His Highness was tired.

Yes, Taehyung knew when something was wrong with him and he knew how to solve it too.

Fending off the fact that he wasn't really tired, he knew he had guessed right when the more rational part of his mind agreed with him.

To face mother wasn't really an easy task to accomplish, and giving himself a point for that despite being called off as a disappointment, Taehyung knew that he should be tired.

But he wasn't. His highness was. Kim Taehyung was just a spectator of his life, he could only sit and watch.

And so did he. He sat and watched.

A mother monkey training it's young one to swing from tree to tree, without touching a toe to the ground. Failing it's first attempt, scared to jump anymore, the young one refused.

"It hurts so much mother! Shall we train archery rather? Swords h-hu-. . . Scare me mother-"

And he saw Kim Mun yeong there, as the mother monkey pushed off her baby without a second thought.

"NO! We are training swords! And that's final!"

The young one failed again. And cried louder.

"Mo-mother, m-my hands h-hurt-"

And rushing off to the ground, soothing her baby's wounds with her touch, there he saw his mother. Concern glazed eyes roving the baby's features, silently reassuring that it was okay and he was fine.

"Shhh . . . You're okay. . . Come, I will tend to your wounds"

Lovingly carrying her baby on her back, gently caressing it's wounds, she deftly ascended the tree and tried coaxing the baby to get back at jumping.

The frightened young one refused and once more without a second thought, the mother monkey pushed the frightened baby off the tree. And watched.

"These will heal within an hour, Taehyung and you shall, without a scar, get back at training. And before you protest, I refuse any excuses, Taehyung. You're the future king of Kaatru! Try not to forget that before you start whining like a baby"

The baby monkey failed again. But this time, it didn't cry.

"Prince, you must take rest. You might not heal at this rate"

And before it's mother could give another false reassurance, the child was back at it's feet again. Wobbling. Trembling. Yet making it's way to the tree top. Alone.

"No, mother shall not receive any news about me passing out until I master my swordsmanship. I beg of you, Beom seok."

The child failed numerous attempts. And it's mother after few demonstrations, just sat on the tree top and watched.

"Am afraid Her highness has already been appraised of this, prince. She asked you to eat more while you polish your skills in sword play."

The child finally tasted success, and cried in joy. But it's mother, patting it's back only pushed forward the baby for another try.

"There is a lot more than just knowing how to swing a sword, Taehyung. Work hard! Earn to be the omega king of Kaatru, you won't get it on a platter just because you're my son! "

All that His highness heard was "work harder" and all that little Taehyung wished was to be normal.

There were days he wished he could play and wander the city like other boys. There were days he longed to talk with his tree friends and send squirrels for a spy attack in his own little kingdom. And there were days he yearned to be enough for no matter how many tries, he always was not.

Neither was he taught how to be enough, nor did he knew when will he be.
But someday, at sometime, to someone from somewhere he wished he could be and for him, that would be enough.

"But Mother, I'm only eighteen now. . . And have two more years-"

"Taehyung, listen to me. If there is this time I say, is the best for you to take over, you must not call it off as a truce of having done enough" She took a grave pause, "It's rather, a rise that will shoulder upon responsibilities and you need that to do more,my son. This is not enough!"

"B-but-"

"No buts and ifs, Taehyung, " Kim Mun yeong sighed, " I have heard your fair share of them. It's your turn to now silently comply"

"Mother-"

"I didn't train you to let you roam around the kingdom aimlessly, Taehyung! " His mother roared, almost impatient. "You're an Omega! And to become a king- you can't be like other omegas, son. You can't-" her voice down to a whisper at the end.

"B-bu- " he stuttered, eyes glazed, " Y-you p-pro-promis- "

"All promises aren't meant to be followed, Taehyung!" She wailed,"Som-some face inevitable end while the others have no choice else than to be broke! " Too bad that he knew his mother too well, as he silently brought upon a hand to wipe an incoming tear down her cheek.

"Why m-mother?" He croaked out past the furious race of hot tears down his own cheeks, "d-don't I de-deserve a ch-choice?"

"You do," She whispered back, cupping his cheeks, " Of course you do, b-but I can't give you o-one. Not here. Not now." Her thumbs roved his cheeks wiping tears just like he did to her.

