Chapter 01
The empire of Delension, surrounded by the sea, was known as the land blessed by the gods.
Even when drought came, the land quickly regained its fertility, and when natural disasters struck, they soon subsided.
It was indeed a country worthy of being called “blessed by the gods.”
The sun reigning over that blessed empire, Emperor Iberno II, was a man who valued beauty above all else.
He wanted to turn his empire into one magnificent work of art.
Different colors freely displaying their brilliance — that was the beauty the emperor sought.
“Those who have experienced the beauty of Delension may go blind.”
Those who had seen the empire’s splendor would say such things.
But the emperor was not satisfied. He wanted even more beauty to saturate his empire.
At the height of the nation’s obsession with beauty, the founding festival was held.
The palace was filled with perfectly cut gemstones, breathtaking paintings, and sculptures.
“Truly beautiful,” the emperor said with a satisfied smile as he praised the artists.
But then—
“What is that?”
He pointed to a single red rose inside a glass dome.
“Who brought this?”
At the emperor’s words, a person wrapped in a black cloak stood up. The stranger had rare purple eyes.
“I did,” the stranger replied.
“Is that all you have prepared?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think a mere rose is fitting for today, when we celebrate the empire’s glory?”
“Do you not like it?” asked the stranger.
“How dare you! It’s just a common rose!”
“To me, it is more precious than anything. I thought Your Majesty would like it as well…”
The emperor’s face twisted.
“Throw this man out and dispose of that worthless rose!”
Knights moved toward the stranger. Just as they were about to drag him out—
“Wait.”
The emperor stopped them.
“Your eye color… it’s so pale. A rare shade.”
He smiled faintly.
“Pluck out his eyes. I will take them.”
The knights drew their swords eagerly. As they reached to pull back the veil—
Crash!
The glass dome shattered. The rose hit the floor, withering and turning ashen gray in an instant.
“Foolish man,” said the stranger.
“Blinded by momentary beauty, you cannot see even one step ahead.”
His voice filled the banquet hall.
“A person trapped in a world of black and white will come and stain your world blood-red. Watch with your own eyes as your world crumbles.”
With those words, the stranger vanished, leaving only the rose-turned-ash behind.
People feared the prophecy, but the emperor merely scoffed. Beauty never changed. He only regretted not being able to take those purple eyes.
That winter, the 8th prince, Reinsis, was born.
Reinsis’s beauty was unmatched. No description could compare to him.
“Reinsis is truly a vessel worthy of the empire,”
the emperor thought. He wanted to raise Reinsis as the perfect emperor for Delension.
But he could not.
“This is gray, this is black, and this is white,” said the boy.
“Rein…?”
“And, Mother’s eyes are black.”
The empress’s blue eyes trembled.
“A person trapped in a world of black and white will come and destroy the empire.”
People whispered in fear, recalling the stranger.
“God is angry.”
“But what sin could such a young child have committed…”
“Sin or not, it doesn’t matter! That prince will destroy the empire!”
As fear spread, the emperor tried to stop it — in the most foolish way possible.
“Teach him to paint. If he sees the most beautiful things, his eyes will surely heal. I will reward whoever can cure the prince’s eyes.”
But even with all the beauty the emperor loved, Reinsis’s eyes could not be cured.
The prince’s world remained black and white.
“The prince who will kill us. The prince who will destroy the world.”
The whispers grew louder.
When Reinsis was eight, the emperor expelled him from the palace.
The empress, accused of tainting the royal honor, was also cast out.
“Rein, my poor son… You must survive. Live quietly, in hiding. You must not grow as they say. You must survive and come find me. Do you understand?”
The empress embraced the boy as colorless tears ran down her cheeks.
Black resentment filled the boy’s heart.
“Do you see colors yet?”
The emperor would visit sometimes to scold the prince.
“You must overcome this and clear the shame from your father!”
The emperor couldn’t let go of his hope.
The most beautiful prince — he prayed Reinsis would not grow as the prophecy foretold but instead would shine as his successor.
“You never know when the prophecy will come true.”
Terrified painters trembled as they tried to teach him.
But when Reinsis turned 15, strange things began happening.
Painters teaching him began getting injured without reason. They all complained of pain in their eyes and hands, screaming in agony.
But it was all a lie — a growing lie to escape teaching him, until it became reality.
Too scared to continue, the painters refused to teach him.
Finally, the emperor brought in an unknown painter to instruct him.
The painter taught him diligently.
“Well done. If you keep working like today, you’ll surely be able to see colors someday!”
Reinsis said nothing. His only goal was to leave the castle and reunite with his mother.
But that wish could not come true.
