Chapter Text
A piece of heaven among the men. That’s a regular sentence to describe Lee Felix when someone is talking about him. If he agrees with it? Maybe? Don’t get him wrong, he’s really a humble man, but at the same time he’s aware of his own charms and he knows that he attracts attention.
He’s a tiny man with long and vivid blonde hair, big and expressive dark brown eyes, pretty freckles on his face and heart shaped lips. His physique might not be the most built and muscular in the world, but he had a nice body with beautiful legs and a small waist that attracted comments everywhere. He’s also known for catch the attention for his personal style and clothes with beautiful fabrics and colors. When it comes to fashion and who to look up to when dressing he’s always an example.
However, it's not just his appearance that stand out, cause he’s also known for his sweet personality. He’s always recognized for his charisma and friendliness, his kind heart always won the people he interacted with. An angel, a sunshine, there were countless times that he heard people referring to him in this way - although he hates remembering who started with these nicknames.
He’s 20 years old and is living his best life. Felix lives in a well-known and prosperous kingdom of which his father is the king, the Auroria Kingdom. Close to his kingdom, on the same continent, there are many other kingdoms, some more prosperous, some less, most of the kingdoms do business with each other, so it’s common for him to travel, meet new people and places, enjoy good parties, food and a lot of other things. Each kingdom has its own autonomy and authority, each kingdom is known for a form of business and a way of investing, many also have unique cultural characteristics and although he didn't care at all about the first two points, he lives by the third one and is what makes him most proud to live where he lives.
Auroria is known for culture and erudition. It’s common for several travelers to come from far away to visit museums, libraries, courtrooms and other places that exuded art and erudition. There, thinkers met and produce together, musicians came to play at parties and put on shows, people came together to create theater groups, painters came from all over to exchange experiences, among other things. His kingdom also has a lot of important schools and academies with well-known teachers. The most important is the royal academy in which few important young people are invited to study and the academy is managed directly by the king and his council. Many well-known public administrators, merchants and thinkers in the continent came from the royal academy.
As already said, Felix is very proud of all of this. He may not be the best student and the most interested in learning the bureaucratic part, but he always loved arts. For him there is nothing like seeing beautiful paintings, listening to good music and being entertained by books with stimulating stories. And that's what he currently focuses his life on.
Again, don't get him wrong. It's not like he didn't have worries in his life, but when he was born the luck was on his side and then he was born as a second son, having less chance of inheriting command of the kingdom and and he grew with much less pressure and problems compared to his sister, Nayeon, the first in the line of succession. Years later luck smiled at Felix again when his sister chose not to marry a ruler of other kingdoms and decided to take over her own. Of course, he’s still preparing to assume his role in the kingdom for who knows what, but his time to live in the way he wants is much bigger than his sister's.
Speaking of his family, Felix’s sister, Nayeon, was always a... peculiar character. Many talk of her beauty, many talk of her charisma, but many focused on her singular and strange characteristics. She’s polite and kind, but she always loves live her life in a singular way, never hid her extravagant and striking personality, she speaks loud, laugh expressively and in a funny way, she loves fashion, parties and music and once even got it into her own mind that she would run away with a musical troupe and become a singer - something that was hard to get it out of her mind. But for him she is, above all, a sister who take care of him as if he is the most precious thing in her life, and in addition to that she always had great affection for the people of the kingdom.
His father, Lee Yongjin, is known as a good regent, he’s praised by everyone who lives in his kingdom and by other regents because of his businesses, investments and actions. His father always knew where to invest, who to align himself with and what to promote. He’s also known for being a kind and approachable king, as well as being very fair. His mother, Grace, unfortunately, passed away when he was five years old and his sister eight. She has also always been praised by some people for her sweetness and beauty, and many even compare Felix to his mother saying that both look like angels.
However, not everyone has such good eyes for the women, cause his parents' marriage was born out of great controversy: her mother was brought from across the seas to marry his father because of business, but she didn't accept the idea in a positive way. The stories say that she fought hard for it not to happen and only accepted after an agreement where she would spend a year living in the new kingdom and getting to know her future husband, if she started to love him she would accept the marriage, if not, she would return to her lands. Luckily for his father, who fell in love in the first few weeks, over time, she fell in love with his sweetness and they got married. In the end everything worked out, but his mother's initial rebelliousness was always remembered by others and the way she felt like a business object was always remembered by her and this, ironically, brought him and his sister one of the greatest privileges that they both had in their lives: before she passed away, her mother made the king swear that he would never treat his children as objects of exchange, if they wanted to marry by agreement it would be their choice, but above all they should always be encouraged to marry with who they love.
