mark doesn't exactly remember the last time he had spent such an amazing night, but he was quite certain that it hadn't occurred in a few years. and yet, the morning following the royal banquet celebrating his father's death anniversary, mark's eyes had fluttered open pleasantly, and the royal had felt like he had finally caught up on all of the hours of sleep he had missed since the king passed away. the reason was quite simple after all...

the second the future king's eyes had opened and his head regained full consciousness, his thoughts decided to wander back to the events of the night prior, specifically to the end of the night, to what allowed him to decide that his father's death anniversary wouldn't have a bitter taste anymore.

it hadn't yet been a minute that mark had been awake, and the boy had already replayed on his mind everything that had happened between him and donghyuck and that had allowed him to sleep so well.

he still recalled everything vividly, and he wasn't sure these thoughts would ever be able to fade in his mind... the way donghyuck looked so perfect in the southern royal robes, the way he stayed close to mark as if he only trusted himself when having some kind of physical contact with the royal, the way his eyes glistened in amazement as mark showed him the view of aes by night, the way his whole body would flush at each of mark's touches, the way he had melted into mark when the royal hadn't been able to hold himself from kissing the tanned beauty, the way he had been so shy and stuttery after their kiss but the way he had still stayed close to mark until they had to part at the end of the night... he could remember everything, and his only wish was to turn back time and revive this wonderful night again.

there was a stupid smile plastered on the royal's face as he rolled over his bed, kicking his feet around and pressing his face into one of his many pillows to muffle his giggles and screams of joy and excitement.

the future king of aes was unrecognisable, currently looking more like a teenager in love than like the ruthless king he was supposed to be. his duties, seriousness and status were long forgotten as mark was already picturing his perfect future by the tanned male's side, growing up together, having kids and raising them lovingly, building a perfect family... mark's thoguhts had diverted far far away, and it didn't seem like he'd be back on earth soon – well that is if he hadn't been interrupted by loud knocks on his door.

the boy could only let out an annoyed huff at the servant that had disturbed him in the middle of his enchanted daydream. "yes?!"

"are you decent? can i come in?"

mark was surprised to recognise his mother's voice on the other side of the door, not expecting her to walk across the whole palace to greet mark.

"i am decent." he replied, sitting up on his bed and arranging the pillows and bedsheets that he had messed up during his little moment of absence. "you can come in."

the regent queen didn't need to be told twice, pushing open the door of mark's room, sliding in and then looking back inside the corridor for a few seconds before deciding to close the door shut and lock it. mark could only stare at her curiously as she did so, and his mouth even fell slightly open at the sight of her eye-bags.

"good morning." the young boy simply stated.

"good morning, mark." the queen answered. "i need to talk to you."

"why didn't you just get a servant to call me?" he frowned somehow slightly weirded out by the queen's odd behaviour.

the queen didn't answer right away, she just took a few more steps forward, reaching the side of the bed and sitting down, allowing mark to catch a glimpse of the object she was carrying.

"m-mother...?" the royal blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't tripping. "i-is t-that..."

"you father's sugar bowl." the queen finished, looking down at the golden recipient she held between trembling hands.

mark stared at her; confusion written all over his face. "w-why do you have it? i thought we had agreed not to touch father's things..."

"this is what we need to talk about..." the queen explained, her eyes never meeting mark's.

the younger royal didn't speak further, simply looking at his mother in utter confusion and hoping to be enlightened quickly. the queen started speaking again after a long intake of breath.

"i asked the physician to run a few tests on the sugar present in this bowl yesterday..." mark's mother said, opening the sugar bowl and revealing a golden bracelet on top of a pile of white powder. "i wanted to have some sugar from that bowl yesterday, and i found this bracelet inside."

mark frowned, his eyes diverting from his mother to the sugar bowl. he lifted his hand to reach for the piece of jewelry inside the bowl but was prevented from taking it by his mother who had pushed his hand away.

"not with your hand!" she exclaimed, evident fear flashing in her eyes.

the royal lifted a brow. "mother, what is happening?"

the regent queen stayed silent for a second to gulp down the lump that had formed in her throat, fighting over the urge she had to cry.

"t-the physician tested the powder and the bracelet." she repeated. "h-he... h-he found out that it contained a-arsenic..."

"arsenic...?" mark questioned, having no exact idea what this thing was.

