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The swords clash against each other, creating a sharp noise. Smirk forms on Jeongguk's lips when he notices Hoseok losing his form, with his feet being an inch away from its position, creating his posture to be in disadvantage and easier to take control for the other party.

With Jeongguk's legs going to tangle with Hoseok,making him lose balance and stumble back before Jeongguk using his sword to slash with his whole might and turning it around Hoseok's sword, twisting the older man's hand and his sword flying out of his hand onto the stone ground.

"Ah, you got me again, Your majesty has been improving a lot lately. You need a little more practice to beat me in all rounds though." Hoseok complimented the crown Prince, grabbing his fallen sword from the ground.

"You flatter me,hyung. It's all thanks to you and your intense training ever since I was a teenager. Though I told you to call me just Jeongguk, we are too close for you to call me your majesty, hyung." Jeongguk sat down on the bench in the corner of the ground. With a bunch of servants standing with water in their hands for him.

"Can't do so,I'm just a mere servant to the royal family, I can't call you by your name ." Hoseok took a seat next to him, grabbing the glass of water too.

"You aren't just any servant,hyung. You are the lead commander of elestial's army, that's one of the highest positions you can have in the castle after being royal."

"All this flattering wouldn't make me lessen your training time."

"Oh that's definitely not what I was trying to do." Jeongguk joked around with the commander, who pushed him away playfully.

"You are the crown Prince, your majesty. The time you get married and become the King of Elestial is very soon, so I should be increasing your training because even though you haven't joined us in battles before, as the king you would be on the front lines and the main target."

"You shouldn't worry about me,hyung. I am above average in all my classes and we both know I'm strong enough to handle that. Marriage seems scarier than the war to me." Jeongguk chuckled along with the commander.

"True but you can't be like me, lonely at 32. Unlike me, you don't have an option. You need a queen by your side if you want to be a king so start looking for ladies now before your parents find some posh princess for you to marry off to." Hoseok said to him.

"But why do I have to commit to that? I am not interested in finding someone and marrying them, that's just something I don't see as one of my goals." Jeongguk complained, rolling his eyes at the rules.

"Yes but it's the rule, your majesty. You can't fight it unless you want to give up the throne for your 7 year old brother and watch your father be the king till he's 80. Your mother is waiting for the moment your father can step down and her son can take over, don't disappoint them."

"Ofcourse not hyung. Well, we will see when the time comes. I am hungry right now. Should we go and eat something?" Jeongguk offered to the other guy who shook his head.

"No, you go. A new batch of trainee soldiers are coming today so I have to look over them. You go and have lunch without me. Besides, I didn't see your little chef friend in the field today." Hoseok raised his eyebrows teasingly.

"Did you miss ogling over my friend, hyung? you better stop before anyone notices."

"I have no idea what you are talking about. Do save some for me whatever he's making."  Hoseok winked at the Prince before getting up from the bunch and walking back into the ground, going over to the other side where Jeongguk could see some soldiers standing and practicing.

"His father is a chef, not him. How does he not even know that?" Jeongguk muttered under breath.

Getting up from the bench,he started to walk inside the Palace. With the two of his errands following right behind him. He entered the castle which was a lot cooler than the outside where it was scorching hot. He felt sweaty under all this armored clothes. Jeongguk decided he's going to take a shower before he eats lunch.

Though that thought was interrupted by his friend walking towards in speed with a plate with some type of dessert on it. A wide smile on his friend's face as he handed Jeongguk the spoon immediately.

"What is this,Jimin? What dessert did you try today?" He eyed the unfamiliar dessert on the plate.

"It's called a bread pudding, it's a bread based dessert that I drenched with caramel sauce. My father went to Europe to research more about other culinary cultures and he brought back some recipes of desserts for me, isn't that wonderful?  you should try it for me! I wanted you to be the first one to taste it." Jimin asked Jeongguk who was suspicious for a second but he nodded.

