The Emperor's Two Brothers (2)
***
The moment I heard the words *something strange*, my heart plummeted straight to the floor.
My mind became a tangled mess. I desperately tried to recall even the smallest memory, but nothing came to mind. Nothing except the matter concerning Sierra Whierton.
“Everyone in the capital knows how obsessively Voltero raised his son. Before Primos was even born, he would dress his boy like a crown prince and seat him between the emperor and empress at every imperial event.”
“So to Voltero, Primos and Hellion weren’t nephews. They were obstacles.”
“Exactly. If it was Voltero, he would have taught his son from a young age to view his cousins as enemies. He would have drilled into him that the Regentera family was a mortal foe that must be avenged. No matter how kind a person might be, if they grew up hearing such things their entire life, they couldn’t possibly look at you favorably.”
Had Illid… been looking at me that way all this time? As the daughter of his father’s greatest political enemy, the one who stood in the way of their path to power?
When I simply stared blankly at the floor, the marchioness let out a quiet sigh.
She handed me another sealed letter. This one wasn’t stamped with the imperial crest, but with the lily emblem of House Bladin.
“This is…?”
The letter was densely packed with information about Ebony Bladin. How she had managed to lift her house arrest and leave the estate, and why her relationship with her older siblings had no choice but to be so terrible.
“So Ebony Bladin was the daughter of a maid.”
I thought of how Ebony had always greeted even the lowliest passing maids with genuine warmth. Her crude speech and unrestrained behavior. Her actions, which I had once thought unbefitting of a noble, suddenly made sense.
“Ebony Bladin studied at an academy in the east before staying for a time in the Northern Archduchy. She then crossed over to the Southern Archduchy, and that was roughly half a year after the crown prince’s death.”
I quickly calculated the timeline. That would have been around the same time Sierra Whierton died.
“Could it be… that Voltero and the Count of Bladin joined hands back then?”
“I believe so. After the crown prince died, I expected him to reach out to our family immediately, but he didn’t. Voltero had chosen to ally with House Bladin instead. That way, he could also win the emperor’s favor, since His Majesty was partial to the late empress’s family.”
The marchioness crossed her arms and fell into thought for a moment.
“The emperor probably didn’t plan all of this from the beginning and summon his two nephews to the capital. But Voltero, working with the Count of Bladin, must have constantly stirred the emperor’s heart. They kept whispering that the only ones who could stand against the Regentera family were themselves and House Bladin.”
The letter the marchioness handed me this time looked relatively recent; its surface was clean. It bore the red seal of the Northern Archduchy.
“Alensia is neither as weak as her older brother nor as cunning as her younger one. She may accept that her son cannot become crown prince, but she is not the type to sit idly by while he is toyed with through unjust means. That is why she chose to join hands with us.”
Just as Grandmother had said. Upon hearing from her about the movements of the emperor, the imperial princes, and House Bladin, the archduchess had sent word that she was grateful for the information she had not known before.
She replied that she would maintain steady communication with our family through her vassals in the north. She even offered to lend the financial resources and military power of the Northern Archduchy if needed.
“Voltero must have believed Alensia would never reconcile with us. But it seems he never realized that his sister possessed a far greater vessel than he did. Nor did he realize that the nephew he viewed as a thorn in his side was a far more outstanding heir to the throne than his own son.”
Alensia and Hellion. Voltero and Illid. As I listened to Grandmother’s story, I kept picturing the two archdukes and their parents.
It was common knowledge that Hellion had inherited his mother’s fiery temperament. But few people knew he also possessed the same unyielding inner strength as the archduchess.
Illid was said to have inherited his father’s gentle nature. Yet among those who spoke those words, how many truly understood the dark ambition lurking behind the prince’s mild facade? Probably none. Even I, who had been close to both archdukes, had never realized it.
Hellion, though clumsy with words, had genuinely cared for his cousin. Yet Illid had often pointed out Hellion’s faults while wearing a concerned expression toward me.
Only now did I understand. It had all been to drive a wedge between Hellion and me.
“Then… Grandmother, you must have considered Hellion as my partner from a very long time ago.”
“I cannot deny it.”
The marchioness’s calm response left me feeling hollow. All the time I had spent until now suddenly felt meaningless. I felt like a fool who had taken the long way around when a short path had been right in front of me.
“Why didn’t you tell me from the beginning? If you had, I would have… I would have only looked at Hellion from the start.”
“I could not jump to conclusions so easily. I did not know the two archdukes well. If Voltero’s son had been someone who opposed his father’s will, there would have been no need to go this far. But Illid never showed any such signs.”
I wished I had realized it sooner. If I had known these circumstances earlier, I would not have been hurt by Illid.
And Hellion. Perhaps I could have accepted his heart much earlier. Without all those moments of painful misalignment…
“Hellion is someone who reveals his true worth as time passes. He may seem hot-tempered at first, like his mother, but he has clear goals and principles of his own. His judgment is excellent as well. Watching him handle the emperor’s duties, I see he would make a crown prince without flaw.”
