never in his eighteen years of existence had donghyuck felt this poor.

growing up in aes, donghyuck was aware that his family wasn't exactly rich. he had already assisted to a few ceremonies in participation of the king, the queen and other lords from other kingdoms, and he had noticed that the royals seemed to live very differently from them, but he didn't imagine that the contrast was that impressive.

strolling around the huge corridors of the royal palace dressed in the white robes the other servants wore, donghyuck couldn't help but look at his surroundings with amazed eyes. he could see riches everywhere, from the furniture that was hanging around and that he could catch a glimpse of in the rooms by his side to the golden and silvery details on the walls and the marbled floor – and judging by his surroundings, this had to be pure gold and pure silver.

he was wondering how many days he should be working at the restaurant to be able to own a meter square of a wall, but the answer was nowhere near what he could imagine. the royals were royals for a reason, and they considered the peasants living on their land their property because they knew very well that without them, the peasants were nothing.

this conception of things was quite easy to understand for those very peasants who had never been able to live otherwise, and the royals knew very well that they would start questioning it if they came to know how well they lived inside the castle compared to the miserable lives of the peasants. that was why the king – and now the queen – of aes had ordered the guards to deliver food to each village. so that the people were happy and didn't try to rebel and challenge the royals' authority.

after long minutes of wandering around, the tanned male stopped in his tracks in front of a closed door that looked like nothing he had previously seen.

compared to the other doors which were made in a lacquered wood with silvery handles and which were gigantic, reaching almost the high-ceiling of the palace, this one had something more to it which intrigued the tanned male. despite being as gigantic as all of the other doors, on that one the word was craved with random patterns, and donghyuck could see a thin layer of a silver metal on the inside of the cravings. well, it didn't take long for donghyuck to understand that behind this door had to be something more important than behind any other door.

and so, without thinking much, the tanned male placed his hand on the handle before pulling the gigantic – and very heavy – door open, revealing a bedroom.

the peasant frowned as he let the door close behind his back, definitely not expecting to find himself in a bedroom, but more in a royal meeting room or an important office. nevertheless, donghyuck's curiosity pushed him to explore the new room he had discovered, making him walk around it while observing every detail he could take in.

judging by the items scattered around the place, the clothes he found in the giganting walk-in wardrobe and the state of the attached bathroom, he deducted that this very bedroom was currently used by a young boy.

finding this information to be quite irrelevant for him and the reason he was trespassing in the royal palace, the tanned male decided to walk away and continue his hunt for information, hoping to somehow understand what his father meant.

donghyuck walked to the door, pushing it open – with quite some difficulty because of how heavy it was – and walking out of the bedroom. well, more like being dragged out, because the second the door was ajar, a young male came into view, his clothes looking very formal and screaming royalty, and fisted donghyuck's servant robe to slam him against the wall outside the bedroom.

and if this situation wasn't already catastrophic for donghyuck – who was panicking now that he had been caught, the boy pulled a sword and pointing it at donghyuck, it's tip almost tickling his adam apple.

"who are you and what were you doing inside my room?" the boy screamed, his eyebrows furrowed, and his eyes fierce.

donghyuck gulped, his body becoming one with the wall behind him as he pressed himself harder against it, trying to get away from the deadly blade that was threatening to slit his throat at the first wrong answer he would give.

"i-i'm a servant." the tanned male stuttered, looking at the other's eyes to see if he bought his act or not. "i-i was asked to check something in that room- ah!" he added, letting out a yelp as the cold metal of the blade now pressed against his throat and as the male in front of him approached him.

in this very moment, donghyuck started to understand why his father was so defiant of royals and people living in the royal palace. their first instincts when something wasn't right was to pull their swords out and threaten to kill people.

