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Chapter Text

Shen Quanrui was once again done with his parents bullshit. After all those disagreements they had regarding their ‘tradition’ they still did it without his say in it, wasn’t a surprise though, all things considered. Even though he is the crown prince it was all for the name, most treated him like a mere child and all that

It was fine- or was it ?

Shen Quanrui or The Crown Prince ‘Ricky’ of the country Eskar is to be participated in the “Selection” to select a wife or a Future Queen for him out of thirty? Thirty five Girls from different regions. Ooh thirty five beauties from all around!! How exciting! it might have been if he wasn’t  well homo sapien- no a homosexual.

Well not like his parents knew that.

Not like he could tell that to his parents-

How could he let his parents down? He is the eldest son of the Eskar- the heir to the crown of Eskar. Fuck Ilia for this stupid selection bullshit, just you wait till he becomes the king he’ll definitely put an end to this stupid tradition or whatever this is-

But to become the King he needs a Queen, so Ricky is currently getting dragged by his fellow maids to get him dressed for the first interview regarding the announcement of the selection.

In the midst of preparing he suddenly remembered about the speech- which he was suppose to give-

In the interview which is starting in like 10 minutes,

Fuck, he needed Robbins. Where the fuck is he when he needed him.

Baskins Robbins was Ricky’s butler. He had been serving Ricky since he could walk, but where is this old man(older than him only by an year) when he needed him! Always going around gathering useless information. 

“Prince Ricky, did you know that crocodiles cannot stick their tongues out?” 

“Prince Ricky. did you know that your brain is constantly eating itself? It’s called phagocytosis-  Maybe that’s why you cannot use your brain often-”

“Robbins? ” Ricky called out. He was replied with silence so he tried again. At last he called the  young maid and asked her to call Robins instead, that man can write a goddamn essay in just two minutes. Ricky cant even think about what he had for his breakfast that fast. The young maid came in with another young butler whom Ricky had never seen before- did the maid not know who Robbins was? No way after all that bluffing Robbins said about him being the head butler, guess he isn’t that popular amongst the ladies as he says.

“Crown prince, Butler Robbins is currently on vacation” the maid replied 

Huh, when did he go on a vacation-  that fucker. His head butler went on a vacation and nobody bothered to inform him- so he is speech and butler-less? 

“Your Highness, according to the order of the Butler Sunny. Kim Gyuvin here will be your butler until Butler Robbins returns” the young maid stated, pointing at the man besides her then bowed and left.

The crown prince and his newly appointed butler started at each other or the crown prince stared at the butler while the young brunette scanned the floor.

“Can you write a speech by any chance?” Ricky asked the young man.

He was startled, he looked nervous or maybe a little scared. The young butler had a tall frame with brunette hair. He was a little scrawny but he wasn’t ugly, well he was quite handsome if Ricky were to ignore his hollowed cheeks. He looked as if he hadn’t been fed in quite some time, he made a mental note to check the necessities of the maids and the butlers.

The butler who was Kim Gyuvin shook his head.“No your highness- I’m sorry for the lack of my intelligent your highness,” he said and bowed

What- why was he insulting himself, he looked quite tense, was he afraid?  “Oh! It’s okay Gyuvin? I just asked wasn’t that much of a big deal. I was supposed to do that anyways” Ricky said feeling bad for the young butler who looked five seconds away from crying. 

Ricky finally managed to write a speech.

Well of some sort at least.

It was time.

Time for him to present himself for the whole nation to see. He must make his parents proud he must not fuck this up, he rechecked his speech and went straight into the room(oh the irony) where his parents were already seated along with his little sister who looked bored to her bones. She was wearing a pink frilly dress with a white flower pattern, she looked like a proper princess for once contrasting her usual devil like personality.

Ricky mentally prepared himself for the event that was yet to come.

Chapter Text

Ricky was seated next to his father, The King of Eskar. He was discussing something with the interviewer Joe who greeted Ricky with a smile as he went back to work.

The King turned to Ricky and adjusted the collar of his silver suit which was decorated with golden pattern running all along the outer coat of the suit “Look at my son being all handsome” said the King looking at his son proudly.

“I’m so glad that I didn’t use protect-”

“Father, please-” how is this the ruler of their nation? Ricky turned toward his mother for backup, of course his mother was laughing along with his father  while his little sister stared at them with a confused expression. After all she was still too young to learn about sexual intercourse and reproduction, Ricky thought.

The thing about Ricky’s parents was that they loved him, hell adored him. That is why Ricky is afraid of letting them down, the hardest thing in life is to not let down the loved ones . Ricky already knew that, he was grateful but there were times he wished that they hated him, because they didn’t deserve a son like him, they deserved better.

But what Ricky wouldn’t know is that his parents would’ve loved him despise everything,

Hopefully he gets to know, well someday at least.

“Father are you sure that we need to hold this competition-” Ricky tried again knowing damn well that there was no way that this was getting cancelled, but it doesn’t hurt to ask.

“Ricky it’s a tradition-”

“But-”

“No buts the decision is finalized, I gave you a chance to prove to us why we shouldn’t hold this ‘competition.” Ricky I know that you might not be ready, but with power comes great responsibility. Believe me son, you will find someone you feel comfortable with, someone to protect someone to love you unconditionally. Even if you didn’t we can arrange another proposal, you have plenty of choices but this is considered as a tradition so please try your best. Not for us, but for our country ” 

His father said almost pleadingly. Ricky had no choice but to agree. He gets it but it’s not his fault that he didn’t like women, believe him when he says that he tried.

“I apologize father, I assure you that I will try my best” Ricky said getting ready as the crew began to roll the cameras.

“Good evening Ladies and Gentleman, I am Joe, Joe Mama and I welcome you all to the ‘Selection: an interview.’ We have our beloved Royal family with us here today”

“So Your Majesty, what can you say about this round of the selection? Will it be as romantic as yours?” Asked Joe 

“I am sure that this year’s selection will be plenty romantic but I hardly think that it can suppress the romance we had. Don’t you agree my beloved queen?” the King asked the Queen who rolled her eyes at her husband’s childish acts. Their flirting was no surprise for the public considering the things they saw in the previous selection. (They all knew that their king was a flirt)

“As the king said I also think that this round of selection will also be romantic,” the Queen replied with a smile 

“Your Highness, as a former selection participant do you have any advice to give to all those young ladies who will be participating in another month or so,” Joe asked

“I just have to tell you ladies to be yourselves, work smart and take care. At the end of the selection, one of you lovely ladies will be our future queen, as for the others don’t be discouraged you also have a plenty of opportunities here on Eskar, just because you couldn’t be the Queen doesn’t mean you cannot be anything else, so ladies always follow your dreams. Most importantly we value consent I know that this should be common sense but unfortunately, we live in a world where we have to point out even the common sense so once again we definitely value your consent, your decision. You have the full authority to leave if you please, so enjoy your life to the fullest I am very excited to meet you all in the future,” said the Queen.

Ricky had always admired his mother. She was a brave women yet she was the sweetest soul he knows. Even if he couldn’t love another woman romantically he hoped to at least find some friends. He had to come up with something. Should he just tell the contestants the truth- or not he wishes he had Robins to help him with this mess. Speaking of his butler, where was his new one? He briefly looked around and saw his butler standing on the other side of the room staring at the Queen in awe. I mean who wouldn’t, it was his mother. The butler made eye contact with Ricky then flinched and bowed, quickly turning away like he was caught doing a crime.

He still couldn’t understand why most of the palace workers were afraid of their family. Was it because of the respect? Of the power they held? Or was it because of the experiences they had with nobles and their previous masters? He must find the root cause and eliminate them if he wants to connect with his people more- 

“Crown prince how do you feel? Are you ready to make all the ladies swoon? What do you have to say to your future partner who might be watching this from somewhere?” Joe asked

It was the time to bullshit.

Ricky’s (fake)Straight agenda, his straight arc had just started.

“I hope you are well? I hope you all know that I am excited to meet you all equally, no matter my future partner or not” Ricky said smiling glancing at the camera.

After a whole lot of bullshitting and few speeches finally the interview came to an end.

The selection for the selection? The audition or whatever was to take place the day after.

God, Ricky hopes that the god forgives him for what he is doing, he is basically deceiving not a bunch of people, but a whole country- no, he is deceiving his people, but what more can he do? After all he too is a human.

They bid farewell to the interviewer and headed out to take dinner, that interview lasted for hours Ricky was starving now.

After the dinner Ricky said his goodbyes to his parents and his father went to take care of some documents while his mother went to check some financial matters regarding the selection.

