This is the end of Long Live the King. If it wasn't obvious two years ago, it should be plain to see now. This was such a joy to write, even if it wasn't as popular as my other series (which is never going to be finished too, just saying that now). But I left this chapter at a bit of a weird point, so below will be my entire document of plans where I wrote out how things would go, along with an epilogue. Thank you for sticking by me, but this is goodbye. 

um so, wrongfully overthrown and lets take back the throne royalty au?

kyuhyun and ryeowook are the rulers of saebyeok, happily married and much loved by their country. kyuhyun is a great political man, and ryeowook is a caring ruler for their people. however, they beat out a few nobles for the throne and those nobles are really butthurt about that.

the previous king was the only child of the only surviving royal sibling and died without an heir. with no heir and no relative to take the throne, the council of elders took the initiative to elect the new ruler.

it was between nam jaewon and cho kyuhyun, but upon reviewing their behavior, they went with kyuhyun and crowned him king. so the nam family is one of the biggest families of nobles in the land, and for them to lose the throne was a huge blow to their pride.

they devised a plan to regain some of their honor by having a daughter, jaehwa, marry kyuhyun, but that plan was also foiled when kyuhyun chose to marry a longtime friend, kim ryeowook, instead.

having been rejected for such positions of power twice, the nam family lost much of their reputation and power.

so those nobles are pretty high in ranking and have a lot of connection. the nam family also has close ties with the mafia, but it's kept under close wraps. this family was also the closest to getting the throne, but the council voted kyuhyun and his husband to rule, so they're super bitter about that. so this family brings out their mafia people and plan to take the throne for themselves.

finally, they start a riot during a summer festival and storm the castle, planning to take out the ruling family and install one of their own as king. thankfully, kyuhyun and ryeowook had prepared for events such as that and quickly went to escape. however, things happened and they had to go to plan b and split up and take separate escape routes. they promise each other to rendezvous at a safe place and separate.

kyuhyun, along with his servant henry, made it to the safe house, but ryeowook and his servant yesung were captured and arrested, thrown in jail as a hostage of war. the rebels celebrate this victory and take it as a sign that the gods approve of their actions. the townsfolk, however, are very upset at this and when they find that kyuhyun is their former king, they hide him to the best of their abilities. they’re on a rotation to keep him safe, starting from leeteuk the village mage, and ending with siwon the theater actor.

kyuhyun finds out about ryeowook’s situation when soldiers formerly under his command come to the village he’s hiding in to announce the bounty on his head for his capture.

“Ladies and gentlemen of the town of Ileun, heed the words of the new king of Saebyeok, King Nam Jaewon III!” Kyuhyun froze, his low hanging hood concealing his shocked face. Henry tightened his grip around Kyuhyun’s shoulders and made to lead him back to the tavern, but the former king stood stock still, eyes fixed on the soldier he had once commanded.

The soldier reached into his pack and pulled out a scroll, letting the parchment unfurl with a flick of his armored wrist. “By order of King Jaewon III, anyone who can give the location of the former king, Cho Kyuhyun I, shall receive a 10,000,000 sim reward!” A murmur went up throughout the crowd; they weren’t sure whether to bring up the fact that they were hiding the king in that very crowd.

A small child ran up and stood right in front of the soldier, a worried expression on her face. “What about King Consort Ryeowook? What happened to him?” Kyuhyun’s breath hitched as he saw the soldier’s face darken and turn away from the child. He watched as the child's eyes fill with tears and run back into the crowd, wailing at the top of her lungs.

Kyuhyun didn’t remember much of what happened next. Donghae was there now, squeezing his hand tightly, murmuring words of comfort, even though he saw tears streaming down his friend’s face. He felt strong arms pick him up and carry him into a house, but he could tell that the arms were trembling with emotion.

Only one thing was running through his mind, over and over and over again.

Ryeowook had been captured.

after the soldiers leave, many townsfolk come in to give their condolences and a vow to never give him away in return for the years of peace that he gave the country during his reign. as soon as he gets over his shock, kyuhyun makes plans to go back to the capital and save his husband. (This was changed in the final version of the chapter)

the people he was staying with (leeteuk, heechul, shindong, sungmin, eunhyuk, donghae, and siwon) are adamant that he take them with him on his journey. at first he refuses, but his logical side kicks in and he accepts, and they begin preparing for their adventure together. (somewhere along the way, add in eunhae because otp yes)

while kyuhyun is being well fed and has friends to take care of him, on the opposite end of the spectrum is ryeowook, who is being held captive in his own dungeons. locked up in the highest security cell is the former king consort and his personal servant who are both slowly wasting away from the shock of their kingdom being overthrown and from the neglect of their well-being after being so well taken care of all their lives.

he hopes and prays that kyuhyun comes and breaks him out, but at the same time he wants him to be safe and flee the country. thankfully, the soldiers in charge of him are replaced by more sympathetic ones (kangin and zhou mi) and he and yesung become more healthy, although still weak and thin. (Changed to just kangin, zhou mi ended up being a servant)

however, despite their best efforts, ryeowook is still so painfully weak because he is constantly attacked by the guards, by the order of jaewon.

this is punishment for both ryeowook and the guards who carry out the beatings, because it's used as discipline for the soldiers who were forced to follow jaewon's rule. if they disobey, they're taken down to ryeowook's cell and forced to beat him, with tears on both parties' faces.

zhou mi actually is a relative of henry’s and frequently writes to him via trained falcon so that his messages don’t get intercepted by the castle or censors. he tells him about the king consort’s condition and in return, henry updates him on kyuhyun, which gives both kyuhyun and ryeowook hope that they would be reunited. (zhou mi was supposed to have a bigger role, but i ended up cutting out a lot of his scenes so that it would flow better)

unfortunately, the new monarchy is getting impatient and angry that no one has turned kyuhyun in yet, and makes the decision to threaten them; every week that kyuhyun is not arrested, they will kill a citizen from a random town via guillotine. if he is not found by the end of the month, they will kill ryeowook and force the entire nation to watch from their village mage’s staff.

