Hoseok frowned. Taehyung dared to reject him again, but at least Taehyung appeared more regretful than last time. He didn't understand why an unfavoured prince refused to support any sides. He wondered if Taehyung truly wanted to be a carefree gentle fifth prince.
  • Hoseok smiled and forgave Taehyung's rejection. He remembered one of Taehyung's servants accidentally revealed the news about Park Sang-Hee's fake pregnancy and it helped his mother to oppose the empress and the Park Manor. His mother was the happiest person that day. "Fifth brother, thank you."
  • Taehyung acted confused. "Hyung, why are you thanking me?"
  • Hoseok looked at Taehyung's confused face and he felt happier. He decided to tell his mother to find more ways to make good use of the Aroma of Riches.
  • Taehyung watched Hoseok walk away confidently then Taehyung walked outside the palace gates.
  • Outside the palace gates, Dami and Wung were waiting for Taehyung.
  • "Fifth prince, finally you're outside the palace," Wung said and cried.
  • "What happened?" Taehyung asked and his intuition warned him it was bad news.
  • "Fifth prince, your wife is injured," Dami said.
  • Nearby Hoseok was surprised to see the usually calm Taehyung was panicking and leaped into the horse carriage... all these years it was the second time he had seen Taehyung panicked. The first time was after Consort Lee died. He realized Taehyung was sentimental about women. An image of the gentle Seorin entered his head and he signaled one of his guards. "Go and find out what happened to fifth prince's wife."
  • Taehyung rushed home and he looked for Yoongi.
  • Yoongi had changed into clean clothes, carried Seorin to hers and Taehyung's chamber then he waited for Taehyung in the courtyard.
  • "How is Rinnie?" Taehyung asked.
  • Yoongi pushed Taehyung's hand away from his collar. "She didn't die."
  • Taehyung thought Yoongi knew how to use a sharp tongue to choke a person speechless. But he knew it meant Seorin wasn't in a serious condition.
  • Taehyung ran to the bed and Yoongi followed him.
  • "Where is she injured?" Taehyung asked.
  • Yoongi hesitated to reply.
  • "Where?" Taehyung asked.
  • "Chest," Yoongi said.
  • Taehyung grabbed Yoongi's collar again. "You bandaged her wound?"
  • Yoongi raised his innocent hands. "It wasn't me."
  • Taehyung let go of Yoongi's collar. "I knew hyung, you wouldn't dare."
  • Yoongi ignored Taehyung's mockery of him because he knew Taehyung's heart was hurting.
  • Taehyung sat on the bed and touched Seorin's forehead.
  • "Is it serious?" Taehyung asked.
  • Yoongi frowned. "If the wound was lower by a hand, it would have been serious."
  • Taehyung was confused. What lower? Below the chest was the stomach. Stomach? He didn't understand why a stomach injury would be more serious than a chest injury.
  • Yoongi saw Taehyung's confusion turn into joy.
  • "You guessed right," Yoongi said.
  • Taehyung's eyes shone brightly.
  • Seorin dreamt about when she was a six-year-old girl. In a garden planted for young children, there were many young trees. She asked the elders to let her take one sapling home to plant it in her mother's garden.
  • The elders advised the six-year-old Seorin many things. "Seorin, you need to take good care of this tree. The fate of the  tree will grow up like its master's fate."
  • Seorin listened to the elders' advice. Each day she would run to her mother's garden and water her sapling. But one day she didn't see her tree in her mother's garden, Taehyung's goat ate her precious tree!
  • In Seorin's dream, her forgotten tree grew tall and strong after fourteen years. She smiled, climbed the tree, and picked fruits. Then the ground disappeared and she fell.
  • In Seorin's unconscious state she cursed Taehyung, "You vile man Taehyung, you dug up my precious young tree again!"
  • Seorin felt like a sharp dagger stabbed her chest. Her chest ached and she tried to touch her chest.
  • "Don't touch!" Taehyung said.
  • Seorin opened her eyes and saw Taehyung was sitting on the bed next to her. The sunlight shone through the window and warmed the room. But his face looked a little anxious. Suddenly she remembered her chest injury and her head ached.
  • Seorin's head ached because she remembered Taehyung's instructions before he traveled to the palace.
  • "I have a guard at the Park Manor," Taehyung said. "If Park Jin Young prepares to kill Princess Ji Hoon, the guard will send the news to our home. Then we'll go to the Park Manor together. Seorin, you can't go on your own. Princess Ji Hoon's been in a fragile state since Park Sang-Hee became insane. No one can predict what can happen. Seorin, if you want to go to Park Manor, you have to go with me. Understand?"
