It has been four years since the incident and Jungkook has never left the mansion. After two months into his grounding period, his father thought he must get used to the mansion because he will be king one day. Jungkook wasn’t allowed to touch any of his archery gears or horseback anymore because his father was afraid it will just trigger him to rebel. His lesson hours has increased from 9 hours to 11 hours a day and his dark circles started to become more apparent. He has not spoken to his father since Jaera left unless it is necessary but he still try to open up to his mother. He knew his mother wasn’t part of the plan but he was still disappointed in his mother for not stopping her own husband. 

    At night he would look at his old pictures with Jaera and Jimin and sighed multiple times. He always felt like crying but he has learned the skill of holding back his own tears over the course of four years. His life was uneventful, stressful and just lifeless. Nothing changed in the castle until the day he turns nineteen and his mother fifty. 

    “Jungkook, go and change now. The guests will be arriving soon.” The queen spoke to him as she noticed he was still in his nightgown, from not leaving his room all day. It was his birthday and the only day he gets complete freedom, but of course, inside the mansion. That means no lessons for a day. It was also the day his mother turns fifty, and in Relia’s tradition, the 50th birthday of a royal family member must be celebrated with the other 11 kingdoms. It is the time where kings and queens from different kingdom come to one kingdom to celebrate one’s birthday. 

    “I will be down soon,” Jungkook spoke in a polite voice. Although he talks more to his mother than his father, he was still very timid around his parents. 

    “Please welcome, Queen Bae Irene from the Kingdom of Vous.” Jungkook watched a petite woman who looked no older than 25 walk down the grand staircase. 

    “How old is she?” Jungkook asked Butler Lee who stood next to him since the beginning of the party.

    “28 this year, my prince.” 

    “28? Isn’t that too young to be a queen?”

    “Her father died two years ago and she chose to step in as the kingdom’s leader.”

    “Without a king?” Jungkook asked him with wide eyes as he saw her mingle with the other guests.

    “They are one of the kingdom that already broke tradition. The next one coming in is also an independent leader.” Butler Lee whispered as he shift his gaze to the woman using a purple gown with gold details on the waist area. 

    “Please welcome, Queen Ailee from the Kingdom of Corelia.” The introduced queen smiled brightly and walked down the staircase quite hastily for a queen. 

    It went on for another hour until every guest were already welcomed and it was time to present a gift to the queen. Everyone had different gifts, based on what their kingdom’s specialty is. Relia, being the biggest kingdom, had no specialty because they specialise in everything, except for herbs, which is from the Kingdom of Vous.

    “Your Majesty, this is the Velvet petal. This petal is enough to heal one person from any kind of sickness. Use it wisely.” Queen Irene whispered to Queen Jungyeon. It was a rare petal and there are originally only 10 petals after it was discovered. People tried to search for it but they couldn’t find it. There were no seeds, just petals. Nobody knows how much is left and nobody knew Queen Irene gifted Queen Jungyeon one. 

    “Irene, I can’t possibly accept this.” Queen Jungyeon covered Queen Irene’s palm with shock evident in her eyes. 

    “I trust you with this.” They both smiled at each other and Queen Irene stepped back. 

    As soon as she stepped on the last stair, there was suddenly a choking sound from beside the queen. 

    “Jaeguk!” Jungkook, who was previously studying his already perfect nails, looked at his father and notice his face turning greenish pale and hand around his neck. His eyes were wide open and he tried speaking but only air came out. 

    “Father!” He ran to his father and caught him before he fell off from his throne. The guards quickly came with a stretcher and the medical team ready to put on oxygen mask on the king. Jungkook saw his father being carried away and all the guest being evacuated. Everybody knew there was a criminal inside the building. Someone had poisoned the king. It was impossible for the king to turn that odd shade of green if it weren’t because of poison. He looked at the cup that fell and saw remaining of powder that couldn’t mix with the liquid. 

    “Guards, take a sample of this and find out who did this.” Jungkook commanded with a strong voice and was immediately evacuated too. 

    He was suddenly in the safe room with his mother and he could see his mother was shaking from fear and tears were already streaming down her face. 

