being the future monarch of a kingdom, mark had followed countless lessons on self-control and had gone through exercises where he had to stay calm and collected under the pressure more times he could remember. but for some reason, all of those times he had spent learning how to stay professional in any circumstance seemed useless right now.

mark was trying his best to think rationally, but this appeared to be quite the challenge for him as his eyes couldn't stop diverting between the boy he loved and the piece of jewellery he was holding in his hand, a bright and relieved smile painted on his face.

there was no way in hell this could be possible.

the royal was at loss for words, his jaw tense, lips pressed together, appearing somehow normal and unbothered when in fact his thoughts were a huge mess in his mind.

he didn't want to accept the possibility of all of this being true; of this bracelet being donghyuck's. what would that even mean? that donghyuck had opened the sugar bowl full of arsenic? but what for? because he had looked through the cupboards when mark had his back turned? because he had assassinated the king years prior? could it be that he was the reason mark's father was dead?

this made absolutely no sense. if it was the case – if, because there was no way it could be possible – then why would donghyuck be claiming high and proud that this bracelet belonged to him and that he lost it? if it was the case, shouldn't donghyuck know what was held in that sugar bowl? if it was the case, shouldn't he keep silent and do as if he had never seen this bracelet to avoid looking suspicious in front of mark? unless... unless this was a strategy, some sick trick that he was pulling so that he could then appear surprised and so that mark got convinced he wasn't responsible for the king's death?

"thank you so much, mark." donghyuck spoke again, seemingly not realising the internal battle that mark was currently fighting. "this bracelet means the world to me..."

"you said you had lost it?" the royal questioned, brows in a frown as he ignored donghyuck's words, his voice sounding a bit harsh.

"yeah i- "

"when?" mark almost snapped, catching donghyuck slightly off-guard.

the brunette blinked in confusion. "m-mark, is everything alright?"

"when did you lose your bracelet?" mark repeated, tone warming up a bit, but still sounding defiant.

"h-huh..." donghyuck's brows furrowed as he tried searching in his memories. "around a week ago. i think it was the day before your mother caught us... i haven't had it since then."

mark let his thoughts wander back in time to recall what they had been doing these days. but there was nothing to find in his souvenirs, because the truth lied openly in front of him. donghyuck had lost his bracelet a week and a half ago at most, and mark's mother had found the bracelet donghyuck was holding during the banquet of the king's death anniversary, more than two weeks ago.

the piece of jewellery donghyuck was holding wasn't his bracelet. it couldn't be. there was no way he could have had it around his wrist when mark had had it placed on his desk next to the deadly sugar bowl for the past weeks.

"are you sure it's your bracelet." mark questioned, looking at the brunette carefully.

donghyuck blinked in confusion, glancing at the golden piece of jewellery. "yeah." he nodded before focusing his attention back on the bracelet.

"this doesn't make sense..." mark muttered between gritted teeth. "it's not possible..."

finding mark's reaction rather odd, the tanned male doubled carefulness in his inspection of the bracelet, making sure to focus his attention on the half-sun pendant that was in the middle of the chain.

he immediately recognised this half of the sun pendant, but doubting his own eyes, he made sure to check again and to search in his memories to ensure he wasn't tripping.

donghyuck didn't think it was possible, but he was certain that in his hand rested his bracelet, however, not exactly the bracelet he had been weaning for the past years – that one was originally his mother's, and he had started wearing it when he was something like eight years old, after he had lost his bracelet and never found it, his memories of that time were blurred though, so he couldn't be sure. but as surprising as all of this may be, he was currently holding his own half of the bracelet, the one he had lost years ago, and not his mother's half that he had lost days ago.

in this exact moment, donghyuck gulped, his mind screaming 'it is not possible', just like mark had been muttering on loop for the past minute.

"m-mark?" the tanned male called.

the royal didn't answer, continuing to pace around the same metre square of floor and to whisper that whatever was on his mind wasn't possible.

"mark, why are you saying that it's not possible?" the brunette found the courage asking, this time successfully catching the future king's attention.

mark stayed frozen for a few seconds, only his eyes moving and diverting between the bracelet and the sugar bowl placed on the desk. he heaved out a sigh after a while, approaching donghyuck to reach for the bracelet.

"this bracelet cannot be the one you lost days ago. it's not possible." mark explained, the chain sliding between his fingers to fall into his palm.

"w-why not?" the brunette stuttered.

