The Crown Prince (Taegi AU)

chapter 6

Yoongi hugged the man back and patted his head lovingly. Taehyung was taller than him and had to bend down in order to bury himself in Yoongi's shoulder. Anyone who witnessed the scene would be able to see the relationship shared by the two; the fondness and intimacy shared by them that was deeper than anything a word such as love could ever define. It was as if they knew everything about the other, there was a line of understanding between them that didn't need to be voiced out loud, as if they only had eachother and relied on eachother.

They stayed like that for a moment till Taehyung had calmed down and when he realized what he was doing, he let go of him in an instant, "forgive me, your highness. I seem to have been reminded of something unpleasant."

"It's okay. We all have our weakness." Yoongi reassured, "Are you that afraid of sparring?"

"How can that be called sparring? Hitting eachother with the intent to cause harm and be proclaimed strong to win? Sparring is not so dangerous!" Taehyung spoke up as he defended himself.

Yoongi chuckled, "Is that so? Then how about this; You manage to land a single strike on your opponent and I'll do anything you ask me to. Do we have a deal?"

It was plain bribery and taehyung saw through it but how could he refuse such a seductive offer? To have the crown prince do anything and everything he asked for even if it was just for once? Nobody could reject such an offer especially Taehyung who had a lot of wishes.

"Just a single strike?"

"Just one."

"No going back on your word?"

"A deal is a deal." Yoongi reassured.

Taehyung found it suspicious but how could he know what yoongi was thinking?

Just how hard would landing a single strike be?

But boy was he wrong in thinking it was going to be easy. It was anything but easy, afterall, his opponent was still the same skilled trainer who had defeated thousands of people in this exact same field. Forget about landing a strike, he couldn't even defend himself properly. Yeowool was a man who was gentle with words but not with swords. He was impartial and ruthless on the training grounds. Even if the man wanted not to offend Taehyung in any manner, he would still end up using too much force even after trying his utmost best to hold back. Each strike seemed to contain more power than the last one. Taehyung tried his best but what else could he do? Four strikes and Taehyung's wooden sword was pitiful knocked out of his hands. His hands which turned red started to itch and hurt but Taehyung didn't give up, he couldn't give up. He still went over and bent down to pick up his weapon.

Humiliation; he could feel it.

Taehyung had done many things in his life which were considered unsightly and humiliating for a prince. Heck, wasn't happily becoming a hostage for your enemy a humiliating thing? But he had never felt such humiliation simply because he didn't have anyone whom he wanted to prove his self worth to but that... That was not the case anymore.

He had a thick-skin and a seemingly hard skull but for the first time in his life he felt humiliated because up on the second floor  balcony, sitting on the high seat was a man whom he wanted to please by all means. A man who inspired him and made him want to become a better person, Someone who supported him and had faith in him. This was the last thing he wanted to show that man.

Yeowool caught the look on Taehyung's face and even after knowing he was playing with fire, he still decided to add some fuel to it. This was his method of inspiring people; by adding fuel to the fire cause unless a person has a driving force that guides them to victory, they'd never be able to learn the essence of fighting. "Hahaha... To think his highness is even remotely interested in you? I expected a lot more."