-♤-

"Why didn't you tell me?" Jeongguk asked his father, sitting up straight in his seat. Facing the King,who took another sip of his tea.

"Tell you what?" His father asked him back.

"About Arothia, you didn't tell me if I were to marry Princess Iseul, I would become the Crown Prince of Arothia too. Why did you hide such big thing from me?"

"I figured you already knew. Everybody knows their Prince can't be the heir to his throne because he was born out of wedlock, a product of an affair, a son of a concubine." The way his father spoke about Taehyung, left such a sour taste in his mouth.

Speaking about Taehyung in such a degrading manner because of things he cannot even control is horrendous for his father. Even if all those things are taken into consideration, he is still the firstborn of the King,half blood or not, he still has royal blood in him. Jeongguk doesn't want someone else's throne.

"Still Father, I feel wrong taking away someone else's throne like this. Conquering a kingdom through war is honoring but conquering one by marrying the princess and pushing away someone from their rightful place is wrong." Jeongguk put his foot down, he saw how his father sighed.

"My son, if I start to care about wrong and right then I wouldn't have been where I am right now. Sometimes you have to take measures like this to achieve something big. Besides, as I said, that throne was never Prince Taehyung's to begin with, you are not taking any one's spot but your own. Don't disappoint me by doing something foolish now. The engagement preparations have started and nothing can be done now." His father looked down from the balcony, seeing the beautiful gardens there with a lake in it.

"So do you want me to just sit and do nothing?"

"No, go out, celebrate and do whatever you want. This is a moment of happiness and good news to Elestial, you made us proud by accepting the arrangement. You are not a kid anymore, Very soon this will all be yours so prepare yourself for that. I heard your cousin, Seokjin, came to visit so do visit him and maybe tag him along with you if you have any plans." The king said to him and Jeongguk just nodded.

"Your majesty, Everyone is gathered in the throne room and are waiting for your presence." The servant said to the King with his head down low.

"The kingdom calls me,Jeongguk-ah. Let's have tea like this again, I want to spend more time with my son while I still can. Let's go." The king got up from his seat, exiting the balcony as all the servants bowed to him while Jeongguk's eyes followed his silhouette.

His physical strength and skills isn't something he has ever doubted. His father is a strong man, he was the hero of Elestial at his peak and Jeongguk has gotten almost all his genes, thankfully. Now he excels in almost everything, it's more with the fact that he was raised like this. Raised to be perfect, there was no other option.

From sparring to swimming, with occasional hunting which he isn't really fond of to Archery which he is a master at, Jeongguk cannot name anything he cannot do when it comes to physical sports and games. This is all because he has been mastering them for decades, even with the excellent genes of his father there were many places he fell out in.

His teen years were hard for him. There was so much pressure for him to be perfect that there would be nights where he would go to sleep all bruised up from practicing the entire day and when he failed,he wouldn't let anyone treat his bruise, to punish himself for falling behind everyone else. It wasn't a great habit but it worked, the more he punished himself, going to bed in his bloodied clothes, the more he improved.

He hid it from his parents, His father wasn't available and he made sure his mother never found out because she would have stopped him from torturing himself like that but he knew he needed it to excel. Hoseok, who was a teen just like him, only a few years older knew it all and he was sometimes the reason for his bruise. During training you do sometimes get bruised badly.

Training with the Crown Prince was different, Hoseok was demanded by his father to have the advanced training with the Prince as these were the orders from the King so he had no choice but to go hard with Jeongguk. His father himself was the one training Jeongguk for a long time but he made sure to train his own son too so when he turned 20, Hoseok was the one who was responsible for Jeongguk.

There were times where Hoseok begged the Prince to get treated as sometimes the bruises would get worse, that they would leave scars but Jeongguk always said the same thing.

"Don't you dare ask anyone to come to my room tonight. I do not want to be treated and that's the end of the discussion, Hoseok Hyung. If I was careful and better in swordship than I could have avoided these but I am not and that's something I have to work on if I want to be a King someday." Jeongguk yelled at Hoseok, who was worried for him.

"But getting injured is a part of this, you are bleeding I can't let you go to bed when I know how much these wounds hurt. I didn't even want to go hard on you yet as we are not at the same level yet I have 3 years of more experience on you so it's not fair to you but it was your father's decision, your majesty."

"Never go easy on me,hyung. As you said it was my father's decision, that means I'm ready for this type of training and my body isn't. It's on me to improve myself so please leave and don't let Jimin come too. I don't want to hear his nagging again."

