The Untouchable Prince | A Norenmin FanFiction

序幕

Prologue
Updated: November 11, 2019
Edited: August 23, 2021

Author's Note
From here on, bolded words in the story's dialogue, the speaker is speaking in Chinese. Normal unbolded words, Korean.
The clothes worn by the characters will be the Chinese "hanfu". Though this type of clothing is of Chinese origin, I will still be using it for the Korean members/characters, as the "hanfu", in my opinion, looks a bit nicer than the Korean hanbok.

Ten years earlier...

The small Chinese boy was a mess. His robes were completely ripped down the center as if forcefully pulled, revealing his bare chest and collarbone littered with red and purple markings. His pants were stretched and ripped, making it difficult to stay on his small lower half. The boy was missing a sock, and the ribbon that tied half of his long hair into a loose ponytail had long come out, causing his hair to be disheveled and unorganized.

Tears were streaming down the boy's face as he remembered that terrible person from the night before. He gripped the silk blanket tightly around his body as he watched his parents talk to the doctor sitting next to them.

"Sec-" the doctor received a glare from the two royals beside him, so he corrected himself, "Prince Renjun, can I have your hand?" His voice was soft and calming. His face was round, and he had soft features, making him look younger than he probably was. The only thing that made the doctor look old was the small, thin goatee on his round chin.

Renjun reached his small shaking hand to the doctor's larger ones, only to pull back it quickly even before contact.

"Renjun, the doctor can't help you if you don't give him your hand." Empress Chen Shufen's voice was soft with a hint of worry.

"Mother, I'm scared." The young prince's voice was shaky as well as the rest of him. He couldn't give his hand to the doctor sitting in front of him. He tried all he could, but his body refused to move any closer.

The doctor frowned slightly, retrieving his hand. "Yawei, bring over the valerian root." While the doctor's disciple looked for the desired herb, he turned to the emperor and empress and brought his hands in front of him, left over right, and lowered his head in a bow.

"Delan, there's no need to do that. Come, sit up." The emperor leaned forward slightly to bring his old friend up from the bow.

"Doctor Xu, what's the matter?" Renjun's mother looked at the doctor, knowing something's wrong.

"I should've known earlier when Your Majesties had told me that the prince refused physical contact."

"What do you mean?"

"Your Majesties' son has developed a rare phobia, haphephobia to be specific, fear of touch. I don't think it'll be easy to treat since the Young Highness is reacting long before contact. I will attempt to help him, but I am not so sure if I can do much except reduce some of the symptoms. The removal or attempt of removal of haphephobia will have to be done by Your Majesties' safely or it may worsen."

"Sir, the roots."

The doctor turned to his disciple, taking the small roots from his hands. The doctor places the small pile of roots on the crown prince's wooden bed, giving the prince his space. "Eat the roots, young prince. It may not be much, but it can relieve your anxiety and help you relax."

With a nod of affirmation from his parents, Renjun, with shaking hands, picked up the small roots from the bed and placed them into his mouth to eat. As soon as he bit into the root and the bitter flavor spread onto his taste buds, he started coughing and gagging in disgust. He reached for the small cup of water on the side of his bed, the blanket dropping from his body, and he immediately drained the water as soon as the porcelain cup touched his lips.