donghyuck heaved heavily, hands resting on his knees, head handing low and eyes closed as he panted with his mouth open, breathing in as much air as he could. all he needed were a few seconds to catch his breath before straightening up again and continuing his race towards his village in slight panic.

the reason for this sudden will to run when donghyuck was everything but a sports person?

the need to reach is village immediately after overhearing a few royal guards in a discussion while he was leaving the palace after his afternoon with mark at the lake.

he wasn't entirely sure about what he had heard, or if his mind had made up something out of nowhere, but he had heard them discussing about catching a resistant and keeping him prisoner for answer.

and well, donghyuck, being the son of the leader of the anti-royalist movement in aes, had to rush back to his village and check with his father what all of this was about, and if everybody was still safe – he also needed to apologise to him, but this would surely come later, once he'll be freed from this panic state.

the tanned male ran as fast as he could, feeling grateful to see that the small constructions from his village were getting nearer and nearer. he was getting more and more out of breath, and his legs were hurting a lot, but he couldn't afford taking another break right now, not when he was so close to the village.

"oh, donghyuck!" a masculine voice called from his side. "everything alright?"

the young male stopped running, turning around to face the other peasant. "hello..." he panted. "do you know... where my father is...?"

"i haven't seen him today, sorry." the man replied. "try the restaurant perhaps."

"thanks." donghyuck was quick to add before bolting away again.

it didn't take him more than 2 minutes to reach the restaurant, kicking the door open with so much force that it made all of the people inside jump and turn around.

"donghyuck, you almost broke the door with how much- "

"where is my father?" the tanned male asked, cutting his female co-worker's words when he caught a glimpse of all of his father's close friends sitting around the table, faced painted with seriousness.

there was a short silence which allowed donghyuck to let his eyes run across the almost empty room of the restaurant. he gulped when he realised that all of the people in there were anti-royalists, but that his father wasn't among them right now.

"where is he?" donghyuck asked again, voice slightly strangled.

"donghyuck..." myunghae spoke, perhaps the only of his father's friends with whom donghyuck was close. "come sit with us."

"just tell me where he is." the tanned male refused to step forward. "i need to talk to him."

"i'll tell you, but please come sit here first." myunghae insisted.

this frustrated donghyuck. "is it because he's still mad at me?" he asked. "it is because of what i told him. he doesn't want to see me anymore."

"it's not this, donghyuck."

"so why?!" the young male raised his voice. "i know i did something wrong, and i'm sorry, but i really need to talk to him right now, it's very urgent."

myunghae sighed at those words. "i know donghyuck but- "

"he was caught by royal guards and brought to the royal palace."

donghyuck's head shot up at the words he just heard, his eyes falling into one of his father's friends' own eyes. around the table, everybody turned around to face the one who had spat the truth, sending him death glares.

"we had said we would announce him gently." one of them muttered under his breath.

"he wasn't ready to hear about it in a gentle manner." the truth-spitter rolled his eyes.

"t-they have my father...?" donghyuck let out in disbelief, air starting once again to lack in his lungs despite the fact he had stopped running minutes ago.

all eyes were back on him and myunghae even stood up to approach him and place a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"they do, but we were working on something to bring him back." he explained slowly.

his father's friend's words kept ringing in his mind like a deathly melody.

he was caught by royal guards and brought to the royal palace.

donghyuck couldn't believe it. he couldn't accept it.

there was no way that among all resistants, his own father had been caught, the leader of the movement, the person behind all of this, the root of anti-royalism in aes. he couldn't imagine with how careful he always was that he had been the one to be caught by royal guards.

"if you want to stay here to discuss with us, you can." myunghae spoke gently, trying to reassure donghyuck. "we will find a way to bring him back."

the offer was tempting, but well, donghyuck couldn't bear waiting for that. plus, he knew the royal palace better than anyone around the table, he even knew the royals better than they ever could.

"i-i have something to do." he stuttered out, nudging away myunghae's hand from his shoulder and taking a few steps back.

"donghyuck it's useless for you to go to- "

"i'm leaving." the tanned male announced before turning on his heels and slapping the door of the restaurant shut, leaving the resistants on their own inside and preventing them to see him bolting back in the direction of the royal palace.

