The Poisoned Crown P1: Viper's Bite ✨

                                    

                                          

His words are like a delicate poison, slipping into my veins with a sweetness that masks the bitterness beneath. Each sentence he speaks wraps around me like a silken chain, binding me closer, yet I can't help but drink them in, even as I feel them tightening. It's a venom I've come to crave—a slow, seductive burn that threatens to consume me, yet in that consuming fire, I find a twisted comfort. I know it will destroy me, but the thought of life without it feels even more suffocating. In every lie, every touch, there's a strange peace—a false serenity that makes me forget the storm raging within.
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Hyunjin's POV:
The echoes of applause and murmurs of approval still lingered in the air, even though the grand hall had long emptied. The ceremony was over, and Minho had been crowned the new leader of the Venom gang. The weight of my words from earlier in the night still hung over me, heavy and undeniable. I had done what I needed to do—ensured that everyone in the room submitted to Minho's authority. The speech I gave had been bold, fierce, and unyielding, just as it needed to be. And it had worked. I had watched as they bowed their heads, accepting Minho's dominance without further question. My words had become reality, and now Minho wore the Venom ring—the silver band etched with the image of a spider, the symbol of his new power.
Yet, despite the victory, a part of me couldn't shake the bitterness that lingered. I sat alone on one of the empty chairs, away from the others, watching as Minho conversed with Chan and the remaining members, their low laughter and quiet celebrations a stark contrast to the whirlwind of emotions brewing inside me. My eyes drifted to Minho's hand, where the Venom ring glinted under the dim lights. I smiled bitterly. That ring, that symbol of power... it had cost us so much more than anyone in this room could understand.
I wouldn't have knelt down or made that speech if Felix hadn't come to me. The memory of his words just before the ceremony played on repeat in my mind, like a haunting melody I couldn't escape. His voice had been soft but urgent, every word laced with the weight of secrets I hadn't been prepared to hear.
"Hyunjin," Felix had said, his eyes dark with concern. "I know Minho hyung will kill me if he finds out I told you this, but I hope what I'm about to say changes your mind. Minho Hyung doesn't know that I know... but I found out something after his father died. Something Jisung has been hiding—something that devastated him, not just because of losing Minho Hyung's father, but because of what he did to Minho Hyung."
I had stared at Felix, my heart pounding in my chest, as he continued, the weight of his words crashing down on me like a tidal wave. "Minho's father wasn't kind to him during that training period," Felix had said, his voice trembling with the emotion he tried so hard to suppress. "He handed Minho over to a secret organization in China... a place where they tortured him for months without mercy. It wasn't just physical training—it was designed to break him, to make him endure anything and everything without faltering. They wanted to make sure he wouldn't get attached to anything that might make him weak. They were training him to be a weapon."
Felix's voice had wavered, but he didn't stop. "They ordered him to separate from you, Hyunjin. But he resisted. He fought against it. Until... until they threatened to blow up our gang's house, to kill everyone in it—including you. That's when he gave in. That's why he sent those divorce papers."
Even now, sitting in the empty hall, Felix's words reverberated through my mind. The sadness that had washed over me then mixed with a burning anger. Sadness that Minho had suffered so much, that the father who should have loved him had subjected him to such horrors. And anger—anger that Minho hadn't told me any of this, that he had carried this burden alone, that he had kept me in the dark.