𝙨𝙪𝙣𝙨𝙚𝙩 / 𝘴𝘬𝘪𝘦𝘴 *

“at a celebratory party after a polo match in your kingdom, you take the initiative to introduce yourself to a royal from the visiting team. you think your intentions of creating a positive alliance between each other is clear, however, they suddenly cut you off during your conversation and tell you that they’re currently engaged. how do you react?”

                                                                   ⋆       in response to      ꒰     ＃    the seer     ꒱

just when kijung thought he can catch a break, he’s once again proved wrong — for it’s not long after he’s submitted that stupid royal report that he receives another bothersome task, this time in the form a letter from the seer themselves. god knows what they want from him but kijung is not pleased with the knowledge and widely accepted understanding that everyone must all drop whatever they’re doing at the time and bend backwards to please the oh so mysterious seer. in fact, it’s in times like these that he thinks the seer is actually more controlling and tyrannical than the kings and queens of each kingdom can be.  ( more fearful, too, the annoying—but correct—voice in his head reminds him. )

the queen is a bitch  location. spades palace corridor @cwnkijung​​

—

she doesn’t want follow him secretly, when really she can just tell him and then spend time doing other stuff while being near him enough to consider it as watching him. should she tell him? he wouldn’t say anything to the queen right? after all, sooin only knew the alleged rumors of how the queen treated him. she didn’t actually know how prince kijung actually viewed his mother. despite her being a complete bitch.

but when has sooin ever been the type to withhold the truth when she wanted to tell it? never, honestly.

with her fingers crossed that this won’t come back to bite her in the ass, she apeaks up.

“prince kijung, if you have a moment,” sooin hurriedly says before he can get away. she scans the entire hallway and peaks around the corners of the ones intersecting perpendicularly before continuing. “there’s something i’d like to speak to you about, privately.”

it seems it’s not uncommon for kijung to, quite literally, run head first into situations and he feels some kind of displeasure over the fact. is he really this clumsy or is he just unaware of his surroundings? is he actually just unlucky? he wants to laugh — he kind of feels like he is, seeing as how he was born into a life he never asked for and it’s one where he’s treated like a stranger by his own mother, only ever paid any attention when it comes to matters of the throne. kijung is aware he’s seen more as a chess piece rather than a son, and he just has to live with that, just like he has to live with his so-called mother treating another prince more like her child than her legitimate one.

maybe there is some luck on his side though because the person he almost runs into is none other than sooin. kijung can’t say they’re on particularly close or friendly terms as there was no reason to be since as far as he knew, she was neither a first or second class knight, nor was she a private knight for anyone. that meant their paths hardly crossed except on the odd occasion in the palace—like now—but it also meant they would never have time to get to know each other better. he does know about the other though, however, if all of the whispers about her are anything to go by then maybe none of what he’s heard is true. but he kind of hopes so since she seems, well, cool and better he run into her than someone he doesn’t like.

so he smiles and nods his head, a quick greeting following. “apologies for not paying attention to where i was going,” he says with a small laugh. he knows he doesn’t have to apologize—it’s not like he can see around corners, anyways, and being a prince of high ranking meant you could get away with certain things—but if he had bumped into her, he would feel bad for doing so, so of course he should apologize.

he figures that’s where their interaction will end however, assuming the other must be in a rush to get somewhere, so he makes room for her to leave by stepping aside — only to hear sooin call him again. his brows raise with concern (and some confusion) since the other still seems to be in a hurry but now she wants to speak to him? her behaviour is awfully strange, too, looking around the corridor and all surroundings areas as if checking to see if there’s anyone nearby. what could she want to talk to him about that others can’t overhear?

“oh? okay,” kijung nods, a bit dumbly even, as he's still unsure a bit lost about where this is all going but he leads her into the nearest room despite that. he wasn’t doing much anyways; in fact, he was in the middle of considering what he wanted to do when he ran into her, so he can spare her some time. after all, he really wanted to know what she had to tell him now.

