#92. Give Me the Pelliese Name

2023.12.31.

“This is impossible!”

Answering an urgent summons, Yuan arrived at Bollonico’s bedroom, rushed past the startled servants spilling out from the room, and stepped inside.

Beyond the gaunt back of Marquis Companni, Bollonico was tearing a newspaper to shreds in violent spasms.

“This is absurd! Why? What does he hope to achieve becoming lord of some wretched territory like that!”

“Your Highness! Please calm down—”

“Do I look calm?”

Seeing Yuan approach, Bollonico began wildly hurling pillows across the room.

Marquis Companni stood helplessly on the receiving end, struggling to soothe him.

“Why would Bollonico’s father allow Clade Euphris’s title ceremony to be held in this palace?”

Yuan looked down at the torn newspaper lying on the floor.

It wasn’t the front page she had expected—her own smudged portrait beside Bollonico’s elegant likeness, with Clade Euphris depicted as a dark shadow.

Instead, the front page now proudly displayed a beautiful portrait of Clade Euphris as a youth, radiant like a treasure of the Euphris family, alongside a map of the Locksenhart territory.

“Call the dressmakers immediately!”

Bollonico’s voice lashed out at Yuan, who stood frozen in shock.

“The dressmakers for my sister-in-law. I must inform them. Let that monster who dared leave the estate see exactly who my sister-in-law has become. Let him see what awaits him when he returns to the palace!”

While dozens of dressmakers flooded in, taking measurements and selecting fabrics, Bollonico meticulously designed Yuan’s appearance according to his own tastes.

Yuan stood silently before the mirror, staring at her reflection draped in red and blue fabrics.

Her heart, once frozen stiff, began pounding wildly.

Clade Euphris is coming.

Clade Euphris is coming to this dreadful palace.

He might suffer torment—not just from Bollonico, but perhaps even from the Emperor.

He might be hurt or fall ill again.

And all she would see on his face would be contempt.

‘I’ve gone mad, Yuan Pelliese.’

The mere thought of seeing his face paralyzed her entire body, as if her heart might burst from her chest.

***

While Yuan stood dazed by the unexpected news, Bollonico directed rows of dressmakers and jewel brokers in the reception room with a single finger, tormenting her relentlessly.

Dozens of sets of jewelry and fabrics were draped over Yuan’s body, only to be discarded moments later.

Even after assembling an extravagantly lavish ensemble, Bollonico acted as if he were searching for whatever would most irritate Clade Euphris upon his arrival at the palace.

And it was precisely this that irritated Yuan.

“Having trouble dealing with Noel lately, sister-in-law?”

Yuan stared at her reflection wearing a deep blue sapphire necklace.

Dark circles shadowed her eyes, and her cheeks were sunken, making her look exhausted.

“I’ve heard rumors you two have been growing close lately.”

Bollonico slowly approached Yuan and grasped her bare shoulders from behind.

The dressmakers, jewel brokers, and attendants nearby quickly averted their eyes and hurried out of the reception room.

“You haven’t forgotten who your master is just because you’ve been staying in the Empress’s quarters, have you?”

“I wonder. Don’t even dogs come to see the person who feeds them properly as their master?”

“…What did you say?”

Yuan Pelliese’s bloodshot eyes locked onto Bollonico.

Driven by the desperate need to extract what she wanted from him, her gaze burned with fierce intensity.

“Rather than wasting time worrying about who I’ve been with and what I’ve been doing in the Empress’s quarters, wouldn’t it be wiser to just tell me what you truly want from me? I’ve been thinking all night. You said to wait, that you’d tell me when the time came. But that wasn’t our agreement. When you visited me after my debutante ball, you promised that if I showed you something interesting, you’d tell me what you really wanted from me. So why do you keep telling me to wait?”

“Didn’t we finish that conversation yesterday?”

“Did I mention? I have little patience. You should know that just from the fact I left a crown prince who’d likely be poisoned if left alone. Don’t make me feel slighted.”

“Hah. You don’t want to feel slighted?”

“Yes. Give me something delicious to keep me obedient while I wait for my master.”

Bollonico froze for a moment, then burst into loud laughter that shook the reception room.

He raked his gaze over the woman before him as if stripping her bare.

When she had been plain, he hadn’t noticed, but she was quite beautiful. And now, dressed to his taste, what was there to say?

If he hadn’t been aroused, he wouldn’t have touched her in the first place. He was, after all, renowned for his refined aesthetic.

“You keep telling me to wait until I’m needed, to dress, groom, and adorn myself according to the Crown Prince’s tastes, then stand before my runaway husband. Don’t you think that’s going too far?”

“Yes, well, Bollonico is quite generous to his own people. But you’re family, and I’ve neglected you. Last night was quite pleasant—I slept deeply for the first time in a long while.”

