The morning began too early, with anxious voices beyond the door.

  “What is happening?” Yi Hyun called out.

  “Great Prince, are you awake?” the eunuch replied, and the doors at once slid open with a rustle, admitting another servant. He looked terrified.

  “Great Prince Dojun,” the servant rushed to his bedside and fell to his knees at the head of the bed. “The Crown Prince… Oh, how did this happen?!”

  “I do not understand you. Speak more clearly,” Yi Hyun demanded and sat up, unwillingly pushing aside the warm blanket. It had snowed again during the night, and his chamber had grown quite cold.

  “The C-Crown Prince…” The servant stammered, forcing out the words. “He is dead!”

  “What?” Yi Hyun repeated. Had he misheard, not yet fully awake?

  “He froze to death! Great Prince Dojun, what are we to do now?” the servant sobbed. “He was found by the throne hall. There are so many guards there now!”

  “Bring me my clothes. Quickly,” Yi Hyun ordered and hurried after the eunuch who led the way.

  It was impossible, right?

  Only yesterday his elder brother had joked and laughed, having returned from a long journey. He knew their father had been angered that the title of Crown Prince had gone to him rather than to Yi Hyun — but which of the princes could influence the decision of the all-powerful Prince Regent of Great Qing? Thus Yi Yun had intended to repent of his disobedience before the throne hall and attempt to soften their father’s wrath.

  Only yesterday he had spoken of this to Yi Hyun, and this morning he was discovered frozen to death at the high palace steps?

  No, it was impossible!

  People did not freeze in a single night, right? Not in mid-March. The eunuch must have confused something, heard a rumor and panicked.

  Yi Hyun quickened his pace, as though that could change anything.

  Below, at the steps leading to the throne hall, it was deserted, though the snow had been trampled by many pairs of feet. Above, on either side of the staircase, a pair of guards stood watch by braziers. When Yi Hyun climbed up to the nearest one, he saw that the man’s eyes were red.

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  “What happened here?” he demanded.

  “Great Prince Dojun,” the guard greeted him and suddenly sobbed. “If you are seeking the Crown Prince, he was carried to his chambers.”

  “What happened here?” Yi Hyun repeated, with emphasis.

  “I had only just taken my post, Great Prince.” The soldier sniffed. “I looked, and behold, is that a man lying there? I pointed him out to that one over there, and he said it looked like it too. So we went to check, and it was the Crown Prince, all white. I tried to bring him to his senses, my comrade ran for help, but it was too late. How could it come to this? Forgive us, Great Prince. It is our fault that we did not find him sooner!”

  Yi Hyun passed a hand over his face. This was some nightmare from which he needed to awaken at once.

  “They carried my elder brother to his chambers?” he asked again and walked quickly after the trail of footprints pressed into the fresh snow. Panic pounded in his temples in rhythm with his racing heart.

  Since their return from Great Qing, the Donggung palace — the residence traditionally allotted to the heir — had been occupied by Yi Hyun. Even after the decision of Prince Rui became known, the king had not ordered him to move.

  Therefore, Yi Yun was to return from their journey to his usual rooms in Myeongdang.

  Those chambers were now unnaturally empty. Yi Hyun recalled that the king had ordered the arrest of the Crown Prince’s servants upon learning that he had received the title against the royal will. At present only a few attendants from the Royal Medical Office remained in Myeongdang. Their drawn faces promised nothing good. Yi Hyun silently moved aside a thin maid in a physician’s apron and entered his elder brother’s chamber.

  If any hope remained to him, it now crumbled to dust. Yi Yun lay upon his bed pale, almost white, with his knees oddly bent upward. His eyes were closed and a dreadful smile had frozen upon his face.

  “Great Prince Dojun,” the physician rose and bowed low.

  “What is wrong with his legs?” Yi Hyun asked for some reason. This posture was uncomfortable, improper, wrong.

  “The Crown Prince was kneeling when he froze,” the physician swallowed and rubbed his palms together. “Several hours will pass before the body thaws, and it can be laid straight.”

  Yi Hyun wanted to seize this fool by the collar and shout at him. Instead, he asked:

  “Where is the Chief Royal Physician?” His voice came out hoarse. “Why is he not here?”

  “He is preparing the morning decoctions for His Majesty,” the physician lowered his gaze.

  “Has His Majesty been informed?” Yi Hyun was certain that he had, yet as long as he kept asking questions, it was as though he could influence the situation. Despair and helplessness, the same as in the forest when he had fled wounded from assassins, threatened to overwhelm him again.

  Yi Yun, pale and rigid, lay before him. One of those assassins who had destroyed his retinue, his friends, and his servants. The brother who had taken the title meant for him. No one would have reproached Yi Hyun if he had sighed in relief at this moment.

  Yet for some reason it was difficult to breathe.

  Had he truly believed in that brotherly unity? Had he hoped that a repentant Yi Yun would truly support him and never abandon him. He had seen how he fought, hunted, sat his horse — his elder brother had seemed invulnerable. And a single snowy night had been enough to turn him into this?

  “You examined him? It cannot be murder?” Yi Hyun fired questions, not allowing the physician to speak.

  “His Majesty wishes to see Great Prince Dojun!” came the piercing voice of one of the royal eunuchs from beyond the door.

  Yi Hyun drew a deep breath, exhaled, clenched his fists, and, casting one last glance at the smiling face of the dead, left his chambers.