5. The Training Grounds

5. The Training Grounds
I had been excited that first day, not understanding why Hye-Se Young and Seong-Yu Hyung seemed to be wholly worried. It wasn’t until I get there that the ribbing, the hazing, and the bullying started.

Over two years they tampered with my armor, my weapons, gained up on me, called me nasty names, laughed behind my back knowing full well I could hear them, and took harder hits then they would the others.

It was mostly the kids my own age or a bit older that taunted me. But the adults didn’t do anything about it. I would come home every day with new bruises, cuts, and sore body parts. But I never gave in. I never showed them their tactics bothered me and it was also where I truly learned what my named meant.

It was a hard blow hoping they were all wrong, but after begging Hy-Se Young to tell me the truth she caved with tears streaming down her face. To think that my own father would name me with something so hideous and cruel.

I kept my abilities locked up because I didn’t want them to see me as a monster. So, I let them treat me horribly. Until one day I was allowed to ride my new horse by myself the first time.

At first, the animal seemed terrified of me and wouldn’t calm down. My heart felt broken and throbbed with the pain to think that even animals seemed scared of me. The horse trainer pulled on the reins hard to take control of the horse only making him agitated.

“Come on! Get that dumb animal under control!” One of the guards, Taewon, yelled at the middle-aged man.

I hated this guy with a passion. He was meaner than the rest of them and laughed at everything that was done to me as I trained. He never missed a chance to knock me off my feet whether on the training field or not.

When the horse still wouldn’t cooperate, he steps up and grabs a whip hanging on one of the pillars. I tense when I see him use the thing on the poor animal. The horse cries out in pain as it tries to get away from him. But with him still in the stall he had nowhere to go.

“Stop it, you’re hurting him!” I couldn’t help but snap out.

Taewon stops and slowly turns to me. But I stand my ground. “Did you just raise your voice at me?” He sneers with contempt.

When I don’t immediately answer him, he turns back around and goes to hit the horse again.

But this time I quickly step in and the whip narrowly misses the horse as the brunt of the leather hits my back instead, causing my tunic to rip wide open. The stinging, burning pain shoots out on my skin.

Everyone froze.

Because even though I was considered a monster among them I was still the Crown Prince of this nation. My hands were placed gently on the horse’s side, who was now strangely calm. Breathing heavily from the amount of pain I was going through I slowly turn my gaze at Taewon that was still holding the whip loosely at his side, blood was now dripping from the leather.

But as soon as I turned to face him, they all gasped and took a few steps back. At that time, I had no idea my eyes glowed in that vibrant purple hue and the open gash that I felt on my back was feeling like it was no longer there, the pain simply ebbing away.

“T-They were all right about you!” He starts yelling in a panic, eyes wide with unleashed fear. “You are a monster! An abomination! And we’re just supposed to accept you as our prince?!” His voice gets louder in hysterics.

“You don’t deserve to be here! Locking you up at the Forbidden Palace is where you belong. No one will be safe with you around!” He then drops the whip and rushes out of the stables, everyone else standing there not knowing what to do.

The horse nudges me and I’m shocked that sudden emotions and thoughts start running through my mind. And it only takes me a moment to realize they weren’t mine, but the horse’s.

From that day forward me and the animal became best of friends leaving everyone else dumbfounded. Because the horse refused to have anyone else ride him.

But on the morning of the fifth day of learning to ride there was an unexpected training activity to scout the surrounding area. Something I didn’t think I needed to learn since I’ll be placed in the palace more often than not. I immediately knew something was off. My horse was fidgety, sensing the tension in the air and the guards and trainees were acting a bit off.

Others were quite more reserved than normal. None of them even acted out towards me like they usually do. After another hour it started raining drastically and nonstop. The rain was becoming so heavy that the roads were flooded and becoming muck.

I figured we would start heading back but we just kept on pushing through. We were wet. We were cold. And we were tired. But the guards didn’t let up. In fact, they seemed determined to keep going. What was even more odd was the fact that none of the other trainees started complaining when most days that was all they did.

I couldn’t help frowning. Something was weird about them all and the dread sank down in the pit of my stomach. Cho Cho, who I later learned was the name of my new friend, gave off waves of uneasiness through the connection of our emotions.

If he thought something was amiss here than it definitely wasn’t looking good for me. But I don’t voice my concern or let them know I was on to whatever they had planned. I just had hoped I was wrong in the assumption.

But I wasn’t.

Because what happens next made my heart sink down along with the earlier dread I was feeling.