Chapter Text
The city is on fire.
Ashes fill the air, thick enough to choke, the heat scorching his skin even at this distance.
Hours ago, the evening air had been filled with the clanging of swords, the streets heavy with the smell of bloodshed.
But everything is silent now.
“Your highness?”
Jungkook looks up.
There’s a long bloody gash down the side of his arm, caked in dirt. He doesn’t look like he’s even noticed.
“They are ready to negotiate the terms of surrender.”
Jungkook closes his eyes.
He’s won.
Finally, it’s time to go home.
Jungkook’s mother dies when he turns shy of fourteen.
He can’t remember very much of how it happens, except one day she is there, smiling at him, feeding him tangerines, and the next she is gone.
It rains for weeks after she’s gone, as if the world cannot bear her loss, just as Jungkook cannot. These days, his father can barely look at him. Jungkook looks too much like his late mother; some days Jungkook can barely look in the mirror himself without thinking of her.
To spare them both, Jungkook asks to be sent to the North. A war rages between the prefectural lords and Jungkook thinks his oppressive cloud of misery will lift once he is too distracted fighting to think about it.
“Go,” his father says gently. His hand is warm on Jungkook’s shoulder. “But make sure you come back.”
Six years ago
It’s a long ride back to the city.
Yugyeom insists that Jungkook stay and rest. The war has been raging incessantly for months now, but Jungkook can’t wait. It’s been two years since he’s been home, two years since he’s seen his father.
He wants so badly to deliver the news himself, to see the pleasure on his father’s face, so drawn and despondent since Jungkook’s mother had passed. The ride back to the capital takes three days.
Jungkook makes it in two.
The villagers point and stare as he gallops through the empty streets, caked in grime and sweat and drying blood. Jungkook doesn’t care about what they think, if they even remember him after his long absence. He wonders about the little white rabbits his mother used to keep in her palace and if they’re doing well, he wonders what his father will say the first time they see each other. Would he be happy? Would he be proud?
The path to his mother’s chambers is still tidy and well swept, warm lanterns lighting the evening sky.
Jungkook’s heart swells. Despite how many years had passed, his father is still here in his mother’s palace, he still remembered--
Jungkook stops in place.
Because in front of him is his father locked in a passionate embrace with Lady Kim.
His sword clashes to the ground, the ugly sound reverberating around the quiet courtyard.
“Jungkook?”
“This is my mother’s house,” Jungkook says, advancing on them, “why would you do this in my mother’s house?”
“You dare to speak to your King this way?”
“She doesn’t belong here!”
“You--”
Lady Kim tugs demurely at the King’s sleeve. “It’s all right,” she coos, “the prince is simply exhausted after his travels. He didn’t mean to offend.”
Jungkook stares at her, bewildered. She covers her face with a fan, smiling coyly.
“Your highness must have been surprised as the news hasn’t spread to the North. I am now head of the harem, your Queen mother.”
Jungkook stares uncomprehendingly at her.
“It’s barely been two years since my mother passed,” he hisses, “and you want to take her place?”
“Kneel!” His father roars, “you address the Empress now.”
“If you were going to replace my mother,” Jungkook says, hating the way his voice wavers, “you could have waited for the mourning period to be over. You disgrace her!”
“Do I need your permission?” The king spits out, “who are you to be making demands of me?”
“I’m your son!”
“And I am your Father and King. Know your place!”
“I’ve spent years risking my life to fight your battles--”
“You dare to threaten me?”
“Mind your temper, your majesty,” Lady Kim murmurs, her voice sickly sweet, “it’s not good for your health.”
She smiles at Jungkook, a smile so cruel it could cut diamonds, “guards, escort the prince out.”
“He is growing too bold.”
The king paces the inner chamber while his Queen sits, fanning herself idly. “Oh you know how children are, always so hot headed.”
The king stops, “he is eighteen. He's no longer a child. It is improper for him to be so impudent.”
“Ah,” Lady Kim says, her white teeth a contrast against those red, red lips, “you know our Jungkook has always been rash, he takes after his mother after all.”
The king sighs, “you’re too gentle with him, my love. I don’t understand; he was always such a sweet, quiet child.”
“He lost his mother.” Lady Kim says idly, shifting so the King can sit beside her on the divan. “There was no one to guide him, to nurture him and then he went straight off to war.”
She shudders as if the thought terrifies her. “Imagine being surrounded by all that blood and fighting. It’s only natural the glory gets to his head without anyone by his side to guide him. And how well he’s done! That kind of power and adulation can’t be easy to give up.”
She smiles coyly, hiding her face behind a fan. "I'm sure after a few months in the capital he will simmer down again."
“And if he doesn’t?” The king's eyes narrow. “He is already a man, capable of commanding troops, if he sets his sights on other things…”
“Come now your highness. Do you have so little faith in him?”
The king sighs rubbing his forehead, “I thought I understood him. I thought I understood his mother. And now, I don’t know if I understood them at all.”
“Your highness?”
Jungkook is kneeling outside his father’s chambers. The rain is pouring down on him, icy cold inside his armor, but he doesn’t budge.
“Your highness,” an attendant says tentatively, “the king has sent a retinue to your villa. They are waiting for you.”
“Will he not see me himself?”
The guards share an awkward look. “He… he is presently occupied.”
"I've returned after two years at the border. Will he not see me himself?"
The guards are silent.
Jungkook bows his head, his father has already given his answer.
His residence is solemn when he arrives, no welcome parties, or trumpets to meet him.
His father is conspicuously absent, as is Lady Kim.
Jungkook clenches his fists.
Perhaps that should have been the first sign something was wrong.
"Prince Jeon has reaped meritorious credit for his efforts in North, in return, the King bestows upon his favored son ten chests of fine jewelry, twenty horses and eighty chests of silks."
Jungkook kneels to receive the edict, but the eunuch stops him, his smile dripping in poison.
“That’s not all your highness,” he says, “be patient.”
The celebratory procession lines the street, dozens of villagers poke their heads out eager to see the commotion. In his villa, in his torn, bloodied battle gear, Jungkook remains kneeling, in plain view.
It's supposed to be a celebration for his victory. Instead, it's punishment. Jungkook spends hours kneeling in front of his villa, as the commonfolk line the street pointing and gawking.
His fists clench when he enters the courtyard, fury plain on his face.
Jin grabs his arm, shaking his head.
“Jungkook,” he says quietly, “it’s not worth it, you know it isn’t.”
Jungkook just shakes him off.
“You don’t understand, I put my life out there.” Jungokok spits, “in those freezing mountains, with my men. We starved, we shed blood, I lost men — friends, family, and I did it all so Father could look at me, as his son, look at me like I was something.”
Something burns in his throat, Jungkook swipes his hand across his eyes, angrily. “But he thinks nothing of me, clearly. He hoped I would die in the war, and now I’m back, he’s reminding me to curb my ambition, because he has no plans for me, he’s made that clear.”
“Jungkook,” Jin tries, but Jungkook pulls his hand from Jin’s grip. “I’m sure he has his reasons.”
But it’s plain to see that those are the King’s exact reasons, there would be no need to gift Jungkook a Beta consort otherwise. Jungkook is an Alpha, and if he’s meant to be King he would need his principle wife to have heirs.
It’s not completely impossible with a Beta, but certainly rare.
It’s a warning, loud and clear: keep to your station, defy me and I will crush you.
"Leave me alone,” Jungkook says, "I need to think."
Jin sighs.
“As you wish,” he mutters and leaves.
The King remains occupied for the two weeks Jungkook is in the city. When he receives the imperial edict to return to guard the border, his father does not send him off.