Only God knows how important this is to Felix and his sister. For Nayeon, this allowed her to decide for herself that she would inherit the kingdom without fear of eventually having to get married due to political agreements and gave her a great marriage to a woman of her choice, a woman she fell in love with when she was a teenager. Nayeon and Jeongyeon met at school, Jeongyeon is the youngest daughter of a big merchant of their kingdom and has always been interested in administration, making a great pair with Felix's sister. Together they began to be interested in the administration of the kingdom and some years ago they got married and are preparing to take over after the king decides to officially pass the crown to Nayeon.
For Felix this is important because... he decided that marriage is not something for him. Okay, don't take him in the wrong way. He’s not against marriage and is not disbelieved in love. The reason has a name, a name he doesn't even like to remember. Felix once loved, he loved with all his heart and it didn't bring him anything good. When he was a child, at eight years old, he met a boy, the prince from another kingdom who came to study at his. This boy and Felix became very close, first of all as friends. That prince spent months studying in Felix's kingdom and then returned to his own kingdom. After that, he came again the next year to study again and when they met it was always wonderful and their friendship only grew. This was repeated and even when there was nothing to study, the prince keep coming, but for Felix.
However, when they were both fourteen years old, some things began to change. The two began to see beauty in each other, their closeness began to show another form of affection and the things continued to evolve until one day, when they were watching the sunset together, something happened. They kissed and that was one of the moments that most impacted Felix's life.
But as not everything in life is a bed of roses, in the same year the prince was engaged to a business wedding. Well, did that change how they felt? Not at all, they were young and without much of idea of what that could mean, they stayed together, they grew up together and loved each other more and more. They made plans and had experiences together. It was everything Felix could dream of. His boyfriend became more and more handsome, charming, charismatic and really good at arts, a passion they cultivated together. He attracted looks and the blonde couldn't be more proud and in love with the boy he wanted to spend the rest of his life with.
They were fervently in love. They declared themselves every day at all times. On Felix's sixteenth birthday he gave his lover his purity and they began to have incredible nights of love. It was insane, it was a love story taken from the romance books that Felix read and he thought it would be like that for the rest of their lives. But as already said, not everything in life is a bed of roses.
In the year in which they would both turn eighteen, comments in his boyfriend's kingdom about the engagement increased and so did the pressure on him, since he was an only child and should inherit the kingdom. This began to affect them both and although breaking up was never an option, his boyfriend's mind began to become visibly confused, until one day the worst happened. His boyfriend's father decided that he would send his son across the seas so he could study and see the world before getting married and inheriting the kingdom. And no, that wasn't the worst. The worst thing for Felix was that his boyfriend decided to end everything cause, according to him, he knew there was no point in insisting anymore, he had a destiny and before fulfilling it he wanted some time for himself, he wanted to enjoy his trip and enjoy his life, meeting people, having new experiences, cause he knew that after that he would be caged and he didn't want to have... regrets.
Can you believe this? That's what Felix said to everyone he told what had happened, always with his face covered in tears. He couldn't accept that his boyfriend, or rather, his ex-boyfriend, had given up on everything and worse, he didn't even want to enjoy the rest of the time they had, he wanted to have freedom or who knows what, he wanted to party and fuck god knows who in god knows where. He felt abandoned and felt that the possibility of being a regret in someone else's life was tearing him apart everyday. He spent months crying and hating his own life, because he had lost the person he loved, with whom he made plans, with whom he spent his best moments. He had given all his youth and adolescence to someone else who in the end gave up on him and the love they felt for each other. He felt destroyed and for some time thought he would never recover.
Felix's luck is that he had his sister and sister-in-law - as the two were already romantically together at the time - and his childhood friend, Seungmin, the son of a member of his father's council who studied together with the two and was preparing to also be on the council. They helped Felix and began to show other sides of life and he began the process of overcoming everything that had happened between him and the boy he had loved.
Today he thanks the heavens for listening to them and moving on with his life. Felix met new people, started going to great parties, made new friends and had new partners. But nothing ever changed the fact that he had given up on love and having a marriage. For him everything was fine, he started to live without that worry and that didn't bring anything negative to him.
