The Elawe tribe was uniformly white and pale, and they had no martial arts skills at all.

Yet they charged at Karkan without a hint of fear. With eyes yearning for the fertile land.

Later, it was heard that their nickname was the ‘Tribe of Death’.

The Elawe were a tribe possessing the power to steal people’s breath and convert it into one-time magic.

They would steal people’s breath and store it, then unleash magic. If their skin touched or eyes met, vitality would be sucked out. The hands of the Elawe were truly like the touch of a demon.

Karkan, who had never lost a war, suffered a great blow for the first time after clashing with the Elawe. The Elawe also suffered a great blow.

‘Such people must not be left alone!’

‘We are those who value life and borrow the power of the earth. For the sake of justice, we must slay those who exploit death!’

There was a great uproar in Karkan.

Both Karkan and Elawe used the power of stealing life, but Karkan rationalized that they at least accumulated power through hunting or justifiable wars.

The wicked appearance and absurd magical abilities of those people seemed very strange.

Thus, Karkan launched a surprise attack on the Elawe, who were preparing to reorganize and invade.

It could not be said whose fault it was. The Elawe, who came to seize the land, must have had their own desperate circumstances, and Karkan could not back down from this fertile land either.

At that time, it was a natural war.

The only difference was that Karkan, fearing the mysterious power of the Elawe, pretended to be ‘just’ and showed mercy to other tribes to form an alliance, while nearly annihilating the Elawe.

All the people of Elawe, who thought it would end with a proper war, died.

In the burning battlefield, the last and most powerful mage of the Elawe remained.

The one who had taken more lives than anyone else offered their own life as a sacrifice and cursed Karkan.

It was a curse that would last forever, passed down through generations.

‘Karkan is recklessly wielding a power they cannot handle. The more they use their power, their fingertips will shrivel and their whole body will harden, soon turning their heart to stone.

There is only one way to break the curse.

Gain the love of an Elawe and kill them. And today, the Elawe will be destroyed!’

Thus, the mage shouted as they burned their own body.

The sight of the burning mage was overwhelming, and Karkan recorded it. Because the uneasiness did not go away. Also, they prayed to God more diligently than before.

But soon, the first victim appeared. When they cut open the victim’s body, which had hardened stiffly all over, to check just in case… the heart was seen hardened like a gray stone.

Thus, the power of Karkan gradually weakened and quickly headed towards the path of annihilation.

* * *

It was utterly childish.

That was Carlos’s first impression of the curse of the Elawe mage that he heard from his mother. It was not content that resonated with him as a child.

Gain love and then kill? The cruel mage must have been quite a romantic. He found most of it pathetic, including the tribal wars and the fact that they massacred each other in the name of justice.

Every time his mother repeated this story, Carlos couldn’t help but sigh.

‘Carl. You have to listen carefully to Mom’s story. It’s important.’

‘Yes, Mother. But…’

Then his mother would sternly urge him. She tried to tell the story in as much detail as possible, saying it was important for his life.

But it didn’t really resonate with him, whose face had become sullen due to puberty. Still, he pretended to listen intently as he enjoyed spending time with his mother.

Perhaps it was then that the mask of emotions he freely switched in front of people was completed.

Rather, when Carlos learned that his power was extraordinary, he studied the sword more diligently. Even if it wasn’t thanks to the tribe’s power, Carlos was a born warrior.

Moreover, if he went out hunting from time to time and caught a beast, his power overflowed on that day. It was quite an addictive feeling.

His mother kept reminding him of the curse and advised him to stop, but he couldn’t.

He wanted to save his mother, who was confined to the detached palace and bore the brunt of it. His mother always looked lonely.

The former Emperor was a person obsessed with power. Although he launched small-scale wars of conquest, he lacked the skills to win.

The battlefields were scattered. Carlos deliberately roamed the battlefields at a young age. Because he could accumulate more power there. That’s how he even awakened the Aura, which was said to exist only in legends.

He was happy then. Because he could take his mother out of the detached palace and stand proudly in front of the former Emperor. So, even while roaming the battlefields, he also studied. He was a person who excelled in studies as well.

But that was the problem.