    “Mom, calm down,”
    “Your father almost died! Who could’ve done this?” She clutched her head and suddenly the Velvet Petal fell from her hands. Jungkook picked it up and gave it to his mother without thinking too much about it. It looks familiar but he realised it was just one of those flowers in one of  those textbooks. 

    The queen grabbed the petal quickly and looked at it for awhile. 

    “My Queen, prince. We have good news and bad news.” The queen sat upright and Jungkook looked at the medical team leader with hope. “The King isn’t dead. He’s still breathing well. Unfortunately the poison is almost similar to cancer,” The queen gasped and clutched her heart. Her face began to pale and her breathing became unsteady. Jungkook quickly went to his mother and rubbed her back to try to calm her down. 

    “And here’s the bad news,”

    “That’s the good news?” Jungkook exclaimed.

    “This poison works faster than cancer.”

    Nobody spoke, nobody moved and nobody responded. The doctor began to sweat and he wiped away the sweat that was dripping from his forehead. He rubbed his hands on his pants to get rid of the sweat and his pupils began shaking. 

    “How long?” The queen finally asked, but her eyes already empty and full of sorrow. 

    “Three months maximum.” 

    “Leave.” The queen spoke coldly and the doctor scurried away. Jungkook looked straight ahead and he felt his head beginning to hurt. 

    The queen took out the petal and stared at it for another minute. She stared at it with eyes full of dilemma and Jungkook began to feel suspicious.

    “What’s wrong?” Jungkook tried to take the petal away but the queen was fast enough to put it inside her pouch.

    “Nothing. I just feel tired from today and from what happened. I’m going to rest. Wake me up as soon as you hear news from the medical team.”

    The moment they were evacuated from the emergency room, the queen locked herself in her bedroom and left Jungkook alone. Jungkook sighed watching how her mother suddenly being distant and decided to just spend his time in his room. 

    It was exactly the next morning when suddenly the royal consultant was sitting in front of Jungkook in the dining room. Jungkook looked at him without blinking and his mother was already eating her corn soup with her golden spoon. The royal consultant was writing on a piece of paper with the emerald quilt, which could only mean one thing, serious problem. 

    Did father die? Is this his final will? Am I being sent away? Am I going to be king? Be King?! Jungkook’s head shot up and he looked at the royal consultant who has stopped writing and was in fact staring at him. The consultant looked young but he was definitely older than him. He had minty green hair that was definitely died because his eyebrows were still black. The prince looked at his name tag and read, “Min Yoon Gi.” Jungkook gulped and ate his soup timidly.

    “Your highness, shall I present to you my idea now?” The consultant started as he saw the queen already finished with her soup.

    The queen signal the consultant to continue talking. 

    “There has been lots of questions from each region’s leader. Everybody wants to know how someone could possibly poison the king when there’s hundreds of people assigned to guard the king. Of course we can’t possibly tell them he’s in a coma with a disease even worse than cancer—”

    “Why can’t we tell them that?” Jungkook interrupted.

    The consultant looked at him with bored eyes and sighed after taking of his glasses. “Because, your highness, if we tell them that the king is in no condition to lead, they will demand a a new royal blood to replace your father.”

    “But that’s my job, isn’t it? To be a king,” Jungkook said with confused eyes as he looked at his mother who is barely paying attention, still fiddling with the petal he saw her holding yesterday. He looked back at the consultant and saw he had put on his glasses again and had folded his hand in a polite manner. His lips curved up a bit and he stared at Jungkook with interest.

    “I’ve been told that you didn’t want to be king. Where is this coming from? This sudden patriotism. To save the kingdom.” Jungkook gulped looking at his menacing eyes. They probably weren’t menacing at all, but to Jungkook they did look scary. 

    “I’ve angered my father too many times. I will make sure to make him proud before he dies.” The prince with jet black hair uttered with determination.

    “And what makes you think you can just be king?” The consultant replied as he sat back with a challenging look on his face. Jungkook’s determined look was gone and was replaced with a look of disbelief.

    “I’m his son—”

    “But do you have the qualities of a king, my prince?” 

    It was quiet for a moment and Jungkook can see his mother paying attention from his peripheral vision. 

    “Yes.”