And if he totally forgot about the prince? Well, that's a subject he chose to not think about, much less comment on - he knew that in the end the love hadn't completely ended.
And that's how we currently find him at a big party with Seungmin drinking on his right, and Jeongin, the son of an important member of his father's court who became his assistant at court and a great friend, drinking on his left, while Felix is in the middle of them drinking his fourth glass of wine looking around the room. The three became inseparable and were at all the parties, they also had some other really close friends with whom they were always together, but who are currently traveling.
Because of his beauty, Felix always attracts attention and countless men court him without thinking twice and he takes advantage of this to have fun and end the night be with the most beautiful men around. He’s happy like this, without love, without ties and without promises. Only he and the best that his life could give him and that night would be no different. After a while, a tall, handsome man with muscles and a beautiful smile took him to dance and after that the two had a wonderful night.
…
“Good morning, Sunshine!” Seungmin says entering Felix's room.
“Fuck, what are you doing here so early?” Felix asks in a whine covering himself with his blankets.
“It’s almost lunch time?... Oh, you look miserable” his friend chuckles when he sees Felix’s long hair looking like a bird's nest and the makeup smeared on his face “Let’s open the windows”. Seungmin opened the windows and Felix groans due to the light invading the room and signaling that he had a terrible headache due to a hangover.
“Stop it” the blonde says.
“No, we can’t stop, Jeongin is already waiting for us, we have to lunch and then we need to discuss some things about the academy classes that will start, you know, tomorrow”.
Oh, right, the classes, Felix remembers. Not that he wanted to, but this year he'll take one of the most important courses that the royal academy offers. It is a one-year course for youngs related to renowned people and who are interested in philosophy, culture and public administration. He decided to do it because Seungmin and Jeongin would do it anyway and besides, it would bring a good image to him as a prince, which he thinks is very important as someone who would participate in his sister's government one day. So fighting his own hangover and the desire to spend the whole day in his bed, he get up to take a shower, get ready for lunch with his friends and then starts his tasks for the day.
At night he sits on his bed and starts to plan the outfit he would wear the next day for the initial class. As a figure known for his image he had to look impeccable, as many outsiders will be in the same room as him and he wanted to make an impact on their first impression of him. After deciding on a light blue robe with the golden symbol of his kingdom on the back, a sun, he picks some tea that one of the servants had left for him and starts drinking. He never felt anxious about starting new things, but at that moment he felt like something was running down his spine and turning his stomach upside down. He didn't know what is making him feel this way so he just sighs. Trying to put the feeling aside, he starts to get ready for bed, cause the next day he couldn't be late.
…
Nayeon is sitting with her wife in her office while trying to find ways to procrastinate the work she had at that moment. Don't get her wrong, she is working hard to become a great queen, but sometimes the bureaucratic work is so tedious and all she wants is to be lying on her loved one's lap and having her fingers in her hair lovingly touching her.
“Stop making noise with this pen and focus on the paper” her wife scolded.
“But dear it’s so boring” she sighs “can we stop just a little and take some sun or whatever?” she pouts at Jeongyeon who ignores her and just rolls her eyes.
Giving up on finding a way to escape from work, she stares at the paper that is in front of her. After she sighs deeply she prepares herself mentally to start writing, but then she hears a knock on her office door. Jeongyeon goes towards the door to see what they want.
“Your grace” a worker bows to her and then bows to Jeongyeon.
"Good morning, what happened?" Nayeon asks with curiosity.
"So... we have received a message for you just now. A letter has arrived from your father which indicates that for the course that starts today at the royal academy two more guests will come. He said that they are honor guests so he requested that two rooms in the castle be prepared for them and also requested that you receive them" he says apprehensively.
"Okay, and who would they be?". The future queen didn't understand the reason for the apprehension in the man's tone so she asks.
"Well, it doesn't say who they are, he just requests that" she looks at her wife a little bit confused.
“Right, so do it? And let me know when they arrive"
"Right your grace, the problem is… the guards at the castle gate said they had already seen the guests' carriage arriving, apparently the letter took longer than it should have to arrive”.
Oh fuck . Her dad’s guests are already at the castle and there's nothing ready, if she doesn't run, she will be the one who will get scolded “Right, no problem, hurry up with the rooms and I will receive the guests with Jeongyeon and make some time”.
…
Hwang Hyunjin found himself at the door of a well-known castle. A castle that he hadn't seen in over two years, but just the sight of it made his body shiver.