“Brother,” his sister said tugging at his suit, “are you going to be choosing the ladies who will be participating in the selection?”

“Yeah, why do you ask?” 

“Can I get a say in that? Considering somebody’s going be my future sister-in-law someday? Mother and Father told me not to bother you with that but please pleaseeee!! Let me help you!” his sister said jumping up and down. Pros and cons of having a six-year-old sister, if he refuses, she’s going cry and throw a tantrum plus this might make his work easier not like he’s against the idea. At least she can have some fun choosing a ‘sister-in-law’.

“Ok, I will but you own me one and you can’t tattletale everything I do to mother or father. If you promise that I will let you,” Ricky said getting down to his sister’s level as he held out his pinky.

“I PROMISE!” his sister shouted loudly while grabbing his pinky and excitedly hugged him.

His sister was adorable. He talked with her for some time when her maid Elisa came and took her saying it was nearing her bed time.

Ricky went to his room with his new butler trailing behind him keeping quiet a great distance between them. Like ten meters, guess he is still nervous? he didn’t even introduce himself to his butler, he’s exhausted. He will after he takes a bath. He went to his room just as his maid Alena informed him that his bath had been prepared. Bless her soul! She always has the best timing, he thanked Alena and went to get ready to go for a bath. He waited for his maids and all to leave. Usually Robbins took care of his clothes and such, does this new butler not know what to do? Or is he waiting for his command or something.

Guess the butler felt his confusion to the end of the room. 

“Uh- Your highness should I help you with the clothing-” he asked still a mile away. 

Ricky just nodded. The butler quickly got to work helping him take off the clothes even though his hands were shaking as he did. Guess he’s not that underexperienced. Ricky thought, of course why would they give him, the crown prince, an under experienced butler in the first place. He couldn’t be too sure considering his beef with Senior Butler Sunny. 

Ricky thanked the butler and went to take a wash. He came back and got ready for bed and almost forgot that the butler was still there.

“Excuse me butler?” Ricky forgot his name already, how is he supposed to remember 35 names of the contestants if he already forgot his butler’s name.

“Kim Gyuvin, Sire,” the young butler replied.

“Are you not going to have dinner?” Ricky asked since he didn’t see the butler leave for dinner.

“I’m not hungry, Your Highness,” Gyuvin said smiling at him. He has a nice smile.

“Oh, is that so. Whom did you work for before?” Ricky asked taking this opportunity to make a small talk. Ricky had always liked to talk with his staff.

“For Noble Vincent, Your Highness,” Said Gyuvin.

Vincent Alpez? The noble who got accused of abusing his maids and butlers? Was that why he looked so cautious and nervous around Ricky? The flinching, the shaking- that explains it. He hated those kinds of nobles who uses their power to harm someone else.

He knew a boy when he was younger who was closer to his age or younger, he couldn’t really remember They stayed at some noble’s house for a business purpose or something and one day Ricky got lost and found a wounded child crying around a corner of the mansion. He had talked to the child and quickly befriended him and got to know that the other boy had been getting abused along with some other bunch of children as well, so he then told his parents who investigated the matter and they punished the noble and took the children into a safer place and was placed under a orphanage. Since most of the children were orphans. He vaguely remembers promising something to the boy he met.

Ricky wonder where that boy was, was he well and happy?

Ricky couldn’t remember much past him giving the boy some button off his shirt saying he will meet him some day, he looked past his window to see the starry sky, he saw a shooting star,

He wished to meet him again, he could’ve wished anything that’s true, but at the moment that was what he wished for.

 Ricky stood there looking at the starry sky,

While the boy who he helped looked at him from the other side of the room without knowing it was him that had helped him that day.

The two boys stood at the two ends of the room just like how they stood at ends of the society.

Chapter Text

Ricky woke up to the sound of his butler Gyuvin calling his name “Good Morning, Your royal highness It’s time for you to wake up” he said, Ricky isn’t an early bird, he hated waking up  early in the morning(it’s 11 am) he sat up still half asleep. If Robins were here he would’ve hit him on the back instead of waking him up with a gentle greeting. His butler Gyuvin had somewhat warmed up towards Ricky? He doesn’t talk much with Ricky even though he seems to be quite cheerful with his other fellow workers, after accidentally listening to a conversation Gyuvin had with a maid Ricky got to know that the brunette was quite the jokester, (he definitely wasn’t eavesdropping)

“Gyuvin did you see the new horse at the stable? It’s so gorgeous with that white hair and all- Quite a beauty actually. Also did you know that horses can rest while standing?-”

“Elise you sure do love horses don’t you so what’s the name of that white horse? White beauty?” Gyuvin asked laughing

“Racist, but nah it doesn’t have a name-not yet, I think that horse is for the crown prince? don’t you think Jack would be a good name?” Elise asked

“Jack? Nah Mayo is better so when it neighs its Mayo neighs-”

“Oh my god not again Gyuvin, after all those years of listening to your dumb jokes-”

“Elise-Elise come quickly look!” Ricky’s sister had called her maid.

Guess the name of Ricky’s horse? Yes, you are absolutely right it is MAYO!!.

Well it hadn’t been named that yet. Well Ricky is planning to name his horse that but there is no time to waste thinking about horse names when he has to choose the applicants for the selection out of 6969 applications, Its gonna be a long day.

Ricky had them applications delivered to his Work area. His desk was piled up with applications. Well he has a week to sort out the applications and he needed help.

He called Gyuvin over to call his sister over as he promised to her.

“Gyuvin, You can call Elise over too if you want” Ricky said since he seemed to enjoy the maids company.

Gyuvin was clearly surprised by this “oh-Will do your highness, thank you” he said bowing and basically skipping out of the room.

All the 6969 applicants have been through the counsel of the ‘selection’ or whatever, which consisted of a bunch of old men so it was quite obvious that the girls have been chosen for their looks over their skills and talents.

Oh how silly of him! he forgot-that this year’s applicants have been chosen by the new counsel which had been personally created by his mother, The queen herself. In which the applicants have been chosen according to their education IQ, EQ and such since they are choosing a future queen hence the need for the brains. But according to the tradition he had  only been provided with a picture and some basic information such as name age and the region in order to be ‘fair’.

Ricky flipped through some of the applications,

He then realised that he only had the pictures and their Id? Or some number, where’s the basic information? He looked around maybe it was lost? It will be such a hassle to get a new name list so Ricky chose to just pick some pretty girls well they need to have both brains and the beauty after all. The names doesn’t matter what matters is the looks- personality well simply put he couldn’t care less about their names but  at the end of the day it was his duty to choose them.

After a while his sister arrived with her maid and his butler, his sister was so excited to see and to help Ricky choose a ‘pretty queen’ so he trusted her opinion. Ricky sometimes asked for the opinion of Gyuvin and Elise, had to get all the hands on the dock.

They worked day and night.

In the span of a week they finally managed to finish selecting the contestants for the well the 'selection'.

After the next two weeks Ricky’s gonna have to do the 'selection', his parents were very very excited, at least they made up for the lack of enthusiasm from Ricky’s side.

Ricky and Gyuvin got along more than he thought, well sure Gyuvin sometimes go into this weird phase where he avoids talking to Ricky for a whole day. There were times when Gyuvin couldn’t even keep eye contact with him, all thanks to the Might noble Vincent Alpez!!(the abusive bastard.)

As a personal butler of the Royal family, Gyuvin’s room was situated right next to Ricky’s, more like an attached bathroom but bedroom ver. instead. It was originally Robins's but as he is away for a while its Gyuvin’s. 

Ricky had asked Gyuvin if he was fine with the room arrangement since there was a rumour going around regarding that bastard Vincent and how he used to go to those conjoined rooms of his workers to do well various things. 

But Gyuvin said it was alright so Ricky dropped the subject.

Ricky wasn’t an early bird but he considers himself to be a night owl (he has insomnia) and the walls between his room and his butlers were thin- (and no he didn’t hear him jerking off or something) he might’ve heard him sobbing? Crying? Once or twice or maybe thrice, he almost pitied the boy.

Once he was woken up by a shout? Ricky quickly woke up ready to whip out his sword, when he realized it was coming from his butler’s room- had they been ambushed was it the northern raiders? He went to his butler’s room with his sword pointed, ready to attack only to realize that the poor boy was screaming from a nightmare and not by an ambush. Oh how relived he was, But what does he do now he looked at the boy who was shaking he was muttering something “Fire,It burns-” Ricky tried to wake him up saying that he was okay and such. Gyuvin finally sprung up, he was sweating buckets, still half asleep for his brain to register that the person he was sobbing and snot-ting all over was the crown prince.

