「"Assassin-sshi...?"
"Hmm?"
"What happens...to the wolf?"
"What happens to the wolf...?"
"D-Does he..uh...you know...kill the lamb...?"
"Do you need the answer right now?"
"Yes.."
"Haha."
"Does the lamb die? Can the wolf live with that?"
"Let me ask you, Cherrypie."
"Yes?"
"Did the lamb ever love the wolf back?"」
—☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ.·°•~❀ × ❀~•°·.☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ—
[⚠Gore]
Alas, that sweet romance lasted but just three days.
Even though he had brought her back to the cell as she insisted in her sleepy state and then made his way back to his chambers...nothing that night had gone the way she planned.
The only thing that went as she planned was the normal fact that Taehyung the Assassin was sleeping in his chambers as Taehyung the Prince, but who's gonna tell her?
Picking a storybook to read, he waited for the effects of the poison to kick in...but he was forced to wonder why it was taking so long.
What was wrong with the poison tonight?
He had no clue, but suddenly his mind was flooded rapidly with images of Cherry dying. He heard her screaming. Wailing. Shrieking in agony. On loop. She was begging for it to stop and he didn't know what the hell was happening, but with shaking hands he blocked his ears reflexively to stop the culprit.
It was the harp. The music.
The melody filled his head with torturous images and sounds of Cherry suffering, making him groan in misery as he tried to push those images away, but he found himself growing increasingly weak.
What the heck was this? Why was she burning? Was she burning? Why?! When?! He needed to see her this instant!
He cowered into the wall for comfort and solace from the horrific images, but the melody vanished just as suddenly as it had come when the blankets were pulled away from his body. His eyes jumped to meet with the sight of a masked lady who stood at his bed, her blade glistening in the moonlight.
The love of his life, the coolness of his eyes.
"Run," she said shortly as she grabbed his wrist, "You did your part. I'll deal with the rest, run to the dungeons and wait for me!"
She seemed to know what was happening to him. It seemed like she had planned it.
Well, she did.
She told Sabira not a week ago how she loathed the Assassin's guts and wished for his death. Little did Cherry know in a week, she would wish otherwise secretly.
Sabira did what she thought was best i.e give her little sister an upper hand in killing the man. But in a week, Cherry's plans also changed and now she needed the Assassin's help in finding the Prince (and the rest of the plan of pretending to want to kill His Majesty, but backstabbing the Assassin instead; after she would rescue His Majesty)
Sabira was not aware things had changed. She was not aware the King gave Cherry a separate mission for which she needed the Assassin alive for some time.
But Cherry and Sabira overestimated themselves. Because as soon as Taehyung's eyes had found Cherry, all the pain in the world evaporated.
He was immune to torture after all, wasn't he?
His senses gradually sharpened and his ears caught the sounds of war cries outside as the revolt commenced, but his eyes were fixed on the moving shadow behind Cherry.
It happened so fast, Cherry barely even blinked and found herself under Taehyung's cloak while his face and sword were both smeared with blood and a man sunk to the ground, blood flowing out of the stab wound.
She squealed in panic and tried to escape, but on hearing the terrifying loud roars that suddenly cracked the air outside, Taehyung and Cherry both froze.
Their eyes flew to the window and it felt like they had choked on sand.
A mountain sized creature with breasts of a woman, body of a man, giant ebony wings protruding from the back, and head of a goat with curly horns that were almost swallowed by the clouds in the sky was heavy-footedly marching across Dethia. With each step he took, the ground vibrated making all of Dethia shake, crushing towers and houses under his feet, the monster marched towards the castle.
The Satanic Creature the Queen wanted to summon was here.
The Baphomet.
It's no surprise that Cherry got paranoid and as the Saints and Spellcasters outside fought the Baphomet, the fight intensified inside the dark chambers with Taehyung now soaked in blood, sword dripping and face set in cold fury, the corridors littered with dead bodies, gory human entrails and pools of black blood sloshing at their ankles — everywhere was chaos.
Screams of the soldiers and common people and sounds of swords clashing, whistling canon fires, Baphomet roaring, torturous harps of the saints, the incantation of the spell casters, the shrill chirping of the sprights, the singing of the sirens, the howling and hissing of the Dethian monsters..
