The Royal King Who Saw Heart In A Royally Equal Thief //Jaehyungparkian\\

9- Royal Childhood

"Mommy, why did we leave daddy?" Jae asked as he looked up at his angry mother. Her eyebrows were furrowed and her dark brown hair bounced with each heavy step she took, dragging the five year old along with her.

Before this, Jae heard screams and shouts that came from his parents. It happened almost everyday so this one seemed nothing new. He was used to it, unfortunately. But this one hell that came from his mother, it was something he will never forget and live with for the rest of his life.

"This, what we have isn't love, the king is who I desire, now you! Ha, you really thought I loved you for so long?!"

After that, she had ran to Jae's room and dragged him out with his crying and desperate father on his knees, begging for them to stay. Jae never found out what exactly caused this argument. He barely remembers his father's face and name, but he can still here those cries of forgiveness.

This has made him believe that his mother was never in the wrong, it was his father that had driven her mad enough to be with the king. If only Jae knew what this would cost him, if only he had a say in things and understood what happened, he would've stayed with his father and comfort him.

"Hello, my name is Sungjin, what is yours?"

Jae has gotten the chance to meet the heir to the throne, prince Sungjin of Busan. At the time, he didn't think of it as an honor, even now it still isn't. "I'm—I'm Jaehyung..." the boy looked down and fiddled with his fingers as he felt an unusual amount of pressure fall on top of him.

"That's a pretty name, your really pretty too."

There it is.

Everyone Jae would come across would compliment his looks. They would say that he is cute or pretty, he understands that he is a child and that is normal, but to get these compliments from kids around his age was weird. He didn't believe it was normal at all.

"Thank you, I guess."

Sungjin patted Jae on the head and rubbed his hair. "Let's make a promise, alright?"

Jae looked at the prince in confusion, a promise? They had just met and now Sungjin is asking for a promise. He didn't think this was something people would do after only meeting for a few minutes. "Sure." He agreed to it anyways.

"We will do what we want to each other, only catch is that we won't hurt each other."

That was a weird promise, Jae didn't think much of it when he agreed. He didn't know that that very promise will lead to so much mental abuse from the person he had once thought of as a friend. He should have been more careful, every action between the two from then on had it's consequences.

Sungjin and Jae held hands as they stood in front of their parents graves. The sudden death of both was unexpected, and soon enough, Sungjin was no longer a prince but a king. Jae was still unknown to the world, no one has even seen him since his mother and him left their old home. By now, the people in his neighborhood had long forgotten him and grieves the lost of the late queen of Busan.

"She was a beautiful lady, she has passed that beauty onto you. Your face is just as hers, she will be remembered by you." Sungjin said as his grip grew tighter on Jae's hand. The older didn't flinch or spoke, speaking was something he knew not at the moment. Anything he says will be held against him later.

"You may speak, as your new king, I order you to speak."

Jae looked down at the words written on the stone. He wouldn't forget what he heard that very day it happened. When the maid screamed and ran out the bedroom and announced the queen's death, it was frightening. But Jae felt weight being lifted off of him. Possibly the pressure of being a hidden prince was getting to him. He shouldn't have that problem now.

He is a commoner, nothing special. Someone who lived only to take orders by their superior.

"No need for comfort, I have her death in my hands, fore I was the cause and this was the outcome."

He laid in bed next to the sleeping king, tonight he was finally going to do what he had longed for:

Gain back his freedom.

It was something he hadn't had in a long time, so long ago he can't even remember the feeling.

"Please know I do this to survive, mom..."

He slowly got up from the bed and searched and took every valuables from the castle. He didn't have time to check for a seal mark, he needed anything he could get his hands on.

After being satisfied, he left, and no one stopped him. He didn't know how he had managed to do so, but he made it. He found a little ally just a bit away from his former home and decided it was decent enough to sleep, praying that no one will steal the items he had took.

Jae has now left the pawn shop with about 1k in his hands. Sadly, only one item actually had the kingdom's seal on it so it was the only one of value. The rest was little house hold items. He wasn't suspected as a thief, there are some items outside the castle with a seal on them, so he wasn't worried about that.

But this money had left quickly as he spent it on food and water as well as clothes that cost nearly half of what he earned. He was now empty handed when it came to money and he was almost out of food. It has only been two months since his escape from the castle and the drawing of his face was stuck everywhere in order for his finding. This was no bounty, it was a flyer that informed the kingdom of his disappearance.

Only thing is, the people wondered why must he be returned to the castle? This was the down side to this, if he showed no criminal record than what was the point. The people never reported him even when they recognized him, there wasn't even an award for his return.

Sadly though, the guards around the city multiplied making it harder for him to hide. It's only been about a year since he left, the closest kingdom is Seoul (not irl technically but who said logic existed). He had no other choice but to migrate.

It was hard to make money on his own with no job, apparently it is required to actually have a place to live in order to work in this kingdom. So the only thing he has left to do, was steal. So he became a well known thief in Seoul, everywhere he took something, someone reported him. But when he slept outside, he knew people saw him, they didn't seem to care though. He was never turned in.

So when King Kang Younghyun of Seoul said there was a high paying bounty for his head, he couldn't believe it.

Not one bit.

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I'm back suckers
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