He took a hold of the spoon and broke a piece of the said pudding, it went softly and took a piece out. He put it inside his mouth, chewing on it slowly taking in all the flavors. It wasn't too sweet which was amazing,the flavors were melting on his tongue. Jimin never disappoints. The smile on the crown Prince's face said enough itself.

Jimin is the son of the head chef of the royal family. The chef is extremely talented and has mastered the art of a bunch of other culinary cultures. He does his best with his title. The man is very passionate about it and is on a ship to a new kingdom once he feels like he has run out of things to make.

His son,Jimin, is just as talented as his father but he's more interested in baking and just taking care of the Prince than anything else. Despite being the same age as Jeongguk, he always baby's the crown Prince. The head chef has been around for decades,So Jimin has been living in the Palace ever since he was six years old.

Jeongguk being only six at the time and never been out of the Palace, Jimin was his only friend who he could play with and hang around with. They have been close ever since that. Jimin is the only person in this place beside Jeongguk's family who calls him by his name and not Prince or your majesty.

"this is amazing Jimin, Europeans finally did something right, that cardboard thing you made last time was…horrendous."

"It's called a tart,Your majesty but thank you, it's so good I know." Jimin snatched the spoon from Jeongguk's hand to try it himself. It looks amazing so it definitely tastes that good too.

The way his face shifted to a much happier one made Jeongguk laugh. He moaned because of how delicious it was. Their little moment was interrupted by one of the servants calling for the Prince.

"Prince, Your majesty is asking for your presence in the throne hall." The servant said with his head bowed down, not daring to look at Prince in the eyes as that's just an offense on its own.

"Why?"

"Your majesty didn't inform me about that. Shall we?" He asked the Prince and he nodded.

Bidding goodbyes with Jimin, forcefully taking another bite of the bread pudding because it was too good to resist before he followed the servant down the hall. Going from the right wing to the main one.

The right wing consists of the rooms for the royal family and their entertainment and activities like the garden, the library, the bathhouse, a training ground only for the royals and a bunch of other places in this huge Palace. It's weird to see any type of non-royals in this place, it's actually not allowed at all as the King values the privacy of his family a lot.

The main wing consists of the throne hall, the ballroom, the meeting room,the training ground for other soldiers,the head kitchen and even a work out room with a bunch of old machines they could get their hands on in this old era. The main wing is more open to the general public, ofcourse not everyone can come in, it's still the Palace but if anyone outside has seen the Palace, it's only the main wing.

Lastly, the left wing. It isn't as important as the other two but it still holds a high place as this consists the rooms of the main officials of the Court,their own rooms for activities and such and just a little further down, it also includes the room for the servants and the harem is there too which is filled with concubines of the king and sometimes…even the crown Prince.

Elestial is a huge kingdom, it's one of the biggest and strongest kingdoms in the south. With the population of millions and a kingdom that prospers so high, it has a nice reputation it holds to itself. Elestial was a smaller kingdom at first but when Jeongguk's father, Jeon Joohwan, sat on the throne after his father died in the war, he led the kingdom to New peaks.

Joohwan was a spectacular warrior, he was a force to not be reckoned with, as a young king who had trained every day of his life, he was one of the strongest out there. With battles after battles, he defeated all his enemies and conquered the other kingdoms to expand his own. Soon along the way he married Miseon, the present Queen and the mother of the Crown Prince.

It was an arranged marriage, as a king, the man never had time to find love so he got married to the princess of another kingdom which his mother (Jeongguk's grandmother) chose for him. She died two years after his marriage leaving him alone with his wife to lead this kingdom. He has to say he grew fond of Miseon along the way and started to love her.

With him being always at war, Miseon was the one who handled the public affairs because to have a satisfactory kingdom you need to keep people happy. The Queen who always gave money out to the poor and offered to give them jobs in the Palace, she handled all the political affairs by herself, dealing with all those pressed men who felt embarrassed to be led by a woman.

