Chapter Thirty-One: A Dangerous Dance

Dan-Bi didn't pull away. Instead, he met Jin-Seok's sharp gaze head-on, his lips curling into a faint smile.

"Your Highness," he said smoothly, "I never took you for a man interested in the affairs of scholars."

Jin-Seok's grip tightened slightly.

"I take interest when a scholar behaves more like a spy," he countered. "Tell me, Dan-Bi, what exactly are you looking for?"

Dan-Bi tilted his head, eyes gleaming with challenge.

"The same thing you are, perhaps."

Jin-Seok's eyes narrowed.

"And what do you think I am looking for?"

Dan-Bi leaned in, lowering his voice just enough to make the prince uneasy.

"Answers."

A charged silence settled between them.

Jin-Seok wasn't expecting this. He had come to corner Dan-Bi, to shake him into slipping up.

But instead—

Dan-Bi was meeting him in the middle.

"Then tell me," Jin-Seok said, his tone hardening. "What exactly do you think you know?"

Dan-Bi smiled, slow and deliberate.

"I know that history is written by the victors." He stepped just a little closer, their faces mere inches apart. "And I know that truth, no matter how deeply buried, always finds its way to the surface."

Jin-Seok held his gaze, searching for cracks in the scholar's calm façade.

There were none.

Dan-Bi was not afraid.

And that—

Made him dangerous.

Jin-Seok finally let go of his wrist.

"Be careful where you dig, Dan-Bi." His voice was quieter now, almost unreadable.

Dan-Bi smirked.

"Be careful what you wish to uncover, Your Highness."

With that, he turned and walked away, his pulse steady, his mind racing.

The game had begun.

And neither of them was willing to lose.