2 Years Later

“Wake up,” Seulgi said as she threw handfuls of hay on Kai’s face.

“Ugh.” Kai groaned, “Give me a few more minutes.”

“No, we have to go. Lord Seungri expected us to be gone already.” She warned.

Kai groaned but got up nonetheless. He didn’t have a choice really, if he failed to make it to the market in time then Lord Seungri would get pissy and probably skip out on paying them the little they already get.

They’ve worked for Lord Seungri for around a year and a half now and although he hated it, they didn’t really have any other choice.

After Kai had managed to discover what their mother had done he knew she had finally tipped over the edge. Queen Irene was always an ambitious mother, sometimes he didn’t really understand why seeing as they were already rulers of the Polemos Kingdom. Despite the struggles of the drought, their people were still an overall happy crowd and Kai couldn’t understand why their mother never seemed satisfied.

He could remember his mother and father arguing when he was a child over the ethics of invading a neighboring kingdom. Their father was absolutely against the idea; liking the peace they currently all shared, but he remembers his mother growing frustrated with their father being complacent.

You should want the best for your children.

Imagine if they all had their own kingdom to rule over.

Our family could go down in history.

All things Kai could remember his mother used to convince his father to invade and conquer another Kingdom.

Things are fine the way they are.

The children are happy.

I want our family to have a legacy that people are proud of, not one where they spit on our graves.

All things Kai could remember his father used to convince his mother that invading another kingdom was incredibly unnecessary and absurd.

Despite all kingdoms having their differences, for the past few decades, there has been peace. Things have gotten tense over resources before, but nothing drastic has happened, at least it hasn’t yet.

Kai tried to understand both of his parent’s point of view, but he could not bring himself to understand the side of his mother. She was the queen of a kingdom, had many loyal subjects, healthy children to inherit the throne, and a life others would kill for. Why would she insist on ruining everything for more land? More power? Did she not feel like she currently had enough? Kai didn’t understand her at all. However, that argument is what made him see his mother in a new light.

In front of others, she is Queen Irene. Elegance, polite, soft-spoken but always heard, and beautiful. Her beauty has been said to surpass that of Helen of Troy. That is how beautiful his mother is, but the outside does not reflect the inside.

In reality, his mother is quite harsh, short-tempered, loud, and demanding. Kai, Seulgi, and Sehun thought that is just how mothers were. She had always seemed like she managed to control herself before anything outrageous happened.

That all changed two years ago when Kai was scheduled to marry his long-time friend Krystal. Even thinking about her brings pain to Kai’s heart. While he felt no ual desire for her, he loved her as he would any man. Something about her enticed him and he truly had no woes marrying a woman as long as the woman was she.

He had told his parents before that he was not physically attracted to women and they did not take it well at first, but upon the realization that it was not going to change, they conceded eventually and let him be. However, they still requested Kai to marry a woman and bear a child as he was the crowned prince and he needed an eventual heir.

That was when he suggested marrying Lord Jisung’s daughter Krystal as they were already close friends and she was already trained in the ways of proper etiquette being that she was a lord’s daughter.  Kai believed this made her the perfect person to be his queen. Being long-time friends, however, Krystal knew very well Kai did not find interest in women and was opposed to the idea at first. However, at some point, her father talked her into it and she agreed despite her initial hesitation.

For this, Kai felt the guiltiest. In his desperation to please his parents, he brought Krystal into a dysfunctional situation where she clearly did not belong. From the instant she stepped foot into the castle, Queen Irene was not a fan. Kai was not sure how anyone could dislike Krystal, but his mother expressed in private that she did not think Krystal seemed or behaved like a would-be queen.

Kai did not care about his mother’s opinion and made that known. Whenever she would express discontent with the crowned princess, Kai would simply remind his mother that if she wanted a grandchild it would be with none other than with Krystal. Each time his mother would grow furious and wonder what made Krystal different from the countless other daughters fit to marry Kai. She did not understand his infatuation with Krystal; that much was clear. However, Kai was not aware of the extent that it was.

Call him a fool, but Kai had always wanted to believe that his mother was incapable of heinous acts. A little crazy? Perhaps, but that was it. Not only was she a dignified queen, but she was his mother. Despite her drawbacks, he did love her and would always tell himself that it was his job and duty as her son to protect her.

However, he can still taste the vomit on his tongue from that wretched night two years ago. He had heard from chatter than the Queen took a visit to the dungeons, which was unusual considering she almost never visited the dungeons. She always thought it was beneath her to even be there, let alone speak to or interact with any prisoners. So Kai went to the dungeon’s alone in an attempt to either confront his mother or to find Krystal and release her. He had no idea why his mother would hold Krystal in the dungeon knowing he would not let her stay there unless she planned on something much worse. 

Despite his swiftness, by the time he reached the dungeon, the Queen had already left. Kai took this as a rather good thing expecting an easier release of Krystal without the fussing of his mother, but as Kai approached the open prison cellar, he noticed something was not right. It was only after stood in front of the door that he realized how odd it was to take a prisoner and leave the door open for them to escape. There were only two options here, either Krystal is not actually in the dungeons and he had just thought of some insanely ridiculous scenario that wasn’t remotely true, or his mother had done something far worse than he dared imagine.

