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The Elestial Royal family stayed the night in Arothia after the funeral as it was too late to head back and they couldn't risk the lives of most important people for Elestial. So they just decided to head out in the morning.

Jeongguk couldn't sleep the entire night. He liked to blame the change of setting, it was the same room as he stayed in before when he came. It was still the same but now his mind repeated one name again and again. Restlessness following through his body, he wanted to yell out loud. He just can't believe Taehyung called it quits on them, it doesn't make sense to him.

Jeongguk has so much more to lose than him, doesn't he? Jeongguk is the Crown Prince, Jeongguk would be the one facing the lashing if he is to say he loves a man, not just any man but a Prince from Arothia, the same brother of his soon to be ex fiancé. His parents would never accept him and so wouldn't his kingdom. He could lose the Crown Prince title and his younger brother would have to go through the pressure he went through. He doesn't want that, Jeongguk doesn't want that to happen.

Yet he still wants Taehyung. He is still ready to risk it all for him, he is ready to face anything that comes his way to get Taehyung by his side, as his lover, as his partner. He knows Taehyung feels something for him too so it's hard to understand why it is so easy for him to throw it away like they were nothing. Those nights they spent together, waking up next to each other, all tangled up. Those stolen kisses, the flirtatious glances, the sweet whispers.

Did they all mean nothing to him? the more Jeongguk thinks about it, the more he loses his mind. He tried to clear his mind to get a wink of sleep but next thing he knew he closed his eyes and opened them up again to greet the new day with sun shining through the windows. He cannot believe he spent the whole night just thinking and thinking.

He decided he isn't going to let them end like this. It's not fair to him, to them. Getting up from the bed, he went inside the bathroom to get ready for the new day.

After freshening up in the bathroom, he looked at himself one more time in the mirror. Taking a deep breath before going out of the room. He was headed to Taehyung though he had no idea where he would be. He saw some guards standing around and decided where to ask them.

They saw the Crown Prince approaching them and immediately bowed to him, looking down on the floor.

"Where is Prince Taehyung?" Jeongguk asked them and they exchanged glances before looking back to the Prince.

"Your majesty, Prince Taehyung isn't in the Palace."

"What? What do you mean? Where is he?" He bombarded them with questions and they were quiet for a second.

"He didn't tell anyone where he went, your majesty. He headed out last night and hasn't been back since." The guard told him and Jeongguk stared at them in disbelief.

He dismissed them because clearly they were as unaware as him about Taehyung's whereabouts. He just kept walking around deep in his thoughts to even acknowledge his surroundings. He had probably taken a stroll around the whole Palace by the end of his train of thoughts. 

Jeongguk's thoughts were keeping him too busy. He didn't even until he bumped into his own father to come back to reality. Jeongguk saw the distressed look in his father and immediately blocked everything else in his mind. "Father? what happened?"

"Jeongguk!! Where have you been!? I have been looking everywhere for you, the world is going upside down and you are roaming around??" His father scolded him. Jeongguk bit his lip.

"I'm sorry, father. I have been around here sorry I am just not in the right mindset. Just tell me what happened?" Jeongguk asked his stressed father. His father grabbed his arm and the grip was tighter than usual.

"Jo Dongsik is dead, Jeongguk. Someone killed the Mad King. There are riots all over the nation. This is major news and we have to head back. There is someone stronger than that heinous man and we have to be more alert than any other nation. I hope you are not taking what I am saying lightly." His father stated, the serious look in his eyes wasn't anything to take lightly either.

Jeongguk was in too much shock to even answer because he couldn't believe it. What do you mean the man he has been aching to defeat all this time is gone? Just like that? as if it was so easy to kill him. He was speechless for a good few seconds. His mind was going blank, it was like everything just spinned for a good second.

"who…who was it?"

"We haven't found out yet but we need to go back immediately, start preparing…we have a new challenge now."

Jeongguk was done with his packing. The servants insisted on helping him to pack his bag but he told them to go and leave him alone. He needed some time alone, time to think about what had just happened. No matter how much he thinks about it, nothing is making much sense.

Who out of nowhere killed him? Who is this person who is so powerful? If Jeongguk has to guess he can assume that person is just as powerful as him, maybe even more if taking the Mad King down was this easy for them. He has to prepare himself for a new enemy. Someone who can handle more than him. His train of thoughts were interrupted by his bedroom door opening with a slam.