"His nagging is valid, so are my concerns. We care about you, Your majesty. I wish you cared for your body too. You are better than anyone I know in training, hell you're better than the ones older than you,you just need to give it time."

"I don't have time,Hyung. I cannot disappoint my father like that."

Sometimes Jeongguk thinks about it, the way he was brought up with all the expectations and all the unhealthy ways to cope up with that. With some of the unhealthy habits still inside him, he still turned out fine. Now as a 28 year old, he is good at everything, he is getting married soon and the throne he has been working so hard for his entire life will be his too.

After all the hard work Jeongguk has put into himself to make him the best, it will all pay off. He thinks about his little brother and smiles, he's happy that he's the first born, not because he's greedy for the throne or anything but because Jeongguk's glad Hanbin doesn't have to live the life filled with pressure and fear of disappointing your absent father.

Jeongguk hid his feelings away for a long time. He hasn't even cried for like years now, he wasn't allowed, emotions are something he has always struggled with, with everything going on, emotions is something he is unfamiliar with and now he has a rock hard layer on him before you get close to him. He is happy to see his little brother doesn't have to deal with all this.

Even though Hanbin is still very young, Jeongguk knows he is so much more kindhearted and emotional than he ever could be. Hanbin is a Prince, an actual sweetheart Prince instead of 'struggling with feelings' Jeongguk. He wants his brother to be the happiest man ever and when he sits on the throne he will make sure it stays that way. He wouldn't let him live the way Jeongguk lived.

Jeongguk has struggled enough for both of them and might continue to do so with the throne but as his old brother, Jeongguk is ready to take any arrow that flies towards his brother.

He sometimes wonders if being brought up the way he was is the reason for him never caring for romantic type of love. Jeongguk has never seen anyone like that, he hasn't dated anyone like that. He has shared beds with some concubines occasionally but they were all due to his sexual urges. He never felt anything for any of them.

With all the 'be a man' and 'A man shouldn't be doing this and that' being shoved down his throat but his teacher who taught him about the society and how it works, he still thinks he turned out fine. He never really paid attention to it but he would be lying if he hadn't masked his emotions or stopped feeling things so he wouldn't be less 'manly'. 

Jeongguk still wanted to be like all the gentlemen around him, falling in love, meeting with their lovers sneakily behind everyone's back, giggling and kissing them whenever they wanted. All this stuff sounds good, sounds satisfactory but he cannot imagine one person he wants to do all of this stuff with.

Maybe that's why Taehyung intrigued him the way he did. Jeongguk went to bed and woke up wanting to see Taehyung. When Taehyung looked at him in a certain way or even when they shared that kiss, it all felt so different than anything he had ever experienced before. He has slept with men before but it didn't feel this good.

Still, he has himself convinced that it's sexual attraction but Is it? or is it something more?

"Who's thoughts are you so lost in?" Someone's voice snapped him out of his daze, letting go off his arrow which hit the Archery board just right off the target.

Jeongguk turned to his right to see his precious cousin standing so close to him. He grabbed another arrow from the quiver he had on, positioning it inside his bow,getting the target right this time.

"Why are you here?" Jeongguk asked him, keeping his eyes on the target, not sparing his cousin another glance before shooting and hitting it right in the middle this time.

"I am here to congratulate you on your engagement,Cousin. Be more happy about it, why do you have a sour face every time I see you?" Seokjin asked Jeongguk who finally looked at him with a sarcastic smile.

"Trust me, it's only like this when I see you. Also I am not engaged yet." Jeongguk answered, making Seokjin scoff at him. "I already feel bad for your Fiancé."

"Your majesty, what brought you here? Are you looking to sharpen your Archery skills too?" Hoseok said to Jin, coming all the way from the other side of the Archery arena. As he was near the targets before,collecting all the arrows that fell.

"He definitely needs it, that's for sure." Jeongguk said, making Jin role his eyes.

"Excusing this brat's words, no I am not,Hoseok. I came here to greet my lovely cousin after hearing about how he's getting married but I think he's in an off mood. Maybe it's trouble in paradise?" Seokjin was trying to start something but Jeongguk wasn't just letting him.

"Don't talk about things you don't know,Jin. I am happy with my situation, maybe you're bitter that you are still unmarried even though you are five years older than me? must be hard to know no one wants you." Jeongguk said to him and Hoseok tried so hard to contain his laughter.

"Excuse me?! if you didn't have your head far up your ass,you would know I'm also courting a beautiful lady right now and soon we will decide on a wedding date too so don't worry about it and it's Hyung to you." Seokjin said to him, having had enough of him as he walked a bit back to where the Archery equipment was and sat down on the benches.

