Chapter Text
Between the time when flowers bloom and scatter, scars heal and sprouts emerge. We live for this moment, the first and last. That's why I won't take you for granted, because you love somebody like me...
-Seventeen, Fallin' Flower (2020)
Only moments ago, Kwon Soonyoung had been gazing at himself in the Bronze mirror of his hymeneal chamber - the solemn room he was to be locked in before his nuptial ceremony the next day. Donned in red silk and covered in golden embroidery, his wedding attire painted a story of the mighty family he was marrying into - the Oeseong Kwak Clan of Osmanthus City.
The Prince of the Aster Province had been engaged to the heir of their family for many years.
As a child born into the Andong Kwon Royal Family - and as the only offspring to have survived into adulthood after numerous miscarriages from the Queen and all the king's Omega concubines - it was Kwon Soonyoung’s duty to follow his Alpha father’s commands, and more importantly…to protect the people of the Aster Province as their prince. On the day he’d presented as an Omega, the family's counsel had advised the king to arrange a union with a neighboring clan as soon as possible. Since no other children could be produced by the Kwon King, their alliance with the Kwak Clan had been imperative and precarious, especially since annexation was the only choice left to defend themselves against the nations that sought to conquer them.
Within a week of his 15th birthday, the Omega prince was told that he’d been engaged to marry in 5 years time, and until then, it was his responsibility to learn how to become a good Omega wife to an Alpha husband. His studies were halted in favor of learning how to mend clothes and cook. Sword fighting and horseback riding had been replaced with tea-making and endless hours of meditation, for he had to learn how to be calm and quiet - devoid of aggressiveness and expression. Alphas did not fancy talkative and emotional Omegas. They did not like Omegas who could not tend to their needs and care for their children.
According to his parents, the Oeseong Kwak Clan would kick him out of Osmanthus City if he could not please their firstborn son. If that happened, the Andong Kwon Family would not take him back because of such disgrace.
So Soonyoung did as he’d been told, and over the years, his once bright and brash personality had been dulled into something similar to a polished rock. He learned how to be polite and submissive. He learned to speak so little, using so few words it had been maddening at first, but as time passed by, he’d grown wise enough to talk in short sentences that left notable impact.
To alleviate boredom, and more so not to forget certain vocabulary, Kwon Soonyoung took it upon himself to start a correspondence with his intended. Kwak Youngmin had seemed amiable enough through their letters. They wrote back and forth for a couple years, frequent enough for him to send an envelope at least twice a month. The messages from the Kwak Prince had been rather sweet at times and would every and now then come with unique gifts from Osmanthus City. So the Omega had hoped their espousal would be a tolerable affair, and dare he say, filled with love. If Kwak Youngmin’s flowery words were an indication of such possibility, Soonyoung was more than open to an impassioned union.
In person, however, Soonyoung’s fiancé had not been as warm as the words he’d penned. Perhaps it was because he’d arrived during the festivities, and Youngmin was drunk out of his mind and surrounded by other more good-looking Omegas - no doubt his soon-to-be concubines once the throne was passed down to him.
He wasn’t delusional to think that his future husband would keep him as the sole Omega in his household. Love was rarely an accessory to these political engagements. According to books and their scholarly writers, love seemed to only exist in an Omega’s over-imaginative fantasies. Alphas needed sons, not romance. They needed to breed strong offspring, whether they came from their wives or not, and Alpha Kings were allowed to have as many Omegas as they wished.
The Oeseong Kwak Clan held the same view as any other royal family did.
Their royal weddings consisted of a month-long celebration, and it involved consumption of staggering amounts of alcohol. But what was even more shocking was the amount of shameless copulation that took place within the palace walls.
There was no one he could relay his sentiments to.
Soonyoung had been dropped off and left there by his entourage from the Aster Province. His parents and relatives had not been invited to the wedding, and they had too much fear to question the Kwak Clan’s rude deportment.
Youngmin had taken one look at Soonyoung and, without saying a word to him, called for the servants to usher him to the hymeneal chamber. There, they’d fitted him into his wedding robe, making any last minute adjustments necessary. For all the meals he’d been forced to skip for the ceremony, Soonyoung was thankful that there hadn’t been much need for alteration. God forbid he’d delay the wedding because he couldn’t fit into his marital garments. That had been one of the many, arguably legitimate fears both his parents had lost sleep over, and there were many more fears that kept them awake at night - most specifically, ones that caused a broken alliance with the Oeseong Kwak Clan because of Soonyoung's incompetence.
