one of prince Nate's stories

The wind was just right. The place wasn't hot. They could only hear the sounds of the birds and the waterfall.

Loren leaned on a tree as nate laid on his laps, with his hand behind his head.

"I heard you're leaving soon",nate said as he looked up at him.

Loren playing with nate's fingers answered, "yes, but it won't separate us and I won't stay in the north province forever, I'll send letters to you"." The only thing that can separate us,is death".

Nate didn't look to happy and he looked away," yes..., death".He looked back at loren,"let me tell you a story",he closed his eyes.

"Am listening",loren said,still playing with nate fingers.

Nate started,"in a kingdom,they were 10 princes,of which all were sons of the consorts and the queen apart from one,which was the son of the king's concubine.

He was the 4th prince.His mother was slave,but the majesty bedded her and she gave birth to a son,thus,she became a concubine .All his brothers looked down at him. He was also a prince,but his brothers treated him like he was a slave.

His mother knew all about it but she couldn't do anything,because she was powerless. All she could do, was to make herself alluring for the king and wished for the king to make her,the closest to his side.

Her  wish came to past and she was closer to him than the consorts and even the queen.The king later gave her the position of the consort.

The queen was losing her power unknowingly and when she noticed,it was already too late,more than half of the ministers were already on this consort side.

The 4th prince got married to a daughter of a low rank official. He loved her so much, more than anything and anyone in his life. And a son came out from their love.

Later on, he got married to three other daughters, not his choice but his mother's. There were daughters of high ranking officials. But even when he married other women, he still loved his first wife, the most.

The queen was later accused of whoring. She claimed she was innocent.

But her attendants, turned their backs against her and said they were witnesses of her whoring".She was put to death by beheading.

The crown prince later suffered a sickness, and the physicians couldn't find a cure. He died after a month, he died in a bloody way, all his organs bursted out from his body and his body froze.

The other princes also suffered the same thing and they died, apart from the 4th prince.He was called the miracle prince but the other consorts of the king, blamed him for their son's death.

There was a banquet in the palace and they were dancers. The head dancer was the daughter of a low rank official. The 4th prince was drunk and the dancer took him to his room and they bedded.

She later gave birth to a son and he became the second son of the 4th prince"." She became the concubine and the fourth prince mother didn't want her to become a consort.She could only become a consort if she gives birth to another son of the king.

The king also suffered the same fate, leaving only one prince which is the 4th prince.

The 4th prince became king and his mother became queen dowager and the prince's wife became the queen.

The other consorts of the king still blamed him and his mother for their son's and the late king's death".

The queen dowager accused then of treason, so they were all put to death by beheading.The 4th prince became king however the queen dowager had the final say. She was like the king and the king was like a puppet.

The king had other concubines and he bedded them.

Shortly after the queen died,leaving her only child,the first prince.Rumors had it that she died in her sleep.

The  king grieved for her and the concubine,the mother of the second prince comforted him during the mourning period and he bedded her again.

The concubine was not the only one,the king bedded at the mourning period,but the second consort too".

The royal physician told the king that the two consort will bore him a son ,each.

Months passed and the the consort and the concubine were in labour at the same time.The concubine gave birth successfully to a boy but the son of the consort,died after birth and the consort claimed that she heard the cry of her son and the midwives said it was her imagination.

The  concubine became the fourth consort.The second consort accused the concubine of stealing her son and people thought she was getting mad because she lost her child and she was confined to her residence.

The king loved the second son of the fourth consort and the fourth consort became closer to the king.

There was even rumors that she might become queen.The king even carried the boy to court meetings. He was closer to this prince than the other princes.

He would carry him, wherever he go and give him back to his mother when he is too busy or he needed to sleep at night.

One  morning, the queen summoned the fourth consort together with her two sons. The queen dowager said she wants to degrade her to a concubine.

She begged and begged,saying she was loyal to the king and she would do anything for him.

The queen dowager gave her a little bottle of poison.she told her,it was poison and she should poison one of her son's .If she does that,she will still be a consort".

"loren,what do you think,she chose?",,nate asked loren.

" Hmmmmm,isn't the answer obvious,she wouldn't poison any of them,she would rather step down from her position than to poison the children she suffered to give birth to".

Prince nate opened his eyes,smiled as he raised his hand and brushed loren's cheek,then placed his hand back behind his head and closed his eyes,"it's what she could have done but she didn't".

" Her first son was the second prince and if anything happen to the first prince,her son will be the next in line for the throne,so it left her with the second choice.

Her little boy,who looked at his mother as a person that will protect him from this evil world and in her arms,he felt safe.The little boy was only three years old when the consort poured the poison into his mouth with a smile.

The queen told her to leave the palace for poisoning the king's son.If the king knew about it,she could have been beheaded.

She left with the little boy,leaving her first son behind in the palace.

" What happened to this little boy,it is just a story,isn't it?",loren asked.

Prince nate opened his eyes," The boy died and the concubine returned to the palace when the queen dowager died".

Loren exhaled in relief," I almost thought,the little boy was you,because your mother is the fourth consort and the second prince is your brother,I was scared".

Nate smiled.