To him, that person was Aesha.

She wondered if the deceased nanny would smile down from heaven if she saw her now.

Could she finally close her eyes in peace?
In the past, she might have sighed and felt stifled looking at herself.

She might have been resentful, wondering if she taught him that way…

Karaf let out a small laugh.

But now he knows as well. How to love someone.

Aesha felt Karaf’s breathing becoming steady and stopped singing.

Feeling that Karaf was now in a deep sleep, she gently brushed his bangs and whispered, “Have sweet dreams.”

She turned the lamp towards herself and quietly continued reading the book.

Aesha, reading a book containing information about past emperors and empresses, paused at a certain passage.

It mentioned that when the emperor’s flower withers, his partner loses their ability. The abilities would then transfer to someone else for the next flower born with the spirit of a butterfly.

When the emperor dies, the role as the empress also comes to an end.

It was not entirely wrong to say that she could only be free from this destiny if he died.

Aesha understood what the concubine meant.

The butterfly, who had been deprived of the empress’s status, spent the rest of her life in a monastery under protection.

Aesha wondered if she could have met Karaf’s mother in the monastery if she hadn’t died from a mental illness.

After a considerable amount of time passed, Karaf, who had been pretending to sleep, opened one eye and looked to the side, wearing an awkward expression.

Unbeknownst to him, Aesha had laid out a book and was nodding off.

“Is she really asleep? Before me…?”

Though he came to put her to sleep, she was the one who fell asleep first while reading.

Karaf chuckled and gently laid her on the bed.

Aesha fell into a peaceful sleep with a comfortable expression.

Looking at the book she had been reading with great interest, Karaf stifled a laugh.

It was a historical treatise, organized by years, and it was truly boring.

“I used to often fall asleep while reading this book.”

He smiled with a faint nostalgia.

In fact, the influence of the nanny was also a reason he grew to like books, but there was another reason.

Being an eyesore at the palace, he always roamed around looking for a place to breathe, and the places that caught his young eyes were the rose garden and the library.

In his childhood, reading books alone in the library was the only time he felt free.

At that time, he didn’t have much to do, so he worked hard studying with the determination to receive praise from his mother.

However, his mother, unaware that he didn’t desire to become an emperor, was not interested in him becoming one…

Karaf shook his head to dispel the memories of the past he didn’t want to recall, and then looked at Aesha again.

He had spent the past few days cooped up in the room, constantly looking for information and must have been quite tired.
Seeing him putting so much effort to lift my curse made me feel extremely grateful.

Karaf covered her with a thick blanket and, after extinguishing the lamp, lay down on the bed himself.

Although the two fell asleep facing away from each other, it felt much closer than before.

At that moment, Sosa returned to her lodging with clothes to change into before going to bed.

However, as she walked down the hallway, she suddenly heard a commotion coming from a room.

He said he would teach the children hunting techniques, but was he really giving them lessons this late at night?

When she cautiously opened the door, Sosa froze in place.

In the middle of the room, a gray horse stood tall, surrounded by children.

The children were playing with him, riding on his back, stroking his fur, or grabbing his mane and having a great time.

They were making a lot of noise, claiming to be annoyed by the noisy kids, but it turned out he was the one who was discovered.

“……. ”

A moment of silence passed, and Jackal’s face widened.

He opened his mouth, but instead of words, a disheartened sound of a sigh came out.

“Whinny…….”

Leaving him to be more embarrassed, Sosa casually asked the children.

“Was the horse playing with you?”

“Yes!”

“Really? He’s a very wild horse.”

“No! The horse is not wild at all!”

“We like the horse!”

The children clung even more to Jackal’s body. Jackal closed his eyes tightly, his face turning red.

“…I’ll go wash up first.”

Sosa closed the door again and left, shaking her head with a sly smile.

She felt it when she first met him, but Jackal pretended not to, he really liked the children.

From the room, for a while, innocent sounds of children saying, “Wow!” echoed.

The next day, early in the morning, someone came to the palace.

When Aesha opened the door of the reception room, surprisingly, Nia Delphinium, the young lady of Count Nia, was sitting comfortably on the sofa.

Seeing Aesha, she stood up, folded her hands politely, and bowed her head.

“Hello, Baroness. I’m Nia Delphinium, whom you met at the tea party hosted by Duke Lilac. Thank you for sparing your valuable time.”

Aesha was about to ask why she had come when she noticed her serious expression and realized something.

Seeing Aesha’s expression suddenly becoming serious, she asked.

“Did something happen to the Count? Is that why you came to see me?”