Zhan's pov:'

"Zhan." the tribe chief greeted me and behind her stood all the other tribesmen, looking at me, holding Yibo in my arms.

Ziyi ran to her people and hugged them before she went to elder and hugged her as well.

"Chief." I said, and glanced at Yibo, "I need your help."

The chief looked at Yibo and her expression did not look good, she stared at Yibo for a long time, her eyes were full of an emotion I did not understand, in the end she sighed and said, "Bring him to my house."

She said and turned to walk, and I followed her, I laid Yibo on the bed and let the chief do her work, she sat near his head and kept her hand over his head and closed her eyes and started to chant something.

Ziyi stood by my side looking at Yibo as well, the elder sat there for some time before she opened her eyes, her expression did not look well and I was getting more and more worried.

She got up and came to me, her expression was solemn and I asked, "Elder, his family is fine, then why is it only Yibo affected by the curse?"

She said, "Because he disobeyed the previous king and that cannot be forgiven."

I frowned and said, "But he has a new king and the new king forgives him, then why?"

"Because the previous king died as a king, if he was killed after Prince Simon became the king then his orders would have held no value, however he was a king till his last breath, he had the crown over his head till he died and that is why Yibo is still affected by the curse."

My heart sank when I heard that, my world spun and my blood ran cold, "Then.... how can I free him?"

The elder shook her head as she looked down, "Zhan, this curse is very powerful, backed by the goddess herself, it cannot just be broken... it's not an ordinary curse... even I have no idea how to break this curse.... even the spirits cannot help me.

All I can tell you is that Yibo is in too much pain and he will be in a lot of pain... the only way to free him is death."

"No!" I spoke, my voice came out weak and my eyes watered as I looked at Yibo, "he cannot die."

The elder sighed and said, "Zhan..."

"What if... what if all the orders given by the previous king are fulfilled..."

The elder sighed and before she could say anything, Yibo spoke, "That's not possible."

We all looked at him, he was awake, and was still lying on the bed, it was my Yibo, I quickly went to his side and sat beside him, "Why is it not possible?!"

Yibo looked at me with his soft gaze, "Zhan... the king ordered me to kill Azrael, to slaughter an entire tribe... he ordered me to... to... kill you, that's not possible, I cannot do that."

I closed my eyes and clenched my fists, feeling utterly helpless, suddenly I felt another hand over my hand and opened my eyes to see Yibo was holding my hand, he gave me a weak smile, but I did not like that.

Yibo's eyes held something other than love, it was more like acceptance, like he had accepted his fate, like he knew what was going to happen, like he had made peace with the fact that he wouldn't make it.

I quickly got up and faced the elder, "Elder, there has to be something... please... anything... there has to be a way to break this curse."

The elder looked dejected, "I am afraid I cannot help you Zhan." and just like that her words shattered my heart.

~~

"Zhan... don't cry." Yibo spoke as I carried him back to the carriage.

"I am not crying." I spoke, my voice came out weak and Yibo gave a weak laugh, "your eyes are wet, you are going to cry like a baby.... just like old times."

I smiled and said, "I want you to comfort me then."

Yibo looked at me and smiled, "I... don't think I'll be able to comfort you this time."

I said nothing and just walked to the carriage with my dying lover in my hands, my heart was bleeding as I walked to the carriage.

Once we reached Duke Ashvald's home, we were welcomed by his daughter Arielle, she gave us a warm welcome and arranged everything that was necessary for us, for which I was grateful.

I took Yibo straight to our room, made him lay down and took off his clothes, because it was time to clean his body, however this time when I removed his clothes, I was taken aback by how much worse his wounds had gotten.

They were bleeding and the abscesses had pus oozing out of them, I had to look away for a second before I got the towel and clean water. Yibo had passed out at this point and while I was cleaning his body, I couldn't control my tears because just by seeing the wounds I could tell that Yibo must be in so much pain.

So much pain.

And there was nothing I could do. I brought him here, far away from his home, from his family and it was all for nothing.

After I was done cleaning him, I got up and threw the water away but did not bother with dressing him up, I covered him with bedsheets and sat beside him.

My eyes were filled with tears as I looked at my lover's face, I saw Yibo's chest moving up and down, I observed his breathing and soon I fell asleep there as well.

~~

I woke up when I heard Yibo's voice, my eyes snapped open and I saw that Yibo was having a nightmare, I quickly shook him and he woke up, "ZHAN!" he yelled.

"I am here, I am here darling!" I said as I moved closer.

Yibo sat up and clutched his neck, "Zhan... I... I... how come I..." he was breathing heavily as he tried to speak.

"Calm down darling..., it's okay... I am here..."

Yibo cried and said, "Zhan... how come I am here... I cut my neck... I had died....I..."

I felt like I was struck by thunder when I heard that. Did Yibo remember his past life?