Characters: Jeongguk & fairy!you

Setting: Beauty and the Beast au, continuation of Curse me foolish destiny

Genre: tale as old as time a.k.a angst with happy end

Summary: Once upon a time there was an arrogant king warning a proud princess that both of their nations would lose this war if they didn’t cooperate. What an irony that after all the mistakes he made, he was right about this.
But will anyone be able to save him before the last crimson petal falls?

Warning: violence, body horror (Jungkook looks similar to Kyle in Beastly in his cursed form but with more nature elements e.g. horns, divided tongue)

Words: 9.6k

Loneliness has never killed a soul as harshly as his.

There are rumours, whispers about a castle deep in the woods overgrown by poisonous roses with sharp thorns cutting throats. They say a monster lives there, merciless and brutal, and everybody who had set a foot inside seeking treasures didn’t see daylight anymore. Only one handful of reckless men who attempted to kill the beast returned bruised and beaten, not saying any word ever since about what they saw.

According to history books, that cursed land was once a part of a kingdom lead by the generous and loved Jeon dynasty. However, when the Great War of Three Kingdom, the Kims, the Jeons and Jeju started, their legacy was immediately demolished. The Kims took everything and now they rule over the fields. Only the haunted, horrible castle remains the Jeons’ territory since nobody else dares to claim it.

The fairies of Jeju don’t have it any better. They are on the verge of extinction because of the fairy hunts initiated by the new ruler of the region. The power fairies have is feared and humans are doing what they do the best when it comes to things they are afraid of: they destroy them.

Your family has nothing to do with the war between Jeons and Kims and yet, it doesn’t matter. The fact that you were born as a fairy is apparently enough reason for the hunters to kill you. Your kind barely has any allies left after the pact with the Jeons was broken, so you can’t trust anyone. You’re on your own in this.

You hide under a cape as you cross the forest and you hope nobody will stop you on your way. So close to the border, there’s a huge chance of getting caught and yet, you have to try, you can’t give up. You have to fight till the end for the sake of your family. It’s been a while since you got separated from your sisters and now you’re heading north to the hideout your kind whispered about. It isn’t more than three days of walking with the shortcut you found and you dare to hope that the closeness of that forsaken, sinister castle is enough to keep people away.

You only realize you’re dead wrong when a watch guard from a tree catches sight of you and you barely escape, flee from the hunters strolling under the crown of trees, waiting to take innocent lives from the shadows.

“That’s one there,” one of them shouts, pointing at you from above and you run faster than you had ever before.

You were supposed to pass by the castle, following the border but because of the echoing footsteps behind you, you take a sharp left turn, running out of the forest. In desperation you break through the iron fence of the castle, the ruins and roses with thorns. You’re crawling on all fours until you get past the heavy metal gates of the once beautiful royal household. The shouts and sound of footsteps seem farther and farther away the closer you get to the front door of the marble building standing oh so majestically in the middle of the ruins. Yet, you can’t let yourself marvel at the design as you put pressure on the golden handle. When it gives in, allowing the creaking door to open wide, you don’t hesitate to slip inside and close it behind you as quickly as possible. You don’t want to give hints and clues for the hunters about where to look for you, so you hide from plain sight immediately.

As the adrenaline drains from your blood and your breathing is back to normal, you notice new scratches on your pale skin, cuts from rose thorns and red smudges on your knees. You hiss as you see a few of the cuts still bleeding and even though you know it’s too much to hope for, you’d kill for a bath. But this place is abandoned, unkempt, so you doubt there’s still water running. Based on the state of the castle, naively you don’t even worry about meeting any other living soul under the roof.

You’re soon proven wrong.

“You shouldn’t be here,” a deep, hoarse voice roars, the sound of it echoing off the tall, thick walls and a shiver runs down your spine as your head snaps towards the darkness, the source of the voice hidden in the shadows.

“I- I’m sorry. I thought this building is abandoned and I was running away from the hunters, so I had no other choi–” you explain hastily but your mindless, nervous rambling is rudely interrupted as the voice snaps at you again.

“Leave.”

The rough, masculine voice, raspy from disuse, orders but you keep your chin high up. You can’t be afraid of a faceless figure that hides behind the gilded velvet curtains, right? Maybe he’s just like you, a hunted prey too afraid to trust anyone.

“Please don’t make me go out there. They will kill me,” you plea, asking for nothing more than a bit of sympathy and compassion.

There’s a short pause, a silence so defeating you unconsciously hold your breath.

When you finally get an answer, it almost chokes you.

“Aren’t you afraid that I will kill you?”

Something moves, its shadow overtowering yours on the floor. The only light in the room is provided by the moonbeams filtered by the torn curtains but still, you gasp when a figure emerges from the darkness. You slowly lift a hand to cover your mouth in horror as your eyes settle on the horrific sight.

The creature has sturdy body and sickly pale skin covered in motives and passages written in ancient fairy language. The horns on the top of his head peek out of his long, messy, dark locks. He has a huge, ugly scar across his face and the visible, ugly, purple blooded veins are getting thicker around where his heart is. He wears clothes that were expensive and glorious once but now they look worn and used, dirty and bloody like rugs thrown on his body. Some of the creature’s bones stick out unnaturally and the grimace on his mouth indicates that he’s in pain during a few movements. There are rose thorns scattered all over his body and those constantly poking his skin seems like torture. Not to mention that only one of his eyes is fully human while the other is fiery red and filled with tired rage. Just a boy, barely man brutally hurt and broken in this harsh world.