Prince of one of the three richest and prosperous kingdoms on the continent, the Aeternum Kingdom, he is known for his beauty, charisma and talent. He’s a tall man with long black hair, dark and sharp eyes, pumped lips, a beautiful physique and he attracts attention wherever he goes. His clothes are always on pint and he has an imposing aura. The cherry on the top is his charm, no one has ever been able to explain it, but he has something, some magnetism that leaves the people around him outshined - even though his close friends say that at the end of the day he’s… pathetic.
Only son and heir to the crown of his kingdom, talented in arts, especially painting, with a unique cultural knowledge regarding visual and musical works, intelligent in a certain way, like, he never had the best grades, some people can call him dumb, but always stood out for his hard work and the way he manages to make things happen. In short? He’s the center of attention wherever he goes and he is aware of it. Very. aware.
But at the end of the day it doesn't matter how many eyes he attracts cause Hwang Hyunjin is an unavailable man. Is he unavailable because he has been engaged since he was fourteen years old? Nah, it's not like he cares about his engagement and his fiancée, a close cousin, also hates the idea. He is unavailable cause he is a man in love. A man in love with another man for as long as he has known himself. In love with a man with blonde hair, freckles, big eyes and a heart-shaped mouth. A man he hasn't seen in over two years. A man who lives in the castle he is standing at the door of at that moment.
Hyunjin feel like he'll throw up his heart.
Next to him is Lee Minho, also known as Lino, a cute nickname that someone put on him. He’s son of one of his Hyunjin’s father great advisors and who was preparing to be Hyunjin's advisor. He’s also a handsome man, one of the few who attracted attention with Hyunjin instead of being overshadowed by him. But the best part of their partnership? For two people who will be a king and an advisor one day, they both know how to pretend very well, but in the end of the day they don’t know exactly what they’re doing with their lives cause Hyunjin only has his ex-boyfriend on his mind and Minho only has the cats he left in his homeland since he was sent overseas to study with the future king.
Some castle servants and a man who appears to be part of the castle administration open the door to Hyunjin and Minho and bow to them. The man looks young, when Hyunjin attended the castle before there was a much older man who did this work. They probably had to change it due to age. The servants go to the carriage and the man smiles at them both.
“So you both are the honored guests of our king”
“Nice to meet you, Sir. I’m Hwang Hyunjin, Prince of the Aeternum Kingdom and that’s my trusted advisor Lee Minho” the two bow to the worker.
“Nice to meet you, your grace, I am Sungji, head of the castle” the man answers. “You two can come with me, our majesty is travelling right now, unfortunately, but our princess awaits you in the reception room”
And that's when Hyunjin's heart almost stopped by fear. He’s afraid cause, well, he always had a great relationship with the princess, but a mistake he made in his past could have changed all that.
Hyunjin met Felix, the prince of the kingdom of Auroria when they were eight years old. They practically grew up together and when Hyunjin turned fourteen he began to notice that the feelings he had for the prince began to change. He thinked about Felix every day, every moment. His heart raced every time he remembered the little blonde's smile. When he touched the other his body trembled, when he heard the other voice his heart speeded up.
He was in love and nothing made him happier than knowing that his feelings were reciprocated. He wanted to live that love. But at the same time as he discovered his feelings, his father decided that he would make him part of a political agreement with an arranged marriage. The marriage in this case was with the King’s brother daughter, in this case Hyunjin’s cousin, Yeji. They had known each other since they were very young and the first time they talked to each other about that marriage, they both thought it would be the most disgusting thing in the world, firstly because they’re two people who grew up as brother and sister got married, and years later because neither I wanted to be treated like merchandise in a deal.
For a long time he thought that the lack of will on both sides would be enough to end the agreement one day. However, when he reached the age of eighteen, his father told him that he would send him to another continent to study and see places that could contribute to his life as king and then, when he returned after three years he would get married and there was nothing he could do that would change that. He panicked. More than that, he felt as if nothing else had meaning.
He was afraid of his own destiny, so he gave up on everything he wanted to build, he even gave up on those he loved and after that he decided that at least before having to assume a life plan made for him by others he would experience the maximum of freedom that they would one day take from him. And that's when he made the biggest mistake of his life. The mistake of interpreting freedom as something literal, as doing everything anyway, instead of interpreting it as something precious, as the privilege of deciding what to do, how to do it, what life to build and who to love.
