𝐋𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐌 || 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐇𝐘𝐔𝐂𝐊

[𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐲-𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞]

Chapter 35: The suffering king of Helianthus

"Again!" Sicheng shouted, swatting the blood off his ribbon weapons. "Stop holding back, Mark" he said and whipped the ribbons making a crack echo around the training room.

"Alright, alright" Mark blinked a couple of times and shook his head to get rid of the sweat that was dripping on his forehead. He took a deep breath before charging towards his cousin with his sword facing the other way, not towards Sicheng.

His cousin furrowed his eyebrows and kicked Mark back, twirling his ribbon around before throwing it to the handle of Mark's sword, wrapping the handle tight and getting it from him. "Focus Mark!" he said and threw the weapon back to the struggling male.

Mark was honestly having a hard time these days, he couldn't do anything good due to the spell that was messing with his mind, it was overlapping his normal mindsets, corrupting it one by one and slowly making him act like a disabled person in front of many. He couldn't fight properly nor could he walk in a straight line, this was too much for him.

"I am! I'm trying Sicheng! Now shut up!" he shouted back and threw his sword to Sicheng's ribbons. Luckily, it hit both of them and pinned them to the wall. He let out a shout and walked away from his cousin, gripping his hair in frustration.

Sicheng noticed his actions and went over to him, grabbing a wet towel in the process. "Hey" he whispered as he knelt down and wiped the sweat off of Mark's forehead, he watched how Mark was trying not to cry in front of him, he looked like he didn't want to act weak in front of Sicheng.

"It's okay, Mark. Let it out" He told him before engulfing him into a comfortable hug.

Mark was under a spell, but even if he was, he understood who he needed to look after: his cousin and his family, of course. Mark also needed to love Koeun since it was part of his hex...while the rest of the world was nothing but a threat.

"H-hyung...I d-don't know what is happening to me. Why can't I be like before? What happened to me?" He shuddered through the texts but still managed to let Sicheng understand his pain, he cried and sniffled while covering his eyes with his palms.

"Don't be like that, Mark. You are just struggling, alright? There are also times when-"

"No! This is different! I've been experience all these fucking crap for a month now and nothing is helping me feel better!" He cried out loud, he started punching the side of his head but Sicheng forcefully stopped him by holding his hands.

"Mark, stop! Listen to me" he cupped the boy's cheeks and gazed at the black with purple swirls of magic inside Mark's eyes. He gulped and said, "you will be fine! I've faced harder can't you tell? Your struggle has only been a month, I experienced a year or even more than that! Trying to impress everyone around and trying to hear just one compliment from someone telling me that I was doing great! It took almost my blood, sweat and tears to at least gain a single smile from my trainers and an applaud from my fellow swordsman!" He gritted his teeth in annoyance as Mark stopped crying.

"What makes you think dueling with your cousin while experiencing a hex wrapped around your mind is difficult?! I had to-"

"What do you mean...a hex...wrapped around my mind?" Mark interrupted, his voice was hoarse, he tilted his head in confusion.

Sicheng slipped in his words.

He shouldn't have said that.

That was supposed to be a secret. He should not tell Mark that he is the only family member who is under intense mind control.