“You… you have a fairy curse on you,” you whisper as the realization hits you seeing the signs of one of your sisters putting her hands on him. What kind of horrors could he do to earn the rage of your kind?

Before you could question his state, he moves so fast you barely have time to blink before he rips your hood off revealing your pointy ears and sky blue eyes to him. Suddenly you feel vulnerable under his fierce gaze. And a bit scared as he growls at you.

“And you’re one of them. Ugly, sly creatures. No wonder the Kims want you all dead,” he spits disgusted and you shiver as you catch a sight of the snake tongue in his mouth.

“That’s a very prejudiced thing to say by you,” you say and it’s hard not to sound judgemental but you know that sometimes hurt people say things they don’t actually mean. “You judge all of us based on one fairy you met.”

The man scoffs in disbelief.

“Believe me, I have met more than enough,” he hisses and nostalgic, angry emotions flicker in his human eyes. “Are you saying you’re any different?”

“I don’t want to hurt anyone. And I can help you get rid of the curse,” you say hoping that the eye for eye trade would be sufficient enough for this stubborn creature to let you stay. Why is that so hard for him anyway? He made it clear he isn’t afraid of you, so what?

The black, smoky glow around him doesn’t budge or soften and his dark aura doesn’t change at all after your offer. The red eye looks at you mocking as if you were laughable for even trying.

“No, you can’t.”

“Every curse has its own aura in our eyes, I could–” detect the source, trace back the origin and find another, powerful fairy to help, you’d like to say in a hurry, clinging onto the last hope but once again you can’t even finish the sentece.

“I know what I would have to do to break the curse but that won’t happen. Stop saying you know better.” The way he says it sounds finale and unchangeable, and you know when to give up your battles. You don’t push the topic further.

“Please,” you plead because you have no ounce of pride left anyway. If you have to beg to a stubborn human – or at least a partly human creature – in order to stay alive, you will. You need to survive if you ever want to reunite with your family.

The young man falters for a second. He looks conflicted now that you didn’t leave even after he openly threatened you, that you didn’t flinch or pulled too far when he approached you. He seems actually surprised that you didn’t run away screaming after seeing his face.

It must be lonely to be doomed to be alone.

“You can stay for the night but I want you gone by the morning,” he tells you in a stern voice, visibly wincing as if kindness hurt him and these are his final words before turning on his heels he disappears back into a shadowy hallway on the western wing of the building.

You let out a breath you didn’t know you were holding and move towards the opposite direction careful not to bump into anything on your way. The palace is a remnant of a once glorified, beautiful place that wasn’t taken care of during the last years. Now it looks like a ghost house as you walk down the empty, hollow corridors framed by shabby wall paintings and torn curtains hanging from the huge French windows. Suddenly you’re hit by a wave of cold wind and there’s something itching under your skin, a bad premonition with doubts choking you. You’re not sure anymore if it’s really a good idea to stay but what better you could do? Outside the hunt is waiting for you and Death would welcome you in his loving arms. Compared to that, somehow there’s safety in uncertainty.

You walk around mindlessly, searching for a place for the night where you can lay your head down. It’s pure coincidence that you find that room, the one with shining gold handle at the end of the hallway. Unlike any other part of the castle, this one suite seems so untouched and intact as if nobody stepped over the threshold in years. Dust has settled onto each furniture and piece of clothing but other than that it’s the cleanest part of the place and you fell asleep as soon as you crawl under the blankets and close your eyes. It has been a long day.

It’s already bright outside when you wake up, blinking the sleepiness and faded memories of your dreams out of your mind. Stretching you sit up and look around. In the daylight, the dim rays of rising sun casts light on the marble walls and on the paintings you couldn’t see in the dark earlier yesterday. There’s a huge piece of art right across the baldachin bed that portrays the members of the royal family: a man on the chair, a woman on his right and a child, no older than four years sitting on his knees. They seem like a loving family and you only realize belatedly why this painting is in this room. Oh. It must have been the former King and Queen’s bedchamber.

As you realize this, it feels wrong to stay there any longer. Even though you have always known this is considered as a break-in, you didn’t mean to sleep in the bed of the passed away monarchs of the Jeons. As soon as you leave the room after refreshing yourself a bit in the old-fashioned washroom, the hit of cold touches you again and creeps under your skin. Your head whips towards the window expecting predators on the other side and you aren’t too wrong. You could still sense them, their bad blood and the hatred following them like vultures. The hunters who are reckless enough to dare to come closer to the castle their kind fears so much.

Your steps are light on the floor, echoless as you barely move around in the hallways and yet, a tired, furious voice rings in your ear.

“I told you to leave.”

The stranger reminds you of his order and you turn around, eyes searching for the young man in the ballroom you have merely bypassed. He sits there with his back to you, at the old piano. He hasn’t pressed any key yet otherwise you would have heard it but he’s still there, not even bothering to turn towards you. You don’t blame him for hiding nor not wanting to see one of your kind. But it’s not an excuse for his rude behaviour.

“The hunters are still in the forest,” you tell him, explaining that you only stay because you’re not very keen on dying so soon. However, the young man couldn’t be bothered any less.

“I don’t care. Go away!” he stands up from the piano chair hastily almost tripping over his own legs in the hustle. The snarl on his face is full of disgust and annoyance for whatever reason.

“Not to be rude but who the hell do you think you are to order me around?” you retort unwilling to show the white feather anymore. You aren’t a coward, no fairy is. “As far as I know you could be just another stray who found an empty place to stay.”