"because..." mark toon another deep breath before walking past donghyuck to get next to his desk. the brunette turned around, facing mark as he grabbed the golden bowl in his other hand, showing it to donghyuck. "...my mother found this bracelet in this bowl during the banquet, more than two weeks ago."

the tanned male didn't react right away, taking a while to process mark's words.

if the queen had found the bracelet during the banquet, then it confirmed that donghyuck wasn't tripping and mixing up both halves of the bracelets. he had been wearing the bracelet for the banquet, he even recalled finding it fit perfectly with the sand colour and golden embroideries of his robes that day. so, this was confirmed, this half was the half donghyuck had lost years ago.

but then, if it was the half of the bracelet he had lost years ago, could that mean that this half was hidden there since the beginning? ever since he was eight years old? what was even this bowl and why would his bracelet be found inside?

"w-what's in the bowl?" the peasant questioned, somehow fearing the answer.

mark looked down at the white powder before sighing. "it's a sugar bowl." he explained. "precisely, my father's sugar bowl."

"oh..." donghyuck's eyes fixed on the containing of the bowl for a while. "so... it's sugar..."

these simple words were like a stake in the heart for mark.

the royal swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat before letting out a long sigh. with all of the courage he could muster, he looked at his lover.

"i-it's... not exactly sugar." the words were hard to pronounce.

donghyuck blinked, looking back quickly at the white powder in the bowl before meeting mark's eyes again. his heart almost broke when he saw the tears that were forming in there. "not exactly sugar?" he repeated confusedly.

mark gulped again, sighed again, swallowed back his tears, and tried his best to stay strong – again.

"donghyuck, there's something i didn't tell you." he stated, tone severe and voice shaking.

the peasant looked at him worriedly, everything but reassured at the way he had pronounced those words. "i-is there something wrong?" he asked in a gentle voice, his hand reaching for mark's biceps to caress the skin there as a supportive gesture.

mark took a deep breath. "my father's sugar bowl was in one of the cupboards that we hadn't opened ever since my father's death. however, when my mother asked for a servant to bring it to her the night of the banquet, she found this bracelet inside." the royal started explaining, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible. "s-she had the bracelet tested by our physician... and the sugar too... and... well... it turned out that arsenic had been mixed to the sugar."

the tanned male stayed unmoving, paying close attention to the story mark was telling and hoping to understand better what had him in such a state. but as for now, he wasn't sure he understood exactly.

the sugar bowl had never been opened after the king's death, which meant that the bracelet had to be in there since then. and also, it appeared that the sugar was mixed with arsenic. but what was even arsenic? donghyuck had no idea.

"you don't know what arsenic is...?" mark questioned, barely above a whisper.

donghyuck could only shake his head to have mark continuing.

"arsenic is a poison that comes in the form of white powder; quite similar to sugar actually." the royal explained, eyes falling on the sugar bowl. "and, if ingested... it can kill you in three days, showing symptoms similar to those of food poisoning..."

it didn't take more than ten seconds for donghyuck to put back all of the pieces of the puzzle together. and well, the picture that this puzzle showed definitely wasn't what he wanted to see. but unfortunately, there was only one way to do puzzles, and one final image to display, and it was the case for this one too...

the king of aes, mark's father, hadn't died from food poisoning after eating turned fish, like mark had told him long ago, when donghyuck had first made him taste fish. in fact, it seemed like fish had nothing to do with the story as the king had probably ingested some of the poison and died because of that. and the symptoms being so close to those of food poisoning, no one at that time had imagined it could have been just poisoning – no food involved, except perhaps sugar.

"m-mark... i-i..." donghyuck breathed out as his heart dropped inside his chest at the sight of such a broken mark. "i'm so sorry..." he immediately added, reaching for the sugar bowl and the bracelet in mark's hands and discarding them on the desk before pulling his lover into a warm hug, one that he hoped could help him feeling better again, even though the way mark had started sobbing softly in the crook of his neck and holding onto him desperately couldn't mean that it would be better so soon.

donghyuck stayed there, embracing mark, whispering sweet words in his ears and tracing random patterns on his back and nape with his hands, hoping nothing more than to hear the sobs dying and seeing his lover getting better.

it didn't happen immediately, and so, as mark was too deep in his own despair, donghyuck couldn't help but think more.

if they had found arsenic in the king's sugar bowl, it necessarily meant that the king had been murdered.

it also meant that someone had planned his death, and had managed to put arsenic in the bowl.

and the greatest mystery to him remained the presence of his half of the bracelet in the bowl. how the hell had it landed there?

♕

the tanned male had been lost in his thoughts all night long, trying to find a way to look at what he had previously learnt which made sense. but somehow, he couldn't find the right way to look at it.

