It felt like flowers and butterflies were conversing in different languages.
And it was ironically the same feeling that Asha had whenever she conversed with him in the past…

Once again, Karaf couldn’t accept that the person he had believed to be his own, for reasons he couldn’t comprehend, was trying to distance himself.

Unconsciously, I ended up poking him with a face full of discontent.

“So, does that mean that now you cannot forgive what I did when you first entered the palace…?”

Asha did not answer. In response, Karaf became even more enraged and continued speaking.

“Yes, I resented you and tormented you without any reason because of my grudge against the minority. But soon after, I regretted it deeply. Since the Flower Festival, I genuinely treated you with all my heart. I did my best to give you love, to win your heart. And now you claim that I couldn’t give you trust? Is that why you chose to abandon me for that man?”

Asha, looking at him without saying anything, only responded with silence.

With that reaction, Karaf spoke with a chillingly determined face.

“A moment ago, I was on my way to torture that guy.”

Asha’s pupils trembled.

Seeing her react as soon as she mentioned that man, Karaf clenched his fist, feeling his pride hurt.

Is that guy such a precious existence?

If so, I couldn’t just leave him alone.

If I make the precious one to her suffer, she will have no choice but to endure it.

Unlike me, who is tainted with malice to the bone, she is a good being. Surely, even if it’s forcibly, she will have to choose and love me.

What is precious to her must be me alone.

She is the empire’s only butterfly, the sole light and hope for herself…

Unlike before, just smiling without saying anything, Karaf deliberately spoke more cruelly.

“That guy will suffer through torture and die in agony. And until his flesh rots and disfigures to the point of being unrecognizable, his neck will be displayed in the square for a long time.”

Asha’s face turned as white as snow.

Even though the cause was different, in the end, it was the same fate as the one Jakal experienced in the past.

Karaf laughed self-deprecatingly like a madman, pouring out monologues.

“All the imperial citizens will point their fingers at his face. They will say, ‘How dare he aim for the emperor’s woman and carry out the sacred revolutionary day kidnapping.’ We’ll throw the rotten corpse to the beasts or crows, and they’ll clean it up neatly. He doesn’t deserve a tomb.”

Asha, no longer wanting to hear these dreadful stories, closed her eyes tightly, covered her ears sharply, and screamed.

“Stop…! Please stop…!”

At her sharp reaction, which he had never seen before, Karaf’s eyes widened slightly.

When he came to his senses, Asha was already crouching on the ground, trembling to the point of looking pitiful.
Tears were seen falling on the floor.

Karaf, for a moment, felt a sharp pain in his head, pressing his fingers against his forehead.

Once again, he felt like he had seen such a scene before…

It was the same during the Flower Festival, and every time he looked at Asha, different scenes seemed to overlap, creating a disturbing sensation.

Speaking softly to the crying Asha, Karaf said, “Still… I will never let you die alone. I will give you one last chance. Erase that guy completely from your heart and become my woman. Choose me.”

Although he spoke firmly, his eyes were also trembling slightly.

He was afraid that she might choose death instead of choosing him.

The scene of her dying was a feeling that shattered his heart just by imagining it, and he never wanted to see it.

Finally, Asha looked at him with violet eyes filled with tears and said, “Your Majesty, as I mentioned earlier, I cannot love someone who once drove me to death, twice.”

“What on earth…”

Karaf muttered with a pale face, as if his soul had left him.

“Come to think of it, that guy said the same thing to me… What on earth is that nonsense since earlier? Explain it so that I can understand!”

He burst into anger.

He used to easily get angry whenever things didn’t go his way, only thinking from his own perspective.

“…Those who have been deeply pierced by the sharp thorns while trying to pick a rose will no longer try to take another rose.”

Asha said, closing her eyes tightly and trembling, “I’m scared of you, Your Majesty. Just being close to you is terrifying enough to give me goosebumps.”

At her cry mixed with pain, Karaf’s expression was now distorted to the point of looking pitiful.

He had never hoped for such a day to come…

Finally, Asha made up her mind and, as if led by an irresistible force, opened her mouth.

It was a story that she had considered keeping a secret until she went to the grave.

“…Your Majesty. In fact, Your Majesty and I, this is not our first meeting.”