“Is this Your Majesty’s favorite place?”

“Yes. Since I was a child, this has been my only refuge. Hiding among the blooming red roses, even my mother and the former Emperor couldn’t find me.”

His eyes grew somber.

Asha noticed that he called his father the ‘former Emperor,’ a term that created a distance.

She asked with a bit of curiosity,

“But this is a rose garden, and I don’t see a single rose?”

“That’s because I cut them all down.”

“……Pardon?”

Asha’s eyes widened.

Karaf answered calmly,

“The day I ascended the throne as Emperor, I no longer needed to hide, so I cut down all the roses here. With me, the rose itself, right here, do I need any other roses?”

Asha closed her mouth.

His words had a hidden meaning.

It was a fierce declaration that he would cut off the heads of anyone who aspired to his throne.

The memory of Karaf’s bloody coronation resurfaced, and he muttered bitterly,

“Even though they’re the same roses, somehow I no longer want to look at them. Looking at the colorful roses, I feel even more that I am a different entity….”

This was the first time he had spoken so candidly about such things, so Asha was slightly taken aback.

He basically didn’t trust others, so he never spoke in front of others about something that could be his weakness.

Only Duran occasionally listened to his worries, but it seemed that he had also begun to trust her.

Karaf, noticing Asha’s gravity, quickly changed the subject.

According to that pink book, a man who goes on about his troubles in front of a woman, especially during a date, is unattractive.

“In the capital, there are desserts that can only be eaten on the Day of Flowers. I prepared them because I wanted to enjoy them with you, so please don’t hesitate to enjoy.”

He snapped his fingers, and the servants swiftly brought something.

In a beautiful wooden box divided into compartments were neatly arranged ‘fresh flower candies.’

Gorgeous and beautiful flowers, trapped inside the candies like pumpkin gems, glittered in the sunlight.

As Asha’s eyes widened at the beautiful sight, Karaf smiled and asked,

“How is it? Just looking at it makes you want to put it in your mouth and savor it, doesn’t it?”

“Yes…… That’s exactly how I feel.”

Asha, entranced by something, picked up a candy with a red flower in it and popped it into her mouth.

Watching her plump, red lips, Karaf unwittingly caught his breath.
He quickly picked up the cup to hide his emotions and gulped down the fragrant flower tea, but his eyes were once again drawn to her lips.

Asha, who was blankly rolling sweet candy in her mouth with her tongue, said,

“It’s so sweet……. This is really the first time I’ve tasted something like this.”

“Really? I’m glad you like it.”

So pleased with just a candy.

Karaf wanted to show her, who had nothing, what true happiness was.

“……But Your Majesty.”

At Asha’s words, Karaf came to his senses.

“Huh?”

“Your Majesty, I understand that you are a being between a flower and a human.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“But you don’t seem to mind drinking a toast to your own kind?”

Karaf choked on the flower tea and spat it out.

Durani, who was nearby, was startled, loosening his posture, thinking that he had drunk poisoned tea again.

He had returned after interrogating his subordinates to protect Karaf’s side because an unsightly incident had occurred once again in the imperial palace.

Karaf, covering his mouth with the back of his hand, chuckled.

“Is it that strange to eat flowers even though I’m a flower?”

“Ah…… I apologize. I have committed rudeness.”

Asha had really asked out of curiosity, but she blushed with shame.

“You are a very strange woman.”

“Then why does Your Majesty take the time for a strange woman like me?”

Karaf spoke, his eyes turning sultry.

“It was a compliment, but you seem to have taken it the other way. I’ve always been madly fond of special things. And meeting butterflies is as important to me as the affairs of the empire.”

At his serious words, this time Asha choked on the flower tea and spat it out.

From a distance, Durani’s eyes widened again as he watched them.

What were they talking about that they were spitting out tea like that? He couldn’t understand…….

Jackal, who had been quietly eavesdropping on the two people’s conversation, thought to himself.

‘Should I pretend to mistake it for grass and bite his hair…….’

Asha felt uncomfortable all over, unable to adapt to his words that were embarrassingly romantic.

‘Was Karaf originally like this……?’

It was truly a strange thing.

The man before her eyes now seemed not the man she had known.

Asha suddenly turned her head and found Shepi standing up all of a sudden from his seat.

“Do you want to eat one too, Shepi?”

Jackal glared sharply at Karaf and responded with a ‘whine.’

Karaf saw it and chuckled with a snap, and said reluctantly,

“Horses like sweet things. Give that one one too.”

Karaf picked the ugliest flower that he didn’t like from the fresh flower candies and threw it to the floor with a flick.

When Jackal didn’t even look at the fresh flower candy and just glared at him, Karaf relaxed his eyes and said,

“Eat it.”