[A/N; mention of child abuse and death]
Once upon a time somewhere in the Monarchy, there is a cute male who seems to never get a break lately.
His name- Ok Jiwon. He is a male Ven, which is much to the disappointment of a few 'vital' people. So it is no surprise he has been having a lot of bad times recently. Making him feel very sad and easily irritated.
Many things seems to keep him on edge. First, his brother left for a 'business' trip but suddenly disappeared off the radar. No fore warning whatsoever. Only a cryptic message in Jiwon's mail inbox saying...
'Contracted a weird 'disease'. Don't know when I'll be back. Take care of yourself. Saranghae baby
Bye'
To say the least, Jiwon felt very anxious and distressed as he asked his clan, the RoyalVipers to help him search for his brother. With having to search for his only brother, he is constantly being stressed and threatened by his 'parents' whom he(Jiwon) had disowned since before the passing of his stepmother.
Shocking?
Well not if said 'parents' are much better off not having offsprings in the first place.
All the reminiscing made him missed his stepmother. She and his older brother were the only ones who really loved him.
Ok JiWon was once called He Jiwon. His birth 'mother' is a male Ven who was the outside lover of the brainless bastard he calls a father(more like a sperm donour). Jiwon was only seen as a way of climbing to a higher social status by his 'birther'(male mother).
It has always been about the money and status. The elder Ven didn't care about him and he made sure he voiced it loud and clear, way~ before a 3 star-years old baby Jiwon knew the difference between love and hate. At 5 star-years, Jiwon was horribly beaten by his Ven birther then dragged by said Ven to his Sen father's office to make a huge scene spewing out awarding winning fictional narratives that will have even the dead believing. And the dastardly brainless idiot that fathered both his beloved older brother and himself, felt 'guilty' for leaving his lover to suffer such 'tribulations' outside. That same evening, Jiwon was thrown in the care of nannies and introduced to a whole new different world.
Although he had a comfortable short lived life before meeting his birth 'breeder'(father), everything felt more different and more lavish than what poor little Jiwon was usually used to. He became more isolated and forgotten. Well, that is unless his carrier wants to drag him into another acting scene. A week after moving into the He mansion, he meets his step-brother. To say he was frightened when his birth breeder(father) had introduced his stepmother and hyung, was a big fat understatement. His carrier had filled his head with too many scary stories of how wicked stepmother and step-brother are, so he(JW) has to grow up strong and overtake them to takeover the entire 'He' family.
Jiwon did grow up strong and ended up as the heir of the family. But still like nothing his carrier had exepected or wished for.
His stepmother, Lady Ok and hyung Ok JinHo had rather secretly doted on him and gave him the best resources to grow up strong. 'Secretly' because when his stepmother wanted to adopt him(JW), his carrier had brought his award winning acting into light again and made a public scene. Lady Ok was an architect from four different prominent noble families and didn't want to compromise her status so she dropped the thoughts of adopting little JiWon.
Lady Ok knew her biggest mistake was to marry Lu Gui. She had thought since they were a rare 68% match at that time, they will have a more stable and happy family. But things turned south just a month into their marriage. Lu Gui did not want her to work and just be a stay at home wife. Which she tried to do but they finally came to a conclusion that it won't work as she is the sole heiress of four prominent families. With this reason, Sen Lu Gui wanted her to relinquish her position as the heiress of her four family to him, which was absolutely impossible.
It took over ten star-years before JinHo was conceived. Through their star-years of marriage, Lady Ok knew her Sen was very unfaithful. A part of her heart ache whenever he was unfaithful. This was because they had bonded their soul together. Although she later regretted doing so, this was done back then to help raise their chances of having children. At the end, after twenty-seven star-years of unpleasant marital status, she died in the operating room after she decided to forcefully remove the mate bond underneath her glands. Although she was a Grade SS Ven, her glands that are connected to her brain and heart, exploded before it could be cut with laser.