She never let them bother her because after all she was the queen and they were just court noble men. She was the one in control, so she did her best with the power she was given. She maintained all the main departments of the kingdom, the people loved her, she was an angel to them. So when she got pregnant and it was a boy, it was like a national holiday.

The kingdom has a new Prince, who would one day be the king, so they threw massive balls and gave out so much money to the people who needed it as a way of celebration for the birth of Prince. Jeongguk's birth was a dream come true. She saw her husband cry for the first time in her life when he held their baby boy in his hands. A king crying is nonexistent so seeing that moment made her sob too.

Jeongguk was their miracle child, they tried for a baby for a long time, it was after years of trying that he came into the world as a blessing. His upbringing was done by the bests of bests, with high education acclaimed teachers making him learn how to read and write to  doing difficult math problems and learning three different languages all by the age of 8.

As the Crown Prince the expectations were always high for Jeongguk, he was raised to be a king, that's his whole life purpose from the moment he was born. Every single teacher,servants,maids and friends all said the same thing about how he should behave like a King. It was hard to know how to act like a king when the real king was never around him.

His mother was present in his childhood but his father wasn't, as the king he had many responsibilities that he couldn't give some of his attention to his son. His mother did the best to be both mother and father to him but there was a small hole inside of him that needed his father's love that he never got.

Now that he is in late twenties, he is finally seeing his father more now that King has excluded himself from the war range. Joohwan wanted to keep fighting for his kingdom but his age was creeping up on him. With health problems and some other difficulties, he stopped going along with his generals as his body isn't the same as before.

The fact that now he had two sons that he hasn't even seen the faces of for long time, he decided he will focus on the public affairs and the children and let his queen rest, she has done so much for him and he has done so much for the kingdom to stand in the place it is today.

His younger brother is only seven years old, he was born when Jeongguk was twenty one so there is a huge age difference but that doesn't stop the two brothers from getting along. They are inseparable together as it feels more like Hanbin,his brother, is more of his son. Though he is glad that unlike him, their father is more present in Hanbin's life. He would be lying if he said he wasn't jealous but he is too grown to be jealous of something like that.

His father is not the loving father who plays with their son but rather the one you sit quietly next to at dinner and have a talk about things. It's hard to take a seven year old seriously so their conversations are fun to watch.

Now that Jeongguk is almost reaching his thirties,he is waiting for the moment to get the throne, his father has been ready to give it to him the second he stopped going to battles but Jeongguk didn't let him because he wasn't ready, it's a huge responsibility that he cannot fuck up so he needs to be ready before he does anything stupid.

He stood outside the door of the throne room as the guards opened the door for him,alerting the king of his presence. He entered the vast room. He saw his father sitting on the throne grumpily, hearing one of the few officials that were standing talk.

There were a bunch of higher officials that handle the financial and other perspectives of the kingdom standing here, discussing something that Jeongguk wasn't aware of yet. He even saw his own mother sitting beside his father on her own throne, that's strange because she has stopped coming to these meetings for a long time now so he wonders why she's back.

He walked to his father, Bowing to him before standing right infront of him."You called me,father?"

"Yes, Jeongguk. I have something important to discuss with you but wait a second. Everyone the meeting is adjourned, We shall continue the discussion for this proposal after I get our Crown Prince's opinion. Everyone except the Queen,leave the room." The king announced and the nobles nodded.

Bowing to the king one by one before they walked out of the main door, after some seconds the room was empty except his parents. He was curious about what his father could be talking about.

"Jeongguk, I need you to think of what I'm going to present to you with as a King and not a prince. We have gotten a really interesting proposal lately, you see the neighboring kingdom, Arothia wants to merge with us. They will have their own separate kingdom but with our protection and rules, the border would be lifted too." The king shared it with him.

Jeongguk has heard about Arothia, as his father said, it's a neighboring kingdom. It isn't as big or strong as Elestial but it is still an ally of Elestial and two kingdoms are known for their alliance and trades without anyone betraying each other. He knows that their king isn't that strong, his father once told him about how he had a sword fight for practice with the man and he won within a minute.

