CHAPTER 107: CHAPTER 107: THE CURSE

Kieran’s POV~

After bringing her back safely to the room and changing her into dry clothes, I dared not linger there. I knew the most critical time had already passed, and she would be fine.

With this thought, I walked back to my room in my soaking clothes. I needed to change and take a shower.

After freezing in the stream for hours, my bones had completely frozen. It would not have much impact on Selene, but for me, it had chilled me to the core.

Even my breathing was labored. I am not a werewolf, who has strong healing abilities, nor a witch, who can heal themselves.

Even I don’t know what I am.

As I reached my room, I headed straight to the shower, stripping off all my clothes and the mask I always wore—even when I was alone. Letting the warm water run over me, I felt the chill inside my body begin to fade.

I clenched my eyes shut as old memories streamed through my mind. Selene must not remember me as that skinny boy, malnourished to the point that I had to take deep breaths just to keep up with her when we played.

But still, I never complained. She had been the only joy in my dull life, the little tyrant whose bullying somehow brought me happiness in a cruel world.

I had spent my entire childhood in the Moonveil Pack. But I was an orphan; I never knew who my parents were. Being weak from birth, I was despised by the entire pack. It felt like a miracle that I had survived those years when everyone thought I would die at any moment.

Some people mocked me endlessly, saying I was cursed and that the Moon Goddess was punishing me for killing my own parents by being born. From their sneers and cruel words, I pieced together that, in their eyes, my parents had died because of me.

No one ever told me the truth. With the label of "cursed," no one was willing to speak to me...let alone tell me who I was or where I came from.

But I never believed their lies. I told myself it was only their way of bullying me. At least, until the day fate decided to prove them right.

Because the curse began to show itself—spreading across my face. And for the first time, I wondered if maybe they were right. Maybe I really was cursed. From the moment that glaring black mark marred my skin, making me look like a monster, my life changed. I never dared to face anyone again, not even the little tyrant I used to play with.

I hid away in a little shed far from the pack, wishing I had died instead of being born. I almost gave up on life, not even leaving the shed to find food or water. And the pack members who had called me names all my life didn’t care whether I lived or starved.

After two days without food, when death was slowly wrapping its claws around me, I realized that if I died, no one would grieve.

But then, just like a beam of light in the darkness, someone came to me.

At first, I thought I had died and met a fairy. She whispered soft words to me as I drifted in and out of consciousness. When I opened my eyes, I saw her there. She smiled at me and said gently, "Don’t worry, everything will be alright."

I felt myself wrapped in warmth, a soothing presence that seeped into my body and touched the cursed mark that was spreading across my face day by day.

Then I heard her whisper again, "Don’t worry, my child. It will not spread further. I cannot fully heal it now, but I will find a way."

She cradled my frail body, helping me drink water and feeding me small pieces of food. When I was strong enough to open my eyes fully, I realized that the woman was none other than the Luna, the mother of the little tyrant who had been my only light.

A broken whimper escaped my lips, and I clung to her, sobbing. Through my tears, I asked, "What have I done to deserve this curse?"

The Luna stroked my back, her voice gentle as she coaxed me. "There is a reason for everything, my child. Don’t lose hope. You have fought so hard for this life. Don’t let this curse claim it."

Those words etched themselves deep into my heart. Even now, they remain. I have fought for this life, and I will never let it slip away because of a curse.

I snapped back from those memories and turned off the shower. Drying myself off, I put on simple loungewear.

As I rubbed my hair with a towel, my gaze fell on the mirror. Half of my face was marked by the black mark of the curse, stretching from the left side of my forehead down across my cheekbone.

In the past, it had spread rapidly. But after her healing, it stopped, frozen in place. It had never disappeared...because she is no more.

But I hardly care about this cursed mark anymore. I will never let it define me.

Yet I have always hidden it, because I never want anyone to look at me with that same mixture of fear and disgust again, the way they once looked at me like I was a monster.

I had seen too many eyes filled with that expression in the past. That was when I decided to cover it, to pretend to live a normal life.

And also because I don’t want Selene to see it. I don’t want to see the disgust in her eyes when she looks at this curse.

I could endure the curse, the whispers, the loneliness that has carved itself into my bones.

But if Selene ever looks at me with the same revulsion they did, if her eyes mirror their hatred, it will destroy me. That pain would kill me faster than any curse ever could.