♕

if donghyuck had been breathless on his way from the royal palace to his village, the adrenaline pumping in his veins after he learnt that his father had been caught by the royal guards had allow him to make the journey back from his village to the royal palace without a break, and without feeling like he was about to die upon arrival at the backdoor of the royal palace.

he slid inside the palace with ease, checking his surroundings quickly before making his way across a few corridors, trying to remember the way to the dungeons which mark had shown him in the first days of their friendship – unfortunately, they had only been there once during mark's guided tour of the place, neither of them fancied dungeon dates.

thankfully, donghyuck recognised the big wooden door in one of the corridors, remembering that it was the one leading to the stairs that brought down to the few cells that had been built under the royal palace.

the tanned male pulled the door open slightly, eying behind it to ensure no one was guarding it before passing through it and shutting it behind him. he immediately rushed down the stone stairs, trying not to make too much noise. the descent felt like it lasted an eternity, and when donghyuck had finally reached the dungeon's floor, he was overcome by a shiver. the underground place was much colder than on the surface, and it was very poorly lit, not helping to heat up the place.

"did he tragically die of arsenic poisoning? or did he know a boring death like some food poisoning, or some poor liver condition...?"

donghyuck's eyes shot up when he heard his father's voice further away in the corridor. so it was true, his father had been taken by royal guards and imprisoned in the royal palace. somehow, this information alone was relieving.

the tanned male accelerated his pace, staying cautious not to make noise because he suspected his father to be with someone.

"you know who killed my father."

upon hearing these words, the tanned male couldn't even control his body anymore. he stopped in his tracks, and it seemed to him like all of the breathlessness he should have felt when running back to the royal palace was hitting him right now.

the person with his father right now was mark, his lover, and accessorily the future king of aes.

"oh, arsenic poisoning, then. that's nice."

another shiver ran down donghyuck spine as he father spoke, somehow unfreezing him from the daze mark's voice had put him in. this pushed donghyuck to follow the sound of their voices and walk in their direction carefully.

there was a turn in the corridor he was in, allowing him to peek behind it and tense when he saw the position the two males were in.

mark's body was outside the cell, but his right arm was in between the bars of the cell, hand fisting the handle of his sword hard as he pointed the blade at his father's throat. on his side, his father had his body glued to the wall of the cell furthest away from mark.

a lump formed in donghyuck's throat when he saw this, panic flowing in his veins as he let his eyes wander across the room for anything to help him.

he located a table a few feet away on which were displayed a variety of tools and flasks, surely stuff that royals used to torture their prisoners – could his father be right on that? were royals so bad that they tortured their prisoners without mercy to obtain information from them?

"i'm going to kill you."

mark's were spat with so much venom that it made donghyuck's blood run cold. his father was in no position to fight back right now, he was completely at mark's mercy. and if the future king wanted to kill him, then it was easy for him to do so.

"you know, i wish your father wasn't the only victim of this. i wish you and your mother had also had sugar from that bowl, and i wish that you also had died at the same time as him."

donghyuck couldn't believe his father's words, not when he had a blade pointed at him, and an enraged future king on the other side of it. but it was his father after all, he was at the head of the anti-royalist movement, he had to know what he was doing. donghyuck just needed to trust him, something he hadn't done enough these past weeks.

hoewer, judging by the way mark's body had started to tremble, conveying the rapid loss of his sanity and self)control, donghyuck judged that it would be better for him to act.

the peasant silently entered the room, reaching for one of the blades in the bucket next to the table full of torture instruments and holding it firmly in his hand as his father spoke again.

"that way the people you exploit on aes' lands would have definitely been freed of the scourge that is royalty."

as soon as these words were pronounced, donghyuck saw mark's body twitching and pulling his arm back, most likely to sink it deep into donghyuck's father's chest.

but donghyuck couldn't let mark do that. he couldn't allow him to kill his father.

and so, the moment mark was getting ready to attack, donghyuck raised his own blade, putting it to the back of mark's neck in the exact spot mark had taught him to during one of their sword-fighting dates. he pressed the cold metal against the future king's skin hard enough for him to know that he could be in danger too.

"keep your blade away from him." he muttered in a low voice, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible despite the nervousness that had taken over him.

silence fell over the dungeons of the royal palace, no one daring to talk for a few seconds as each of the three males processed what was happening.

the grip on mark's sword loosened, less threatening towards donghyuck's father, and the royal tried turing around, hoping nothing more than to confirm what he thought – and yes, it was his lover holding a blade at his neck.

of course, after the initial wave of incomprehension had left them, donghyuck's father was the first to break the silence with an almost evil-sounding laugh.