"W-why? " He breathed out, nose red and wet cheeks ceaselessly being rained down.

"There aren't answers to some questions, Tae Tae. B-but you can choose, all that you want, " She paused sniffling, "once the throne tastes your power. I promise"

" But y-you w-won't break it" He croaked out, his long wet lashes slapping his cheeks, "r-right mother? "

"I won't, " She paused, "Your coronation tomorrow. Don't be late, " She gave a wry smile before walking towards his chamber door.

"Don't have a choice," He mumbled back, as he saw his mother's retreating back, too far to hear him from there.

His highness, as was promised, possessed all the choices that Kim Taehyung didn't.

All at the cost of normalcy.

" JUST ONE DAY SHALL I NOT BE ALLOWED A CHANCE AT NORMALCY?! IS IT A CRIME THAT BAD TO ASK, MOTHER?! " He roared, blood boiling in agony.

A vase beside scattered apart to shambles.

"YES! IT IS! YOU ARE DIFFERENT, TAEHYUNG! AND ASKING FOR NORMALCY ISN'T A CRIME, IT'S GREED, SON! IT'S GREED! " His mother roared back.

Storm ensued.

" I AM GREEDY?! " He asked in disbelief, pointing at himself. And with a sinister laughter for a fourteen year old he spat, "THEN SO ARE YOU, MOTHER! "

And without a chance at reply for her, he continued, " TO ASK OF AN ALPHA FROM A PETTY OMEGA! ISN'T THAT GREED, YOUR HIGHNESS?! " The title dripping with menace and unexpected mock.

Skies roared and licked the ground.

" Petty Omega? " She repeated, with a raised brow and an eerie calm in her voice. " PETTY OMEGA! IS THAT HOW I RAISED YOU TO BE, SON! DISRESPECTFUL TO A RANK OF WHICH YOUR MO- THE QUEEN OF THIS CLAN BELONGS TO?! AND YOU SHALL DARE NOT TO CALL ME GREEDY, FOR I HAVE BEEN NOTHING MORE THAN PATIENT WITH YOU, TAEHYUNG! " she retreated, face flushed with an icy blue glare.

Wind howled at the window.

" Patient with me? Bahahaha! " He glared back, " It might have been until yesterday would I have brought your false claims, mother. But today! I am no more a fool! No more an omega toy you shall play with- "

A sting burnt his cheek. The slap echoed the Hall. And silence.

Mother and son and their icy blue glares, indisputably cold.

The heavy downpour outside turned worse. And the curtains nowhere close to candles, caught ablaze in a sudden fire. Chaos.

Havoc surfaced and he stormed off, his wolf tearing apart his clothes and paws scolding the sod- blind to any fire, deaf to any shouts and fuming in too much rage to even feel the icy cold rainfall.

He doesn't remember much of his childhood. But, if these were his memories, he would gladly forget all of them. And if he tried more, then maybe his mother's words too.

♛┈✧┈♛

True Royal bloods had a strong sense of smell. Stronger than any other rank of werewolves.

Yet, the alpha had come about to doubt that over his little adventure with an eccentric omega, two days ago.

He knew Alphas who reeked of sweat, Betas covered in soil and omegas as fragrant as roses. Yet, Kim Taehyung, the omega king of Kaatru, wasn't one among those.

He was enticingly eccentric.

After knocking him out cold, he was certain that the omega smelled close to 'wild lillies', but following his little endeavor to find firewood he smelled 'sandalwood' and then with every passing hour, even that wore off. And the remnant scent. . . well, odd enough yet alluring, couldn't be given a solid name for.

Full moon on bloom shone through the window sill, as the soon-to-be-prince leaned his head and stared. It reminded him of his eccentric little omega. Kim Taehyung.

Though kissed by sun on every inch of his expanse, he very much resembled thr lonely, cold moon. The king lit up the dark and forgot his own and yet the more the darker he was, the truer he felt - his eyes spoke for all that his lips never did.

So much for just 'enticingly eccentric'.

