1 Chapter One: I Love You, Always

Everything started out innocently .

It started with a farmer boy and a young prince who loved to play outside his huge castle. It started from a tall apple tree and a brown book.

It started with exchanging names  after the young prince caught the farmer boy who fell from the apple tree. The farmer boy, who  happened to be younger than the prince, offered him a nice red apple with a big grin.

The prince fell in love at first sight to the boy who had  the sweetest boxy grin.

They became friends instantly, sharing their favourite food and fairytales. The farmer boy loved Snow White while the young prince loved Beauty and The Beast.

'What an extraordinary story,' the farmer boy said.

'I just love how Belle found something different from the Beast,' the prince replied, 'also she has one sassy mouth and amazing personality,' the prince continued.

The farmer boy's name is Taehyung while the prince's name is Seokjin. Judging from Taehyung's appearance and height, Seokjin is older Maybe a year or two, or maybe three, they didn't really care.

Seokjin confessed how he hated royalty, how he hated his big castle. It was cold and they never let him play. It always about works, duty, and how to be a perfect prince for the kingdom. It was always how to be a future king and Seokjin's mind went ErrorNotFound404.

Taehyung chuckled every time the young prince complained, always joking, 'then let's run away together from here'.

For a kid's joke, Seokjin thought how reckless and innocent Taehyung's suggestion was. He believed the farmer boy was too young to understand his struggles and it was too hard to explain everything at once since Taehyung was just a normal villager.

Seokjin always laughed when Taehyung gave him the idea, he always shook his head and ruffled the other boy's brown hair, ' don't be stupid, I have a high taste in food; you would never able to afford my breakfast,' he added.

Taehyung would pout and then smack his shoulders, mumbling words that Seokjin never able to hear clearly.

Seokjin often went out at night, when most of the guards were in their station and he could use the secret passage his late mother told him to escape this huge castle.

His mother was the previous empress, the one with a warm smile he could never forget. The empress who was loved by all people, the woman who possessed a personality as kind as an angel. She was Seokjin's role model but sadly the prince lost her when he was barely eight years old.

He remembered her bedtime story the most, about a kind-hearted demon who actually sought  peace instead of chaos and she always said the Demon Emperor was the reason why Seokjin was here.

He understood her mother made up that story so Seokjin would be a nice boy, listen to his teachers instead of answering their words. He loved how she started the story, 'it was when the world covered with white and the blue flower stood beautifully in the middle of the snow, a man with a really handsome figure approached me with a cold face.'

Her mother positioned herself as one of the characters, as the woman who was pregnant and got into an accident when she wanted to go home to her original kingdom to give birth. Sadly, the carriage slipped because the snow, she fell from the cliff and about to die at that time.

A tall man, sharp jawline and eyes as cold as the white snow approached her out of nowhere. He wore a red shirt with black trousers and long black cloak, the cloak's hem fluttered with the freezing wind and Seokjin's mother stopped breathing for several seconds.

The man's hair was silver and his eyes were deep blue, a beautiful cobalt blue Seokjin loved the most. His mother begged to the young man, 'please,' she choked out, coughing blood and tried to reach the young man , 'please- my baby,' she held her tummy with her bloody hand.

She cried harder when it was too hard to even breathe, her whole body convulsing and she started to lose her sight. She wailed, she raised her hand and almost thought she was dreaming when the man kneeled beside her and caught her trembling hand.

" Hang in there ," the man said, his voice was so deep to the point Seokjin's mother felt it through his bones. The man gruff voice soothed her but not for long as she felt an unbearable pain from her tummy and between her legs. She knew this wasn't good.

'Please, please, just my son, please,' she cried, clawing the young man's clothed chest even though she knew there's no way a random male would able to help even though he wanted to. She fell from the cliff, the impact to her unborn child was too much and she was experiencing miscarriage, maybe she would die too due the blood loss.

The male frowned, his long slim fingers traced down from her face to her neck and then to her big stomach where her unborn child struggled to keep living even though it was near impossible. He leaned down softly, nosing her forehead and he smiled softly, "you have one pure soul inside your womb," he said, "too bad angel was nowhere to be seen in here to save you all."

For a moment Seokjin's mother was confused, so confused because the man was talking nonsense. Everyone knew angels aren't real and even though they were indeed real, they wouldn't spend their time for a mere mortal.

She coughed up blood, already giving up because she knew her condition was beyond his reach. She rested her head against the cold man, the man felt unbelievably cold maybe because the winter season at the time and he wore such thin cloak to protect his body.

"Don't worry," he said as if he was talking right beside her ear, "both of you will survive," he whispered with his husky voice.

