Chapter 005
The study was brightly lit, unlike the previous night.
Decion sat immersed in thought, staring blankly at the taxidermied bird decoration on the wall.
Shortly before his father, the previous Marquis Heisen, died in an accident, he had called Decion aside and shared a peculiar story.
It was a story about the cuckoo.
“A cuckoo secretly enters another bird’s nest, pushes out one of the original eggs, and lays its own egg in its place. When the owner of the nest returns, they unknowingly hatch and raise the imposter egg with great care.”
“Then what happens to the egg that was pushed out?”
“It falls from the tree and shatters.”
“That’s too cruel.”
“Nature is often cruel. But the ones who commit the most horrific acts, Decion, are always humans.”
“The ones who commit the most horrific acts are always humans….”
What kind of expression had his father worn when he said that?
Decion tried to recall his father’s face looking down at him, but the memories of the distant past were as blurry as if buried in a thick fog.
Decion turned his head to gaze at his father’s portrait hanging on the wall. The face of the man, who shared a subtle resemblance to him, stared back with a solemn expression.
After locking eyes with the painting for a long time, Decion slowly parted his lips.
“……Father, did you realize it too?”
His low voice echoed hollowly in the empty space.
“That a cuckoo dared to push its own egg into the imperial nest.”
His red eyes glowed intensely in the shadows.
Three years ago, Decion had finally realized the truth.
Anastasia Janet de Panther.
The woman who wielded absolute power as the King’s only daughter.
The very Princess who manipulated public opinion with her sophisticated appearance and characteristic eloquence.
The only disciple who had directly received all knowledge, insight, and rhetoric from Decion himself—and the heir to the throne.
She was, in fact, not the King’s biological daughter.
* * *
The discovery of that fact was purely accidental.
From a young age, Anastasia had a weakness for anything that sparkled: pretty dresses, flamboyant jewels, and the like.
“Anastasia, you’ve indulged in luxury again!”
“But Father, I am to be the future King of this country. I must establish my authority through—”
“The King’s authority is not established through such adornments! It hasn’t even been twenty years since the war ended; you should be the first to set an example of frugality.”
For someone who could have anything they desired, her greed for material goods was strangely excessive. Decion had tried gentle persuasion and stern reprimands, but it rarely changed her.
That day, Decion had gone to find Anastasia after she entered the royal treasury without permission.
“Anastasia!”
Anastasia, who was fiddling with a magnificent tiara in the center of the basement, turned around in surprise.
Upon seeing Decion, she offered a mischievous smile.
“Teacher.”
“I have warned you several times. The royal treasury is accessible only to the King and the officially recognized heir. Since you have not yet been officially announced as the successor, you do not have the authority to enter this place.”
Anastasia shook her head as if she hated hearing his rigid lectures.
“Oh, you’re so strict. It just hasn’t been announced yet, but who else would be the heir? Father only has one child, and that’s me. Isn’t that right?”
“Regardless, rules are rules.”
“You’re truly too much, Teacher.”
Pouting, Anastasia picked up the ornately decorated tiara from the marble pedestal.
“This is the crown my mother wore at her wedding, right? How can it be so dazzlingly beautiful? I’ll get to wear a tiara this pretty when I marry later, won’t I?”
It was the moment Decion frowned slightly at her casual handling of a royal treasure.
“If you touch it recklessly—”
Decion’s words of warning stopped abruptly. His eyes grew wide.
His gaze was fixed on the brilliant tiara resting on Anastasia’s white hand.
The tiara, sparkling gold under the flickering candlelight, was as dazzlingly beautiful as Anastasia had said.
However, that was not the reason for Decion’s shock.
‘The crown is not glowing.’
The large red gem embedded in the crown held by Anastasia was not emitting even a flicker of light.
The crown Anastasia held was no ordinary object.
It was a gift sent from the Great Temple to celebrate the marriage of the King and Queen, embedded with a gem that contained a drop of the King’s blood.
It was designed to react with the divine power of anyone carrying royal blood, emitting a brilliant radiance.
‘Then why…?’
Why was the crown silent in the hands of Anastasia, the King’s only daughter?
Staring at Anastasia’s back with a stunned face, Decion hurriedly adjusted his expression.
‘……Anastasia is not of His Majesty’s bloodline?’
It was an unthinkable suspicion.
But why did that thought not feel entirely far-fetched?
Decion went straight to the royal archives and pulled out the historical records.
Carefully turning the pages one by one, Decion muttered.
“The Princess’s birthday was the last day of next month.”
Year XXX, Month X, Day X.
Decion’s finger, moving slowly along the densely written dates, faltered and stopped in the middle of the book.
“……There are no records? And for ten whole days?”
In any dynasty, every move of the King is meticulously recorded. The historical records of Panther, spanning 500 years, were renowned for their thoroughness and accuracy.
