They Mistook My Song, and I Kept the Prize

Jaeon kept a hidden school ticket in his shirt pocket while his hands shook over a zither and a room full of nobles waited for him to make their fear go quiet. He had learned how to shape a court mood with sound, one careful phrase at a time, and that skill made him useful in places where weaker people were ignored. It also made him a target. When his old teacher Seungwon came back into his life, Jaeon had to face the man who once knew his voice better than anyone else, and the reason they broke apart still hurt like fresh glass. The ribbon on his wrist and the seamless box in his care kept dragging the past into every new choice. He still wanted the man who left, even after he learned why l...