Cornered Transparency on Panel and image issue

Question

So i have this roundedPanel Component working very good. The corners are smooth as they should be, but that lasts till i set an image as background:

above looks as it should but if i add an image to it this is how it looks:

i only changed the background color so it will be more visible. Here's the close up:

So this is the first issue. And the second issue is the fact that if i add another image behind it, it isn't transparent. I tryied to add the folowing code to it so i will make it transparent but it completely removes the smoothness:

 public void ApplyRoundedCorners(Panel panel, int cornerRadius)
        {
            panel.Paint += (sender, e) =>
            {
                e.Graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.AntiAlias;

                int diameter = cornerRadius * 2;
                GraphicsPath path = new GraphicsPath();

                // Define the rounded rectangle
                path.StartFigure();
                path.AddArc(new Rectangle(0, 0, diameter, diameter), 180, 90);
                path.AddArc(new Rectangle(panel.Width - diameter - 1, 0, diameter, diameter), 270, 90);
                path.AddArc(new Rectangle(panel.Width - diameter - 1, panel.Height - diameter - 1, diameter, diameter), 0, 90);
                path.AddArc(new Rectangle(0, panel.Height - diameter - 1, diameter, diameter), 90, 90);
                path.CloseFigure();

                // Set the clip region
                panel.Region = new Region(path);

                // Draw the border
                using (Pen pen = new Pen(Color.Black, 1)) // Change the color and width as needed
                {
                    e.Graphics.DrawPath(pen, path);
                }

                path.Dispose();
            };

            panel.Invalidate(); // Force the panel to repaint
        }

This is my whole class code:

using System;
using System.ComponentModel;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Drawing.Drawing2D;
using System.Windows.Forms;

public class RoundedPanel : Panel
{
    private Color gradientStartColor = Color.DarkSlateBlue;
    private Color gradientEndColor = Color.MediumPurple;
    private int cornerRadius = 35;
    private Image backgroundImage;

    public RoundedPanel()
    {
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.ResizeRedraw, true);
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.OptimizedDoubleBuffer, true);
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.AllPaintingInWmPaint, true);
        this.SetStyle(ControlStyles.UserPaint, true);
    }

    [Browsable(true)]
    [Category("Appearance")]
    [Description("The start color of the gradient.")]
    public Color GradientStartColor
    {
        get => gradientStartColor;
        set
        {
            gradientStartColor = value;
            this.Invalidate();
        }
    }

    [Browsable(true)]
    [Category("Appearance")]
    [Description("The end color of the gradient.")]
    public Color GradientEndColor
    {
        get => gradientEndColor;
        set
        {
            gradientEndColor = value;
            this.Invalidate();
        }
    }

    [Browsable(true)]
    [Category("Appearance")]
    [Description("The radius of the rounded corners.")]
    public int CornerRadius
    {
        get => cornerRadius;
        set
        {
            cornerRadius = value;
            this.Invalidate();
        }
    }

    [Browsable(true)]
    [Category("Appearance")]
    [Description("The background image of the panel.")]
    public new Image BackgroundImage
    {
        get => backgroundImage;
        set
        {
            backgroundImage = value;
            this.Invalidate();
        }
    }

    protected override void OnPaint(PaintEventArgs e)
    {
        base.OnPaint(e);

        Graphics graphics = e.Graphics;
        Rectangle gradientRectangle = new Rectangle(0, 0, this.Width - 1, this.Height - 1);

        if (backgroundImage != null)
        {
            // Draw the background image
            if (ImageAnimator.CanAnimate(backgroundImage))
            {
                ImageAnimator.UpdateFrames(backgroundImage);
            }

            graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighQuality;

            using (GraphicsPath path = RoundedRectangle.RoundedRect(gradientRectangle, CornerRadius))
            {
                Region region = new Region(path);
                graphics.SetClip(region, CombineMode.Replace);

                graphics.DrawImage(backgroundImage, gradientRectangle);
                graphics.ResetClip();
            }
        }
        else
        {
            // Draw the gradient background
            using (Brush b = new LinearGradientBrush(gradientRectangle, GradientStartColor, GradientEndColor, 0.0f))
            {
                graphics.SmoothingMode = SmoothingMode.HighQuality;
                RoundedRectangle.FillRoundedRectangle(graphics, b, gradientRectangle, CornerRadius);
            }
        }

        foreach (Control ctrl in this.Controls)
        {
            using (Bitmap bmp = new Bitmap(ctrl.Width, ctrl.Height))
            {
                Rectangle rect = new Rectangle(0, 0, ctrl.Width, ctrl.Height);
                ctrl.DrawToBitmap(bmp, rect);
                graphics.DrawImage(bmp, ctrl.Location);
            }
        }
    }

    protected override CreateParams CreateParams
    {
        get
        {
            CreateParams cp = base.CreateParams;
            return cp;
        }
    }
}

public static class RoundedRectangle
{
    public static GraphicsPath RoundedRect(Rectangle bounds, int radius)
    {
        int diameter = radius * 2;
        Size size = new Size(diameter, diameter);
        Rectangle arc = new Rectangle(bounds.Location, size);
        GraphicsPath path = new GraphicsPath();

        if (radius == 0)
        {
            path.AddRectangle(bounds);
            return path;
        }

        // top left arc  
        path.AddArc(arc, 180, 90);

        // top right arc  
        arc.X = bounds.Right - diameter;
        path.AddArc(arc, 270, 90);

        // bottom right arc  
        arc.Y = bounds.Bottom - diameter;
        path.AddArc(arc, 0, 90);

        // bottom left arc 
        arc.X = bounds.Left;
        path.AddArc(arc, 90, 90);

        path.CloseFigure();
        return path;
    }

    public static void FillRoundedRectangle(Graphics graphics, Brush brush, Rectangle bounds, int cornerRadius)
    {
        if (graphics == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(graphics));
        if (brush == null)
            throw new ArgumentNullException(nameof(brush));

        using (GraphicsPath path = RoundedRect(bounds, cornerRadius))
        {
            graphics.FillPath(brush, path);
        }
    }
}

I would appreciate help. Thanks!

As mentioned above i tryied adding that additional code. It works but not well, as it does exactly what i dont want it to do, making the corners pixelated.