An abandoned prince, A Broken Emperor

Now Crown Prince Teon was actually Emperor Arsen's one and only child. Or to be more accurate the only child he had left. It was an 'incident' that had occurred 3 years ago that served as the catalyst for where Teon and Arsen were now.

From Ayan's memories, I saw she had never met the Crown Prince or seen what he looks like before. The prince arrived at the palace a year ago which was around the time she was beginning her tumultuous relationship with the General. Hence the general had stopped picking her to go to events at the palace with him. However, she knew of him and the rumors that had spread about him.

The story starts with Emperor Arsen and what he had been like prior to the 'incident'. Nowadays, His Majesty was described as a reserved and serious person who was solely focused on running the empire. However, before that, he had been a totally different person. His Majesty used to be known for his love of women. From the time he was in his late teens up until the incident in question, he was a total womanizer always messing around with women. To go along with his playboy personality he was also arrogant and cocky.

Being picky and only wanting the finest women. At any royal ball or event being held at the palace, he was constantly scouting for beautiful women that were in attendance. Noble women across the empire did their best to catch his attention at an event always dressing at their best in hopes of being chosen. They hoped he would one day choose them for his harem which at the time he hadn't had yet. It was also said he would get tired and move on to the next woman rather quickly.

Rumors quickly spread about how he was a charming irresistible lover by the women that were chosen by him. They said he was an excellent seducer, when he touched you, you instantly melted. All kinds of ridiculous things. Honestly, the rumors were insane. However, I wouldn't deny one thing, I'd seen him myself up close in my garden, the emperor was breathtakingly handsome.

Arsen didn't just pick women that were of nobility though, he was fine with women of any class as long as they were beautiful. His obsession with women to the point that whenever he went for battle he would come back with women from the territory he had taken over.

Whenever he visited another kingdom for international relations purposes, he was given the finest women from that kingdom by the royalty in hopes it would appease him and they would have could an amiable relationship with the Turk Empire. They also hoped he wouldn't attack their kingdom as the empire of Turk was the most powerful. Literally, everything was always about women with him.

It was when Arsen was 25 that he finally chose wives for a harem. He picked four women but these were just the starting wives to be chosen, Arsen planned to expand the harem in the following years. All was well in the harem for some time. The only thing that was passed around noble ladies as gossip was that as Arsen was arrogant and cocky he had a habit of making his wives jealous of each other. So that they would work harder for his attention.

He thought it was just some light fun with them and that it wasn't all that bad. However, his wives took it very seriously. Now problems arose much like any harem when all four wives were fighting for the position of the one who would give the emperor his first child and heir. I suppose much like Ayan, they also received pressure from their parents to be the one that gave birth to an heir first.

About a year into their marriage 2 of the wives got pregnant around the same time. This would be the catalyst for tension amongst the wives. The two pregnant wives were nervous because who between the two of them would give birth to a son? And what if they both did what would happen? The other two were nervous because they weren't pregnant and felt left out as all the focus in the harem was on the pregnant wives.

As the months progressed the tension only increased. Then suddenly all the wives fell terribly ill they were all vomiting, had a fever, stomach pain and it only got worse as the days followed. Royal physicians did their best to help all the wives but unfortunately failed to save them. They all died within a few days including the unborn children of the pregnant wives. The Emperor was devasted. He truly loved his wives and to lose them in such a tragic and awful way was too much.

Right from the jump it was suspicious how they all suffered from the same symptoms. His majesty had the situation thoroughly investigated.

It was soon discovered that there was poison in the bedrooms of the non-pregnant wives. The physicians said the poison was strong and would result in the symptoms the wives had. The two non-pregnant wives had poisoned the entire harem.

They had been been putting poison in each of the meals of the other wives. As the perpetrators also died it was concluded they planned the poisoning independently of each other and so they gave each other poison as well without the other knowing.

It was probably an accumulation of multiple things. Pressure from their families, The jealousy they had for the other wives, the insecurities the Emperor made them feel etc. It got to them and quite sadly it lead the two wives which weren't pregnant to making the extreme horrible decision.

