The father and stepsister had long since seen each other's faces, following the doctor's advice that they were in danger. However, Milady came to visit once every six months.
But even Milady was nervous, and if she happened to take a deep breath, she instinctively flinched.
Knowing this, Endymion refused to even meet with her last year. He thought it would be inefficient to continue doing something that wasn't comfortable for them.
Endymion felt like his mother and the Doctor were the same. Her mother, who separated from him when he was two years old, had no feelings. Nothing like the affection or longing you should feel for your blood relatives.
The content of the book and his dark, narrow world were so different.
In a book of so many things, the only thing Endymion understood was a sense of dullness, stillness, and silence. A cold state in which there is no emotion or change.
Endymion was buried in the things he was most familiar with. The time he didn't say a word a day had been repeating itself for years.
Rattle, crunch.
The familiar sound of bars and locks was faintly heard. Then, the sound of footsteps rushing in fear faded away.
Soon, in the splendid palace that had been locked tight, he was completely alone.
"..."
The warmth he felt for the first time in a long time cooled down.
Endymion clutched his palms as if trying to grasp the vanished sensations like a mirage. But it wasn't long before the fingers that had been straining them parted.
'Again.'
Endymion stared up at the ceiling blankly, unable to hear anything, and closed his eyes.
It was bitterly cold today
***
It was an unremarkable day.
He ate a meal prepared by the people he didn't see like shadows and read a book in his clean room.
In the afternoon, he practiced swordsmanship until he was drenched in sweat. He didn't have a teacher, but with a textbook and a good sword, he enlightened everyone up to the intermediate level. His well-developed physique for his age was also a good springboard.
"I wish I could spar."
Endymion muttered as he shook his drenched hair. With no teacher or sparring partner, his skills were stagnant, as if he was stuck.
'I don't think so.'
Endymion sat down on the couch.
Isolated and confined from the age of two, unable to speak properly, he was accustomed to this kind of routine. A deafening silence.
But today, a bitter cold enveloped his body. Endymion raised his arms to cover his eyes.
'... Curse.'
In a spacious and splendid castle, the young Crown Prince is deeply imprisoned for all rights.
Semele's immediate royal family had a blood-soaked curse. Randomly manifested across generations.
The Immediate royal family afflicted by the curse was born with an extraordinary in everything. A distinctly more beautiful appearance, superior strength, superior in tellect and strong body.
He was a creature without any shortcomings. It was a splendid blessing beyond the realm of man. Even the blood of Dunamis, the god who founded Semele, was believed to be mixed. But that was the beginning of all the disasters.
The curse drained the life.
Whether it was people, animals, or plants, they took the lives of others. All living beings who came in contact with the cursed royalty fell ill and died.
Semele's ancestors kept this curse a closely guarded secret. It was a serious matter that could have led to the collapse of the royal family if it became known to the outside world.
As such, they could not openly study or treat them, and the cursed royals were quarantined as soon as they were identified. The people around him kept dying, so he thought it would be okay to leave them alone.
But the terrible curse began to eat away at his own life if he didn't have any other life.
As he grew older and his body grew, the curse grew stronger rapidly. Thus, most of the cursed royals of the past died in isolation before they reached adulthood.
Everyone hushed and tried to ignore this curse.
"This is the shame of the powerful Semele. You must never reveal this weakness!"
"That's right. It's not a common outbreak anyway, is it? It must be covered up so that no one knows except the person and his parents!"
In the meantime, the royal couple of Semele died in an accident, and the young Prince ascended the throne. And after he became king, a curse set in.
'Kyaaaaaa...'
'Sa, spare me, Your Highness!'
Perhaps because of the late onset, the effect of the curse was even more powerful. Not only were the people around him dying rapidly, but the King himself was murdering. Even wars have stained entire continents in blood.
Rumors spread that King Semele had gone mad, and he became the most terrible tyrant in history.
Belatedly realizing the seriousness of the situation, the Loyalist family made every effort to break the curse. When he didn't take any medicine, he secretly contacted the Demon Tower and brought a wizard from his family. They hope that magic will solve it.
But magic was helpless in the face of the curse. They thought it would get a little better when the wizard appeared, but they were mistaken. In the end, the wizard died suddenly, and the King went on a rampage.
Fortunately, the cursed King died a year later, but the impact of the crazed tyrant was significant.
Because of the sorcerer's death, Semele had to put in a lot of effort to repair their relationship with the Demon Tower. It also took a long time to restore the blood-stained country.