For the first time the almighty stranger looks utterly confused and dumbfounded. He looks at you closely, gaze dragging over your figure leaning onto the wall by the threshold. It takes a few long moments for him to speak again.

“You really don’t know?” He blinks, unsure like he doesn’t know how to do introductions. There’s bitterness between his consonants while he does it anyway with a grimace tinting his scarred mouth. “I’m King Jeongguk, last descendant of the Jeon dynasty. The monster people tell stories about.”

“Well then I don’t see a monster, just a spoiled brat,” you’re quick to reply, too reckless for your own good even though you have heard the stories too. But you thought they were just that: stories, fiction. Until the antagonist itself doesn’t roar into your face.

“Are you blind or what?” Jeongguk punches into the doorframe right behind your head and you can’t help but think how his outburst of anger is so unfit for the royal he says himself to be. His heavy breath is fanning your face as he towers over you and his eyes roam over your soft features dubiously. “Aren’t fairies supposed to be unable to lie?”

“We cannot lie. Or at least we cannot speak words we know as untrue,” you confirm, forcing your voice to be calm and steady.

The so-called king hums then smirks, darkness casting over his face dangerously.

“Then tell me: don’t I look horrifying?”

His question is followed by defeating silence. The words freeze onto the tip of your tongue as you are forced to stare into his red eye. It reminds you of the bleeding moon and sacrifices that shouldn’t have been done.

At your speechless state, the boy scoffs like he expected this answer and he takes a step back, his eyes glinting like dark stars as if he won something. But there’s something haunting behind the glitter: the pain of being proved right in a matter he has never wanted to.

“I have seen worse,” you blurt out in the very end and you really have.

You have seen curses that made people so inhumane you couldn’t even recognize them beneath their new exterior and you have seen the dead of wars, tortured, skinned and drawn. On the other hand, Jeongguk looks like he has a weed garden from the inside. Still himself but the rotting nature made home inside of him. You aren’t sure what kind of curse made him like this but you know you could do something.

“If you would just let me help…” You reach out carelessly, not thinking but before you could even just graze the skin of the boy’s cheek, he yells at you.

“Don’t touch me, you filthy creature!” he bats your hand away furiously and wipes the back of his hand that touched your bare skin into his rugs as if he couldn’t bear the ghost memory of you trace on him.

You recoil in shock, taken aback by his arrogance.

“You know what? I don’t even want to stay here with you,” you pretty much spit the words at him because you aren’t willing to listen to his hateful words anymore. You were wrong: you still have enough pride left to not let yourself be so looked down on.

The Jeons’ king doesn’t even know you, yet he has already decided to hate you and you don’t need one more human the kingdom that wants to make life a living hell for you. At least the Kims order to kill every fairy on sight but there’s no torture or no hurtful words thrown at you, merely an arrow throw your beating heart.

With hasty movements you don’t even waste any more time. Turning on your heels, you rush out of the door, down the stairs back to the main hall. You grab your hooded cape from the floor where you had left yesterday and slam the huge entrance door behind you with a loud thud scaring the pigeons away from the pit in the ill-kempt garden.

You run without a destination in mind, you have no idea where to but away for sure. Not out of fear, not because you think the snobbish king would follow you but because you don’t need toxic people near you and the overwhelming urge to leave has never felt so inviting. So you follow the melody of your rapid heartbeats until the anger dies down, until the snow melts under your feet, until an arrow pierces through the cape that’s swirling in the air behind you.

You halt, the cloth yanks you back and you’re not quick enough to get rid of it. Three hunters on horseback surround you and look at you in pity. A girl in a thin floral dress under the thick coat and fire in her eyes. Of course, they belittle you, the fools.

“Oh the little witch came back to play,” one of them mocks both you and your magic that’s miles away from the western magic bearers they mention.

Just to show them what you can do, whom they are facing with, you fist your hand like you’re holding something in it. Waiting for the right moment, you don’t move until all of them gets off the horses and starts approaching you tentatively like you were a wild animal. That’s when you let go the power in your grip with a sudden movement and a small avalanche of snow pours to them from the trees above you all. Just in time, while they are busy with the distraction, you hide behind the thick tree trunk struggling with steadying your breath.

Come on, think! You have to get out of here.

“Are you enjoying hide and seek, sweetheart? We were really patient waiting for you to come back,” a man chuckles and the others join him in the laughter. You’re disgusted at how much they enjoy this mass murder that’s going on.

“Come out and play,” another one tries to rile you up but you’re smarter than to walk right into their trap and believe that they would let you go easier if you listened to them and maybe grant them a wish like some claimed your kind could.

Crouching down you try to make yourself as small as you can, so you could pass by them without getting noticed, maybe snatching one of their horses but as a branch of tree hidden by the layer of fresh snow snaps under your boots, you know you got caught.

“There you are,” a strong hand grabs on the back of your dress and tugs you back brutally. You end up falling on your in the cold snow staring up the three men circling around you, their prey. Brute, bulky huntsmen. Their laughs is like the cawing of crows.

“Oh, it’s a pretty one. How much do you think we would get if we sold her head?”

“Hm… let me see,” one of them, the tallest one leans closer and taps your chin, so that you have to look him in the eye and when you do, you spit into his face. His smirk only widens as he wipes the saliva away. “A feisty one for sure,” he clicks his tongue and grabs your hair crushing your sensitive ears with his strong hold.

You don’t think twice as you unbind a dagger with feminine hilt from the belt of your dress and slice a part of the air with it drawing a pretty scar on the closest man’s cheek.