After the incident he has become more worried about the boy since he has come to realize that Gyuvin has nightmares almost everyday and he sometimes puts the boy to sleep although Gyuvin seems not to remember it, well all for the better since Ricky seems to know more about the brunette's trauma than he intended. He also began to notice small things about the brunette.

Like how he is so kind- Ricky once caught Gyuvin helping some random puppy he found and wanted to keep it, Ricky thought of letting him until butler Sunny caught them trying to hide the puppy, it was almost a success before the dog barked and Sunny didn’t believe that the box the puppy (who they named her as Eumppappa well Gyuvin did- ) was in could bark.

He thought that Sunny would scold Gyuvin but he was surprised to see the usual grumpy elder (contrasting to his name honestly) ruffle the hair of the young butler while he playfully scolded the younger one, muttering something about how Gyuvin is still the same.

So at the end they got to keep Eumppappa by the permission of the Queen herself!!. Hah! take that Sunny.

Gyuvin was kind and funny.

Ricky finally named his horse as Mayo and it got a laugh out his father while Gyuvin burned in shame when he realized that the crown prince might’ve heard the lame joke he made.

Gyuvin was also afraid of the fire, Ricky noticed how Gyuvin avoided the fire place and how he would stand at the other end of the room while the fire place was lit and how he avoided usig candles, so he didn’t light them unless it’s absolutely necessary to do so.

Gyuvin would also flinch- Ricky is used to playfully hitting and tapping Robins, and sometimes he forgets that its Gyuvin that is his butler and not Robins so he would raise his hand to playfully hit the younger only to watch him flinch, he had apologized to the younger.

Time went by 

And it was finally the time for the 'selection'.

Well it will be tomorrow and as for now Ricky decided to pray for the best and sleep his anxiety off.

Chapter Text

Ricky was, well pacing around the waiting room trying to walk off the uneasiness he was feeling. trying to think of a plan on how to do the selection. He should’ve done this weeks ago instead of fooling around with his sister and Gyuvin.

So typically the selection goes like this , first they broadcast it to the whole nation while the 35 ladies introduce themselves after that Ricky’s supposed to talk to few of them? And flirt around choosing the ones that suits him the best?

He got this Ricky thought to himself as his parents arrived.

“My son, are you ready to swoon all the ladies~?” His father asked and then gave him a prep talk which didn’t do much to help Ricky’s situation.

His mother also muttered some words of encouragement and went to double check with the crew about the ladies.

Ricky wasn’t allowed to see the ladies before the beginning of the selection, his only hope is that he can act good enough for them to believe himself to be heterosexual.

After the brief interview with the Royal family they were headed for the interview.

They arrived at the Banquet hall where 35 ladies were seated wearing all kinds of glittery gowns, he noticed Gyuvin who was also in the banquet hall staring at them in awe, Gyuvin made eye contact with Ricky who quickly looked away. 

After they were seated, his father officially started the selection by giving his long ass speech followed by his mother’s speech about rules and stuff, while all that was happening Ricky took his chance to tease the brunette  for staring at the contestants with his jaw basically laying on the ground,

“Gyuvin you like what you see?” Ricky asked as Gyuvin looked at him startled-

“I-I  Your highness- Um you look quite handsome- ” He said shyly as he avoided Ricky’s eyes basically blushing. 

How Cute Ricky thought-

Hold up.

What.

Gyuvin was looking at him? and not the-  “Prince Ricky will now introduce himself” 

Ricky can think about that later.(he certainly will)

He got up and went to introduce himself.
After his introduction it was the ladies chance to introduce themselves. 

Out of the 35 contestants few caught his eye each for different reasons.

One of them was Capa Cino- Ricky just thought her name was funny.

Ess? More like Depress- she looked as if she didn’t  want to be here honestly Ricky could agree more.

Jenny tals-  well funny name once again.

Eline Vincove, she looked smart (she wears glasses)

Hold up did he just see Vick? Well Vicky? Was she also a contestant? he doesn't remember choosing her (he was probably sleep deprived. )

Vicky was one of Ricky’s childhood friends she went abroad for studies but guess she’s back-  It was funny to see her wearing such a girlish glittery bright blue outfit, it didn’t look that bad on her-

Did he tell you about the fact that Vicky is a lesbian? No? well now you know.

He tried to get Vicky’s attention but she was looking at something? someone? he followed her gaze to find her looking at some contestant- Zelena? Well Zelena’s chest- who was wearing a black gown with a low cut. She’s no better than a man, Vick finally caught Ricky’s eyes maybe after feeling his eyes on her. Ricky shook his head in disappointment. As she rolled her eyes.

Once a pervert always the pervert he guess.

After the basic introduction it was time for them to interact.

Ricky stood awkwardly as he saw Naily Kurtowa approached him , they talked for few minutes.

He decided that he didn’t like her, she had quite the attitude and  she tried to touch him.
Definitely wasn’t inviting that one any time soon.

After few more chats he realized it wasn’t that bad well not yet as he is to go on dates with them in near future, Ricky will enjoy this while it lasts.

He was his sister running around playing with some of the constants. She came and talked to him about how excited she was and how fun it was to play with them and then she continued running around, he looked around to see Gyuvin handing out drinks. He wore a new uniform different to his usual butler outfit, it fitted him well he looked quite cute as well-

“Yo, Your higness how have you been” a familiar voice interrupted his thoughts, “Vick-” she went for a hug as usual but he quickly backed away reminding her that this was a competition. After chatting for a bit ,Vick promised to help him figure something out for this whole selection thing- she also told him that if he needed any help with going on a date   she’s always in and that she can lend him a helping hand to swoon the ladies- what a flirt he thought.

“Hold up-where’s Robins? ” she asked looking around, Robins was her partner in crime. When they were small they would always partner up and pull pranks on Ricky. 

“He went on a vacation,  I got a new bulter he was here somewhere-” Ricky said turning around to see Gyuvin handing out drinks two meters away from him.

Suddenly  his sister came running colliding with Gyuvin who was carrying the drinks.

Gyuvin lost his balance- he heard the shattering of the glasses around him, closing his eyes he braced himself for the fall that never came.

He felt a hands on his waist and  back, he opened his eyes to find the crown prince basically holding him, he looked up at the prince mesmerized by his beauty when it occurred to Gyuvin that he was in front of a banquet, He- he just broke some glasses- shit he was gonna get-what if he was fired- the familiar voice of the crown prince broke his train of thoughts.

“Hey- are you okay?”  Ricky asked his butler who was startled by the fall.

“Yes- I’m sorry Your royal higness” he said as turned and went away to clean up the mess. Ricky could swear that he saw fear in Gyuvin's eyes. He briefly considered going after the boy but he had duty to do.

Someone cleared their throat- It was Vick she was looking at him with a funny expression.

“Is he the new butler of yours?” Vick asked wiggling her eyebrows.

“Yeah his names Gyuivn” Ricky said looking back to see Gyuvin talking with some senior bulter probably being scolded, now where tf was his sister that little monster how many times has he told her to pay attention to where she is going. 

“I see the chemistry ” Vick said eyeing Ricky as she looked at Gyuvin. What the fuck is she even  talking about- no way was she out of her mind? 

“Vick I told you about this- stop trying to matchmake for god’s sake! Can't you remember what happened last time when you tried to matchmake Robins-”

“Shh Past is in the past, but you should've seen the way you held him-I'm sure all the ladies will trip from now on but like did you see the way he looked at you- hell did you see the way YOU looked at him-” Vick’s rambling was cut off by the arrival of his mother.

Chapter Text

Gyuvin was panicking, considering the fact that he had just broken some expensive camphane glasses, he was so sure that he will be fired but what if they sent him back to those nobles-

No- Gyuvin cannot absolutely have a panic attack in the middle of the banquet hall first he should find-

Who was it-

 Gyuvin needed to stop panicking. No Gyuvin needs to get out of here he went through the crowd muttering sorrys since he had bumped into many of them he finally got out he didn’t know where he was, what if Oden (King’s butler) looked for him- maybe he should run away he doesn’t want to be punished- just thinking about that makes Gyuvin’s whole body shudder in fear suddenly the scars in his back felt fresh-

Before he knew he was having a panic attack, by the amidst of it he heard somebody

The somebody who was telling him to breath-

“Gyuvin try to follow my breathing in and out in and out-” somebody muttered

It helped Gyuvin to calm down he finally looked at the somebody it was Robins-

“Robins!” Gyuvin said as he hugged the older one,

“when did you come back”

“Don’t worry I came just in time to see your amazing glass breaking skills” Robin said jokingly

Fuck- so Robins who was the Crown prince Ricky’s ex-butler is back.. that means the crowns prince’s current butler whom happened to be Gyuvin is-

He just had a panic attack but it seemed like he had space to do another-

Robins must have realized the horror in his face-

“Oh! Gyuvin you aren’t getting fired I'm back but not as Ricky- well Crown prince’s bulter but as Vick- Lady Vicky’s Butler, since they needed butlers for all the ladies fuck them for that- my vacation was cut short “  

Oh. So he wasn’t fired-

Yet.