On a huge spectrum of a scale of stupidity, the alpha swore that he could give himself an outstanding hundred and one. For reasons he couldn't reason and justifications that most probably didn't justify themselves, he felt a raging desire to hide his true motivations of arrival to Kim Tae- His highness.

To fuel the blooming dissonance, he found himself wanting to unravel the enigma of the said omega ─Oh yes, he didn't like to be called so─ His highness, Kim Taehyung.

It was way past midnight, the entire kingdom asleep. A reigning silence defied by the howling wind. His thoughts. And now, footfalls.

The chamber door creaked, and he entered in as if he hadn't had the alpha or anyone wrapped around his mere presence. Clad in simple tunic, nothing alike a Royal's wardrobe, but Jungkook feared that even blinking would hinder him from drinking up the embodiment of beauty before him.

It was all until his gaze shifted to his face. Exhausted. Pale. And his eyes, they seemed. . hollow. His eyes just as sealed as his lips.

"Care to explain, now? The reasons? With more reason?" He inquired, condescending. " And no more flirting now"

There wasn't a stage, but it seemed like all that the king wore was a masquerade. Of void.

"B-but I-, " Jungkook stammered, buying time for having not prepared his lies, despite ransacking his brain for the last few hours.

" If you want to spare your dear life, then hurry up before I choose not to," Taehyung darkly warned.

"I -I sh-shall yo-your highness-"

"Did I stutter?"

"No, your high-"

"Now answer- who are you?" Taehyung paused, before adding a terse, "And don't you dare to lie"

"I-I am Jung Jung Hyuk, an orphan from the neighbouring kingdom of Aranya. I was raised by my uncle and aunt for whom I ran errands in return. We were poor. I wasn't really good at anything so they sent me here to aid their distant relative to run errands for their son's marriage, " Jungkook breathed out, surprising himself.

"But then how come can you run this fast? " Taehyung solicited, after a short pause.

" I am an Alpha, you highness, " Jungkook covered up, lacking any plausible answer past that.

Raising a brow, " And you think I wouldn't know that? " Taehyung asked.

"Of course you would! You are the King of Kaatru, your Highness,"

"That still doesn't explain my question," Taehyung retorted, unfazed of his flattery.

"As I said, I am an alpha. And used to race my friends often when young. So. ." Jungkook trailed off.

A questioning brow, had him sighing in defeat, " Well I don't know, your highness. I just can run fast. Ever since. . . Childhood"

"And no one raised a suspicious brow? " Taehyung asked, adding, "That you're too fast? "

"They were rather busy being glad, to have someone run free errands for them," Jungkook explained, again taking himself by surprise.

'Maybe I should put more focus on such undiscovered abilities of mine! So smooth, you sneaky little prince!' He mentally lauded himself.

" And you want me to believe you weren't lying through your teeth through this all, right? " Taehyung asked, his voice an octave deeper and not an emotion in his usually expressive eyes. Not even anger.

'Oh fuck! He found out! It's better I just tell him the tru-'

'You can't just give away now after lying all the way till here, you filtered fool! Maybe he's not trusting you, just say something that will make him! '

'What do you want me to tell?! He's just so. . . Unreadable!'

'You have convincingly lied to Hoseok many times! Come on, it's not that hard!'

'Fuck! He probably knows that I am lying. That stare says it all. Am literally gonna die now. Not in a war like a prince but in a prison rotting away with ra-'

'Fucking shut up! Just say you don't lie. That's convincing enough for today'

'Remind me why am I doing this again?'

'No reason, you idiot! Just say it! We can go on from there!'

'There will no more be a 'from there',I am gonna die and that's the end-'

'Just say it before I kill you myself! '

'Am sorry, father'

Gulping a lump in his throat after a teeny tiny debate session in his mind , he sincerely answered, patting his mouth for  being in control for once—

"Your highness, I don't lie"

♛┈✧┈♛

A/n: HAPPY NEW YEAR Y'ALLS! (Guess I was the last to wish, am sorry)

New year eve live was mind-blowing!🤯

But, WE GOT A SELCA!!! A TAEKOOK SELCA!! This year can't get any better, but awaiting more from our kings!

Stay safe dandies!

Sorry if I am annoying! And also buckle up for upcoming uvagai!

And new year wishes from our lovely boys! 💜