Cursed | JJK | ✓

The Tale of Her Past

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"Time passed fast. The pair grew closer and one day, the prince proposed marriage."

The man paused for his words to set in. Seeing the raptly attentive look on his audience, he grinned before he continued.

"The fae wasn't all that keen on having a human for their queen, however, the royal wedding was conducted in pomp and glory and they soon became the king and queen of Adaira."

The man sighed wistfully, a faraway look seeping into his eyes as he stared off into the distance.

"It seemed as if life was perfect for them. The king and the queen cared for each other greatly. The kingdom was prospering. Adaira was at its highest point under their rule. Soon the fae warmed up to their human queen. Everything had been going so well. Until one day--"

He paused closing his eyes as if he were bracing himself to say something difficult. Eventually, he said.

"One day, the queen suddenly declared that she didn't love the king anymore and left the palace."

"What?" Rea who had been quiet up until that point opened her mouth, her eyebrows furrowed. "Why did she leave the king, I mean," she paused upon meeting his eyes, "why did I leave him if liked him so much?"

"Now that's a relevant question, isn't it?" The man mused. Eyes straying somewhere far away, he pondered.  "Human minds are strange... Very complicated. Unpredictable yet...predictable."

He gave her a small smile as he noticed the confusion on her face. "There was a spell on the throne and there was a prophecy, both the fae king had no knowledge of."

"A spell?" Rea questioned, suddenly remembering about her journey to the past with Jimin, the Angel of Time. Andrea and that mystery person had been talking about some spell when they visited.

"Yes, the spell prevented anyone other than their own from attaining the throne. Through centuries, the legend of the spell faded and got lost. They didn't know about it. But as time passed, the human queen began to feel its effects and realized that her time was ticking. Here's where the prophecy came into play."

Lowering his voice to a low rumble, he recited. 

"You will choose him. The path that you choose will lead to your demise and so will Adaira fall. You cannot stop it."

Rea gasped. "I've heard that before." The memory of Andrea crying to Yoonki flashed through her mind.

"Yoonki! The prophecy-- It's coming true! I have to save Adaira. I have to..."

The man grinned encouragingly as he watched her fit the puzzle pieces together. "Let's continue, shall we?"

"The fae king couldn't let her go. He was heartbroken. Desperately, he searched for her far and wide but he was too late." He breathed out a heavy sigh, " By the time he reached her, Andrea had already perished as per the prophecy."

Something tugged at Rea's heart and she winced. Though she was only hearing it as a story, sadness so strong and deep slowly took over her. The man moved on.

"The king blamed himself when he learned the cause of it. He believed that it was his fault that she had died. He was grief-stricken and hurt. The world just didn't look the same to him again. He left his kingdom and wandered out, his mind going frenzy with guilt and that's how he came across a kind, helping soul."

Rea leaned forward in her seat, eager to know what happened next.

"The kind soul, upon seeing his misery, offered to help him. He agreed to let the king meet Andrea in his next life because he had powers so incredible that he could make it happen. 

"The king was overjoyed at the news. But..." he paused to meet her eyes. "he failed to realize that he had stepped on a trap. For the kind soul wasn't a kind one...he was evil. He wanted a price that the king couldn't pay."

"What was the price?" She asked.

"I'm not sure," he shrugged, "but I'm guessing that it must be something that was most valuable to him."

He resumed the tale. 

"And so, the evil soul cursed him." His eyes hardened as he went on, "The king changed as the curse took over. His guilt turned to rage and his self-blame turned to hatred. He drove Adaira to ruins. He hungrily sucked the happiness out of his people and he destroyed the last of the Adairan fae race, save for himself and legend has it that he now waits for his lover for he lusts for her blood."

The man finished his tale theatrically with a dramatic sweep of his arms and he turned to stare into Rea's quivering eyes. "I'm afraid he's already found her."

The color drained from her face and Rea began to shake. 

"It's too cruel, isn't it? Something that began as a simple affection between a fae and human turned out into something that wiped of the entire race of Adairan fae except for the last one standing and he... is cursed."

Her whole being began to tremble at his words and the man let out a mildly impatient sigh, "Come on, put the pieces together."

Rea's trembling began to intensify as the meaning of his tale began to sink in. Her voice hardly audible as she spoke in a daze, "No..."

He smiled. "That's right."

"No," Rea shook her head, shivering. "It's not..." She looked to him praying for the heavens that she was wrong. Praying for him to tell her that she was wrong as she said her next words, "Because that'll mean..."

She gulped. "It's Jungkook."

 Lifting his hand, the man gave her a pat on her cheek. "There you go."

Tears welled up in her eyes as it began to dawn on her and the searing hot pain of betrayal plunged through her heart. It was him. It was him all along... and she-

trusted him.

The man who sat to her side didn't console her, instead, he rummaged about his pockets as he muttered under his breath, "Now, you've been a really good listener. I should probably reward you for it."

Rea couldn't understand what was going on. She just couldn't process anything anymore but when the man pressed a cold metal against her palm and vanished, she understood what he meant.

For there on her hand, sat dagger she had seen before and on its hilt, shone the etched words:

Magis Aeternum.

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