“Robins do you think they will fire me-”Gyuvin asked

“No I don’t think so, it was the princess’s fault for running around plus I don’t think Rick- Crown prince will fire you anyways- Now get up we need to solve the matter at hand, do not worry Gyuvin I will talk to the head butler and that bald Oden for you”  Robins said helping Gyuvin up.

They went to talk to Sunny and Oden.

It didn’t go well,

Oden started to blame Gyuvin- he was so angry that he looked as if he was about to explode- that was when Oden raised his hand at Gyuvin-

Oden was going to hit him. Gyuvin flinched back with his arms coming to cover his face automatically as a reflex. He braced himself for the pain that never came.

“What is happening here Oden” a stern but familiar voice said Gyuvin opened his eyes to see crown prince standing behind Oden, holding the elders hand which was about to collide with Gyuvin.

“Good evening your royal highness, what-what a surprise to see you here-” Oden stuttered as Sunny and Robins stood at either side looking at the scene unfolding in front of them.

Gyuvin was still lost in thought oblivious to what was happening around him.

Now that the crown prince is here he was sure to be fired what if they punished him as way they did It at Nobel Vincent’s-

“Gyuvin, hey look at me- Its okay now, nobody is gonna hurt you ”

It was the crown prince that stood infront of him. Gyuvin looked around just to be sure only to find out that they were alone in the room.

Gyuvin finally looked at the prince whom he avoided earlier. The Crown prince had a worried look on his face- was he worried about Gyuvin? Oh no he must be worried about the mess he had created- shit Gyuvin should apologize-

“I’m sorry your royal highness, I should’ve been more careful it was careless of me and I’m sorry that I ruined your highness’s banquet- I would like pay back but I don’t think I can handle more debt considering they were high quality glasses but-  ”

 Gyuvin was rambling, he should’ve planned an apology before hand.

“so please your highness please don’t fire me ” Gyuvin said well more like he sobbed-

Fuck when did he start crying- he wiped his eyes hurriedly but the tears continued to flow non-stop. So pathetic of him why did he have to be such a cry baby- Gyuvin thought as he struggled to breath.

“Gyuvin breath, breath yeah like that in and out in and out ” Crown prince said. He felt the crown prince wiping his tears as he caressed his back.

Gyuvin finally calmed down-great two panic attacks technically one and a half panic attacks- in one day, Good job Kim Gyuvin.

Now look at him too embarrassed to face the crown prince- he had just cried in front of him pathetically.

“Are you okay now? and no I’m not going to fire you for some small mistake” Crown prince said.

Gyuvin couldn’t look at him so he nodded while staring at the floor, floor looked quite nice actually maybe he needed the floor to swallow him as a whole-

“Thank you, your highness” Gyuvin said still looking at the floor.

“Also you should’ve seen the face of that bald bas- Oden had. He was scared shitless. Gyuvin I'm sorry, I as the Crown prince of Eskar apologize behalf of the butler Oden regarding the way he acted towards you-”

“No- its okay your highness-not a big deal I’m used to it anyway-”

“Gyuvin. Nobody by that I mean nobody should be used to this kind of behavior. No matter who does it, it’s still wrong, so once again I apologize thereby I promise to protect you and my fellow staff members in future more care ” the crown prince said-

BOWING TO HIM-

The fuck-

Gyuvin stared at him “Your highness you didn’t have to- why did you bow-”

“Chill it’s an etiquette of ours” He simply said shrugging as he went out of the room 

“Gyuvin come along you have to accompany me to a date” 

Gyuvin hurried behind him and heard the prince mutter

“oh god I don’t want to go on a date” Gyuvin snorted while following the crown prince.

Gyuvin was relieved and grateful more than ever to be the crown prince’s butler.

Chapter Text

If you ask Gyuvin about what he is doing at the moment he will say that he is ‘trying’ to make some kind of weird latte? That the lady-who-he-forgot-the-name-of asked, Gyuvin was clearly struggling, he only knows how to make all those flowery fruity drinks that crown prince like not some weird coffee with 2 shots and crème with caramel.

After 10 minutes of trying, he came up with…something not a caramel latte but something. Gyuvin doesn’t understand why he had to be the one to make coffee for the lady when she is provided with, he doesn’t know 3 maids? Or something.

When he return he saw the lady and prince sitting chattering away in the middle of the Royal garden. Gyuvin went and served the drinks, was he supposed to go back or stay? Maybe he should go to you know provide privacy for crown prince and his date. Gyuvin was going leave until he cached crown prince’s eyes who was clearly signaling him not to go.

Gyuvin stayed.

He stood near a tree and looked around for a good hour or so it was 5 pm the sun was setting down the pink and the golden rays coloring the nearby surrounding Gyuvin was glad that he didn’t leave.

Gyuvin couldn’t really go outside when he was young considering how he grew up, he forgot how much he loved nature he wanted to run feel the cool evening air, he looked at the crown prince who seemed to be listening to the lady they went to a quick walk around the garden. She was explaining something  as crown prince nodded smiling at her.

The prince looked elegant basked under the golden light.

Without even knowing Gyuvin stood there admiring the beauty of the crown prince when suddenly crown prince looked back right into the eyes of Gyuvin startling him, Gyuvin quickly looked away his cheeks red with embarrassment. This was the second time the prince had caught him looking,

He had done it again why can’t he just be normal-

“Ho ho look who’s here” Gyuvin heard a voice behind him, he turned back only to find Robins standing there with a smug look on his face.

“Hello to you too, why couldn’t you come earlier I was so bored to the point I started counting the fucking trees”

“Yeah yeah I saw you looking around, you basically had your jaw on the floor did the trees amuse you that much? For you to be gaping at them greens?” Robins asked clearly teasing him.

“Uh-uh what are you talking about- I wasn’t- I wasn’t looking at the prince-”

“huh? Who said anything about the prince- I thought you were looking at the Lady Eline”

“oh-”

Fuck Gyuvin and his stupid mouth- of course not everyone is gay-not everyone is abnormal now that Robins knows he’s not going to talk to Gyuvin again. Maybe he too is disgusted by him.

“I’m sorry I-” Gyuvin opened his mouth to apologize again for the 100^th time that day

“Dude chill it’s fine so you’re gay?” Robins asked.

“Yeah, I am” Gyuvin replied slowly almost whispering, he didn’t want to admit it aloud.

They chatted for a bit as Robins went back, Gyuvin was once again left alone with his thoughts. What had he done-

That was the first time he had admitted the fact that he was gay, Gyuvin mostly avoided thinking about it. Every time he caught himself looking at a man he forces himself to look away, to look at the ladies to be normal. He was glad that Robins accepted him but why would he- Gyuvin’s weird, abnormal for-for liking boys. It’s a sin

It’s a sin they said,

It’s a sin they said when they had caught him with a boy-

It’s a sin they said when they made him stand there, front of the priest saying that they were cleansing him out when he felt more disgusted more dirty while their hands ran around his body-

He tried his best not to think of those times, those memories. No matter how hard he tries to forget they always come back-(just like yo mom)

Gyuvin didn't want to think about that memory, he suddenly wanted to take a bath, he felt dirty, disgusted-

“Gyuvin! Earth to Gyuvin”

Gyuvin was snapped back to reality, crown prince stood Infront of him, he was so lost in thoughts to even notice the prince.

“Sorry your highness” Gyuvin said bowing.

“Did you know, maybe inviting her for the first date might’ve been a bad idea, at first we were talking about random things and I happened to talk something about politics and the whole topic shifted towards that I think I learned more from her than the royal tutor. Also I didn’t expect you to stay there for the whole two hours, you could’ve went inside” Prince said walking towards the castle Gyuvin following him from behind.

“No it wasn’t that bad I enjoyed spending time outside, I didn’t realize how massive the Royal garden is” Gyuvin said.

“True now that you told me It is massive” Prince said agreeing with him.

