Zhan's pov:~

"Why did it not work?!" I yelled as I paced around the room, Yibo was stable now, he was unconscious and was lying on the bed, Ziyi and his mother sat beside him.

Duke Ashvald spoke, "Adam and Mrs. Wang seem fine, then why is only Yibo affected?"

Nobody knew the answer to that question, even the priests who had performed the ceremony had no idea why it happened. Even the Wang family had no idea why it happened, no one had an answer.

Ziyi spoke, "Maybe elder can help us."

I looked at her and then at Yibo, she was right, her elder was a very old and experienced witch, maybe she had the answer to our problem.

I looked at the emperor who gave me a nod and said, "You have the permission to leave."

"I am taking him with me." No one objected, and even if anyone had objected I wouldn't have listened to them, I was never leaving Yibo behind ever again, never.

He was going to come with me wherever I go. I was not letting him leave my line of sight ever again. "Haoxuan go and prepare for our departure." Haoxuan nodded and immediately left.

Ziyi also went to pack her stuff, while I stayed with Yibo.

Yibo's mother also stayed by her son's side and once we were alone she said, "Many people have tried to break the curse Zhan." she said as she gently caressed Yibo's forehead, "but no one ever succeeded, some succumbed to the curse, some were killed by their family members, some saw their family members die in pain.

My family has tried but failed." Tears slipped from her eyes, "I saw my brother and father die because of this curse... I don't want to lose my son." she cried harder.

The way she said it with such surety made me believe that she already thought that Yibo would die, that there would be no cure for this curse, she had already accepted that her son would die. My heart ached and my resolve strengthened, I would not let my Yibo die.

I would not let him die.

Absolutely not.

~~

I carried Yibo to the carriage, and made him sit comfortably, I said farewell to my brother and the emperor, before we proceeded with our journey. Duke Ashvald stayed back and his daughter would be the one who would receive us.

Ziyi sat with me in the carriage.

Yibo was whimpering with pain and was sweating profusely, the abscesses on his body were getting worse and worse and his wounds were not healing, he was not eating or drinking anything anymore and it was scaring me more and more.

We stopped for a while to rest and I got down from the carriage to get some water and food, however soon a scream caught my attention and I ran towards the carriage only to see Yibo attacking Ziyi, he was strangling her.

I quickly grabbed him and Haoxuan came to help me as well and together we were able to get Yibo off Ziyi, Haoxuan took Ziyi away while Yibo thrashed and roared in my grip, he was struggling, grunting and screaming, trying to attack me.

"Yibo! YIBO! Calm down... Yibo please." I pleaded but he wasn't listening, I called out his name but he was far gone, it was like he was possessed, in the end I had to knock him out and tie him up, so that he did not hurt others or himself.

By the time I was done my hands were covered in blood, some mine and some Yibo's. I looked at him and didn't recognize him anymore as he was getting worse and worse.

I checked up on Ziyi also and fortunately she was fine and not angry at Yibo.

We soon resumed our journey, I sat in the carriage and sighed. I looked at Yibo and leaned my head against the window and before I knew it I fell asleep.

The next time I woke up, I heard some rustling, I sat straight and looked at Yibo who was looking at me, "Zhan... why am I tied up? Where are we?" he asked, as he looked around and was fussing with his restraints.

He looked at me with worry and I looked at him carefully to be sure that he was my Yibo.

"Zhan..." he spoke, "shouldn't we be at the academy? Where are we going?"

I felt like I was being splashed with cold water, this Yibo was from the past, back from our days in the academy, his memory was distorted, I gently went near him and untied his hands and hugged him, he hugged me back and he asked, "What happened? Where are we going and why does my chest hurt so much?"

I gently patted his back and didn't know what to say, but he asked again, "You... you are sick... so we are going to a doctor."

"A doctor?" he spoke slowly.

"Yes."

"I see, what happened to me?How can I fall sick? I have classes to attend and I have to prepare for exams, how can I fall sick like that?"

I smiled, how could forget how much of a worrywort Yibo used to be, fussing about small stuff, always so uptight and studious, in the end I said,"The doctor will tell us."

"Will I be fine?" he asked.

"Yes, you will be okay."

"I should be okay soon, we have to prepare for the exams as well... and I want to do a duel with you too."

I smiled gently, "hmm." before I shifted closer to him, he looked at me with wide eyes and a flustered look and I almost laughed, "what are you doing?" he asked as he tried to look away.

"I just want to sit close to you." I said as I wrapped my arms around him, he smiled with a blush forming on his face, he looked so adorable right now, back in the days, Yibo used to be shy and always worrying about others finding out about us, he would always scold me coming close to him in public but then he would eventually give in.

I kept my head over his shoulder and sighed, while he gently leaned towards me, "why does everything hurt?" he mumbled and my heart broke.

I spoke, "it won't hurt long... it will be alright, I will fix everything I promise."

He then looked at me and smiled, the same smile his eighteen-year-old self would give me, "I love you Zhan."

"I love you too."

It took us some time to reach the Ashvald duchy and in that time Yibo fainted many times, sometimes when he would wake up he would be violent, and sometimes he would be calm, sometimes he would revert to his eighteen-year-old self being shy and sometimes he would be his present self, apologetic, guilty and crying for being a burden.

Each time when he woke up, I wondered what version of him I would meet.

Once we reached the Ashvald duchy I ordered them to go directly to the forest to meet the tribe, Yibo was still beside me unconscious and once we reached the tribe, I quickly got down and took Yibo in my arms and carried him to the elder myself.