Turning around to see the Princess standing in front of the door with a troubled expression on her face. Her gaze went down to his suitcase and up at his face. "You are leaving?"

"Yes,Iseul. I don't know if you have heard but-" Jeongguk was rudely cut off by her.

"Why are you leaving me? Why does everybody leave me ?? my father is dead, my brother is missing and now you are leaving me in this cursed Palace alone too? Please don't leave, please take me with you!!" Iseul exclaimed, running towards Jeongguk and hugging him tightly. Her head was resting on his chest because of the height difference.

Jeongguk gulped, his hands in the air, not hugging her back. He sighed and put his hands on her shoulder to push her away.

"I am sorry,Princess but I really have to leave. There's an emergency. You might be unaware about this but the King of Xethen died this morning. Our biggest enemy has been defeated by someone unknown and we have to prepare for anything because we have no idea if we would be next. So to protect My kingdom I have to leave." Jeongguk tried to explain it to her but she wasn't listening.

"What about me? what if I'm killed next?? I'm not safe here. Please take me with you, your majesty!!" She was pleading, from all the events around her, she has gotten emotional and more sensitive than anyone else. She has no one around her anymore.

Before Jeongguk could even reply to her, he heard his name being roared in the hallways. Farrowing his eyebrow in confusion by how loud the voice was and it was very familiar to him. He wasn't even able to go out and check as the person came into the room. His father, who was fuming from anger. His face had gotten red and he was even sweating a bit. The air surrounding him was darker than Jeongguk had ever seen.

"Jeongguk!! get away from her!!" His father grabbed his arm tightly and pulled him towards himself. His father's grip on his arm was suffocating.

"What are you doing-" Jeongguk asked him but was interrupted before he could finish.

"These people have betrayed us, this entire kingdom has betrayed us. This kingdom betrayed it's own people. We can't maintain relationships in a kingdom like this,let's get out of here!!" His father tried dragging him away with Iseul following him but Jeongguk was strong? He freed himself from the tight grip.

"What are you even saying!? don't leave me in the dark, I am the Crown Prince and I deserve to know what is going on, so tell me!?" Jeongguk demanded an answer from his hyper father.

"You are not marrying the Princess anymore!!"

Princess Iseul's eyes widened in disbelief. She could feel her ears ringing. She walked closer to the King, a nervous laugh left her mouth. "W-what?? y-you can't be serious about this,your majesty. Don't do this!! What have I done?"

"You tell us!! With the way your kind loves having secrets, you tell me what more you are all hiding. She might be a part of it too, maybe it was a part of the plan. To seduce my son and take over Elestial too now that Xethen is under them!! Ha, not anymore." His father claimed and confusion just kept rising as both had no idea what was going on.

"Father…who killed Jo Dongsik?" Jeongguk asked him.

"Becoming one with this family is spitting on our own dignity. It was a trap, they have betrayed us. He was the one behind all this. He killed Xethen's King and he didn't even spare his own father. He's worse than Jo Dongsik."

"Father, Are you being h-honest? There's no way." Jeongguk stuttered, the spit in his throat was getting heavier and it felt so heavy when he tried to gulp it down. He could feel his entire body heating up.

"I have no reason to lie. The Prince of Arothia, illegitimate son of the late king, Kim Taehyung has killed the Mad King." His father stated, shocking everyone in the hallway.

Chaos was inevitable. All the other Kingdoms were in a state of panic. When everyone's common enemy is suspiciously killed by none other than a half blood prince who no one even noticed before, suddenly eliminating the strongest enemy was enough to cause uproar everywhere.

Nobody knew anything about Kim Taehyung and that was the scariest part of it all. Even his own kingdom, Arothia, didn't know much about their Prince. When other Kingdom's throw parties, have events in their kingdom, they invite other Kingdom's too. When it came to Arothia, The King would always show up. There were instances where even sometimes the Princess Iseul would show up along with him but never the Prince.

He was underestimated by his own father that others never got to see his talents. Now everyone is fearing this Prince. The Prince they never took interest in before. Questions looming in everyone's mind from how did he do it to where he is now?.

Questions in Jeongguk's mind were different. He was questioning their every single interaction together. Was it all a strategy to move forward with his plan or what they had was actually real? there was no source to answer his question and it was making him lose his mind. With his father ordering their soldiers left and right, Jeongguk was trying so hard to not feel distraught, he didn't know the situation but he felt betrayed. He felt like he didn't know Taehyung at all.