Yet, there was absolutely no record regarding the birth of the only Princess.
Of course, there was a reason.
At that time, Panther was at war with the neighboring country of Moesen.
It was the end of the war, a time when a desperate and venomous Moesen was exerting its final efforts.
Following a series of defeats in key battles, Moesen’s troops advanced near the capital of Norrington. The Queen, who was heavily pregnant at the time, had to endure the humiliation of fleeing for safety.
The Princess, who should have been born amidst everyone’s blessings and celebrated throughout the kingdom, was born quietly, in secret.
The record of the Queen passing away ten days after the Princess was born was all that remained in the archives.
‘A ten-day gap. Something definitely happened during that time.’
From that day on, Decion began moving to solve the mystery surrounding those ten blank days.
He searched for everyone who had been present when the Queen gave birth, but he could not find a single one of them.
Not the doctor who delivered the Princess, nor the midwife, nor the Lord who provided the refuge, nor the royal maids who had attended to the Queen.
‘They’re all dead?’
Decion felt a chilling sensation.
* * *
If Anastasia was not of royal blood, it meant the real Princess born to the Queen existed somewhere outside the palace.
During the three years he spent away from home, Decion had been searching for the whereabouts of that very Princess.
‘I was even willing to find a grave. In the end, I failed.’
Finding a Princess who disappeared twenty years ago with only a handful of clues was harder than finding a needle in a haystack.
He sought out witnesses and toured orphanages across the country under the noble guise of charitable work. He came up empty-handed every time.
The only identifying feature he could guess for the Princess:
Whenever he heard a rumor about a woman with violet eyes, he raced there, no matter where it was.
However, contrary to the saying that it was a trait of the Panther royalty, people with such eyes were not as rare as he thought.
Just like Eloise’s maid he had seen earlier.
The silhouette of the young maid flickered faintly in Decion’s mind. Though she was a rare beauty, it was her eyes that had captured his attention.
Eyes as clear and vivid as if amethysts had been embedded in them.
It was an impressive light that made it hard to look away. If Eloise hadn’t been there, he might have grabbed her and poured out a barrage of unexpected questions.
‘But she seemed to have a family. I almost had useless expectations.’
Decion wiped his mouth with a bitter smile.
Knock, knock.
The person standing outside the door burst in without waiting for Decion’s answer.
“You’re still the same, I see.”
A man with a tall, lanky silhouette strode in, his back to the hallway light. As he approached the desk, his golden hair shimmered in the candlelight.
“What are you doing all alone in the dark? So gloomy. Live a little brighter, will you? Brighter.”
Meeting an unexpected guest, Decion arched an eyebrow.
“What are you doing here at this hour? I heard you were arriving in a few days.”
“That’s a rather cold reaction for someone meeting after a long time.”
The one who had barged into Decion’s room was Noah Heights, the cousin of the deceased Queen.
With bright blonde hair, delicate features, and a cheerful, humorous personality, he was Decion’s polar opposite in many ways, yet the two surprisingly got along well.
Having grown up together like brothers since childhood, he was the only person who knew Decion’s secret.
Noah plopped down in a chair and leaned back.
“Your hospitality is terrible. Why don’t you offer me a cup of tea? A meal would be even better.”
Decion let out a small scoff and replied stiffly.
“If you want hospitality, act like a guest. Don’t barge in late at night.”
“Isn’t that too harsh for someone who came all this way just for you? I wanted to take my time too, looking around and enjoying the scenery.”
After grumbling for a while, Noah leaned toward the desk.
“But I couldn’t do that. I heard a very interesting story.”
“An interesting story?”
Decion wore an indifferent expression as if he had no interest. Noah nodded and continued.
“I was going to have dinner on the way here, and because it was a remote area, there was only one restaurant. I had no choice but to take a seat, and the food was truly, horrifyingly tasteless.”
“Get to the point. Not your useless impressions.”
“I’m telling you, it was an objective evaluation! Everyone at the tables near me was saying the same thing. They said the flavor completely went down the drain when the restaurant owner changed.”
Decion frowned at the sudden talk of food. Noah tapped the desk as if telling him to just listen.
“But about the old couple who used to own that restaurant… they apparently had a beautiful daughter?”
“If you want to talk about some trivial woman—”
“They say twenty years ago, they found a baby abandoned in a back alley who was about to freeze to death and raised her with great devotion.”
Twenty years ago?
Decion reacted with his usual keenness and sat up straight.
“There’s nothing particularly special up to that point. I was going to listen and move on, thinking they were just a kind-hearted couple. But here’s the thing.”
Noah’s lips curved into a smooth smile.
“I couldn’t just ignore the part where they said that daughter is a beauty with bright blonde hair and violet eyes. What do you think? Does my story still sound trivial to you?”