—

“got one,” he informs, looking back at the result of his unwarranted capture of time. yuri scoffs, turning the camera around to show kijung its screen. “look at you—you look so dumb. you should be watching out for us shorter folk, you know! it’s hard to evade a telephone pole like yourself, your highness.”

he lets go of the camera, letting it sway on his neck once more, returning to kijung’s side. “bored yet? in case you forgot, you still have a lot on your plate. but most importantly, what are you gonna do if i also get in trouble for enabling your escape, huh?” he grumbles without feeling, lightly shoving his elbow against the prince.

as a prince—and a first tier one at that—there isn’t much people can say ‘no’ to you for, not unless they want to face the consequences that are sure to follow — except, kijung’s never liked ordering people around. he definitely has the power to but even though he isn’t actively aiming for the throne and thus, doesn’t need to put on a good act all the time, it just isn’t in his nature or interest to take advantage of others like that for his own gain. if he was going to ask for something from someone, it wouldn’t be anything too difficult and he’d make sure to clarify they do have a choice that they wouldn’t receive anything repercussions for if they said no.

yuri, though? well, he’s always been a special case. kijung knows he’s definitely taken advantage of their friendship more times than he can count  ( the point at which he could count those times had long, long passed )  and he’s not oblivious to how yuri would literally do anything for him as long as he asked despite any protests he might say either  ( his official position and title aside ).  but he’s a selfish person sometimes, especially when it comes to his childhood friend, so if he can be around him all the time then of course he’s going to try and make it happen.

...maybe he should be kinder to him in that sense? however, kijung also has a feeling that even if he gave yuri the choice to follow along with his whims or not—and of course, if he wasn’t his private knight so he wasn’t required to always be near him usually—then the other would still say yes. was he really taking advantage of him if yuri wanted to be—er, hang out—with him too? he hopes that’s the case anyways, as he once again drags the other out of the palace and into town so he could avoid more paper work and reports he was given  ( which he will! really! just... not right now ).

this routine is familiar; kijung asking yuri to accompany him somewhere out of the blue, yuri asking him what he’s trying to avoid this time, and kijung just smiling but not answering as he tugs on the other’s arm. yuri may try to put up a fight but in the end he always follows — whether that be because it’s literal job to now or because they’ve just always been attached at the hip since they were young, well, who knows at this point?

“don’t laugh,” kijung half-mumbles, half-warns, as he straightens out his clothes and dusts off the imaginary dirt and fluff that didn’t actually accumulate on him when he bumped into someone mere moments ago. he knows yuri won’t listen though because despite social hierarchy saying he should, they’ve been friends for too long to keep up those customs and expectations when it’s just the two of them.

he peers over at the screen when yuri holds the camera out to him and lets out a strained laugh when he sees the photo: a perfectly captured shot of him having just bumped into a townsperson and looking like a branch that’s about to be blown away in the wind with how his arms are spread out when he tried to balance himself — that he only did so he wouldn’t fall and embarrass himself. oh, the irony.

“i can’t help that i was born this way,” kijung retorts petulantly and pushes his lips into an offended pout. “stop being jealous you weren’t born with my genes!” he’s very aware of how many accidents his long limbs have gotten himself into, thank you very much. it’s why he’s always paid extra attention in etiquette lessons when they focused on how to carry yourself gracefully and with poise — so he wouldn’t experience incidents like this. yuri’s just teasing him, obviously, but kijung is easy to rile up as someone who’s always trying to prove himself.

( bonus: his feigned annoyance works as a perfect cover up for the dissatisfaction he feels when his best friend addresses him as ‘your highness'. )

kijung’s mood shifts back into mischievousness and playfulness upon hearing the other’s question, readily allowing the topic to chance in the hopes that his feelings would follow suit too. “the same thing i always do,” he answers with a sly grin, nudging yuri back with his own elbow this time. “say it was a direct order from myself so you couldn’t say no, and the reason i had to go out into town was to gather first hand experience in order to provide a more accurate report.” a nonchalant shrug follows for he really has said every variation of this excuse that he can get away with before. in fact, these kinds of impromptu outings have happened so much, those who regularly deal with kijung rarely question his whereabouts anymore. as long as he finishes his work on time and doesn’t cause a lot of trouble, what do they care?

the first task      ⋆      ꒰     ＃    royal report     ꒱

kijung quite honestly thinks these reports are bullshit. not only are they annoying and a hassle to write, he’s sure most responses will be stretches of the truth or roundabout answers - and maybe even straight up lies, worded and phrased to sound nice and exactly what the king and queen wanted to hear. what’s the point of these reports if that’s the case? he could write down anything and the kings and queens are just supposed to take it at face value? if they did doubt something he—or any of them—wrote, how would they be proven wrong?

maybe he also just hates writing stuff like this (not maybe; he definitely does). these formal reports are so stuffy and have a high possibility of being fake so that the writer will look better to the king and queen - although he supposes sweet talking and providing diplomatic responses are par for the course when you’re a royal—or someone who desires to be on the throne one day—so maybe it doesn’t matter after all how true or not these reports are.

