Royal Duty [Minjoon]

I

In the castle of a far away kingdom, a guard came rushing into the royal throne room, a tall, lanky youth struggling in his grip. They rushed through the big, open halls of the stone-based castle. The architectural embellishments on the walls were more detailed than the finest picture seen in the country, yet neither of the two had the time to admire its beauty. The boy's knees burned as they were dragged along the marble floors, held by his hair and right arm as he thrashed in the armored guard's grip. It was not until they were in front of the carpeted staircase which led to the throne, that the guard stopped. The lanky man was pushed down on the marble floor beneath them, making him bow in respect for the king in front of him.
The king on the throne made a sign for the armored man to speak up.

"Sire." He spoke. "This boy was caught stealing bread in the lower village." The guard said, throwing a judgemental look towards the youth that was on his knees in front of him.

"Bread you say?" The king asked, eyes moving over to the man caught in the guard's grip. "And why, if I may ask, do you think that you have the right to steal in my kingdom, under my watch?" The guard kicked the boy,  who carefully looked up from the floor to answer the king.

"I-I am really s-sorry your majesty. I had no intention of disgracing your name. I stole the bread out of my own selfishness. My mother is sick and is lying on her deathbed. I am fully aware of my wrongdoing, but she is the only thing I have. Please, I do not wish to see her die, but we don't have the means to survive."

The king rose up from his throne and walked down the stairs. Shoes echoing unnaturally loud in the big room. Intimidatingly. The young man's eyes had become red, pitiful tears spilling down his cheeks.

"Do you have any proof of your statement?" The royal asked him, his face still that of stone.

"No, your majesty." The man gulped. " I unfortunately do not." The youth eyed the king's shoes, feeling ashamed of his own actions and words.

"What about your father? Does he not work? Does he instead teach his son to be a thief!?" The king's deep voice boomed loudly as he spoke and the captured flinched at the words.

"I-don't.....My father passed away a short while before I was born, your highness. I did not know him."
"I see." The king nodded. "Even still, his death does not justify your actions."

"Take him to the dungeons." He told the guard. "Let him stay there a month for each bread he tried to steal." The king turned on his heel and walked back to his throne, not looking back at the man that was being forcefully dragged out of the room.
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Jimin was strolling through the halls in the castle, on his way to the dungeons in the basement to take his daily round to look at the prisoners. For this, people thought him moronic. A prince wanting to willingly walk through the dirty and dark dungeons? It was unheard of to many. Despite all their thoughts and opinions on the matter, Jimin liked it. He was aware of his father's strictness, and thus knew that new prisoners would be convicted to stay there every day. What he liked was not strolling around in the dirt in the basement per se, what he did like was to see how different the people were. He could easily distinguish a low class villager from a nobleman, solely by having a normal conversation with them. This he found to be satisfactory.

It was not often that he saw people other than those working inside the castle walls. If he was not occupied with his princely duties, he was in the castle grounds practicing his combat with the royal knights. On the occasions when he did have the time to go to town, it was usually only ever to the shopping streets of the higher village, which was only a short walk away from the castle entrance. Due to these restrictions, he felt himself in need of meeting others as well. Not only the many vendors and makers he would stumble upon whilst there, but regular people,  those who had jobs that were not as visible, but still needed in society. The ones he would one day rule over.