On his 18th birthday, he received news of his mother’s death.
Like a bowstring snapping, his reason broke.
He took up a sword. The first person he killed was the unknown painter.
“You said if I worked hard, I’d see colors?”
His murky gray eyes, unable to perceive their true shade, reflected red blood.
The painter closed his eyes for the last time, Reinsis’s bitter smile the last thing he saw.
The coup Reinsis started dyed the palace red.
His blade turned toward the emperor.
“R-Reinsis…?”
The emperor trembled at his now-grown son.
Surely, he must have heard of the empress’s death. But instead of mourning, the emperor was still indulging in art in the banquet hall.
“Do you know what color I can see now?”
“What are you doing…”
“I was wondering how I should tell Your Majesty. And then I began to see it. This color.”
Reinsis raised his sword high.
“I grew exactly as the prophecy said.”
A faint groan escaped the emperor’s lips, but it vanished under the blade’s path.
“Are you satisfied now?”
With those words, the dazzlingly beautiful palace turned blood-red.
The emperor who loved beauty.
People trembled in fear, unsure when the emperor of blood would cut them down.
The empire was no longer beautiful.
—from The Rose and the Beast
‘Right, up to this point I thought it was a fresh setup…’
A woman bit her lip, pressing harder against the door she was blocking.
Bang, bang, bang!
The knocking grew louder.
“Lady Primavel, please come out now!”
The voice outside was full of fear.
‘Of all people, why him! Why now!’
The woman—Prim—bit her lip hard.
Who would have imagined that she, the author of The Rose and the Beast, would end up possessing the body of a side character?
“There’s no such person here!” she shouted, retracing the last part she had written.
[…Until then, Reinsis did not know. That the end of the black-and-white world existed.
It was the day of his coronation. The citizens’ fear erupted in applause for him.
The tyrant who personally executed his family. At the moment he ascended the throne, she appeared.
After that day, his world changed. Something exploded. It was full of things he was seeing for the first time…]
That was her last memory before falling asleep, thinking about the next part of the story. When she came to, she was here.
The male lead, burdened from birth by prophecy, grew up filled with anger and contempt for the world.
Consumed by those emotions, he destroyed it and rose to the top of the empire.
Then he met his destined heroine.
As with all fated love stories, the moment he met her, he could see every color.
Through her, he slowly learned emotions and the colors of the world — that was the heart of the novel.
How romantic it had seemed.
She had scribbled the story down one day as it vividly appeared before her eyes.
It had even resembled Beauty and the Beast, so she named it The Rose and the Beast.
‘No matter how much I focused writing it, I never thought I’d actually end up inside it!’
The problem was, she had been pulled into the novel before she had finished writing the heroine’s arc.
A beautiful woman with jet-black hair and red eyes.
But that was as far as she’d gotten. No name, no age — nothing was set.
In other words, she couldn’t even use the usual “reincarnator buff” to rush into meeting the main characters.
‘And of all times…!’
She had possessed Prim’s body, right as she was about to be dragged to the palace.
Prim looked resentfully at the bundles of money piled in the corner of the room.
‘Why did she even apply for this? Was she crazy?’
She vented her frustration, forgetting she was the author.
“Lady Primavel! Please stop this!”
Someone shouted from beyond the shabby door.
“You’ve got the wrong house! It’s not me!”
“But you agreed when I asked your name!”
When she’d come to, she’d already been here, hearing the knocking at the door.
Confused, she’d peeked through the crack. A man had asked:
“Red hair, black eyes… Could you be Lady Primavel?”
“Me?”
A glance in the mirror showed she did indeed have red hair and black eyes. Startled, she’d nodded — and then:
“We’re here under His Majesty’s orders.”
“What?”
“You’ll be responsible for teaching Lord Reinsis art starting today.”
He could’ve said that first! She would’ve understood immediately!
“I didn’t know! I didn’t know I was a painter!” she shouted.
“What are you talking about? Please come out quickly!”
“I’m not that person!”
A heavy sigh followed. More than one person was out there, judging by the weight of the sighs.
“Forgive our rudeness.”
And then—Bang!
The doorknob broke.
“Eek!”
Prim flinched back in fear as the door splintered. Knights forced their way inside.
“What, what is this? You can’t just do this!” she shouted, but the knights ignored her and seized her arms.
“Let go! I’m not that person!”
“Then what is your name?”
“…”
Her silence told them everything. With expressionless faces, they continued:
“Lady Primavel, we’ve come to escort you. Please come with us to the palace.”
‘No! I don’t want to die!’
No matter how she struggled, it was useless. Overpowered, Prim was dragged away.