"i-it's... a poison..." his mother finally found the courage to speak. "i-it's a poisonous white powder that causes effects similar to f-food poisoning if ingested and that is deadly in about three days if not treated..."

the queen didn't need to go further for mark to put two and two together.

he knew that this sugar bowl hadn't been touched since the king's death. he knew that his father had ingested some of it before his death – three spoons of sugar in his tea, as per mark's request. he knew that his condition had worsened from there, the doctor blaming it on the fish from the northern kingdoms that he had had for dinner. he knew that he had lost his father after three days of him suffering. and now, he knew that what had killed him wasn't a mere fish that hadn't been correctly cooked, but that it was three spoons of sugar mixed with a deadly poison...

mark's mother now dared to look at her son, her eyes watery. "m-my little gem..." she stuttered, not receiving an immediate answer.

the future king of aes kept his mouth shut for a while, his thoughts racing a hundred miles per hour in his mind as he processed the words his mother had spoken, cross-referencing this with his own memories to create a new, updated version of what had truly happened ten years ago.

and he didn't need long to register the new piece of information, causing his oh-so-perfect morning to be ruined in a mere second and pulling him back in an eternal nightmare.

"someone killed father..." mark said, barely above a whisper, head hanging low as his whole body was shaken by utter sadness as he realised what he was saying. he hadn't lost his father to a stupid food poisoning, he had lost him because of someone, because one person intentionally wanted to get rid of him.

mark's blinking allowed a first tear to escape his eye and roll down his cheek. there it was, the acknowledgement of what these words truly meant which had instantly reopened all of the wounds that mark had tried his best to heal over these past years – these wounds that he had thought he had been able to get rid of the night before... but oh well, he shouldn't have been so naïve to believe that such a big scar could disappear forever without bothering him ever again.

"oh, baby..." the regent queen let out, putting the sugar bowl aside on mark's nightstand so that she could wrap her arms around her son properly to comfort him.

her own eyes started producing tears despite the strong façade she tried putting up, the salty drops mingling with mark's as she pressed the boy further against her. mark let himself be pulled in this embrace despite the fact it wasn't as comfortable as he hoped it would be.

the words repeated in mark's head like a mantra to a point it became almost deafening.

someone killed father. someone killed father. someone killed father...

and after a few repetition of those words, after he was sure he had fully understood them, and their meaning, mark saw all of it from another perspective, his body suddenly tensing in his mother's desperate embrace.

feeling the switch in mark's body, the regent queen let him go, pulling away slightly to look at him. and she was slightly surprised to see that no ounce of sadness remained in his eyes, or at least, it wasn't visible anymore.

"someone killed the king." mark spoke in a severe tone.

sadness had left mark's mind to be replaced by anger, a very powerful wave of rage and hatred taking over his body as he processed deeper what the king's poisoning meant.

"there is someone... someone in aes who planned this." he stated. "someone wanted the king dead and managed to sneak poison into the king's sugar bowl to get rid of him."

speaking those words up allowed him to realise their gravity.

it was more than just the death of his father. this act alone was horrendous and the person responsible for it deserved to pay for all of the pain they had caused to mark, this was certain. but the problem is, mark's father wasn't just anyone. he was the king of aes, he was the leader of the lands, the ruler of the people, and he had been assassinated. someone had deliberately gotten rid of him for some reason, someone from their lands, someone that was under his control...

and if someone who killed a man deserved to pay for their act, someone who killed the king of their land deserved to have their head cut off on the public place.

"i'll find them." mark stated after another silence. "i'll find them, mother." he repeated, now looking deep into his mother's eyes. "i'll make this my personal problem." he continued, eyes fierce and full of fire. "i'll find them, and i'll kill them."

♕

in the meantime, elsewhere on aes lands, a certain tanned male was standing in the familiar kitchens, a knife in hand as he peeled a potato, eyes looking through the only dirty glass window of the kitchen and his mind everywhere but on that potato that he was peeling.

similarly to the royal staying in the palace, donghyuck was reminiscing the events of the night prior, a smile on his face and his heart beating faster than usual.

he wouldn't be able to forget about it, even if he wanted to. the feeling of mark's hand intertwined with his own, the feeling of his body pressed against donghyuck's, the feeling of warmth that had instantly spread out from the simplest touch of their lips... it still had his mind in a daze and his insides all jittery.

oh, how he wished that he was still there, trapped between mark's arms on that balcony, caged between the royal and the ledge, his only worry being whether he kissed back satisfyingly for the future king.

damn, how bad he wanted for his midday shift to end so that he could run back to the royal palace through the back door and stay close to mark again... but he was stuck in this kitchen for now, forced to peel all of the potatoes that had been delivered previously that day to cook them.

"lee donghyuck?!" a voice snapped the tanned male out of his dreamy paradise, making the boy flinch and drop the potato that he was currently peeling, as well as cut the inside of his palm with the sharp blade he was using.

"ouch!" the peasant hissed, wincing at the pain and putting the blade down.

"oh my god, donghyuck, be careful!" the worker that had called him exclaimed, immediately reaching for a clean cloth to apply pressure on donghyuck's newly formed wound that had already started bleeding.

