South Korea still had a monarchy in place. Their royal family had little power in the main government. However, things start to change as the royal family adds in a new addition to its members.

“Maybe it’s time for us to tell our son about the will.” The queen suggested, placing her cup of tea back on the table.

“Maybe we could let it out softly to him. Donghae, is he still asleep?” The king asked the young man standing by the couple.

“His Highness just woke up ten minutes ago. Do you want me to call him now, sir?” Receiving an order to do so, the man walked out of the room and leaving the couple alone. The couple were having their breakfast together, a norm in the family.

“What do you think will happen if he finds out about it?”

“I just hope he won’t refuse it. Sujin ah, you as his mother, please try and convince him.” The king said, placing his hand on the woman’s thigh.

“I will try my best, Sir.” In the prince’s chambers, Donghae was running around looking for the missing 20-year-old prince. Stopping right in front of the bodyguards and palace maids, he rest his hands on his hips.

“Why didn’t anyone ever thought of leaving just one person, at least one person to stay and guard the prince? Is it that hard to guard him? There are so many of you and you can’t even take care of one prince!”

“Woah, what’s the commotion about?” Donghae looked to the door where he sees the prince had just walked in, wiping his sweat with a towel.

“You!” Donghae stopped himself, dismissing the other staff before turning back to the prince who had walked into his room.

“What the hell were you thinking? I told you the schedule was to wake up, go and shower, get dressed and then go and meet the king and queen. Is that so hard for you to follow, Yunho?”

“Relax, Hae. You’re so noisy when you’re in panic.” The prince said, patting the man’s shoulder twice before walking away.

“Well, who was the one who made me panic?”

“Well of course, it’s me. I’m gonna go and shower.” Yunho said, walking into the bathroom.

“Going to. Can you please try and speak properly?” Donghae corrected, pressing the intercom button just right beside the bathroom door which was connected to the one in the bathroom.

Not hearing the reply from Yunho, Donghae banged on the door hard.

“Softer, Donghae ah. We don’t need other people to know that you’re treating the royal prince like a casual friend. Mum will kill you for that.” Yunho’s voice cracked through the speaker and Donghae looked around, making sure that the two of them were alone.

“The Queen, Yunho.” Donghae corrected again.

“She’s not here. I can call her whatever I want when I’m alone.” Yunho said, turning on the shower. He sighed, feeling the water rained down on his .

“Please don’t tell me you are showering right now. Jung Yunho, you are late and way behind the schedule. Can you please don’t start ruining my life in the early morning?” Yunho smirked when he heard Donghae’s voice getting desperate.

“Too bad, Hae. I can’t.” Yunho said before drowning out Donghae’s voice so that he could have his shower peacefully.

Jung Yunho.

Everybody in the country knows Jung Yunho. He is the country’s official royal prince.

In fact, once his father steps down from the throne, Yunho will automatically be king unless some people have objections to that.

But this prince...

He had never wanted the throne. Yunho only wanted one thing and that was freedom.

However, Yunho knows better than to ask for that one thing he had always wanted.

After all, if he leaves, nobody could take his place and the royal family will fail to keep on going. Especially in this modern era where countries are run by governments made of people who are not of royal status.

Finishing his shower quickly, Yunho grabbed a bathrobe before walking out of the bathroom. Smiling at the man who was tapping his feet impatiently, Yunho dodged a flying book coming from Donghae.

“Dude, you almost hit the prince there. I can report you to the queen, you know?” Donghae walked up towards the man, hands folded across his chest as he frowned hard.

“Like you would. You will never report me because you need me.” Donghae said, beating the man’s shoulder lightly.

“That hurts!” Yunho exclaimed but only laugh when the other man just scowled at him.

“Fine fine. Where is my breakfast?” Yunho asked, grabbing his school uniform.

“You’re going to have your breakfast with the king and the queen.” Donghae informed.

“Again?” Yunho asked, sulking immediately.

“Live with it. You’re the Crown Prince.” Yunho just rolled his eyes. Donghae takes the silence as his cue to leave the room for the young prince to change.