Seokjin's mother felt the man gave her a soft peck on her forehead and suddenly she felt hot, it hurt her at the first but then it slowly changed into a nice kind of warmth. It was like someone was embracing her, protecting her from the grim reaper and shower him with chaste kisses but no lust involved.

Her eyelids felt heavy, the man smiled softly to her, "I'm looking forward to seeing the prince in the future," he said, his voice drifted away slowly but surely and the empress fell into a deep slumber.

The Queen woke up when she heard a baby crying, she found herself leaned back against a tall tree. The ground she sat on was dry while the ground several feet away from her was covered by a thick layer of snow.

She jolted when the baby inside her embrace cried louder, she still wore her travel attire but her clothes didn't have any patch of blood that supposed to drench her after the accident. Her fluffy coat was clean, her white dress was also clean.

It was like she was dreaming like she never had the accident. When she looked down, she saw a healthy baby boy, crying for her warmth; for his mother's warmth. The baby was adorable, wrapped in a black coat that unbelievably warmth despite how thin and light the cloak was.

Honestly, Seokjin found it amusing how his mother made the story sounded so real when all of it was just a bluff for him when he acted impolitely or naughty. She never told anyone about this story too, she said to him one night so Seokjin also kept this story to himself.

Oh but, he told Taehyung about this story and the brown-haired boy replied, 'I bet the stranger looked so handsome.'

Seokjin scoffed, 'of course not as handsome as me,' he joked. The farmer boy blinked, his eyes turned soft after several second and the prince cursed inside his mind because his friend looked so cute.

The farmer boy giggled, he gazed to the night sky, to the beautiful starry night, 'you're right, you're far way more beautiful, ' he said with a low voice, almost like an adult but not really , 'you're ethereal, Seokjin-ah.'

Then, Seokjin smacked Taehyung's head for dropping the honorific, ' Ya! Call me hyung!' his face blushed but the prince looked away to hide it.

Their friendship developed slowly but surely, from a friend into a best friend and reaching its peak when the King told Seokjin about his engagement.

Seokjin was eighteen while Taehyung was fifteen, the young prince escaped from his study room. He jumped from his study room's window to the nearest tree, almost killing himself when he did it but he didn't care. Dying was better than being locked up inside his own room, forced to marry someone he never sees before in the name of ' political sacrifice' , his stepmother mentioned before.

He ran without thinking, he used the usual secret passage and searched for his sunshine. His best friend who always listen to him, his angel, his love, his Taehyung.

The younger boy was in the middle of cleaning the storage house near the farm his family owned, he never thought his prince would run to him and hugged him while crying.

"W-What happened? Why you're crying?" for a moment Seokjin thought the younger boy was ready to kill someone when he asked him but the prince's mind was too messy to care, all he needed was a place to complain.

Deep inside, Seokjin always knew this time would come but he would never be ready to accept it immediately. He cried against Taehyung's chest, cursing his life, weeping and wailing.

The farmer boy didn't say anything, he just listened and kissed Seokjin's puffy eyes gently when the prince stopped crying for a while.

"It's not fair," Seokjin sobbed, wiping his tears harshly and made his cheek reddened.

Taehyung stopped him and wiped the tears for him, "life is never fair, hyung," he replied. Seokjin huffed and mumbled, 'you're not helping.'

Seokjin held Taehyung's hand, leaned against it like it was his lifeline, "it's really not fair," he whispered, Taehyung tilted his head to look at Seokjin's face more clearly.

"You can grow love, you know," Taehyung mumbled, he wanted to tell Seokjin but at the same time, he didn't want to, because in fact; he didn't want Seokjin to marry another person either.

Seokjin snapped his head up, eyes furious when he met Taehyung's black eyes, "bullshit!" he shouted, tears streamed down his cheeks again, he covered his face, "how can I love someone else when I already in love with you! " he blurted out of nowhere.

Taehyung's jaw dropped, he glanced at Seokjin dumbfounded and the prince never felt so anxious in his entire life like this, "what?" the farmer boy said.

Seokjin cried harder, he was so sure Taehyung would hate him after this or maybe worse, stop being his friend again. He stood up abruptly and so ready to run back to the castle and accept his destiny, but a hand caught his wrist and pulled him into a warm hug.

"You're kidding me," Taehyung breathed out, Seokjin blinked; still a little panic, "you had no idea how long I have been in love with you , Jin-Hyung," the farmer boy whispered to him.

Seokjin blinked away his tears, he pulled back a little to see Taehyung's face. Making sure if his friend was playing with him or not but when he met the younger's man brown eyes, he couldn't help but sob once again because there's no lie or joke inside his eyes, Taehyung was dead serious.