in either case, it doesn’t matter to him, seeing as he doesn’t really want to be the king. he was only thrown into lessons and training once the queen found out he's as healthy as ever and kijung assumes she also probably wants a biological heir to take over the kingdom anyways - one who was born to both the current king and queen, too.

at this point, kijung has been basically going through the motions and doing the bare minimum to not be so horrendously bad that the queen has to step in and reprimand him—and possibly deem him unworthy and officially disown him once and for all—or worse: his true status is somehow revealed. just imagining how a biological first tier prince who is far from being a viable candidate to the throne would go over with others and the reaction the queen would have if others found out that such a prince was her son made kijung quickly pick up his pen and hastily begin writing.

a closed starter for      ⋆      ꒰     ＃    eunae​​     ꒱

whenever kijung visits the palace of hearts, he can’t help but feel like he’s been transported to another world. the aesthetics and design of the hearts is like a complete opposite of the spades’ own palace and having grown up there his entire life, the hearts’ palace is a lot to take in. it was just so bright everywhere and that was not something kijung was used to so it was little off-putting any time he stepped foot into the kingdom.

he couldn’t avoid it though since connections and bonds between all kingdoms was important and maybe even paramount—as the royal tutors made sure to drill into his and every other royal’s heads—so who was kijung to go against that? it couldn’t hurt to be more familiar with the other kingdoms and possibly form friendly connections either plus he appreciated being able to leave the spades kingdom at any cost anyways, so if this was how he got to achieve that then so be it.

what he didn’t expect on his impromptu outing though  ( under the guise of wanting to greet the other royals to reinforce positive connections )  was running into one of the daughters of the current king of hearts himself, choi eunae — and quite literally at that, with how he would’ve crashed into the girl had he not caught himself at the last second. instead, he makes himself look clumsy and uncoordinated as he tries to get out of her way in time which causes his face to flush once he regains his balance and realizes that the princess had just witnessed it all.

so much for being a poised and put-together prince.

“you saw nothing,” he states by way of a greeting, trying to keep his voice steady and definitely not pleading  ( he still has some pride after all and he refuses to make even more of an embarrassment out of himself than he’s sure he already did )  and hoping he left no room for argument— all while trying to appear nonchalant as he brushes invisible dust off his clothes. then, in a much quieter voice, he coughs out, “but if you did— please keep it a secret...”

a closed starter for      ⋆      ꒰     ＃    yunseo     ꒱

contrary to what his childhood may imply, kijung is actually quite adept with a sword — which he’s realized has surprised many once they find out. he did, after all, spend most of his youth confined to a wing in the palace and was seldom allowed to play outside or generally do anything without a care due to being considered too week for most activities so he can’t say he doesn’t understand why people would have that impression of him; it doesn’t change how annoyed it makes him feel when people assume he can’t do shit though, and he feels a great deal of satisfaction when he sees the shock—and sometimes awe—on people’s faces once they see what he can do.

of course, he didn’t get to this level without doing anything. he trained relentlessly, often channeling any pent up frustration or bitterness he felt, into honing his sword skills since it proved to be a great distraction and something he could completely throw himself in to. not to mention, he felt better after working out or training, both physically and mentally.

kijung could only practice so much on his own, however, which is why he had taken to flagging down any knight he would happen to cross paths with when he was in the mood — and this time it was yunseo. kijung knew him, obviously, since it was part of his duties to remember as many people as he could to show he cared for and treated everyone equally  ( and for that, kijung is thankful he has a good memory )  but the other was also a first class knight so naturally, kijung saw him a lot in the palace as well. it’d be hard not to recognize or know him anyways, what with the reputation he’s made for himself amongst the other princes and princesses.

which also means he’d make the perfect candidate for a sparring partner today since kijung doesn’t think yunseo will say no plus he’s a knight, meaning he’s required to be skilled and thus, would be a good match to fight against.

food for thought location. kingdom of spades town, sidewalk @cwnkijung​

—

when one of them asks for a picture, yurye respectfully abides for a few quick selfies before excusing himself and kijung. after all, mornings out with kijung in town were rare. they were on a timed schedule and he’d like to spend as much time catching up with kijung as he could.