It was a nightmare come to life.
A revolt never seen in history.
Cherry sprung to action, double motivated to rescue the prince (she believed was under the effects of poison and currently in the dungeons,) but sensing the danger that had maximised far beyond their imagination, Taehyung thought it best to...not follow her plans at all.
So he made last-minute decisions and stopped her even as she tried to free herself from his grip and kept repeating, "The Prince! We have to go to the dungeons. I'll go alone, let me go, please let me go!"
Taehyung didn't have time to entertain her tantrums because a blade flew right in her direction and he moved so fast, he almost became a blur as he blocked the attack and beheaded the enemy. The violence in his actions, the sickening sound of heads being decapitated and falling to the floor, the gushing blood from the beheaded men that stained her robes and the way Taehyung looked so inhuman in the moment of killing the coming foes; barbaric and heartless...
He did not look like he had a speck of compassion in his heart, and it scared Cherry.
She felt like she didn't know the man, and as he reached for her hand, she let out a yelp and bounded away from his reach. Quickly recalling the Prince - she dodged Taehyung and made a run for the exit again, aimlessly.
She was brought to a screeching halt when masked men soundlessly jumped into the scene, one of them reaching a hand for her, but she disappeared from in front of them and instead stood her protector where she had been just a second ago.
"Good evening, my friend." Taehyung offered a pleasant smile.
Silence.
Next second, a blood-curdling scream ripped the air and a limb fell with a sickening thud to the ground, splashing blood on their robes. Goopy red fluid squirted out from the amputated arm and spattered Taehyung and Cherry's face as the man clutched his clotting stump, screeching in horror.
Taehyung regained his grip on his sword and nudged a trembling Cherry to them, "Let's try touching my girl again," he smiled dangerously but they backed away, catching sight of the bizarre amusement etched in his face.
"A-Assassin-sshi— what's wrong with you!" Cherry wept weakly, trying hard to ignore the surroundings that looked nothing less of a horror movie massacre.
Putrid stench of blood hit her nose and she reflexively felt her stomach heave. Holding her breath, she decided to make a run for the dungeons but a red shower rained on her and she turned to see several bodies hit the ground while Taehyung tossed his sword playfully.
She was right in hating the assassin.
He was a barbaric maniac and she should have no business with him, but her heart jolted in her ribcage when she felt his arm encircle her waist and she was dragged back and thrown into his bed. Heart drowning in horror, she instantly crawled away from him, but he didn't notice.
"You stay right here, darlin'," he stroked her hair ignoring how she was practically cringing at his touch because of the blood on his hands, "Don't touch me! You're a monster!" she cried trying to push him away and he chuckled, "You're an assassin too, what's so wrong about killing people who try to kill you, Cherrypie? It's all self-" he suddenly swung his sword at a man behind him and turned to her to show his chopped off head, "-defence."
She was such a baby, I tell you, she had never in her life seen bloodshed and this was...traumatizing.
She saw the entrails hanging from the neck, red and yellow gore dribbling to the floor into the puddle of black blood and the half closed lifeless eyes of the dead man's head staring at her accusingly that Taehyung showed her like a trophy, "Lovely."
But what did Taehyung know she was not an assassin? To him she was one like she told him she was, so he didn't know she was frantic not about "not getting to kill the Prince herself" only, but also, because of this blatant display of unrestrained violence.
She wanted to cry, but she was too afraid to cry. She needed someone to comfort her and she needed to run, but Taehyung didn't let her. She wanted to fetch the diary that was with the King, she wanted to go to the dungeons to save the Prince, but Taehyung didn't let her. Because Taehyung was, well...was keeping her safe.
He obviously couldn't throw flowers on the assassins while they're coming for his head now, could he? She just didn't know it's this ugly.
So she grabbed his sleeve timidly, "Please...the dungeons..the Prince..." she begged with new tears in her eyes, her mind was fixed on the King now. The diary. The mission..the wish. Going all the way back to the Mirror of Enigmas. And back to the Prince and what he must be going through in the dungeons.
Taehyung couldn't make compromises.