"you're back already?" donghyuck was greeted by his father's voice. "your shift at the restaurant ended early today."

the brunette didn't bother answering, knowing that telling his father the truth would only get him more in trouble. there was no way he would admit that he had been so preoccupied this evening that he had been told by his co-workers to leave before the end of his shift and get some rest; his father would only find a pleasure to tell him that he better not be slacking-off and being disrespectful to people who had offered him an amazing opportunity to have a nice job when they didn't even have to.

the brunette plopped himself on the mattress he owned, eyes looking towards the ceiling as he let his thoughts swallow him again, but this time not fearing to do something wrong in the real life.

he once again envisioned all possibilities, trying to find the most plausible one, but not being able to come up with a decent justification to all of this mess. and just like all of the previous times he had let his mind wander, he seemed like he couldn't brush off the possibility that this murder had been planned by a group of men who wanted nothing more than to get rid of royalty.

in this case, donghyuck knew that there was only one person that he could ask those things. if anything of the sort have occurred, then his father, as the leader of the anti-royalist movement in aes, could only be aware of this. and so, donghyuck needed to ask him about it.

but how could he ask him? well, this was another enigma...

saying the truth was completely out of the picture. he couldn't even imagine what his father would do of him if he came to tell him that his lover had shown him the sugar bowl and explained that it contained sugar mixed with arsenic.

he needed to lie, to make it seem like he wasn't aware of all of this. and well, it shouldn't be too complicated considering his father always complained that he was too curious. he would just have to do like usual, and bombard him with questions until his father blurted out answer without even thinking about them.

"dad?" the brunette called, eyes still on the ceiling.

"what is it, donghyuck?" sangkyu hummed.

donghyuck gulped, hoping that it would work. "what do we know about the king's death?"

there was a short silence, and then a chuckle from donghyuck's father. "what's with this question?"

"i don't know..." donghyuck cleared his throat. "i was wondering..." he paused, trying to find something more to say, something that would hopefully help him bringing the conversation where he wanted. "...because i thought it could have been your doing since... well, since we're anti-royalists... but then, if it was... then the queen would have died too, but she didn't so... so i was just wondering..."

his words barely made sense, in reality, he had spilled complete nonsense, hoping that his words would at least flatter his father a bit and make him answer proudly. he wasn't even sure that his words wouldn't give off the fact he had more knowledge about that matter than he pretended.

"ah... donghyuck, my boy..." sangkyu laughed, and donghyuck understood that the flattery had reached him deep in the heart. "you were too young to understand at that time, but i guess you are of age now."

the brunette held his breath. would he have the answers he wanted?

"the king's death ten years ago was no accident." sangkyu informed. "in fact, we planned it, myself, myungkyu, the others... it was something we had been working on for a while and it was successful."

donghyuck gulped once again. so, it was true. his family was responsible for the king's death. the anti-royalists had started hitting the monarchy right at its heart.

"and... what about the queen?" the brunette asked.

"my boy, killing both the king and the queen would have been amazing. however, sometimes, things don't go as planned." a veil of sadness covered the man's eyes as he sighed. "we knew about the king's liver condition. we knew about his addiction to sugar. and we knew about the existence of this sugar bowl that was his and that he took sugar from." sangkyu continued speaking. "all we needed to find then was a poison that could be mixed to this sugar invisibly and kill the royal family. we waited for a while before the king's death was announced, and it eventually was. we're not certain if it was our doing or not, but considering this good-for-nothing of a king's unhealthy addiction, we strongly think that it was." donghyuck father chuckled. "we're still hoping to that day that the sugar bowl is somewhere around the palace, and that either the regent queen or the future king would decide to have a taste of it, and know the same sort as the king."

the tanned male stayed silent, the gravity of his father's words somehow making him sick in the stomach. he wasn't aware of all of that, he had no idea of what had been happening behind his back when he was younger. he had been only eight at the time, helping around the kitchen as he could, and following his father's words without complain – he asked him so much that donghyuck barely could remember half of the stuff his father had asked him to do.

he couldn't believe that in fact, his father and his followers had gone all the way to killing someone – and not anyone, but the most important person in the kingdom – to fulfil his wishes and get rid of monarchy. and he couldn't believe that he was still hoping to use this same way to get rid of the two other royals that remained – not that it would be possible considering that they were aware that there was arsenic in the sugar bowl.

but anyways, none of this explained how donghyuck's piece of jewellery had landed inside the poisoned sugar bowl.

