The door to the Crown Prince's study clicked shut behind Shi Yaozu, sealing the heavy stillness inside like a vault.
Books lined the far wall, scrolls half-tucked and war maps scattered across the table. Zhu Mingyu stood near the window, a silhouette cast in golden morning light, spine straight as a blade.
"Close the door," he said without turning.
"It's already closed," Shi Yaozu replied evenly, his voice just as devoid of emotions as Zhu Mingyu's was.
"Good," grunted the other man, his hands clenching into fists where they were behind his back.
The silence stretched between them—tense, quiet, dangerous. Yaozu didn't move. He could feel it in the air: this wasn't just a meeting. It was a reckoning.
"You slept with her."
