Liliana, who had watched all this with a smile, faced Roshan wrapped in golden light in her bedroom, not even in the palace, at dawn.

‘W-what is this!’

Roshan threw something onto Liliana’s bed. It was a severed left hand of an adult man, the blood not yet dried.

The hand belonged to the knight who had killed the puppy on Camilla’s orders. As the empress’s close knight who had looked down on the young crown prince, he would never again hold a sword or remain in the imperial palace as a knight.

‘Don’t irritate me.’

The young Roshan who had thrown down the knight’s hand disappeared instantly with a flash of golden light. Liliana never looked at Roshan lightly again. And for some reason, the empress also stopped beating her son after that day. Liliana saw the knight’s right hand wrapped in white cloth carried out by the empress’s maids.

However, though fearful, Liliana didn’t avoid Roshan. Rather, she began to obsess over him. A man who not only would give her the position of empress but was also extraordinary. Liliana was happy about the fact that she was destined to be the match for someone who had everything. That’s why, despite unhesitatingly standing by Kedrick when Roshan yielded the imperial throne to him, she remained depressed for a while.

“Considering what Your Majesty the Empress did previously, I’d like to see blood spilled here and now, but……”

The moment she saw those red eyes, Liliana recalled that day. The red light visible even in the dark space, the boy within it, the severed hand, and the blood-spattered bed sheets.

“I’ve turned a blind eye once, thinking of how my late mother cherished Your Majesty the Empress. So continue playing games with those around you from your position as empress. Of course, if you meddle in my territory once more, I’ll pour the item you sent last time into this small mouth……”

“……”

“……bottle and all. Do you understand?”

His voice, murmuring while looking at her mouth, was chilling. Liliana only now realized that her poisoning plot had been completely exposed, and her face hardened.

“Y-you!”

She had been unconsciously backing away, and once at a safe distance from Roshan, she finally hissed with an indignant expression. But when their eyes met directly, she couldn’t bear it and turned away.

Roshan shifted his gaze from Liliana’s retreating figure and tapped the nearest lily. He knew that intimidation like this wasn’t a good strategy against someone like Liliana, who acted more unpredictably the more she was pressed. But what could he do? The moment her mouth uttered the name of the woman in his territory, his anger had surged just like that day.

“Love. Affection.”

He tasted these unfamiliar words as he bent down to smell the flower’s fragrance. Carefully holding the long stem and closing his eyes in front of the blossom, he presented an appearance that would astonish those who knew him.

The scent, faint from a distance, intensified as he approached. Along with the tickling sensation in his nose, his inner feelings rippled.

“Indeed, what embarrassing words.”

His murmuring voice, as he slowly straightened up, contained self-mockery. But did the man realize? That his gentle gaze, slightly upturned lips, and weakly clenched fist all betrayed the appearance of someone in love.

* * *

The radiant princess, radiant with the Rubeo sacred tree and young elf’s craftsmanship, sent away the curse and triumphed once more. After pulling her younger brother down from his position as crown prince, she finally sat on the golden throne she had long coveted and raised the ruby-embedded scepter. She was the first queen in Sedas history.

Made powerful by her innate magic enhanced with magic stolen from the blind mage, she was called the radiant queen for her excellent rule. And by her side was Raul, the blue-haired elf who had lived in the Rubeo sacred tree and now became her companion.

Not only that, the radiant princess Helena also had four adorable daughters with Raul. Each having inherited their beautiful parents’ appearances well, the daughters all shone brightly despite their young age.

‘Raul. I couldn’t ask for more now. Almost everything around me is perfect.’

‘If you’re happy, I’m happy too. Helena. My queen.’

‘If only this cumbersome curse were gone, it would be even more perfect. Though spending time exclusively with you once a month isn’t so bad.’

‘Be patient. My fellow mages and I are searching for a way to permanently remove the curse.’

The radiant princess, no, the radiant queen, felt her life was perfect. Except for the fact that she had to lock herself in the palace once a month to receive Raul’s treatment all day to hide from that damned mage’s curse.

But not everything in the world can go as planned. Changes came even to the radiant queen’s life, which had flowed perfectly for over ten years. It began with the persecution of non-human races that started across the continent. Like a whirlwind, it swept through and caused turmoil even in the Sedas Kingdom, located in the northeastern corner of the continent.

‘We must drive out those beast-like creatures!’

‘God has spoken. We must burn and eliminate those wicked beings wearing human disguises!’

