Chapter 33:

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The seven of them finally came together at Jaemin's dinner table. Renjun had new important information about Jisung and he wanted to share it with everyone. Chenle looked into the palace once and ran away with the information he had from the servants' gossip about Jisung.

Mark, Jaemin, Jeno, and Areum all stayed at home to prevent anyone from getting attacked by either knights or Jisung. Where was Haechan? He was walking his way everywhere.

Basically, they looked like they were gossiping but more like their lives actually depended on each of the "gossips".

"Your highness, I've checked the mirror shards and I found out that he has a kind of sickness that makes him see things that we couldn't see... and I think you should talk to him."
"Uh... Who?"

Haechan asked even if he knew who Renjun was talking about. It was because he wanted to make sure if his observations were somehow correct.

"Jisung. You have to talk to him. Only brothers can talk to-"

Renjun looked at Jeno before he continued speaking.

"... Brothers."

Renjun finished his sentence as Jeno sighed, remembering that he's also Jisung's brother. Haechan raised an eyebrow, realizing that Jeno is technically a part of his family. Both of them shared the same half-brother which really left the both of them confused.

Haechan stared at Jeno as he stared back.

"..."
"... Are we brothers?"

Jeno asks as Haechan tilts his head and proceeds to ask him another question.

"Are we not brothers?"

The two of them asked each other, not knowing the answers to each question. Renjun rolled his eyes, clearing his throat to grab their attention. He thought that both of them could definitely visit their brother in need but he preferred Haechan since Jisung had a strong emotional attachment to his father.

"Alright... I do prefer Haechan visiting Jisung since they both had a connection to royalty and that Haechan actually got to bond with his father just like how Jisung did."

Renjun shared his opinion to others as they nodded. Renjun suddenly rolled his eyes at how blunt this "meeting" was. Nobody even shared their opinions to Renjun as he felt stressed and annoyed once again.

"... You dumb rocks- not you, Mrs. Areum... Aren't you all supposed to suggest anything? Give out your own opinions? Do you all even have brains to think with?-"
"Renjun."
"What, Chenle?"
"It means we agree and that we don't have any further discussions..."

There was a long moment of silence for Renjun to completely comprehend what was happening to him and around him.

"... Oh?... You see, this is why I hate having to work with rocks like you."

Renjun told Chenle, causing Jaemin and Jeno to completely hide their faces. Chenle sighs as Mark and Haechan didn't bother to even listen to what Renjun said. Areum shakes her head with a smile, adoring everyone of them.

After that night, Haechan and Renjun made their way to the palace. They planned to visit Jisung. Surprisingly, nobody in the kingdom knew about the news that the man in the painting was finally found.

One of the many servants alarmed Jisung about the sudden visit, resulting Jisung to come down from his office and face Haechan with full disrespect.

"Well, well, well... Who do we have here?"
"I'm not here for the battle, Jisung."
"Well, what else are you here for then?"
"... I know you've been dealing with a personal problem, Jisung... I just wonder if we could fix everything in this way and not through a fight."

Haechan says, the truth always coming out of his mouth. Haechan was truly worried since he already knew that there was something not normal with Jisung especially that time he suddenly seemed bothered and he kept covering his ears like he could hear something loud. Even if Jisung hated him and even wanted to kill him, Haechan knew that this will get fixed by small talk if one of them gets interested in getting to know each other.

They're still brothers and they both had a lot of similarities with each other.

"Come in, I guess..."

Jisung surprisingly lets Haechan in, not knowing what to do with him. This moment must've had the longest awkward silence since they just sat there, not even facing each other. Jisung thought that he could probably get help from Haechan but the other side of him thought that he could kill Haechan now.

But it looked like those two sides of Jisung were fighting each other to see who's the top.

"... Do you know about our father's curse?"

'Goddamn it, Haechan.', Haechan thought to himself as he knew it was a bit inappropriate for him to ask that.

"... Yes... Of course I do... Do you?"
"I just found out that... all three of us had the same curse? Maybe not the same but... we were basically born with it."
"... How did you know about mine?"
"You have blue eyes like mine and you aren't one of the whites so do you see my point?"
"... Oh... I apologize."

Jisung says, giving Haechan a shrug.

"Do you know who your mother is?"
"... No? I haven't even met her... Do you know who she is?"
"She's someone that I know since I was a child... How did they raise you over there?"
"At the old village? You don't want to hear that side of my story."

Jisung scoffed as Haechan sighed in disappointment.

"... You know, you have two brothers and one of them is me... and I know you don't want to form something with me-"
"The only thing I want to form with you is a battle where you die."
"... I'm not trying to fight you but let me ask you this... do we have to do all of this?"

Haechan asks, a headache forming in his head. Jisung raises an eyebrow, scoffing with annoyance once again.

"What if I said we should? You know, nothing can stop me from wanting to kill you. I've been waiting to do this for years, Haechan. You can't stop me now."

Jisung says, the color of his eyes fading from blue to glowing red. Haechan was terrified with how Jisung looked like a monster. He figured out that it was because his curse grew worse and that it was also because his abilities collided with Renjun's golden aura which turned him into the creature he doesn't want to be called.

Jisung started walking his way towards him as Haechan fell on the floor, backing away from Jisung as fast as he could.

Then, he felt something cold and solid on his back only for him to realize that he freezed the whole wall behind him.

The Cold Curse | MarkHyuckWhere stories live. Discover now