They were walking pass the entrance which was few meters away from the stable when they heard a bark, Oh- Eumpappa! Gyuvin had almost forgotten about her, Gyuvin looked over to see the dog jumping up and down while the worker struggled to hold her down, one moment she was at the stables then she was running all the way towards them full speed.

Gyuvin couldn’t resist and caught the dog cooing at her as he patted her head.

“Do you want to take her on a walk?” Crown prince suggested.

He wanted to, but-

“You know what Gyuvin let’s go I suddenly had this urge to walk around the garden, you might want to follow along ” Prince had said as he walked toward the garden once again,

Well since the Prince wanted to go for a walk maybe it’ll be fine to walk Eumpappa along with him.

Gyuvin and the prince walked along with Eumpappa, Gyuvin was looking all around admiring the beauty of the flowers, he had recognized some of them.

When he was small he used to hide at the library covered by all those dusty books and old shelves which was shielding him from the monsters of the night he remember when he found some book about flowers once when we was sitting there hiding near a book shelve so he had read it under the moonlight-

Gyuvin tried to remember the name of the blue flower which was in front of him when he suddenly felt himself getting dragged forward only to be full on chasing around Eumpappa as he held on to her leash while she chased around a squirrel.

It was fun,

To run around the garden surrounded by pretty flowers under the beauty of the evening sky, he felt himself laugh genuinely, it had been a while since he did that, Gyuvin decided to forget about his worries for a second as he ran around chasing the dog like a little child.

What he didn’t notice was the Crown prince who stood there looking at him with a fond smile.

The crown prince who had been staring at him all evening while Gyuvin was busy with admiring nature and counting all that trees.

It was a happy evening but the Crown prince wasn’t the only one who was staring at them.

Chapter Text

The queen is extra busy with selection and all, so she didn’t even have to for her usual evening walk, she was always going somewhere always doing some work.

She was on the way to meet the royal accountant when something caught her attention

“Did you see the way he caught Gyuvin?!” One maid said

“Yess, bro they looked so in love” the other maid replied

“For real” they both said in unison

Gyuvin? That name sounded familiar but  queen couldn’t quite remember who it was, it was  fun listening to maids gossiping with each other, when she first came as a contestant for the selection she was quick to be  friends with the maids, they had the best stories and the news travelled very fast around the castle so the maids information was always up to date.

Now queen was interested in the gossip the two maids were talking about, maybe she’ll ask them about it later.

After meeting with the accountant, queen went get her evening tea. The king and the queen usually have tea with the crown prince and  princess but today both king and the prince seemed to be busy and the princess had some evening lessons to attend to, so the queen decided to have the tea with the fellow ladies who were participating in the selection, her son went on a date not a while ago, she was curious about that too. Now where was this son of hers.

Queen was passing by when he heard a laughter coming from outside, it was the laugh of her son, she’d recognizes his laugh anywhere, she peeked from the balcony to find her son laughing at something or someone it seemed.

She expected to see the lady whom the crown prince went on a date, instead she saw the crown prince and his butler who seemed to be playing with the dog (which Ricky begged to keep), the butler was running around with the dog who was chasing behind some squirrel it seemed.

Queen realized that it had been so long since she heard his son laugh out loud like that, she spent few minutes looking at her son and his butler playing around like little kids. Ricky looked happier he looked free, she was reminded of how fast her son had grown up, it felt like yesterday when he held her hand whle waddling all around the castle.

Oh suddenly the name Gyuvin came to her mind, she knew who Gyuvin was.

Gyuvin was Ricky’s butler, the new butler who came from Vincent’s, she remember seeing the butler along with other maids and servants when she took their custody under them while they arrested the former Noble-Vincent.

Queen remember seeing the butler tremble in  fear when they had proposed him to be the prince’s butler, he couldn’t even hold eye contact. It was hard to see what an abuse can do to a person. The queen and king vowed, work harder to protect their citizens in future, no one deserved to be treated that way.

He looked much happier; she was glad for him. Was her son the root for his happiness? Queen wondered.

But wait, the maids were shipping her son and his butler??

Well now that queen knows who Gyuvin is she vaguely remember her son catching Gyuvin at the banquet hall, it was -well a bit romantic?

Queen remember shipping some random Guard and a butler when she came as a contestant, she cannot do this again she promised herself not to ship any more dudes(she kind of had a fujoshi phase when she was young).

‘He is your son’ Queen had to remind herself, what kind of a mother ships her own son just because she heard some maids gossiping about them.

Well she might-

No.

She’ll give her son some time and maybe she’ll find some better ship, considering the 35 options her son seemed to have. She should matchmake her son not with his butler maybe with some lady.(Will queen find a better ship or nah)

Chapter Text

It not easy at all, pretending to be straight that is and after weeks of flirt with ladies all day long Ricky was exhausted.

Ricky can’t do it, he might’ve overestimated himself, it’s a bit easier with Vick by his side as she often accompanied Ricky for ‘dates’.

Ricky was kind of getting worried about what he was going to do in future, now that he had somehow managed to fool the entire nation believe that he isn’t gay. At first, he thought of telling his parents- but he couldn’t do it, he couldn’t think about all the what-if-s

Ricky was a coward. And he knew that, He had talked about this with Vick since she was also in a similar situation, Vick’s family had forced her to participate in the selection so she had no choice either, they thought of few possibilities, either he suck it up and marry some lady he finds suitable and Vick agreed to marry him if things got worse. If things accelerated further, he might just tell his parents.

Maybe, maybe- they’ll accept him?

Would they disown him?  questions which Ricky doesn’t want to find the answers for popped in his mind one after another.

What if-

“Your highness, It’s time for your evening walk” a familiar voice interrupted Ricky’s train of thoughts.

“Oh, yes I almost forgot, Let’s get going” Ricky said standing up from his usual ‘thinking chair’ which was just some heavily cushioned armchair with a weird pattern.

Ricky had been going to walks in the evening along with Gyuvin and Eumpappa mainly because Gyuvin wouldn’t accept Ricky’s offer to take Eumpappa for a walk.

Talking about Gyuvin, Ricky found himself getting drawn to him lately, he somehow managed to get into Ricky’s mind. Ricky caught himself looking at Gyuvin more often than not, while he was working, while he went on ‘dates’ with the ladies. Also, Gyuvin’s nightmare thing seemed to have got worsened, Gyuvin had visible eyebags under his eyes and kept dozing off, it got so worse to the point that Ricky once had to order him, just to go to sleep.

Gyuvin also didn’t seem to remember all the late-night soothing Ricky did, he was better of not knowing, Gyuvin-

No.

He’d to stop thinking about Gyuvin.

Well, he tried to. He failed but he tried.

Let’s keep Gyuvin aside for a while and talk about the selection, Ricky had to eliminate five contestants and another five were eliminated by a test which was held by his mother; the Queen, the broadcasting continued as Joe Mama came from time to time to get some clips for the show and for all the other interviews. It was all going well until his parents decided to organize a surprise ball saying that it was for ‘etiquette training’. So the ladies were to be participated in waltz practices.(It was mandatory)

Well, Ricky was alone in this. Because his parents thought that it was a good idea to surprise their son who wasn’t interested in ballroom dances with a ball, he had gotten Waltz classes when he was little but that was a long time ago and he might’ve learned them half assed, so telling his mother that he cannot remember a thing about Waltz is a no no, but can you blame him? Ricky thought that he wouldn’t really get an opportunity to test his waltzing skills but here he was trying to learn waltzing from Vick and Robin.

It was not going well, Ricky thought that his waltz-ing was bad but no they were worse- The amount of time they stepped on Ricky’s feet were uncountable.

They tried and tried then eventually gave up.

Now Ricky was sprawled on his bed thinking about how to learn waltz, if they had told him a week prior or something it would’ve been fine but no they had just told him this afternoon! about the ball which was supposed to be held TOMORROW night, Some guest were to be arrived tomorrow morning, who are they? you might ask Ricky doesn't know either his parents have said that iit was another 'surprise'. Maybe he could ask a lady to teach him waltz but he didn’t really want to dance with a lady unless it is a must. (Vicky doesn’t count, she’s just some rat)

'Ahh, I can’t, I give up'  who else can he even ask for waltz lessons? Eumpappa? Gyuvin? oh Gyuvin.

"Oh! hey Gyuvin do you by any chance know how to waltz?” Ricky asked Gyuvin (who was busy making his camomile tea for the afternoon) without really expecting an answer.

“Uh, I’m not that sure but I know a bit your highness” Gyuvin muttered while stirring the tea.