Within minutes after the maids scampered away, the celebratory music outside had come to a deafening halt. Shouting and rushing footsteps could be heard outside his room, but because he could not leave the hymeneal chamber, the prince had to make due with peaking through the door cracks.
Soldiers were running around, taking defensive positions in the palace square. Swords were drawn and bows were strung with arrows, ready for an enemy Soonyoung could not see. The gates rattled despite the blockades set up. Smoke was quickly rising into the sky, pervading the night with black ash and suffocating fumes.
The Omega’s eyes widened, and his heart rapidly thrummed in his chest. The veins throughout his body were flowing with poisonous trepidation.
Osmanthus City was under attack.
It didn’t take much for him to understand what was happening. He’d seen such horrors before, when the Ruler of Larkspur Shore had once tried to invade the Aster Province. The Andong Kwon Family had prevailed, but not without suffering severe losses.
The barricades were broken, and a pair of giant hounds entered the grounds, fending off attacks with barred teeth and fire burning around their bodies in place of fur. Soonyoung had never seen such beasts before, nor had he known these animals existed beyond the realm of fantasy books. Most of the soldiers hadn’t known either. He could tell from the way they’d cowered at the sight of the beasts, abandoning their posts, only to be killed by masked enemies that followed after the hounds.
With most of the Kwak’s men heavily drunk, it was a battle that guaranteed only defeat. The intruders stabbed and dismembered soldier after soldier, and the fiery beasts decapitated and set ablaze those foolish enough to come close. Any sort of defense was easily thwarted by the enemy’s army. The attack had to have been planned, contrived to flourish at such an opportune moment.
How unlucky he was for this to have happened on the night before his wedding.
His Alpha fiancé fought as best as he could in his inebriated state, but against a man so large, towering over all the men and adorned with heavy iron, Kwak Youngmin could not hold his own.
Soonyoung knew from the embellishments on his protective armor, that this was the general of their enemies.
He watched as his betrothed fell the ground in a puddle of blood, impaled through the heart by a terrifying blade almost as wide as a person's head.
The Masked General pulled his weapon out of the Alpha’s body, without any qualms or regard for the man he'd just murdered, and proceeded to stalk his way to the hymeneal chamber.
Soonyoung searched the room in a frenzy for anything he could use to defend himself. He could remember enough from his sword fighting days to know how to fend off an attacker. There had to be something here besides soft silk and pillows.
He found a parasol in a chest of clothes, and though it was devastatingly inferior to a blade, he had no other choice.
The doors to the chamber were kicked open and broken at the hinges, and the Masked General stepped inside without hurry.
Soonyoung took his stance, brandishing the parasol like a sword and bracing himself for the blows he knew would come. He prayed for a window of chance to open for escape. He did not wish to die here, in the hands of a coldblooded killer who would strike without empathy.
To his surprise, the General planted his sword on the wooden floors, and without caring to know why, the prince took advantage of this small leverage and swung his weapon at the masked man’s head.
But his attack had been useless.
The parasol was effortlessly crushed in the man’s grip and thrown aside before it could make contact with his face.
The Omega prince tried to make a run for it, but the General caught him by the waist in pinned him against a wall. With tears in his eyes, he pushed at his assailant and attempted to flee as best as he could, clawing and shoving and doing whatever he could to fight back. He had to fight back or else he would be murdered like his fiancé and the men that served under him.
Now that their bodies were pressed together, Soonyoung was practically choking from the malodorous smell of blood and soot on the General’s armor. The dread in the pit of his stomach was making him nauseous, but he had nothing to vomit because he had not been fed since the night before.
The masked Alpha - Soonyoung immediately knew from the strength the man possessed - belligerently tore his wedding robes into flimsy pieces of fabric at his feet...until there was nothing left but his thin undergarments to keep his intimate parts covered.
He’d forgotten the one thing that could happen to him which was far worse than death.
Soonyoung pressed his lips together to stop the pitiful wails from leaving his mouth. He needed to save every last bit of dignity he would be left with after what would soon take place. He was an unwedded and untouched Omega - a delicacy from the spoils of war.
He hoped the General would be quick with it, to show him even an ounce of mercy, because no other Alpha would ever want to marry him after this. An Omega’s value was extensively placed on his or her purity, and to have a sexual encounter, whether consensual or not, out of wedlock warranted punishment or disownment and after which, marriage proposals would never be received. This was not how he’d pictured his first bedding to be, and he could only hope that the masked Alpha would spare him from parturiency.