"I-I," Seokjin choked out a sob, " I really love you Taetae, always, " he sniffed like a little boy even though he was older, Taehyung smiled softly, giving Seokjin's forehead a soft peck that made the young prince blushed harder.

" I love you too, Seokjin-ah. "

Things escalated quickly after that, Taehyung made Seokjin agree about the engagement and the farmer boy became the price little secret. The lover he loved more than anything but he couldn't tell it to anyone, he just told it to his mother's cold gravestone in the royal family's cemetery.

Seokjin grew up to be the prince all villagers love just like his mother, he was brilliant and charming while Taehyung grew up to be the farmer boy everyone adored, for his funny and easy going personality.

Everything felt okay and perfect, Seokjin knew how to keep his secret safe.

Until one day, until the day when a bunch of people came with the name of God's servants and maids came to Seokjin's kingdom.

The kingdom welcomed them with warm hands, listening to their story about God and their angels, also about the witch and the warlock.

They craved into villager's mind that the witch and the warlock always bring misery, they always laugh for people's suffering and worship a demon instead of their lord.

It was true, witch and warlock worship demon but the stories started to make people doubt one another.

Why she is so pretty?

Why he is so rich?

Why that family have a nice harvest while ours was bad this year?

The situation hit its climax when a sickness attacked them when innocent women died because people called them ' witch ' and when men killed their own sons because the ' holy' people told them to kill the devil's children.

Everything turned chaotic, Seokjin tried his best to fix the situation with all of his power and came into a conclusion where he should ask his fiancé to marry him sooner so his country could become stronger and he could calm down the villager because finally, their prince marries a princess from a promising land.

He went to Taehyung's farm one night before the celebrating party, he was desperate and he needed his lover's comfort.

He came with a black cloak his mother left for him before she died, he never knew where his mother got this cloak but he always wanted to use it since he was a toddler. The cloak was warm but as light as a feather, the first time he was tall enough to wear it; he shows it to Taehyung and the younger man smiled politely to him, praising the cloak when Seokjin pouted at the lack of his lover's reaction.

Taehyung's parents lived in a different house, the younger man preferred a small cottage near their farm rather than his main house in the city. He loved people but he also loves a quiet place, also because this place was easier to approach than the busy street according to Seokjin who still escaped from his bedroom at night.

When Seokjin arrived, he embraced Taehyung almost immediately. The shared a really passionate kiss and hugged each other like there's no tomorrow.

"I will be busy for a while," the future king of their country whispered to his lover, the only one who owned his heart.

Taehyung grinned, lifting Seokjin like he was nothing and the older male wrapped his feet on the younger man's waist in instinct, "watch your health too, my prince," the farmer boy teased, Seokjin slapped his face, the younger man carried him to their bedroom.  

"It will be 'My King' in several weeks," he chuckled, Taehyung kissed his plump lips and dropped him gently on the bed.

It wasn't fancy like his bedroom but Seokjin loved Taehyung's bedroom, a small room with a medium sized bed and a small fireplace to warm them up in the winter season, the small window that let the moonlight illuminated them.

A chaste kiss that changed into a passionate one, slowly but surely became more intense and hot as the night went by. The similar heat pooled and Seokjin hissed when Taehyung bit on his hip bone while the older man tried to not look so excited but failed miserably.

'I love you,' Seokjin said with teary eyes, Taehyung kissed the inner thigh of his beloved and smiled gently. The smile that never fails to steal Seokjin's heart again and again even though the younger man already owned it years ago.

Taehyung gazed up to the older male, let out a shaky breath because Seokjin was too ethereal to be true. A perfection he wanted to stare at four eternity, ' I love you too, my Seokjin, ' he growled when the older male whined, hiding half of his face to the pillow.

' Let me see your face ,' he sat up and leaned down, giving Seokjin open-mouthed kisses, ' let me hear your voice, ' Seokjin whimpered but obeyed.

Taehyung shuddered when the older male clenched so tightly, he kissed the other male's forehead and got a chuckle when he whispered an apology, ' we did it countless times but you still apologies no matter what I said, ' the prince said.

'I don't want to hurt you,' Taehyung blushed when Seokjin kissed his jawline, 'I just want you to feel pleasure, I want you to feel good,' the younger man could felt the older man's heart hammered against his ribcage.

Seokjin grinned, cheeks turned into another shade of pink, 'I always feel good when I'm with you,' the older man confessed, no lies just truth.

Taehyung watched the way Seokjin squirmed when he felt too much when the pleasure he caused make the older man incoherent and all he could do was just whimpering or screaming Taehyung's name.

