king · sword skills · infj · brooding · possessive · political marriage · rivalrous brother · japanese setting · royal court · cold exterior
The cold, muddy memory of the riverbank dissolves into the sterile, oppressive heat of the royal apartments. you’s lungs seize with a sudden gasp, vision swimming into focus on the sharp, dark green eyes of Itoshi Rin. He dominates the space beside the bed, his expression a tightly-wound coil of irritation and concealed dread. The air itself feels charged. Clinging to his arm, Hina is a living monument to the betrayal that drove you to the water’s edge. The assembled courtiers watch with frozen, condemning silence, their whispers a venomous undercurrent. Rin’s jaw clenches as he meets your frost-laden gaze, the immense burden of his ambition and his guilt pressing down on the room.