  • At that time she nodded her head and promised Taehyung. But Taehyung's guard sent news about his father preparing to kill Princess Ji Hoon and she couldn't wait for Taehyung to return from the palace.
  • Seorin was worried Princess Ji Hoon would die before Taehyung returned. So Seorin decided to bring Dami and Wung with her to the Park Manor. But Dami wasn't at the manor and only Wung followed her to the Park Manor.
  • "Seorin, how should I punish you?" Taehyung asked.
  • "I'm injured," Seorin said.
  • "If you listened to me then you wouldn't be injured," Taehyung said.
  • Seorin saw Taehyung was being stern with her. She quietly pulled the blanket up to hide her face but he stopped her.
  • Earlier Yoongi told Taehyung if the dagger stabbed a little deeper, it would have stabbed Seorin's heart. Luckily Wung was there to push Princess Ji Hoon away before the dagger stabbed her chest deeper.
  • Taehyung looked at her and his heart ached. He wanted to touch her wound but he was scared it'll hurt her.
  • "Does it hurt?" Taehyung asked.
  • "It hurts a lot!" Seorin lied.
  • After Seorin drank the medicine Yoongi brewed for her, she didn't feel any chest pain. But she needed to act pitiful in front of Taehyung so he wouldn't think of a way to punish her.
  • Taehyung turned his head to the door. "Yoongi hyung! Didn't you say you gave Rinnie medicine to numb the pain?"
  • Outside the chamber, Yoongi frowned and was suspicious of why the medicine didn't work.
  • "Taehyung... honestly it only hurts a little," Seorin confessed.
  • Taehyung realized Seorin fooled him. "Rinnie, you're improving each day. Not only did you not listen to me but you learned how to fool me. Wait and see how I'll punish you."
  • Seorin was thinking of what to say when Taehyung hugged her gently.
  • Taehyung was overjoyed and whispered in Seorin's ear. "Seorin, we're going to welcome a child together."
  • Seorin stared at her stomach.
  • Seorin rubbed her stomach like a fool. "I'm pregnant?"
  • "It explains why you feel that you gained weight lately," Taehyung said.
  • Seorin thought she couldn't be pregnant that soon. She wondered if their child was inside her.
  • Seorin's stomach didn't look like it changed but she felt a strange change. "But, should I give birth to this child?"
  • "What?" Taehyung asked.
  • "Princess Ji Hoon and the empress used Blue lotus poison to poison me because they hoped I would die pregnant... wait, something's not right. Taehyung, I remembered something. Taehyung, when I was at the Park Manor I asked Princess Ji Hoon about it and her reaction was strange..."
  • "Seorin, are you saying that someone else poisoned you?" Taehyung asked.
  • Seorin nodded her head.
  • "Who?" Taehyung asked.
  • "Sang-Hee gave me the incense sticks," Seorin said. "She said the empress gave them to her. It can't be the empress. Princess Ji Hoon and the empress are fishes in the same net. If the empress wanted to kill me then the empress wouldn't hide it from Princess Ji Hoon."
  • Seorin couldn't believe there was someone else behind Princess Ji Hoon and the empress who wanted to kill her.
  • Taehyung held Seorin's hand. But his eyes saddened, he thought of who else would want to kill her.
  • Taehyung thought if Princess Ji Hoon didn't try to kill Seorin then it could also be possible the empress didn't kill Consort Lee. But Yoongi said Blue Lotus Poison was rare and hard to make so an ordinary person couldn't possess Blue Lotus Poison
  • Taehyung's heart constricted, he had followed the wrong suspect for a long time. He wondered who could have such a cruel heart to make him suffer for many years. The cruel-hearted person he thought of was his father and his back turned cold.
  • "Taehyung, what are you thinking?" Seorin asked.
  • "Rinnie, can it be imperial father behind all of this?" Taehyung said.
  • Seorin's heart ached for Taehyung. She had never seen him that sad before. She knew the emperor was cold toward Taehyung. But she didn't imagine that the emperor held a big grudge against Taehyung that he could want Taehyung to lose his wife and child.
  • Taehyung didn't fight for or requested anything from the emperor. Seorin thought if it truly was the emperor then it would be no different from the emperor using a dagger to cut Taehyung into small pieces. She didn't care about her chest injury, she sat up, hugged Taehyung.
