Chapter Text
The Palace was busy since the morning. Servants and staff moved in a coordinated manner. Food was already served at the table. It was meant to feed only 4 people. But the amount of food on the table could feed 20 people easily.
KAEWPANPONGs were not just royalty, but there were business tycoons as well. They had multiple businesses and their influence was everywhere.
It was like they held ‘DOUBLE POWER’, of both royalty and business background. No one could ever deny that their power and influence was unmatchable and unbeatable .
Philip Kaewpanpong and Mira Kaewpanpong moved into the dining area, towards their seats.
“Where are Thame and Jun?” Philip asked from his wife.
“They must be on their way. But king ship should start eating his breakfast. It’s already 7AM.” Mira stated.
“I will wait for them. They will be here soon.” Philip said and waited for his sons (Thame, his elder son, was an enigma & Jun , he second son was a top level Alpha).
Just after 5 minutes, Thame and Jun came inside the dining hall .
“Good morning Pa, Good Morning Ma. We apologise for our late arrival.” Thame and Jun said while keeping their heads low in respect.
“What caused the delay?” Philip questioned them.
“A few people were demanding to see the king ship in person. Royal guards tried to stop them. But when it seemed it wasn’t enough, we ourselves went there to handle the situation.” Thame answered.
“Is it something concerning?” Philip asked.
“It is a trivial matter, not important enough for the king ship to get concerned . We have handled it.” Jun answered him.
“Good thing. Now let’s all eat then.” Mira told them and they sat down on their seats.
Mira first served the king, then Thame and at last, Jun. Jun didn’t say anything, he just gave a polite bow with a smile to Mira.
Mira loved him, no doubt in that. But definitely not as much as she loved Thame. Reason? Because Jun wasn’t her biological son. He was birthed by Philip’s 2nd wife Anna. Anna passed away when Jun was only 8 due to a severe heart disease. Since then, Mira took care of Jun. She loved him and gave him everything. But whenever there was something which could be given to only one, either , she always gave it to Thame, undoubtedly. For Jun, she will buy it again, but the original thing always belonged to Thame in first place.
Mira knew that being Philip’s 1st wife, she will always have more power than his other wives and that it’s her son who will have this kingdom after his father. This always gave her a kind of satisfaction. She wasn’t cruel. No. But if it came to her son, she possessed the ability to become the worst as well.
After finishing the food, Philip and Mira walked out of the room, along with Nata, who was Philip’s right hand and managed the schedule of the royal family.
Thame and Jun bowed to them until they walked out of their sights.
“Where are you going today Jun?” Thame asked.
“The Charity Event. We are making donation there. So I’ll handle that .” Jun answered.
“Sounds fun. I have to go to field inspection today. The farm we recently bought. Seems like we are soon starting with the construction there.” Thame scoffed, a bit, annoyed that Jun didn’t had too big duty ,whereas he will be out in some farm, doing his work.
“You are smart with this works big bro. That is why. Don’t ruin my easy life with your jealousy.” Jun said to him.
“Argh. Annoying. But can’t be helped. You are buying me cookies later on Jun. At least pity me that much.” Thame said to Jun, making face of a tired man.
“Alright alright. Now let’s go.”
They both walked out of the room. Their banters were common. The whole palace knew that the brothers were really close . The world saw them as fierce young men. But when they weren’t in their sight ,they were like any common brother pair, acting all cocky with each other and making sure your brother is annoyed with you.
Jun left early because he had some other businesses to take care on his way. Thame was sitting in his office , when a servant came there, keeping his eyes low, almost afraid to utter a word.
“The Queen has asked for Prince Thame’s presence in her room”.
Thame shook his head and said “ I’ll be there in 5 .”
The servant bowed and went out hurriedly. They feared him, not because he did something strict to them. But because of his strong Enigma persona. It was radiant, strong, dominating and all. People respected him and feared him equally. When it’s already rare being an enigma, a enigma prince is more feared by the people. They knew their next king might be the strongest one (in terms of physical power mainly) this country has every got.
Thame walked towards his mother’s room. When he reached there, his mom was already waiting for him.
“Thame.”
“Yes ma. You called me?”
“Yes. Sit here first. I have to talk to you.”
Thame curiously took a seat facing her.
“Thame, you are now 24. It’s a perfect time for you to think about your life.”
“My life? About what exactly?”
“Your married life. Don’t you want to get married now? A perfect spouse for you is what we need to search for. A noble girl, omega or even a top tier alpha. But omega or girl would be better right."
Thame chuckles, dropping back comfortably in his seat. Mira raised her brows, confused with her son’s reaction.
“Ma, I know I am at an age where I should get married. But seems like you have already made plans for everything. Don’t tell me you have already found the candidates as well!!”
Mira scoffed and looked at her son. “Thame, I am not joking. You need to consider this seriously. After all , you are the next king of this state. You need to be serious. People will look at everything you do and everything you don’t .”
Thane saw his mother’s mood. She was dead serious about his marriage. He straightened his posture a bit before speaking “Ma, I have no problem in getting married. But I need to know if the person you and pa choose for me is someone I can understand or not, if they can understand me or not. I can’t just get married like nothing, to just anyone. First we both need to understand each other , before thinking about anything further.”