The Omega could not even think about what would happen to him afterwards.
Before he’d presented, Soonyoung had read many books on what happened to princes and princesses of conquered nations. If they were Alphas or Betas, their country’s enemies would torture them out in the open for all to see for many days and nights, before their execution would be enacted and their severed heads displayed outside the city gates. For Omegas, they were always either relegated to whores for the soldiers to pass around or forced to bear innumerable bastards for their new King to further humiliate the Omega’s fallen clan.
He wasn’t sure what was a more grotesque fate, but it seemed like he was doomed to become a moll for the King’s men.
Soonyoung closed his eyes tight and turned his face away. His seized wrists stopped fighting their way out of his captor’s grip. He sharply inhaled and allowed the tears to fall freely down his cheeks. He didn’t want to give in. He didn’t want to stop fighting. But he could no longer breathe properly, and he was deathly afraid, so afraid that his limbs were turning numb and immovable.
“P-Please, no…”
The Omega prince expected pain and probing hands to begin the ruination of his body, but no malicious touch came upon him. Instead, he was dragged out of the chamber and hoisted over the General’s shoulder.
The Alpha hauled him through the gates of the burning Osmanthus palace, running past flames and dying bodies. His thick, metal armor dug into the Omega’s waist and thighs, and hisses of discomfort slipped past the prince’s lips.
His captor heaved him towards the city center, or what was once a beautiful open market he’d passed by just hours ago. Everything was now covered in terrifying red flames and smoke.
The sound of women screaming and children crying echoed forlornly into the night. They hadn’t known what was to come tonight. Neither he nor these innocents did.
The Masked General stopped before a horse and carriage, where another masked soldier was waiting for them. The Alpha carried him inside, deposited him amongst bags of grain, and bolted the door shut from outside.The singular window had bars too narrow for his body to slither through, and a tight, woven material obscured his view of what was happening in the city. He could not remove the strange curtain from the window no matter how much he pushed and picked at it.
Soonyoung sank to the wooden floor, heart still beating erratically, but inside the carriage he could finally breathe without fumes burning his nose and mouth. His respirations slowed, and a sweet scent aroused his attention. For a moment, he thought his mind had broken, and he’d gone insane from all the bloodshed he’d just witnessed. But it was the smell of calico asters - the treasured flower of his home in the Aster Province, and its aroma brought a calm to his senses like a warm milk bath.
Though it was already dark, a small candle in the corner provided him a minute source of light. It was enough for him to see what had been laid out for him.
The soothing scent was not coming from fresh flowers but from a set of folded robes soaked and dyed in calico aster petals. Such a tedious and long process was only done to make clothing for special occasions. Even Soonyoung only had one robe made for him in that way - his presentation ceremony dress. If he had been born an Alpha and inherited his father’s throne, he would have allowed for everyone in the Aster Province to own such a piece.
He slipped into the pale pink robe to cover up his indecency and allowed the aster smell to envelope him in a placating embrace.
The enemy must have known who he was and where he would be before they laid siege on the palace.
Osmanthus City had been the home of a prestigious dynasty. The Royal Oeseong Kwak Family had ties to so many other powerful families in different regions. Who on earth had been crazy enough to attack Oeseong Kwak Clan and make themselves an enemy to the house’s ferocious allies?
Soonyoung was far too worn out to ponder on the subject. For now, he was alive, and he was still untouched. Two things he was immensely grateful for.
He spotted a folded napkin with honey rice cakes and a bowl of water for him as well, but he couldn’t find any more strength in him to reach out and eat.
The Omega curled into himself in the opposite corner and closed his eyes, praying until he fell asleep that someday, if he survived this ordeal…his next betrothal would not end in carnage and maybe, just maybe, it would even be filled with love.
Sunlight was seeping through the material of the covered window when Soonyoung woke. The carriage he was riding was moving at a quick pace, but not too swift that its passenger would be jarred awake by an uneven road. He could only assume that the enemy had finished wreaking havoc on Osmanthus City, and they were on the way back to their own place of origin.
He wondered where the other Omegas were, because he was still alone in his carriage. It was plausible that the enemy had no need for more Omegas at their destination, and so they killed Kwak Youngmin’s concubines and Omega siblings, but Soonyoung knew that every royal family needed as many Omegas as possible to bear sons and grow an army.
He hoped for their safety and that they were also given food and water.
Soonyoung drifted in and out of sleep as his journey to a land unknown transpired. He gnawed mindlessly at the rice cakes to quell the growling in his stomach and took meager sips of water to make the liquid last longer.
