115. The Imperial Treasure

2024.01.23.

Yuan stiffened her entire body at words she had never heard before in her life.

“The one who possesses the Pelliese treasure shall become Emperor!”

Now, Bollonico’s strange obsession with the Pelliese family finally began to make sense.

Had her uncle known about this?

No, probably not.

If he had even read a single line of the legend stating that the one who holds the Pelliese treasure would become Emperor, he would never have so easily handed over the family seal to Bollonico.

On the contrary, he might have used it as leverage to extract anything he wanted from Bollonico.

“When did Noel hear such a thing? I am a Pelliese, yet I’ve never heard of it.”

Noel, gradually calming his excitement, mumbled as if making excuses.

“I, I read it in the restricted section of the Imperial Library. A book titled ‘The Imperial Treasure.’ Out of curiosity, I flipped through it, and it was just so astonishing….”

“Did you report this to His Highness Bollonico?”

“After reading that passage, I was so astonished… And knowing how much my older brother suffers from not becoming Crown Prince… I thought, perhaps, it might help him—”

His voice trembled violently.

“What is this treasure?”

“….”

“What exactly is this magnificent Pelliese treasure that even the Count of Pelliese or I know nothing about? Does the book actually mention it?”

“The, the, that part was torn out.”

As Yuan’s eyes narrowed with suspicion, Noel hastily defended himself.

“I, I swear it’s true! I wouldn’t lie about something like this! I, I just made a guess.”

Noel glanced cautiously at Yuan’s expression, sighed, and sat closer to her. His voice dropped to almost a whisper.

“I suspected… that Father’s black sword might be the Pelliese treasure.”

“The black sword?”

As Yuan froze, repeating the name, Noel poured out the secret he had long kept inside, his face a mix of anxiety and relief.

Emperor Igor originally fought monsters wielding a heavy spear he carried on his back.

He was naturally more skilled in spear techniques than swordsmanship, having lived his entire life with a spear—from graduating at the Academy as a child, rising to Grand Duke, and later suppressing the rebel army.

Yet, when he took the throne in place of Clade, he ascended with that black sword sheathed at his side.

Noel believed that the black sword must have been the Pelliese treasure, possessing mystical power that granted his father this unexpected opportunity.

It sounded a bit superstitious, but legends were, by nature, born from an excess of coincidences. Thus, his father must have gained this rare chance, ascending the throne miraculously, just as the legend foretold.

“And then?”

“I, I, I told Brother Bollonico about it.”

Noel clasped his hands together like someone making a confession, bowing his head deeply.

Yuan observed the scene and began organizing her thoughts.

Her uncle had once furiously accused Bollonico of targeting the Pelliese family for unknown reasons.

If Bollonico’s obsession with the Pelliese—even after taking their seal and despite them holding no territory—was due to searching for the Pelliese treasure, then Noel’s explanation made perfect sense.

Bollonico had given Yuan the Pelliese seal so easily because he no longer needed it.

The only change? Yuan herself had come to him.

That meant Bollonico, unlike Noel’s assumption, did not believe the black sword was the treasure—but rather, Yuan herself.

The treasure had already walked to him on its own; what need did he have for mere authority over the Pelliese?

Yuan agreed with this thought.

The Pelliese power—known only to the head of the family and the one who wields it—was the ability to absorb pain. This ability alone was worthy of being called a family treasure.

Ancient books about treasures or legends were naturally exaggerated.

The Pelliese were an old family who once healed an ancient Emperor and thus became nobles. It wasn’t impossible that a line of legend related to this remained.

If, by some chance, that legend were true, then Bollonico was truly a pitiful figure.

After searching so desperately, the treasure he obtained was terminally ill—he would gain it only to lose it in the end.

Finishing her thoughts, Yuan’s focus shifted from the idea of the Pelliese treasure to the “black sword” Noel had mentioned.

As she recalled, a flash of memory struck her like lightning, and she clenched her fists, cold sweat dampening her palms.

A pitch-black greatsword.

The very one Emperor Igor had placed upon Clade’s shoulder during the investiture ceremony!

Hena’s testimony flashed like lightning in Yuan’s mind.

“It was clearly that sword that split the Emperor in half.”

“The Emperor wasn’t physically split. But the black aura surging from the sword was sucked into him like a vortex.”

