Chapter Text
“The kiss itself is immortal. It travels from lip to lip, century to century, from age to age. Men and women garner these kisses, offer them to others and then die in turn.”
― Guy de Maupassant.
Freedom, the solace dream for the chained. A privilege that when out of reach becomes a murderer of hope, turning to resilience into a rights fighter. Hakkah kingdom witnessed it first hand.
What was once a growing and promising nation suddenly became an all-day nightmare and a new type of hell. It made everyone but a few, mere vassals bound to fulfill oppressors' desires.
Kyungsoo was another victim among thousands, bound to be nothing but a silenced pawn. For him the metal ring got heavier with each passing day, constricting the young boy’s finger until the line between humanity and property blurs. It’s a reminder of whom he belongs to, the tarnished claim.
A fulminant submission that makes boys turn into sinners.
He is just a kid with thirteen winters weighing on his shoulders and he already has every taste of unfair merciless pain. It started a year ago, the day of his birthday was the beginning of the torture of his tiny body.
The king betrayed the people. The once savior rose to the throne and turned his back against everyone else, showing a crimson blade he made his word the law.
The king enjoyed the pleasure from every type of body as long as he liked it. Especially the young ones, his desires went beyond rationality. A monster full of degenarated lust.
Kyungsoo couldn’t feel his body anymore and it was better for him not to show that he was not conscious, that’s the fastest way the king would stop using him.
Still, the king didn’t leave him for another hour. Kyungsoo didn’t know what happened that entire hour but his body probably would never forget.
It was not until he heard the king saying ‘’ Take him to the chambers, he’s not of use if he’s dead’’ that Kyungsoo could rest.
His body was destroyed. Kyungsoo could not walk and had to be carried by some guard, he did not have the energy to verify it, but he could feel a liquid running through his tights, he was sure it was blood. His mouth and wrist ache, his mouth was dry and his head felt like it was pounding.
Kyungsoo wanted to cry, to scream, but he didn’t have the energy to do so. The saddest part is that it’s not the first time the king has left him in that state, and it probably won’t be the last.
When the guard laid his body on the mattress he was grateful for the short time of comfort. In the four walls of his small room, he found consolation most of the nights. The place was just another humid chamber with a bed and a toilet. He hope it was at least better than jail. At least he was not chained to the wall.
A life of abuse is all he has known. His father was a cook in the palace and his mother a maid that usually attended to the kitchen or washed clothes, they fell in love in a simple but fast way. Working together and coming from families that have served the crown for years made them bond on their similarities, it was a year later that a blessing fell upon them.
Kyungsoo’s mother was a beautiful woman, full of charms and unbeaten beauty. She was curious about things, about life, about how everything was made, about after what everything was named. That child-like curiosity was going to be her second biggest threat.
The first would be the king, that caught her looking at the books in the library that she was supposed to be cleaning. This, for most, would either make them lose their head or be imprisoned. For her, it would be ten times worse. She became recognizable to the king.
Her beauty was unmatched already but with the pregnancy, she looked heavenly.
The king fell in love that day, not with the young lady, but with the idea of breaking such a delicate beauty. To smash the core of a woman that reflected her dreams with her eyes. He obsessed with suffering, he passed his time thinking about how he could show the magnitude of his power. And so the king waited.
After five years of relative peace for the family, Kyungsoos's mother got pregnant again, the couple was static until the king called for the family to the courtroom. Kyungsoo doesn’t remember much of that time. Even more, he doesn’t want to. He only recalls some screams and the memory of his parents lying dead in front of him, blood everywhere, and endless tears that to this day he silently cries.
The next day his body was still in the same place. The floor felt as cold as ever and he was recovering from last night, he only hoped the king would not want to use him again tonight. He could feel it on his weakened body that he would not survive if the occasion repeats.
Kyungsoo wonders if it would not be for the best. Eternal rest. Free from sinning against his will. No more memories of his dead parents hunting him. No more king stealing his childhood. Only rest. Yearned rest.
Unfortunately, he closed his eyes, waiting for another day to come.
Footsteps and screams were what woke him up.
—Take him! — Kyungsoo could tell the voice belonged to some guard. The commotion was loud, he felt his body trembling with fear.
The cell door opened. A masked guard took his arm but his legs gave up, his body was still in pain and very damaged, and no doctor has seen him yet.
— Look, child. This is your only chance for life to escape this prison but — The guard pulled him to his feet. You have to walk on your own, there are more children to save— Kyungsoo looked up and stared at his eyes, he couldn’t understand what was happening and why he was talking about the sole chance of leaving his merciless way of living. But he didn’t care, there was no need to understand. The only message that mattered was the one in the soldier's eyes.
He has been granted a miracle. If he doesn’t move he’s condemned to death.
A bit uncanny that all his childhood memories are only torture, pain, and distress. But that was the life he has to live. He took the chance to start again, doing maybe the same, but at least not at the hands of a merciless king.
Twelve years later and he's still thankful to his savior. Twelve years later and his body is still being used,
Then in gratitude, he's always available and in disposition to be whatever and whoever for as long as guard Byun wants him.