Chapter 51: Chapter 51 - Power Struggle

“There are always other options available and situations that may sway the current emperor and the high court to choose the other options. For example, what if I’m unable to produce an heir? That would lead to complications following my own rule on who would succeed me and issues like that are complicated and never welcomed. In that case, it would be cleaner to select an emperor who already has a successor,” Ren began to explain.

“I see…” I mumbled as I followed his line of thought.

“In my specific case, the other option available is my younger brother, Kin,” Ren said, his face suddenly stern and serious.

“Prince Kin?” I said, curiously.

“Let’s just say that Kin and I have different values and beliefs. We were raised…very differently despite being brothers…” Ren said, his face darkening as if he was remembering some unpleasant memories.

“You were raised…differently?” I asked, not quite sure if I understood.

“That’s right. After all, we were not born from the same mother,” Ren explained bluntly.

“Oh…I see,” I said softly.

“The current empress that you’ve met is Kin’s mother. Not mine,” Ren stated emotionlessly.

“She’s not your mother…?” I said, confused.

“My real mother is dead,” Ren stated without emotions.

“Oh…I’m so sorry,” I said, suddenly feeling sad.

“There’s no need to be. My mother died a long time ago. The current empress became the empress after my mother’s death. Since she’s the mother of my father’s second son, she was the obvious choice. That’s all…” Ren said with a shrug.

“Will Prince Kin become the next emperor?” I asked, slightly confused.

“If he has a son before me then it could really become a possibility,” Ren stated with a firm nod.

“Oh…” I whispered. My mind thinking back to Prince Kin and the gorgeous lady that he was with and how close they seemed. If she were to conceive then…

“Don’t worry your little head. Even if Kin does have a son before me, it’s not guarantee that he’s going to be promoted to emperor. However, what bothers me more is the fact that he clearly wants to become the next emperor…and probably has always thought that way,” Ren said with a faraway look in his eyes as if he was seeing some distant memories that only he knew about.

“What do you think…will happen if Prince Kin becomes the next emperor?” I asked. This was what Shin wanted me to know, wasn’t it?

“I don’t know for sure but if I had to guess…it would be absolute chaos. Kin would trample upon any land or people that he could conquer,” Ren said with a light laugh.

“Really?” I asked in shock. I didn’t understand why Ren was treating this as a laughing matter.

“There are two key differences between how we were brought up that makes us very different. First, I was born the crown prince and he was born the second prince. Basically, I was the one and he was the back up prince, in case anything was to happen to me. Second, his mother was, and still is, a very ambitious woman. It is her dream to put Kin on the throne and she made that obviously clear to him since he was very young…” Ren explained.

I was beginning to get the picture of what was going on in this power struggle for the throne between the two brothers and I had to say that it wasn’t pretty.

“I see…” I muttered.

“To make matters worse for the current empress, fate was very cruel to her. You see, Kin is less than a month younger than me. Which meant that if the current empress had given birth to him a littler earlier, she would have been promoted to empress before my mother and Kin would be the crown prince instead of me,” Ren said with a laugh.

I, on the other hand, didn’t find any of this funny. I could only imagine the intense rivalry among the brothers as they were growing up and perhaps until now.

“If Prince Kin becomes the next emperor, will the people…suffer?” I asked softly. I knew that my question was very direct.

“I would guess so. Kin is very similar to his mother. He is a proud man that has little care for his people as long as his life is comfortable. They both crave for glory and power and would do anything to get it…” Ren explained with a wry smile.

Now I understood why Ren thought that it would be better if he became the emperor; however, that did not change the prospect of future wars if Ren was to become the next emperor. Plus, this was all Ren’s opinion.

The other thing that bothered me about this power struggle was the part that I had to unfortunately play in it. If Prince Kin has a son before Ren does then Prince Kin may be chosen to ascend to the throne?

My mood went sour, and I felt the start of a nagging headache. Suddenly, I felt like it was up to me whether Ren or his brother would be chosen as the next emperor. What if I never produce an heir? Then Ren can’t become the emperor?

However, if I wanted Ren to become the emperor because I believed in his theories about Prince Kin, then I would have to bear Ren’s child? I shivered at the thought.

Why is this happening? Are there any other options available…?

“What’s wrong? You’ve gone silent for a while now,” Ren asked curiously, his eyes on me.

I couldn’t tell him about my embarrassing thoughts. Instead, I decided to properly apologize to him instead.

“Regardless of what you said…I’m sorry. I might not be sorry for the things that I said because…I truly believe in them…but…” I apologized seriously to Ren before trailing off. How do I say this so that I can get my feelings across to Ren without compromising on my own beliefs?

I took in a deep breath to steady my own voice and clear my head. Ren watched me silently as he waited for me to finish what I wanted to say.

“I don’t want to apologize for the things that I said but I want to apologize for the way that I said them…I may have hurt your feelings…and for that, I am truly sorry…” I apologized again.

“I told you before, didn’t I? I don’t want your apologies. There is no reason for you to apologize for thinking differently from me,” Ren said.

“But…” I said softly.

“But if you insist, I can think of other ways for you to make it up to me,” Ren whispered directly into my ear. My body trembled at the feel of the warmth of his breath on my earlobe.

--To be continued…