  • "Tae Tae, it's alright," Seorin said. "You don't need to think about it anymore. You still have your little tigress and a small tiger here with you."
  • Taehyung felt like he was falling into an abyss. But Seorin hugged him and saved him from the abyss. He buried his head on her neck and greedily stole her warmth.
  • Emperor Seokjin had been cold toward him since he was a child, he doesn't know the reason behind his behavior but he believes that there is a strong reason behind the emperor's behavior. In the palace, only Consort Lee gave him a little warmth. Consort Lee's death made him feel the world around him darkened. Then his teacher took him out of the palace to Daegu. In his darkest period, a little girl entered his dark tunneled heart and into his world.
  • Taehyung remembered clearly the first time he saw Seorin. Her hair was messy, her dark eyes, her messy dress, and her chubby arms. She clearly was a naïve little girl but acted wise and tough. After she knew he was teasing her, her face puffed like a tiger and she widened her eyes like she wanted to jump onto him to bite him. At that moment he thought she looked like a provoked little tigress... his little tigress. It didn't matter if she was in Daegu or in the imperial city acting as a gentle lady, she was still his little tigress. No one forced him to move away from his little tigress, his heart always loved her deeply.
  • In the beginning, Taehyung thought it was amusing to tease the naïve Seorin. She was the only one in his life who laughed and ignored him at will. He didn't know why later his heart slowly changed. After the emperor betrothed him to Lady Bo-Ah, he didn't feel anything. But after Lady Bo-Ah died, his heart felt relieved and missed the little tigress who was living in Daegu. He thought his little tigress would have matured.
  • Taehyung wasn't certain if he volunteered to go help prevent serious flooding in Daegu to avoid the palace battles or if he only wanted to see Seorin. He could have stayed at a villa in Daegu but he ran to his teacher's house that was next to Seorin's house and during the nights he would wake her up and force her to pour tea for him. He thought it would be good if she was always by his side even if she gritted her teeth and glared at him, he was willing for her to become an adult then he would marry her.
  • Taehyung first thought about marrying Seorin six years ago, but he buried that thought. He was a prince and his father wouldn't allow him to marry her as his official wife. He didn't want her to lower herself and be his second wife and her personality didn't suit the palace.
  • After Taehyung traveled to Southern Busan, he found out Seorin's mother died and she moved to the Park Manor. He sent some of his guards to secretly gather news about Seorin at the Park Manor. His guards reported to him that Seorin's status in her family prevented her from finding a suitable husband and it made him happy. He planned after he finished his duties in Southern Busan he would return to the imperial city and marry her. But before he finished his duties he received news about the crown prince and Park Sang-Hee and he immediately ran back to the imperial city... he wasn't going to allow his Third brother to marry his little tigeress as a concubine.
  • Taehyung knew Seorin only showed her real self to him like how he only took off his mask in front of her.
  • Taehyung whispered in her ear with a smirk on his face. "Rinnie, it's the middle of the day but you miss your husband this much?"
  • Seorin wanted to console Taehyung but after he whispered nonsense in her ear, she pushed him away from her and shouted, "Yeah! You vile man"
  • Seorin forgot about her chest injury, the shouting make her overexert herself, and her face whitened.
  • "Seorin, are you alright?" Taehyung asked.
  • "My chest hurts," Seorin said. "My stomach hurts. My whole body hurts."
  • Taehyung ran outside to call Yoongi.
  • Yoongi gave Taehyung a bottle of pain relief potion. Taehyung ran to the bed and gently help Seorin to drink. After she fell asleep, Taehyung ran outside to ask Yoongi about her injury.
  • "When will Rinnie's chest wound heal?" Taehyung asked.
  • "Two months," Yoongi said and tried to return to his chamber.
  • Yoongi was about to return to his chamber, but he stopped by Taehyung again.
  • Taehyung's hand gestured at Yoongi's clothes. "Hyung, Rinnie was asking me that you are a physician but why do you wear the same black clothes every day throughout a year."
  • Yoongi was speechless by Taehyung's sudden mockery. No one ever mocked him for his clothes, and who said he wore the same black clothes? He bought new clothes every year except it was the same colour and design.
  • ***
  • Short Side Story ~~~~~
  • Gentleman Han: Is that you Yoongi? Why are you free to visit me today?
  • Yoongi looked at the ceiling.
  • Gentleman Han: Did you come to buy the same black clothes?
  • Yoongi: I... want to choose different colour and design.
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~24~ Unexpected News