“The mad Emperor’s eyes nearly popped out. He stared at that cursed black sword for a long while, then looked at Prince Clade, whose body had turned completely black as if burned, and laughed even more grotesquely.”

“Noel. Was the greatsword used by His Majesty during the investiture ceremony the same ‘black sword’ you’re referring to?”

Noel, tense at Yuan’s unusual expression, carefully studying her face, slowly nodded.

A spark ignited in Yuan’s eyes.

That mad Emperor.

Had performed Clade’s investiture ceremony with that accursed black sword—

the very sword that had split Clade’s body in half!

“W, why, why are you asking?”

“Did you know that the black sword used by His Majesty was the very one that split Prince Clade’s body in half—the one that turned him into a monster?”

“What?”

Noel asked back, dazed.

Noel was not at fault, but Yuan suddenly hated him as much as she did Bollonico, thinking of how shamelessly his son—carrying Emperor Igor’s blood—had witnessed that scene.

“The Emperor continues to mock Prince Clade to the very end! Did he really think the Prince would be delighted to receive his title with the very sword that ruined him?”

“P, please, calm down.”

“How can anyone be so cruel!”

Yuan stomped her foot while still seated, unable to contain her fury, and Noel, at a loss, tried to soothe her.

He seemed bewildered—this was the first time he had seen Yuan express such intense emotion, especially regarding Clade.

“I, I thought you hated Clade.”

Yuan suddenly snapped back to awareness and wiped all expression from her face.

Noel was a trustworthy man. He wasn’t someone who would carelessly spread her words.

Moreover, he genuinely cared for Yuan as a true friend. But was he someone to whom she could confess the truth—that she loved Clade?

No, he was not.

Everyone around Noel might be Clade’s enemy. She had nearly made a grave mistake, having grown too comfortable with Noel.

“I do hate him. I despise him. I curse him.”

“B, but just now—”

“Prince Clade killed my sister. No, because she was the Crown Princess, my sister died. Do you need further explanation?”

Yuan snapped at Noel, abruptly stood up, and began packing her belongings.

The Emperor Igor’s cruel mockery had left her utterly raw and sensitive.

How could a human being do such a thing? How?

Recalling the moment when the black sword—having stolen Princess Apollini’s life and split young Clade’s body in half, condemning him to ten years of self-imposed isolation—was brazenly placed upon Clade’s shoulder with a smile during the investiture, Yuan felt dizzy.

Clade must have known.

In his nightmares, he was always pierced and slashed by that black sword. He must have seen his younger sister cut down by it.

While Yuan harbored absurd jealousy, Clade might have gritted his teeth and endured that humiliation.

Reliving that moment known only to Emperor Igor and himself, erasing the horrifying instant that would make an ordinary man faint, he must have knelt before the Emperor.

As Yuan wiped tears streaming down her cheeks and continued packing, Noel hesitated, reaching out his hand, then pulling it back.

“I, I will apologize in your place.”

“Forget it. This has nothing to do with you.”

“If I hadn’t told Brother Bollonico about the Pelliese t, treasure… then the Pelliese women wouldn’t have been sent to the Imperial family.”

Yuan’s hands stopped inside the bag. Almost sobbing, Noel began confessing again behind her back.

“It, it wasn’t long after I mentioned the Pelliese treasure that your sister went to Locksenhart.”

Noel covered his face with both hands.

He was revealing the guilt he had carried for so long.

A secret he thought he would never tell anyone, yet the pressure to confess it to Yuan forced it out.

“T, that’s when it started. When I began stuttering.”

“!”

Yuan abruptly lifted her head and sharply turned toward Noel.

Behind his hands, he finally began to expose the thoughts he had long hidden.

“B, because of my one word, someone was sent away as if sold into marriage—”

“….”

“When I heard that Louise Pelliese had passed away, the symptoms worsened.”

“Didn’t you used to blame the Pelliese sisters for betraying the Crown Prince?”

“C, Clade is my brother, but the Pelliese weren’t my family.”

“And now?”

“Because Yuan is my friend, so….”

Thick tears rolled down Noel’s cheeks.

“I regret it more now than I did then. I can no longer comfort myself with the delusion that it was the Pelliese’s own doing to please Brother Bollonico.”

Noel suddenly knelt on both knees before her.