"i know you're lying." the male replied, his voice dangerously low. "now tell me the truth or you won't be able to say anything ever again."

donghyuck's eyes widened in panic, causing him to stutter even more. "i-i-i s-swear! i-i'm a s-servant a-and i- "

"you are not a servant." the boy spat, his eyes looking around donghyuck's face carefully. "you are so tanned... this means you're spending your days outside of the palace."

once again, donghyuck couldn't help the way his eyes widened.

his tan was one of his charming points. back at his village, all the women he worked with always complimented him on how beautiful he was with his tanned skin. donghyuck was even pretty confident in his skin tone, and he would never have imagined that this would be giving him off in any situation.

but right now, he couldn't really fight against the other boy's remark. he was tanned, and he spent most of his days outside, and so, he looked nothing like the other servants who were probably as pale as the man standing in front of him because they were 24/7 in the palace, hidden from the sunlight.

before donghyuck could argue, the boy pressed his sword harder against donghyuck's neck, but never enough to actually cut him, and used his free hand to grab donghyuck's right wrist turning it around to show the flesh on the inside of it.

his brows knitted as he saw the word 'AES' imprinted there like a bruise that would never heal.

"p-please, let me go..." donghyuck pleaded once the other boy had let go of his wrist.

"what are you doing here? dressed as a servant?" the royal ignored donghyuck's words, never removing his blade.

"p-please..."donghyuck gulped, tears forming in his chocolate orbs. "i-i'll do whatever you want..."

"tell me what you are doing here." the other boy insisted, his voice dropping another octave and sending shivers down donghyuck's spine.

"i-i..."

before donghyuck could form a full sentence, the sound of footsteps echoing in the hallway caught their attention and caused donghyuck to double in panic.

he would get caught for real, and then, his behaviour could be reported to the regent queen or to the future king, and donghyuck would be condemned to death, probably with his head cut by a sword on the public place.

"p-please..." donghyuck begged, a first tear rolling down his cheek in fear as he looked right into the other boy's eyes.

the footsteps got closer and closer each second, but the boy didn't move, staring down at donghyuck as he was debating himself on what to do. and thankfully, he was able to make a decision before the guard that was approaching could come into view.

the sword was removed from donghyuck throat in a snap of fingers, and suddenly, the bedroom's door was kicked open before donghyuck was pushed in.

and before donghyuck could really process what was happening, the sword was pointed at his nose.

"don't you dare run away." the male spoke in a low voice before the door was closed allowing him to turn around and face the guard.

"your highness, we wanted to inform you that her majesty the queen would be leaving in two days for the kingdom of flores." the guard explained. "she requested us to ask you whether you would join her on the journey or not?"

the future king sighed.

"anything wrong, your highness?" the guard asked, catching the boy's attention.

"pardon?"

"your sword is out. is there anything wrong?"

mark looked down at his hand in which was resting the blade he had pulled out from its cover a while ago.

"no, nothing." the uncrowned king assured. "just practicing a few moves."

"alright." the guard nodded. "and for the kingdom of flores?"

"i'll let you know by tonight."

"thank you, your highness." the guard nodded before bowing to the future king and then turning around to report the information to the queen.

mark waited for a few seconds for the guard to disappear before taking a deep breath and waling inside his bedroom, hoping not to find the fake-servant trying something stupid. and well, he wasn't disappointed.

the second he slipped inside, an unidentified object flew in his direction, leaving him just the time to put his sword up and slice the thing in half, thus making him dodge it.

the future king then glared in the direction the object came from, only to find the fake servant gasping before grabbing another object – something that mark had carelessly left hanging on top of his cabinet – and throwing it at the royal who dodged it without much effort.

a few more objects followed, and once donghyuck was out of them, he opted for one of the pillows that were resting on the gigantic bed. mark's blade cut through the pillow like a slice of cake, making feathers fly everywhere, but he must admit he was having more fun than he intended, fighting the attacks of the pretender so easily.

in his search for things he could defend himself with, donghyuck's eyes fell on a small dagger that was resting on the nightstand. he didn't hesitate a second to grab it and hold his arm in the royal's direction.

however, he hadn't expected the royal to have the time to approach him and now be standing right in front of him.

his sword back in its cover around his waist, mark grabbed the fake servant's hand and blocked his attacks easily before twisting his arm and causing him to make the dagger fall to the floor.

somehow, the young servant managed to push away from him, but not for long as mark pulled him down in his fall, causing the two of them to end up on the bed, wrestling like their lives depended on it – well, donghyuck doing so, because mark was barely using his strength.

the wrestling lasted for a few minutes, both males letting out grunts and heavy breaths at the effort, and inevitably, donghyuck tired himself out much faster than mark, allowing mark to take the lead at some point and to pin the boy on the bed, his head caged between his arms, and his body squished between mark's and the mattress.

