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In this life Yoo Joonghyuk is the heir to the Grand Dukedom of Sorinth, within the Soreal Empire, that has been ruled by the line of Yoo for generations as the protectors and main military might of the empire with their impressive combat focused magic.
Joonghyuk’s life has been pretty charming so far; born into wealth and prestige, he wanted for nothing, and as he obtained his past memories at the early age of three, he had become widely known as a prodigy, the ideal successor for his father once he stepped down as Duke. He even had the blessing of being engaged to the love of his life: the only son of Marquis Kim—Kim Dokja.
In this world, children are a blessing from the Goddess of Nature, and as such there is no such thing as pregnancy—whoever prays to the Goddess with fervent and honest belief will receive a child in their arms that will be a combination of both parents who had prayed for the blessing. Because of this blessing people are free to marry whom ever they wish.
Joonghyuk could barely contain his elation upon hearing that his father had secured an engagement for him to Marquis Kim’s son. He was immensely excited to see Kim Dokja again.
Even though the status of Marquis was below that of a Grand Duke and normally would not be considered as a suitable marriage prospect, Marquis Kim held a vast territory with many natural riches that had made the Kim lineage wealthy over many generations. And it wasn’t just the wealth and resources that made them a valuable marriage partner—it was also what they did with that wealth. The Kim family was known throughout the empire for its mass philanthropy and its funding of public works for the benefit of both the people in their own territory and within the empire as a whole, which would pair nicely with the Grand Duke’s role of protecting the empire so it’s people can prosper.
Joonghyuk met Dokja for the first time in this life when he was five years old. He was dressed in dashing clothes with his unruly black hair brushed back, looking more ready for a ball than a simple meeting between five year old children. But he had to dress to impress.
Joonghyuk and his father waited patiently in the foyer for the arrival of Marquis Kim and his son.
While waiting, his father firmly but kindly reminded him of proper etiquette and gave him a run down of what he could expect from Marquis Kim’s son. Joonghyuk was an exceptional child, far more advanced and mature than other children his age, so he shouldn’t expect other children to match his level of intellect and to have patience with their childishness. Additionally Dokja was Marquis Kim’s only child, as he had refused to take another wife after the passing of Kim Dokja’s mother, and it was known by everyone in noble circles that the Marquis spoiled and doted on his son a bit too much—which basically implied that his son may act spoiled and haughty.
Joonghyuk was informed that he should just ignore such behavior for now. If all went well with todays meeting, and the appropriate contracts were signed, then they would be able to officially announce the engagement. After which, they would have more say in Dokja’s raising and education as he needed to meet the proper standards to be a Grand Duke’s spouse.
When Marquis Kim, a handsome but slightly portly man(apparently he compensated his dedicated hours spent working for the people’s interests by consuming sweets to alleviate stress) and his son entered the room, Joonghyuk’s world came into focus on the chubby cheeked cherubic boy standing shyly by his father’s side.
It was rare for Joonghyuk to regain his memories before the age of ten, and then rarer still for him to actually meet Kim Dokja as a child, and even when he did meet Dokja early in life, he was often malnourished and mistreated. For once, Kim Dokja had a loving family that took care of him well. He looked healthy with glowing skin and shiny hair, and he even flushed adorably when meeting Joonghyuk’s gaze for the first time before turning away out of shyness. Kim Dokja was absolutely adorable as a healthy chubby child and Joonghyuk just wanted to hug him. Joonghyuk now understood why Kim Dokja had been so happy and doting when Joonghyuk had been turned into a child during a scenario penalty. It was hard not to be happy when getting to see a loved one as a small adorable kid when no childhood photos or videos existed.
As per his father’s directions, Joonghyuk offered his arm to Dokja, who then timidly wrapped his arm around Joonghyuk’s, before then directing himself and Dokja out to the garden for cakes and tea while their fathers talked.
Summer was in full swing with bright sun, green grass, and flowers blooming in abundance. Dokja was a little reserved because of his shyness but Joonghyuk could still see the awe and wonder in his starry eyes as he took in the massive gorgeous garden of the Grand Duke. They sat down at a table and began to converse and eat the tea and cakes that the servants had brought them. Dokja’s responses to Joonghyuk’s questions were short and often only one word, and had Joonghyuk not had his intellect from his past lives then he would have probably childishly thought that Dokja disliked him. But as he did have his past memories, he could tell that Dokja was excited and eager to talk to him—the boy was just unbearably nervous.
But eventually as they talked more and more, Kim Dokja became more vivacious and lively. It helped that Joonghyuk knew most everything about Dokja’s likes—as they were always the same in each life. The moment he had brought up reading and books, Dokja had opened up to him immediately.
