173. Farewell Gift

2024.03.21.

“Go and participate, leading the southern people together with your maternal uncle.”

The trembling hand of the Empress pushed the recovered seal toward Noel.

Thick tears fell steadily down Marilyn’s pale cheeks.

She had to finally sever the last thread she had been clinging to desperately.

***

The Pelliese Mansion was no different from a house in mourning.

This was because of Gerret Pelliese, who had returned in a near-corpse state.

A few days earlier.

Priscilla, who had been raging wildly upon discovering that her husband had vanished along with the dowry, was now helplessly overwhelmed by the sudden arrival of creditors and a legion of lawyers.

And rightly so—until now, it was the dowry from the exiled prince that had silenced all those who constantly inquired why he hadn’t reopened his side-room clinic or when they could receive dividends from their investments. But now, that dowry was no longer in her hands.

Before she could even stand stunned and weep over the wreckage left by those who had ransacked the entire household, Priscilla nearly fainted at the sight of her husband returning as a slab of meat.

“What on earth happened?”

The Count, collapsed and unable to form a proper response, mumbled incoherently with a face completely devoid of soul.

His swollen face, clearly beaten somewhere, made his already massive features resemble an elephant’s.

His eyelids, puffed and enlarged, revealed dark eyes glistening with grievance.

“The exiled prince, the exiled prince—”

His hand flailing in the air was also abnormal. His left pinky and ring finger were tightly wrapped in bandages.

His blood-soaked body drenched his expensive outdoor attire.

“What about the exiled prince? What happened to the dowry?”

“The dowry! The dowry!”

He jolted upright like someone waking from a nightmare, flailing on the bed, but then turned deathly pale upon realizing there was no way to retrieve the baggage carts he had left behind in the Eastern District.

“Don’t tell me you’ve spent the entire dowry already?”

Priscilla, who had been suppressing her temper considering her husband’s battered state, shrieked shrilly.

Tomorrow, creditors and lawyers would once again line up at the mansion—what on earth was she to do?

“Are you even sane? Ever since you became a puppet head of the family, has your brain really rotted away? What are we supposed to do now? That was the only thing we could rely on…!”

“Dreykub Treloni!”

“Treloni? Why that empty-headed Count’s family?”

On the brink of losing everything he held, Gerret Pelliese’s mind began racing once more.

“Regina’s engagement letter—haven’t answered it yet, right? They said they don’t even require a dowry, didn’t they?”

“What are you talking about? Do you really think Regina would marry that empty-headed Dreykub? She’s still connected to Prince Bollonico—”

“What choice does she have if her father commands it?”

Regina, who had been eavesdropping through the crack in the door, could no longer hold back and flung the door wide open.

“I refuse!”

“Regina!”

Startled, Priscilla instinctively stepped aside, allowing Regina to step into the bedroom.

“This is absurd! Don’t make such a hasty decision before even sending a formal proposal to the Imperial Family!”

“Exactly, Regina! You’ve spoken well!”

Gerret Pelliese rubbed away the tears streaming uncontrollably from his eyes—physiological reactions caused by excruciating pain—and cried out face-down into the bed.

“Prove your loyalty to that precious Prince Bollonico! Somehow trick him and kick that wench Yuan out of this house!”

“What? Why bring up Yuan again!”

Priscilla immediately shouted back. Ever since Yuan had turned the mansion upside down and left, she had been consumed by fury.

But Gerret Pelliese, standing on the edge of a cliff himself, ignored her complaints and continued shouting at Regina.

“You either capture Bollonico and send Yuan to this house, or you marry into a union that will financially save this household in Yuan’s place! You have no other choice!!”

Having lost his authority and reduced to a puppet head of the family, Gerret Pelliese buried his face into the pillow and sobbed.

He had never been satisfying, but he had at least pretended to be a dependable head of the household.

Priscilla, standing there helplessly, alternated her thoughts between Enoch Pelliese—who now guarded the study and played the role of head of the family—and her pitiful husband before collapsing beside him.

The sorrowful cries of the couple soon infected Regina.

Filling her emerald-green eyes—so like her mother’s—with glistening tears, she steeled her resolve. One way or another, she would settle things with Bollonico.

If Bollonico wanted something more from the Pelliese family and was holding onto Yuan for that reason, she would offer anything—everything—to take her place.

And if he was infatuated with Yuan’s beauty, she would make him see with his own eyes just how insignificant that beauty truly was.

She had lived too meekly for too long. This was not like Regina Pelliese at all.

The next day.

Regina’s attire upon arriving at the Imperial Palace was hardly befitting a noble lady of grace.

It was already common knowledge throughout the capital that Prince Bollonico had left the palace early that morning for the hunting festival.

Regina carefully tucked the palace entry pass into her bosom and hurried toward the entrance of Bollonico’s residence, which was bustling with preparations for departure.

