Chapter Text
The wood of the pier groaned under the boots of armored soldiers as they shoved Seungmin forward. He dug his heels into the gaps between planks, teeth clenched, but the grip on his arms was merciless, dragging him closer to the waiting ship. Salt wind stung his eyes, carrying the sound of waves breaking against the hull like a war drum.
"Father, you can't do this to me! I'm not some bottle of whine you can ship away!"
The king didn't move, not even blinking as he looked at his son. His hands remained folded behind his back and his face showed no hint of doubt or guilt. Beside him, the queen's expression was softer but worse in its uselessness.
"This is for the good of the kingdom," his father said. "Princess Amirah will bring us an alliance that secures trade and armies at our call. With you as her husband, there will be children, and with those children, the crown's survival is secured."
"I don't care about your alliances!" Seungmin's chest heaved as the crowd shifted, whispers going around the docks at the sight of their prince thrashing in his guards' hold. "I won't be paraded like a prize horse for breeding. Do you even hear yourself? You'd barter your son like a sack of grain."
The queen stepped forward, hands clasped tightly at her waist. "Seungmin, duty comes before desire. You will learn to love her, and you will thank us for giving you such a fate."
A humorless laugh tore out of him. "Love her? You think I'll learn to love the cage you've locked me in? You think a wife and a child at my feet will make me grateful for chains?" His shoulders strained against the soldiers' grip, wrists bruising under their gauntlets. "You're condemning me."
"Hold him," the king snapped, and the guards jerked him upright so hard his teeth clicked.
"You don't understand!" Seungmin lashed out with his boot, catching one guard in the shin. The soldier grunted but didn't let go. Another twisted Seungmin's arm back until his breath stuttered in pain. Still, he thrashed. "You want me to rot in someone else's bed just so you can sleep at night knowing the throne is safe. You don't care if I die there, as long as the crown lives!"
A flicker of guilt crossed the queen's face, but she didn't move closer.
"Enough," the king said, his gaze cutting like a blade. "Your tantrums shame you. A prince does not whine when duty calls. He obeys."
"Obeys?" Seungmin spat, fury burning hotter than the ache in his twisted arm. "You mean surrenders. You mean disappears into the life you chose for me because you never had the courage to live with a son who didn't fit the mold you carved."
The soldiers began to drag him up the gangplank, boots scraping wood, the ship looming like a gallows ahead. Seungmin twisted, half-stumbling, half-carried, but he still flung his words like knives.
"You're not my family! Families don't chain their sons to strangers. Families don't throw them away!"
The king turned his back first, robes shifting in the wind, the final dismissal. The queen lowered her eyes and clasped her hands tighter, as though prayer could excuse silence.
And Seungmin, dragged aboard like a criminal, knew no answer would come.
The sailors of the merchant vessel kept their distance, watching the prince's outburst with wary eyes. When Seungmin was finally released onto the deck, a few offered stiff nods or forced smiles. Their politeness rang hollow. He knew well enough that most of them despised him either for his birth, his title, or the drama he's causing with his stubbornness. A prince on board meant extra rules, extra trouble, and fewer chances to breathe freely.
Seungmin refused to give them the satisfaction of seeing him break down. He kept his chin high and ignored the sailors' sidelong glances as he was shown to a cramped cabin at the end of the corridor. The door shut behind him with a heavy thud.
The room smelled faintly of pitch and brine, the air thick with heat trapped below deck. The narrow cot was hardly wide enough for his frame, but the small chest of his belongings had been carried inside. He knelt beside it and opened the lid, brushing his hand across the leather bindings of the few books he had secretly brought with him. Seungmin would rather fall to the hands of pirates than leaving his books behind. They contained history, strategy and old maps that had been his escape long before this voyage. He stacked them neatly on the small desk, unwilling to leave them in the chest. He never went anywhere without them; to risk losing a book was to lose the only pieces of freedom he had left.
Sitting at the desk, he opened the worn cover of a history text and tried to steady his breathing. Outside, he could hear sailors shouting to one another as the ship prepared to leave port. The sound of ropes tightening and sails unfurling filled the silence of his cabin. He turned a page, but his eyes refused to focus on the words. The ink blurred, and all he could see was the cold expression of his father, the quiet resignation of his mother, and the endless weight of chains he could not escape.