He prayed to the gods that it was the former, as he could not bear to see a lifeless Krystal. However, as he stepped into the prison cellar he instantly vomited and fell to his knees in disbelief. As his stomach cleared itself of any content, Kai just shut his eyes and prayed that this was some sick hallucination or false vision. That none of this was real and his mother did not just seemingly massacre an entire family.

After he could not vomit anymore, he crawled on the cold rocky floor over to Krystal’s lifeless body and brought her into his arms. This could not be real, he must be having a horrid nightmare because just hours ago this same beautiful girl was laughing with him about childhood memories as they strolled through the castle gardens.

Her smile, more beautiful than any arrangement of roses, now forever gone.

He screamed as the tears began to flow from his eyes and held the body tightly in hopes that she would wake up once more and wrap her arms around him.

But she never did.

That night, Kai’s heart shattered into a billion pieces and he knew he could no longer have relations with his mother let alone live with her. Someone so nasty and so evil would end up doing far worse things in the future and he did not intend to be around for any of it, and neither did he intend to let his mother manipulate his younger brother and sister into believing anything she did was out of love or necessity.

Luckily, the dungeon was built to be soundproof so no one heard his screams and knew he was aware of the situation. He said a final goodbye to his beloved Krystal and paid respects to the other family members as well before he quickly left in search of his brother and sister. He did not know how, but he knew he had to get them as far away from their mother as possible.

Before his mother could notice, he snuck his younger brother and sister out of the castle and stole a few horses and rations from the castle reserves. It allowed them to reach the border of Aegaeon where they pretended to be merchants. To buy food, clothes, and have shelter they were forced to sell almost all of their royal garments and belongings, and after a few months not even that was not enough for them to continue. They looked around for work and most places declined them until Lord Seungri agreed to hire them, likely through pity.

Fast forward a year and a half, and you get to where they are now. Three royal siblings living in a neighboring kingdom as peasants due to it being their only option. They would be recognized anywhere they go in their homeland and here, no one knows them.

Sometimes Kai missed his old life and lifestyle, but then he remembers what he would be going back to and it puts him back in his place. He has a brother and sister to protect and he planned to do so.

As Kai finished getting ready to head to the market, Sehun walked into his room unannounced looking concerned.

“Brother?” Sehun asked warily.

“What is it?” Kai asked, not really sure as to why Sehun seemed off.

“You’re doing it again aren’t you?” He asked.

“Doing what?”

“Thinking about it.”

“Thinking about what?”

Sehun sighed and just walked up to his brother and gave him a hug. Kai yelped in surprise and confusedly hugged Sehun back.

“What are you talking about?” He asked with a light laugh.

“You know what I’m talking about. You’re thinking about her. About that night.” Sehun said shyly while looking down.

“Ah,” Kai said with more understanding. “I guess I was.”

“You always take a little longer getting ready when you think about it. Seulgi and I have been waiting for you for many minutes now.” Sehun said sheepishly.

“I didn’t realize…” Kai said apologetically. “I’m sorry. I should be better than this. I’m the older brother.”

“No!” Sehun said loudly and then made an embarrassed face when he realized how loud his tone was. “Sorry for raising my voice to you brother, but that is not what I meant. I didn’t mean to shame you, I just wanted to let you know that I am your brother, and Seulgi, she is your sister. Know it, and know it well. We are here for you as you have been here for us. You’ve never actually talked to us about that day in detail. You hold everything inside and one day you’re going to bloody explode.”

“I-” Kai started, but couldn’t even finish before Sehun brought him into another hug.

“I hate to sound cliché, but please brother. We are not children anymore. I am 16 and Seulgi is 20. Stop trying to protect us from everything and instead teach us how to protect ourselves. You won’t always be able to be there for us, and what happens then?”

“I didn’t realize you and Seulgi felt this way,” Kai said with a sigh.

“There are many things you haven’t realized because you still mop around about that day. I know that Krystal was an amazing human being although I did not know her well. I understand why what happened has affected you in such a way, but please brother if you do not try to move on, it will drive us mad. You’re our big brother. It pains us to constantly see you like this. You think you’re hiding it well, but trust in me when I say you are not.”

At that point, Kai sniffled and realized he was crying and he honestly didn’t even know when he started. He wasn’t crying for one reason, rather for multiple. He did burden himself with the memories of that night and it did take a toll of his mental health, but he was also crying because he feels like a massive arse. His baby of a brother had grown so much in the past two years, and he honestly feels blindsided. He must not have been paying his brother and sister enough attention to not even realize how much they have matured since that night.

“Sehun!” Seulgi said as she came into the room to check on what was taking so long. “You were supposed to hurry him up! Not make him cry and slow him down even more!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!” Sehun said as Seulgi chased him out of the room.

Kai smiled and wiped his tear-stained face clean. Maybe Sehun was right. Maybe it was finally time to move on and let Krystal go. It sounded easier said than done, but he couldn’t keep being as he was knowing it was affecting his brother and sister.

“Hey,” Seulgi said softly while grabbing his hand. “You ready?”

Kai nodded his head and Seulgi smiled and let go of his hand to wrap her arm around his waist.

“Then let’s go