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She was beautiful, and brilliant, and he loved her with all his heart. But she was begging him to kill his son.
“Bang-won will kill us, unless you kill him first,” Queen Sindeok whispered. “You know he will. He hates my sons. I’ve seen it in his eyes.”
King Yi Seong-gye clasped her soft, delicate hands in his own war-battered ones. “My son would never harm his brothers. He protected you, did he not? His own mother yet lived, and he chose to protect you and our sons instead. Because he knew you were at greater risk; that I loved you more. He knows his place. He understands the responsibility a son bears towards his father’s wives, and that of an elder brother towards the younger ones. He will be a good brother to our sons.”
“He will be their deaths! When you are gone, my sons and I will have no chance. No one will support us. No one will step in front of us to take the blow. No one will even speak up for us. My sons are illegitimate, and the world will always be against us. Only you can protect us. But it must be done now, while you are alive and in power.”
“You are my wife! Is that not enough protection? Did I not claim our sons as mine in the throne room, before all the nation? Who would dare doubt me? Who would dare speak against you, when doing so is to speak against me? No one, that is who. No one will ever dare raise their voice to you, much less their hand.”
“Bang-won dares. He won’t say it to your face, but he has never thought of us as kin. Has never thought of my sons as his brothers. Just threats.”
“He barely knows you, my love. Give it time.”
“Seong-gye. Beloved. I saw his face, when he came for us. He said he was there for our protection, but his eyes held nothing but hate. He hungers so for our blood. You must protect our sons. They are so young. So innocent. Do you not love them? Are they not of value to you? You can mold them to rule as you molded your elder sons for battle. They will serve you with all their hearts. Will you not protect them?”
“Of course I will protect them! But they do not need protection from their elder brother! Besides, they are no threat to Bang-won. He is my fifth son; they are my seventh and eighth. What kind of threat could they be to him?”
“But you can choose your heir. You are not obligated to choose your eldest. And there are many who see Bang-won as your obvious successor.” She shivered, overcome with fear.
Seong-gye grabbed his wife’s arms and pulled her to him. “My poor love. He scares you so, but you merely do not understand him. He is a warrior, a brute of the battlefield, but that does not mean that he does not understand filial duties.”
“He is drenched in blood. And he wants to add my sons' to it. We will never be safe unless he is dead!”
He pushed her away, held her at arm’s length to stare into her eyes. “Do not ask me to kill my son. I will put up with much nonsense from you, but not this. Do you understand? Not even for you, would I commit such a sin. Speak no more of it, for I can not tell anymore where your fear ends and your ambition begins. Do you wish him out of the way to earn your children a higher rank at court? Is that all my older sons are to you?”
“Your older sons are beloved to me! It is only your fifth son I fear. Only Bang-won who turns my heart to ice, and rips the breath from my lungs. Yes, I fear him, your majesty. I fear him because he is a threat, to myself and all I love. Including you. Do you think he will peacefully let you push him aside?”
“You do not understand the ways of men. He is a soldier. He will follow my orders. Why must you be like this, Sindeok? Can you not trust your husband to defend you? Do you see me as weaker than my son? I thought you loved me, but it seems as if I am a mere stepping stone for your ambition, that you would rob me of my most capable heir.”
She shook her head, tears in her eyes. “I only fear for my sons,” she whispered. “Has my advice ever been false, my love? Have I not always seen the reins of power where they truly lay, so you could take them for your own? Your fifth son is dangerous. He is a threat. To you, to me, to our sons, and the stability of our nation. You have built up this image of your children in your mind that does not match the reality. Why can’t you see him for who he truly is?”
“My dear. Sweet thing. You are wrong. You mistake his ever present bloodlust as being aimed at you, when it is aimed at no one and everyone. But you are right; he is not suited for politics, or peace. So fear not. I will keep him from the palace; you need not see him ever again. I have already pushed him away from the halls of power at your request, though he has in fact earned a place there. He will never have the political backing to threaten you, or our children. So cease your worry. I have done enough. You will be safe.”
"My sons will never be safe until Bang-won is dead," she whispered, but her husband pretended not to hear.
Years later, princess Gyeongsun, who had been listening at her mother’s door, realized that this was the moment that had sealed her brothers’ fate. For what she could overhear, so could others, and once Bang-won knew the Queen had called for his death, any brotherly feelings he might have had for his young half-siblings disappeared completely.
Would he have seen them as a threat if the Queen had not convinced his father to turn against him, and drive him from the palace? Would he have killed them, if Bang-won had not been sure that he himself would not be allowed to live once his youngest sibling ascended the throne?
The brilliant, ambitious, talented Queen Sindeok. Yi Seong-gye would have been nothing without her. Yet at the end, she had failed.
She had called for Bang-won’s death, but her words killed her own sons instead.
(Not long after, Princess Gyeongsun fled into exile, her husband dead at Bang-won’s hand, and felt only relief. She had escaped with her life, and that of her son. Prince Heung-an would never sit a throne, but at least he would survive. A last ember of Sindeok’s brilliant flame, for the world to remember her by.)