Author's Note:
This story could happen because I watch TDS4 Concert in Jakarta of NCT Dream, and I am in love with Huang Renjun.
I see him as Prince Rui.
But please keep a very low expectation.
I am someone who can only finish a story when I'm very in love with the muse. Or when I'm so in love with the story.
I have so many unfinished stories, but I have finished some. I write in different platforms and with different pennames. I have so many projects, haha.
I promise I will write each chapter with love, but please, keep a very low expectation.
Also, because this is a historical AU, it might be a challenge to remember the names.
Cast:
Huang Rui: Huang Renjun, the crown prince
Liang Zhen: Na Jaemin, his best friend and advisor. A junior lord in Ministry of Justice, of noble blood, grew up with him.
Wu Jian: Lee Jeno, the crown prince's Captain of The Guards. Liang Zhen's cousin from his mother's side. Grew up with the crown prince too.
Huang Wei: Zhong Chenle. The second prince or the step brother.
*****
I haven't edited this. Will update tonight. Must go to work first.
*****
The emperor was watching the view of the stormy sky outside. It was raining heavily, with lightning and thunder chasing each other endlessly.
"Bring my son back to court," the emperor ordered. His voice sounded tired, as if he had enough of the recent events.
The young man of noble blood was bowing, but said nothing.
"It's time. He's been in seclusion for three years. I don't want his brother to steal his position."
Liang Zhen, the young man, was still silent.
"I have plans for him, but I can't do nothing if he keeps mourning. Pull him out of his den, Liang Zhen."
"I'll do my best, Your Highness. You know that trying to change the crown prince's mind is harder than trying to move a mountain or building the walls that protect our borders."
"He listens to you more than he listens to me," the emperor replied bitterly.
"That's not true, Your Highness."
"It is true, Young Man. Don't try to lie to me. Not you. Especially not you. Not someone closest to my son."
Liang Zhen thought, when the emperor spoke like this, he sounded as if he had only one son, while in reality he had two sons from two wives.
"Once this storm ends, visit him. Don't leave him until you've convinced him. That is an order."
"Very well, Your Highness."
*****
Crown Prince Huang Rui was 21 years old that year, and he had refused all ideas of celebrating it. His existence, in Liang Zhen's opinion, had turned to a myth, since he decided to be in seclusion after his mother, the late empress, passed away.
Rui left his palace only once a month, to drink tea with his father. And that each visit happened because the emperor made an imperial order.
Rui feared nothing, but he couldn't avoid listening to a direct order.
With a sigh, Liang Zhen entered The Yellow Lotus Palace. The storm had just passed, showing a cool and beautiful day in autumn.
The guards there were so familiar with him they only bowed and let him pass.
He had, more or less, lived there more than in his own palace. Even his own mother mocked him as "A homeless Lord, forever living at your imperial friend's house."
They all knew why. They were all aware of his real reasons, why he stayed by Rui's side all these years.
He even had his own rooms in that palace, being there so regularly.
He found Huang Rui, Huang Dynasty's Crown Prince by the lotus pond, painting the yellow flowers steadily.
"I'm back."
He was replied by silence. Rui's hand moves his paintbrush fluidly.
"Have you had any lunch?"
Another silence.
Liang Zhen turned to Wu Jian, Rui's Captain of The Guards.
The soldier, who was also from noble blood and had grown up together with Rui, showed Liang Zhen three with his hand.
Three spoonfuls.
Not that bad, in Rui's standard.
It's not enough, but it would keep him alive.
"The emperor asked you to return to court. Immediately."
The figure wearing a white robe stilled, before he switched the color he was using, from yellow to green.
"I hate the court. The air there is toxic. I don't even want to see the ministers. Or my step brother."
Rui's voice was melodious, as if he was born to be a singer.
"The air is cleaner here, in my palace."
Rui was not like this in the past. He used to be a passionate prince who worked hard to make the Huang Empire better, forever trying to improve the people's lives, even since he was a child.
However, the death of the empress killed something inside him, because she was suspected to be murdered by Consort Lan, the emperor's second wife, and the mother of Rui's stepbrother, Huang Wei.
After several attempts of suicides, Rui decided to be in seclusion.
"You can't hide here forever. Prince Wei will dethrone you if you keep living like this!"
"If Wei wants to be the crown prince, he can have it."
"Dethroning usually includes murdering the previous crown prince, My Lord."
Rui said nothing to that, making Liang Zhen frustrated.
"Prince Wei is kidnapping the poorest people for forced labor in his copper mine, My Lord. People are dying! You have to return to court."
Rui finally stopped painting.
"People…..are dying?"
"Thousands of them! You need to stop mourning, and return to work! It's not just for your own health, it's for the people too! The longer you hide, the more Consort Lan and Prince Wei will use it to their advantage! I attend court everyday to be your eyes and ears—"
"That's not true. You're a junior minister at the Ministry of Justice. You go because you have to."
"You haven't gone to court for a long time."
Rui stood up, and walked closer to the pond, staring at the koi fish swimming around.
"Please return, My Lord. Having a purpose is better for your health. The empire is unwell because you are in seclusion. It needs your honest heart and sharp mind. Please, I beg you."
Rui had hidden in art for the past three years. He published a poem book every season. He played the guzheng every day. And he painted one painting after the other. The paintings and poems have been added so much that he now had one side of his study full of them.
Only Liang Zhen and Wu Jian knew the truth. He wrote poems because he woke up from nightmares and couldn't go back to sleep. He played the guzheng to ease the pain of his heart, of losing a mother too soon, in such a cruel way. And he painted to fill the emptiness in his art.
He barely ate anything, causing him to lose a lot of weight.
The emperor asked Liang Zhen once, "Is my son dying too?"
"No, Your Highness. His grief is just too deep."
"Keep him alive for me," the emperor had said to him and Wu Jian.
And they had tried for three years. But it was time for the crown prince to return.
Not only because it was his duty, but also because none of them wanted to see how the empire would become if Prince Wei managed to dethrone Rui for abandoning his duties.
"The emperor asked you to meet him tomorrow."
"He's going to ask me to return again."
"It's the perfect timing to return!"
"You know I have developed an illness. I might lose control once I see my step brother and step mother."
"We've managed to calm you down during your attacks. Just one court visit per week will be better for your position, My Lord."
Rui sighed a heavy sigh. The sigh of someone who was already so disgusted with the whole world.
"I want a list of names. If it's true that Wei kidnapped people for forced labor at his mine, I want the names and the numbers."
"I'll collect it for you. Are you returning to court?"
"I guess you have an imperial decree?"
Liang Zhen was holding it this whole time. He should've read it sooner, but he believed talking to his friend was more important.
Liang Zhen opened the scroll, and Rui bowed at it, as per the culture.
"I, the Emperor, order my son Crown Prince Huang Rui to attend a private meeting tomorrow during lunch time. Therefore may this order be followed, for the benefit of our empire."
"I'll go," Rui said.
Liang Zhen felt a little burden was lifted from his shoulders.
*****