long live the king - nct, markhyuck

♕ -2 ♕

the nine-year-old prince bounced around his room excitedly as he wore his training clothes as fast as possible. and once he was all geared up, he grabbed his sword that had been put on display on one of the pieces of furniture around the gigantic bedroom.

mark secured his grip on the weapon before rushing in front of the mirror, looking at his reflection with a proud smile on his face.

he made the sword swirl in his hand before quickly putting it in fighting position again, glaring back at himself. and then, mark started combining movements he had learnt, his eyes never leaving his reflection as he fought the air as if he was surrounded by dozens of armed men.

the prince then stood still after a few minutes of pretend fighting, meeting his own proud eyes in the mirror before putting the weapon back in its scabbard that had been tightened with a belt around his hips.

the young prince didn't even let himself regain his breath as he exited his room in a hurry, crossing the castle's corridors at a high speed to reach his father's office, hoping to find the king there and invite him for a little training session.

but unfortunately for the young prince, the office was void of any presence, and the coldness of the room indicated that his father hadn't even set a foot in this room since the beginning of the day.

the prince frowned, turning on his heels and running in the other direction.

"mother!" he exclaimed loudly as he saw the queen talking with a servant in front of her and the king's bedroom.

both the queen and the servant diverted their attention to the young prince who was rushing to their side.

"your highness." the servant spoke as she bowed down in front of mark.

"can you please bring me what i asked." the queen then asked, making the servant nod.

"of course, your majesty." she replied before bowing to the two royals and leaving.

mark blinked as he watched the servant walking away before diverting his eyes back to his mother.

"is there a problem?" mark asked confusedly.

"nothing major, my little gem." the queen replied, cupping her son's cheek lovingly.

"okay." mark hummed. "do you know where father is? i couldn't find him in his office."

"your father is sick, love. he's resting in the bedroom." the queen explained, causing mark's eyes to widen like saucers.

"sick?!" he repeated, already seeing himself having to postpone his sword training. "sick how?"

at that instant, he hoped with all of his soul that the king just had a sore throat or that he was coughing a bit, which would still allow him to train with his son.

he had praised mark so much the day before, and mark had been able to disarm his father countless of times. he didn't want to lose these abilities if he didn't train hard.

"his stomach is feeling unwell." the queen explained. "he has been throwing up since the middle of the night."

"oh..." mark simply let out, a saddened expression taking over his face as he realised that his father was in no condition to train with his son. "will he be alright soon?"

"yes, love, don't worry." mark's mother replied with a smile. "i think it's just the salmon that he had yesterday for dinner. it was delivered from the northern kingdoms, and i'm sure that one of the people charged of delivery didn't respect the storage conditions and didn't keep it in a cold place."