Asha barely escaped with her life when she attacked a minority village by the Delphinium Count’s family, and wandered in desperation, awakening as a butterfly that day.

That was the seed of misfortune…

Though that incident is now something that did not happen, she still did not lie to Duran.

“I want to know about Your Majesty as well.”

At Asha’s question, Duran, who had been lost in thought, looked at her with a halfsmile.

“Do you have even a slight intention to break His Majesty’s curse then?”

Asha sighed slightly and answered.

“I don’t know how to break the curse yet. But if it’s something I can do, I’ll try.”

Duran nodded at her words and asked.

“What would you like me to tell you?”

“About His Majesty’s past. How he came to be cursed, too.”

Duran’s body flinched momentarily.

“You were always by His Majesty’s side, Sir Duran, so you must know the exact circumstances of the curse.”

He hesitated, then opened his mouth.

It was not something that should be casually mentioned, but Duran sincerely wished that she, the butterfly, would save His Majesty from the deep darkness.

“…This story is known only to a very few people in the Imperial Palace. Because His Majesty does not want this story to spread, everyone keeps it quiet.”

“Still, please tell me. I think it will help me understand His Majesty a little.”

Asha, recalling her failed attempts to enlighten him in the past, wanted to know more about this story.

It was a story she hadn’t dared to ask about in her previous life, as if asking about it would be akin to blaming herself. And it was unlikely that his prideful nature would have allowed him to respond easily.

Now was the opportunity.

Duran began to cautiously narrate, looking at the reddening sky as the sun began to set.

“…I don’t know if you’ll believe me, but His Majesty was not originally a cruel person without blood or tears, worthy of being called a tyrant. From a young age, I watched him as a lonely person, but not a cruel one. He silently endured his situation and knew how to bestow compassion on the weak. But… everything changed after that day.”

Duran’s eyes became bitter. Asha asked.

“You mean the day His Majesty was cursed?”

“…Yes.”

He sighed.

“Since childhood, there was nothing beside His Majesty but forces trying to counteract the power of the Black Rose, and even the previous Empress did not love him. Rather, she neglected and hated him.”

“She hated him? Why… he’s her only son…”

As Asha muttered in disbelief, Duran laughed bitterly.

“The Black Rose was not a good symbol for solidifying the Empress’s position. Rather, it was a bad omen that divided the nobles and brought calamity to the Empire. The previous Empress entirely abandoned her role as a mother. His Majesty still hates talking about his mother, who was a butterfly before him.”

Asha felt that the reason he was so obsessed with her, a butterfly, yet treated her badly, might have something to do with his mother.

“During His Majesty’s time as Crown Prince, there was one person who comforted his loneliness, though of low birth. He was a person who was like a blood brother to His Majesty, without a second.”

Asha was surprised that Karaf had such a person, but even more surprised that he befriended someone of low birth despite being the Crown Prince.

He must have been very different back then.

Perhaps there was not a single noble of his age with whom he could share his heart.

But the following words from him made Asha’s mouth drop open.

“On the day the previous Emperor’s rose withered, that very friend cursed His Majesty’s heart. And after that… you know the rest.”

Karaf’s coronation, stained with his blood, was too famous; there was no one in the empire who didn’t know about it.

That day, a bloodbath occurred in the imperial palace, and Karaf, in a show of force, drew his sword and personally executed all the forces opposing his ascension to the throne.

Whether it was his will, or if some cursed power controlled him, no one knew, but that day, Karaf was said to have run wild, his eyes redder than blood, wielding his sword like a madman.

The imperial palace turned into a sea of blood with the people who died by his hands, and for the first time in history, the black rose coronation attire that symbolized him was recorded in history as being dyed in deep, bloodred.

Asha licked her lips and finally asked.

“Did that loyalist really betray His Majesty?”

“Yes. And he was a minority.”

Asha shivered involuntarily.

Only then did she seem to understand why Karaf would tremble with hatred and detest minorities.

Durian spoke with a troubled face.

“Since that day, His Majesty has not trusted anyone, and has not opened his heart to anyone. Like a rose protecting itself with thorns, he always suspects betrayal first and tests people’s hearts. If he saw even a hint of betrayal, he would cut it off beforehand.”

Asha also knew well of his nature of not easily trusting others and putting them to the test.