"you startled me..." the tanned male informed with a pout, flinching a bit when the woman applied pressure on the wound.

"i had been calling you for a while, but you were too far away in your thoughts to hear, apparently."she explained, lifting the cloth to look at the inside of donghyuck's palm which was crossed by a reddish wound from which a bit of blood still oozed out.

donghyuck's cheeks immediately coloured red at the mention of him being 'too far away in his thoughts'. truth to be told, he hadn't even heard his co-worker calling his name multiple times because he was effectively way too far away, reviving his and mark's long kiss from the night before and hyping himself up for the moment his shift would be over, allowing him to run back into the arms of the royal.

"y-yeah..." the tanned male could only stutter, letting the other apply pressure on his wound.

"your cheeks are so red." the worker pointed out, a chuckle escaping her lips. "you've been thinking about your lover boy, right?"

donghyuck's eyes shot open for a second as he pulled his hand backwards, removing it from the woman's grip. "i-i w-wasn't!" he denied – very poorly, we might add.

"sure." the woman smirked, reaching froward again to grab donghyuck's hand. the peasant let her do so. "don't be ashamed if it was the case. i used to think of my crush all the time back when i was young. and you know what? he's my husband now, so maybe doing so was the right decision."

donghyuck didn't answer, letting his thoughts wander on their own again.

he imagined himself in the future, with mark. he imagined them becoming closer than they were now, growing up together and learning new things. perhaps someday marrying each other, because what if just like his co-worker, thinking of mark day and night led him to becoming his husband in the end?

"wow..." the worker chuckled again, catching donghyuck's attention. "you look madly in love."

donghyuck didn't have the strength to deny those words. was he madly in love? he wasn't sure, but he was certain that his feelings for mark were strong and he wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. the way the simple thought of the boy was able to light up his day was too precious for him to get rid of...

"are you seeing him again soon?" the woman asked after donghyuck's silence.

the tanned male's cheeks flushed again. "a-after my shift." he explained.

"oh." his co-worker let out before frowning and thinking for a few seconds. "you're on dishes duty today, right?"

"yes." donghyuck nodded.

"well, you're not anymore." the worked shrugged, making donghyuck's eyes widen once again.

"huh?" the tanned male let out confusedly.

"how are you going to do the dishes with this severe wound?" the woman asked, gesturing to the cut on donghyuck's hand – the one that he had inflicted himself because he was too busy thinking about mark. "go find your lover boy directly after your service. i'll take the dishes duty for you."

"b-but- "

"i am your superior." she raised a brow with a tone that was supposed to be menacing. "you do as i say."she added, now fully smiling to the tanned male.

and well, donghyuck could only be thankful that he had such amazing co-workers that loved him like their own son and that were willing to give him the world when he wasn't sure he deserved that much.

"thank you." he mumbled. "thank you so much."

he definitely couldn't wait for the end of his shift now.

♕

the journey from his village to the royal palace had never been so quick. the second donghyuck had finished his shift, the boy had tossed his apron away and ran outside all the way to the place he had spent most of his afternoons at recently.

he reached the backdoor with ease, knowing exactly which way to climb up the hill not to arrive on top out of breath. after dusting off his clothes, the tanned male peeked through the open door, searching for the familiar raven head that he wanted to see so bad.

"h-hey..." he stuttered, finding mark leaning against the wall inside the palace.

it wasn't his usual place to wait. usually, mark would be standing in the doorway, looking carefully for donghyuck's arrival. sometimes he would even be sitting there if donghyuck took too long to arrive. but today, he wasn't in the doorway, waiting for donghyuck like an impatient puppy. today he was inside, head resting against the wall and face contorted with something between sadness and anger – at least, until he noticed the tanned male.

"hello." mark spoke, pushing himself off the wall, his lips curving up in a smile as he approached the younger.

but well, donghyuck knew mark, and he knew that something was wrong. "is everything okay?" he questioned, looking worriedly at the older boy.

there was a hint of hesitation on mark's side. "yes, i'm okay." he finally answered, but donghyuck wasn't convinced.

"are you sure?"

but well, how could mark explain to this golden boy that after waking up to a wonderful sleep, he had learnt the most devastating news he could ever learn, both as a person who had lost his father years ago, and as the future king of a kingdom that had assassinated their previous ruler.

"yes. don't worry, donghyuck." mark nodded, reaching forward and grabbing donghyuck's hands, his thumbs automatically rubbing circles on the back of the tanned male's hands. "everything is okay now that you're here."

because yes, the sole sight of donghyuck had allowed all of his worries to fade and to be replaced by something stronger, a fluttering in his chest that he couldn't get enough of, mostly if it helped him dealing with the harshness of life.