"Ok, Jin. If you say so. How is aunt doing?" Jeongguk asked him, taking off the quiver and putting it along with the bow down on the ground before he walked to where Jin was sitting.

"My mother is perfectly fine. She was going to come with me but she said she would just come to your engagement. Are you seriously getting married?" Jin asked him and Jeongguk nodded. "how were you able to fall in love with someone so far away?"

"Who said anything about love,my dear cousin? It's an arranged marriage. I went to Arothia and courted her for a week, she was perfect to be a Queen so I said yes. There's nothing too deep into this."

"So you are going to marry someone you don't even love."

"I am not looking for love."

"But she might be, she likes you, doesn't she? she would want more as the time goes,what will you do then?" Jin asked her a valid question that he didn't think of.

"Nothing, I made it clear to her that love is something I am not looking for and she shouldn't look for that in me too." Jeongguk responded when he saw Hoseok coming towards them with a bunch of arrows in his hands.

"You can't spend your life with someone you don't even love,your majesty, that sounds like torture. You deserve to be loved too." Hoseok said to him,putting the arrows in their place.

"Watch me. Love isn't something I have felt and I have lived a good 28 years without It,I believe I can go more years without it. My priority is my kingdom and she was the perfect candidate to rule this empire with so I choose her, end of discussion." Jeongguk concluded with them. He saw the two men exchange glances before giving in.

"Arothia will be under you too once you marry. Did you see the Prince? Was he pissed at you for taking his spot?" Jin asked him and Jeongguk shook his head.

Now that he thinks about it, Taehyung was too nice to him knowing he would be the one taking his place one day. Taehyung did say he doesn't care about the throne anymore but there's no way he doesn't hold a small grudge against him for coming and taking it all away. He doubts that too, They had bigger problems between them to hold grudges about.

He was too busy being lost in those eyes, thinking about their few times together and romanticizing it instead of noticing if there was a change of behavior. He cannot help the fact that ever since he left Arothia, Taehyung hasn't left his mind at all.

"No, he was actually a sweetheart to me the entire week. He made sure I was comfortable, he took care of me, we actually kind of became good friends there." Good friends who kissed once, you wouldn't find them often.

"That's shocking, the Taehyung I know would have been mad at you."

"You know the Prince?" Hoseok asked this time, equally as surprised as Jeongguk.

"Oh a lot more than you think. I am a merchant, I have many businesses in Arothia and their royal family works closely with me so I meet the Prince in between my deals, we are actually friends too." Jin said to Jeongguk who raised his eyebrow in confusion.

Hoseok who was going to say something but he was stopped by one of the Palace guards calling for him, so he excused himself from the two men and ran away to hear what they had to say to him.

"Are you guys close?" Jeongguk asked him.

"Oh a lot closer than you think. Guess you can say I have seen him in a state where not many people have seen him." Jin told him in such suggestive tone, his mind was rolling around as to what he meant.

Is it what he thinks it is? Is Jin really talking about what he is thinking of? He didn't even know Jin was into men like that…ok there's no way, he has to be jumping into conclusions, he doesn't even look Taehyung's type. Then again, what even is Taehyung's type? As far as he knows, the guy rejected all his advances so it's definitely not him.

That definitely didn't feel nice at all to think about. He still can not believe it. He really got rejected by Arothia's Prince.

"Right, What did you mean by he was mad?  I actually did talk to Taehyung about it and he said he doesn't care about it anymore."

"Well at that time I didn't know you were going to be the one marrying the Princess but he did bring it up about how some Prince is going to come see his sister and take the throne. He was a bit drunk so he was babbling a lot.  Though his anger was more towards his father than you because afterall, if King wants Taehyung to be the heir, who would stop him? So yeah."

"I don't even blame him. I would be so upset too if some guy would just take my place but good to know it wasn't about me but his father."

"Oh, since when did mighty Jeongguk care about others' feelings?" Jin joked with him and Jeongguk pushed his arm.

"Shut up, I care about Taehyung. He really is a special friend to me." The sincerity in Jeongguk's voice definitely took Jin by surprise as he wasn't expecting it.

"Oh I didn't know you were serious, you really had a real connection with him, Huh? Were you just with him all the time or did you spend time with the Princess too?" Jin joked around, analyzing Jeongguk and his behavior.

"Ofcourse, I spent more time with the princess. Taehyung was there when she wasn't, he was there to talk with you, to put you at ease. To hear out your worries, I don't think he even knew how handsome he looked just listening to you."

"Do you miss him?"

"I think I do."

♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎♤♠︎