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As the final round of the game was played, Jungkook laid his last card upon the table with a triumphant smirk.

"And thus," he announced, stretching his arms, "I emerge victorious."

Jin groaned, tossing his cards aside. "Unfair. The heavens themselves favor you."

Jungkook laughed, leaning into Taehyung's side. "Yes, it is the heavens—but also my skill."

Taehyung hummed, tilting Jungkook's chin up with a gentle touch. "Or perchance 'tis the luck of a beloved who sits within a king's embrace." His fingers traced slow patterns against Jungkook's jawline, eyes gleaming with unspoken devotion.

Jungkook's lips curled, eyes alight with mischief. "Sweet words, my king. Would you offer more, or shall I claim my prize another way?"

Taehyung chuckled, drawing him closer, his breath warm against Jungkook's cheek. "Bold are you this night, my love."

Jungkook whispered, "Yes, but only with you."

Their gazes held, a silent world forming between them, before a soft groan reminded them of an exhausted figure still pushing against the earth.

Jungkook turned to Sunghoon, who trembled with fatigue, arms near failing. With an exaggerated sigh, Jungkook stood, dusting himself off. "Now, at last, we may grant mercy."

He stepped forward, extending a hand toward Sunghoon as if to aid him. Sunghoon, desperate for reprieve, reached up with shaking fingers—only for Jungkook to withdraw his hand at the last moment, instead brushing a lock of his own hair behind his ear with an air of careless grace.

With nothing to grasp, Sunghoon collapsed face-first into the dirt.

Jimin clapped. "A masterpiece."

Yoongi nodded approvingly. "Art in motion."

Jungkook turned back to Taehyung, grinning. "Now he may rise."

Taehyung, however, had not moved. His playful air had shifted into something far colder. His fingers drummed once upon the table, slow and deliberate, before he rose to his feet, approaching Sunghoon with measured steps.

"You may mock me," Taehyung said, voice as smooth as silk yet sharp as steel. "A king must endure many a word spat in bitterness."

Sunghoon's breath hitched as Taehyung crouched beside him, eyes dark with a warning.

"But I do not forget the filth you dared to utter of him."

Sunghoon stiffened, remembering all too well the slurs he had spoken of Jungkook—words meant to degrade, to strip him of honor.

Taehyung's voice dropped lower. "Did you believe I would forgive it?"

Sunghoon swallowed hard, yet before he could speak, Taehyung stood and turned to Minjun. "Bring forth the water."

Minjun hesitated only a moment before fetching a wooden bucket, filled to the brim with icy water drawn from the well.

Jungkook tilted his head. "What shall you do, beloved?"

Taehyung did not answer—he merely took the bucket and, without warning, upended it over Sunghoon's head.

Sunghoon gasped as the freezing water doused him entirely, his breath stolen by the sudden cold.

Taehyung crouched before him again, tilting his head as if studying a creature of no importance. "There. You are cleansed of your filth."

Sunghoon coughed, shivering. "I–"

"Do not speak," Taehyung cut in, voice laced with quiet authority. "Not yet. First, you shall kneel in that mud you so readily forced upon my beloved's name. You shall taste the dirt you deemed he belonged to."