Chapter Text
The kingdom of Tresta was once known as a superpower. Flourishing economics, happy citizens, and, most importantly, a kind and giving monarchy; something that came once every blue moon. However, the glory of the kingdom fell when King Pincheolin passed, and his son, Beomji, succeeded the throne.
Beomji, despite having grown up in a loving house with a caring mother and father, grew up to be greedy and vile. Slowly, from the age of 19 to the present, he obliterated the careful, and delicate system put in place by his preceding generations; he turned a bountiful and thriving Tresta, into a sullen, poverty-stricken land designed to make the rich, richer, and the poor, poorer.
However, not only did Beomji turn Tresta’s economy to ruins, he purposefully antagonized neighboring kingdoms, thrusting Tresta and its citizens into war relentlessly. This tore families apart, drafting all alphas into knight-ship and many never returning home.
This includes Taehyun’s family.
Taehyun was thirteen when his father was drafted. He was thirteen and the sole provider of his family - as his mother and sister were both omegas and not allowed to work - even before he had presented.
A full year passed and on the day of his fourteenth birthday, five knights greeted him at his front door with a casket and a bouquet of wilted roses. Their faces were pale and weary, but, like the dark soot sunken deep into their skin, resentment and remorse coated their faces in a way that made Taehyun feel like throwing up.
They buried him later that week and Taehyun couldn’t even bring himself to cry. His mind whirled with unanswered questions and building responsibility. His family was dirt poor. Even with Taehyun working and the monthly checks that came in because of his father’s service, they were barely able to get food on the table. With the loss of the checks, Taehyun’s job got a great deal harder.
Soon, after months of searching, he finally relented and decided to become a knight of the royal guard. He despised the idea, considering that is what got his father killed, but he truly had no other choice. No other job paid as well as this one did, and even if he wanted to, every other job available had been snatched up by other families affected by the war.
He signed up for the first opening of training and set his mind on being the best knight there. The better he was, the more opportunities he would get to make more money; and he was not about to let anything slip through his fingers.
Quickly, Taehyun found a rhythm within training. He had always been good at focusing his mind on things he wants, and this was no different. He found himself getting better and better, sparring, and winning, against even the most experienced and seasoned knights.
However, he can’t take all the credit for himself. In his first few months, lost and still acclimating to the harsh world of knight training, one Choi Soobin, two years his elder, took him under his wing and helped him gain his footing. Soobin directed, taught, challenged, and praised Taehyun, pushing him until he reached his fullest potential. It is also important to note that Soobin was gentle. He prioritized being a friend to Taehyun over being his self-appointed personal coach. This was a breath of fresh air in comparison to how they were trained regularly.
The head knight, Hanji, was old, strict, and mean. He would push his knights to their breaking point, and when they broke, he would berate them for being weak. They had minimal breaks and when they did it was only for a few minutes then back to work.
Soobin and Taehyun quickly became close friends and stuck with each other through everything, providing a safe space neither of them had experienced before. Of course, Taehyun had his mother and sister, but Soobin was a comfort he had only ever felt before with his father. And for Soobin…well Taehyun was the only person he had. His entire family had been wiped out from a bad outbreak of influenza – of course, something entirely preventable, but King Beomji had decided treatment for his kingdom wasn’t important enough to spend money on.
Two years passed and Taehyun rides with Soobin in the king’s personal guard, having been at the top of his unit for the majority of his time there. However, despite being in Beomji’s personal protection unit, only Soobin – the direct second hand of the king – was allowed within the palace, with the exception of the throne room. But even so, Taehyun has caught a glimpse of the ever-elusive second heir to the throne, Choi Beomgyu.
The royal family has two, omega sons, Beomgyu, and the eldest, Yeonjun. Yeonjun is more commonly seen in public. He has the inherent need to be around the citizens and speak with them personally. He is friendly, charming, and charismatic; exactly what a prince should be. Beomgyu, on the other hand, is reluctant to exit the walls of the palace, resigned to his own space. No one faults him for it, when you have someone like Yeonjun as a brother it is easy to fall back into an introverted nature. But it is such a shame that the people only get to see his highness’ beauty every once and a while; Taehyun cannot help but agree with the sentiment.
Taehyun had seen him fully only once before.
On the evening of a long day of sparring and training, Taehyun had flopped down on the ground to catch his breath. Finally able to take a fulfilling breath, he sat up and simply observed his surroundings. As his eyes flickered over to the observing box, high above the general seating of the stadium, he notices a bright glare in the far corner of it. Standing up, he cups his hand over his eyes to block the sun and squints to see where the shine is coming from. There is a shift, and a body is moving closer to the edge of the box. Soon, Taehyun can make out the full image of Prince Beomgyu in a sleek, pink dress with his gold crown glittering in what is left of the receding sunlight. Taehyun can’t even think to bow, mind occupied by the stunning beauty of the prince. Slowly trailing up the length of Beomgyu’s body, their eyes soon lock, and Taehyun feels his mouth go dry. Taehyun can’t describe how lovely the prince’s face is. Soft, but sharp in the places it matters, captivating eyes, and long, luscious, brown hair. It takes Soobin calling his name to allow Taehyun to peel his eyes off of the alluringness of the prince.
Since then, Taehyun makes it his mission to at least catch a glance of the prince any chance he gets. Every time he has to enter the palace, he does his best to observe every corner of every room he enters. But even with his heightened observation, only brief encounters are what Taehyun achieves – which he can’t help but be disappointed over. Even so, his infatuation with the prince has never gotten in the way of his work and he knows it never will. He and Prince Beomgyu will forever be two separate entities.