"so..." mark panted a bit. "will you now tell me what you are doing here?" he asked with an amused smile seeing the fake-servant's tired state.

the boy's answer didn't come as a verbal one. instead, one of his hands slipped next to mark's hip and grabbed the knob of the sword that had been put back in place and pulled it out, placing it under mark's chin sloppily, his breaths still ravaged.

"wow..." mark let out with a brow raised. "you would go all the way to murdering the future king of aes not to tell me what you're doing here?"

immediately, something changed in donghyuck's eyes, and he unconsciously released his grip on the sword, allowing the royal to take advantage of him and steal the sword from him before throwing it away.

processing the information he had just learnt, donghyuck blinked, looking at the male that was still caging him in the eyes.

"f-future king... of aes...?" donghyuck repeated with wide eyes.

"so, you weren't aware of it..." mark hummed, his eyes never leaving the boy's face.

donghyuck's cheeks reddened immediately, and the boy didn't waste a second to sit up on the bed, his sudden movement obviously causing him forehead to bump with mark's before he fell back on the mattress again, his hands reaching for the bruise.

"ouch..." the future king hissed, glaring at the boy under him. "are you stupid?"

at the uncrowned king's words, donghyuck's eyes widened again, and he immediately pushed the royal to the side, allowing himself to stand up from the bed and bow all the way down.

"i am so sorry, your highness." donghyuck bowed again and again. "i had no idea. i am sorry."

the future king stood up as well, snorting at the fake-servant's behaviour.

"and you're respecting me now." he pointed out. "what happened to the guy who was just throwing half of my bedroom at me and trying to kill me?"

donghyuck's face paled drastically at those words – and yet, even with a pale face he looked much more tanned than all of the people living in this palace. "i apologise, your highness. it was not my intention."

"i suspected you could be a spy form another realm at first, but judging by the mark on your wrist and your unparalleled clumsiness, you must be nothing more than a peasant from my realm..." the future king sighed. "so, will you tell me why you're here now? pretending to be a servant when you're obviously not one?"

donghyuck's cheeks coloured red at the royal's statement.

"i-i..." he stammered, trying to find a way to get out of this mess. he was still an anti-royalist, on a mission to discover how bad the royals actually were, and why they needed to be ended, but he couldn't exactly say that to the person who would take the throne in a few months. "i-i'm a very appreciated cook in my village. a-and... people say i have the ability to become a royal cook... s-so... i wanted to come and see by myself if it was possible." he quickly made up, flashing the future king a shy smile at the end of his words, hoping that he had been convincing enough.

the uncrowned king stayed silent for a while, causing donghyuck to tense in fear that he had been caught lying again.

but thankfully for him, the king never doubted his words this time.

"alright. show me, then." he said simply, making donghyuck gasp.

"p-pardon?"

mark shrugged. "i'm hungry, you want to be a royal cook, and i'm a royal." he stated. "show me your skills, i'll judge if you're worthy of it or not."

the peasant blinked a few times, waiting for the royal to say he was joking but it seemed like it wasn't the case. "i-i don't think i can..."

"why not?" the royal crossed his arms over his chest.

"it's the middle of the afternoon. it's not the time to eat."

"i'm hungry. i can eat whenever i want."

"you probably won't have the ingredients i need..."

"we have plenty, don't worry."

"i-i'll get caught."

"i can always say i recruited you as a new servant myself." mark replied simply.

donghyuck gulped, now running out of excuses to give the future king.

sure, he did cook well, but he was nowhere near the level of the royal cooks who must be specialists and know about lots of ingredients donghyuck had never heard about. donghyuck was a peasant after all, he cooked soups, stews, and very basic dishes that you could make in big quantities with very few ingredients. he knew nothing about the "grande cuisine" that the royal cooks did.

"y-your highness..." donghyuck sighed, glancing at the king. "i-i'm afraid you won't like it... it might be very different from what you're used to..."

but well, the future king didn't give him much choice. "cook something for me, and i'll be the judge of that."