In ancient times, the numbers of non-humans and humans on the continent were similar. However, humans multiplied exponentially with advancing civilization over time. And having taken over the continent, they now pointed spears and swords at races with different appearances who were once friends.

Though they worshipped different gods, most temples packaged the fight against non-humans as a holy war. But in reality, it stemmed from competition for diminishing territories. Regardless of how it started, the human versus non-human structure solidified, and at some point, non-human massacres were perpetrated in most parts of the continent.

‘My Queen. Letters have arrived from four empires and nine allied countries. They say they will sever ties with Sedas, which has granted land to those filthy ones.’

‘That’s not all. The Raltos Empire is preparing to invade Sedas using this as a pretext.’

‘Those lunatics! They can’t tell right from wrong if it’s supposedly their god’s will!’

At first, the radiant queen ignored all this. But she couldn’t completely disregard the global trend, so she expelled all non-humans from the country except the elves living in the Rubeo sacred tree.

‘The elves of the Blue Forest are our family.’

‘The dwarves of the Red Land are the same.’

‘The Azenda people of the Harmona River have also been with us.’

The elves living in the Rubeo sacred tree opposed her decision. Helena felt indignant toward them for rebelling instead of being grateful for her mercy.

‘My queen. Please understand. Understand the sorrow of my people.’

‘Raul! Whose side are you on?’

Raul tried to mediate between his people and Helena, but fundamentally, he shared his people’s thoughts. The elves living in the Rubeo sacred tree and the radiant queen began to oppose each other, and a rift started to form between the queen and her companion.

‘What? You can’t provide the leaves and sap of the Rubeo tree?’

The deepening emotional divide soon manifested in action. The elves living in the Rubeo sacred tree declared they would no longer give the radiant queen the tree’s leaves and sap.

‘Those insects clinging to a tree dare! Actually, this is for the best. I’ve shown them mercy until now, but it’s time to withdraw it. I’ll just take over the sacred tree to get the leaves and sap!’

The queen, who had suffered from the curse for a long time, flew into a rage. And despite her companion’s dissuasion, she sent knights and soldiers.

‘……So it comes to this. My son.’

The blue-haired elf Raul’s father was the first to fall, bleeding. His people were all slaughtered, from the oldest to the youngest child. Among the elves living in the Rubeo sacred tree, only Raul survived.

‘My queen. How is the fate of those who loved you always the same?’

But even Raul was soon found as a cold corpse. He had hanged himself from a branch of the sacred tree where his people had been massacred. Helena was engulfed in sorrow. But the radiant queen soon forgot her grief. Fear came first.

‘My eyes! What if I go blind again? What if Raul isn’t there to treat me once a month with the sacred tree’s leaves and sap……?’

Even with the tree’s sap and leaves, humans couldn’t provide the same treatment as Raul, an elf. The queen screamed in terror and summoned mages and clerics from across the country. She even brought in a Blue Forest elf knowledgeable in pharmacy who had been living in hiding far away. But the elf, who had lost most of his family because of the queen, said with a bizarre smile,

‘Your companion, the blue-haired elf, played an interesting trick on the sacred tree before he died. Didn’t you see the black ashes under the branch where he hanged himself? Elves don’t burn trees. But there are times when we do. When we risk our lives to curse someone.’

‘What are you talking about! Explain properly!’

‘You don’t understand what I’m saying? Cruel human queen. You will never escape the blind mage’s curse now. The Rubeo sacred tree promised to fulfill the dying elf’s last wish. It said it would show no mercy to you who killed all the lives living on its branches, and it withdrew the compassion in its sap.’

‘……’

‘All that remains in the sacred tree now are the leaves filled with hatred…… You’ve blocked your only escape route yourself, so what will you do? Foolish one. Humans are truly foolish.’

The elf, showing a chilling smile unlike himself, lost his life to the queen’s sword. But what good was venting her anger? Helena despaired at the fact that the curse would return. But at that moment, her four daughters came to find the queen.

‘Mother. Are you alright?’

‘That’s right. I have you all. This is no time for me to be like this.’

Looking at her beloved daughters, the radiant queen put aside her despair and began preparing to abdicate to her fifteen-year-old eldest daughter. When she went blind, she would pass on the throne at that moment. But strangely, even after a month, two months, half a year, the queen didn’t go blind. Instead, her eldest daughter, marked as her successor, ran to her mother and cried out in anguish,

‘Mother! I can’t…… Suddenly I can’t see!’