The Merciful Prince

Chapter 31

"Did you want company, or...?"

"Sorry, I zoned out there" Mark smiles at him, laughing out a dry joyless laugh. "Do you want to come in? We can have tea"

"I would love to" Jinyoung goes in with him and they wait on the veranda on the chairs. Jinyoung sits down first, and Mark goes to sit int eh chair beside him, but Jinyoung pulls him into his lap, kissing his shoulder.

They wait in silence until another servant brings them tea. When the servant leaves, and they're alone again, Jinyoung asks what he'll do about Lucas.

"I have no idea, should I execute him? Send him back to Viav? I don't want to start a war"

"At this point, to start a war, Viav would have at admit that Lucas belongs to them, right?" Jinyoung asks, and Mark nods. "So why don't we just announce that he's been executed? We have no record of knowing who he is, for all the world will know you executed the man who poisoned you and your father, see how Viav reacts"

Mark nods, he doesn't want to execute Lucas, but as he looks back at Jinyoung, all he can think of is his mother, who died because his father wouldn't execute a servant for stealing. Attempted murder is a much worse crime, and Lucas has already tried to kill Jinyoung. It's obviously not the same. Him and Jinyoung aren't even married, not even really in a relationship.

But as Jinyoung smiles at him softly, reaching up to touch Mark's chin and tip him in for a kiss, his hesitation wanes. He doesn't want to get him killed over something like this. He'll talk to Jackson about it, and they'll decide what to do from there.

He dismisses Jinyoung after they finish their tea. He just needs to think. Ultimately this is his decision and he wants to have a good idea of it before they talk. He wants to walk through the gardens now, and somehow still isolate himself in his room.

Jinyoung's idea is good but it means he also has to think of whether or not to actually execute him or just say he did. As horrible as it sounds, he's excited to see the responses from the kingdoms he tells. Will they congratulate him or express regrets of his father's death again? He barely greets Jackson as he comes in the room, giving him a soft wave.

"What are we going to do with him? He can't sit down there for forever." Jackson asks, getting right to the point, but Mark still doesn't have a concrete answer for him.

"How is BamBam holding up?"

"Don't worry about him, worry about yourself, how are you holding up?"

"I'm devastated, but BamBam spent more time with Lucas than anyone"

"BamBam is also Thaerian, he'll manage, he's probably seen this before" Jackson puts his hand on his back, rubbing circles between his shoulder blades.

He tells him Jinyoung's idea and Jackson nods along, actually interested in it.

"It's a good idea" he agrees. "Maybe relations with Viav will remain intact that way"

"Let's set a date then, tomorrow?"

"That seems soon..." Jackson looks out off the veranda, he didn't hate Lucas or anything, even now. He was only doing what he was told. No telling what ideas King Wu was feeding him.

"Tomorrow." Mark nods resolutely, he knows he should be thinking of Lucas now, and his father, but all he can think about is Jinyoung.

"I'll tell Amber" Jackson says, bringing Mark back into his room where Yugyeom is waiting with his pajama's laid out. They don't want Mark to be alone right now, even if its just so that he doesn't feel lonely. Mark has spent the last few nights with Jinyoung, if he doesn't just sleep here with Mark he at least stays until well into the night.

Once he's laying in his bed he opens his copy of The Merciful Prince and reads through it a few times. Yugyeom remains in the room until Jackson returns from telling Amber and for the first time since they were kids, Jackson crawls into bed next to Mark, leaning on his shoulder.

Mark lets his head rest on Jackson's shoulder, staring at the closed doors of his room. They don't talk, but they understand each other. Jackson feels so dumb. He felt it back when Youngjae confirmed that he was being poisoned and Mark realized the inconsistencies in Viav's letters. He should have seen that all himself, he should have saved Mark. Instead it took some random prince coming over with an uninvited guest to figure it out.

"I'm sorry Mark, I haven't been here for you"

"Don't apologize," Mark sighs, bringing his hand up to touch Jackson's cheek. "There's nothing to do about it now, lets just fix things, starting tomorrow"

A/N

Guys!!!! Two thousand reads! I'm so happy! Thank you guys so much ❤️❤️