This was a method Regina would never have accepted under normal circumstances.

She enjoyed attention and was naturally assertive, yet she also despised appearing like an ordinary noble lady.

But now, she was desperate enough to abandon even the refined image she had maintained for over a decade.

Yuan Pelliese had wielded the family’s official seal, stripping her father of all authority.

She refused to obediently marry into that empty-headed Count’s family—the last, final card she had kept in reserve—while entrusting her fate to an uncle she had never seen and a father whose mind had clearly snapped.

She wanted to make one final struggle.

If Bollonico, who had only exchanged letters with her occasionally, felt moved upon seeing her again after so long and gave her a brief kiss on the cheek, and if such a rumor spread across the entire S.I.E.L.O., she was certain she could somehow create another opportunity.

Dreykub Treloni was filled with baseless confidence, unmoved by any rumor and fixated solely on her.

In short, this meant Dreykub Treloni ranked lowest among the suitors Regina had mentally considered.

After all, one never feeds a fish already caught.

“Ariesta the Grand Duchess wasn’t this desperate, which is why she failed to capture Bollonico.”

To someone like Bollonico, who had only known refined women, something provocative was needed.

Someone who could endlessly stimulate his overflowing curiosity—something an ordinary noble lady could never provide.

Regina continuously mussed her already disheveled clothing.

If she couldn’t stir Bollonico’s curiosity, then even if this appearance became a scandal across S.I.E.L.O., she still had Dreykub Treloni.

Truly, at this point, if she absolutely could not find a suitable match, marrying him was indeed one viable option—a realization Regina only came to when standing on the edge of a cliff.

‘But first, I must shake Bollonico as much as possible—then I’ll think about the rest!’

A scandal capable of reversing the situation.

Regina Pelliese knew all too well that just one such incident was enough.

There he was—Bollonico, about to board his carriage.

Before her stood a man in a dazzling white uniform, so immaculate it was unclear whether he was heading to a monster hunt or a palace ball, his golden hair fluttering in the wind, even the tip of the slender sword always at his side sparkling like a jewel.

“Your Highness!”

The knights guarding Bollonico instantly assumed defensive stances.

Yet Bollonico greeted Regina with a radiant, beautiful smile, as if he had been expecting her.

His bright blue eyes slowly scanned Regina, barely distinguishable from a courtesan in her current attire.

‘Got it!’

It was common for high-ranking men to bring their lovers on hunts and indulge freely.

The thrill of intimacy in a tense setting, the freedom to stay out overnight—married men gladly indulged in this pastime.

Regina had no intention of missing this chance. Her confidence wasn’t unfounded.

After all, it was none other than Bollonico himself who had sent her both the date of the monster hunt and the palace entry pass.

Without hesitation, Regina leapt into Bollonico’s arms as he dismissed the knights.

Bollonico gladly embraced her and showered affectionate kisses on both her cheeks.

“I was just feeling disappointed you wouldn’t come, Lady Regina.”

Then, turning her toward the knightly retinue accompanying him, Bollonico introduced her with a smile.

At that moment, Regina’s body trembled violently, as if struck by lightning.

Behind Sir Muriel, commander of the Third Imperial Knight Division, Dreykub Treloni stood at the forefront of the procession, staring at her with a deathly pale face.

“My farewell gift came a bit late, Lady Regina.”

The face of Dreykub Treloni, whom she had kept as insurance, twisted horribly.

From behind Regina, Bollonico’s voice poured out, dark and sinisterly chuckling.

“Did you really think Bollonico wouldn’t know you were weighing him against that empty-headed fool?”

Without hesitation, Bollonico flung open the carriage door.

Regina followed, frozen stiff, unable to even blink.

Inside the carriage, Yuan Pelliese sat, dressed in an irresistibly enchanting manner, gazing at Regina.

Her expressionless face was even more humiliating.

***

Yuan casually indulged Bollonico, who kept doting on her, then opened the window.

Cold air rushed into the carriage.

Thanks to Igor connecting the North directly with a major road immediately after becoming Emperor, they had arrived earlier than expected.

As she tightened the woolen cloak around her, Bollonico stopped the carriage with a sly smile.

The canyon where the hunt would begin was still ahead, but Bollonico urged her forward, eager to show her the picturesque snowy landscape.

Here, it was already deep winter, cold enough to see one’s breath. It truly felt like a place where winter lasted more than half the year.

Yuan gazed at the distant snow-covered canyon and the white screen formed by winding mountains.

Snow. Snow that had taken everything away. Damned snow.

Bollonico gently wrapped his arms around Yuan’s shoulders and recited the names of the mountains one by one. Then he whispered,

“You must stay close to Bollonico.”

“……”

“This time, I intend to win here.”

“I will.”

Her crimson lips, tightly closed and facing forward, smoothly curled upward.

“No matter what anyone says, I will stay right by your side.”