It was a fantastic start to their engagement. They had become fast friends and confidants much to the joy of their fathers. Unlike the rumors, Kim Dokja was not spoiled or bratty in anyway, if anything the boy was wise and intelligent beyond his years.
However there was one thing that had been bothering Joonghyuk: Kim Dokja’s insistence that Joonghyuk will fall in love with someone else.
When they were the twelve years old, Dokja had brought up a peculiar topic.
“Joonghyuk-ah, when we grow up, if you fall in love with someone else, just let me know and I will stand aside without any negative feelings towards you or the one you fall in love with. I know that we are engaged in a political marriage but if you find someone else—“
“I won’t love anyone else but you.” Joonghyuk growled out, failing to hide the deep conviction of love that he held for his star, and the fury he felt at it being questioned.
Dokja flinched back from Joonghyuk, having not expected such an agitated response. They had been enjoying a blissful afternoon reading and eating sweets below a large oak tree but Dokja’s comment had immediately soured the mood.
Joonghyuk dropped his book and turned toward Dokja and trapped the smaller boy between his arms against the trunk of the tree. “Do you plan to fall in love with someone else?” Joonghyuk growled out, vehemently angry at even the thought of his star loving someone that was not him.
“N-no of course not!” Dokja protested.
“Then are you unhappy with me then?” Joonghyuk shot back.
Dokja’s eyes shown with both indignation and unwavering conviction. “Of course I’m happy! Being with you is the happiest I’ve ever been!”
Joonghyuk sat back a bit, easing the tenseness in his body. “I feel the same. Being with you is the happiest I’ve ever been—I don’t want anyone else but you. It hurts me that you would even question my love and devotion toward you.”
They had been engaged at a young age, so love had not been openly spoken about. That was the first time that either one of them had spoken of love out loud.
Dokja blushed furiously upon hearing those last few words leave Joonghyuk’s mouth. “T-that’s not w-what I meant.” He managed to stutter out while avoiding Joonghyuk’s gaze, his stuttering shyness once again rearing its head in the face of such emotional intensity. “I just never want to be the one to hold you back—from anything—because I—,”Dokja paused to swallow before quietly whispering, “I love you too.”
Joonghyuk flashed Dokja an unfairly handsome grin before leaving a kiss on the smaller boy’s forehead. “That’s settled then.”
Dokja never brought up such a stupid idea ever again, at least until they entered the empire’s noble academy at the age of sixteen.
The academy was renowned for its extensive education for noble children and magic control courses, and was also incredibly useful for making connections. Joonghyuk was automatically placed into all the academy’s advanced courses, his magical abilities were second to none and his intelligence only came second to Dokja.
Unlike Joonghyuk, Dokja was not as proficient in magic as he was not born with a high amount of innate mana. He could create spaces to store things and summon things that were smaller than his own body size, but he couldn’t use elemental magics. However the magical abilities he did have, were in Joonghyuk’s opinion, quite useful in comparison to more flashy magical abilities, and his star’s intellect, analytical abilities, and foresight were beyond that of even the best sage in the empire.
Dokja was automatically placed into all of the advance classes except for the Combat, Defense, and Other Practical Magic course, where he had to take a test to be placed. Despite not having elemental magic, the proctors and opponents quickly discovered that Kim Dokja was in fact, incredibly strong, going up against stronger opponents with more powerful magic and beating them with ease. He was always a few steps ahead of his opponent and used his summoning abilities to bring people down. Contrary to most summoners, he was not limited to summoning only certain things; he could summon living and inanimate objects and creatures as long they were smaller than his body size.
After the exam, the useless rumors about the Grand Dukedom having a weak spouse marrying into the family were quelled.
The first few weeks went smoothly as they attended the academy with other nobles including the first prince, Duke Bristol’s(the head of the Imperial Knigtage) son, and a genuine mage from the magic tower(although average by Joonghyuk’s standards). However as time continued on, Joonghyuk took notice of strange occurrences that kept happening. He kept having run ins with the only commoner at the academy, a young man with rare light magical abilities. They shared classes and the run ins wouldn’t have been a problem if it wasn’t for how frustrating they were.
The light mage(Joonghyuk never bothered to learn his name) insisted on approaching Joonghyuk, getting far too close and personal, and forgoing all social etiquette in how Joonghyuk should be treated as the future Grand Duke. Whenever Joonghyuk would coldly and harshly rebuke the light mage, the first prince, Duke Bristol’s son, and the mage from the magic tower would show up and much to Joonghyuk’s bewilderment, defend the light mage. They were nobles who Joonghyuk had thought highly of before attending the academy but now they had become simpering fools pandering to the light mage, ruining not just their own images but also insulting the fiancés they were engaged to by claiming to love the light mage.
