The mansion was already engulfed in flames that had rapidly spread from the east wing. The snow didn’t extinguish the fire, and the blizzard accelerated the curse-like flames.

“Oppa! Let’s go together!”

Claude wriggled his body in the nanny’s arms at the faint voice.

From a distance, Apollini’s voice hung on the window of the west wing, lit by the flames.

“Your Highness!”

“Nanny! Please hurry and avoid! We’ll take care of it here.”

Margarete bit her cracked lips, and Claude, who began to mumble Apollini’s name with feeble strength, was picked up by her.

What they were aiming for was Claude, who was destined to ascend to the throne.

“Oppa! Take me with you! Don’t leave me behind, please!”

Margarete, with the help of the remaining few guards and shedding tears of blood, rushed to the back door.

“Oppa! Oh…”
Claude let go of the last bit of sanity he had, holding on desperately, at the sound of the sobbing nanny and the faint voice of Apollini.

⭐⭐⭐

Claude, who felt like he had fallen off a cliff, opened his eyes in shock as if cold water had hit his face.

A dark room.

A snowy night.

Everything was as it was before everything fell asleep. It felt like a terrible nightmare.

Before he could gather his senses, his two knees cruelly hit the ground, and he discovered a very familiar face rolling on the floor right in front of him.

“Claude Yupris.”

For a moment, he couldn’t breathe.

Claude, without even closing his eyes, took a while to lift his head, facing the lifeless face of the nanny.

The one casting the giant shadow was his Duke.

Duke Igor Yupris, the Grand Duke who ruled the North.

…He was smiling.

“I’ve been waiting for this day.”

The frigid western wing.

It was the western wing where he grew up, the western wing where Apollini had shouted not to abandon her. Claude felt a spine-chilling sensation as he looked at the horrifically burned interior.

“Apollini…”

“Your father. Alexei Yupris took away everything I loved.”

Claude’s head did not register a single word muttered by his Duke.

His gaze, filled with despair, quickly and persistently searched for traces of Apollini.

“Everything Alexei Yupris loved will die.”

Claude, unable to look at the man before him, stared again at the lifeless eyes of the now dim nanny.

The nanny must have died protecting him.

His entire body trembled with anger and fear.

Every place Apollini had been was now on fire. Apollini was nowhere to be found.

“Do you want to find Apollini? She’s dead. She begged me to spare her, pitifully begging for her life. I even thought about letting the girl live because she was a woman, but she was too noisy.”

He felt an intense surge of flesh but, at the same time, experienced the overwhelming pressure that crushed his body and soul.

The excruciating pain of his soul being torn apart stabbed his stomach.

He quickly raised his bloodshot eyes and stared at the Duke, who was holding the new black sword like a treasure.

On the tip of the sword, drops of blood were dripping, staining the carpet.

“Among the things Alexei loved, now only the mansion and Claude Yupris remain. The mansion is already burning, and you…”

Emperor Alexei’s most cherished treasures that remained were this mansion and Claude Yupris.

The mansion was already on fire, and the beautiful prince known as Yupris’s treasure was soon to be torn apart.

The sword that killed Apollini.

Now it was time to pierce him.

“Yupris’s treasure. Alexei’s treasure. What about Claude Yupris? Will you beg me? If you beg well, I might spare you.”

Instead of answering, Claude glared at the Duke with bloodshot eyes.

“…You worthless brat.”

Resistance was futile.
Claude’s both arms were ruthlessly bound by knights in heavy armor. The Grand Duke, Igor Yupris, mercilessly struck down his own nephew without a hint of hesitation. The sword, cutting through the empty space, swirled with a black aura, splitting the young body in half. It was a one-sided and cruel murder scene.

⭐⭐⭐

Yuan tightly wrapped his trembling arms around himself. “I remember clearly.” Hena, younger than Yuan, continued her words more composed than expected. “I saw the master’s face, who never bowed down, through the crack in the floor where I was hiding.” Hena, with a furrowed brow, was making an effort to recall that day. Fleeing and ultimately facing death in front of the western wing, witnessing the princess meet her end, Hena’s parents hastily tore up the wooden floor, hiding Hena inside, and confronted Grand Duke Igor before perishing.

Unaware, Yuan tightly held Hena’s hand, not realizing that he himself was shaking more. “Certainly, that sword cleaved the master in half.” Hena clearly saw it that day, the moment the long shadow of the extended sword touched Claude. “The master’s body wasn’t cut in half. It’s just that the dark aura swirling around that sword seemed to be sucked into the master, entering him like…”

“You’ve become what you are now.” Yuan closed his eyes tightly, depicting an unimaginably horrifying scene. Hena, as if she had become the person possessed, began pouring out memories. “The lunatic Emperor, who saw that sight, looked like his eyes were about to pop out. Holding that damned black sword, he stared at Prince Claude, who turned as black as a crow, as if his whole body had burned. He laughed more grotesquely, saying, ‘If life is worse than death, it must be like this! Yupris’s treasure has become a crow!'”
Yuan tightly closed his eyes, depicting a horrifying scene that he didn’t want to imagine. Hena, as if she had become someone possessed, began pouring out memories.

“The mad Emperor, who saw that sight, looked like his eyes were about to pop out. Holding that damned black sword, he stared at Prince Claude, who turned as black as a crow, as if his whole body had burned. He laughed more grotesquely, saying, ‘If life is worse than death, it must be like this! Yupris’s treasure has become a crow!'”