long live the king - nct, markhyuck

♕ epilogue ♕

"gentlemen." the monarch stated, back straight on his chair and chin high in the air as he looked at the dozen men sitting around the table. "a year has passed since the decision to create a more open and fair court was taken. a year full of challenges and success, one that i want us to look back on today to learn from our mistakes and improve for next year."

effectively, a full yer had passed since mark's public speech on that wooden stage, since his act of freeing his lover from his chains and of voicing out his love for him in front of the whole kingdom, since his decision to get his mother locked up in a cell for trying to get rid of the love of his life, and since his vow of creation of a fair court that represented aes as it should.

a year prior, mark had proclaimed the beginning of the golden age, an age in which everyone would be valued and taken into account, and mark hadn't wasted much time for that.

in a few days, mark had elections conducted into the major villages of aes, deciding to let the people decide on some representants for each of them, for one among them to come to the royal palace and defend the interests of their village.

mark had decided to nominate these people as members of his court, the people with whom he would be taking decision and who would be guiding him in his ruling of the country.

as promised, the golden age was the start of something new, and for most, better.

mark abolished the marking of children with red iron on the inside of their wrist, feeling his heart tearing apart each time he saw it imprinted on his lover's skin and recalled what it meant.

he also made sure to set in place more tasks and jobs that people leaving on the lands of aes could take part in for monetary compensation. that, and providing them with more crops and food supplies to ensure that his people wasn't starving while he could eat as much as he wanted.

considering the fields and farms in aes weren't as productive all the way throughout the year, mark also took the initiative to build strategic partnerships with other nearby kingdoms, finding a way to provide food to his people even when aes wasn't as productive as desired.

all in all, mark had globally changed the way the whole kingdom was managed, and after a year, it seemed that it was for the better.

"the relationships with the kingdom of lumen seem to be less tense, your majesty. lord jihun is currently over there and has been sending us letters to confirm that the king of lumen was willing to cooperate." one of the lords around the table explained. he was one that was already part of mark's mother's court when she was taking over mark's regency. considering how efficient he had been as the one dealing with the armed forces, mark had decided to make him a part of his court as well, despite fearing rejection when he had announced that people from the lands of aes would also be part of the court. the lord sure was sceptical at first, but he got used to it very quickly and never dared arguing against the king's orders.

"very good." the king could only nod. "i will program a visit to his palace a few months from now, just the time for us to fully plan the agreement that we have been discussing about." he continued, making the lord nod. "anything else?"

mark let his eyes wander across the table, passing quickly over the people that had already spoken, and taking a bit more time to let those who hadn't spoken speak up their mind.

"lord myunghae?" the royal stated, rising a brow as his eyes fell on the man that used to be an anti-royalist. "anything more to say about the finances?" he continued, bringing back a topic that had been covered previously.