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Seungmin turned another page, forcing himself to focus on the neat rows of ink. The history of the kingdoms wars stretched before him in measured words, each paragraph detailing victories and failures as well as the strategies and everything that lead to it. He tried to lose himself in them, so he could ignore the hollow pit forming in his chest.
It worked for a while until he heard sudden shouting from the deporle on deck.
At first it was faint, distant, a single shout that carried through the walls of the ship. Then it grew, multiplied, until the corridor outside his cabin shook with boots and panic. Seungmin snapped the book shut and rose quickly, heart pounding with curiosity.
He shoved open his door and stepped into chaos. Sailors rushed across the deck above, their voices cutting through the crash of waves. Orders were shouted, sails reefed in frantic hands, weapons drawn from their racks. When Seungmin climbed the stairs to the main deck, the air stank of sweat and salt, the air thick with fear.
The commander spotted him immediately, face drawn tight with fury. "Get him below!" he barked at the nearest soldier. "Hide the prince before the bastards see him!"
A hand seized Seungmin's arm, dragging him back toward the stairwell. He resisted, glaring up at the man. "Which pirates are they?" he demanded. "Tell me their flag."
The soldier cursed under his breath, yanking him along. "Not the time, Your Highness."
"It's exactly the time," Seungmin snapped. His mind was already racing, threads of information weaving themselves together. "If it's Captain Lee's crew, they favor fire first. If it's Red Jae's men, they'll try to board from the stern. Which is it?"
The soldier muttered something about Lee's crew whilst dragging him bellow deck. Seungmin immediately went over everything he knew about Captain Lee Minho and his crew. The captain was ruthless, notorious and mostly careful with his plans.
Seungmin had read everything he could about him: how he tortured nobles for ransom, how he struck fast and disappeared faster. Dangerous, yes, but not without weaknesses. A reliance on intimidation, a need for speed. Weaknesses that could be exploited.
"Wait," Seungmin hissed, pulling back hard. "My things. My books."
The soldier groaned but allowed it, dragging him to his cabin long enough for Seungmin to snatch a small bag from his chest. He shoved the most important books and cards inside, hands trembling only from urgency.
"Now move!" the soldier urged, pushing him further down the corridor. They slipped into the captain's quarters, where the man shoved aside a panel of polished wood and revealed a narrow door. Beyond it was a cramped space that was filled lots of expensive treasures like a few barrels of the most expensive whine Seungmin's family had to offer and so much jewellery.
"Go inside and don't make a sound," the soldier ordered, shoving Seungmin through the door before he could argue.
The panel clicked shut, plunging him into darkness. The air was heavy, tinged with the scent of dust and stale wood. Seungmin lowered himself to the floor, adjusting the bag of books on his lap. His heart thudded steadily, but not wildly. He was not afraid.
The sounds outside raged on for what felt like an eternity. Shouts, the clash of steel, the crack of muskets. He traced every noise, every lull, marking the rhythms of battle in his head. When silence finally began to fall, he opened one of his books by the faint sliver of light from a gap in the boards. His eyes skimmed the pages even as he could hear more shouting and people running into the cabins under him.
An hour passed. Maybe more.
Boots suddenly thudded against the captain's cabin floor. The slam of the main door reverberated through the walls, followed by the sound of drawers being wrenched open, furniture overturned. At least three voices, maybe four, all barking orders and curses.
Seungmin held himself perfectly still. Even his breaths grew shallow, careful. He had no fear of books, no fear of knowledge, but armed men who smelled blood in the water were a different matter.
The search went on, and for a moment, he believed they would miss him. A laugh rang out, mocking and cruel, and footsteps moved toward the far side of the cabin. Wood scraped. Hinges groaned and the hidden door swung open.
Light flooded into the cramped space, and Seungmin blinked against it. A figure loomed in the doorway, silhouetted by the wreckage of the captain's quarters, and a rough voice broke the silence.
"Well, what do we have here?"