His Majesty was traumatized and felt incredibly guilty. Upon finding out the details of what had happened His Majesty immediately blamed himself for what had occurred. He believed that maybe if he hadn't made them jealous of each other and felt like they had to compete more for his attention it could have been avoided. His entire harem had been wiped out all at once.

After he had lost his wives he swore to never to have a harem again and that he would stop playing around with women. His personality completely changed and he no longer slept around. He stopped being arrogant and cocky. He became more responsible, serious and stern, only focusing on ruling the empire.

Now this was a problem as the emperor still didn't have an heir. However, since he was grieving his advisors didn't pressure him just yet. It was two years later that they began to tell him to have an heir. Typically the emperor was encouraged to have an heir as early as possible so he could have as much time to train him before he got old. However, Arsen was reluctant he didn't want to marry as he was worried because he felt he would go through the same thing again. They even suggested he could have one wife if it was too difficult for him.

However, His Majesty still refused. Being in a relationship would be too triggering for him as no matter what it would make him relive what had happened. The Emperors advisors were at a loss for what to do. The emperor really needed an heir but it's not like an heir was going to fall out of the sky.

Then as if their prayer had been answered, someone came forward one day claiming they were currently in custody of the Emperors' child.

It was an elderly woman who came from a small village far in the empire. She came to the capital claiming her daughter had spend a night with the king 10 years ago and gave birth to his son.

When asked to further elaborate the woman claimed her daughter was once a popular dancer and was once asked to perform for the Emperor at the palace. Having beenimpressed he invited her to spend the night with him. Which resulted in her falling pregnant shortly afterwards.

When asked why she hadn't said anything till now she explained that her daughter had tried to come forward before but was quickly shut down as the emperor was entertaining other women and was busy too. He assumed she was just another

Her daughter ended up giving up as a bastard child couldn't be recognized and the emperor soon had a harem so there wouldn't have been a point. She had just initially planned to raise the child in her own.

However, after her daughter died unexpectedly from an illness and she was left to take care of him alone. She worried she wouldn't be able to take care of him for long since she was old

Then after hearing of the situation in the palace after the incident and knowing he had no heir she decided to come forward and try her luck.

The emperor's advisors were skeptical, whilst it was possible that his majesty could have a bastard child since his majesty had been with many women in the past. It also just sounded like a convenient fabrication and was taking advantage of the situation in the palace for her own benefit.

The woman claimed not only did the boy look like his majesty but she also had undeniable proof the boy was the emperor's child. She said her daughter had something only the emperor would recognize.

At first when the emperor heard this story he quickly wanted to say the woman was lying for attention and wanted to punish her. However, after hearing about the undeniable proof she had he became curious. If the boy really was his son he could him his heir and he wouldn't have to get married again. And if she was found out to be lying he would easily punish her, lying to the Emperor was a serious offense after all.

He allowed her to bring the boy and the proof she had to the palace. Upon seeing the boy the emperor and his advisors were taken aback, he really did look like His Majesty. His skin tone, the hair and facial structure were all similar.

As for the proof, the woman handed a necklace to his majesty. She claimed the necklace was to given her daughter by him. Arsen examined the necklace and he was amazed. He remembered it. On the night they spent together he had given her a necklace with an emerald gemstone. It had been a part of his own jewelry collection, he had given it to her because it reminded him her emerald green eyes with he found mesmerizing.

Thus he confirmed that the boy was in fact his child. His name was Teon a name given to him by his mother. He was soon crowned the crown prince and his grandmother left him at the palace in the custody of his father. Now the problem of an heir was resolved all was thought to be well going forward but they couldn't be more wrong.

Crown Prince Teon was far from happy with this new living arrangements. Teon who had been a commoner up until now was overwhelmed by his new way of life. As he was now a prince he had to learn all kinds of things that history, maths, languages, royal étiquette etc. But he didn't know how to write nor had he received any kind of formal education before that, he had a commoner after all. It was too much for him to suddenly take in.

It was said he had a difficult time during classes, he had a horrible attitude was rude to his servants and often threw tantrums. Rumors quickly spread of the out of control prince. He had even runaway from the castle once.