The Unpurified Black Tangle (1)
The moment my eldest brother Carlyle appeared, it felt like rain after a long drought. Even the brute force with which he had blown the entire door off its hinges seemed, in that instant, like a sacred beam of salvation.
Carlyle offered the empire’s sun, Kaelus, nothing more than a slight nod—the bare minimum of courtesy—before fixing him with a gaze colder than a glacier.
“The imperial palace’s security is shockingly lax. To think that nameless black worms would dare reach for my little sister’s hem.”
The murderous tone in Carlyle’s voice made even Elik, the knight commander standing beside him, swallow hard. Yet the true target of that killing intent, Kaelus, remained perfectly at ease. He casually kicked at the broken door lying at his feet and smiled crookedly.
“Duke, that’s quite the entrance for a greeting. The repair bill for the reception room is going to be steep.”
“Bill me whatever you like. But first I want to hear why you dragged my sister into this filthy place.”
“Filthy? I was simply curious about the youngest Lucerne that you and Cassian have kept so carefully hidden, so I extended an invitation to the palace. I had assumed the child was a boy, so discovering she was a young lady was rather surprising.”
What kind of nonsense was that? Carlyle’s brow furrowed.
Unfazed, the emperor’s lips curved upward. “During today’s state council meeting—the one you skipped—the nobles were urging me to hasten the selection of an empress. On reflection, the Lucerne ducal house wouldn’t make a bad first candidate.”
Carlyle froze for a heartbeat. Then he made a show of digging in his ear and answered in a flat voice.
“I keep hearing a dog barking somewhere. Kaelus, I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
…Has he lost his mind?!
Not only had he addressed the emperor by name, he had dismissed the words as dog barking. No matter that it was our eldest brother—this was crossing the line by a mile.
While I stood rigid with shock, the emperor’s gaze slid back to me.
“The little sister you cherish so dearly handed me this artifact fragment as proof. Imagine that.”
“What?”
The cry slipped out before I could stop it. Kaelus twirled the shard between his fingers, showing it off. It had definitely been in my palm moments ago—when on earth had he taken it back?
A chill raced over my skin. I ducked my head and hid behind my brother’s arm.
“Elinor, we’re leaving. There’s no reason to stay in this place any longer.”
Carlyle clearly had no idea what was going on, but he seemed to have decided that escaping this den was the wisest move. He took my hand and strode down the corridor without a backward glance.
Just as we were about to leave the reception room, Kaelus’s languid voice flew after us like an arrow and sank into my back.
“Lady Elinor, I’ll be waiting for that ‘top-grade souvenir’ you promised me. You’d better send it quickly before I come collect it myself. My patience is rather limited.”
I answered with nothing but a flinch of my shoulders. Damn it. The random excuse I had thrown out to survive the crisis had come back to hit me like a boomerang.
The carriage door slammed shut. Only after we had passed completely through the imperial palace gates did the breath I had been holding explode out of me. In less than two hours my soul felt as though it had been threshed a thousand times inside a flail.
Infiltration as a servant, the crisis of my identity being exposed, the sudden talk of becoming empress… I tried counting the disasters on my fingers, then gave up.
Still… that dark energy…
I had been so distracted by the emperor that I had forgotten, but even after I had purified it with my power, the sticky impurity had come back to life. The sensation lingered unpleasantly on my skin. A huge vortex was swirling toward Lucerne—and toward the entire Asterion Empire. The ominous certainty settled heavily in my chest.
Carlyle, who had been sitting quietly beside me and watching my condition, finally spoke in a low voice.
“Elinor.”
“Yes, brother.”
“What exactly did that bastard Cassian make you do this time?”
The moment I saw the icy rage in his eyes, I knew. Tonight at the Lucerne ducal mansion, Cassian’s screams would not stop.
Instead of answering, I squeezed my eyes shut.
I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you, second brother. In return, I’ll personally place wagyu sirloin on your memorial table.
It was my final act of mercy.
How long had we traveled? The carriage had not even stopped at the mansion entrance when the door burst open as though it would shatter. Carlyle stepped down first. Frost bloomed wherever his feet touched the ground; the flowers in the beds froze with silent screams.
“…Um… brother, the flowers didn’t do anything wrong.”
My tiny murmur was far too small to reach the eldest brother’s ears. He glared in the direction of Cassian’s office with eyes like frozen blades and charged forward like a storm.
“Cassian Lucerne, get out here right now!”
He thrust a hand toward the office door. The heavy wooden panel instantly shattered into ice fragments that scattered in every direction.