JinHo and JiWon were crushed by the sudden death of their mother. Their 'breeder' got a heart attack but survived since he never allowed Lady Ok to fully mark him. Which was quite unfortunate.
Unlike his seventeen star-years old hyung who was born a gama and already began to take responsibility of all of their mother's assets, Jiwon was yet to know what his sub-gender is. But his carrier was very sure he would be a Sen.
Ok Jiwon never knew he could ever feel so much satisfaction at the big disappointment of his carrier when he(JW) not only turned out to be a Ven (something Jiwon kept a secret for a whole star-year) but was also legally adopted by his step-brother right after. JinHo-hyung legally adopted Jiwon under their late mother's name and also made him the heir of the 'He' family much to everyone's surprise. But Jiwon knew his hyung was just being too lazy to handle four other elite families from their late eomma's side.
What others didn't know was that he(JW) was actually the heir to two families. The 'He' family(their breeder's family) and the noble aristocrat Ma-On family(from his late eomma's side). His brother had control of the other three families. JinHo manages all five families as he(JW) trains to fully take over in the near future.
Since JinHo disappeared, Jiwon's clan -the RoyalVipers have been of great help to him with coping with life without his hyung protectively guiding him.
But Jiwon missed his hyung teaching him new and exciting tactics. Both in life and combat. He especially misses the time they spend in their secret lab, concocting upgraded versions of different ancient historical poisons. Fortunately his hyung as usual always plans ahead and had the PurpleMoney clan, which JinHo-hyung is the second in command and accountant of, helping him(JW) whenever needed. Be it in the dark and sometimes openingly.
Aside that, Jiwon is still in a war of legal properties with his birth 'parents'. More like he is the legal head of the He family and his parents wants to find a way to take the power back since his elder brother disappeared.
With the help of his friends he finds the whereabouts of his hyung but received a call just then that finally settled his heart.
"Annyeong Baby Badger. Hyung is sorry for suddenly disappearing on you. Hyung didn't mean to worry you, my Honey Ji. Hyung had to leave because I found out I'm pregnant and my baby was going to be used against us if I stayed. Don't worry about Lu Gui and his lover. You can get rid of them if they bother you again. I've asked for help from the RogueGentlemen clan. They will help clean up the aftermath. Don't worry about hyung. Hyung will be fine. I will come back after the baby is born and also stable the other families. Saranghae my baby-badger. Hyung is very sorry my little Honey Ji"
Jiwon had cried in relief and anger hearing his older brother's voice again after nearly seven moon-months. He first angrily scolds the older, who tacitly calms and soothes him.
They chatted for a while before reluctantly ending the call after promising to keep in touch.
Sen Min Hyunjae and Sen Ming ChanQi who were passing by the back garden of the RoyalVipers clan, heard the aggressive sniffs and hics.
They both exchanged a look before going to see who it was. Seeing the young Ven sobbing, Hyunjae silently takes out the embroidered silk handkerchief from ChanQi's front pocket and offered it to the Ven.
"Thank you" Jiwon sniffs, receiving the handkerchief.
"Anytime" Hyunjae nods
After a while of silence, the two Sens escorted the now calmed Ven back to the entrance of the main door before bidding their goodbye.
*~~~~~~*
*In the Eastern Hemospshire of the Unirse*
Ok JinHo ends the call with his baby brother before letting out the painful groan he had been holding back.
He could feel his internal organs literally shifting as it made it easier for his unborn baby to turn into position. He was supposed to have two more moon-months before his delivery day and his body his preparing a safer position so his child could come out easily.
But he knows the contractions he was feeling were not just repositioning pains, but rather labour contractions.
His baby was more than ready to come out.
"Just like that bastard of your appa, you too want to come out early. And on his birthday too"
He felt another painful contraction grip his abdomen.
"I swear I will kill him if you come out looking anything like his ugly ass" he mock glares at his bulged out belly
A kick on the side of his belly as if in protest.
"..."
"I swear I will kill that bastard!!!"