"Find that Prince, go to Xethen and investigate. We might be at risk because we were in very close proximity with the Prince, he was in our kingdom, in our Palace. We don't know what his aim is but us being the next target isn't out of the question. So find him and alert me as soon as you find anything about this, about what happened." The King announced to the soldier in his court.

There were official ministers gathered, so we're the generals and every important person in the Elestial. There were many decisions to be made with this new situation that fell upon them and they need to do the best to protect them and eliminate the new enemy as soon as possible.

"But your majesty, this could be a good thing. We are allies with the Arothian Kingdom, The Princess is to marry our Crown Prince, the Prince is an Arothian Prince. He should be keeping our alliance in mind, This might be a good thing for us." The minister that handled that intentional affairs put in his opinion on the situation.

"My son is not marrying their princess anymore. That half blood Prince killed his own father, he didn't show loyalty to his own kingdom, do you think he will show loyalty to us? We need to start being serious here. There is terror in our kingdom because we let a spy so close to our Palace who knows how many other people are here? if anything he might have joined hands with some other enemy." The king threw in another allegation.

Jeongguk was trying so hard not to lose his mind, sitting here in this bunch. He wants to defend Taehyung, tell everyone in this room they can trust him, Taehyung wouldn't do anything like that but the odds are against him and so is everything that has been happening. For now, he can't do anything with confidence because putting it quite simply, he doesn't know anything.

There were whispers and mumbling all over the court. He could feel the stare of the old men on him. He wasn't sure why, was it because of the marriage being canceled or the fact he might be one of the very few people who was close with Prince Taehyung. Jeongguk isn't sure but if it is the second he wonders if they know he is just as clueless as them. Sighing again,he looked down on his lap.

"Our best solution right now is to find out where the Prince is. There are two kingdoms with no Kings, we don't want to be one of them. Find him and then we will move on to our next step. He killed two Kings, not in the state of a battle or even a war but rather a planned murder. This is a crime and he shall be punished."

"We have no right to punish him!" Jeongguk spoke up for the first time since he came to the court. His father glared at him in anger, he didn't like his tone, it was unnecessary loud.

"If we won't then who will, Your majesty? Do you want your father to be the next victim then?" One of the higher officials spoke up against him too.

"He didn't kill anyone from our kingdom. He didn't kill even in our kingdom. By the laws and rules we follow, we have absolutely no right to punish him.

"Law? rules? My son, I have raised you better to be this naive. Do you know who makes these rules? I am the law of Elestial. My words are the rules. I am pretty sure Arothian and Xethens will thank me for punishing the murderer of their king." The way his father spoke, made Jeongguk think he did not know him at all.

"I want to join them, I want to search for the Prince. I was close with the Prince during his stay here, if I say so myself I was closer to him than anyone else. If we are able to find him I can talk to him, maybe we can find a common ground. Isn't the best thing out of this not killing him but making him out ally? Can you imagine the power we would have if he was on our side?" Jeongguk decided to go in the more political side of the situation.

He scanned the room to see many people agreeing with him, that is indeed a better solution but the King wasn't having any of it.

"No, you are staying here. We need to search for him but at the same time we don't know if we might be attacked next so we need the crown Prince here. You all know very well my health doesn't let me fight anymore. We need a strong warrior to face him head on. So no, you would stay here, Jeongguk." The king said to him.

Jeongguk tried to argue against him but his father shot down every single argument of his. He dismissed the officials and the soldiers to go off on their mission. He gave one suspicious glance to his son before walking out of the room, leaving Jeongguk alone in this room with his thoughts.

The next two months went by a little too slowly for Jeongguk. Maybe life goes slower when you are looking forward to something. The search for Kim Taehyung went on for a full month, he was nowhere to be found . It was indeed a mystery where he went. The search in Xethen came to a halt when their soldiers started to drop dead there.

Just what they feared,Kim Taehyung had indeed taken over both Arothia and Xethen.  Even if he was not their King yet the throne is automatically his as he is the one who defeated their Kings. Despite that, both kingdoms showed loyalty to him. When their soldiers went to find him and came across Xethen soldiers asked about Taehyung. They attacked them and killed many of their men as they were overpowered.

