Zhan's pov:~

Yibo was getting worse and worse and I could only watch him.

We came back to the capital and I took Yibo with me to my house, which was different from the Xiao residence, I didn't want anyone to see Yibo like this.

This vulnerable, at his weakest, barely trying to stay alive.

Yibo had lost a lot of weight, he was all skin and bones and every time I held his hand I felt so scared that I might break it. Yibo's  family came to visit him many times, but then Yibo forbade them because he didn't want to see him like that.

However his mother would still come to see him but even she couldn't bear to see her son like that and stopped coming.

He had become so weak and it was killing me to see him like this.

I had begged the elder again to tell me any remedy to help me, but she said she couldn't help me, I asked for help from the priests, I read books I looked at all ancient records, I travelled to ancient temples, I researched and researched, trying to find a cure.

I locked myself away with Yibo, trying my hardest to look for a cure but there was nothing that I could do.

I hit a dead end.

"Zhan." my brother spoke as he came to my home.

He looked around and saw the mess, papers, books, tools of witchcraft lying around and I was in the middle of it all.

I looked at my brother and my brother flinched when he saw me, "Zhan... what have you done to yourself?"

"I am just trying to cure him."

"By making yourself sick! You don't eat, you don't sleep, you don't drink water... Zhan you are killing yourself."

"It would be better to die brother!" I said as tears slipped from my eyes, "Brother... Yibo... I can't see him like this, he has become so thin, so weak, so vulnerable, some days he does not recognize me, some days he tries to kill me.

Some days he is back to being his present self... it's so hard to see him lose control like that... I try to feed him and he just pukes everything...

Brother... he is in so much pain! His wounds won't heal, his skin is coming off... his abscesses are forming pus, his nails are falling off... his body is... it is... rotting... and I....I can only watch as he is taking his last breath.

What is the use of these powers, what is the use of being the chosen one, when I cannot save the man I love the most! WHAT SHOULD I DO BROTHER! I CANNOT LIVE WITHOUT HIM... I WILL DIE..." I screamed before I just broke down and started to cry hysterically.

My brother was quick to catch me, he hugged me tightly and gently patted my head, "there, there, it's okay." he comforted me as I cried and cried and cried, unable to accept reality.

My brother stayed with me for a long time, before I finally stopped crying. He held me close and helped me calm down, then he got me some food and fed me, and made sure that I drank some water.

And after I was done he spoke, "Zhan... sometimes we should just let go, the more you hold onto something inevitable, the more it will hurt, it will hurt you and Yibo both. He is going to die Zhan... you are just making it way more painful for him."

I closed my eyes and cried as I let those words sink in.

~~

Yibo's pov:~

I felt like I had woken from a long nap, a long, long nap and still I felt so exhausted.

Everything hurt, everything hurt so bad. I felt like death, I felt like someone was skinning me alive.

My body felt like it was on fire, my bones felt like they were rocks, moving them hurt, my face hurt and my head felt like someone was bashing it with a hammer again and again.

While my chest felt like something very heavy was kept over it. It was the curse...I knew it.

"Yibo." I heard Zhan calling out my name, I looked at him and saw him looking at me with worry, he was looking at me as if he was trying to figure out who I was, I gave him a small smile, "Zhan."

He smiled back and said, "you are awake." I stared at him carefully observing him, "You look so tired Zhan. There are dark circles underneath your eyes, you are not eating well are you?"

He huffed and smiled, "I am doing just fine, you worry about yourself."

I tried to laugh but it hurt, these past few days were hazy, all I knew was that Zhan was trying to break the curse, he was trying too hard but deep down there was a brutal realization in my heart, I knew what was coming.

Deep within my heart I knew that truth, I knew that I didn't have long, that I had only a little time left with Zhan... that Zhan should get used to a life without me.

"Where are we?" I asked.

Zhan smiled and spoke, "this is the house I brought for ourselves, we could live here after we get married."

After we get married, something that I  knew deep in my soul would never happen, but I did not say anything, I let myself hope.

I looked at him and I was filled with worry, because what will happen to him once I leave, he would be so sad.

Zhan spoke, "What are you thinking?"

"Nothing..." I then looked at his attire and asked, "Are you going somewhere?"

"The emperor is here, I am going to see him."

"Why is he here?"

"He wants to discuss something with me."

"He could have summoned you."

"He knew that I am not leaving you alone ever again and I cannot take you to travel since it is not good for you."