Because of all this, he put an end to the love he and Felix had and left. He left Felix and there isn't a second of his life where he doesn't regret it more than anything.
When he arrived in an unknown country, believing that he would have a different life, meet new people and have new experiences, he realized that maybe that wasn't what he wanted. What that means is, yes he wanted these new experiences, to bring these new things into his life, but at the end of the day when he went to bed he saw that without the person he loved it had no value. When he kissed or fucked other people, when he tried to be even slightly interested, no one was Felix and it hurt in a way he couldn't even explain.
Call him obsessed, but there hasn't been a day when the center of his thoughts hasn't been the blonde he left behind. He could only be genuinely happy when he closed his eyes and brought back memories of the moments he had with his loved one.
And that's how he finds himself at the door of that castle shaking, sweating and with his heart racing in a way he hasn't felt in a long time. With the excuse of studies and business he convinced his father to let him return and participate in classes at the royal academy of the Auroria kingdom, but the truth is that he only has one reason to be there: Felix.
After a deep sigh, he enters the castle with Minho and is guided to the castle's reception room that is on the second floor of the castle. At that moment his fear grows, cause he knew that the princess, who treats his little brother as the most precious being in the world - which Hyunjin agreed he is - will probably not react so well to his arrival.
Nayeon is sitting on the throne usually used by her father with an agonizing curiosity about the guests. When the door opens she lays her eyes at the figure well known to her. And then, there is no rationality of a future queen that overcame the instinct of an older sister.
“What the fuck” she says with eyes fixed on Hyunjin and getting up from the throne “What the fuck are you doing here, what are you doing at my castle” she says without hesitation.
“Your Grace, I-” He tries to talk, but is interrupted.
“No, get out of my castle, get OUT of my kingdom. Stay AWAY” she says in a tone filled with anger.
“Wait, let me-” He tries again.
“No, I’ll not-”
“Nayeon.” A firm voice call her. Hyunjin look at the owner of the voice and it’s Jeongyeon. “They’re your father's honored guests. You’re regent of the kingdom in his absence and he has requested that you welcome his guests” she continues.
He watches the princess hesitant, she looks at her wife and then looks at him. She is silent for a few moments and then says
"Right. Jeongyeon is right. You’re my father's guest, so you will be treated by me as one" Hyunjin breathes a sigh of relief. "I was told that you came to the royal academy course, you and..." she looks at Minho.
"Oh right... this is Lee Minho, my faithful advisor" Hyunjin explained
"It's a pleasure and an honor to meet you, your grace" Minho says respectfully as he bows to her.
Nayeon respectfully responds to Minho's bow and then turns to Hyunjin,
"It's almost time for the inaugural class, I won't delay you with questions anymore. The servants are already taking their things to their rooms and when they go to their quarters they will show the way"
"Okay" Hyunjin replied "thank you, your Highness" and then he starts to leave to go to the classroom that is in the first floor of the castle.
"And Hyunjin" he hears her voice call him as he walks out the door and then turns to the princess "stay away from Felix. It will be my only warning". Her voice is cold. He didn't respond, and and walk again next to Minho.
…
Felix is sitting next to Seungmin waiting for class to start. Of course, when he arrived at the room he was the center of attention, everyone's eyes were on him and his smile already enchanted the presents. He looks at the clock on the wall and then he sees the teacher who will give the inaugural class talking to one of the castle's messengers at the door.
"My dears, I ask for a few minutes and patience, the messenger informed me that we have two more students on the way, as soon as they arrive we will start our class" the teacher explains.
Felix doesn't want to say anything, but seriously, who's late for their first class? It’s better the person to have some good excuses. After a few moments pass and Felix is ready to complain to Seungmin about the students' delay, he notices the teacher's eyes fixed on the door.
"Ah, there you are!" the teacher says and Felix turns towards the door. And then, in a matter of seconds his world fell apart. "It's an honor to have you in my class, Prince Hwang Hyunjin" he heard the teacher say, but his brain couldn't process it.
And then Felix is frozen staring into the sharp eyes that he knew so well and the owner of those eyes stares back at him. He feels his heart speed up, starts to feel nauseous and forget how to breathe. It could only be a big joke of fate or the worst of the nightmares. There is no doubt, Hwang Hyunjin, the man who had destroyed Felix's heart, is in the same room as him after two years.