He doesn't know much about their royal family, only the fact he also has two children but it's a Prince around his age and a Princess who is a few years younger than him, that's it. He hasn't heard much about the queen. The proposal is interesting but he can't see how it is beneficial for them.

"Why do they need our protection and rules?" Jeongguk asked the question with a confused look.

"Well you see, Arothia is one of the targets of the Xethens unfortunately, many of their people are either dying or disappearing and you know They are rather a smaller kingdom and not that strong either so if Xethen attacks them up front for war they are in awful danger. That's why they need our protection."

"That's unfortunate but what's in it for us? why should we risk our safety?"

"They are our allies, Jeongguk!" His father raised his voice a bit.

"Still that can't be it-"

"They are also giving us a new queen." Joohwan declared, pin drop silence in the hall for a second. Jeongguk stared at his parents, seeing if they were joking but they have joked in their life.

"What?" He stood still, not being able to process this new information given to him.

"They are willing to marry their princess to you Jeongguk, you are the crown Prince and it's matter of months before you get crowned as the King of Elestial, you need a queen and this is the best opportunity you won't find anyone better than her. She's kind, well educated and a very prim and proper princess. I have heard she's really pretty too if you are worried about that."

"My problem is you marrying me to a complete stranger,You are not even thinking about my choice."

"Jeongguk, speak to your father properly." His mother spoke for the first time since he came.

"I am sorry but I should have a say in this."

"You do, we are not asking you to get married right away, we just need to know If you are open to the idea."

"What if I am? then what?"

"We will then discuss a date for your wedding and arrange it-" His mother was cut off by Jeongguk himself.

"No, I still need time to think about this. If I do it, I don't want to get married right away. I know you guys got married like this too but it's not the same time anymore, I want to know the future Queen and the mother to the future heir as it is not something I can take so lightly." He didn't even mention the romantic aspect of this relationship.

That has never been his focus, he always thought those poets who would write those deep poetry including of heart wrenching words were just bluffing because it made no sense that a feeling could be that intense. He loves a lot of people in his life but never has he ever felt that romantic connection with anyone to make him lose his senses and do the most unpredictable for them.

His parents sighed, exchanging looks with each other and agreed to what he was saying. Jeongguk excused himself from the two and walked out of the hall. He went straight to his room, asking the guards to not let anyone in as he wanted to think about this properly before rushing into any decision.

One thing he cannot deny is that Arothia are most probably genuine about this. Their reasons are indeed terrifying as Xethens is an enemy kingdom who they can fight with and still have doubts to if they can win so a smaller kingdom like Arothia doesn't stand a chance in front of them , they must be desperate.

Xethens is also one of the Neighboring kingdom, The kingdom used to be a rather peaceful one until Jo Dongsik, the son of the present king at that time, killed his own father and older brother in the greed of taking over of the throne, Becoming the king Arothia and has been it for about 20 years now. The atmosphere after that definitely changed.

The public started to fear their king as he wasn't merciful at all, with the smallest mistake you would be beheaded, nobody dared to go against him because when they did, they would end up dead. Dongsik is a very strong warrior,Too strong if you can say. He has defeated many other stronger kingdoms without breaking a sweat, taking over their kingdom and covering it with a dark layer of darkness.

If they do get involved in protecting Arothia, they will be forced to be involved. Jeongguk isn't scared of the 'Mad king' as they like to call Dongsik, he is strong, sure he does lack in experience a bit but he believes he can take the man in a fight.

But it's not only him but also the strong army, Xethen has one of the strongest armies in the South. They are truly too strong and taking advantage of that situation. The only way to get rid of them is to kill the mad king but that's not as easy as it sounds. So he can see why Arothia would be panicking right now.

His thought process was interrupted by a familiar voice outside his room door. Yelling at the guards to let him I'm but they can't because Jeongguk said so. He took a deep breath before facing the door.

