long live the king - nct, markhyuck

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seeing the future king of aes in the royal kitchens was something rare. the kitchens were foreign territory for the royals who usually contented to give their orders to the servants who then warned the cooks for them to start preparing the food. and once the food was ready, it would be brought directly to the table where the royals sat at for them to eat.

but it seemed like today wasn't like any other day, because for once, mark was in the kitchen, and more than that, he was in the kitchen, tasting the dish a peasant living on his land had made after dismissing all of the kitchen staff to give them enough privacy.

the peasant in question – donghyuck – stood behind the kitchen counter, surrounded by a few dirty pans and bowls that he had used to prepare food for the future king as requested. mark was sitting on a high stool on the other side of the counter, analysing the content of the plate donghyuck had placed in front of him.

the tanned male gulped as the royal used his spoon to poke the food a few times with a scowl on his face before scooping it up and taking a very small taste of the unknown dish.

"s-so...?" the peasant asked worriedly.

finishing in the royal kitchen – a place that seemed oddly familiar to him – and cooking something for the king was definitely not how donghyuck had planned his afternoon to finish. hell, he was only supposed to roam around the palace, dressed as a servant to spy on a few conversations and understand how awful the royals truly were with the people living on their land.

when he had first sneaked in the palace, he had been very careful not to cross paths with anyone, scared to be caught, but after a while, he had been greeted by a few guards – who most likely had thought he really was a royal servant, because they didn't necessarily know all of the staff working in the palace. and so, donghyuck had judged okay to lower his guard and roam around freely.

and well, he didn't expect that he would find himself facing the future king of aes – and even less that he would make a fool out of himself in front of him and get caught right away.

but you couldn't really blame donghyuck for not recognising the royal.

mark's last public apparition had been a few days after the king's death, ten years ago, so he was only nine years old at that time. sure, donghyuck had seen the future king then, but he had never caught a glimpse of him ever since, and he wasn't aware that he had grown into this – very fine – young man. so, there was no way for donghyuck to recognise the boy when he pulled his sword at him.

"it's very good..." the future king broke the silence before humming and having another spoonful of the food donghyuck had prepared, his eyes wide in surprise.

the tanned male smiled shyly at those words, a wave of pride taking over him as he processed the royal's compliment. so, people in his village weren't just saying that because he was young and they didn't want to hurt his feelings, he really knew how to make good food.

"it didn't look like it was going to taste good, to tell you the truth." the royal then said, playing with the food remaining in the plate. "but it does taste amazing." he added, starting to eat again.

donghyuck blinked in confusion at mark's comment. "what do you mean?"

"well." the royal looked down at the plate. "it was served in a not appealing way. so, it didn't make me want to try eating it. if i had seen that dish in a buffet, for example, i'd never have touched it."

donghyuck didn't exactly understand the royal's point.

he was saying that the food was good but not appealing. but what was even the point of making the food appealing when it would end up in your stomach anyway? plus, if you were really hungry, you'd eat whatever was given to you, appealing or not.