“,” he curses and forces the dagger out of your hand almost breaking your fingers in the process. You yelp as you feel a knife pushed to your throat from the back and flinch at the rough hands tearing at your hair to keep you in place. It’s unfair, three grown up man against one girl but you wouldn’t go down so easily, or at least not alone.

“Animals,” you growl at the hunter in front of you and kick him right in the stomach as hard as you can. It’s not enough but satisfaction still settles in your bones as you watch him fall. He doesn’t find it so funny though.

“I’ll enjoy skinning you,” he flashes a lopsided grin and picks up an arrow out of the quiver fallen on the ground. The sight itself injects fear into your bloodstream.

You know it too well, that the arrow’s head is dipped in poison and it’s deadly as soon as it pierces through your skin and reaches your veins. You squirm in the arms of the hunters struggling to escape while you don’t take your eyes off the weapon.

“Let’s hear you scream, doll.” A stinking breath hits your neck as the man on your right whispers into your ear and you want to puke.

“Let her go.”

Suddenly an angry growl shakes the area and for a moment all the hunters seem to freeze. You follow their gazes towards the voice’s source and your mouth falls open. Jeongguk stands there in a worn jacket with a crossbow in his hands aiming at the men holding you.

“Let. Her. Go,” he repeats and the authority in his tone proves that he was raised to lead people.

Not these hunters though. They don’t move.

“She’s ours.”

“I’m nobody’s,” you hiss and twist your arms in a way that hurts but makes it possible for you to bend down and give enough space for your unexpected saviour to shoot the other men. Blood spills onto the back of your dress and you feel it leak through the soft, white material. You should be disgusted but instead, you feel relief rushing through your veins.

As the hands get loose on you, you pick up your dagger and send it flying straight towards the chest of the man who threatened you earlier. Just as you let comfort flood in your system because each assaulter is on the ground, the man with blood bubbling from his side grabs on your ankle pulling you towards him. The ground slips under your feet and watch in horror the arrow held in his other hand waiting to strike.

Jeongguk comes to your rescue again, to free your leg from the grip but he’s careless, he doesn’t see the attack coming from his left. You realize in fear that he can’t see with his red eye.

“Watch out,” you scream, trying to warm him but it’s too late. Just as he strips the rough fingers from around your ankle and moves to help you up, the half-dead hunter sticks the poisoned arrow into the monster-looking king’s lower back.

Jeongguk whimpers like a hurt animal and kicks into the hunter mercilessly.

“Are you-” you mumble as you stare at him dumbly. Maybe the arrow wasn’t poisoned after all? Or is it the curse that makes the blood in his veins unaffected? You’re confused and watch him in worry.

“I’m fine,” he shushes you away and stands up on unsteady legs.

It doesn’t take a whole minute and he falters. Falling to his knees, he collapses on the cold, harsh ground.

“No-no-no…” your teeth are shattering as you crawl to him.

He just saved your life. He can’t die leaving such a burden for you to bear now that you own him. To your relief, he still has a pulse beating faintly under your fingertips and a shallow breathing dancing on your skin when you lean close enough.

“,” you swear when you grab him under his armpits and try to lift him off the ground. In the end, you have to use a bit of magic to put him on one of the horses. You plan on guiding the animal back to the castle on foot but your leg hurts too much where the huntsman grabbed you. You take a deep breath and limp to stand in front of the horse and its skin in soothing circles.

“Take us back to the castle, straight on that path down there. Careful, okay?” you whisper looking into the mild creature’s big, warm brown eyes. The horse neighs and you pat its back in encouragement. As soon as you step backwards, it follows your command obediently. You quickly get another horse, tugging on the bridle of the third too as you go after them. It goes simply because when a fairy speaks, the nature listens.

Back in the castle, you lay Jeongguk down on his side and strip him off that ragged shirt and jacket he wears. Under the layers, there’s still so much blood. Breaking off the end of the arrow, you only have to worry about the head that pierced deeply into the king’s skin. It bleeds angry red just like any other human would but for once, the curse works beneficially for him as it doesn’t let the poison get into his bloodstream. Silver drops of the deadly liquid pool on the old cloth you laid on the bed. When you pull out the metal from the flesh, Jeongguk hisses in pain and all his thorns move as his body tenses. You clean his wound with herbs you found on the way back and wrap it up nicely in a bandage.

By the time night falls, Jeongguk gets a vicious fever. You feed him hot soup even though he’s barely conscious and put a cold pack on his forehead. You stay beside him all night in an uncomfortable armchair to watch over his state and just when you’re about to fall asleep and let the dreamland take you in the middle of night, he startles from a fever dream.

“Hey, Jeongguk, it’s alright.” You lean over him and soothe your palms over his tense shoulders as he looks around in panic. You’re a bit worried that he will get the bandage off if he moves around too much, so the sooner you can make him fall asleep again the better. But as soon as his gaze settles on you, his whole body stills and then faster than you’d think he could in his current state, he lunges forward.

“You… you made me this way, ugly witch,” he grumbles as his hands curl around your throat.

You gasp for air as he presses down on your throat-pipe choking you.

“Jeongguk–” you rattle short on breath as you try to pry his fingers off your neck. It’s getting dangerous – the vengeance in his eyes – because you’re sure even wounded he could seriously hurt you.

“Sorry,” you mumble as you blindly take the powder of a rare plant from the table and throw it all in his face. He lets out a painful yelp as it stings getting into his eyes and he quickly covers his itching eyes with both hands. As he lets you go, you immediately jump back waiting until the drug takes effect and knocks him out completely.

