Chapter Text
Seonghwa loved staring at the night sky, full of stars and moon shining brightly like everything was mystical. Cold breeze did a lot to ease the pain of lashing he had received earlier in the evening. It was lot better than other times, at least he could walk on his own back to his room rather than passing out after the punishment. The repercussion would be far worse than the punishment itself if he let anyone else find out about this. Apart from his family and his personal gaurd no one else knew how he was treated in the palace. The kingdom was under the influence that Seonghwa lived a very spoiled and pampered life full of luxury. Maybe in a way he did. His room was adorned with frivolous opulence that went over the line of necessity. Did he want them? No, but what he wanted has never mattered. Seonghwa was denied the basic human decency but had almost every physical amenities anyone could ever want. A bit ironic if you pondered over it.
Kingdom of Stellaris was ruled over by King Lee Byeong-Cheol descendant of the great Lee clan that had ruled over this kingdom for decades. Stellaris was a land that worshipped stars and moon, the moon deity was said to look over the inhabitants for centuries. A beautiful landscape that thrived more in night than day, a colder climate than other places and lush with greenery and diverse habitat. Lee Byeong-Cheol married the daughter of Kingdom of Astralynx, Eun-Sook and they had two sons to carry on their bloodline. The eldest son, Lee Min-hyuk, the crown prince had recently been wed to Aeri, daughter of the Kingdom of Novara. While their second son, Lee Dohyun was still learning the ropes of palace governance. A simple happy royal family. If only it was that easy.
Lee Byeong-Cheol had a mistress, a chambermaid at the palace, a sordid affair that was set to ruin the dignity of crown. But Queen Eun-Sook refused to let such blasphemy ruin the reputation and regality of her family and had taken matters into her own hand. The chambermaid, Ae-Cha had just given birth when she was handed hefty sum of money and gold and banished from the kingdom in the dead of night without anyone knowing. King had vehemently apologized and yearned for forgiveness and Eun-Sook had given him so after promising to never sully the crown with such sacrilegious acts again. But what about the child? How hard could it have been for the Queen to get rid of an infant? Easy enough but the Royal Prophet had warned her to not harm the child for it would lead to the destruction of the very kingdom she sought to protect. The child was blessed by moon goddess herself and harming him would be a disrespect to goddess and an act that wouldn't go unpunished. So that's how Seonghwa came to live in the palace as the youngest son of King and Queen with no one wiser.
Obviously his very presence was despised by everyone in the royal family. Even King didn't look favourably on his son, making him the character of ridicule. Since the very beginning, Queen had made it clear that Seonghwa wasn't wanted here or anywhere else. Disrespecting his birth mother at every chance she got, listing everything that was wrong with him, and emphasizing again and again that his own mother had chosen money over him, leaving him to die as she ran off with gold. His brothers weren't any better, seeing Seonghwa as a physical and emotional punching bag, they would beat him to pulp whenever the mood striked or would humiliate him enough to break his spirit. The King looked at him in disdain, a constant reminder of his mishap. A blip on his overall smooth ruling. If only he could kill him. But he took out his frustration in other ways. Using Seonghwa as example to set his sons right, letting them watch as he punished Seonghwa for any mistake made as brutally as he could without killing him. Everyone was shrewd enough to never hit him in places that would show.
The people of kingdom were under the false knowledge that Seonghwa was a spoilt brat. A handy excuse for not letting him wander aimlessly anywhere. Hardly handful of people had seen Seonghwa and rest only knew of a prince accustomed to luxury. A man child incapable of doing anything on his own. A lecherous man full of wants and desires. An insufferable pest on his ever so kind and understanding family. Poor King and Queen bearing the burden of such child. What a wonderful brothers he had yet wasn't grateful at all. These were tamest if rumors about him circulating all over the land and Queen took delight in fanning the flame of these rumors. She wanted everyone to hate and despise him enough to only love her sons as the next ruler.
As if he wasn't miserable enough he was betrothed to the crown prince of Kingdom of Aetherion, Seok Kwangsun. The entire family had been flabbergasted when the proposal had arrived. Queen had wanted to refuse but an alliance with Aetherion meant only good things. It would boost their resources and military power and would prove to be a very remarkable achievement. Aetherion was a powerful kingdom, feared and respected in equal measure. So they had reluctantly agreed for the betrothal between Kwangsun and Seonghwa. Of course, Seonghwa opinion wasn't asked for. He was meant to obey and that he will.