Maybe I should worry about our own repair bills instead of the imperial palace’s…
Calculating the cost in my head, I quietly followed my eldest brother inside.
“Eek! Brother! Brother, please calm down! This was all from a macroscopic perspective, for the future of our house—!”
Inside the office, Cassian was cowering behind the sofa, trembling violently. He must have anticipated Carlyle’s return; every kind of defensive artifact dangled from his body. Unfortunately, in front of the empire’s greatest swordsman they were nothing more than expensive trinkets.
Carlyle strode forward and seized Cassian by the collar in one smooth motion.
“Future? You dare speak of the future after shoving our youngest into a trap? The emperor already knew Elinor’s identity. You will confess every single deal you made with that madman—without leaving anything out.”
“That’s not—! No, just listen to me, brother! I never imagined Kaelus would become so obsessed with Eli! I only politely asked the youngest to deliver some information. I never thought it would turn into this—!”
“This bastard. So he really did know everything.”
A silence so cold it felt as if the world itself had ended settled over the room. Cassian had walked straight into Carlyle’s leading question.
That idiot. It’s not like this is the first time.
Instead of the sword Liber that our eldest brother usually wielded, the ice blade—rarely seen except in moments of extreme fury—materialized at his fingertips. The one that could freeze the soul itself.
I perched on the edge of the sofa and watched the scene with feigned disinterest but genuine fascination.
“…Die.”
Carlyle’s voice was low and final.
“Brother, please!! The Eclipse guild accounts haven’t even been settled yet!”
Cassian begged with every limb, screaming. But there was no mercy in Carlyle’s eyes. The ice blade touched the nape of his neck; white frost began to bloom across his collar.
I sighed and rose from the sofa. If I left them any longer, tomorrow’s breakfast menu might very well feature “rapidly frozen second brother.”
“Brother, put the sword away for now. Look at the state of the house. The butler will faint if he sees this.”
Carlyle’s piercing gaze swung toward me.
“Elinor, step aside. This one is beyond saving. He can’t even be recycled.”
“Well… whether you separate him for disposal or slice him up to sell as souvenirs is up to you, but I still need to hear what second brother has to say. Cassian, exactly what kind of mess have you created this time?”
I gave him the chance to confess on his own.
At my appearance Cassian looked like a man who had met his savior. Tears and snot streamed down his face as he reached for my skirt. Of course, one glare from Carlyle made him snatch his hand back instantly.
“It’s… well… strange things have been happening beyond the southern wall lately. They all seemed connected to a particular dark energy, so I was investigating the source. Before making a final report to His Majesty… I thought the knight commander Elik’s strength might be needed, so I subtly leaked the information through you, Eli.”
Huh? Reporting to His Majesty? Isn’t that treason?
Sensing something off, I tilted my head and kept listening.
“But that crazy emperor repaid kindness with enmity! He hacked my information network in reverse and figured out the situation within three days of your infiltration! So of course he should have sent you back, right? Instead he told me, ‘Keep your mouth shut and stay quiet, and I’ll overlook the Eclipse slush-fund ledger’! How did he even know about that ledger…? I did it to protect the family! I really had no choice, I swallowed my tears and—!”
“Wait. Did you just say slush-fund ledger, Ca-ssi-an?”
Cassian realized his mistake too late. He clapped both hands over his mouth, but the words were already out. Mentioning a secret ledger in front of the upright Carlyle was practically begging for death.
“Creating a secret ledger is impressive enough, but trading with it? Just die here.”
Carlyle’s ice blade advanced until it hovered right before Cassian’s nose.
“Eek! I was wrong!!!! …Ack! Brother! You’re joking, right?!”
“Joking?” Carlyle’s voice was terrifyingly calm. “Cassian, I clearly raised you wrong. Even now, I will teach you properly. Become human.”
Just as his rage was about to explode again, I dashed forward and grabbed his arm. The freezing chill raced through my fingertips, but the light within me spread gently and melted it away.
“Brother, calm down first. I’m completely stunned too, but the emperor knew my identity and still let me go. And… there’s actually something more urgent than Cassian’s mess.”
I recalled the black threads I had seen in the reception room—how they had revived stubbornly even after my purification.
“The imperial palace seems to be rotting from within. The ‘impurity’ second brother mentioned… even my light couldn’t make it disappear completely.”
I lowered my voice.
It was time to tell my two brothers about the bizarre black spiderweb I had witnessed in the imperial palace reception room today.