Finally ready for the morning greeting and breakfast, Yunho walked out of his room though he was surprised to see Donghae sitting at his living room.

“Why are you still here?” Yunho asked, sitting down beside Donghae.

“Waiting for you, of course. Even after so many years, when the king asked me to fetch his prince, I don’t dare to go back to his palace without the prince. Now come on!” Donghae said, pulling Yunho up as they run towards the door leading to the main palace. Yunho lives in a separate building compared to his parents.

As soon as they were out, Yunho walked calmly portraying his image as a royal individual while Donghae leads him to the dining hall.

Standing outside the huge hall, Donghae announced Yunho’s arrival. Yunho had the urge to roll his eyes when he sees his best friend being treated just like the other butlers in the hall.

“Good morning, Your Majesties.” Yunho greeted, bowing slightly at his parents.

“Sit down, Yunho ah.” Yunho heard his father said.

“Thank you, Sir.” Yunho replied, taking his seat opposite of his mother.

Standing with the other butlers, Donghae glanced at his pocket watch as he silently cursed. He was going to be late for school if the breakfast for the three royals don’t finish soon. At the rate it’s going, he is definitely late.

“Aren’t you going?” Donghae looked up immediately, realising that it was Yunho who pose that question. Donghae looked around, noticing that almost everyone was looking at him.

“I’m sorry?” Donghae asked, his eyes trying to tell Yunho to stop whatever he’s planning.

“I said aren’t you going to prepare for school? We’re going to be late if you don’t hurry.” Yunho said and the king looked at Donghae.

“Great Yunho. Look what trouble you got me into.” Donghae thought in his mind.

“Oh yeah, aren’t you supposed to be preparing too? Yunho will be assisted by the other butlers, Donghae. Go and prepare for school. You can go to school together with Yunho later on then.” The king said and Donghae bowed thankfully, grateful that he wasn’t getting scolded and he was not going to be late.

“Fancy asking a butler to go to school together with our son. Yunho will need help. He needs his butler here.” The queen said, looking at Yunho disapprovingly for starting it.

“Don’t worry, Your Majesty. I’m already grown up. I can feed myself.” Yunho answered back and the queen just looked away from him, choosing to look at her husband instead.

“Correct. Donghae is still a student. He has the right to have his duties to be lessened so that he can study too. Go on, Donghae ah.” Ilwoo said, granting permission as the king.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.” Donghae said before leaving the hall. Yunho tried to hide his smirk when he sees the defeated look on his mother’s face.

“Ha! A win for dad and me. A loss for the devil queen.” Yunho said in his mind as he continued eating.

The silence in the dining hall was normal between the three royals. Ilwoo looked at Sujin and Sujin shrugged lightly, knowing that they will miss the opportunity if they don’t talk about it here.

“Yunho yah.” Ilwoo called and Yunho grabbed the glass of water, drinking it nervously. Usually, whenever his father called him by that tone instead of his normal tone, that just means one thing. Yunho is in trouble.

“! What did I do now?” Yunho thought, trying to retrace his steps to see if he did anything wrong this past week.

“What do you think of marriage, son?” Upon hearing that, Yunho choked on his drink as he started coughing terribly.

“Oh my, did I startle you really badly, son?” Ilwoo asked, quite amused at his son’s reaction. If he had remembered correctly, he had the same reaction when his late father ask for him to get married.

“Yeah. Really badly man.” Yunho said, trying to calm himself down.

“Yunho, language.” His mother warned.

“I’m sorry, Sir.” Yunho immediately apologised.

“No, don’t be. It’s normal to react like that. Since it’s just the three of us, be as comfortable as you can, Yunho ah.” Ilwoo said, thinking that it would be best to be comfortable. Yunho nod though he knew better than to be really comfortable around his parents.

“You see, Yunho. You know that half of your grandfather’s will hasn’t been read yet, right?” Yunho nod to his father’s question.

“Actually, what is written there is actually a handwritten letter by your late grandfather. He said...In the near future, my heir to the throne shall marry the heir to the family name of Kim Jihoo, my true friend.” Ilwoo stopped himself to looked at Yunho’s reaction. Yunho wasn’t moving, looking at his father confusingly.