{every village is required to have a mage by law because of medical and political reasons. if the town is big enough, there will be more mages. their staffs can do magic, but are linked to the palace for nationwide messages and for emergency situations}

when the group gets the message, they are even more determined to get to the capital in time. kyuhyun is furious, and not just because of his husband is in danger of getting killed, although that is a big part of it. (This was changed slightly)

during his travels as king, he’s been to every sector, every village of his kingdom, and every single time they’ve been well fed and healthy, with smiles on the face of every person. but as he travels through the villages this time, he is appalled to see the state of the towns. every which way he turns, he can see dying citizens, spoiled food, and sick animals.

however, it’s nearing the appointed date for ryeowook’s execution. three weeks have already passed and three innocent people have already been killed. kyuhyun can’t be seen in public, so he sends leeteuk and sungmin to try and convince the townspeople to rebel against the new monarchy with them.

thankfully, this village listens and because they’re a larger one, they’re more influential and they promise to persuade other villages to help their cause. leeteuk also sends word back to taeyeon and she tells their town and the surrounding towns to send as much help as they can. (This was changed so that many of the villages were already on board by the time the main group started their advance on the capital)

but they can’t wait for ALL the reserves to come in, so with the help of the closest towns, kyuhyun and the group storm the capital and they make it to the castle without much trouble, because once the people found out what they were doing, they joined the advance almost immediately.

everything stops when they reach the square and they see a bloody ryeowook on his knees with a sword to his neck next to a guillotine, yesung already in place to die.

Kyuhyun could feel his blood run cold as he took in the sight in front of him: his partner, his husband, his lover, his Ryeowook on his knees, blood covering almost every inch of his skinny body, clothes hanging off his shoulders like drapes, revealing just how emaciated he was. His already thin face was contorted into a wince, mouth making pained gasps as King Jaewon angrily yanked at his hair, which made the sword in his hand make a small cut against his throat.

Yesung was already in position in the guillotine, eyes shut and head down, as if he had already given up. Henry in a gasp, this was not how he wanted to reunite with his hyung that had always taken care of him during his stay at the castle. Kyuhyun tightened his grip on his sword and glared up at the platform at the mad king.

Jaewon didn’t look so well either; hair messy and crown askew on his head, eyes bloodshot and wild, nervously darting every which way like a cornered beast. Kyuhyun could clearly see Jaewon’s knuckles whiten on the sword and felt his heart throb when he heard Ryeowook’s groan of pain as the sword pressed closer against his throat, blood trickling down the side of the blade and dripping onto the wooden platform.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kyuhyun saw poor Henry begin to shake frightfully, tears beginning to roll down his cheeks. Zhoumi quickly swept his cousin into his arms and held him close, murmuring gentle comforts into his hair, even as his own eyes filled with tears.

Kyuhyun watched in horrified silence as Jaewon began to laugh uncontrollably, swaying unsteadily on his feet and dragging Ryeowook along by the hair with him. “What a pleasant surprise!” Jaewon sang, removing the sword from his neck and waving it above his head. “My King Kyuhyun, it’s an honor to be in your presence once again!” Ryeowook’s closed eyes snapped open when he heard his husband’s name and feverishly searched for his husband, bloody mouth curling up in a relieved smile when he found him.

“Kyu...hyun...” Ryeowook croaked, which only earned him a furious yank of his hair and a slap on his cheek. Kyuhyun's vision went red and before he knew it, he was being held back by a frantic Siwon and Kangin and Ryeowook was on the ground with Jaewon’s foot planted on his head and his sword to his neck.

“Don’t move or he dies!" Jaewon screamed.

everyone freezes and kyuhyun can only stare in mortification as jaewon draws another sword from his side and presses it to ryeowook's back, right over his heart. jaewon tells them to drop their weapons or he’ll kill ryeowook. kyuhyun glares at jaewon but immediately drops his sword and motions for everyone else to do the same.

there is a tense silence in the square as everyone tries to figure out a way to save their beloved king consort, until a volley of arrows fly over the rebellion’s heads and strike the enemy, including jaewon: the reinforcements have come, taeyeon at the lead, having enchanted the arrows to hit their marks. boa, on the back of chrysos, along with velours rouge, soar over the troops and chrysos lets out a stream of dragon fire over the enemy line.

a riot breaks out between the rebellion and the castle guards that is quickly squashed by the rebellion subduing all of those loyal to jaewon. kyuhyun rushes to ryeowook’s limp body as the fighting continues and protects his husband with so much passion, that no one even dares go near them out of fear of incurring the king’s wrath.

as soon as there's a break in the fighting, kyuhyun immediately picks up ryeowook and with shindong helping to clear their path, kyuhyun carries his weak and broken husband to the safety of their castle, making it in just as the first volleys of arrows fly over their heads.

"Your Highness, in here!" Shindong called. Kyuhyun rushed through the door the elder held open, carefully holding Ryeowook's head to the crook of his neck. His eyes lit up as he took in his surroundings; it was their old bed chambers. He sighed in relief to see that nothing had changed and quickly made his way to his bed. Shindong nervously smiled at the couple and shut the door behind them, keeping his hand on his war hammer, eyes darting every which way for danger.

Kyuhyun gently laid his husband down on their bed and softly brushed Ryeowook's bangs out of his eyes, revealing the high and beautiful cheekbones he knew so well. He felt his eyes well up with tears and K