"so, all those years ago... you poisoned the king... you killed him..." donghyuck muttered, his mind coming to the – somewhat awful – realisation that his father, the man he looked up to so much, was in fact a murdered, and the reason why his lover didn't have a father anymore.

sangkyu had always been an activist, working hard towards the achievement of his goal, that is the disappearance of the monarchic system. donghyuck had admired him ever since he was young, looking up to his great leadership and merciless devotion to the cause he claimed right.

he recalled all those times he had asked his father questions, the adult only answering that he would understand later on, that he'd be able to take over when he would be an adult himself. and now that he was turning nineteen years old, he was closer to being an adult that he ever was, and yet, he felt like he was lost, like all of his previous questions remained unanswered.

right now, after his father admitted being responsible for the king's death, donghyuck wasn't sure he could understand his father anymore.

"i did what i needed to do, son." sangkyu answered proudly, not noticing the way donghyuck's eyes seemed lost in a daze. "i brought our people a step closer to our freedom."

"h-how did you even find the right poison?" donghyuck stuttered, mind completely hazy. "h-how did you even put the poison in the bowl?!"

donghyuck's father laughed at that, looking at his son whose eyes were wide open in confusion.

"you can't remember, can you?" sangkyu raised a brow.

the tanned male could only blink, his heartbeat accelerating considerably in his ribcage. "w-what...?"

"i can't believe you can't remember!" the man laughed exasperatedly.

"i-i can't remember what?!" donghyuck sounded alarmed.

sangkyu sighed, a nostalgic smile appearing on his face as he looked at his son. "you can't remember that we sent you in the palace through the ventilation system. you can't even remember that you put the arsenic in the sugar bowl and mixed it. you can't even remember that you were our most important element in the assassination of the king of aes."

donghyuck was at a loss of words the second his father recalled him what he couldn't believe he had forgotten.

he had snuck through the royal palace ten years prior.

he had rummaged through closets and cabinets to find a way to kill the king.

he had mixed the arsenic to the sugar in the king's bowl.

he had murdered the king.

he had murdered his lover's father.

a wave of nausea took over him as the souvenirs came hitting him straight back in the face, as if his brain had preferred forgetting about them and burying them deep inside his mind, where they would have been forever forgotten if nothing had come remind him of these horrors.

he wished it all was a stupid joke, but somehow, the pieces of the puzzle seemed to stick back together. this would explain why the corridors of the palace had seemed familiar when he had toured them with mark, because he had already toured them a lot when he was younger. and this would explain why his half of the bracelet had been found in the sugar bowl, because it must have slipped off his wrist as he mixed the two white powders together.

donghyuck was speechless, he didn't know what to say.

he couldn't believe that he was the one responsible for mark's pain the last ten years. he couldn't believe that he had really killed someone. and he couldn't believe his father for acting like this was something to be proud about.

in this moment, donghyuck was certain he couldn't understand his father anymore – and perhaps had he never been able to understand him.

"w-w-why...?" donghyuck stuttered out, tears threatening to fall off his eyes as his whole world crumbled before him.

he couldn't breathe, he couldn't stay there, he couldn't bear seeing his father's stupidly proud smile anymore. it seemed to him like the man standing in front of him was a stranger, a psychopath that should be locked behind bars and never be let out.

he couldn't understand how his mother, someone so beautiful and willing to be good, had fallen in love with this man. he couldn't understand how he had managed to bribe so many people that now followed him and worshipped him like he was their saviour. he couldn't understand how he had ever looked up to this man who had manipulated him into killing someone.

"come on, don't look so shaken off, son!" sangkyu patted donghyuck's shoulder in a way that would have been comforting and reassuring if donghyuck suddenly hadn't started fearing this man. the tanned male immediately took a step back, the first tears cascading down his cheeks right after as his shaking pupils stared at his father.

"w-what do you even hate that much about the royals?!" the tanned male asked as loud and clear as he could.

he had already asked his father this question hundreds of times. and after his father had stopped telling him he was too young to understand, he had received various answers to this question, all different, but always leading to the same conclusion: that royals were bad.

that their system favoured inequalities and dug a gap between privileged and unprivileged people.

that they were selfish people who only cared about themselves and their wealth.

that they kept peasants locked on their lands and branded them like objects with a mark on their wrist.

that they had been responsible for donghyuck's mother's death, commandeering the only doctor that would have been able to help donghyuck's mother's liver condition for the king's own liver condition – and it turned out that the king had managed to heal when donghyuck's mother had perished, sacrificed for the wellness of a royal.

that they were unfair to the peasants on their lands.

to be completely honest, donghyuck didn't expect the answer to differ much this time.

"what i hate about them?" sangkyu snorted. "you know what i hate about them! they have had the power for too long! they keep it and abuse of it!" he exclaimed, voice rising as he pointed at his son accusingly.