"Let Jimin in." Jeongguk said to the guards standing outside and immediately the door was opened to let the guy in.

Jimin rolled his eyes at the guards before he got inside. He stared at his friend for a second, trying to read his expressions but failing miserably.

"Can you enlighten me, why did you lock yourself inside this room right after meeting with your majesty? Did he say something?" Jimin questioned him.

Jeongguk didn't want to share it but this is big news and he shares everything with his best friend so he told him everything. From Arothia being targeted by Xethens to them offering to marry their princess with Jeongguk as a form of protection for their people.

It was safe to say Jimin had his mouth gaped by the end of his small rant. He couldn't believe his ears, it's truly insane to think about.

"So you're telling me...you are getting married?"

"It's only a proposal yet."

"Are you going to say yes then?"

"No…I don't know Jimin, I haven't even seen what this girl looks like and they expect me to get married to her immediately. I told them if I say yes,I will have to meet her multiple times before we do this."

"That's good, put your boundaries but are you sure Jeongguk? This is a huge decision as you said. Do you really want to give up on love and Just marry for the throne?" Jimin asked him and his breath hitched for a second.

"You know love doesn't hold an important meaning to me,Jimin. I will learn to love her If we get married, my main priority is this kingdom and if I have to marry some princess for it I'll do it. But only after I get to know her a bit, she's going to be the future Queen. I need to see if she can even take the pressure like mother did."

"So you are saying yes?"

"I guess it doesn't hurt to give it a try. I will back out if she isn't fit enough for this role." Jeongguk shrugged, falling back into his bed. Looking at his plain ceiling.

"Wow, I can't believe you are thinking of getting married to someone you haven't even met. She's pretty though I think you will like her." Jimin shared with him, making Jeongguk sit up right in surprise.

"Have you seen her? What does she look like? What's her name?"

"Someone's excited. Kim Iseul, she's only 3 years younger than you, she's 25. She's extremely pretty, she has soft features and she's really soft spoken, I think you will like her."

"You make her sound amazing, when did you meet her?"

"Father went to visit his friend in Arothia who works as the Head chef in their Palace so I tagged along. Since the two kingdoms are allies it wasn't a problem getting inside the Palace. She came by the kitchen to tell the head chef to change the menu to her father's diet plan as the king was sick those days. She even greeted us, it was sweet. So was the Prince." Jimin explained to Jeongguk who raised his eyebrow in curiosity.

"The Prince?"

"Yes! the Crown Prince of Arothia, I believe so, He was so handsome,Guk. I don't know how old he is but I'm pretty sure he's probably the same age as us. I actually kind of tripped and fell and he was kind enough to leave whatever he was talking about with their advisor and help me. He had a deep voice that soothes you and such soft touch. I almost fell for the man." Jimin kept on going on about the mystery man and it made him curious.

"Keep your voice low." Jeongguk said to him.

He knows Jimin likes men, he's the first person Jimin came out to and he's the only one who knows about Jimin's adventures with guys. He doesn't judge, he is in no place to go against it. Everyone is homophobic so Jimin can't be out and do whatever he wants, so they try their best to keep Jimin on the lower side of it all.

Because Jeongguk is straight- he thinks he is- He has never liked a girl but he has never liked a boy either so he is sticking with heterosexuality as thats the norm. He doubts there's someone out there that can change his sexuality that he has made up his mind about ever since he gained consciousness.

"Almost? You sound like you are in love with him already. Please don't fall for my future brother in law, that's weird. You have made me so curious now to see these attractive siblings."

"You should say yes,you have the choice to decline if you don't like her, what's wrong with discovering stuff and honestly it's about time you get a taste of love, sleeping with others isn't everything Jeongguk."

"I know but don't make me sound like that's all I do. Last time I visited harem was a week ago."

"My point stands, so are you going to tell your parents?"

"I will tell them at dinner."

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First Chapter done, I am literally so excited for this. Updates would be weekly <3 I hope you guys are looking forward to this as much as I am
-k