Mira heard her son completely before speaking “ I know Thame. I am not asking you to get married to just anyone. But you already know that whoever we choose for you must be competent for you.”
Thame fell silent for a moment. He knew his mother . Her thoughts and her wishes. “Ma, it’s not just about status. Marriage is a life long thing. What if our status matches but out hearts don’t ?”
Mira was now frowning. She looked like she was just one sentence away from screaming at him and snatch all his hairs from his head.
Thame felt her eyes. He knew it’s better to fix this situation rather than saying more .
“Okay ma. So here is a simple solution. If you find someone for me, I will meet them. If everything goes well, we can get married. If not, you can look for another one, okay? And if I ever find someone as well, I will tell you , okay now?”
This made Mira’s shoulders relax a bit and her frown was now gone. “Remember, if you find someone yourself, they must be competent to join the royal family.”
Thame rolled his eyes, but not visibly enough for Mira to catch . He got up from his seat and said “ Noted that. Now I have to leave. I need to go on the farm for business deals.”
“ Okay son. But don’t forget what we discussed today, okay?”
“Yes Ma.” And then , Thame walked out of her room. He knew this topic wasn’t dying here ,not just yet. His mother was a woman of pride. She won’t accept anything less than her son’s marriage with a girl, or omega or even a top tier alpha belonging to noble class.
But this wasn’t any time to think about all of this. He had a job to do. He came back to his room. The servants prepared bath for him and clothes he will wear after that. After getting ready, he went outside where Nata was standing near the car.
“The car is ready sir. We shall leave now.” Nata said to him.
“Alright.” Thame sat in the backseat with his iPad, scrolling through the documents for today’s deal.
But things didn’t go as smoothly as expected. Their 2 hour long drive was suddenly interrupted with heavy rainfall . The weather was good when they started their journey. But now, it seemed so bitter.
“Shall we go back? The weather isn’t suitable to continue the journey, especially when we had work outside on a farm.” Thame asked Nata.
Nata answered “Sir, we can’t even go back, some places are experiencing cloud bursts and they are in the route we have to use of we go back now. It’s dangerous.”
“You are right, but we can’t be stuck here as well. There is nothing around here. No signal. No communication.” Thame said, almost frustrated.
Their driver , who was sitting quietly, asked Thame in low tone“May I say something sir?"
Thame looked at him. “Say.”
The driver spoke “There is a neighbourhood nearby. If we drive there slowly, we can ask the locals for help."
But Nata spoke in between “That is dangerous. If someone gets the news that the prince is out somewhere , it’s concerning.”
The driver responded to his question “ sir, you and me will find a safe place first, and then , The prince can come out of the car. It will he better that way.”
Nata and Thame exchanged glances, and finally Thame spoke “Sounds reliable. After all , we can’t be stuck here in this car surrounded by heavy rain.”
The driver slowly drove through the rain, towards the habituated area. He moved carefully, him and Nata observing the area and houses to see which one feels safer for the heir .
Finally, Nata pointed at one house. The driver slowed down the car and Nata , along with the driver , went towards that house. After a few ringing of bell, a man, around his late 40s came outside.
“Yes?” The man asked.
“We are very sorry to disturb you sir, but can we get a shelter till the rain stops? We are stuck here and can’t proceed to go further.” Nata requested him.
The man observed both of them. Both wore pretty disciplined clothes, not like any commoner or even like any office going person. Their whole aura was unusual for him. After looking for a few seconds, that man’s eyes fell on Nata’s outer coat, which had a badge. He recognised that. It belonged to the high officials who served the royalties.
“Are you from the palace? That badge you are wearing, it belongs the high officials of palace if I am correct.” He stated.
Nata and the driver exchanged glances while that man stood silently in front of them.
“We are from the palace. You aren’t wrong. We were going to a place for some work. But now, due to the rain, we can’t continue our journey sir. So please if you can help us?” The driver requested the man.
After sometime of thinking ,the man agreed . “You can come inside. And don’t worry about anything. Please come and feel comfortable here.”
Nata smiled at that man and said, “We are very thankful. Let me get our sir here. He is still in the car.” And then he went to escort Thame.
When Thame came near the door, the house owner looked at him with wide eyes. “Prince? Prince Thame?” He was shocked and surprised to see the heir in his house. The enigma’s energy was radiant and powerful, which made the man a little afraid as well.
“I am really sorry for causing trouble to you and very grateful that you allowed us to take rest here .” Thame thanked him. “But may I have know you name sir?”
The man stood even straighter. “I am Suparat Sangaworawong. You can call me Prin , your highness”
“Mr Prin, thank you for letting us stay here for now.”
The man was still in shock. But Thame’s polite behaviour made him feel a little relaxed . Of course it’s not common to have any prince at you house on some random Wednesday.
“Prince Thame, I will make some tea for you . Please take a seat here.” Thame went towards the couch.