“Can’t be worse than those two. Teach me?”

“Uh,” Gyuvin hesitated 

“Sorry, you don’t have to” Ricky said, of-course how could Ricky forget that! Gyuvin hates skin-ship.

“It’s okay, I can try your highness” Gyuvin said

Was Gyuvin forcing himself? did he think of this as an order?

“Gyuvin, you don’t have to force yourself if you don’t want to” said Ricky he needed Gyuvin to know that he always had a choice, everyone should have space for their own decisions in life.

“It’s fine your highness” Gyuvin said.

“Ok then let’s start” Ricky said jumping off of his bed Gyuvin stared at him

“Uh, right now?”

“Yes, since we don’t have much time” Ricky replied.

Gyuvin explained the basics of Waltz about some technique called ‘Box step’ and other things such as turning.

“Ok, thats it” Gyuvin said after explaining them.

“Huh?”

Oh.

 So, this was a theory-based learning kind of thing.

What did Ricky even expect? For Gyuvin to dance with him? Gyuvin must’ve noticed his confused expression.

“Oh, I’m sorry your highness, did you want me to dance- your highness but I’m a butler-?” Gyuvin said with a panicked expression.

“Don’t apologize, it’s okay I understand if you don’t want to-”

“I just don’t want your highness to even hold a hand of a dirty low life like me sire-”

A low life? Dirty? Why did he use such cruel words to describe himself Ricky took few moments to tell Gyuvin that he wasn’t a low life and how he isn’t dirty (Ricky didn’t know the full context but he could assume what had happened)

Gyuvin had said that it's okay and but Ricky refused, he didn’t want Gyuvin to force himself to do something when he didn’t.

But Gyuvin insisted that he wanted to teach him, so here they were in middle of Ricky’s chambers, with Gyuvin’s hand on his shoulder, Ricky placed his hand on Gyuvin’s waist but he flinched so Ricky drew his hand back.

“Gyuvin, it’s okay you don’t have to-” 

“I’m fine your highness-” Gyuvin said looking a little paler than before.

It took few minutes for Gyuvin to calm down and he took Ricky’s hand and placed it on his waist himself, Ricky still didn’t understand why Gyuvin would force himself to do this.

Eventually they started dancing. Gyuvin would tell him how to do the steps since Ricky’s supposed to lead the dance, Gyuvin was good at waltz-ing. Ricky found Gyuvin gradually relaxing as they continued dancing, he also noticed how Gyuvin pays attention on to their feet and how he told Ricky the necessary steps.

After some time Ricky noticed how Gyuvin would stare at them feet avoiding eye contact (maybe he has a feet kink) and Ricky felt awkward staring at Gyuvin while he stared at their feet, it was common courtesy to hold eye contact while dancing after all. They danced for a while fooling around laughing like crazy. Ricky hadn’t felt this lighthearted since a long time with the selection and all.

“Gyuvin did you know that it is rude to avoid eye contact? You can look up you know I don’t bite”

Gyuvin finally looked up.

If ballroom dancing was like this Ricky wouldn’t mind doing this again.

His eyes were dark brown, round and beautiful kind of reminded Ricky of bambi; the deer. Gyuvin’s ears were red, he must’ve been embarrassed.

‘How cute’ was the first thought Ricky had after seeing Gyuvin like  this.

It was at that moment when Ricky realized how close they were, their bodies were almost touching they danced so closely with their faces just barely apart. Ricky noticed how small Gyuvin’s head is and how soft and plump looking Gyuvin’s lips were, if Ricky leaned forward a little, his lips could touch Gyuvin’s

Ricky was drawn to Gyuvin’s lips, his body leaned forward like he had been hypnotized-

What the FUCK was he even doing- Ricky jerked back like he had been punched while Gyuvin stood there frozen like a statue.

Fuck what did he even do he almost kissed Gyuvin-

His butler-

Gyuvin muttered an apology and scattered out of the room, Ricky saw him shaking. Ricky messed up bad.

How irresponsible of him- he only had one job! flirt with the ladies, and look at him flirting with his butler instead, hell Ricky almost kissed him-

Ricky almost went and banged his head on the wall.

Before he could further worry about what he had tried to do he heard a hurried knock on his door.

More like a bang than a knock but whatever that was it bought Ricky out of his thoughts. The door opened as the royal guards came rushing in.

“Your highness we are under attack!!”

Chapter Text

Gyuvin couldn’t breathe, his heart was shuddering in his ears. He felt his knees wobbling as he ran through the corridor. He needed some air. Gyuvin couldn’t even process what had almost happened before.

Gyuvin bumped into someone, before he could  apologize they ran past him along with few others. It was the royal guards. He could care less about the guards.

Gyuvin’s feet had gotten him to his ‘hideout’, which was his old room, now used as a storage room. Most of the staff had gone to sleep considering that it was almost midnight. Gyuvin went in and locked the door.

The events that happened before flooded his mind.

One second the prince was dancing and the next he was leaning in- Gyuvin had frozen in his tracks he almost closed his eyes expecting- and it was over even before it started. The Crown prince jerked back like he had just been shot, like he had just realized what he was going to do-

Disgusting.

Crown prince must’ve felt disgusted-

Disgusted because he was trying to kiss Gyuvin- it was a matter of fact after all. Gyuvin is disgusting, Gyuvin knew that. So, why does it feel like his head was going to split apart? He felt tears rolling down his cheek, blurring his vision. Gyuvin couldn’t believe he was crying over this-

Gyuvin cried in the comfort of his old room sitting by the door.

Had Gyuvin infected his highness- but homosexuality wasn’t contagious- was it? had the priests been telling him the truth? When they had forcefully assaulted cleansed him? saying that they were getting rid of the evil in him?

No that can’t be right- the priests were wrong- what they did was wrong-they raped him they were wrong- or were they really? Had he really deserved it? But did it work? No. Nothing was cleansed, he was still a sinner.

Gyuvin heard some screaming outside.

 “Fire! fire!”

Gyuvin got up trying to open the lock, it was stuck. He rattled the old lock a few times, it was not working. Gyuvin could smell smoke now. What if he couldn’t open the lock in time- was he going to die?

He finally got the door to open, the hallway was filled with smoke he could see some flames coming near from the dorm. His heart was beating so fast. He called out to check if somebody was there since he couldn’t see clearly, he ran the way he came from. Where was everybody, and why weren’t they trying to put the fire out?

Before Gyuvin could wonder any further, a hand came from behind, clasping his mouth. He felt dizzy. Who were they? What were they doing? The last thing Gyuvin saw was the blue bandana, which had the symbol of the compass, ah, they were the northern raiders. Gyuvin wondered about the prince, was he safe? Gyuvin hoped so. Gyuvin heard a muffled conversation as he dived into the darkness.

“I got one more Vince”

“We need to take many hostages as we can”

Chapter Text

The guards who came barging in told Ricky about the attack that had taken place at the palace, the northern raiders have stricken again. Ricky asked about what and how they were trying to get rid of the terrorists. The guards only told him that the Queen ordered the crown prince to go into safety.

As the crown prince of Eskar he cannot stay still, there had been an attack and an ongoing fire spreading through the castle and his father is out country for a political affair in the mid west and his mother wants him to go hide in some safety room underground? Is that what she expects from him? does she have no faith in Ricky’s abilities? Did he train years for nothing?

So what did Ricky do, he tried to escape the guards in order to help the people, if the attackers had gotten into the castle that means there was a higher probability that they have invaded their towns and cities as well.

But Ricky’s plans to escape failed and he was currently being forcefully escorted into the safety rooms. The servants along with the non-combat trained personals were also being escorted into safety or Ricky was told so. Few troops were sent into towns and villages in order to stop the invaders.While Ricky was being escorted a guard came running, panting and out of breath, he was injured and was holding onto his gut which was soaked with crimson blood.

“Your highness, ladies along with several workers have been taken as hostages, and they are demanding for a meeting with the Queen” the injured soldier said between the gasping of breaths.

Ricky needed to spring to action, he cannot let his mother meet some terrorists he needed to go there himself. For the safety of the ladies and his people.

There was another message from one of the troops whom were sent into the capital. It had been a trap, some attacker who was disguised as a soldier had made up an attack, and they had been fooled into sending a fair amount of soldiers into the mouth of their enemies.

According to a guard, the raiders were in the Royal gardens along with the hostages. What he saw wasn’t what he had expected.

