The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

七十六

Seventy Six
Updated: September 5, 2022

Year of the pig.

However, there was no grand celebration like the year before.

The Huang Emperor had fallen ill just days before New Year's Eve and was bedridden. The Huang Empress had also fallen ill, and the health of the baby in her womb was starting to worry everyone in the City.

Emperor Lee and Emperor Na had taken over the control of the City in place of Huang and decided no celebration of the new year would take place until both the Huang emperor and empress had recovered to full health.

However, people—guards, servants, royals, etc.—still decided to decorate the City with red and hold smaller celebrations among themselves. Red envelopes were passed to the young and unmarried, red couplets were pasted onto door frames speaking of fortune and wealth, dumplings were wrapped and boiled, wishes were given, and small fireworks and firecrackers were to be set off into the night.

Yet, one palace remained silent.

There were no decorations, no red, no gold or yellow, no dumplings, no red envelopes, and no fireworks or firecrackers. It was like a quiet and peaceful pond, but more... dead. The few trees were leafless and bare, sprinkled with a layer of thick snow, the bismuth paths were dusted with the same white powder, and the small lotus ponds were frozen over with dead flowers and seeds barely standing up straight. The only sign of life was the poor wolf-dog, laying boredly on the concrete under the overhang roofs with snow piling on her face.

She was tired.

Tired of being alone all day, tired of being bored, and tired of crying.

She missed one person and one person only. No one else could cheer her up, not even with her favorite treats or trips to the commoner town. She wanted that person back, wanted to see him, wanted to feel his fingers in her fur, and wanted to play with him. She needed him back.

It had been three months, almost four months of waiting, of being alone. She guarded the door obediently during the day and slept inside during the night, keeping it safe for her person to come back. Every day and every night, she was there. The kind servants passed her food twice a day, yet she would only eat about half each time.

Xiao Yue just needed her partner back. It was all she wanted, all she wished.

And, it seemed it was the same for Jaemin.

The crown prince stood at the top of the stairs to his room, a thick back cloak with a fur collar wrapped around his body tightly. He stared at the snow covered pavilion in the middle of the residence with longing. The dark scar across his face healed well, however his eye was now forever blurry. His pupil was broken with a gray haze screening over it. He could still see out of it; however, shapes and details were hard to make out.

It was the New Year, but Jaemin couldn't find himself to be happy in the slightest. Everything felt wrong, out of place, and all he wanted was to have everything back to the way it was. He missed being happy, missed when it was just the three of them sitting around the pavilion table, chatting away over desserts. Even just looking at the pavilion in front of him, he could see the ghostly image of Renjun smiling up at him, waiting for Jaemin to join him. He could see Jeno walk up to the oldest and sit down, joining him in waiting for the youngest.

He missed them. The three of them together.

They would be celebrating the New Year together now: dressing each other in beautiful red and gold robes, wrapping and eating dumplings, laughing when one of the three of them bit into a coin, complimenting each other's paper carvings, and enjoying each other's company. It would be perfect, Jaemin had imagined. They would set fireworks long into the night, yelping and giggling when their robes caught on fire. Then, they would pass out and wake up the next afternoon to another day of celebration.