Kwangsun was lecherous cunning man. He was devious and controlling who was used to getting what he wanted. More importantly he was good at spinning the tale in his favor. People weren't privy to his true face and considered him to be kind and just person. He had first met Seonghwa at one if the Royal ball and had immediately been infatuated by his beauty. How could anyone not want to own and possess Seonghwa? A jewel meant to be bought and kept locked. A golden bird for a gilded cage. His parents had been against his wish to marry Seonghwa because of his reputation but he quickly had them agreeing to it and that's how he was finally betrothed to the man of he so desperately desired. An instantaneous wedding would have been perfect for him but the elders weren't keen on it. They needed to make a big affair out of it since they were wedding the Crown Prince.
He had met Seonghwa few times albeit not for long enough. He had quickly discerned that Seonghwa would be easy to manipulate and control. A frail meek thing, desperate for love and affection, what an easy prey. He couldn't wait to be finally marry Seonghwa, his pet. A beautiful pet. That's what he will be all his life. A trophy wife. To warm his bed and the symbol of envy for everyone else. Next full moon would be their wedding night. A day he had been waiting for eagerly. A bewitching pet would be finally his.
Seonghwa applied the ointment on his scars, hissing at the pain, quickly securing the bandages in place. He would be soon married off to Prince Kwangsun. Despite few meetings Seonghwa had quickly perceived the true nature of his soon to be husband. He was as vile and violent as his own family. For years he had dreamed of falling in love and being rescued by a prince charming or at least a knight in shining armor. It all fell apart the moment the proposal for betrothal came through the palace gate. What else had he even expected? He deserved it all anyway. His own mother had not wanted him. How could anyone else? Why hadn't his mother taken him with her? He would have been happy to live with her anywhere. Even if they were poor, he would have happily worked day and night for her. No amount of luxury could compare to the love of family.
Love.
Oh, how desperately Seonghwa craved it. What was love anyway? Can someone who had never known love recognize it? He wondered how it felt to be cared for, to have someone worry about your wellbeing, to have someone fuss over you for little things, someone protecting you from every bad thing out there, loving and cherishing you like you were most precious thing, how lucky are people who get to feel that. He had been deprived of parent's love since his birth, and never had the chance to date anyone either. How could he in such environment? He knew what people said about him outside the palace walls and he very well knew the source of such rumors. He was never allowed to gain significant knowledge in the matter of trade and policies. Thankfully he somehow had taught himself to read and write but he couldn't obtain the knowledge a respectable prince was supposed to have.
His physical prowess was even worse. He wasn't fed well. Queen considered it waste of resources to feed him but she couldn't starve him either so she gave him bare minimum. He was given meagre amount of food to just survive and that had led to his frail health status. He was never taught to use swords and fight like other prince were. All in all he was worth nothing. He could neither govern nor fight. A mere puppet set aside for taking out their frustration. His body was littered with scars big and small, a varying shades of bruises marring his skin. He kept them covered, it wouldn't end well for him if anyone ever came to know that he was being abused so severely by his own family. His left hand had developed a slight tremor because of constant beating and he was worried there had been some serious nerve damage but Queen refused to let royal physician see him. When Seonghwa looked in mirror he saw an empty husk of bones and skin, devoid of anything meaningful.
Would he die like this? Being beaten and humiliated day after day? Was that all he was worth for? Was that the only reason he was born? He sometimes wondered why didn't Queen just kill him? Wouldn't that be better for everyone? If they hated him to so much so why not just get rid of him? Wouldn't that be easier? Maybe they had some little compassion for him? Maybe they didn't hate him that much? Maybe behind all that aggression and violence, there was little bit of warmth? That was the only explanation he could come up with. That thought actually kept him alive. To not be hated enough to be killed. If he thought like that, maybe he could bear it all. But for how long? He had no idea. One day his limit will be reached, it'll be too much to bear. Until then he would keep going, keep living like he had till now, keep holding on to something elusive in hope of finding something worth living for.