Once a beautiful garden was now cut down and at the middle were the hostages surrounded by five no six attackers, there were few ladies and palace staff, they looked too calm too relaxed, they were all half-awake or unconscious as it seemed, must've been drugged, Ricky counted the number of people, there were roughly 25 hostages-

Gyuvin.

Gyuvin was also taken as a hostage.

Ricky felt a sudden adrenaline rush, he cannot fail as the crown prince of the nation, the lives of his people were in his hands, he had assured his mother into letting him take care of this. He needed to take care of this, No. He must take care of this.

Ricky wondered whether to go head on or comply to their deal. Ricky looked around to see some injured soldiers and he saw some invaders who were hiding nearby. He couldnt be sure since it was dark outside. He didn’t have enough soldiers, should he act as a coy? Get some of his guards to take him to the hostages and make them act as if they are betraying their own kingdom? Then attack from behind while he was acting like he was accepting their deal, letting them get the upper hand? Or was it too much of a risk.

Northern raiders were once a small protesting group, they protested over the people of lower cast who were being abused and mistreated, they protested over the inequality they were receiving. The King and Queen had listened to their pleas and tried to make their nation a fair place. They were working towards that goal and the protestors were happy to see the improvement.

It wasn’t until the start of selection they have strike back, Ricky got where they were coming from, but what the raiders needed to understand was that a change cannot be made overnight, changing also needed time.

One thing about the raiders were that they were known as the ‘saviours of the innocents’ they had one rule and that was to never wrong the innocents, and that was the main reason why Ricky saw injured soldiers lying around instead of dead bodies.

Ricky decided to go with the ‘act as a decoy’ plan, even if the raiders were ‘saviours of the innocents’ they had still broken into the palace and what not, Ricky told the guards about the plan.

So two guards dragged Ricky and Ricky used this opportunity to show off his acting skills, Gotta show them whos the star! Ricky was thrown onto the floor by the guards, maybe they were acting just a bit too much, the Ladies who were taken as hostages screamed, some screamed for help some screamed for him to run away, Gyuvin was there looking at Ricky with wide eyes, he looked scared.

The attackers had masks covering their faces, one of them came and attacked Ricky, he looked familiar, but there was no time to waste thinking about the familiarity of some attacker.

Ricky quickly got up from the ground barely dodging the attack pulled his dagger shouting.

“NOW” The soldiers who  were waiting for command came from their hidings.

The attacker and soldiers started fighting, Ricky was focused on avoiding the attacker who was swinging his sword(not that one) towards him.

Ricky was on the ground one second and the next he was duelling with the attacker. Ricky got hold of some random sword which was lying around, and started fighting with it. The fighting technique of the attacker felt familiar, Ricky couldn’t quite name it.

It wasn’t until the attacker had a abandoned the sword and got on the ground swiping his legs under Ricky sweeping Ricky off the feet causing him to fall back that it clicked. That was a native fighting technique for Volariz. These people were not a part 'Northern Raiders'-

He heard a clapping sound coming from behind and everyone began cheering.

What the fuck was happening.

Chapter Text

Ricky looked around to see people clapping and cheering, was this one of his a strange dreams? the attackers, the ‘injured’ soldiers and even the hostages were cheering.

Ricky was confused he was just there standing in middle of the royal garden looking at the scene unfolding Infront of him. Had all of this  been some kind of a test?

He saw Gyuvin out of his peripheral vision who also seemed to be confused before he could analyze the look on Gyuvin’s face the attacker who he had a duel with came forward and took off his mask.

“Ricky long time no see” the man in front of him said.

It was Hao.

Zhang Hao was the Crown prince of Volariz, no wonder he seemed familiar. This might’ve been the surprise that his parents mentioned to him.

“What the-what’s even happening” Ricky asked as Hao hugged Ricky.

Ricky felt somebody’s hand on his shoulder he looked around to find his father who was ‘supposed’ to be out of the country, along with his mother, they were smiling so wide.

“We are proud of you son, and SURPRISE!” Said the King animatingly shaking his hands. His mother laughed as she playfully hit the King’s shoulder.

“So, Ricky, do you remember about the ‘surprise’ we told you about? well this was more like a test than an actual surprise. Your father here wanted to test your capabilities hence we planned this attack-”

“So, all this was a lie? There was no fire? No attack?” Ricky asked still in disbelief. They really had no hope in his capabilities? did they?

“Yes and I told you this was a stupid idea” Queen said to her husband, who smiled at her instead.

“The actual surprise was the ‘guests’” The king said.

It was then Ricky had realized all the attackers were his friends who were from different kingdoms.

Ricky spent his day catching up with his friends.

Ricky’s friends were Hao, Matthew, Gunwook and Taerae. Jiwoong couldn’t make it since he was the King of Gaeria(did you get it? Gay area-). Ricky got to know all the gossip from around the world. Hs friends had watched the selection and asked him who he liked the most amongst them.

He hadn’t told his friends about him being gay.

Hao and Hanbin were from the same Kingdom, the boy who sat beside Hao was Hanbin, one of the Volariz’s prime minister’s son. They seemed to be closer than he thought. 

Hao was one of his childhood friends which he met at some international conference, they got along well and he had a great sense of humor and wit.

The Ball was postponed for the day after. They had dinner together and the others went to their chambers, Hao stayed behind saying he wanted to talk with Ricky, Ricky also wanted to talk with Hao about his selection situation.

They were in Ricky’s chambers, and Ricky noticed the absence of Gyuvin, He seemed to be avoiding Ricky. That was fair considering the shit he had pulled while they were dancing. Ricky also wanted to check up on Gyuvin, it seemed that he was quite shaken up. Ricky planned to talk with Gyuvin after the talk which he was having with Hao.

Ricky and Hao were talking about how their lives have been, Ricky was contemplating whether to tell Hao about his homo-situation.

“Ricky, I want to tell you something. Promise me to keep this a secret, well for now at least”

“Chill, I won’t rat out on you Hao”

“So, I’m going out with someone-No let me finish this” said Hao before Ricky could question about the mystery woman. Ricky rolled his eyes and motioned Hao to continue.

‘It is a man” Hao said.

It caught Ricky off guard “What-”

“I’m dating a man, Ricky” Hao said maintaining eye contact with Ricky.

Hold up. Hao was dating a man? He was dating a MAN- Ricky wasn’t the only gay dude in his league!! Finally he must celebrate for that and maybe Hao could help Ricky with his Selection problem and maybe- with his I-tried-to-kiss-my-butler one too. Ricky wanted to know about Hao’s future plans and he was ready to support him no matter what. Ricky was curious about Hao’s mysterious man. No way- it was the Prime minister’s son wasn’t it- No wonder they looked so close.

“Is it Hanbin? ” Ricky asked

“The fuck- how!  Are we that obvious?” 

“Kind of- Yall had the ‘Love is in the air’ look”

“I swear to God! Anyways what did you want to talk about-”

Knock knock

“Come in”

In came a young boy who looked barely above eighteen, Hao turned toward him.

“Yujin, what are doing at this hour? Aren’t you supposed to be asleep? Did you get lost? -” Hao started questioning before the boy could even enter the room.

Yujin came in along with- Gyuvin.

“Hao Hyung I’m not a child anymore- I came to ask whether I could sleep with Gyuvin-”

“WHAT-” Hao exclaimed “You just turned eighteen-”

“Oh my god-” said Yujin and he turned towards Gyuvin who seemed to be busy looking everywhere but Ricky.  “This is Gyuvin, the friend I told you about.”

“Nice to meet you Gyuvin, I’m Zhang Hao. Yujin this is Ricky the crown prince of Eskar. Ricky this is my butler Yujin who’s literally my child”

“Nice to meet you Prince Ricky” Yujin said bowing. After the introductions Yujin asked the important question.

“Your highness may I-” Yujin asked Hao.

“Yes, yes you may. Also did he agree? To your secret plan?” Hao asked raising an eyebrow at him.

“I didn’t ask him yet.”

“It’s okay, you can do it peacefully. We are staying for about a month afterall”

What was happening? What were they even talking about- what plan?

“Your highness, may I also sleep at the butler’s quarters today?” It was Gyuvin, he asked Ricky. Once again avoiding his eye contact.

Ricky wasn’t against the idea of Gyuvin sleeping over with Yujin but he was however against the idea of them sleeping at the butler’s quarters mainly because Ricky was worried about Gyuvin.

“Yes, you may Gyuvin- But are you sure you want to sleep at the butlers’ quarters? Why not sleep at your room-” Ricky started but was cut off by Hao

“Overprotective as always huh, Just let them be Ricky”

“Thank you, your highness I shall stay at the quarters for today” Gyuvin said bowing and they left.