As he, the fifth prince, emerged as a famous figure on the battlefields and received attention from the former Emperor, there were many who checked him, and assassins constantly pursued him.

He thought he only needed to protect his own safety. So he deliberately stayed away from his mother and roamed outside.

But one day, at the age of twenty, he had to hear the news of his mother’s death while chewing on dried meat on the battlefield.

They said it was an intrusion by an unknown assailant.

Later, it was revealed that the forces of the 2nd Prince, the son of one of the five Empresses, had crossed the line.

He repaid them clearly.

The corpse of the 2nd Prince surfaced on the river in the capital. Carlos, who was favored by the former Emperor, was not even considered a suspect.

But no matter how much he did that, his mother did not return, and he, who had committed too much slaughter…

‘Dully stupid.’

His limbs were already hardening.

His mother said that was the fate of Karkan.

But he hated fate. That’s why he learned the sword from an early age.

Damn fate. What the hell is that? Is it also fate that his mother had to live being ignored like that and die?

It didn’t make sense. If fate really existed, he wanted to show it.

He swore in front of his mother’s corpse. That her life and his were not being dictated by a predetermined curse and luck. That he would break free from fate and survive to show her.

From the beginning, he lived on the battlefield, and after becoming Emperor, he used the excuse of conquest wars to roam the whole world.

He couldn’t bear not to search. Even though he knew the Elawe had been annihilated.

And… miraculously, he found Mercedes.

He recognized Mercedes as soon as he saw her. Because his power, called Aura, keenly detected her power.

On the other hand, she may not have used her power much and lived, so she didn’t recognize him.

Not only were the descendants of Karkan, who should have perished long ago, alive, but also the descendants of the Elawe.

And those two were destined to meet.

What kind of twist of fate is this?

Carlos trembled. It felt like God had given him life.

He was going to bring Mercedes to his side no matter what, even if he had to threaten Shame.

Well, the method changed a bit because that woman caused an incident, but he brought her anyway.

‘It will all be over soon.’

A curse that had been entangled and twisted as much as possible through a very long history.

Perhaps the God of Karkan sent her to break this shackle in his generation.

So Carlos was going to proceed with everything according to plan.

‘When can you be sure of love…’

It was certain that she was shaken, but it was difficult to be sure of love.

“Damn mage…”

He clicked his tongue.

He had thought it was a curse too childish to listen to. Do you think you won’t be able to kill if you’re loved? Unfortunately, Carlos had not lived so innocently.

But now, rather than being childish, he thought it was quite a complicated curse.

It was possible to gain love and kill.

However, the problem was certainty about the other person’s feelings. And even if they considered it love, what if the curse judged it as not love?

He could kill the only descendant of the Elawe he found without much gain.

If it had been a curse like kill a legendary dragon and offer its heart, he would have somehow gathered a party and searched for it.

Love was a truly abstract concept, so it was difficult to get the timing right.

‘…Just a little more. Let’s be patient.’

Ignoring his tingling toes, he began to read the documents on his desk.

If he gave up the seat next to him and trust like that and pushed a little more, surely there would come a time when he could be certain.

As he turned the documents, he paused for a moment. His fingertips stopped moving on their own.

Sighing, he eventually opened the locked drawer and took out a small crystal ball, tapping it. The crystal ball, which was full of dark clouds, soon emitted a red light.

“Come back to the Imperial Palace soon. My body keeps hardening.”

He whispered to the crystal ball, but there was no answer.

‘They will check later and answer.’

Most countries nurture mages. The Loom Empire operated the largest magic academy among them. Many of them also worked in the Imperial Palace.

Those who were mostly called ‘healers’ by people were also those who had learned healing magic through the academy. Low-level healers could only treat wounds, but even that earned them quite a lot of money. That’s how valuable mages were as a resource.

Carlos had a genius mage he had sent to restore the war-torn regions. It was before Mercedes arrived.

Because he knew that the devastated land would recover faster with that mage there, he had sent them, but now it was said to be quite restored, and his body seemed to have reached its limit.

That mage was his loyal friend and subordinate who knew his condition accurately and uniquely. And it was also the person who could somewhat alleviate these symptoms.