Even when he’s calmed down, breath even and out to this world, you don’t dare to sleep after that. It’s in the late morning when Jeongguk comes back to his senses looking around quite confused like he had no idea what he was doing on one of the sofas with a bandaged wound in his back.

“Hey, how are you feeling?” you inquire worried about his wellbeing but still a bit wary about him wanting and trying to kill you… or maybe you only fear his subconscious.

The king blinks at you surprised to find you - or anyone - beside him while being in such a vulnerable state.

“Numb,” he breathes. His voice is still rough and heavy from sleep.

“Yeah that’s because of the painkiller cream I put on your wound,” you hurry to explain and Jeongguk acknowledges it with a short nod. He isn’t looking at you, in fact, he’s looking everything but you like he haven’t seen this room of the castle countless times before! You don’t know what to think of it.

The atmosphere becomes quiet, so quiet you can hear the cool breeze move the curtains. It only takes a few more passing minutes of talking without words and you can’t bear the awkwardness any further.

“Thank you… for coming to help me,” you whisper into the expanding void between you and finally, Jeongguk graces you with his utmost attention, eyes dark and honest.

He doesn’t say it out loud, that it was wrong of him what he said to you before you left but it’s there in his eyes, at least in the human one.

“Thank you for not leaving me there,” he says instead while chewing on his lower lip anxiously. “And sorry… for that.”

He means the bruises on your neck that weren’t there in his memories. Your right hand comes up to cover the marks out of instinct and you realize that you stupidly forgot to put healing cream on them.

“It’s okay. You weren’t yourself,” you reassure him that you don’t hold grudges against him. It’s funny, isn’t it? How you were so keen on leaving and write him off him as a rude, arrogant person and now your opinion of him changed so quickly. But actions speak louder than words or so they say. Even a judgemental person like Jeongguk needs to know that he isn’t the monster he thinks he is just because he’s said to be one.

“That shouldn’t be an excuse,” he mumbles bitterly but you don’t want to argue. You have other, most important issues to discuss.

“Do I remind you of her?” you ask faintly, almost not sure if you’re allowed to bring that incident up. You don’t want him to get mad but it has been haunting you ever since he launched himself onto you with that murderous glare of his.

But he doesn’t seem to realize at first what you could be talking about. He answers with a question.

“Who?”

“The fairy that cursed you.”

She must have been a powerful one, you guess, close to the Queen’s bloodline to cast a curse like this. A curse that miraculously saved Jeongguk’s life just now. You could never do that.

“In a way every fairy would remind me of her,” the king admits, recalling the cruel smile of the princess which reminds him… “What happened to your kind’s kingdom after mine fell?”

He doesn’t ask: what happened to her, the princess? Because he claims he doesn’t care and he almost believes himself.

“We couldn’t withstand the attack. We might have magic and hundreds of knights but the poisoned arrows came from nowhere with no declaration of war, no warning,” you sigh, awful memories fighting their way up from the hidden corners of your mind. It’s been two years but you still remember it all vividly. It’s never easy to forget a war. Even so if it’s still going on in a much subtle way then open slaughter. “Fairies are loyal creatures but the Queen told us to spread and hide in other kingdoms because she wasn’t willing to see us all die to protect the Court.”

Jeongguk nods, because he knew this would happen. He had warned the princess but she was so proud, she ruined them both. He should feel satisfaction that he was right but instead, the victory tastes like bitter medicine.

“Were you there?” he casts a glance at you sitting on his bedside. In his eyes, you look so fragile, all gentle lines and smooth skin. Before he could barely imagine you with a sword in your hands and yet, he just saw you fight three men twice your size and you were the one who brought him back here all the way from the snow-covered forest. You were anything but weak and nothing proved it better than the bruises on your neck and the scratches made by tree branches on your face.

“At the war you mean?” you raise a brow not knowing what exactly he meant by that. You have been in a lot of places. Jeongguk nods and his eyes are wide as he has been told an untold tale. “Yes, every fairy is a warrior of some kind.”

The king lets out a non-committal hum and closes his eyes to rest them a bit. But before he realizes, your sweet voice telling him about your traditions and habits lulls him back to buoyant dreams.

You’d never absolve him of his sins because you know very well that he isn’t a saint. But like this, he looks so young, too vulnerable to wear these battle scars.

It reminds you of the stories whispered in the villages close by, the tell-tales about a pretentious prince who has never left the castle he was born into. They say the entire household left him behind because he was so horrendous and the monster he came to be only feeds on the poor souls lost in the forest. Now you know it’s hardly true. Just like most stories.

After Jeongguk recovers and your scars also heal, things shift between the two of you. Something you can’t quite put your finger on - trust maybe? - definitely evolves because he doesn’t ask you to leave ever again. Instead he just…

“You’re still here,” he blurts out stopping in his tracks when he sees you at a balcony one fine morning. He’s limping a bit because his back still hurts but the wound heals nicely around your needlework.

“Uh yeah, I sprained my ankle, so I have to wait until it heals,” you turn your back on the scenery you admire. You have come to enjoy spending your quiet mornings outside since the weather is getting less chilly as the winter is saying goodbye. You’re watching over the awakening fauna of the forest, making friends with birds but you have to admit, it’s lonely. Jeongguk isn’t so keen on talking with you and you know better than to push. So you sit out there alone each morning until the lord of this place finds you.

“If you don’t mind…”

“No. You can stay, just… just stay away from the western wing.”