“so, they were pretty right?” yurye decides to ask kijung, curious to know what his younger brother’s opinion is. it’s a sincere curious thought considering that kijung has never really asked him for advice on girls before. as a growing male, yurye can respect kijung’s privacy but even he had to admit he was a bit curious what his brother’s preferences were. 

there’s only a handful of things in life that kijung feels genuinely grateful for but the few that he does, his appreciation is overflowing. truly, he didn’t have much to be proud of.

sure, he’s the only biological child to both the current king and queen which meant he should have everything but it sure didn’t feel that way nor was he treated like one. then, with his poor health since birth and throughout his childhood which speaks for itself in terms of how unfortunate it’d been, he couldn’t even be happy about getting better because thanks to that, the queen immediately pushed him into royal lessons. some reward.

now, he’s in the running to become the next king—albeit being one of the least qualified to, having earned his current title and rank mostly due to his bloodline rather than actually possessing the right qualities and traits a prince and thus future king should have—even though he has no desire to be. but it’s either this or be possibly disowned  ( permanently )  by the queen herself for proving useless to her and he’s not insane enough to give up the life of luxury and lavishness even if he has thought about it more than once — after all, the kingdom of spades is supposedly known for it’s freedom so how could he, the prince of such a place, not yearn for it too  ?

but like he said, there are a few things keeping him sane and still trying to a degree, most notably a person: kijung’s very own half brother. even if their mothers were different, yurye was the closest family he had and their only connection was the king. kijung should’ve had every reason to hate the older what with the king obviously favoring yurye and his mother more than he and the queen, but he can’t blame the old man. kijung would choose yurye over the queen too, any day— even if he’s going on about some restaraunt that opened recently that kijung just had to try, that it has high praise from the royal cook themselves, that he’d like it for sure.

it’s not that he’s unwilling to tag along though. he actually loves trying new places out, especially if it’s about food, but he’s generally up for anything. it’s one hundred percent due to this constant desire for freedom, to find adventure and live the way he wants to, so even if he feels confined to the palace at least outings like this make him feel like he has some free will. even better that it’s with company he likes a lot.

kijung just grins  ( fondly )  at the other but he doubts yurye notices, the prince likely too wrapped up in talking. kijung could be talkative himself but he really can’t hold a candle to yurye sometimes, although he supposes that’s part of why the older is also so sociable and friendly. it’s both a blessing and a curse, he muses, as proven when a pair of girls approaches them, clearly starstruck—or enamored  ?—with yurye. he doesn’t even consider himself as someone they’d be interested in for one second, not when his half sibling is around anyways and once again, he’s proven right when the girls only ask him for pictures. kijung just stands off to the side and smiles politely at them when they glance his way and then they leave shortly after too, which means he and yurye can continue on their way as well.

until kijung hears the older’s question and he almost trips over himself in surprise. he manages to catch himself before anything truly disastrous happens and once he’s straightened himself up, he fakes a cough to try and hide his embarrassment — and the fact that he’s not exactly interested in girls the way yurye is assuming. “ah, yes, they were,” he replies slowly, a faint smile on his lips because it’s true, they were pretty. but did he want to date them? not really — but then again, he does tend to lean towards guys more than girls.

he’s never told yurye—or anyone, for that matter—though because, well, it wasn’t exactly common and when or how would he bring it up anyways? just drop it randomly like “hey, i like guys more than girls!” on a fine sunday afternoon? it sounds absurd. kijung’s certain there’s definitely been same gendered couples before, even now, and in the future too but despite it not being completely frowned upon by many, there was still some stigma and judgement attached to liking another boy if you’re also a boy. thus, it’s easier and less hassle for himself if he just doesn’t mention it so he tries to shift the focus away from him instead.

   hellooooo !  i’m here with NOH KIJUNG, twenty one y/o  &  first tier prince of the kingdom of spades - however, most don’t actually know this !  what they do know is that kijung is a prince, yes, and is assumed to be a high ranking one at that but he never specifies or says it himself, he just lets others assume what they want  &  that’s because his parents are actually the king and queen themselves !  he grew up never being called their son though  ( the queen’s orders, not the king’s )  which is why unless someone is in the their trusted circle or were one of the attendants or staff that took care of kijung when he was younger, it’s easy to not know this fact  &  thus rumors spread.

  anyways !  there’s much more to learn about kijung which you can find below, as well as on his pages: PROFILE  &  BIO !  if you’d like to plot, i have (very few) ideas up HERE but i am also open to brainstorming so pls like this post if you’re interested and i will message you  ( back, if we had already started before opening but i never replied b/c i suck )  but i also have a discord now which i made recently that you can ask for, too !  i’m excited to be here and start writing with you all !!!!