A faint smile lingered on the marchioness’s lips as she spoke of Hellion. It seemed she had firmly decided to support him as the next crown prince.
“Ishtel, take this.”
The marchioness selected several documents from the pile of letters and handed them to me.
There was the amnesty bestowed by the emperor, the letter containing Ebony’s secrets, and several sheets of promissory notes.
The notes bore the names of people from House Bladin. Ebony’s siblings.
It seemed the bank that had lent them money for their gambling debts was one that received patronage from our family, which was how the notes had come into our possession.
The amounts were staggering. If these notes were ever revealed, Ebony’s brothers and sisters—legitimate children or not—would see their lives ruined completely.
“When dealing with enemies, one must know how to use both the carrot and the whip appropriately. Make good use of the discord within House Bladin. I will leave it to your judgment how to handle Ebony Bladin and which cards to show her.”
When had she prepared all of this? Looking at everything the marchioness had readied for me, a strange ache bloomed in my chest. The thought that Grandmother was preparing for her own end made me both grateful and so sorrowful that tears threatened to fall.
“I wanted to prepare everything so you wouldn’t struggle after I’m gone, but it wasn’t easy.”
“Grandmother…”
“I feel I have prepared most things, but when it comes to *that child*, I could offer you no help at all.”
She was speaking of Karina. I shook my head as I looked at her.
Karina must have been one of the greatest variables in the life of Marchioness Lilche. An existence that could neither be predicted nor prepared for.
“I will handle everything regarding Karina myself. So please, don’t worry too much.”
Dealing with her was my burden alone. It was not something for Grandmother to feel sorry or anxious about.
“Ishtel, your grandfather Wilhelm was a man of good will, just like you. Do you know when such a person decided he must kill his own brother?”
I shook my head at the marchioness’s question.
“After enduring and trying to understand countless times, he finally realized it could never be forgiven. That was when he resolved to end it.”
“…”
“So, Ishtel, if that day ever comes for you as well, do not hesitate. Make your decision. It will not be your fault.”
I nodded slowly. I repeated Grandmother’s words over and over in my mind and heart, engraving them deeply.
“I’m tired now. You should go back.”
The marchioness coughed dryly and lay back down on the bed. I left her room after promising to visit again soon.
***
All the way down the stairs, holding the banister as I headed toward the entrance, my head spun. The dizziness was so severe that I had to stop several times while descending to steady my breathing.
The secrets of the imperial family and House Bladin that I had never known before. At first everything had been pure chaos, but now it was slowly organizing itself inside my head.
Yet one question still remained unanswered.
The information about Karina that had supposedly left me. The person who heard the story from me had passed that information to Ebony. Which meant that among those close to me, there was someone standing on Ebony’s side.
‘Who could it be?’
Lost in deep thought, I walked across the garden of the marchioness’s estate. At that moment, a loud gunshot rang out from the empty lot behind the mansion.
Bang—!
Startled, I stopped just as I was about to climb into the carriage and turned around. Several ducks were flying across the evening sky dyed red by the setting sun.
“I heard earlier that some nobles nearby are out duck hunting.”
Ravi, who had been waiting by the carriage, spoke up. I gazed at the sky for a moment. Another gunshot rang out, and one of the flying ducks plummeted helplessly downward.
The moment I saw it, a strange feeling washed over me. As if someone were dragging me into an old memory, the world spun and blurred chaotically.
I squeezed my eyes shut. Past memories unfolded across my closed eyelids.
A vivid blue autumn sky. Ducks rising from the imperial hunting grounds.
A gunshot. White smoke pouring from the long barrel. Feathers scattering weakly. And Illid’s face splattered with bright red blood.
«Not long ago, a fallen noble who had been exiled came to see me. Desperate for a way to survive, he even revealed his identity and begged me for a job. I felt sorry for him despite his background and gave him a position as he wished. But the servant must have been quite capable, because he quickly caught His Majesty’s eye.»
That was what I had told him that day. I had spoken of the anxiety in my heart that had been tormenting me.
At first, he probably hadn’t known who I was talking about.
But as time passed and the emperor’s favor toward Karina grew deeper, if there had been someone carefully observing the servants in the emperor’s palace…
And if that person had noticed how Karina and I clashed over every little thing… then they might have realized that the person I had mentioned was Karina.
He had used that fact to move Ebony. Which meant he possessed power equal to or greater than hers.
And the only person who fit all of this was—
“Illid…”
There was only one such person.
“Your Grace!”
When my body swayed, Ravi quickly rushed over and caught me. My chest felt tight. It was as if a massive boulder were crushing my entire body; I couldn’t breathe properly.
“Sir Telia.”
I barely managed to steady my voice and called out to Ravi.
“How much have you uncovered about House Whierton?”
After a brief moment of hesitation, Ravi slowly opened his mouth.
“I have uncovered everything that Your Grace might be curious about.”
“Then tell me everything you have learned.”