    “Perfect!” The consultant clapped his hand and abruptly jumped. Jungkook was taken aback by how childish the consultant was acting when he was extremely intimidating just a few seconds ago. “Now all we need is to find you a queen. The Selection will start in a few days,” The happy consultant suddenly lost his expression and he looked cold, maybe sleepy too. “You better be prepared. 12 girls won’t be an easy job.”

    Jungkook accidentally dropped his spoon and just as he was about to ask questions, the consultant has left the room and the queen continued eating. 

    “Mom, what’s the Selection. What did he mean by 12 girls?” Jungkook asked nervously as he clasped his hand together. He could feel sweat starting to form just from the thought of having twelve girls around him in one room. He has never made any female friends from the other kingdom. He would avoid them at all parties and would only speak to them to introduce himself. He could barely handle the maids, what would happen to him with 12 female strangers?

    “The Selection is a distraction,” the queen started with her soft voice but her eyes still looked tired. “Four girls from each region will be selected to participate and one of them will be the selected one. It is your choice who the selected one is, because she will be your queen.” 

    Jungkook bit his lip and he looked at his mom with fear. “Why…girls…?” 

    It was the queen’s turn to drop her spoon and look at him with wide eyes. “Are you gay?” 

    Jungkook became flustered and his face turned red. “No! Not at all! I was about to say why so many girls but I couldn’t find the right words—”

    “Are you really scared of girls, Jungkookie?” His mother teased. Jungkook hated being teased but he suddenly saw a tint of happiness on her mother’s face so he decided to continue being embarrassed. 

    “Oh, come on Jungkook. It’s not that bad. There are only 12 girls. Who knows, you might actually like one of them. I know you have no experience with girls at all…”
    Jungkook couldn’t hear what she said next because his might suddenly thought of something else. No experience with girls…? There was one girl. Jungkook’s mouth slightly fell but he managed to compose himself. 

    “All regions, yes?” Jungkook interrupted his blabbering mother. 

    “Yes. I do hope you won’t compare girls from different regions. They all came for the same reason and we have selected 24 girls who are equally qualified. You will choose the final four from each region and they will be the one to join us.”

    “And how will I choose them?” He asks with interest now. His mother was amused by the sudden change in behaviour but she found it adorable. 

    “You will interview them—”

    “When?” He interrupted with a ghost of a smile on his face.

    “Calm down, Jungkook.” The queen laughed as she caressed her son’s face. “In three days. Yoongi, his other fellow consultants and I will choose the 24 girls in three days.”

    Jungkook nodded with a really tiny smile on his face and sat back down as he realised he was already standing up and was right beside his mother. He suddenly stopped nodding and looked at him. “Who’s Yoongi?”

    The queen nodded her head to the green haired royal consultant who at the same time was entering the room. “My childhood friend.”

    “I’m sorry for interrupting but I forgot to ask for you signature your highness.” The consultant gave his quill to the queen. 

    “Where did this idea came from anyway?” The youngest asked as he sipped his mint tea.

    “It was the very first king of Relia’s idea. This was an emergency plan that has never been used until today.” 

    “You mean the Selection was actually invented years ago? Why hasn’t it been practiced before?”

    The consultant rolled the paper and pocket the quill as he took of his glasses and looked at Jungkook. 

    “Because we don’t want the king to suffer from marrying someone they don’t love.” The consultant replied quickly and marched away after bowing to the queen. 

    Jungkook gulped and looked at his mother who had a smile on her face. “He’s interesting, isn’t he?” Jungkook just nodded along to his mother. 

    “I’m scared of him.” Jungkook muttered as he quickly bow to his mother and ran to his room. 

    Jungkook sat on his bed and lied down with his hands under his pillow. He sighed, not a sad sigh, just a tired sigh and rolled to lay on his right side. He looked at the frame and saw the only girl he has ever considered to be a friend. 

    “I’m going to make sure you will come back to this castle,” he said dramatically, “I mean mansion, whatever.” He chuckled to himself as he realised how much he was into the royal life, he forgot he was already living in the 21st century.

A/N Next chapter will have Jungkook interviewing the girls!! Stay tuned to see Jaera coming back to the castle mansion. Hello new readers :)

Your dearest consultant

and queen of Vous

credit to owners :3