If there was any success, it was that he began to secretly study the curse in earnestly
The loyalist family, who had been respected for generations as Academy scholars, stepped in to take charge. They didn't know how to break the curse either, but once the cursed royals were born, they systematically managed them to minimize the blow.
As soon as the curse was identified, they were separated and imprisoned, and life communion training was carried out so that they would not suddenly suck out the life force of others.
Luckily, it worked to some extent, and it slowed down the curse that was killing nearby life like eating prey. As long as the time of face-to-face meetings was strictly controlled, they could meet steadily on the premise that they would not have direct contact.
But it wasn't a complete solution. The fact that they sucked life was the same, and in the end, all of the cursed royals died before reaching adulthood.
The Semele royal family struggled to break the cycle of the curse. Medicine and research couldn't solve it, so the magic power, which had worked a little, was the last hope.
But the tower refused. Citing the precedent of a wizard being killed by a crazed tyrant, he nailed that the Demon Tower would no longer be involved in the curse.
Inevitably, the Semele royal family insisted that they were vulnerable to magical powers when a cursed royal was born. He, too, dies before adulthood due to a congenital limitation.
He hid it deep in the palace. He couldn't even let him out of the city for fear of repercussions, hoping that he would die as soon as possible.
And so, the cursed royals died a lonely life in a dark corner of the city.
Endymion didn't know anything at first. But as his mind grew, and as he went through the training of communion with life in a controlled state, he slowly awakened.
That he are the culprit. That he was cursed.
The first victim was a cat, followed by a driver and a nanny who were his closest escorts. All of them fell ill and left the Crown Prince's womb in critical condition.
They all died because of him. And at this moment, he himself was dying of a curse.
"So, this is how I should continue to live."
Until he die,s and it's all over.
Endymion lowered his arms and muttered. As always, a numb voice lingered in the silent room and then vanished.
"..."
In fact, it was. He didn't dare say it out loud.
When he thinks about the fact that this kind of life will continue until he dies, he wonders if something will come out of his heart.
"I, Crown Prince. Do you feel any way?"
"What?"
Sad, confused, or not. Don't you feel it when you see these animals trembling?
"No, nothing."
He had read about it in books, but Endymion didn't know what emotions were. He'd never felt it before.
He's seen the Doctor who meets him the most, sometimes with the corners of his mouth stretched out and sometimes with sweaty frowns.
Unlike the cold face he saw in the mirror every day, he was interested in the ever-changing face. But he didn't understand why he was changing or exactly what he was feeling. He wonders if it's because he sees it once a month.
Endymion thought for a moment before speaking,
'I have a question.'
Endymion asked what the emotion was. Then, the Doctor turned pale.
'Oh, maybe it's a sympathetic problem... Do you know. No. Let's keep up the bond training.'
Having said that, the doctor never asked him about his feelings again. So, Endymion knew he was weird.
Endymion sewed his garment with numb eyes. Then, he stood still in the middle of the room for a few minutes.
'I think it's cold.'
Endymion looked through the transparent window. It was a bright sunny afternoon, and it wasn't even winter, but it was somehow cold. He put on a thick robe, but the cold remained.
Endymion thought for a moment, then stepped out of the triple-locked door.
Click.
Funnily enough, Endymion easily made his way out into the hallway. The unseen users desperately sought to avoid him. But at the same time, he was caught off guard.
Perhaps because he had been imprisoned for years without resistance, the servants would occasionally inadvertently spill the keys while cleaning.
Endymion left everything and picked up one master key. The acolytes kept the lock intact, unaware that it had been lost elsewhere.
Boom, that's it.
Endymion traversed the empty, cold hallway. It is still daytime, and there will be servants.
Endymion recalled that in the last sympathy exercise, the limit of contact was 20 minutes.
'I don't care if you give orders from afar.'
It doesn't touch your skin, and it only takes a few seconds to tell you're in the fire place.
Endymion opened his thick robe against the chill that penetrated his chest. And he had never come out during the day, so he went down to the first floor, which was unfamiliar to him.
"Decision... Already. You'll have to be prepared."
There was a faint sound of speech below. Endymion slowed down a bit as he step ped up the stairs.
"Yes? Marriage?!"
In the main lobby, the attendant was shouting in dismay.
Endymion scanned the scene with a nonchalant eye. Next to him was a doctor who had visited two weeks ahead of schedule.
"Shhh, I haven't announced it yet."
"Sorry, sin. But it's absolutely impossible. isn't it? How can you marry someone who can't even touch life?"
Endymion stopped.
It was his story.
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