Chapter Text
Kim dokja the Fake.
That is Yoo joonghyuk's fancé's title.
Kim dokja is - was - the Prince of Ngai. Why was? Well, turns out he was a fake. Swapped from birth by his mother who was great friends with the late empress, taking the real princess in her care while Dokja took the princess's place.
It was revealed recently by Kim dokja himself that he was a fake and brought the real daughter back home.
But Joonghyuk didn't care.
He only needed Kim Dokja as his fiancé, not this stuck up pick me brat. Yoo joonghyuk only needed his precious Kim dokja.
Oh Dokja...
He has no idea just how down bad the other crown prince of the neighboring kingdom is for him.
Kim dokja stole Joonghyuk's cold dead heart, locked it tightly shut with the unbreakable chains to which he held the key to unlock it and threw it to the deepest farthest depths of the ocean.
Joonghyuk first laid eyes on the scrawny plain looking boy, he didn't care. Yoo joonghyuk was born with a curse, a curse of being unable to fathom the concept of love, much less feel it. Because of this, he was pampered and spoiled rotten by his parents and the help so as to make up for the loss of being able to love.
Joonghyuk never even had to speak. He didn't talk much. Only when needed of course, he's a crown prince. He needs to keep up appearances.
So when Joonghyuk found out he's getting married to a prine of a neighbouring country, he didn't care. As long as they stayed out of each other's way then it's fine.
He did not, however, expect to fall in love with the same very boy. Kim dokja broke down Yoo Joonghyuk’s walls, crawled his way into his heart and made an indescribable mark to show that he is Joonghyuk’s beloved.
The normally cold and aloof Yoo joonghyuk turned sweet. Sweet to Kim dokja, nice to Kim dokja, a clingy lovesick puppy to the fake prince.
Nothing can tear them apart in Yoo Joonghyuk’s eyes. He loves this man, more so than he did to his own self. He's only somewhat nice to Dokja, albeit a tad bit cold. He's is like that to everyone, cold yet friendly enough to be well liked. Like he's constantly distancing himself.
Not to Kim Dokja though.
To his Dokja, he'd chain the fake prince up to his personal chambers and lock him in. A caged bird waiting to be freed yet to never see the light of day ever again.
Then Kim dokja disappeared to god knows where.
The entire kingdom was in an uproar. First, the real princess was found none other than the fake prince himself, then, the fake prince decides to go running off to buckfuck nowhere.
Yoo joonghyuk was absolutely heartbroken. He felt empty. A hollow shell working day to night without a second of sleep just to find his future husband. A ruined beast desperately longing, yearning for his owner's return.
Of course, it doesn't stop there.
The tipping point for Yoo joonghyuk is when he learnt that his engagement to his husband is to be broken off and instead, he was going to marry the real princess.
Yoo joonghyuk broke down in his chambers that night. His mana was all over the place, destroying everything within close range. Furniture, heirlooms, clothing. Gone.
All because the beast is getting torn away from its master.
When Kim Dokja was found and safely returned, Yoo joonghyuk came rushing back.
He's never going to let this man go the second time.
Kim Dokja is back.
His husband is back.
SLAM
The doors to the infirmary opened with a powerful force that nearly broke the doors to pieces as it made contact with the walls. The nurse that was tending to Kim Dokja turned her terrified eyes to the figure standing at the doors.
Yoo joonghyuk was fuming by the looks of it. The crown prince stormed straight towards the bed where Kim Dokja laid. When he was just mere inches away from the fake prince, Yoo joonghyuk looked down at him.
"You," his voice was laced with anger. "You stupid fool.”
Yoo joonghyuk felt his heart crying and whimpering for his Dokja's affection.
Yoo joonghyuk 's cold eyes soften when he saw Kim Dokja's condition. Bruised black and blue all over his arms and legs. A slight limp in his steps. Then to top the cake of it all, that pale skin of his. Usually Kim Dokja was somewhat pale, but this time, it was just pure white as if he was an almost corpse.
His eyes darkened. This... this won't do. No way in hell was he letting the fake prince be like this, not when he was just recently returned home.
Mine. MY Kim Dokja.
He grabbed Kim Dokja's chin and forced him to look up.
"I'm pissed." Yoo joonghyuk seethed out through gritted teeth. "What the hell were you thinking? Running off on that horse of yours when you're this weak, fragile, pale, and pathetic. You knew damn well you're weak, you knew damn well you're on the verge of fainting from just standing for more than five minutes, you knew damn well you were sick, yet you still went off on that horse! What the hell were you thinking?!”
