Sent as the Alliance Leader's Hostage Husband novel · Chapter 13 of 24
Chapter 13: The Shield
Chun-sik told it sitting on the floor of the corridor, because his knees would not let him stand.
Ye-han sat across from him with his back against the wall, and Gyeong-wook stood a pace behind him, close enough to feel.
"The old Lord had one son," Chun-sik said.
"The regent wanted that son dead, because a boy with a father's name could not be ruled."
"Ma Gu-rak was the Blood Elder even then?"
"He was always the Blood Elder."
Chun-sik took off his spectacles and pressed his palms into his eyes.
"The old Lord sent the boy north with a wet nurse, to a border village nobody wrote down.
"He gave the Elder a decoy to hunt instead.
"Do you remember the day they took you out of the kitchen?"
Ye-han did.
He was six, and he had flour on his hands.
A man in black lifted him by the armpits and carried him into a room full of fire.
"They had a mark to copy," Chun-sik said.
"The real child was born with the crescent.
"So they heated an iron in the shape of it, and put it on you."
Ye-han laughed.
It came out of him before he could stop it, high and bright, a theatre laugh.
"You told me it was a birthmark," he said.
"I did."
"Every winter it itched, and you rubbed it with goose fat, and you said it was the mark of a great man."
"I said it because I could not say anything else."
"Then the story is very good, old man.
"It has everything.
"A burned village, a secret son, a loyal cook with a broken heart.
The rest of this chapter is part of the paid portion of the series. Chapters 1–6 of Sent as the Alliance Leader's Hostage Husband are free to read — start from the beginning, then unlock the rest with coins in the app.
← Chapter 12 · All chapters · Chapter 14 →
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend