Chapter Text
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Sanghyuk sat atop a throne of corpses. Blood staining the cuffs of his sable suit. Face tipped up to the ceiling and legs crossed at the knee.
"Who's next?" he asked the two advisors standing beside him. Two of the influential men who'd plucked him from the gutters of irrelevance and placed a stolen crown atop his head. Two of the people who had given him power.
The first traitor's body was still cooling on the throneroom's marble floor. One in a long line of rebels set to be executed today, or so he'd been informed. Threats that needed to be neutralized.
There was the sound of a scuffle... Sanghyuk dropped his gaze to the entrance. A man with pale blonde hair was being restrained between two of his mercenaries. A man Sanghyuk had grown up with, a man he used to trust more than anyone else. A man Sanghyuk knew much too well.
"We caught him and his militia force near the border, Majesty."
Rising from his throne, Sanghyuk descended the steps of the dais. Straightening his collar as the man was shoved down to kneel before him. Anger burning behind his eyes and betrayal bitter at the back of his throat.
"Lee Jaehwan, you are accused of high treason and conspiracy against the true king. For your crimes, you are sentenced to death."
Sanghyuk glared down at the man he used to consider his best friend, his closest confidant, his one true love. Overcome with hatred so strong that it threatened to suffocate him.
But Jaehwan looked back at him with barely a flicker of recognition. Like he was looking at a stranger, rather than the person he'd once sworn to protect with his life. The only discernible emotion on his face was pity.
"How do you plead, traitor?" Sanghyuk asked, gritting his teeth so hard it should have cracked a molar or two.
Jaehwan gave an exhausted sigh. He glanced at the advisors flanking Sanghyuk, and then met Sanghyuks eye a second time. Not even blinking as Sanghyuk drew the wickedly long knife from the sheath across his back.
"Oh, Hyukkie," he murmured, lashes fluttering as Sanghyuk took a step closer. So close that they were almost touching. “Sweet Hyukkie. What have they done to you?"
And then Sanghyuk plunged the knife, point-first, straight into Jaehwans chest. Piercing his unfaithful heart. Traitorous blood splattering Sanghyuks face and neck as he roughly ripped the blade free and Jaehwans body crumbled to the cold stone floor.
They were the last words Lee Jaehwan ever spoke, but they echoed in Sanghyuks mind for the rest of his life. Driving him so mad with rage and anguish and regret that, in the end, all Sanghyuk could do was scream.
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