Chapter Text
It was the night before his rite of passage into manhood. It is a necessary step for him to take, to be closer to taking over his father, the emperor. It was a process put in place by emperors before him, probably, it was put in place as an excuse to bed partners and sate the soon-to-be emperors' sexual needs.
A crown prince, the next in line for the throne, must engage in his first sexual act when he comes of the age of 18 or if there is an urgent need to prepare the next emperor to take over. It sounded more sexual than symbolic actually, but it was a necessary step put in place to those who wish to take over the throne. For crown prince Chanyeol, it was for the latter reason, the current emperor, his father, is still in power and relatively healthy. However, the emperor is feeling his years wane due to his age, and he is adamant to have the next in line be prepared.
So here is Chanyeol, 16 years of age, in his bed contemplating the current happenings of his life. He is determined to take over the throne, driven by his hatred towards his father. Nobody knows of this, that Chanyeol loathes his own father but it is common knowledge among members of the royal family, the council of elders or even the royal servants that hatred or greed runs deep among the members of the royal family.
Chanyeol was the 14th child, of the emperor, along with 3 more" out of a total of 31 children. His mother was the 6th concubine of the emperor which meant that while his mother was pregnant with him, the emperor impregnated 3 more concubines at the same time. This did not bother Chanyeol as a child, but when his mind matured, it disgusted him. He, along with his half-brothers and sisters was a witness to the emperor's sick ways.
The only thing that consoled him was his loving mother who sheltered him from everything. The emperor having many children from different women did not come without its consequences. Concubines coming from wealthy families often raise or groom their children, especially sons, to be the next emperor by any means. This resulted in chaos which eventually led to doing assassinations, accusations and all sorts of nefarious schemes.
Thankfully, both Chanyeol and his mother came out unscathed. The chaos that passed resulted in some of the male heirs to the throne dying or banished leaving Chanyeol to be the only male heir to the throne while his older sisters were married off to allies of their nation to gain more strategic advantages, he reckons the same fate awaits her younger sisters. Also, with Chanyeol being the only male successor, the emperor continued bedding with other women to have more male heirs, and Chanyeol's mother was no exception. The emperor does not usually care for any of his children nor concubines, they were just mere pawns for him to use for his benefit, not even for the empire which explains the reason why the emperor had concubines, and none of them were made to be an empress.
Chanyeol turned a blind eye to these things as he focused on the happiness of his mother, but when his mother became pregnant for the second time, everything felt as it was going downhill for Chanyeol. His mom's pregnancy was full of complications from the start, and the royal doctors had no way of helping her through it. In light of this, his mother was determined to give his second child a chance in life while Chanyeol helped him through it. When it was time for his mother to give birth, everything changed, there was so much blood. His mom and his younger brother did not make it.
It was devastating for Chanyeol as he mourned the death of his mother and brother. The worst part of it was, nobody, not even the emperor offered comfort for him except his personal servants. People just seemed to go on with their lives, as if his mother never existed. Chanyeol was still in the palace and was served well all because he is the next heir, nothing more, nothing less. It made him sick that during the burial of his mother, the emperor was elsewhere bedding young women but would later then suffer the same fate as his mother because many of them die during the pregnancy or childbirth simply because they were too young or they went into depression.
Now, years later, here he is. Determined to take the throne and make things right. He did contemplate to seek vengeance by blood, but he knows, that his mother would be disappointed in him, so what better way to hurt his father than to undo or change some of the ways the emperor should govern when he is in power. The emperor is already old anyway; it would not take long before he dies and pays the price of his crimes in hell. All he has to do is to follow the process and be patient.
Now, he just has to go through the coming of age ceremony. He does admit that he is nervous and for a good reason. He knows that he does not have any experience with engaging in coitus, but the ceremony requires the council to witness the act. This is to ensure that the ceremony is executed correctly. So it is truly unnerving and awkward. The council usually needs to witness these things when an heir goes through the coming of age rite or marriage consummations between members of the royal family and strategic partners.
The royal doctor and several servants will also be in the same room during the entire duration of the rite. They have the responsibility of examining the royal family's partner at the end of the act to check if the female partner's hymen was torn or if the male carrier's birth canal was opened for the first time as indicated by blotches of blood. It was required that sexual partners of the royal family must be a virgin and is capable of bearing an offspring during these ceremonies. If at the end of the act, it was proven that the partner is not a virgin or not a carrier, they could face execution.
With all these thoughts, Chanyeol did not realize that he fell asleep only to be awakened the next morning by his servants telling him to prepare for his big day. He tries to drag his time a bit longer, but the elders seem to be getting impatient, so after lunch, he was immediately lead to a room by the royal servants. The room was brightly lit and before him was a row of men and women which he presumes were candidates for him to choose from to be his partner.
They were all wearing a thin white robe and had their heads down to show reverence towards the prince upon the announcement of his arrival. He tentatively goes over their features, and he has to give some credit to the people who chose them because they're all physically appealing. The head of servants then commanded them to raise their heads and face the front then by the corner of his eyes, Chanyeol saw him. Soft brown hair, milky white skin, kissable pink lips and cute droopy but fearful eyes.
He was entranced in an instant, unfamiliar feelings were stirring up inside him, and it was all because of this boy. He noticed that the boy seemed to be more nervous now that Chanyeol's attention was on him while Chanyeol also was too distracted that he failed to hear the head servant order these people to strip off their robes. Now Chanyeol was in front of naked men and women, he takes his time to rake his eyes with each one, but none of them could compare to the pull that the particular boy had on him. Chanyeol is 16, but he was already past his puberty so by all means, he can feel attracted to someone.
If his face and stature were angelic, the boy's body was very sinful. An expanse of healthy white skin with hardly any kind of body hair aside from his pubic region, meaty thighs, lithe torso, and a very perky butt. Chanyeol had to voice out his choice right away before his growing arousal will be evident. He then announced the boy as his choice. Chanyeol could see the surprise on the boy's face and the growing fear written on it.
Chanyeol promptly leaves the room not able to handle seeing the look of fear from the boy's eyes. From what he can tell, they are about the same age, and that the fear in the boy's eyes was the same look he had the day his mother passed away.
Chanyeol shakes away the memory as he was escorted by the servants to prepare for the ceremony. After his mother's death, he was so alone and that he hated the look of pity he receives from others. Some people were even enjoying his state because they silently wished for him to give in to depression and be too emotionally unstable to take power. So, from then on, he closed himself up from others never let them get the satisfaction of seeing him vulnerable but, by doing this, he loses proper control over his emotions at times or that he is unable to feel other emotions like the emotions he felt for the boy earlier. It was an extraordinary feeling, but he is still unsure of what it meant or what to do with it. He is attracted, but there is something more that he could not properly grasp.
He will find out sooner or later. Maybe he might find the answer during the ceremony.