He ordered his driver to stay around the house along with the few security guards who were in another car, now sitting in the lobby of the house. Nata went with Prin in the kitchen. He needed to make sure that the man won’t do anything wrong with the tea. After all, it was for the heir.
While Thame was sitting on the sofa , scrolling through his phone, a man came downstairs. Thame’s eyes caught him. A fairly tall guy, with ruffled hair, wearing casual tee and trouser was coming downstairs while rubbing his eyes. Thame’s eyes tracked him all the time. And that guy, when stopped rubbing his eyes, suddenly paused when he saw some stranger in his house. But before he could speak, his eyes met Thame’s .
“Prince?” He exclaimed, almost shouted.
Hearing that voice, Prin and Nata came there . Nata was already alerted. But Prin went to this sleepy guy and faced the Prince and said “I apologise Prince. This is my son, Po Supha.” Prin silently instructed Po to bow to the heir. The still sleepy Po was confused as hell. But never mind, he bowed to Thame anyways.
“Pa, why is the prince here, in our house? Or are we at the palace?” Po asked his father.
"The prince was on his way to work. But the heavy rainfall caused trouble. So we took help from your father, just till the rain stops.” Nata answered Po.
Po now understood the situation a bit. But before he could think much, his father spoke “Po, look after the prince. See if he is feeling comfortable or not. Make sure of that okay? I will come out in a bit with some tea.” And with that, Prin and Nata again went in the kitchen.
Now Po and Thame were left with each other.
“It must have been inconvenient for you all to have me here, all of a sudden.” Thame finally broke the silence between them.
“No—I—it’s not inconvenient your highness . Actually, it must be inconvenient for you rather than us. You aren’t used to such households. I don’t know if we can serve you properly or not.” Po said to him, very politely, as he should while talking with a royalty.
“Do not say that. I am very pleased that you allowed us to be here for a while.”
Just in time , Prin came out with tea and some snacks.
Nata silently signalled to Thame that everything is okay to eat while Prin asked Po to carry the tea to the guards outside.
Thame took few sips of tea while sitting there. A normal and formal conversation happened between them, just to keep things from getting awkward. Thame’s eyes occasionally lingered to Po. Not for any reason, but maybe , he wanted to say something to him. After almost an hour, the driver came there and said “Sir, the rain has slowed down. We can continue now.” Thame nodded to him and got up.
“I again want to thank you both for this.”
“Please don’t say that prince. We are honoured to have you here. If we made any mistakes , please forgive us.” Prin said.
“Absolutely not. I felt very pleased here.”
Thame started to walk with Nata behind him , followed by Prin and Po.
After reaching the car, he once turned back, and for a second, he looked at Po, again, as if wanting to say something. But he didn’t . He went inside the car and Nata thanked the two again before going.
"I still can’t believe Khun Thame was here just a moment ago.” Prin said to Po.
“Yeah, it was so sudden. I never really expected this actually, not in any situation.” Po answered with the same tone.
"Also, let’s not tell anyone about this. Before leaving Khun Nata said not to discuss about this to anyone.”
Po nodded to his father, agreeing to this. He knew it of course. Because you can’t go around saying that the heir of this state was at your house randomly.
Meanwhile in the car, Thame was silently looking out of the window, thinking-
*He didn’t has any scent??All the time I was there,I never sensed his scent even for once. Or maybe he used scene inhibitor patches? But it’s still strange. Enigmas can smell the scent even if someone is using those patches, even the slightest smell. No matter who, alpha, beta or omega. Even another Enigma.But he had none?*
They drove all the way to the palace. Nata had already informed the king about the cancellation of meeting for today due to heavy rainfall. It was now set for the next week.
Thame had just returned to his room when a servant came there.
“Greetings to the Prince. Prince Jun wants to meet your highness.”
Thame allowed the servant to escort Jun to his room.
"Heard you couldn’t reach the farm due to rain?”
“Yeah, it was raining heavily for a while. Wasn’t possible to go there. How about you Jun? The event went well right?”
“Yeah, we made the biggest donation of the evening. Our event was indoors so the rain caused no problem.”
Thame nodded to him in appreciation. They had a little conversation before Jun finally went to his room and Thame was now left alone .
He padded towards his bed and lied there, one hand on his belly while other behind his head. He closed his eyes but opened it just after a moment. Because he saw a person. Po. The guy from earlier.
“Now why is he coming in to my senses? Am I that concerned about him not having a scent?”
He scoffed, again closed his eyes. But after 2 minutes, his eyes were open again.
“No , this isn’t letting me sleep . But what do I do? What am I supposed to even do? It’s weird.”
He just met Po once, that too for a very brief time. But his senses kept drifting back to the house , to the sleepy guy who was rubbing his eyes. Thame, if wanted, could easily get Po’s contact and every possible information. But no, he didn’t do any of that. At least not now.
For the time being , he justified this as “I am just thinking about him because it’s rare for me not to track someone’s scent. Yes, that’s the reason. Nothing more.”
Eventually, after a long time of thinking and thinking again about the same incident, he somehow managed to sleep that night.
But who knows, what will happen to them the next, when Thame will meet Po again , accidentally, for some reason and this time, they will actually have a proper conversation.