By night fall, the carriage finally stopped. He could hear the soldiers foraging the area for tinder and wood, and the sound of cackling a fire indicated their success.
His insides rumbled at the smell of meat being cooked on their bonfire, and within an hour, a masked soldier placed a new candle and more food and water into his makeshift prison.
This time, it was chicken meat and rice in a bowl.
He saved most of his dinner for the next day, because Soonyoung was still unsure how long they would be gracious enough to provide him with sustenance.
At day break, the journey continued, but this time, the Omega could not sleep.
He could hear voices outside his carriage. The soldiers were much livelier today, after they’d properly rested and filled their bellies the night before. Their talking was muffled by the wood surrounding him, but it was loud enough for him to catch bits and pieces of their conversations.
“…years ago…had told me…Kwak Clan would be annihilated…single night…laughed right in your face…”
Curious, Soonyoung inched closer to his barred window. Even with the woven material blocking out their faces, he could still see the hazy silhouettes of the army men walking, and worse, the prince could still smell their reeking Alpha stenches and the dried up blood on their weapons.
“…and we have no one to thank but the Andong Kwon Omega prince. What do you think His Majesty will do to him?”
Soonyoung felt his guts swell with sorrow. They were giving him undue and unwanted credit for the Oeseong Kwak Clan’s downfall. It had been his parents who insisted on the arranged marriage. The men had been drinking because his union with the Kwak prince was about to take place. The enemy knew that, and so they took advantage of the festivities and struck while the Kwak clan had been vulnerable.
Innocent lives were lost, because he’d been born an Omega. He wasn’t fit to defend his clan, and he’d brought another family down with him and his inferiority.
“What else do you think, Jun? His engagement to Kwak Youngmin is good as void. He’s under Gwangsan Kim now,” one of the soldiers grumbled.
Gwangsan Kim. He’s never heard of that family name before. He’s never read about them in his books either.
The taller soldier, Jun, chuckled boisterously. “I pity the Omega prince then. Our Alpha king would probably smother him to death.”
“Hm. I don’t pity him at all. He’s getting what he deserves.”
Soonyoung frowned and pulled himself away from the window. He’d eavesdropped enough. It hurt to be reminded every waking moment that he was nothing but Alpha fodder, bound to eventually become someone’s property. He was a goddamn person before anything else, but still, still everyone saw him as nothing more than livestock.
It was so ridiculous for the soldier to say he deserved what was coming to him just because he was an Omega.
The prince chewed angrily on his leftover chicken and rice. If it was indeed death by smothering that awaited him at their endmost destination, Soonyoung vowed he would come back as a ghost to haunt them all.
He was startled out of the dreamworld by the harsh opening of his carriage door. Soonyoung was hoisted out by the arms with a masked soldier on each side. Their grips were firm enough to convey a quiet warning - fighting back or attempting escape would be futile. But they did not drag him with any harshness, and that prevented his bare feet from raspingly scraping the rough ground.
The Alpha king probably wanted him unharmed, or rather, unblemished when he choose to take the Omega.
It was once again night fall, and the stars were visible in the sky. But for all the beauty they had to offer him, Soonyoung could not appreciate it from the way his form trembled as they brought him back to their homeland.
The stronghold was horrifyingly enormous with its black walls and watch towers blazing with fire. Two fiery hound statues made of stone stood by the gates. Ruby gems were fixed into their eyes, and smoke emitted from their open mouths. They appeared almost looming, like symbols of exhortation - enemies of Gwangsan Kim, beware.
Between the two hounds, perched at the top of the main gate was a banner with the family’s blossom seal and a metal sigil that spelled out ‘Firestorm Fortress’ in the ancient language.
He was paraded through the city streets, right at the very front of an entourage of soldiers and imprisoned Omegas from the Oeseong Kwak Clan. The civilians rejoiced at their heroes’ homecoming. Cheers erupted high and ardent from their lungs. Their smiles were pure and burning bright, as if their defenders had not committed such atrocious crimes just nights before.
The only person before Soonyoung was the Masked General himself, riding on an impressive gold stead. The horse’s coat seemed to dazzle between lantern light. Every now and then, the masked Alpha would look back at his captive, making sure the Omega did not put up a struggle against the soldiers holding him.
It was mocking to display him in front of the people without chains around his hands and feet. His unbound state spoke volumes of their power over him. They were so sure he would not try to run. They were so sure he was too afraid to suffer. They were so sure he would rather degrade himself than die a gruesome death.