Yoo joonghyuk is rudely and roughly cut off by a downright eerie and heartbreaking cold tone from his future husband.
"....Please leave.”
"Excuse me?" Yoo joonghyuk replied, anger rising in his tone when he heard those words. "Why in hell should I do that? When I just got you back? You think I'm just going to leave you after all of the trouble I went trough to find you? No, absolutely not.”
"Leave." Kim Dokja sternly said in a way that shook Yoo joonghyuk to his core.
Alas, the beast is a tamed and well trained dog in front of his owner.
That stern tone made Yoo joonghyuk freeze on the spot. He stared at Kim Dokja, dumbfounded.
Yoo joonghyuk 's lips then curled downwards into a deep frown.
The crown prince's jaw clenched and unclenched but he eventually relented.
".....Fine." Yoo joonghyuk finally said after a couple moments of uncomfortable silence. "Fine. I'll go. But don't come complaining to me when I'm not here to pick up the pieces of your broken self.”
Yoo joonghyuk left.
He didn't last 30 minutes before he came running back again, like a lost puppy.
And who could blame him?
He's addicted to this boy. Like a puppy waiting for its owner to come home, Yoo joonghyuk was on the same boat.
He needed to see Kim Dokja.
He craved to be in the same room with the fake prince.
He longed for the feeling of hearing those words coming out of Kim Dokja's mouth.
Yoo joonghyuk returned back to the infirmary just 10 minutes later after Kim Dokja told him to leave. His chest was heaving, still catching his breath from the fast walking and running.
Kim Dokja looked at him with an expressionless gaze.
Yoo joonghyuk became a puppy.
Yoo joonghyuk swallowed the lump in his throat that formed the moment his eyes landed on Kim Dokja.
He hated the fact that the fake prince's expression was so damn emotionless. He hated that he could read any emotion coming off of Kim Dokja. It was as if the fake prince had put up a cold and closed off wall between the two of them.
"You..." Yoo joonghyuk started to say, but paused immediately. Why...? Why... why are you looking at me like this...?
Oh no.
He's crying.
Kim Dokja saw the tears welling up in Yoo joonghyuk 's eyes.
The sight of it almost made the fake prince falter but almost. He kept his cold stoic face and continued to stare at the other, never once letting the mask slip.
Yoo joonghyuk , on the other hand, couldn't keep himself together. He broke.
"Why... why are you looking at me with... with that expression on your face?" He managed to choke out. "Why are...sniff ...Why are you staring at me as if I'm nothing more than a stranger...?”
He clutched tightly on his chest as the first tear slid down his cheeck.
"Please...Please don't look at me like that." Yoo joonghyuk pleaded, taking a few steps closer to Kim Dokja. "Please... don't... don't look at me as if you don't know me. I..."
A pause. "I just want you to look at me the way you did before" Yoo joonghyuk finally mumbled. He was at the foot of the bed now, his hands reaching out to grab at Kim Dokja's own hands that laid on the bed sheets.
The prince kneeled with a concerning thud onto the floor.
A pitiful sight to see.
The mighty crown prince of Paradise, one of the four most powerful nations of the continent, kneeled at the foot of the bed in front of the fake prince. Begging, pleading with him with tears streaming down his face to look him in the eye.
Yoo joonghyuk 's knuckles turned ghostly whited from how tightly he was clutching Kim Dokja's cold, pale hands. "Please.. Kim Dokja," he pleaded with tears streaming down his face. "Please....”
Don't leave me.
Those words were on the tip of Yoo joonghyuk's tongue, yet he doesn't have the guts to say it.
He never wanted to beg before. Not to anyone.
Not to his parents, not to the countless people he hooked up with.
But here he was and he's begging.
Begging on his knees as if he was praying.
Begging on his knees in front of Kim Dokja.
"Please... don't go." Yoo joonghyuk repeated once more as he clutched tighter onto Kim Dokja's hands. So tight that he feared he might break the fake prince's slim, pale fingers.
"....Your fiancé is waiting for you." Kim Dokja looked away, staring blankly at the wall.
Fiancé.
That very word made the pit of Yoo joonghyuk's stomach churn. He hated the sound of it. Hated the meaning of it.
"I don't want her," Yoo joonghyuk seethed out between clenched teeth, looking down at the floor. "I don't... I don't want her."
