cassiopeia ꒱ markhyuck

twenty five

Mark and Donghyuck walked together into the throne room, with Donghyuck growing more anxious the closer they got to the monarch's throne. He was afraid that he wouldn't make a good impression, that he would do something dumb and ruin Mark's alliance relationship, and that war would break out between the two nations all because of him.

He bounced anxiously on the balls of his feet as they stood and waited for the the ruler to arrive, and Mark reached out and gently took Donghyuck's hand into his own, squeezing it reassuringly. The omega blushed, giving another light squeeze back in what he hoped came across as a thank you, and he found himself feeling calmed and soothed by Mark's hand in his own.

One of the servants then announced the arrival of the monarchs. Donghyuck straightened his shoulders and tried to mirror Mark's posture, trying to appear confident and diplomatic and like he totally knew what he was doing. He watched in fascination as not two, but three people walked out towards the thrones. One of them sat in the king's chair, another sat in the queen's chair, and then the third person took a seat in a third throne that had been placed slightly to the left of the queen's. Donghyuck tried not to let his confusion show on his face, afraid that it might come across as rude or judgmental, but he couldn't stop himself from glancing between the three of them curiously.

"Welcome," the person in the king's chair said, voice loud and authoritative, "it is our honor to welcome you into our kingdom. It is a pleasure to see you again, King Mark."

"You as well, King Kun," Mark replied easily, smiling genuinely before lowering himself into a quick bow, "thank you for taking us into your care these past few days. We deeply apologize for the delay in being able to properly greet you."

"Please, it's no trouble at all," the king said, waving it off. He then turned his attention to Donghyuck, his smile becoming a bit gentler. "Hello, young omega. I trust you were able to get through your heat comfortably and safely?"

Donghyuck blushed up to his ears, burning with embarrassment. He wasn't quite sure how he felt about basically the whole palace knowing that he went through his heat just a few days prior. "Uh... yes, sir, thank you. Your servants were very nice and helpful in taking care of me."

"I'm glad to hear it," the king replied kindly, "allow me to introduce myself. My name is Qian Kun, I'm the alpha king that rules over this kingdom. To my left is my omega queen, who prefers to simply use the name Ten. And next to him is our beta third in command, Liu YangYang."

Donghyuck nodded, and awkwardly bowed towards each of them. "It's nice to meet you all... uh, I'm the..."

Donghyuck trailed off, glancing over at Mark hesitantly. He wasn't sure how he was supposed to introduce himself, if it would feel weird if he called himself the "queen" when technically he was no more than just a regular omega.

"You are the Queen," Mark said quietly, giving him a small, reassuring smile, "it's okay for you to introduce yourself as such, even if we're not mated."

"Okay..." Donghyuck cleared his throat and tried again. "I'm the omega Queen, Lee Donghyuck. Pleasure to meet you all."

"The pleasure is all ours," the queen, Ten, spoke, looking down at Donghyuck with a bright smile on his face. Truthfully, Donghyuck was the most curious about him, because it had been near months since he had even seen another omega.

"Ten, darling, why don't you take Donghyuck on a tour of the palace while the king and I speak? I imagine our discussions will only bore the two of you."

"I would be delighted," Ten crooned, gracefully slipping off of his throne and walking down the marble steps towards where Donghyuck was standing. Donghyuck watched him in amazement, and couldn't help but think that Ten was what a real queen was supposed to look like... he was just an imposter, a clumsy college student who got thrown into the deep end.