Cursed | Yang Hongseok

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Flashback: China, 1020. (Hongseok's P.O.V)

I didn't understand the situation I was in, but I just knew something was wrong, otherwise my body probably wouldn't be chained to a wall in this cold, dark room. As soon as I woke up, I tried adjusting my eyes to the darkness, but I still wasn't sure whether I was alone or not.

Then, I remember where I was just before I drifted into sleep.

"Xia?" I whispered caferully, but got no answer. However, I couldn't just give up, so I kept raising my voice little by little with each time I called her name.

And after I was loud enough to consider my desperate attempts to find her shouting, I finally heard some footsteps, and then a sound of the door opening.

The unknown silhouette approached me, standing barely a meter away from me, but even then I wasn't able to tell who it was.

"Xia, is that you?" I asked once again.

Instead of an answer, I felt a burning pain in a form of a slap suddenly spreading across my face.

"Don't you dare say her name ever again."

Just then, another person came inside, holding a torch in his hand, so now I was able to see everything clearly.

The room I was in was completely empty except for the four wals made out of rock and the chains I was tied with. Beside that, in front of me stood two tall, angry-looking men, one of which I wasn't able to recognize.

But unfortunately, I knew the other face too damn well. As a matter of fact, probably the whole area knew about this man and his ugly, arrogant face.

I was standing face to face with the commander of the opposing army.

The other man, probably one of his soldiers, handed him the torch, and an old parchment.

"Do you need anything else, sir?" The soldier asked.

"No." The commander said with a cold, indifferent voice. "You are free to go. I'll deal with this bastard on my own. And I will enjoy it."

His twisted words made me sick, but I still didn't understand anything.

As soon as the other soldier left, my eyes met with the commander's.

"Why am I here?" I asked, maybe a bit too bravely for someone who was trapped, exposed to the enemy like a meal left on a plate.

I was expecting another hit as a response, but instead, the commander just started laughing like a mad man.

"Are you serious?" He asked me. It really seemed like he was amused by my thinking. "Not only are you my enemy on the field, but you actually have the courage to try taking my wife away from me?"

I froze as soon as I heard those words. Xia did tell me she was married, but she never mentioned who she was married to. Now it all made perfect sense.

"I– I didn't know..." I said quietly, looking at the ground.

"You don't sound like you regret it." The commander stated seriously.