I want you.
But he wouldn't dare say that out loud now, would he?
He felt stupid, stupid and pathetic.
Yoo joonghyuk has always been the dominant. In the countless one-night stands and the multiple relationships he's had, he always took the leading role. But here he was, kneeling at the feet of the man he loved, begging and nearly pleading him to come back to him.
He wanted to stand up on his feet like an adult man and leave like how a mature man would.
Like how someone proud would.
But he can't.
It's his husband.
He can't leave his future husband.
"Please," Yoo joonghyuk 's voice was shaking as another tear rolled down his cheeks. "Please don't do this to me..." he's begging, begging again and he hates it.
He felt weak, feeble.
He can't show this side of himself to anyone, not even to Kim Dokja.
"Please," Yoo joonghyuk repeated once more, his eyes glued to the ground as he couldn't bring himself to see the expression on the fake prince's face. "Please don't push me away.... please....”
"Guards. Please bring Prince Yoo joonghyuk to freshen up and meet Princess Naia." Kim Dokja took his hand away.
"No...!" Yoo joonghyuk shouted as his head shot up to look at Kim Dokja. He looked heartbroken to say the least. "No...! No, no, no, NO! Don't... Don't do this to me. Please..."
His mind was running a thousand thoughts at once. No... no this can't be happening. Why...? Why are you...
Before Yoo joonghyuk know it, the guards came in to grab him and tug him out of the infirmary, away from Kim Dokja.
In a blurry flash of emotions, he's sitting in the lounge room. In front of him is Princess Naia, the real heir to the throne.
A sigh escaped past his lips as he stared at the woman his age sitting across from him.
She was beautiful, no denying that.
However, she paled in comparison to a certain someones beauty.
Yoo joonghyuk stared at her blankly for a couple moments before speaking.
"Well?" He asked in a monotone voice, tilting his head to the side. "What do you want, Princess?”
Yoo joonghyuk sat on the couch opposite of Naia and crossed his leg over the other, resting his arm on the back of the couch.
He had this bored, nonchalant look on his face, as if the conversation was a tedious chore he had to deal with.
To him, the princess across him is a chore he has to deal with. A chore that he doesn't want.
The chore he wants is taking care of his real fiancé and being chained to him in marriage.
He had to admit, he's not interested in the princess.
At all.
If Yoo joonghyuk was completely honest himself, he loathed the idea of marrying her. He hated to think about having to share the same bed with her. He despised the idea of having to kiss her.
And most of all, he cringed at the thought of her calling him "my husband.”
His thoughts are all on a certain fake prince.
Not the princess, no. Ew, never.
But the image of his cold and callous behavior just an hour or so ago popped into his mind.
The memory of him pushing him away, staring at him with an emotionless expression on his face.
"Please don't push me away...." Yoo joonghyuk 's own pleading voice echoed in his head.
He could almost feel his heart shatter at the memory.
Yoo joonghyuk suddenly felt arms around his neck and his face being pressed right up against a woman's chest.
The princess was hugging him.
Yoo joonghyuk's eyes widened as the princess suddenly got up from her seat and walked over to him.
He froze on the spot as he found his face pushed up against her chest.
"Wh-what the-"
He tried to pull away, only for her arms to tighten her grip around him and prevent him from moving away.
What the hell is she doing...?!
Would you look at that.
The King and Kim Dokja walked into the room.
Wait.
Kim Dokja...?!
FUCK!
His heart dropped to the pit of his stomach.
And then, his worst fear came to life.
Both the King and Kim Dokja walked into the room, right as the princess was clinging onto him. The King looked pleasantly surprised.
Yoo joonghyuk felt his heart break again.
Kim Dokja. Just saw him hug another person.
That was like the equivalent of cheating on his hubby to Yoo joonghyuk .
Yoo joonghyuk tried to pry the princess's arms off of him, but her grip was firm and tight.
He knew damn well what sort of picture they made from this perspective.
Oh, this is bad. Please don't misunderstand, please don't get the wrong impression, Kim Dokja, PLEASE!
Yoo joonghyuk thought desperately, eyes wide and frantic as his eyes darted back and forth between Kim Dokja and the King.
Kim Dokja looked away.
That sealed it.
Yoo joonghyuk got misunderstood by the one he so desperately worshipped like God.
Yoo joonghyuk ' heart shattered at the sight of Kim Dokja glancing away.
Oh no... Oh no no... no Kim Dokja...
