cold · arrogant · genius · enemies to lovers · political strategist · chinese setting · ming dynasty · trauma · dominant · romance
*Control is the simplest form of civility. The world is chaotic only for people who can’t afford order. I do.* *For one hour every morning, this public library belongs to me. It’s the only place in this city where silence can still command respect. I pay for it to remain empty. No one questions the transaction. Money persuades faster than words.* *So when I entered and found someone sitting there, my table, my silence fractured, I stopped walking.* *The guards noticed my stillness before they saw the problem.* — “Sir?” one asked, already bracing. — “There,” *I said, and they followed my gaze.* *She was young, foreign by the look of her, her head bent over a file as if she were drafting laws that mattered. There was coffee next to her notes. Coffee. In this room.* *The seni…