"so, future king... do you feel betrayed?" he asked.

at those words, mark fully turned around to face donghyuck, his sword still in hand but pointing towards the floor. his eyes diverted down to the blade that was still pressed at his throat before shifting back up to his lover's eyes.

"d-donghyuck, w-what... what is happening...?"

the peasant gulped, eyes trembling as he looked back at the boy he loved so much.

however, he didn't find the strength to answer, so his father did instead.

"look at that. the future monarch of our kingdom so lost in front of a small treason..." the resistant snorted. "and to think you will be in charge of all of us... this gives a lot of hope for the future of the kingdom."

mark's jaw clenched at the words pronounced by the prisoner; his whole face being taken over by a veil of anger although his eyes remained lost in donghyuck's.

"that's why i say i wish you had had sugar from that bowl as well. you're no better alive than dead anyway- "

"dad, shut up!" donghyuck raised his voice, not able to bear the man's words anymore, not when they were being so mean and directed towards his lover.

however, the second the words left his mouth, donghyuck caught a glimpse of mark's face becoming paler than it ever had, and that's when he realised the mistake he had just made.

mark blinked, unconsciously leaning further and pressing harder against the blade at his throat.

"d-dad...?" he muttered.

facing him, donghyuck swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat, eyes diverting from the royal to the imprisoned peasant.

"good, the presentations are over now, we can skip to the good part." sangkyu sighed.

the royal stayed frozen on his spot, eyes never leaving his lover's and throat still dangerously pressed into the weapon donghyuck was holding.

"t-this man... t-this man is your father...?" he stuttered.

donghyuck's answer came as nothing but a silence. and he kept the blade against the royal's neck, being frozen on his spot as well.

"come on, donghyuck. do what you have to do." the resistant broke the silence when he understood his son wouldn't speak.

the words had no effect on his son, donghyuck stayed in the same position, threatening mark but not harming him – at least not physically.

"god, you didn't expect me to let you meet up with the future king of aes if not to kill him..." sangkyu pressed. "now, kill him."

"stop telling me what to do!" donghyuck exclaimed, pressing his eyes shut for a second, as if to attempt thinking rationally.

"just like you've been wanting to, i'll teach you to be like me, donghyuck." the boy's father stated. "your first lesson is emotionlessness. kill him and show me you don't let your emotions get in the way of your missions."

donghyuck's eyes met mark's again, his heart shattering in synch with the quivering of the royal's lips. he could see that mark couldn't understand what was happening. he could see that he was lost, betrayed and in fear.

despite being the one holding a blade outside the walls of the prison, donghyuck felt like he was locked in a cell, with no real possibility to do anything.

"d-donghyuck...?" mark's voice came out completely broken, eyes lost and heart aching.

"kill him, son." sangkyu urged. "make me and your mother proud. show us that you'll fight as hard as us to get rid of the royals who abuse of their power. show us that- "

"guards!"

before donghyuck could react at the sudden intrusion of a new voice, he was pulled backwards and disarmed, finding himself blocked by a bigger body than his as a sharp silver blade found its way to the side of his neck, right where the blood pumped with the most force.

two guards also appeared on each side of mark, protencing the royal from both a defenseless donghyuck and his imprisoned father.

"we found the identity of the killer of the king." the queen informed, staying slightly behind the remaining guard that was supposed to take care of her protection.

"great, we always appreciate a bit of credit." the prisoner muttered, causing mark's hand to clench around the handle of the sword he still had in his hand.

"who?" mark simply asked, eyes fuming with anger.

"i'm afraid you won't be able to receive the answer well, my little gem." the regent queen continued, blinking at her son innocently.

"who killed father?" mark repeated, tone harsher and voice resonating around the room.

"well..." the lady paused for a second, her eyes diverting in donghyuck's direction for a quick second.

"my son, who else?!" the prisoner snorted. "perhaps the only thing he did that made me really proud of him."

mark's body froze again at those words. he slowly raised his head, letting his eyes fall into donghyuck's only to find them glistening with tears.

the royal took a step forward, his movement being halted by one of the guards by his side. the future king couldn't care less, pushing the royal guard's arm away and getting closer to his lover.