Would Gyuvin avoid Ricky forever- what if he stays over at the quarters everyday- but why does it even matter to Ricky. Ricky knew very well ‘why’ it was, but he was a coward, coward who cannot even accept the fact that he might have a little something something for-

“What did you wanna talk about?” Hao asked

“Uh, about the fact that I’m gay?”

“…”  Should he not have told Hao about the fact that he was gay-

“WHAT- Ricky don’t tell me-Does your parents know? Are they against it-”

“They don’t know yet.” and Hao almost slammed his head on the wall.

They spend few minutes talking about his ‘selection’ issue, and Hao encouraged Ricky to tell his parents and get them to cancel the selection before it could go too far. Hao also told Ricky that Yujin was trying to get Gyuvin to leave the country with him. So that was what the ‘secret plan’ was.

Hao eventually left saying that Hanbin was a needy man.

So Ricky was left alone in his chambers, he sprawled there on his bed thinking about whether to tell his parents about him being gay, he also thought about his ‘crush’ on Gyuvin and how Gyuvin might be leaving the country in about a month or two. Should Ricky confess to Gyuvin? Or was it just one of his silly crushes? He can confess though, Not like he has much to lose anyways, he knew that Gyuvin wasn’t the type to rat out on him and tell everybody about the fact that the Crown prince was gay.

Ricky and Gyuvin both fell asleep worrying about different things, thinking about the future which was yet to come.

The future where they both had to face hardships(together)

Chapter Text

Gyuvin had spent the night in the butlers’ quarters with Yujin, basically having a sleepover. It’s just the fact that they weren’t some 12-year-olds anymore.

Yujin was Gyuvin’s childhood friend, but Gyuvin considered Yujin to be something more. Like a brother he never had. He was the first ever friend Gyuvin made. He was the son of Gyuvin’s father’s best friend, so it wasn’t that much of a surprise when they got close.

Gyuvin was seven when his father died of a sudden heart attack. After the death of Gyuvin’s father he was basically an orphan without family and a place to go, with their relatives refusal to take the custody of him, he was left alone. So, Mr. Han; Yujin’s father raised Gyuvin as one of his own.

They weren’t high class nobles who munched on their food for living, they were the working class, dying day and night just to gain a penny. Mr. Han worked as a gardener for a noble named John Kurtez, he was a kind nobleman, one of the rarest creatures on earth, Gyuvin’s father worked as a laborer, he did some gardening occasionally along with Yujin’s father as they worked at the same mansion under Kurtez. Yujin was motherless as his mother left when he was born.

Mr. Han took them with him to the Kurtez mansion when he had work, most of the time they were left with the mansion staff, the children would help them with little things like giving them a glass of water or helping them move stuff, These were the happiest memories of Gyuvin’s life, he remember running around with Yujin playing catch. The staff at the mansion was nice, He met Butler Sunny for the first time when he was there.

Butler Sunny was the head butler of the Kurtez’s. He often looked after Gyuvin and Yujin, sneaking them food when they were hungry while waiting for Mr. Han to finish his work. Their lives went on smoothly until Mr. Han got sick, He was doing fine until he wasn’t. Mr. Han eventually got admitted to the hospital along with the debt piling up. After fighting the disease for about a month he left the world.

Gyuvin and Yujin basically worked at the mansion, since they had nowhere to go, but with Sunny looking after them it wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t that bad, since it was getting worse. One day there was an interview organized by the Royal family to find a new head butler and since Sunny was a great butler Gyuvin and Yujin insisted that he go to the interview. Butler Sunny got the position and he left the Kurtez mansion telling Gyuvin and Yujin to be safe.  That’s when the new butler came, His name was.. Gyuvin cannot remember but he remembers the way the butler treated them; he would hit and abuse their staff and sometimes Gyuvin and Yujin also experienced this. He called them ‘freeloaders’ since they were a bit too young to properly be a butler. So, he trained them, the training was not bad that’s when Gyuvin picked up most of his butler skills but the way he treated them was not, he would hit them every time they made a mistake, the older children had it worse while the younger ones were beaten with a stick or a bat older ones were whipped, Gyuvin remember trembling in fear while holding the wine tray for life while he heard the cries of the other staff.

Gyuvin was seven when he remembers being beaten up so bad that he couldn’t walk, he remembers crying all night begging god to save them, Yujin was asleep with the other children, the children they hired in order to make them the perfect butlers or maids saying that it’s better to start them young.

One day some nobles came to their mansion, one girl insisted that it wasn’t just another noble and that they were the royal family, nobody believed her. Gyuvin remember sneaking around with Yujin to get a better look, he saw a child their age sitting with the noble, he must be their son. They had another child with them wearing the butler uniform. No way they hired children- he couldn’t see that much since the head butler caught them, they got a good beating after that.

He was crying outside, in a corner of the garden. Butler told him to sleep outside since he had disobeyed the rules. Gyuvin’s back was hurting from all the beatings he got he couldn’t even lay down to fall asleep as his back was hurting.

“Hey, are you okay?”  somebody asked startling Gyuvin. It was that noble boy, he wore a silk pajamas while Gyuvin sat there with his tattered clothes shaking under the moonlight. Gyuvin scoffed he must be the same as the grown-ups. 

“I’m fine. Why are you here, you aren’t supposed to be here” said Gyuvin.

“I got lost on the way” the boy said observing Gyuvin, Gyuvin didn’t like the way he looked at him.  Should Gyuvin show him the way? But it hurts too much for him to even stand.

Gyuvin did it anyways, He stood up even when his legs were wobbling and asked them boy where he came from, he said that they were staying at the west wing. Gyuvin asked the boy to follow him, he could show him the way but if he were to get caught by the butler he would get beaten again.

“You are bleeding” said the boy, Gyuvin ignored him. He knows that, he can feel it. Gyuvin limped and finally got to the west wing.

“You can go straight then-”

 “-Young master where are you” They heard an adult’s voice; guess they were looking for him.

“Here!” said the boy as he turned towards Gyuvin to tell him something but he was too late Gyuvin had already disappeared.

The noble boy stayed for about two weeks and somehow, he managed to befriend Gyuvin. The boy once sneaked in some bandages for him and Yujin. Yujin didn’t seem to like the boy that much in the beginning but he also got along at the end. The boy would meet up with them at the night and they would play for a bit.

One day the boy found him again when he was crying, Gyuvin had lied to save Yujin from the beating earning himself more beatings from the cruel butler. The boy was older than him by barely few months and he had been asking about how they always got injured, Gyuvin had told the boy that he had simply slipped but anyone with a brain can see that the wounds were not by the slipping.

So, when the boy found Gyuvin that night crying in the rain when he was left out of the dormitory Gyuvin had told him where they got all those black and purple patches. He told the boy about the cruel butler and about the other staff turning blind eye at them, the boy had soothed him promising that everything would be okay. Gyuvin had nodded along crying silently wrapped in the boy’s arms.  

The next day they were woken up in a hurry by an older girl telling them that the ‘Royal guards were here’. They hid in fear inside the nearby barn when the guards came barging in. The guards didn’t attack them.

Instead they just told them to come along, saying that they were safe. The older children who seemed to believe the guards convinced them to follow along.

What they saw bought happy tears to their eyes, the cruel butler was getting arrested along with the ‘kind’ noble for turning the blind eye for the doings of his staff. Gyuvin wondered whether the God finally decided to listen to his prayers. Gyuvin saw the boy out of his peripheral vision he was running towards him waving happily, behind him were his parents.

“I kept my promise,” said the boy grinning at him.

So, it was the doing of the boy. Gyuvin beamed at him while hugging the boy. The boy’s parents talked to them after the arrest was done, the nobles told them that the children will be sent to an orphanage that will treat them better.

The boy and the parents left that day. Gyuvin was quite sad to lose the friend he had made. The boy had bided him farewell and he told Gyuvin not to forget him and Gyuvin had asked him how, since eventually everyone would be forgotten, that was just the way of life. The boy had smiled as he tore a button off his expensive robe and gave it to Gyuvin telling him to keep that in order to remember him

But look at Gyuvin, he already forgot the boy’s name. Gyuvin often had trouble remembering things from his childhood, sometimes he felt as if a chunk of his brain was missing. Gyuvin had tried countless times to remember the things about the boy, but he failed every time. Gyuvin subconsciously touched the button he wore as a necklace to remind him of the boy; the savior who had saved him once.

Gyuvin wore that to remind himself of the hope. To remind him of the light that shone in the darkness.