However, his mind was in a turmoil.

“Heir to the throne? Marry the heir of Kim Jihoo? What?!” Yunho thought, his mind racing as he tried to come up of something.

“Of course. If you had somebody in your mind already, it would be great for you to marry him or her. However, if you don’t, your mother and I are thinking of marrying you to him.” Ilwoo said, trying to piece things carefully.

“Wait. Him? You’re making me marry a guy? Who is he?!” Yunho shouted, standing up immediately.

“Yunho, sit down.” Sujin said, trying to control the situation.

“Is this your idea?” Yunho asked, looking at her.

“No, Yunho ah. It’s already written on his will. We have no choice but to investigate and…“ Sujin stopped herself, not wanting to tell Yunho the gender of his supposed partner.

“Who is it? Somebody, tell me his name.” Yunho said, his voice almost thundering.

“Kim Jaejoong. I allow you to check him out. Just don’t hurt him, Yunho. We might not know. He probably didn’t know about this also!” Ilwoo said, his voice getting louder as he gradually speaks even more.

Yunho didn’t hear the last few sentences. All he heard was the name and he was already out of the hall.

“Well, that went well.” Ilwoo said, smiling bitterly at his wife.

Walking to his bodyguards, Yunho pushed the only guard that he knew had the car keys. Grabbing it swiftly from the man’s pocket, Yunho started running to the palace’s car park.

“Donghae yah!” Yunho shout, running as fast as he could. Donghae turned to look at him, mouth opening wide.

“What did you do?” Donghae asked, knowing the playful grin on the prince’s face.

“Keys~” Yunho said, showing to him the keys that he was swinging.

“Dude, the guards are running after you!” Donghae exclaimed, seeing the crowd of men in black suits running after Yunho and calling for the young prince to stop.

“Get in the car!” Yunho shouted, pointing to the red convertible that Donghae was waiting at.

“Are you serious about this?” Donghae asked, knowing clearly the trouble that they will get into if the prince leaves the palace without a bodyguard with him.

“Yes! Now, get in.”

“You’re one crazy person.” Donghae muttered under his breath, jumping into the open car. Yunho got on the car, ing the key into the engine and revving it up immediately.

Waving goodbye to the bodyguards still running after the two men, Yunho laughed seeing the guards stopping once they were out of the palace.

“We are so in trouble for that.” Yunho said and the man sitting beside him looked at him confusingly.

“We? WE?! It’s me, Yunho! Only me! You’re the prince. You are exempted from punishments for these kind of offences. What were you thinking? Running off like that!” Donghae shouted, knowing that he will get punished for running off together with Yunho.

“Kim Jaejoong. We need to find that guy. Whoever he is.” Yunho said, not even on the same topic as Donghae.

“Kim Jaejoong? You mean the one in our class?” Donghae asked, looking at Yunho. The problem that he was shouting about was kept in his mind.

“We have a Kim Jaejoong in our class?” Yunho asked back, taking a right turn.

“Where have you been these past two years? Where are we going?”

“I’ve been busy with Junsu. Why? Jealous? You’re going to help me buy some breakfast. I’m hungry.” Yunho answered and Donghae looked at his watch, frowning a little.

“We’re going to be late though.”

“That’s the point. Imagine what will happen when my dozens of bodyguards appear in school and I’m still not there. They’re going to go crazy and search the whole country for me. So, who’s going to be left at school?”

“Only two bodyguards because that’s the protocol.”

“Correct. So, I won’t feel that stuffy anymore.” Donghae looked at Yunho.

“Seriously? All this just so that the students in our school can study without the noise that your bodyguards make?”

“I’m not doing it for them.”

“You know, if you were really that bad, I would have trusted you. But, I know who you are, Yunho.” Donghae said, totally not taking Yunho’s reason seriously. Yunho sighed, knowing he will never be able to fool his best friend.

“Fine. Kim Jaejoong, our class, right? He has something to settle with me.”