Kidnap

18

Hongjoong pulled Seonghwa to sit at his desk the next morning, ignoring the yelp that accompanied the action of dragging him forwards, and relishing in the trembles that wracked his body as Hongjoong loomed over him. "You have been taught to read and write yes?" Hongjoong questioned gently. Seonghwa nodded slowly, hesitant, as if releasing this information would somehow damn him later, but he just did not seem to understand how. "At least that failure of a king knows how to do something right." Seonghwa tilted his head down, nervous at exposing his neck further but unable to do anything more when he felt breath on the side of his neck. He was tense, and he had no idea what Hongjoong was getting at.

"What...do you mean?" Seonghwa dared to whisper out. Hongjoong laughed, trailing his fingers down the Heir Apparant's arm, watching as he tensed further, and he could practically see the way his jugular was pulsing blood through his body from how fast his heartrate was rushing. It was a nice sight, a welcome reminder that the precious little Prince was not nearly as straight as everyone would wish for him. Yet another way Hongjoong can convince him not to return. Oh, his plans ran wild with the little lost Prince. He had so many ideas, and yet he knew most of them would never see the light of day. 

"I mean, what moron sends his second son to the wild and not check up on them for their entire life, your highness." Seonghwa shuddered at the term of address. He did not quite like it.

"Don't..." He ordered softly. "Don't call me that," Seonghwa amended much less commanding. Hongjoong smiled darkly. Oh, the King was not getting this precious gem back for the life of him. Hongjoong had never intended to keep the precious Prince in the beginning, but he was just too perfect to not. It was too hard to avoid the desire that sat low in his stomach while around him, and even more, the Prince would be eaten alive by those sharks in the royal court. No, he was far better off here, with the Captain of Pirates. 

"Very well, pretty boy," Hongjoong responded in amusement. "The practice is quite common, to avoid a total blackout of your bloodline, and to avoid competition between the two princes. The fact that your brother wants to know about you is quite rare, actually." Hongjoong admitted. "I suspect he has no good reason to want to. But you already suspected that, didn't you," Hongjoong questioned, letting his fingers trail upwards, over the neck, and rest on the jaw. "I know that you are quite smart, and not nearly as stupid as you make others believe." Seonghwa's jaw clenched, but he bowed his head once more. 

"I did have suspicions, but what am I to do about it? I am here at your mercy, and you will have to forgive my impudence for saying, but you... well, you don't seem all that Merciful," Seonghwa was becoming more and more daring...but Hongjoong felt this was a good thing. He would turn Seonghwa into the perfect pinnacle, and then dangle him in the King's face, only to have Seonghwa turn his back on the idiot. It would be delicious. 

"I have my moments," Hongjoong said gently, letting his fingers trail once more upwards and tug lightly on the Prince's hair. "Now, back to the point, if you can read and write that makes things easier. As I am sure you can assume, not many of my crew are able to do so." 

"And what good does that do for you?" Seonghwa questioned, deciding to avoid asking who could and couldn't read. It seemed, a bit invasive, and Seonghwa was honestly not too sure how Hongjoong would react to being asked a question like that, and as such it was better avoided. 

"I need someone to organize these of course. So many scrolls, and I just have so little time, but you, my dear, you have plenty of the exact same." Hongjoong tapped his cheek lightly. "As a result, I figured you are the absolute perfect pick to go through these scrolls, and organize them. Yes?" Seonghwa sighed, but nodded. It did make sense, after all, and he just was happy to have something to bide his time, considering he was apparently not going to be thrown in the cells, or held captive in any of the other more traditional ways. 

He still did not really trust this. There was a reason Hongjoong was doing this, but if he could figure out why then maybe he would have a one up, on the other. He just was not sure if he could figure it out. Things were confusing him, and he did not know how to handle that. He was not necessarily the brightest bulb in the lot, but he knew underhanded tactics when he saw them, and he knew for certain that he was not being put to organization for any simple reason. There was something else, probably within the scrolls themselves that would hint to why Seonghwa was being placed in charge instead. 

He was not sure what the scrolls were, but it was obvious that there was a mountain of them, and they were stuffed everywhere and in every place from the rocking back and forth of the ship against the sea. Seonghwa was going to have to dig deep and pull out scrolls from everywhere. IT was going to be a long and thankless job, but a job nonetheless, so if this was Hongjoong's idea of torture, he had something else coming.

But Seonghwa knew for certain that it was not. Hongjoong had been ready to whip his own crew for speaking out against him, had not hesitated, and every bit of him had been totally serious about doing it too. As a result,  well it was obvious enough. This may not be a torture session intended to break his spirit, but Seonghwa was almost positive it was to remind him how dangerous the man was.

"SO you will do it?" 

"Yes, Sir,"