"this can't be true." he muttered, eyes staring right into donghyuck's soul. "tell me he's lying."

donghyuck tried holding himself back, but the emotions were too overwhelming for him to stay stoic. as those words left mark's mouth, a sob slipped past his lips and the tears that were previously threatening to fall finally cascaded down his face.

the future king of aes clenched his jaw, mind being taken over by some sort of haziness and stomach churning in disappointment.

"i had told you he was there to kill you, my little gem." the regent queen spoke gently, looking at her son sadly.

mark couldn't believe those words. they hurt so much.

all those years, he had been mourning over his father's death, wondering why it had fallen on him, why he had been the one chosen by the gods to die so quick when mark still needed him so much.

and then, a few weeks prior, mark had learnt that all of this was a complot, a planned assassination that targeted the king of aes himself. he had learnt that someone wanted the king dead and that they now had enemies to royalty. and he had promised that he would be mercilessly killing the one who had done so.

but never in his considerations had he ever guessed that this person he would have to kill for committing such a crime was the boy that had brought him so much support each time he had talked to him about it.

but it made much more sense now.

donghyuck was the killer of his father, and he was now trying to get closer to him to kill him too. and mark had spilled so many things about royalty to him, he had so much insights, it would be easy for him to take over, or to make other resistant take over.

"i'm afraid he's been playing with your love, my little gem...." the queen spoke again.

"mother..." mark sighed; eyes closing for a while to stop his head from spinning.

donghyuck's sobs were still heard across the room, the tanned male being so frail blocked against the metallic armour of the royal guard.

mark wanted nothing more than making them stop, their sound hurting him more than they ever had – even though he wasn't sure whether it was because he felt bad seeing his lover in that state, or if his sobs made him revive the loss of his father and the bitter betrayal that the boy he thought he loved had engaged in.

"he's the one who killed your father..." mark's mother continued, eyes not leaving her son.

mark could only see red at this point, mind racing a hundred miles per hour as he thought back about all those times he and donghyuck had hung out together, spoken of each other's parents and put their trust in each other. so, it was all lies. it was all a game for the brunette, a strategy built to get rid of royals...

"stop, mother." the royal spoke, starting to lose his mind truly.

he couldn't think straight anymore, the will to avenge his father taking over him so powerfully that it got hard to resist and stay sane.

"...he's been spying on you since the beginning..." the queen ignored mark's words, continuing to make mark's mind spiral. holding back was getting more and more difficult, and the sound of donghyuck's sobs definitely didn't help.

"...and he surely approached you to kill you too." the queen finally said.

"well, that he would have if he wasn't such a disappointment."

the prisoner's words were the last straw for mark for whom it got impossible to keep his sanity.

was it the way the man had spoken so poorly of the male mark had been loving so much the past days? or was it the implication and meaning of the words he had spoken? mark wasn't sure, but his body acted on impulse, out of rage, frustration and pain.

his grip on his sword tightened again as he turned on his heels in a nick of time, skilfully raising his arm to slide it between the cell's bars and pushing forward with as much force as he could right in the resistant's heart until the blade got blocked by the backwall of the cell, sangkyu impaled on the deathly weapon.

mark barely heard the deafening screech that left donghyuck's mouth as he witnessed his lover mercilessly killing his father. the only thing mark could hear right now was the beating of his own heart in his ears, pumping blood all the way to the tip of his toes and fingers, and strengthening him with adrenaline.

the royal removed the sword from the man's body with more ease than king arthur pulled excalibur from the stone, eyes glaring at the prisoner's lifeless body as he collapsed on his knees and then fell in the pool of his own blood.

he was insensitive to donghyuck loud sobs, turning around and facing his mother with venom in his eyes and his jaw clenched.

"he deserved way more than just a quick death." the future king muttered before turning towards the tanned male out of spite. "i guess we're equal now" he added coming back on the fact he had killed donghyuck's father the same way he had killed his. and with that, he walked past the guards, donghyuck and his mother to head to his own quarters.

the regent queen and the guards stayed silent for a few seconds, all eyes landing on the peasant who had managed to free himself from the guard's lock and who was now sobbing endlessly, kneeling on the floor in front of the cell's bars and hands attempting to get in contact with the limp body of his father but not reaching past the pool of blood that had formed around him.

"put him in a cell." the queen finally stated with a head motion towards the miserable boy. "he'll be executed on the public place for what he did."