Author's POV

"Who are you?"

Jungkook held his breath in and looked at Y/N in her eyes. "Stop joking around." He reached out to hold Y/N's arm and look at her wound.

"Don't touch me. Who are you? Who am I? Who are you all? What am I doing here?" She quickly moved back from the boys and looked around as if she hadn't been there for almost a month now.

Quickening her pace and walking backwards, she bumped into someone. She turned around to find Taehyung looking down at her. "What's all this noise about? I thought I told you not to cause any trouble, then why are you so onto getting on my nerves again?

"Who are you, and why are you shouting at me for god's sake?" The girl stood eye to eye with the king as she reflected his anger back at him.

"Taehyung, we might have a little problem; she's acting like she doesn't know us all of a sudden." Hoseok steps up, feeling the buildup of the conflict. "Why don't we take her to her room and call the royal physician to see what is going on? Is she affected by what happened today so much or what?"

✦—————♛—————✦

The moon hung low in the sky, casting long shadows through the transparent palace windows. The air in the palace was thick with unease after Y/N's memory loss. Y/N lay motionless on the ornate bed in the royal palace, her once-bright eyes clouded by confusion. Beside her, the boys, except Taehyung, all exchanged worried glances. Her memory was a shattered mirror; fragments of her past life were jumbled and scattered. She didn't remember her name or the people who surrounded her with concern.

As word spread through the palace, the royal physician, Dr. Hwang, was summoned to assess Y/N's condition. He examined her carefully, furrowing his brows as he considered her symptoms. After a thorough examination, he turned to the group with a solemn expression.

"I'm afraid Y/N has a rare allergy to thorns," the physician explained. "It's an incredibly rare condition, and any contact with thorns can result in memory loss, among other symptoms. She'll need rest and medication to recover."

The boys exchanged bewildered glances, the pieces of the puzzle slowly coming together. Taehyung, who had overheard the conversation, was called in to join the discussion.

As he entered the room, the physician turned to Taehyung and stated, "I believe you have an allergy as well, don't you, Your Highness?"

Taehyung nodded, his expression grave. "Yes, I'm allergic to roses."

The realisation hit the group like a lightning bolt. He was allergic to roses, while Y/N was allergic to thorns. They were two sides of the same coin, a paradox of nature. But this revelation also meant something else: they could help each other overcome their respective weaknesses. It was an ironic twist of fate that they were both bound by a shared vulnerability, though it also seemed to hold the key to unlocking Y/N's lost memories.

"It all makes sense now," Jimin said, his voice heavy with realization. "Y/N is allergic to thorns, and Taehyung is allergic to roses. The universe has a strange way of giving us clues about connecting them."

"Stop that." Taehyung flashed his green eyes at him and gritted his teeth.

"What? I'm just trying to piece together the information here. Don't act like you don't know." The Lord of Lust looked into the king's eyes mischievously.

"Your majesties? I have given her a few medications that will help her gain memories faster. I suggest that you let her have a little walk around when she wakes up to give her a stronger chance of recovering faster."

✦—————♛—————✦

As the days passed, Y/N lay in her room, resting and recovering. Slowly, her memories began to return in fragments. Like pieces of a puzzle coming together, she saw herself living a perfect life with Taehyung, filled with happiness and love. They were together in so many memories, sharing their laughter, dreams, and secrets. A little drop of tears rolled down her eyes as her happy memories soon started to turn into sad memories of betrayal and remorse.

One night, as she lay in bed, Y/N experienced a vivid flashback of someone's childhood. She saw a little girl adorned in a beautiful dress, while her parents placed a crystal crown on her head. The moment was solemn, as her mother whispered to her, "You will have to lead your people and rule the kingdom after me."

The father turned away from them, a troubled expression on his face, and spoke in hushed tones to her mother. "I have been called back", he said, before walking into a bright light that turned ominously black as he disappeared.

Y/N's dream was filled with emotions, and she woke up from her memories with her heart pounding. Something was different, though. She realised that she wasn't as restrained as she had been before. Taehyung entered the chamber, his arrogant eyes masking his concern. "You can walk around the palace now, the royal physician said that it would be good for your recovery" he said, "but only if one of us are with you at all times. Don't you dare think about running away? You've already seen what can happen."

Y/N was quiet as she saw Taehyung turn his head away and walk off, closing the door but not locking it.

Over the following days, Y/N took tentative steps into her new life. Her memory was slowly returning, like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle falling into place. She was discovering that her love for Taehyung, her V, and the happiness they had shared was still there in her heart, but there were still gaps and missing fragments of his betrayal that constantly tore her. She longed to be whole again, to remember everything, and to know who she truly was.

✦—————♛—————✦

One sunny afternoon, Y/N decided to take a walk around the palace grounds with Jungkook.

"Um, so why did you want to walk around with me and not anyone else?" Jungkook decided to break the thick air instead of walking around in silence.

The girl spoke up, "I don't know, maybe because we're closer to the same age and you can answer a lot of my questions...?" The uncertainty in the girl's voice could be strongly detected by the purple demon.

"So what did you want to ask me?" Jungkook asked, and Y/N immediately turned to him and started, "Tell me his entire story. I want to know where he went so wrong that he suspects that my parents were the murderers."

"Y/N, it's not my place to talk. You have to ask Hyung that." The girl reluctantly tried to convince the man. "But you know that he's not going to tell me. Please, Jungkook, please. I know that you being my friend and liking me was all fake on Earth, but please tell me. As my best friend?"

Jungkook exhaled, feeling defeated by the girl, as he summarised Taehyung's miserable childhood. "He was quite young when he found his parents dead in the very same throne room where he sits. That very same throne room was where he'd go when to when he wanted to feel happiness. Why? Because he would always find his parents there, who would have time for their son no matter how busy they were. That one day turned his entire life upside down. He walked in to see his parents sitting on their thrones with their bodies covered in blood. Gong Yoo was also there. He saw your parents attacking Taehyung's parents."

The floor under Y/N's feet moved as she heard her parents' acts being witnessed. "But Gong Yoo could have been mistaken. He could have seen someone else, and he mistook them for my parents."

"Y/N. He was also attacked; that's because he saw your parents."

The air got quieter and thicker as he continued to recount everything Gong Yoon and Taehyung had experienced in the past few years. The tranquility was shattered when a small laser light fell upon Jungkook's body. He gasped in pain, clutching his chest as he crumpled to the ground.

"Ah! Y/N, move that away... It's my weakness."

Y/N's heart raced as she tried to block the laser, preventing it from falling on Jungkook, who lay on the ground, screaming in pain. She turned to see a menacing figure hidden in the shadows.

Trevor, his face obscured by darkness, continued to flash the light on Jungkook. He cried out in agony, continuously burying his head into the ground and eventually losing consciousness. Y/N was paralysed with fear, her mind racing to comprehend the sudden turn of events.

Trevor didn't stop incapacitating Jungkook. With a sinister smile, he walked towards the limp body of Jungkook and kicked him. Y/N looked at him in both fear and anger as she leapt towards Trevor and slapped him on the face. He picked his hand up, but instead of slapping her back, he put his hand on her forehead and knocked her out just like Taehyung had done before.

Then, with a chilling laugh, he threw a scroll next to Jungkook and put death flowers on them—flowers that are put on someone's grave when they die; they resemble the dead and how they never return when they're gone.

He disappeared into the shadows, carrying Y/N with him.

"You're mine now, Y/N..."

💜Published: 31/10/23💜