Dethia shook with a deafening roar that echoed through the land as the monster outside rioted against the united folk of Dethia, puppet-controlled by the Queen, while new enemies kept flooding the castle to take Taehyung's head.
If Cherry left, she was as good as dead.
She heard a smile in his voice as he bent down to come level with her face and pulled her veil down, "Baby," he cooed, brushing his nose against hers, "...there's nobody in the dungeons."
Her face scrunched in disgust when she tasted blood on her lips and it took her a long moment to realise he had kissed her mouth before he pulled away and flashed her a sardonic smile, "I killed the Prince so you can go home safe and sound and collect your reward when the revolt ends. Okay?"
She was frozen for a long moment.
Her expressions flitted from shock to horror to fury and something crazy switched on inside of her.
She grabbed her sword to stab Taehyung when she saw an enemy behind him press a finger to his masked lips warningly.
He for some reason seemed different. Not the typical assassin-ish. For some reason...he had her trust.
So she kept quiet.
She had to go to the King. The diary was her first priority. She couldn't fail in the mission. Sabira could save the Prince if Cherry found him in the right time. She believed she could still save him.
So as the assassin behind Taehyung pulled out his sword, her lips moved to whisper the words "Okay."
Next, Taehyung was taken by surprise to find her kissing him and despite being taken aback, his most natural instinct was to wrap an arm around her waist and pull her closer.
Hating herself for this - she deepened the kiss and felt him twitch in her embrace before the sword fell from his grip. His knees buckled and she slowly let him go as the assassin pulled back, wrenching away the blade mercilessly from Taehyung's back.
The Crown Prince's fingers felt for the wound in his rib, blood was oozing out of his chest through the cloak profusely as he looked up at Cherry.
"You deserve it." she sidestepped him, walking to the assassin's side.
Taehyung heard her thank the assassin as he began to lose vision...his heart aching not as much from the wound as much from...
Even as the Prince - she wanted him dead....even as an assassin, she wanted him dead.
No matter what form he was in, she wanted him dead.
"No problem, my lady." That assassin grinned through the mask, "It's crazy out there, thought you would do with some help with this tard."
Park Jimin.
His brother. A nobleman. Traitor.
The Crown Prince found his sword with his other hand, energy still surging through him nonetheless as he heard her faint voice ask, "So do you know the way to the dungeons?"
So how obsessed was she with the idea of killing the Prince? Taehyung didn't know, but he measured his sword.
"I'm afraid not," he heard Jimin respond to her question and before Taehyung could stab the nobleman, a dagger tore its way into his chest. His eyes followed from the dagger to the small hand that held it, to the sweet, innocent face of his Cherrypie.
"Give up, Assasshole." her eyes watered, but her lips were set into a thin angry line, "You absolute loser."
She was about to leave, but she felt a tug on her hand and turned to find it in Taehyung's, his thumb caressing her knuckles lovingly as he knelt down in the pool of blood slowly.
He kissed the back of her hand as he whispered something against her skin and looked up to offer her a sweet smile.
She was unblinkingly, speechlessly, motionlessly torn as he let her hand go and crumbled to the floor.
Words, soft and sweet yet, hitting her in the guts like a wrecking ball and still echoing in her ears like wind chimes in a dark, haunted cave.
"Ma..rry...me"
~.·≈•°❀❀⬳×💀×⟿❀❀°•≈·.~
When Taehyung came to, it was day time. The sun was hot in the sky, making sweat mat with the ebony bangs at Taehyung's forehead and drip down his face. His eyes burnt and his throat was parched. He realised he was sleeping under the open sky, on some isolated cliff, alone.
He felt for the stab wounds on his chest only to find them gone. In fact the bloody royal robes were also gone...he found himself changed into some eunuch's uniform and a bag of silver by his side.
The events from the revolt night came rushing to his mind.
The Saint's harp, the mental torture, Cherry, assassins, having to lie he killed the Prince to keep her from going to the dungeons, the monsters and the war outside...
Park Jimin.
That's the only part he didn't understand aside from the ineffective poison. Park Jimin.
Taehyung wondered why the nobleman would get involved. Did Cherry know him?
Clear answer is no.
She only trusted him because he seemed different and despite his mask, he seemed friendly. He seemed reassuring, like a rescuer.