Seokjin always took the role of a big spoon, they would cuddle until it was the time for the older man to go back before one of the guard notice he was missing. Taehyung would shower him with kisses to wake him up and Seokjin would groan, pouting but he knew he must go back.

They waved each other a goodbye, sharing another chaste kiss before Seokjin got to his horse and went back to his castle.

They hoped each other to be saved.

But life never is fair to anyone.

Seokjin dropped all of his scrolls when he saw Hoseok, his loyal guard; the only one who knew about his relationship with Taehyung ran to his workplace and told him about the news.

The guard panicked face made Seokjin's heart sank, his face went pale like the snow outside the castle. He shouted an order for the other male to tell the king that the prince demanded an urgent meeting.

The king expected his son to come.

"What do you mean father?!" he shouted, pushing open the king chamber's door harshly with shaking hands, eyes furious.

"Crown prince," the king stared coldly to his son, a woman with white clothing bowed down to the crown prince, "please meet sister from the church," the king gestured to the woman beside her, Seokjin felt the blood boil inside his veins.

"You can't let this continue!" Seokjin screamed, didn't care about the politeness anymore, "you can kill people without any proof! Accusing them of something they never do!" he shouted, face red with anger.

The king frowned, "you came all the way here, screaming to my face is enough proof, Seokjin," the king said, Seokjin didn't understand. Suddenly two guards held his hands to prevent him from going away.

"Taehyung, that farmer boy is indeed a warlock. He used black magic to take the crown prince's heart and turned him into his living doll to manipulate the villager, every witch and the warlock must be banished from this kingdom no matter what."

Seokjin couldn't believe all of the things that happened before his eyes.

The guards held him captivated, the maids dressed him in a nice white outfit and the crown prince tried his best to plan a way to save his lover.

One of the villagers saw them kissing at the dawn, the same villager that hated Taehyung for being so handsome and charming. He suspected Taehyung to perform witchcraft because the man never fails his harvest time and the fruits from the innocent man's garden always the sweetest.

People always love him too, so what's the reason other than he uses black magic to control people's hearts?

REPENT!

REPENT!

Seokjin hurried to get out from the carriage when he heard people shouting outside, the Centre of the town that changed into an execution ground since the people with 'holy servants and maids' came to his village was crowded with villagers.

Some of them were whispering at the back, most of them were throwing stones to the poor man tied to the huge cross behind his back.

Taehyung looked down to the cold ground, covered by white snow but now was tainted by his blood dripping from the wounds because of the sharp edges of the stones.

"No-" Seokjin's breath hitched, suddenly all of the villagers stood aside when one of the royal's guard announced the crown prince and the royal family's presences. The king stood beside his son with a firm face, believing all the bullshit said by the ' holy ' people.

One of the sisters walked to the young male tied to the cross, she raised her staff and shouted to the crowd, "this man!" she looked down to Taehyung, "had our poor prince under his control with black magic," the villager let out a war scream.

"No-" Seokjin shook his head, stepping in front of his father, "please, father! He isn't," he kneeled before the old man. The king hissed and ordered the guard to pull him up, " NO! Please! Listen to me!" he screamed.

Taehyung didn't care about the people throwing stones at him or the people that accused him to be a warlock, his eyes focused to the crown prince who cried so hard and begged for mercy to the stupid king.

"You will be okay once we kill him, my son," the king said while he unsheathed the great sword, Seokjin's eyes widened when his father handed the great sword, the symbol of their kingdom to the church's people.

The sister handed the sword like it held great holy power to the man who assigned to kill Taehyung, the farmer boy smiled one last time when he met his beloved's eyes.

The younger man knew this would become ugly once he heard loud shouting from outside his house when he saw people came with burning torches at the dawn and chanting words of prayer. They burnt down his small cottage and destroy the farm he loved, they would execute him in the centre of the city for sure.

At least he could be with his beloved for a while, Taehyung thought it was enough. He chuckled dryly, he never expected his mortal life would end like this.

He looked up to the tall man with a mask that stood in front of him, the man raised the great sword high to the sky, ready to kill him; to behead him.

Taehyung closed his eyes when the assassin swung the sword and waited for the fast pain around his neck, but instead of that, he heard loud gasps second later and then people were screaming.

He opened his eyes when someone coughed and the blood wetted his cheek, he widened his eyes when he saw his beloved prince stood before him. Seokjin's broad shoulders preventing him from seeing the chaos behind them, the prince smiled with pained expression before he slumped down to Taehyung.

