To understand the story, you have to understand the origin of the flower, so we shift back a thousand years. A goddess was known by the gods as a rogue deity, as she always tweaked the decisions of the gods. In secret, the gods held a meeting against her, concluding that they would first turn her into a beast and then banish her to the realm of the humans so that she would learn by being an example of the humans as they reveal the true nature of their black, evil hearts.
One fateful day, the goddess was surrounded and cursed by the gods. She became a beast, and the gods banished her to earth. As she landed, she first went to her so-called friends, but she was betrayed by the beings she had protected—the humans she sought to protect. She was driven out of civilization by the humans, who called her a monster, a beast, an irrelevant creation. Sent to a thick, deserted forest, she began to grow hatred for the humans. As time went by, she created other terrifying beasts for the purpose of her vengeance. As she began her conquest, the humans were nearly wiped out, until the gods decided to take pity on them by bestowing upon certain humans divine powers that could rival the beasts.
Many years later, the war turned in favor of the humans, as they united and lent their powers to a man whom they referred to as a hero. He defeated her, but in her final moments, she created a flower in which all her hatred for the humans and the gods was stored, cursing anyone who would take the flower. Thus, the flower—storing all the hate and the curse—became a crimson red flower. As she died, the flower bloomed for a short while and then disappeared. It is said that ever since the great catastrophe, every year the same crimson flower blooms in different parts across the world. That's the origin of the flower and the curse.
Now, back to the main story. As the scene shifts to 100 years after the event, a beautiful maiden named Aurelia was the fairest in the land. She was proposed to far and wide by nobles and commoners; even kings would propose to her. The competition was so fierce that a tournament would be held because of her—each time, there would be no one left in the arena, so the tournament would be canceled—until a fateful tournament where a man from the kingdom participated. He worked his way up to the finals, and in the finals, he defeated an adventurer. As he was the first person to win the tournament, it was as if fate intervened: the maiden fell in love at first sight. The man, later known as the wonderful prince Casimir of the Kingdom of Keldorin, also loved her, and when she was asked whether she would accept him—because they both loved each other deeply—she accepted the marriage proposal.
Some maidens and nobles envied her, so they conspired before the wedding. They paid some daring adventurers to find the crimson cursed flower. The adventurer party found the crimson flower in a dark, hollow forest; the specialized mage in their group used levitating magic to carry the crimson flower, because they didn't want to get cursed. As they approached the noble's house, they decided to cook up a plan. They wrapped the crimson flower in a magic leather wrap for roses—since it looked like a rose—and stored it, waiting for the moment it would be used.
As days passed and months went by, the day of the wedding approached—it was the talk of the town. All the nobles and common folks were discussing it; even the kings were preparing for the wedding. Finally, on their wedding day, Aurelia was getting married to the man of the Kingdom of Keldorin, the wonderful prince Casimir. Some commoners whispered remarks like, "She's a monster, I'm jealous of her," while others declared, "I'll kill her and take her husband for myself," and some said, "I love them—what a sweet couple." The ill-nobles scoffed, "Tch tch, very soon the party will begin."
During the wedding, the father said to them, "You may kiss the bride." Casimir kissed her passionately as he took her up into his arms, carrying her dramatically. When it came time for the gifts presentation, the ill-nobles arranged the crimson rose among many other roses in an etiquette display. They used magic to help the crimson rose blend in, making it the most attractive and the most sweet-smelling rose. As one ill-noble smirked and dropped the etiquette of roses, Aurelia thought, "That nobility gives me the creeps."
At the after-party of the wedding, delicacies of different kinds were being served while other events took place. The Stewardess, going through the gifts, saw the etiquette of roses. Checking the name tag, she noticed it was for the new bride. She called an attendant and said, "Drop it in the newlywed room." As the attendant left, she wondered, "Who sent this rose to them? Could it be their friends? No way—those couples are hated all over the kingdom—or was this a gift sent by a rival?" Finally, she understood and called the attendant again from afar, saying, "I hope that Aurelia doesn't fall for this trickery."
When the attendant knocked on the door, a soft voice told him to come in. Once inside, he said, "Madam, a package for you. Oh, Aurelia—so it's an etiquette of roses. I think I can use that as a natural fragrance." Signaling barin to leave, he departed, leaving her alone in the room. She stood up and walked to the boutique of roses, where one rose stood out from the rest—almost like a special rose. That rose caught her attention, and as she picked it, a thorn from the rose pricked her thumb. In that moment, everything froze as she replayed the scene in her mind. A godly feminine, shadowy figure spoke, "Oh, so you're the mortal who had the nerve to pick up the rose. I curse you—the fate I suffered will be yours to bear, as you will relive each exact moment I endured." When Aurelia woke up, she looked at her fingers; there was no sign of a pricked thumb. Thus, she concluded that everything she saw wasn't real.
Soon, the maids called her for the after-party. Meanwhile, the three moons that govern this fantasy slowly revealed themselves as day broke and nighttime came. Aurelia wasn't feeling too good. Her newly wedded husband, Casimir, asked, "What's wrong?" "I think it's the wine," she replied. As the moon shone its brightest, she couldn't control herself. She transformed into a beast, going completely rogue like a true beast. First, she killed Casimir by piercing her claws into his chest. As her beastly form growled in the puddle of blood, a tear dropped from her beastly eye, faintly reflecting Aurelia in shock.
The maiden, now in her beastly form, tried her best to stop her body from completing that action, but it was too late. A moment of silence passed before the crowd fled in fear of being killed, though a few noble ladies stayed behind to mock her. "So the beauty can have a beastly side," they sneered in unison. "If we can't have him, no one will." Lady Beatrice of the warring nation Agor, head of the sinister group, said to the woman turned beast, "What did our beloved Casimir see in you that makes you so special? You are not of noble blood, yet he still chose you over us—this is a slap in the face to the women of noble society. For this insult, he has to die, and you are next: fallen beauty, or perhaps you should be called the fallen beast. So,she said to her paid subordinates, kill her before the full curse activates!" The masked men unsheathed their swords, the cold blades radiating a murderous aura. Their leader gave the signal to attack the beast, as the noble witch laughed,her last words "Bye forever" resounded.
Aurelia point of view:
Those blades inched closer. I wanted death so that I would not live with the guilt of killing my beloved, but the words of those nobles awakened me. This was a conspiracy born out of the rage of loss. My mind degraded to that of a beast. The curse took full effect; all I saw was red—the bodies of the men caught in my claws, the crimson spreading as the heads of the humans rolled. Then I shouted out of grief, but out came the roar of a great beast. I have dreaded that day ever since, and I always will. Yet hunger for carnage called to me, and I left the town in ruins. No lives were spared; as they killed my love, they shall follow him to the afterlife. So my consciousness slept and my eyes closed, wishing they should never open.
Thus, the beast rampaged the lands. News reached the gods, forcing them to take action, or humanity would be no more.