Scarred Hearts (Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo Fanfiction)

The Meal of the Fourth Prince

The next day, Wang So was summoned by the King together with his brothers Yo, Wook, and Crown Prince Mu, and his mother Queen Yoo.

Prince Wook was telling the King that they had not found any lead since all the assassins that night had been killed by whoever it was that hired them.

Crown Prince Mu, on the other hand, said that they found the temple that seemed to be their hideout but when they arrived there, everyone had already been killed and the temple was burning.

"However," Crown Prince Mu went on. "... the owner of that temple..."

"That temple belongs to Queen Yoo," Wang So finished and everyone looked at him with surprise. He, on the other hand, stared seriously at his mother who looked back at him with an annoyed smile that he was now beginning to hate.

"Are you saying that I am behind the assassination? That I tried to kill the Crown Prince?"

"Anyone would assume so," Wang So replied without wavering.

"Queen Yoo," said the King. "Did you plot an assassination against the Crown Prince? Did you let the assassins inside the palace?"

"I did no such thing," Queen Yoo firmly refuted.

Yo quickly moved and knelt in front of the King and claimed that it was entirely his fault... that he was the benefactor of that temple in place of his mother but he did not know that it became a hideout of the assassins. It was because of his negligence that things like that happened. And he asked the King to take his life as a punishment.

"It is my fault," Queen Yoo said, adding to Wang So's anger. "If a child has done wrong then so has the mother."

Wang So stepped forward and decided to be honest with the King, "I did it. The killing and the fire in the temple... I did it all..."

Everyone looked at him with disbelief, particularly Crown Prince Mu.

After hearing those words last night, he gradually lost interest in staying in the palace. He had done the King and the Crown Prince wrong. He was ready to accept any punishment.

"Are you saying that you tried to kill the Crown Prince?" the King asked in a dangerous tone.

Wang So was about to spill it all out but Prince Wook quickly knelt in front of the King and said, "Your Majesty, the assassins live in a temple that the Queen owns. They impersonated princes and killed their own allies that night. This is definitely a trick to get the royal family to turn on each other."

Wang So was surprised with what Wook had said. He never expected those words from the Eighth Prince but he liked it so he knelt beside his younger brother and supported his claim.

"Just as Wook said, I was afraid that Mother would be framed. Forgive me for my poor decision," Wang So said, grateful to Wook.

He was also grateful that the King accepted what Wook had said and let them all go unpunished.

^#############################################^

"Why did you do that?" Wang So asked still wondering why Wook had helped him and Queen Yoo.

They were both on their way to Wook's house.

"What?" the Eighth Prince asked, feigning innocence.

"I've heard rumors," Wang So said. "About your family's exile years ago..."