The younger boy saw the huge open wound on the older man's back, he saw the church people's faces went pale and the great sword neglected not so far from them. Blood spilling down like a river stream, Seokjin coughed up blood again and tainted Taehyung already a bloody shirt.

" I-I'm sorry ," Seokjin breathed out, " I'm s-sorry I couldn't protect you- "

Taehyung looked to his lover, growing pale each second while the world turned into slow motion. He gazed up when the sister shouted, ' Demon! The demon made our prince protected him! ' and the villagers threw the burning torch to them, to the straws that supposed to burn Taehyung's corpse after they behead him.

Seokjin's breath became slow and went unnoticed, he mumbled apologies. He kissed Taehyung's lips for the last time with the last power he had, he smiled with lips tainted with his own blood; he caressed Taehyung's cheek and ended up smearing his blood.

' I love you, always, Taetae. '

He saw his beloved prince died in front of him, killed by the king's great sword because the crown prince chose to protect the farmer boy and fought against his own father. The poor young farmer that reported as a warlock to the kingdom's church by the villagers, gazed to his lover's body with wide eyes.

Taehyung screamed Seokjin name with teary eyes, but the older man didn't answer. The crown prince's head was heavy on Taehyung's shoulder. The young man screamed to the sky, the fire burning around them like the hellfire.

Everything turned red as his voice changed into something inhumane and the cross behind him burnt with blue fire. Everyone stood still, shocked and stunned when the screams turned into growling, like a monster; a beast .

Maybe the report wasn't fake after all, but a little bit wrong.

Taehyung wasn't a warlock.

The ropes burnt and his hands were free, Taehyung's crystal clear tears turned crimson and he held his dear close against his chest. He blinked the bloody tears, let it dripped from his chin to Seokjin's pale cheek.

" You all killed him"

Everyone shivered, knees buckling due to the fear. They were too scared to even run away, to even think, to beg for mercy. The young man tied to the cross looked to every face visible, his brown hair changed into silver and his shirt turned crimson, black fog surrounded Taehyung and Seokjin; slowly turned into two magnificent black wings that covered the once clear sky.

" ALL OF YOU KILL MY BELOVED!! " the black wings, darker than any shade of black soared to the clouded sky, everyone shrieked in fear.

The voice was getting deeper, like a knife stabbing their flesh slowly but the pain was on thousand times more hurtful. The people screamed in agony, clutching their heads when the pain shot through their entire body.

Taehyung lifted Seokjin's lifeless body, he looked down to the closed eyes with a face full of sorrow and hatred. His eyes were furious when he looked up once again, " you all will suffer more than this! " he screamed.

The blue fire exploded, burning all of the houses in the town. Taehyung kissed his beloved's forehead and walked, didn't care about the screaming of pain and agony from the villager being burnt down by the hell's blue fire. The fire that burnt until the last of your hair, more painful than any fire in this world.

The looked to the sky that covered by black clouds, suddenly a bunch of crows with crimson eyes came and started to attack the people in the town alive. Devouring their flesh and drank their blood, one of the crow turned into a human and kneeled beside Taehyung.

The silver-haired man kissed his lover's closed eyes, he said without looking to his side, "prepare my throne, I'm going back," the other man with butler outfit nodded. The black cloak Taehyung used to cover Seokjin's body fluttered with the wind, the white snow melted because of the fire.

"I, Jungkook, myself will prepare the throne for your majesty; the others will celebrate for your return for sure," the butler answered with such respect to Taehyung but the silver-haired man's face was still tight and Jungkook knew better for not disturbing the other male more than this.

"Wait," Taehyung said, Jungkook halted, "there are several people who didn't get burnt by my fire, let them go," the silver-haired man ordered his servant.

Jungkook nodded, commanding the crows for not attacking people that don't get burned by the hell's fire. The hell's fire just attacks them who didn't believe Seokjin, who secretly hated the crown prince and wished for his death.

"Also tell a man called Hoseok," Jungkook tilted his head when his lord mentioned a mortal's name, "maybe he wants to live with Seokjin, take him if he agrees to go with you to our world."

Taehyung dismissed him, the man never even once let Seokjin go from his eyesight and his embrace, " this time I will take you with me."

The silver-haired man mumbled, " This time I will take you to a safe place, Seokjin-ah ."

"This time no one will dare to separate us."

"Nobody will dare to touch or hurt you."

"This time no one will disturb our happiness, my Seokjin ."

"This time I will take you to my kingdom, the greatest and the strongest kingdom in the nine realms."

Taehyung isn't a warlock.

The Emperor of the hell, the strongest kingdom in the nine realms.

He is the demon lord every warlock and witches worship.