…And they were right.
There was no denying it. Soonyoung did not want to die by their hands.
So the prince held back the fight for tonight.
He wasn’t going to give them to satisfaction of using his body and taking his life.
Soonyoung swore to himself that he would do anything and everything he could to stay alive and return home to the Aster Province someday.
He would show them that they could not hold power over him forever.
But in order to survive, the prince needed to play the age-long battle of intrigue, where not even the sharpest blade or the strongest armor could protect you. In this convoluted game, victory lied in the hands of those with the shrewdest minds.
History books proved that, time and time again, every Alpha in command was the same, and he’d learn enough from their passages to know how their concubines evaded disposal and rose to power. Though their methods had been besmirching and most of them had dirtied their hands and souls, in the end they were all striving for the same goal - to outlive their enslavers and gain their freedom.
The prince knew that this war against the Alpha King and all his men was a treacherous path to take.
He was alone in this crusade.
He had no power in this foreign land.
But if he wanted to live, he had to fight.
If he wanted to go home, Soonyoung had to win.
As he stared at the back of the Masked General’s head, the prince’s eyes narrowed, and his jaw tightened.
Though he and Kwak Youngmin were never able to marry, there was a weighted sense of duty to avenge his former fiancé eating at his heart.
The Omega would make sure to best that Alpha, to crush him until he was weak and bleeding inside, to make him beg for clemency, and to bring him to his knees in due time.
Soonyoung had expected to be thrown in a cell for the night, not in a spacious and impressively decorated room.
He was left in shock at how beautiful it was inside the chamber. The room was even more beautiful than the one he had in the Aster Province. The doors and window sills had adroit carvings he’d never seen before. The white-painted walls were trimmed with gold. Nearly almost everything inside was accented by the shiny element. The dressers, the chairs, the tables, the chests, candle posts, and even the flower pots - all had a touch of gold flickering around their parts.
The bed-frame, however, was painted in fine black, like the book shelves and certain pieces of furniture, and was built to fit at least four people.
Nightshade seemed to be the official color of Gwangsan Kim. Like the banner at the gates, the purple hue enriched the curtains on the windows and the bed. There were even garments in nightshade laid out on top of the dressers, but the smell on them was distinctly firestorm. Soonyoung wondered how they managed to thoroughly dye the clothing in deadly nightshade but scent it with the sweet aroma of firestorm.
Besides the wonderful smelling robes, there were also bowls and small plates of food in the dining segment of the room. Both water and rice wine were set beside the abundant setting of dishes.
His stomach began its incessant rumbling, and although he was tempted to gorge upon the meal, something inside the chamber had caught his eye and caused his heart to beat in panic.
The firestorm emblem of Gwangsan Kim was embroidered atop the sheet on the gigantic bed, also in the signature nightshade color that contrasted prettily against the ivory blanket and pillows.
Soonyoung realized that he’d been brought to a royal sleeping chamber.
This had to be the King of Gwangsan Kim's room. No one else would be allowed to occupy such an extravagant space.
The king planned on tainting his virtue tonight.
Why else would the soldiers bring him straight here but for his chastity to be stolen by their master?
The prince gulped back, shakily making his way to the bed, despite his heart telling him ‘no, no, no’.
His sensitive Omega side was urging him to abscond, but his rational, Kwon prince side was imploring him to stay.
To avoid a perilous fate, Soonyoung needed to let go of his inhibitions and allow his body to be violated. It was bound to happen anyway, except instead of losing his virginity to Kwak Youngmin, the purloined honor was going to the leader of Gwangsan Kim.
He had to ignore the pain and perform all the explicit things respectable Omegas of the court would never do. Alphas didn’t like being told no, so if he did everything the king wanted, his chances of gaining partisanship would increase.
And if he could produce an heir…and jeopardize every other Omega concubine’s pregnancy, Soonyoung would become untouchable, even if his child were a bastard and he weren’t married to the king.
That was what the Omegas in his books had done to save their own lives and augment their worth in the eyes of their Alphas.
So that was what he had to do as well…
But the thought of hurting unborn children made him sick.
He couldn’t think such awful thoughts. There had to be another way besides involving innocent offspring to win the game.
He would find another way somehow.
For now, though, he had to mentally prepare for his deflowering.
Soonyoung laid flat on the soft bed, hands folded over his chest - still dressed in his calico aster clothing like a present ready to be opened - as he waited for his patrician to arrive.