Elise never forgot the harsh lesson taught to her by her father. The butterfly was never able to fly, and she was always reminded of her mistake every time she looked at the beautiful helpless creature.

Even though an adult butterfly only lived for less than one month, to Elise, it was still a precious life. She was heartbroken when her father advised her to end the butterfly's life out of mercy.

"It won't survive in the outside world since it cannot find food to eat," King Alexander said sympathetically.

"I will feed it," said Elise stubbornly. "I will take responsibility."

Her father looked at Elise deeply. He loved this girl with his every breath. She looked so much like her mother. Anwyn Leoralei was the sweetest and kindest woman he had ever met. He knew his wife would say the same thing as Elise in regard to the butterfly.

Ahh.. Elise was truly her mother's daughter.

The king looked away to hide his sadness. This conversation reminded him of so many conversations he had with Anwyn in the past. When they knew Anwyn was too weak to give birth to a child, she didn't want to kill the baby in her womb.

Instead, she begged their family to let her carry the baby to full term and give birth to her at the risk of losing her life. The day that Elise was born was the day the king lost the love of his life.

It was the day he realized that being the most powerful wizard on their continent meant nothing if he couldn't even save his own wife.

However, he never discussed the matter with his daughter. Anwyn made it clear that her cause of death should be kept secret until Elise was old enough to understand what it was like to love someone, that she would do anything, even sacrificing her own life for that person.

Then... she would understand why her mother wanted her, and she wouldn't feel guilty for being born.

"Butterfly is not a pet," said King Alexander patiently after he took a long deep breath. "You don't even know what they eat."

"I can learn..." Elise was really stubborn. "I will not kill it. I made a mistake. Instead of killing the butterfly to solve the problem, I will take full responsibility and take care of it until the day it finally dies a natural death. I will give it shelter and feed it."

Finally, the king relented. "Bring the butterfly to your room. You can keep it."

"Thank you, father..." Elise wiped her tears with her free hand while the other hand carefully picked up the butterfly from the leaf it was on. She went to her room and placed the crippled butterfly on a basket. She filled the basket with leaves.

She kept her word and took care of the butterfly for two weeks until it died of natural death.

Elise understood the harsh lessons that her father and grandmother were trying to teach her and didn't try to protest her punishment.

She was scared to death that she would do the same thing to Loriel what she did to the butterfly. No.. she must not interfere and smother Loriel that he would end up weak and crippled.

Elise studied so hard so she could reduce her punishment from two years to one year. Her hard work paid off. She finished her studies one week after her 18th birthday.

"You did well," said her grandmother in satisfaction. "Let's have tea in my chamber. I have a gift for you."

Elise's heart was pounding with excitement. She couldn't wait to see Loriel again. If grandma Myrcella invited Elise to her chamber for tea, that meant she had lifted her spell, right? Now, Elise could enter her chamber and she could see the crystal ball again.

"Thank you, Grandmother!" Elise jumped into her grandmother and hugged her. Myrcella Leoralei only smiled and patted her back.

"There, there... you did well. I am so proud of you."

King Alexander smiled too when he saw the scene. Ahh... his Elise had grown up. She was an adult now.

How time flew by so fast.

Soon, she would go and meet her fiance. Then, they would get married and Elise would have her own family.

"You can rest easy now, honey. Elise will soon fly out of this cocoon and see the world," he whispered to his wife as if she was there, standing next to him. "She is a wonderful woman. Just like you. The man who will be her husband is the luckiest man in the world."

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From the author:

Thank you so much for your patience in waiting for updates. I will start publishing daily for "The Cursed King".

By the way, this book is now contracted, you can already send gifts... hahahahahahahaha.

Btw, what do you think about the current cover? To be honest, I have ordered covers to two artists (one is a backup in case the first one took a long time - he is my favorite artist but he does take forever to finish my previous covers), and both experienced hiccups. After almost 8 weeks, the artworks are still not done :(((

So, I had to 'borrow' an image I found on Pinterest. Sigh. Crossing fingers we will have the official cover very soon. xx