If that wasn't enough, there were new corpses being found in their own kingdom. Some were innocent citizens while others were the men from the Palace. There was no doubt in their mind of who could be doing this, Jo Dongsik died and was replaced with a person that wasn't any different from him. The hope Jeongguk had in his heart, to be optimistic about this was long gone.

Jeongguk did his best to clear Taehyung's name but with his actions, killing his men was something Jeongguk wouldn't look past. Before anything, it is his duty to protect his people and he won't let his personal feelings stop him from achieving that. Taehyung was officially considered an enemy to them and the hunt for him became more outraged.

However, They weren't the only kingdoms being attacked. they realized Kim Taehyung wasn't hiding somewhere like a coward, instead he was out, in battles with other Kingdoms to expand his kingdom. Oranesia, a kingdom that is very agriculture focused and Sillenan, a Kingdom with one of the most progressing economy, were both known to be in battle with Kim Taehyung who had his own army with him that was mixture of soldiers from both of the kingdoms he took over before.  Both of these kingdoms were bigger than Arothia so it was still shocking to them how a small Kingdom Prince was able to take over them so easily.

These were territories even Elestial hadn't even reached yet because these were kingdoms in the south, while they were closer southeast. That's a whole different type of people who speak as the further you go the different people are there. It's a territory you need to be careful to step in as you don't know what you might face. Here was Kim Taehyung, who just took over another two kingdoms. If he keeps his pace up, he will have a Kingdom that is bigger than Elestial .

Even the kingdoms he was targeting had something in specific that they were good at, it was like he was targeting kingdoms that had something good and picking them out and putting them under his territory to make one perfect Kingdom. They were only thinking while Kim Taehyung was running. He was ten steps ahead of everyone right now.

Taehyung wasn't stupid either. He knew now that his location is known, the other Kingdoms who see him as enemy will run over to Arothia and Xethen to take over them, challenging them in a battle to take over kingdoms with no King. So he did the boldest move and held a coronation. If things weren't already crazy, he sent the neighboring kingdoms that he hasn't taken over yet an invitation to the ceremony.

The smaller kingdom and even the bigger ones were scared to show up, it might just be one of his tricks to see his next potential target. There was fear mongering over everyone's head. Just one name that kept them alert. Even Elestial got an invitation.

Jeongguk saw how his father's eyebrows scrunched in disgust at the breakfast table when the servant came in with the invitation. He read it and immediately ripped it apart into shreds, throwing away the remains on the ground.

"Why did you do that? what was it?" His mother spoke up after gasping at how aggressive her husband was with the mere envelope.

"It's that illegitimate Prince coronation, he is going to combine the four kingdoms he took over and be a king to them all. He's full of pride by now?,just who does he think he is? After killing our people he thinks we will show up at his fucking coronation. The audacity and to think I was going to marry my son in their fucked up bloodline, good riddance!!" His father exclaimed, getting up from his seat and started to walk out of the room.

"Don't walk out, you still haven't finished eating-" His mother was cut off by his father's harsh tone.

"I have lost my appetite." He claimed, he said something else to the servant that was following him but it was unhearable  from this distance. Jeongguk assumes it's probably him calling Hoseok Hyung again so they can plan something new to take down Taehyung.

He sighed at his own untouched food on the plate. Eating hasn't really been his priority for awhile now. Unlike his dramatic father, Jeongguk has actually lost his appetite for a while now. He doesn't remember when was the last time he ate to his heart's content. Nothing goes down his throat without making him feel like he is going to throw up.

For the first time, Jeongguk feels scared. He is scared of the future and what it may bring. He is scared that Taehyung is gone from his grasp. The Taehyung he knew was forgotten long ago and is never coming back.

It's time Jeongguk starts to accept the reality, the reality where Taehyung isn't his. Where Taehyung isn't a good person.

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The plot twist is here hehe we are just getting started.

Also now that Taehyung has now four different kingdoms under him, they all will become and will have the Xethens name. Simple really, borders out and the different kingdoms became one. The rules and regulations will stay the same because of course you can't just wipe off the way of an entire kingdom. It's just a new ruler in control now. Which is I will stop mentioning Arothia now as that's just Xethen now.
I wish I knew how to make maps cz then I would have shown you guys the kingdoms and shit that he took over and how big is elestial. yeah…<3
-K