That part, as you realize, is the most trashed, the most broken part of the castle, proof of his rage and grief, a representation of his soul. You can’t help wondering what happened to him and you’re too nosy for your own good because you want to help him no matter what. You can’t bear the thought of leaving him here alone and bitter once you’re ready to go.

That’s why one morning when Jeongguk decides to join you on the balcony, you initiate a conversation that’s long overdue.

“When you said you know what could lift the curse…”

“It won’t happen. Stop asking.” He doesn’t even let you finish. His posture stiffens and his face darkens as he talks about the curse.

“Have you tried getting the marks removed? To pull out the thorns?” you keep on asking, trying to open up his shell, to make him realize you just want to help.

Fairy magic doesn’t work that way, you know that, but it would still worth a try.

“I have consulted every healer and doctor in my kingdom, they couldn’t do anything. The thorns grow back once you break them,” Jungkook objects and he can confidently say this because he’d tried. Multiple times and he failed each attempts. He learnt that it’s better not to hope than to get disappointed. “In a few months, it’s not going to matter anymore anyway.”

“Why…” Why do you think that? You’ve wanted to ask but Jeongguk is too quick to misunderstand you.

“Why was I cursed? Because I’m selfish and arrogant, ugly from the inside. She said that she just made it seen from the outer side,” he laughs dryly. He remembers clearly how he begged to the princess written her countless letters only receiving an answer when it was too late he couldn’t save his kingdom. The princess said the curse punishes him until he learns to see right, speak right and feel right. Whatever that meant.

“You know the more people tell you how good you are, how talented, how handsome… how ing perfect, the more you believe them and strive to make it true. At some point I lost my good judgement. I was selfish, impulsive and reckless after my parents’ death. I wanted to save the kingdom at any price and look at it now! I’m the one who destroyed it.”

There’s so much sadness in his words that you would like nothing more than to hold him, to brush his hands away from his eyes but you don’t dare to move. You don’t know if you’re allowed to. He snapped at you roughly when you last touched his skin and you wouldn’t like to get on his bed side again. So you just sit there with him listening to his breathing become steady again as you both bath in the warm sunshine.

Jeongguk dreams a dreamless dream that night. There’s nothing but vast darkness and an echo of a painfully familiar, bewitching voice: How does it feel? To admit and say it out loud? How is it to say monstrous things about yourself? Think, young king, think before you speak because words can hurt just as much as nicely carved blades.

Jeongguk wakes up covered in sweat despite the open windows and the chilly night breeze of late winter. He tries to persuade himself that it was nothing more than a dream, one of the nightmares he’s used to but he remembers the fairy princess’ devilish smile all too much.

He reaches for the glass placed on his nightstand table and only when the fresh water touches his mouth, does he feel the difference. It freezes him in place for a minute. He can’t believe it, he’s too afraid to believe it as he slowly, not daring to hope too much, puts his fingers to his lips, chapped as always and then tentatively he darts his tongue out. A normal human tongue instead of the divided tongue of a snake that he had to get used to in the past years. He feels his entire lungs collapse with both relief and panic. What if it’s just a dream?

He’s still ugly as ever but he had never hated anything more that those parts of his new horrendous appearance that constantly reminded him of his disfigured body. Like the tongue, the one-sided blindness, the heavy horns on his head, the thorns digging deep in his skin… and now the hideous tongue is gone. What does it mean?

He isn’t foolish enough to believe it’s anything good.

“Can you play?” you ask the next time you see him in the ballroom by the grand piano. Curiosity is dripping from your words like honey.

His breath hitches involuntarily when he turns around to look at you. There’s a flower crown made of snowdrops on the top of your head complementing the nice fall of your locks.

“I could but now…” it hurts. He doesn’t say but you see the scars on his fingertips, they’re angry red.

“Can I?” you gesture towards the piano and the bench he’s sitting on, asking for permission. Jeongguk looks at you for a long time and then nods.

You’re careful not to make any sudden movements as you approach him and sit down next to him. It actually surprises you that he doesn’t pull away but stays there by your side watching you play. The instrument hasn’t been used in a long, long time, you can tell and you’re out of practice too, but thanks to the ballrooms acoustics the harmonies are nice. You forget yourself in the music and looking at you, Jeongguk can’t help but think that it’s magic too.

It happens slowly, gradually like spring takes over the place of winter and fills the fields with flowers. It happens unseen between garden walks, stargazing sessions and library talks. It happens in the littlest things.

“Can I cut your hair?” you ask when it’s finally getting warmer but you start to miss the hidden warmth of that brown eye. Jeongguk blinks and stares at you in utter surprise like he’s never had his hair cut. Suddenly you feel a bit silly for offering. He could do that himself if he really wanted to, right? “Sorry… I just noticed that you keep brushing away the fringe that’s getting in your eyes.”

“Uh… yes. I mean, you can,” he announces just as you turn away.

You arrange Jungkook to be seated on a wooden chair in the kitchen and you circle around him.  You have never cut anyone’s hair before, so you hold his messy locks gently and carefully slid the scissors across the strands letting them fall one by one. It feels strangely intimate. Even so since Jungkook doesn’t tear his eyes away whenever you’re in front of him.

“This isn’t from the curse, right?” you whisper as your index finger gently follows the line of a scar across his face, starting from his eyebrow up until his jawline.