Non-psychotic.
He seemed to strangely share a similar energy to her sister Sabira.
Jimin was there on Sabira's request to protect Cherry, and he did his job. While Sabira was busy in the battle, Jimin had went on in search for Cherry and found her cornered by Taehyung. The biggest shock for him was to find that the girl kissed the fellow to bring distraction and create an opening for Jimin to stab him.
Jimin thought he was making shit up, I mean..what the hell was even going on here? One moment they were kissing, next moment she had betrayed him?
And bigger was the shock when the man's last words were to ask her to marry him, knowing full well he was about to die.
What happened of Cherry..? And why didn't Taehyung die, you ask?
Jimin didn't know the man he stabbed was the Crown Prince and Cherry didn't know the man she followed outside was Jimin, but Taehyung was left to die alone while Jimin was ditched by Cherry and she made a run for the King's chambers.
Jimin began searching for Cherry, meanwhile...something strange was happening in the Crown Prince's chambers.
Black and golden smokes arose from his body sewing his wounds back together. Regenerating and shedding his skin (like serpents) his chest was as good as never been stabbed.
He was however exhausted and remained sleeping in his own blood, until Noran found him, dressed him in eunuch's clothes, tied with him a bag of silver and knowing the hunt for the sacred bloods was about to start, he took the Prince on horseback into the woods and urged him to run.
Taehyung ran and ran and ran, he didn't even know why. He just remembered running and getting tired and passing out on the cliff.
Cherry was crying the entire time as she hunted for the Prince, but she couldn't find him, obviously. She ran to the King's chambers for the diary, but she got on the scene to find the King lying in a puddle of blood, a sword sunk into his chest hilt-deep and he was as cold as dead.
Wailing, she ran and knelt down next to him, grabbed the hilt and tried to pry the sword out when her eyes fell on the smiling face of the Queen sitting right there, in front, watching with amused eyes.
"Oh, well, daughter of Noran caught assassinating the King." She clicked her tongue as she flipped the pages of the diary, "Here." She threw it to Cherry, "Said he'd like to hand this useless book to you. You can die with it."
Cherry didn't believe this was happening until she was told by the Queen the Prince was safe and sound and for her last wish she could see him before she would be executed for treason "since she had been so desperate to see him all this time."
Cherry pleaded herself innocent to Noran and others, but they had nothing to say to someone who had committed treason and betrayed their family friend - the ruler of Dethia - His Majesty, and killed him even.
While Taehyung had been passed out on the cliff, Cherry kept weeping and asking people to believe her, but as the revolt failed and the Queen had quelled everyone down, she had managed to gain a temporary upper hand and her first act as the regent of the Kingdom was to get Cherry buried alive for daring to take advantage of the revolt, sneaking into the castle and assassinating the King.
The Queen knew Cherry and she knew everything about Cherry.
Everything.
How she survived the cremation as the doctor's adopted daughter.
Even the fact that the Prince unknowingly had taken the antidote from an oblivious Cherry and had been cured. Even the fact that he was alive right now and she couldn't find him anywhere. It angered her, frustrated her. How the last opportunity to get him killed was torn away from her clutches because of Cherry.
Even the fact that the King's Emperor Zou, the Serpent Charm had transferred some energy to Taehyung to revive him and help him survive.
Even the fact that the Prince mysteriously disappeared from the castle right after.
So the Queen framed Cherry for the murder Her Majesty did.
And nobody believed Cherry. Nobody could help her, because the Baphomet now with the Queen was enough to have people grovelling at her mercy.
And as Cherry was taken to "meet the prince" as the Queen had told her she could, Cherry was instead led by Noran to the cemetery. He told her he was faking burying her alive, instead would bury a time capsule and would protect her.
Her heart had leapt with joy and she couldn't wait to see the Prince as she dusted the dirt off Noran's shoulders and told him how scared she was on finding the Prince had been killed. Noran smiled at her as he continued to dig and next thing she knew, she was pushed into the grave and he began shoveling the soil at her.
She tried to climb back and sobbed and begged him, asking him why he was doing this, but she received no reply.
And there...she was buried with her diary.