Bollonico gripped Yuan’s chin with his long, slender fingers.

The enchanting woman’s lips glistened under the light—plump, tempting, delicious.

Bollonico had already finished imagining dancing with this woman before Clade Euphris.

A deeply satisfying image rose in his mind, and he decided it was time to offer her a suitable reward.

“What do you want? If it’s within Bollonico’s power, I’ll give it to you.”

Above the small chin held in Bollonico’s grasp, red lips curved into a gentle arc.

“Pelliese.”

The woman’s request slipped through snow-white teeth.

“Give me the Pelliese name.”

Yuan’s hand, clad in red velvet gloves, naturally pulled Bollonico past the reception room and down a corridor behind Bollonico’s palace.

The Pelliese family seal, displayed alongside transparent crystal ornaments, sparkled in their direction.

Bollonico’s perfectly straight brow crumpled like paper.

The Pelliese seal was a flawless decorative piece, occupying a prominent spot even along the ‘Path of Loyalty.’

Bollonico remembered Gerret Pelliese presenting it.

He recalled the moment vividly—the oily, tightly slicked black curls atop Gerret’s head nearly touching the floor as he bowed deeply.

Bollonico had pressured the Pelliese family for over a year.

With the previous count dead, the Pelliese house was visibly declining.

Gerret Pelliese might have thought expanding into commerce would strengthen their status, but a court noble without territory, chasing wealth over honor, was treated like a merchant in noble society.

Despite Marquis Companni’s opposition, Bollonico had insisted on gaining Pelliese’s support solely to uncover the family’s treasures.

Gerret Pelliese was a suspicious man.

And beyond their reputation as a distinguished medical family, the Pelliese’s secrets were shrouded in near-mysticism.

To uncover them, Bollonico had finally obtained the family’s personal seal.

Recalling Gerret’s irritating resistance and the Emperor’s reaction, he had no desire to hand the seal over to Yuan.

“If what Your Highness asks of me is insignificant, it doesn’t matter. But if it’s something so important I must risk my life for it, then surely I deserve to have it.”

Bollonico looked into the woman’s eyes as she boldly raised her head, pointing at the display case.

In her pitch-black pupils, a cold, determined will blazed—her resolve to have her way.

Arrogant.

Despite the icy impression, Bollonico simply smiled and whistled sharply three times, holding the note unusually long.

From somewhere, the parrot Lorenzo flew in, a key dangling from his sharp claw.

Even in the dim corridor, the golden key shone with unmistakable presence.

Its reflected light shimmered in the woman’s dark eyes.

Bollonico stroked Lorenzo, perched on his shoulder, and chuckled lowly.

“You think Bollonico will just obey any command?”

“That’s not important. What matters is that what Your Highness wants from me is something only I can do.”

This time, Bollonico laughed aloud.

He could feel blood rushing through his body.

The reason he had subdued the Pelliese. The reason he possessed their seal. That reason stood right before him.

Gerret Pelliese had been irritating anyway.

Returning one landless family wouldn’t cost him anything.

The true treasure of the Pelliese wasn’t in their palm-sized estate or in Gerret’s fat hands—it was right here, in his own grasp.

“I’ll take it as your promise to obey any order without question, my dear sister-in-law.”

The heavy seal, tilted in its display, fell into Bollonico’s hand.

A phoenix carved from ruby spread its wings wide, as if ready to soar toward him.

He gripped those wings tightly, as if to snap them, then placed the seal onto Yuan’s open palm.

“From now on, you are the true head of the Pelliese house—and Bollonico’s dog.”

The phoenix reflected in the woman’s eyes gleamed crimson.

***

Unlike Bollonico’s hysterical reaction, which failed to claim the top front-page spot,

others paid more attention to Yuan and Bollonico’s actions, now pushed to the second column by the schedule for the title ceremony honoring the monstrous crown prince.

“Perfect timing, wouldn’t you say?”

“Can you stop obsessing over that already, Eddie?”

“If we hadn’t acted first, the entire front page would’ve been plastered with that bastard’s face.”

Eddie dodged Lancelot’s attempt to silence him and pointed at Bollonico’s portrait.

“Look at how dignified he’s drawn. That’s not his style at all. It’s so cliché it’s laughable. He probably wanted to play the noble, charming prince who ‘unintentionally’ stole Clade’s place, but no chance. Right?”

Eddie proudly puffed out his chest, marveling anew at Clade’s childhood portrait.

His face, which had been grim lately, had noticeably brightened.

All because of Clade’s transformation.

As if mocking Lancelot’s endless love talk, Clade had begun seeking out women the very day after Yuan Pelliese’s betrayal.