“No, it’s from those who think I’m a monster,” Jeongguk answers with the corners of his mouth turning down and eyes closed. He thinks they are right, you can tell it from his posture and your own cold heart aches with it. Fairies are supposed to be manipulative creatures, always playing little games in the head but it doesn’t take away your ability for sympathy.

“You’re not,” you tell him because he is no more of a monster than everybody’s their own monster, the worst kind. Jeongguk doesn’t say anything, he doesn’t need to. His silence is comforting enough.

By the time you finish, you have a whole mound of hair at your leg and you can’t suppress a smile thinking how much Jeongguk looks less like a caveman with his new haircut. And even though he doesn’t say it out loud, he feels more humane too.

“Done,” you clap proudly at your own handiwork and then start cleaning up the mess you made. The boy of royal blood watches you intently, head bobbing to the rhythm of the silly, lovesick folk song you’re humming.

“You’ve never told me your name,” he wonders aloud.

“You never asked,” you shrug nonchalantly with the final brushes of the broom. But secretly it makes you happy that now he cares at all.

“I’m asking now,” he says and you tell him just like that.

He repeats the soft vowels after you, playing with the word, committing it into his memory like someone memorizes a complex painting wanting to remember even the slightest details.

“Pretty,” he mumbles and you have to fight the blush creeping up your neck. Gosh, he was just complimenting your name, why are you acting like this?

You prepare to go back to your room – a smaller one that used to be one of the maids but you tidied it up nicely - just so you can bury yourself in a book stolen from the library to hide your silly smile but then Jeongguk surprises you with a confession.

“You’re nothing like her.”

Your vibrant greenish blue eyes turn to him curious and confused.

“What?”

“You’re nothing like the fairy that cursed me,” he tells you, eyes sincere, voice soothing and your heart throbs.

You remember as clear as daylight what he told you: And you’re one of them. Ugly, sly creatures. So you just smile at him softly and when you finally leave, a warm feeling follows.

The black emptiness welcomes Jeongguk in his dream again. The otherworldly sound echoes in his mind: How does it feel? To see others for who they are and not for what they are? You know that difference better than anyone, don’t you? Remember, young king, remember that we can’t help what we were born but we are who we make ourselves to be.

When Jungkook startles awake at dawn he doesn’t feel the difference at first. The bright bleeding orange of the rising sun is on his right but then, on his left, he catches a glimpse of his reflection and a young man stares back at him with two blown, dark brown eyes. A boy with freshly cut, messy dark hair… without horns. He keeps touching the top of his head because he can’t believe it. After the past two years, it’s almost too good to be true.

His appearance leaves you astonished too. You’re sitting in the dining room sipping on your herbal tea and when you look up, your cup-holding hand stills in mid-air.

“What… what happened to you?” you gape at Jeongguk dumbfounded because the change is so prominent this time. Of course, you noticed that his snake-like tongue was gone too but you didn’t know what to make out of it and you’d rather not ask about something like that. But now with his horns gone too and his human eyes back, he looks a lot less scary. Just like you’ve always known.

“I don’t know.”

He runs a hand through his own hair in awe and stares at you like you could know the answer. There are still thorns, unhealed bruises and ugly scars on his body but he resembles more and more the young king he used to be. The one looking determined and proud on his coronation painting you’ve found torn in the throne room.

“Didn’t you say the curse cannot be broken by any methods you’re willing to try?” you recall his sentiment, not his actual words but Jeongguk doesn’t protest at your imprecision.

“I didn’t think it was possible,” he admits as the fairy princess’ words echo in his ears: King Jeongguk, your people who blindly trust you will finally see who you really are. You’re selfish and empty-hearted, so hear my curse. This rose blooms until you turn 21. If the last petal falls and the flower dies, you shall stay in your monstrous form for ever. The only way to break the curse is to find someone who truly loves you, someone who can teach you how to love.

Jeongguk ridiculed love then and told the fairy that it’s impossible for royals like them, so the curse was also a test of his beliefs.

Since you don’t know any of that, you can only guess it’s the kind of fairy curse that has an expiration date. And when that day finally comes, Jeongguk will be a handsome, legitimate king again fighting to get back what he lost. He’ll soon forget about the stubborn fairy staying in his castle a while back. For a reason, it makes you nervous. You keep fidgeting with the hem of your dress, tea long forgotten. You know now is the time.

“Actually I’m really glad that you’re getting… better,” more human? You hesitate, chewing on the inside of your cheek. “Because I… my ankle is fine now and the forest is quiet, so I should… I should go. My family waits for me.”

It’s been days, actually weeks since you don’t feel the sharp pang of pain in your leg whenever you walk. You told yourself you’d wait only to make sure but day after day you kept waiting and it couldn’t get any better anymore. You didn’t want to admit but you stayed for him, because you didn’t want to leave Jeongguk’s side. But your family is in hiding in a small village up North and they will leave with the next shipping ferry at the end of the month. You’d better go if you don’t want to miss it. You should have been there a lot earlier to be honest. It’s been almost a months since you’re here but the thought of leaving still makes your throat close up and Jeongguk doesn’t make it easier either.

His smile falls much like withering leaves in early winter. Of course, what did he expect? Everyone leaves. He was stupid to hope you wouldn’t just because his curse is getting less effective.

“Oh. Sure. You shouldn’t stay out of pity,” is what he says when his heart wishes: please don’t leave.

“That isn’t what I was doing.” You taste something bitter as you protest. It bites into you, sealing your lips, so you can’t plead: ask me to stay.

He doesn’t. Even when his eyes bore into yours, he doesn’t say anything.