"and what the hell do you want them to do?!" donghyuck yelled back. "that's how things are!"

"they should give the power to the people. that way, we'd be sure that our interests are fully taken into consideration!" the older male explained, tone still harsh as the father figure was definitely not decided to let his son take the upper hand.

"give the power to the people..." donghyuck huffed, eyes rolling to the back of his head as he repeated those words. "and what for?!"

"i could represent the interest of our people. i could lead them fairly and make all inequalities that royals created disappear. i could unite them properly, and make of aes a big family in which everyone is equal!"

donghyuck answered those beautiful promises with a loud snort and venom in his eyes. he looked right at his father, feeling disgusted by the man that was standing in front of him. this wasn't his father anymore; this was a psychopathic stranger that couldn't even think straight.

"you're not even able to lead your family!" donghyuck spat at his father. "how would you even manage a whole people?!"

sangkyu's answer came quicker than donghyuck expected it. however, he thought his father would have a counter-argument, something that would show donghyuck that he was a capable father and that donghyuck could still show him respect. how wrong of him was it to think that, his father's answer came as a strong slap that hit him right in the cheek and had him stumbling and falling to the floor because of the force used.

the teenager stared at his father from the floor, tears never ceasing to fall from his eyes.

"since you want aes to become a big family in which everyone is equal, would that mean that i have the right to hit you?" the boy asked on a mocking tone, hand reaching for his cheek on which the trace of his father's palm remained.

"you deserve much more than just a slap on the cheek." sangkyu answered between gritted teeth. "i could hurt you so bad right now."

donghuck huffed, scrambling himself up to his feet. "i don't doubt it." he said simply. "you're the monster that planned the king's assassination."

"at least, i'm not the monster who put arsenic in the king's sugar bowl. i'm not the monster who killed the king..." donghyuck father tackled back. "that, you are."

and donghyuck didn't need a word more to decide that this conversation hurt more than it helped him, and that he'd be better off far from this man anyway.

♕

mark slightly jumped when he heard someone trying to open his bedroom door.

usually, guards and servants knocked, making their presence known before calling for the future king's attention and voicing their request. but this time, there had been no knock or no call for mark's status before the door had been tried to be pushed open.

the royal stared at the door again, tensing once more as it was pushed a second time, still without a knock or a call of his name. a glance in his desk's direction allowed him to catch the sight of the sugar bowl of his father, enough to remind him that some people might want his death. this sufficed to convince him to take his sword and hold it firmly in his hand before reaching for the door.

mark took a deep breath before unlocking the door and pulling it open, keeping his body behind it to shield him from an eventual attack as he held his sword forward skilfully, the blade finding itself pressed against the chest of the intruder who would be impaling himself on the weapon if they tried to leap forward.

however, the second mark saw who was standing there, he pulled his sword back.

"d-donghyuck?!" he whisper-shouted, taking the boy's hands and dragging the male inside his room before locking it again. "sunshine, what are you doing here?"

donghyuck, who had until then managed to keep his composure, broke down completely in his lover's arms, knees giving up and arms circling around mark's shoulders as his face nuzzled in mark's neck to sob out all of the tears he had kept buried inside himself.

the peasant let himself melt in the royal's embrace, allowing mark to pull him tight against him, to caress his nape and whisper sweet nothings in his ear. he badly needed it, the comfort, the show for care, the love...

it took him long minutes to calm down, for his breathing to come back to normal, and for his tears to stop flowing endlessly. by then, mark had discarded his sword and brought the two of them to the bed in the centre of the room. they were lying together, limbs entangled and hearts beating in unison, simply enjoying each other's warmth and reassuring one another.

"i won't pressure you to talk about it if you don't want to..." mark had muttered right against donghyuck's ear, pushing the tanned male to cuddle closer to his lover.

"i-i just... n-need your opinion on something..." the peasant answered in a hoarse voice.

"tell me, sunshine." mark kissed the boy's temple. "you can ask me anything."

donghyuck took a deep breath, trying to put his thoughts back together to find a way to question mark without giving off the biggest secret he had had to deal with.

"s-should i... accept my fate and... a-and follow my family's path?" the tanned male started with a shaky voice. "or should i leave them, and b-be my own self?"

there was a short silence before mark answered his lover's words with as much sincerity and truth he could muster.

"i'd tell you to leave them and be your own self..." the royal stated with a small sigh as he looked down at the boy in his arms. his smile slowly morphed into a frown. "...but we're in a world in which our family has too much of an influence for that. whatever we want, we are forced to follow our family's path..."

and donghyuck could only hum at those words, his heart breaking in his chest as he answered.

"that's what i thought..."