When Orlax turned ten years old, disaster struck, changing his life completely.
He was returning home like any other normal day, but when he arrived, he found several vehicles and knights gathered around his house.
No one stopped him, so he entered the house smoothly. There, he saw his mother with a dagger in her stomach, blood flowing around her. Beside her, the empress sat on a chair, looking at her with indifferent eyes, as if what was happening to his mother was of no importance at all.
He knelt beside her, tears in his eyes, because he knew at that moment she wouldn't be able to stay alive due to the amount of blood she had lost and the wound in her abdomen.
When his mother saw him, she said these words: "I hate you. I wish I had never given birth to you. I curse you! I curse you to be the end of this world and to remain alone forever."
Instead of comforting her son, she cursed him with a torment that became his personal hell. Instead of offering him a single word of love in his life, she expressed her hatred and regret for bringing him into the world.
At that moment, ten-year-old Orlax's heart shattered, and his sorrow was so deep that he started crying tears of blood.
That was the first time the curse activated. When he regained consciousness, he found flames surrounding the entire area and charred, mutilated bodies scattered everywhere—including the empress's corpse.
He fled that day, but he was eventually captured and taken to the emperor to be punished.
At that time, the emperor was impressed by his talent. Instead of killing him, he proposed a deal.
"In four years, a royal battle will be held. At that time, all the princes will compete to prove who deserves the throne. If you win, I will make you the heir. If you lose, you will become a slave to the royal family and serve it for the rest of your life."
Perhaps the emperor admired his talent, and instead of burying it, he wanted to claim it as his own.
Ten-year-old Orlax, alone and without any support, accepted the deal because he had no other choice.
Thus began his four years of hell.
Since he had killed the empress due to the curse, the other princes and princesses tortured him as revenge for their mother's death.
At times, they left him in a cold, dark cell without any light for days, where he starved and curled up just to generate some warmth for himself.
Other times, they made him sleep among pigs and animals. Because of his obsessive cleanliness, those days were more agonizing than any physical torture they inflicted upon him.
Despite everything, he tried to turn those days into fuel to propel himself forward.
He exploited every piece of knowledge available in the imperial library to strengthen his magic and understanding. He trained in the arenas in sword fighting until his hands collapsed and he could no longer move.
Four years passed, and the day of the royal battle finally arrived.
What happened at that event was exactly as Orlax told Armanthor—it wasn't him who killed the emperor, but rather the first heir, with the help of the other princes.
As for the emperor's final words, even Orlax didn't understand why he had said them. Perhaps the emperor regretted leaving the throne to someone he had never considered human, or maybe there was another reason unknown to him, as the emperor was already dead.
"So that's what happened! It's surprising—nothing like this was mentioned in taking a few minutes to calm himself, Orlax wiped away the tears that had flooded his face and sat down, smiling in bitter amusement at the information he had received.
"Now, what should I do? I don't want to live like the old Orlax. In the future, I'll be remembered as the tyrant who killed his family. But changing people's deeply rooted perceptions won't be easy, because in their eyes, I'm still the one who killed the empress and everyone accompanying her. And now, the events of the royal battle will spread, and of course, no one will believe I didn't kill them for the throne."
Orlax placed his hand on his chin and began planning his future step by step.
"I need to stabilize the situation for now, because the empire will descend into chaos after today's incident. I must start with the nobles—and first among them is the strongest noble in the empire, whose status is nearly equal to mine."
Armanthor Zephyrius—In the game, he was a major supporter of the protagonist, contributing significantly to the hero's growth and strength. Armanthor had a daughter, one of the game's main heroines.
Alice Zephyrius, Armanthor's only daughter, wasn't strong or proficient in magic in the game. However, she possessed an extraordinary ability—practically considered cheating. She could perceive people's inner emotions and detect whether they harbored ill intentions toward her. In exchange for this power, she had lost her sight and remained blind.
Despite the existence of magic in this world, it was only used for combat. There was no such thing as healing magic or regeneration. However, there were herbs capable of expelling toxins and accelerating recovery.
Thus, throughout the story, Alice remained blind, and no cure was ever found for her condition.
"So, I need to gain Armanthor's loyalty by curing his daughter. She'll also be incredibly useful to me in the future. But how do I heal her?"
"Fortunately, I don't need to worry about the hero. He could never defeat me, even if he tried a thousand times. But I should be concerned about the threat that will try to destroy the world."
After thinking for a while, Orlax sighed, rose from his seat, opened the door, and left the meeting room.
'I know a possible way to restore Alice's sight, but it will be incredibly painful.'
Orlax left the palace, climbed the tallest tower in the city, and gazed at the night-shrouded landscape.
'This view is truly beautiful. Orlax used to sit here whenever he felt lonely or sad, and now I understand why.'
The Tirshtain Empire was one of the most powerful and wealthiest empires in the world—if not the strongest—boasting two Grandmaster-level swordsmen and a Grandmaster-level magician.
'And now, I am the emperor of this great empire. Just yesterday, I was sitting in filth, playing games late into the night. What a cruel irony.'
Orlax remained there, contemplating the city until dawn, watching as life slowly revived with the arrival of a new day, looking forward to a glorious future.