He only has few months until his 21st birthday, that fateful one that will seal his fate. If he can’t break the curse until then, he’ll stay in this form forever. How could he let you leave now? When he’s so sure it’s you who’s helping him get better? But he can’t just lock you up and keep you there. That would be just as bad of him. You deserve better. You should be with your family.

“Then take care,” you say instead of goodbye because you can’t bear to stay any longer in this awkward state, not when your heart is threatening to break into pieces so easily like fine china.

There’s no answer and your heart aches.

“Take care,” he whispers once you’re long gone taken all your belongings with you, everything that he could remember you by. There’s nothing but the half-read book left open on the dining table and your scent still lingering in the air.

He cares for you. A lot, he realizes, so what would it say about him if he hadn’t let you go?

That night he can’t sleep but he still hears the enchanting words: How does it feel? To love someone so much to give up something for them? Can you see now, young king, can you see that selfish actions wouldn’t bring any good?  But you shall see the selfless is always rewarded in the end.

You walk without looking back until night falls upon the land. You know that this time Jeongguk won’t follow you yet hope blooms in your chest instead of fear whenever you hear a crack or any strange noise in the forest. It takes long hours to convince yourself that it really won’t happen.

When it’s getting dark, it occurs to you that you could rest on a tree in the forest like you used to do but after your latest encounter with the hunters you’d rather not risk it. So you pay for a night in a small room above a fairy sympathizer inn in a hidden part of the wild area. It’s more hectic than you’d have thought and while you’re having your humble dinner you hear the others talk about rumours that the Kims plan to attack the castle. They say they want to claim the rest of the Jeon territory because the monster that lives there killed their hunters; it’s too dangerous to let it stray. The possibility of the gossips coming true scares you and your grip on the counter tightens with every overheard word.

“Care to join me?” a gentle hand touches yours and looking up you face with the prettiest fairy you’ve ever seen.

“Your Highne–” you gape at her, the princess of your Court smiling down at you brightly.

“Shh, my sister, not here.” She shakes her head slightly and leads you to a private room already filled with several of your kind. The princess offers you a place on the wide sofa alongside with a refreshing drink, the ambrosia of fairies. You’re in awe at her kindness, the gentleness she treats you but you can’t help the anxious knots in your stomach urging you to go back to Jeongguk. “You look dishevelled. Have you just arrived?”

“Yeah, from the forest,” you nod and take another sip of the nectarine.

“Oh such a dangerous place,” she says with a hint of intent and motherly understanding colouring her voice. Her cornflower blue eyes are curious, waiting for you to open up.

With each drop of the energizing liquid tasting like pure sunshine on your tongue, the eagerness to do something builds up in you until it becomes too much to bear.

“I need to go back. I need to warn–”

“Jeongguk. I know,” the princess smiles sweetly and gently brushes a stray lock behind your ear. “He saved you, didn’t he?”

“He did more than that,” you blurt out before you could think about the meaning it holds.

You don’t even realize until you say it out loud and your own confession leaves you astonished. He might have been rude to you at first but with time, you could see more and more of his softer side and the way he cared in the most subtle ways. You already miss him and the quiet mornings spent together on the balcony.

The omniscient eyes of the princess soften. Fairies are loyal creatures and in time of need the Court appreciates every bit of kindness: we protect those who protect us, they say.

“Does your heart pull you back to him?” she asks and you blink hard.

“How…” did you know that?

“Magic, dear,” the princess chuckles like one would be amused at a child’s mistake. Then her face turns serious and the entire room goes quiet at her next words. “Go and tell him that we’ll fight beside him. We won’t let the Kims have the entire land. We’ll fight back.”

Jeongguk is ready to sink back into his self-hatred filled loneliness when the castle begins to feel like the ghost of itself, hollow and empty. He certainly doesn’t expect the repetitive knocks on his bedroom’s door. When he opens it wide, he’s too surprised to be mad at you for showing up in the western wing he specially told you to stay away from. Instead he’s rendered speechless as he’s staring at your blushed cheeks and determined eyes. Not to mention the whole army of fairies behind you.

“Jeongguk, is that you? What happened? Is the curse broken?” you stumble over you words because you’re just as surprised as him. You liked him with horns and thorns and all his flaws by the time you left but at this moment, there’s a gorgeous young man in front of you. Tall and lean, skin smooth in a golden hue and your breath hitches as you look him in the eye. That sad sea of brown is glinting with a hint of hope now.  

“Wha– What are you doing here?” he asks confused, your questions long forgotten. To be honest, he doesn’t even know the answers himself.

“The Kims are preparing an attack. I brought reinforcement,” you tell him and suddenly Jeongguk can’t decide what to feel. There are so many emotions rushing through him as he’s looking over all the pointy ears, bright eyes and proud looks on the dozen strangers in his hallway. And among them there’s one he knows practically very well, one that he asked of the same thing you brought him: her men and women to fight on his side.

“Princess…” he curtly nods as a greeting towards the royal standing on your right.

“I see you have learnt the lesson, Jeon Jeongguk,” she says firmly and that’s only when you realize it has been her all along who cursed the boy. No wonder why she has known where you’d come from. “Now don’t forget and one day, you shall be a great king to be proud of.”

“Thank you,” Jeongguk whispers and at first, you think he’s still talking to the princess. But looking up, you find his gaze fixed on you. Daringly, you take his hand in yours, playing with the fingers because you know it won’t hurt him anymore and smile like there’s nothing in the world that could ruin this moment.

“Don’t thank me yet. We still have a battle to fight.”