After Kyungsoo was done with the short errand, he went into one of the guest rooms in search of his husband-to-be. The man was nowhere in sight and he wasn’t the kind of unoccupied man that could go looking all over the large palace for him. He went back to his duties, leaving word with one of his servants to find the man.

He was found some time later in the library, surrounded by historical records. If he was to rule this kingdom as his own, he’d have much to learn about its past.

“Prince Do” a servant called, pulling his mind out of the battle reports he’d been reading “King Kim requests for your presence” he announced.

“Is it urgent?” he asked.

“He wouldn’t say” the boy answered truthfully.

“Then I’ll assume it isn’t. Tell him I’ll be in his room when night falls, I’m as busy here as he probably is too in the throne room” he explained before dismissing the messenger. Yet not too long afterwards, the king himself was stomping into the enclosed space.

“Your majesty?” Kyungsoo said, alarmed by the other’s abrupt entrance.

“What if it had been urgent?” he questioned in place of a greeting.

“Then you would have said so” the younger rationalized.

“Don’t make those kinds of assumptions!” he yelled, startling the other “How disrespectful of you to disregard my word so bluntly, I was humiliated by your disobedience!”

Flash back
A thin servant boy excused himself as he entered the throne room, apologizing for the interruption to the king and the delegates he had been speaking to.

“Your majesty, I have a message from Prince Do” he announced to him. Jongin’s face lit up at the name.

“You’ve found him? Great, it would be best for him to start getting involved in meetings like this, but… where is he” he asked, noticing that there was nobody accompanying the servant.

“In the library, your majesty” the boy said. It wasn’t the same boy that had found Kyungsoo, but the one that Jongin had originally sent in the quest. He had spread the word that Jongin was looking for Kyungsoo “but he claims to be busy. He’ll see you at night, is the message he sends”.

“Busy?” one of the delegates interjected in shock “What must he be doing for him to be busy when the king himself requested his attendance?” he asked, and the boy wavered beneath Jongin’s glare, who was clearly thinking the same thing.

“He’s… reading, your majesty” he answered in a meek voice, and the men burst into loud comments of Kyungsoo’s disrespect, angering Jongin.

Jongin wasn’t the type of man to usually care for appearances, but he had risen to power young, he had allied with former enemies and was planning to marry a man of all things; his credibility got questioned behind paper walls, he knew that, the respect his inferiors had for him was on shaky ground; having his husband-to-be completely disregard a simple direct order was a hard blow to his image of authority.

Enraged, he stormed out.

“I’m so sorry, your majesty, had I known” he apologized, but the other cut him off.

“Save it. If you think reading is more important than your duties as a king, then you can forget about having them at all”

“What?” he asked in confusion, not wanting to believe what he thought the other meant.

“You heard me... Queen Do”

“But, you said...!” the younger tried to protest after a silent pause, eyes wide in shock.

“I know what I said, but since my words are so meaningless to you, what difference does it make?” he countered bitterly.

“That’s not it at all! I just thought you’d be busy with a meeting and wanted to see me later” he explained.

“Yes, Kyungsoo, I was busy with a meeting and true to my word, I wanted you to be in that meeting, but you clearly didn’t care to be there, so forget about it, you can dedicate yourself to reading and singing and flower pressing and all the other girly stuff you love” he said, and when Kyungsoo’s disbelieving gasp reached his ears, it was too late to take it back.

“Of course, of course you believe that, everyone believes that. I was a fool to think you’d be different from everyone else who judges me based on my "girly" hobbies” he air quoted, hurt clear in his eyes “Go ahead and make me your useless queen, put me in my place! My own damned mother didn’t want me to rule our kingdom, nobody thinks I’m fit for a man’s job because I like flowers, I’ve always known that… but I didn’t think I’ll hear it out of your lips” he finished quietly, defeated, tears b his eyes.

And with that, he left, walking with his head low past the man he was to marry in a weeks’ time.

Jongin was left with a heavy heart and an unspoken apology at the tip of his tongue. He knew how insecure Kyungsoo was about his hobbies, how much people judged him, how sensitive he was to those sorts of comments, to the implication that he didn’t deserve to be the king he was born to be simply because his preference leaned a certain way.

He had half a mind to run after him, but a servant was there to remind him he had a meeting to go back to, so he left begrudgingly to rejoin the delegates.

“He didn’t come with you? Continues to disobey even after the king himself neglected a meeting to go find him?” one of the old men asked in disbelief seeing the king arrive alone, making the others gasp.

“I didn’t leave to go fetch him, what do you take me for?” Jongin asked as if offended by the comment “I went to show him his place, now we may continue” he said, and while originally it wasn’t a lie, he was saying it now not out of spite, but to keep up the show of a strict leader.

“That’s right” another man commented, ignoring Jongin’s implied request to leave the issue and move on “He has the pride of a former crown prince, your majesty will have to crack his spirit If we want him to submit”

“I'm afraid... I may have already done so” he confessed with solemnity in a quiet voice, as if whispering it to himself. A cleared throat could be heard from the delegates, the sound pulled the king out of his thoughts and the meeting resumed as if nothing had happened. By the time it was over, it was nearing night time and rather than going to his own bed chambers, Jongin knew he had a better place to be.