*Location: Marble Courtyard behind the east library tower — late afternoon.*
Saraphaena Frost walked with slow, deliberate steps, her heels tapping against the marble floor of the quiet corridor. Each step echoed, sharp and elegant, like a frostbite kiss across warm skin. Her breath was calm, but her mind was still buzzing from the fiery encounter with Rena Amberheart. The nerve of that flame-haired little witch...
"Wife," Saraphaena whispered under her breath, scoffing. "As if marriage could tame a creature like him."
She rounded a corner, her silver hair catching the late afternoon sun like woven mercury—and stopped dead in her tracks.
There he was.
Leaning casually against a stone pillar like sin made flesh.
**Jin Rotschy.**
His arms were folded, his black-gloved fingers drumming idly against his leather-clad bicep. That wicked smile was already curling his lips, eyes glowing red like garnets dipped in moonlight. His inky hair fell across one eye, and the subtle glint of amusement danced in the uncovered one. His very presence was like a whispered promise of trouble.
"Well, well," Jin said, pushing off the pillar. His voice was soft, casual—but beneath it was a teasing lilt, laced with blades. "Miss Frost, is it my imagination, or were you and my lovely wife about to rip each other's hair out? Tell me, was that over me? Because if so…"
He tilted his head. "I'm flattered. Really."
Saraphena didn't flinch, but the inside of her throat burned. She kept her smile practiced—cool, composed, with the barest twist of sarcasm.
"You flatter yourself, Jin," she said, voice like velvet wrapped around steel. "I don't fight over men. I take what I want."
"Mm," he hummed, pretending to consider. "So that means you *want* me?"
He stepped closer. "Because if memory serves, you did shake my hand just a bit too long at the corridor . Was that a test run?"
"You're insufferable."
"But irresistibly so," he added with a wink.
Saraphena laughed once, sharp and beautiful. "You're dangerous. Not because you're powerful—though you are—but because you play games with hearts like you're still bored at a dinner table."
"And you?" Jin asked, his voice dipping slightly as he walked a circle around her. "You talk like someone who thinks she's immune. But I know your type, Saraphena Frost. You like control. You like being the one who makes others melt. But you've never had someone melt you, have you?"
That hit harder than she expected. Just slightly.
Her face didn't change, but her spine stiffened.
"Don't confuse desire with conquest, Jin," she replied. "I don't melt. I shatter."
He chuckled. "How poetic. But I wonder... If I really wanted to, if I whispered the right words in your ear, leaned in close enough to make your skin remember me—would you shatter then, too? Or just *melt* into something I could drink from?"
Saraphena's jaw tightened for a second. His words had rhythm. Too intentional to be playful. Too dangerous to ignore.
"Careful," she said smoothly. "You're talking to a Frost. We don't melt. We freeze."
Jin leaned in, his breath brushing the shell of her ear.
"And yet," he murmured, "here you are, flushed."
She stepped back, fast but graceful. "What do you want, Jin?"
He straightened, red eyes glittering. "To observe. To be amused. And maybe to remind you... that I'm not on *anyone's* side. Not Rina's, not yours. The whole noble-family pissing contest?"
He shrugged. "Not interested."
Saraphena narrowed her eyes. "So why stand there watching like some smug god?"
"Because it's entertaining," he said simply. "And because I wanted to see how long you'd last before your pride snapped."
She looked at him hard, her pride wounded but her instincts reeling. "And?"
"You lasted longer than I thought," he admitted, "but not long enough to surprise me."
Saraphena stepped closer, just enough that their shoes nearly touched. "You think you're above us? Above all this?"
"I *am* above this," he replied coolly. "You and Rina are playing chess. I already ate the board."
The words echoed between them like thunder between two mountains.
And for a brief moment, Saraphena's mind conjured something terrifying: a future where she did lose to Rina—not in magic, not in strength, but in... this. In love. In desire. In Jin.
She turned to leave—but paused, then tossed him one last glance over her shoulder.
"Be careful, Jin. Even predators can bleed."
He smiled, hands in his pockets. "I don't bleed, Miss Frost. I make others *crave* to."
And with that, the winter girl disappeared down the corridor, her scent like frost and lavender lingering.
Jin stood alone again. That sly grin never faded.
Then in a cold, whispering voice
*"During the day, you're the type who would easily open your legs for me"*
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Heat: To clarify, Jin explained to Sarafina indirectly, don't involve me in your and Rena's problems, and I don't care about a loser like you.