#hanzhou

"He's acting like a spurned lover," someone says of him, their voice low behind a door they are foolish enough to think secure.

But no, Han Ying considers; he would take that kind of romantic rejection a thousand times over this...purposelessness. This hollow feeling, as though he has been carved out down to the thinnest shell of skin. This betrayal.

"More like a dog without his master," another voice mutters with an audible sneer. Han Ying allows himself the briefest of sighs. It's a shame that this subordinate won't live to see the dawn; she is almost right.

---

A sworn oath of fealty is a kind of marriage. Zhou Zishu—overcome with relief, surrounded by Tian Chuang corpses on his own doorstep—looks down at the figure who kneels before him, and knows this.

Perhaps he has always known.

☕️ #OctKofiRun24 Day 13 for @fanghuas✨

Word of Honor 山河令 | Episode 1 // Episode 28