Blake finally said what he wanted. I hugged him tightly.

"I'm sorry, I should've been more considerate."

I thought Blake didn't like this place since this place contained many of his bad memories from before. He had been locked up in a small faraway palace just because he was cursed, so I thought he didn't like this place.

I thought he'd be delighted to move to the Forens Palace, which was located in the center, and have a big party held for him where everyone respected him.

I didn't know that his heart was still full of wounds that he hadn't completely recovered from.

"No, it's not something to be sorry about, Ancia. I didn't want to leave this place. I know it's very childish of me but I have many precious memories in this place."

"Blake, you're very precious too."

I couldn't let Blake stay in this small palace. The nobles would ridicule him more because of it.

"This place won't disappear even if we move to Forens palace. We'll come here often."

"Will we really come here often?"

"Yes, let's make this our own secret castle."

"Let's do that!"

The smile finally returned to Blake's face.

Fortunately, the atmosphere seemed to have lightened up.

He took my hand and we left the palace together, hand in hand.

The wedding rings on our fingers sparkled softly under the sunlight.

***

"Now, two days later, Diana will be here."

"Alright."

Diana heard that Blake's curse had been lifted so she tried to rush straight to the palace.

However, the students of the Knights' Academy weren't allowed to go out at the moment as it was the final exam season.

And so, Blake stopped Diana from coming over right away, and told her to wait until her exams were finished.

"I heard she did well on the test."

"Huh? Did you contact Diana?"

"Yes, she sent me a letter."

"What did Diana say?"

I wondered what they spoke about.

"Now that my curse has been lifted, we're going to have a real fight."

"Ah..."

"So I said I'll definitely win."

The conversation between the female protagonist and the second male lead was very cool.

"Haha, by the way, is she going to bring Jayden?"

"Jayden? Who's that?"

"Diana's classmate. Diana considers him as her rival. He's a commoner but he's at the top of the class. Isn't he great?"

"Edon was a top student too."

"Yeah, they're both great. Come to think of it, they're both the eldest in their families."

"Really?"

"Yes, they're both tall and were very popular as freshmen. Jayden's a little blunt but he's nice."

The topic of Jayden always came up in Diana's letters. But it had been a long time since Diana wrote me a letter so I wondered how he was doing.

"Oh and Jayden hates mushrooms. Don't you hate it too?"

"No, I'm good at eating mushrooms now."

"Hey, you barely ate it when I didn't mix it with the omelette."

"No, I didn't!"

Blake suddenly got angry.

"Then will you eat the fried mushrooms that I'll make tomorrow?"

"Yes!"

"Really?"

"Yes, I'm going to eat them all!"

"Okay, we'll have a mushroom party tomorrow."

"...yes, I'm looking forward to it."

Blake smiled awkwardly.

"Diana said that Jayden has been aiming to become the Crown Prince's knight ever since he joined the academy. He also said it was stupid to believe that the Crown Prince was a monster just because he was cursed. So maybe, he could be a good friend to you."

Fortunately, not everyone thought that Blake was a monster.

The people of the Amoria palace, Tenstheon, Eunhan, Baekhan, Collin, Countess Chardin, and I. There may have been other people as well but those were the people who truly respected Blake as the Crown Prince.

Jayden as well.

"Blake, you'll meet a lot of people in the future, I'm sure some of them will be nice. I'm sure some of them truly support you regardless of the curse you had before."

"...."

"So, I hope you don't hate them all. Some people are genuinely nice."

Blake hated strangers, especially when they touched him.

When Viscountess Perion's daughter or other guests held his hand, he became uncomfortable and quickly wiped his hands on his handkerchief.

He also said he didn't want to dance with other people.

"I am the Crown Prince of the Asteric Empire, so I'm sure I will meet many people later. But, all I need is Ancia."

Blake grabbed my hand and spoke to me.

"Okay, I'll always be there for you."

As we smiled at each other while holding hands, a red pillar of fire suddenly appeared.

[Argh!!!]

I covered my ears as I heard the scream.

The scream became shriller when the flames appeared.

"Ancia!"

"...yes."

I came to my senses after hearing Blake's voice.

The woman screamed again.

"What's wrong? Are you okay?"

"It's nothing. I'm just a little tired. Let's go to the bedroom."

"Yes."

Blake and I went to our bedroom,.Blake's curse was lifted, so we didn't need to hold hands any longer.

But we still fell asleep next to each other with our hands intertwined.

I couldn't sleep very well today.

I got up after confirming that Blake was asleep.

I touched his face.

Tenstheon must have already arrived at the Valley of Chaos by now. He should be using the power of light to seal the Door of Darkness at the moment.

Usually, when the Emperor used the power of light, the Heir to the Curse would be affected.

But this time, Blake didn't get sick nor did he have any fever.

Originally, Tenstheon lost his life due to Richard's tricks and Arnold Cassil became the Emperor.

Now it was all over. There would be no tragedy now.

But, why was I so nervous?

The woman's screams became louder and louder. I still remembered what happened back there vividly.

What was it?

Laontel Bellacian was the mage of light, the fiancee of Prince Rakshul, but she ended up with Emperor Phillip.

The woman had screamed Laontel's name.

So she must've been alive a thousand years ago.

Was the fire I saw today a glimpse of the Tenlarn Palace's fire?

Why did I keep seeing things that happened a thousand years ago?

I went to the library and reread the books about the history of Zelcan. However, I did not find any significant clues.

***

In the third year after Richard became the Emperor, the Door of Darkness opened.

Richard headed to the Valley of Chaos after saying goodbye to Diana and his son, George.

He saw the Door of Darkness for the first time. In the middle of the valley, stood something that looked like a monster's mouth.

He felt nauseous just seeing it.

Richard used the ring of the light that only the Emperor possessed. The ring poured out light into the thing.

The Door of Darkness resisted violently. It usually took about five days to seal the Door of Darkness.

But it wouldn't last longer than a week. Tenstheon also usually closed the Door of Darkness within three days.

But Richard had a hard time.

'Was it because he's a Roum? Is it because he possesses the blood of a sinful Roum and not the noble Geracillions?'

As time went by, Richard felt another sense of inferiority rise within him.

The people who went there with him also felt uneasy seeing him.

"Why is it taking so long?"

"The current Emperor does not have pure Geracillion blood. That's why the Goddess of Light is making this harder for him."

"What? But the Emperor of Asteric is the only one responsible for closing the door. How did a man who can't even close the door become the Emperor?"

"That's not the problem now. If the Door of Darkness opens, the world will perish."

It was true.

Even the people in the Imperial palace were anxious when they saw him.

Richard wanted to kill all of them after this, just because they had watched him being flustered because he was unable to close the door. He couldn't keep those that knew this side of him alive.

Richard gritted his teeth.

He did not sleep and poured out all of the power that he could use.

After a month struggling, he finally managed to close the door.

When the Door of Darkness closed, the people bowed their head in respect to Richard.

In the end, Richard gave up the idea of killing them and went back in a good mood.