The Queen was satisfied Noran had carried out the orders from the new ruler, the Regent - Empress Dowager...relishing in her temporary power, little aware what plan the royal storyteller had.
Taehyung sat with his legs hanging off the edge of the cliff as he watched the forlorn lands of Dethia. The dead bodies, the repugnant smell of rotting flesh, the collapsed houses and crushed infrastructure, the torn down trees, the cluster of sprights circling the skies following wherever the Baphomet goes.
Taehyung sat there alone. Feeling things that can't be put into words.
His heart ached.
He wished someone would hug him. He wished it was from her.
Granted freedom for the first time in seventeen years to get out of the castle, he was still imprisoned in a cage of misery and depression.
He felt like a loser.
Why did the poison not take his life? Why did it not affect him this month? Why! He wished it did.
He inched closer to the cliff and took a look at hundred feet below. He could barely see, his eyes clouded with tears rapidly rolling down his cheeks and his heart was breaking into millions of pieces in his chest.
He wiped his face.
"Your wish comes true, Cherrypie." he gave a watery smile, "Forgive me for existing."
He closed his eyes and let his body fall.
But suddenly, his body stopped falling.
His eyes flew open on sensing he was not falling anymore.
He was seated on the head of a giant black serpent.
Father's charm.
Emperor Zou.
Did His Majesty—?
"Sonny, the King of Dethia is no more. He has been assassinated," the Royal Serpent Charm confirmed Taehyung's fears, "Dethia needs a new king. But a coward can't be a king."
Taehyung wanted to say something back, but he couldn't move or speak.
"Since you are the closest to His Majesty's heart, my next partner should be you but I can't link with you yet," the serpent announced.
"Forgive me, but I'm not eager to be linked with anybody anymore.Will you let me die now?"
"Misery ends, it always will. All good things take time," Zou lowered his hood, allowing Taehyung to dismount, "...and yours will take a lot of time but it will all be worth it."
Climbing off the head, Taehyung got to the ground and without responding to the serpent, he began climbing the cliff to throw himself off again.
"The Kingdom has been destroyed and everybody wants the royal bloods dead. I see no reason why I must live," Taehyung continued to climb, not losing any determination to die. "Besides," he bit his trembling lip, "I even lost the love of my life..."
Zou knocked the boulder above Taehyung making him fall and trapped him in a bubble of inky black venom that floated in the air. Nevertheless, it was transparent.
"And dying will solve this?" Zou asked.
"It's the only way to stop hurting."
"Where does it hurt, Your Majesty?"
"...every...where"
came his choked reply.
"I can make it stop," Zou offered and seeing the way Taehyung was momentarily distracted, he seized the chance to lure him in, "The only way to stop hurting is to stop feeling."
Taehyung didn't even get to properly process that when Zou spoke again, "It's the only thing that will help you survive, so live and work for what you wan-"
"Why?" Taehyung mused monotonously as he drew his sword and tried to pop the venomous bubble, "Why must I work so hard? It's easier to die."
"There will come a day when you will be grateful you didn't choose death."
"Oh really?" Taehyung cracked into sarcastic ripples of laughter, "Because suddenly Cherry will love me as my Queen and I will be the King of Dethia?" He raised a brow at the serpent challengingly. "This isn't a fairy tale."
"Good things take time," the Serpent repeated, "First let the worst things happen."
In a heartbeat, Zou switched Taehyung's Yang off.
His Yin took over everything, the venomous hatred seeping into his heart, strengthening him. Darkening him. Polluting his compassionate soul.
Taehyung was made to forget all his love for Cherry and remember only all the evil things that made his heart bitter. The warmth was taken out and was replaced with hatred so that he could survive in this cruel world and never be manipulated again.
He was now full of venom.
A puppet of Zou.
The bubble darkened and became opaque, the surroundings disappeared, swallowed by inky blackness.
Since he was dying because he had no clue what to live for...Zou gave him one.
Revenge.
_______________________________
I'm so excited🤩🤩
if u ever reread the book u'll start seeing the clues were scattered right from chapter 4 :)
I love you all and you are all my cutie buttercups!❤️
also, why tf does cunning vixen have so many reads and votes 🗿did y'all like the first kiss that much I mean-