"So he came here?"

"Yes."

I smiled and said, "you chose a good leader Zhan."

He smiled and gently kissed my forehead, "thanks darling."

"You should go and greet him."

He looked at me with hesitation, as if he was worried that if he left and came back then I wouldn't be here.

"Go Zhan." I said, "go do your duty."

He took a deep breath before he gave me a kiss on the forehead and finally left.

Once he was gone I was alone in the room, I looked around and observed that it was a new and unfamiliar place, I tried to get up but even simple movements were very painful for me. I grunted as I sat on the bed, I looked around the room again and I noticed that the mirror of the room was covered, I wondered why.

I also noticed that I was in minimal clothing, only wearing underwear, I tried to stand but before I could suddenly I heard a new voice in my room, "look who do we have here."

I looked up to see Roland standing there, he looked at me with disgust, his eyes roamed over my body and he made a face, "you are so disgusting... guess you deserve that for what you did to Gareth."

It took me some time to remember who Gareth was.

Roland looked at me, "that bastard Zhan, how could he even look at you! How could he even be in the same room as you, the mere sight of you makes me want to puke, You look so disgusting. But seeing you like this is so satisfying, guess karma really caught up with you."

What did he mean? How did I look?

"What do you mean?" I asked as I touched my face and felt uneven skin.

Roland laughed at me and said, "oh you wanna see how pathetic and ugly you have become?... I'll show you..." he said as he went to the mirror and removed the cloth from over it and placed it before me and what I saw made me want to puke.

My entire body was rotting. And I was all skin and bones, barely any flesh was left, it was black, filled with pus and cuts and my face was red, my skin was filled with big pimples and cuts, my hair was gone and I was nearly bald and even my head had abscesses, there were huge abscesses over my cheeks and I looked so horrible that I felt bile rising up my throat and I looked away.

I stared at my reflection for far too long, trying to convince myself it still looked human. But the thing in the mirror felt wrong in ways I couldn't explain. My skin hung loosely from my face and neck, sagging in sickly folds as though it no longer fit the shape beneath it. It looked stretched and swollen, like flesh pulled over something too large, too unnatural to belong inside a human body.

My eyes looked the worst. They were dull with exhaustion, glassy and lifeless, yet behind them lurked something cold and insect-like that I barely recognized as my own.

Even the smallest motion felt unnatural. Watching myself shift in the mirror made my stomach turn every movement carried the unsettling rhythm of something pretending to be human instead of truly being human.

. I looked hunched, wrong. Not monstrous enough to scream at immediately, but wrong enough that anyone looking too closely would feel they were looking at a corpse.

That was the horrifying part. I almost looked human. Almost.

How was Zhan cleaning me all this time, how was he able to hold me and kiss me when I looked like this, how many times did he clean me so I wouldn't stink, how did he not flinch when he saw me like this.

"Get out! Get lost!" I said as I tried to cover myself up, trying to hide myself, shame and embarrassment filling me, I looked filthy, ugly, I couldn't even look at myself I can't let anyone else look at me like this. But Roland just laughed and said, "why? are you ashamed of yourself? that's just your true face." Roland just laughed and laughed as if he thought it was amusing as if I was a joke.

"GO AWAY.... GET LOST!!! JUST LEAVE!!!" I screamed and suddenly Zhan burst into the room along with the emperor and even the emperor flinched when he saw me, he had to look away for a second I noticed that. I noticed everything.

"GO AWAY!!!" I lost control and then I heard Zhan's voice, "get out everyone!"

The emperor dragged Roland out with him and Zhan rushed to me, he hugged me but I pushed him away, "go away don't look at me Zhan... I look so horrible, so ugly,... How can you bear to come near me!" I said and looked at the mirror again but Zhan grabbed the nearest item he could which was the bowl of water and threw it at the mirror smashing it to pieces.

"Don't look there Yibo and don't call yourself horrendous."

"How can you still love me...when I am like this, so ugly!"

"You are not ugly for me you are still the most beautiful person, I did not fall in love with your body, I fell in love with your heart and soul... no matter how you look I will still love you, still care for you... still find you beautiful."

I cried harder as Zhan hugged me and comforted me, what I saw had scared me, the pain had become ten times worse and I felt like I had lost my dignity.

I felt so humiliated and utterly embarrassed.

For the first time I finally realized just how much of a burden I was to Zhan... just how much I was bothering him.

Maybe I should just die.