The Royal Playboy | SUNGHOON

[ XXIII ] THE FORBIDDEN CHILD

THIRD PERSON 

"Your Majesty, you can do this! Breathe in! Breath out! I can see the head already. Push in 3..."

"Argh!" Ariaden's queen gripped the king's hand tightly. She screamed at the top of her lungs, feeling the pain all over her body.

"Your Majesty... I can see another head..." The midwife confusingly stated, squinting her eyes to make sure of what she's seeing, "It's another..."

The queen pursed her lips. She's aware she's carrying a twin, but she decided to hide it from the king because of the kingdom's rule.

Ariaden is not allowed to have a royal twin. It is against the rule as they believe it will only result to a conflict on the throne.

"My queen... what is the meaning of this?" Out of disbelief, the king stood up. As he stared at the two crying babies, his mouth remained open. The queen let out a sigh. She was too exhausted to speak, so the king let her rest. He told everyone to leave the room.

He walked towards the crib and stared at his two sons, "One of you has to leave..."

"Oh, goodness..." A woman gasped as she looked upon the bamboo basket that was placed outside their humble home, "What is this poor thing doing here?"

"Cheon-hee?" His husband came to her. They are a couple known to be kind-hearted and generous. They served as the acting leaders of their humble village, a village that is located very far from Ariaden.

"It's a baby."

The husband was too stunned to even utter a word. A toddler pulled the hem of his pants which made him get back to his senses.

"Oh, Heeseung..." He said as he carried the toddler into his arms.

Lee Heeseung. Their sole son.

"What should we do with this?" The wife worriedly asked her husband. She was too soft-hearted to the point where a tear escaped from her eyes as she watched the innocent abandoned child inside the basket.

"There's a letter..." The husband pointed the coffee-colored envelope placed just beside the baby. The wife wiped her tears and crouched to get the envelope. She stared first at her husband before opening the thing.

He is the second prince of Ariaden, Sanghoon. We ask for your generosity. Please take care of him.

The two exchanged glances when they found out what's in the lower part of the basket. It was a highly valuable gold.

"Sanghoon! What are you doing there?" A nine-year old boy annoyingly asked his brother. Sanghoon was sitting at the shore while holding the only thing that was left from his real parents— the letter.

"Heeseung-hyung... is there a way to go back?" He murmured while enjoying the view of the calm sea. The other boy heaved a sigh, placing his coat on the ground as he sat on it.

"To your family? Ariaden?"

The boy innocently nodded and smiled, "I want to meet them. I badly want to meet them. I want to hug my real parents—"

Heeseung scoffed, "Oh, really? After what they did to you? After abandoning you? You want to hug them? Get a grip of yourself, Sanghoon."

Sanghoon's smile slowly faded, "Hyung..."

Heeseung faced him. He held his shoulders and slightly squeezed them, "I secretly followed mom to Ariaden. You know, she visits there twice a year in the hopes of hearing about your family, and guess what, Sanghoon? They mercilessly eliminated your entire existence. They seem to not care about you, after all."

An evil smirk slowly plastered on his face, "And... I met your twin."

Sanghoon's face brightened up, "Really? What does he look like?"

"What kind of silly question is that? Anyways, you know what he said to me?" Heeseung laughed out loud, "He promised me a position! He wants me to keep on meeting him because he likes me as his friend! He said he's going to make me his right-hand in the future. Oh, that dummy!"

Sanghoon pouted, "I also want to get close with him..."

The former unbelievably gasped. He shook Sanghoon's shoulders in the aim to wake him up to his senses, "You should hate him! He's the reason why you're here. You should be in the palace. You should be in his position, Sanghoon! But that jerk stole everything from you! Do you understand?"

Sanghoon swallowed hard. He couldn't understand what Heeseung said because he's still way too young. Too young to even realize his feelings.

"Sanghoon, listen. I'll earn your twin's trust. I will be his ally... and when the time comes, you will show up, okay?" Heeseung stared deep into his eyes, "Let's claim what's yours in the first place."