What the actual fuck.
And even more frustrating was that instead of just having to deal with the light mage’s approaches, Joonghyuk kept getting thrown into ridiculous and unwanted situations with the light mage including: getting locked in a classroom, assigned to do a project together, partnered up on practical magic tests and getting lost in a haunted forest together. He even had to catch the light mage when they fell out of a second story window for some inexplicable reason—which only happened because of Joonghyuk’s reflexes and not because he particularly wanted to save the mage.
And even worse, now there were rumors about him being in love with the light mage as well, with various students misinterpreting all of the incidents. And even worse than that was the fact that Kim Dokja was often witness to it and would give that damn impassive smile of his and then quietly leave them alone. After being gruffly asked why on earth he had left Joonghyuk alone with such an annoying man, Dokja told him that he wanted Joonghyuk to have time to get to know his classmate or some other bullshit excuse.
Joonghyuk was pissed. Absolutely fucking furious. Here he was trying to enjoy school life with his love, and a chance to live a fantasy that he hadn’t experienced so far in his previous lives, and it was all being ruined. But he now had an idea as to why it was being ruined, and why the light mage was being so aggressively affectionate and why Dokja was being so passive about the whole thing given that his own fiancé was being accused of being in love with someone else.
He’s payed enough attention to the many webnovels that Dokja has read in their past lives that he’s pretty damn sure that this is an isekai romance novel world.
Now all he had to do was test this theory.
Dokja had been avoiding him, so Joonghyuk had no choice but to break into Dokja’s room and corner him.
“J-Joonghyuk! What are you doing!?” Dokja gasped out, shocked to be awoken by his fiancé pinning him to the bed.
“Do the words Korea or Japan mean anything to you?” Joonghyuk gruffly questioned. He chose two countries known for having large amounts of isekai dedicated media and just hoped that Dokja had transmigrated from a world that mirrored earth as he knew it, and not some other world.
Joonghyuk’s theory was proven right when Dokja’s eyes widened in recognition. From there, they had a long conversation and Joonghyuk bluffed his way through “also being a transmigrator”, when in fact he was something much more than that. Apparently this world was a isekai BL romance novel back in Dokja’s original world. They cleared up their misunderstandings and reaffirmed their love for each other with the added bonus of Joonghyuk finding out that he was Dokja’s favorite character in the novel of this world and despite being born into the role of the spoiled jealous villain who has a bad ending, Dokja was willing to risk the chance of getting the bad ending if it meant he got to spend time with Joonghyuk.
What an endearing fool.
Fuck he loves this foolish man so much.
Just because this was the world of a story doesn’t mean that Joonghyuk is going to bend to its rules. He won’t let anyone get away with trying to damage his relationship with his fiancé, his one and only star. By the end of their five year stay at the academy, the first prince had been stripped of his crown prince title with the second prince now set to inherit the crown as well as marry the woman who had once been the first prince’s fiancé; Duke Bristol’s son had been sent to a remote province to train and perform pentinance as he had insulted not only Duke Bristol but his fiancé’s family as well; the genius of the magic tower lost his magical abilities in a freak “accident” and became a recluse; and as for the light mage, he was expelled for immoral conduct.
Joonghyuk and Dokja were enjoying champagne out on a balcony of the academy’s grand ball room, casually reminiscing about their time here, after a night of fun and celebration as they and their fellow classmates graduated from the academy.
“You know, the thing I liked most about the novel—“
“Besides me?” Joonghyuk interrupted with a self-assured grin.
“Yes besides you—“Dokja responded with false annoyance and a roll of his eyes, even though the fondness in his demeanor was clear, “was that in the epilogues after the main character ends up with one of the leads, it wasn’t all rainbows and sunshine afterwards. The epilogues mostly dealt with the real issues and implications of a commoner with no training becoming the crown princess, a Duke’s or Grand Duke’s spouse, or a member of the magic tower. Most of the endings in the epilogues actually weren’t that happy, the happiest was the magic tower ending. There was a secret ending where no one had a bad end which is where the main character chose to be with a young baron, who later was elevated to the status of count. The secret ending was a way for everyone to be happy without having their own lives, their family’s lives, or their fiancés lives ruined just because the main character got greedy.”
“Are you feeling a bit guilty over what happened to the others?” Joonghyuk inquired, even though he already knew the answer.
Dokja smiled brightly at Joonghyuk, a shining star in the dark night beyond the lit ballroom. “Not in the least.”