The king let out a chuckle.
"Oh would you look at that!" Harlin chuckled. "Looks like our little birdie is quite close to Princess Naia."
Yoo joonghyuk inwardly cursed as Princess Naia let out a high pitched giggled and squeezed her arms tighter around him.
"It seems so." Kim Dokja's voice was so calm.
Yoo joonghyuk wanted to push this girl off of him.
"And it seems like they make quite a lovely pair, don't they?" The King chuckled once more as he walked a bit closer to the couch.
"Don't you think so, Kim Dokja?"
Yoo joonghyuk wanted to scream and shout and push the princess away.
He wanted to grab Kim Dokja's face and make him look into his eyes and tell him that this is not what it looks like.
Kim Dokja sat down beside the king as per tradition.
Yoo joonghyuk glanced at Kim Dokja as the fake prince took a seat beside the king.
Please... PLEASE look at me...
"You know," The King said as he crossed his legs. "I've always wanted grandchildren running around my castle. What do you say we start thinking about a wedding date, hmm?"
The words made Yoo joonghyuk 's stomach drop and heart shatter.
"If so then I'd have to recover quicker." Kim Dokja sipped his tea.
The King chuckled. "Don't worry about your recovery, boy" he said before taking a sip of his own tea. "I have a feeling we won't have to wait for long, is that right, Yoo joonghyuk ?"
"Y-yeah..." Yoo joonghyuk said in a hollow tone, still unable to pry himself free from Naia's embrace. God, someone save me.
Yoo joonghyuk wanted to hug Kim Dokja instead. Bury his face in Kim Dokja's chest, thighs, anything.
Anything, except for this girl's chest.
He had to be very careful with his words. One wrong thing could blow up the whole situation.
"Y-yeah," he croaked out. "Uhm.. we're... very...compatible.." the word was hard for him to spit out of his mouth.
He despised the very idea of being anything with Naia. Much less, compatible.
He wants Kim Dokja.
He wanted the fake prince. He craved the fake prince.
His body, his touches, his attention, and most of all, his love.
He didn't want the princess, no.
He NEEDED Kim Dokja.
Yet there he was, stuck in the princess's embrace, trying hard to hide the disgusted look on his face.
Naia finally got off of Yoo joonghyuk as she went ahead and sat beside him.
The audacity.
Doesn't she know that a prince's sitting beside a man, fiancé or not, is considered controversial?!
She's acting way too familiar. Way too familiar for Yoo joonghyuk 's liking.
Yoo joonghyuk glanced at the fake prince beside the king, but Kim Dokja's only staring down at his teacup, still not looking at him.
Please, look at me… Yoo joonghyuk couldn't help but think desperately once more.
Rinse and repeat, Yoo joonghyuk trying to get Kim Dokja's attention by acting like a puppy and Kim Dokja not even sparing him a glance.
It's like a nightmare come true.
Every time Yoo joonghyuk tried to grab Kim Dokja's attention, the King would make another comment about the "lovely couple" that they make.
Each time he said those words, it felt like a dagger piercing into Yoo joonghyuk 's chest.
Each time he said those words, Kim Dokja would continue staring blankly down at his teacup and do absolutely nothing.
Yoo joonghyuk inwardly groaned and cursed the fake prince.
He tried not to get upset, but his attempts to grab Kim Dokja's attention went all to waste.
Each time he glanced at the fake prince, only to see him focused on his drink. The princess was acting way too familiar, too friendly with him.
The King and the princess was talking about their upcoming wedding.
And Kim Dokja was acting as if he didn't exist.
It was hell for Yoo joonghyuk .
He fidgeted, acting completely out of character.
Yoo joonghyuk felt anxious, uncomfortable, and most of all unsafe.
He wasn't used to this.
Not one bit.
He's used to being the dominant one, the one in control.
But here he was, stuck in the princess's embrace, forced to sit still while Kim Dokja is acting unperturbed.
It went on for two hours. Two draining, straining hours of trying to get Kim Dokja’s attention and being polite to the King and Princess when all Yoo joonghyuk wanted was to break down and cry in Kim Dokja’s arms.
He wanted to grab Kim Dokja and shove himself forcefully onto his lap.
He wanted to grab ahold of the fake prince, dig his fingers into the fabric of his clothes, bury his face against his chest, and cry like a baby.
But all he can do is sit there and try to calm his racing heart as the king and princess chat away with each other.