Chapter 217

“Your Highness, are you alright?”

Jin’s pupils trembled as he finished reading the note. Romandro called out to him worriedly, but the child kept looking down at the note without responding. He kept rereading it, wondering if he had misread something, but nothing changed.

Romandro turned to Ian.

“……”

But Ian just calmly sipped his tea. Faced with the completely opposite reactions of the two, Romandro risked impropriety and requested:

“Your Highness, if it’s alright, may I take a look as well?”

“Ah, yes. Go ahead.”

“…Gasp.”

Romandro hastily took the note and unknowingly held his breath. Given Jin’s reaction, he thought it wouldn’t be a good prophecy, but…

-Cursed one, you cannot defy fate. Die for Bariel’s sake. Then glory will descend upon the world.

To anyone, this prophecy seemed to fit the situation of Jin and Arsen. Jin, the cursed child. And the fate foretold from birth.

Romandro crumpled the note and looked around. The servant was still waiting, bowing.

“Has this message from the temple only come to us?”

If so, it might be better to bury it here. The political situation was already leaning towards Arsen, and if news of such a prophecy spread, it could become uncontrollable. Although there’s much debate about the credibility of prophecies, if two consistent ones come down, even non-believers might start to believe.

“It was also delivered to the Administration Department. There was no special distinction, just the department name written, so I assume the content is the same.”

“Oh no! This is terrible!”

Thwack!

Romandro lamented, roughly hitting his forehead. The Administration Department of all places? Within half a day, everyone in the palace would know about the new prophecy. He collapsed onto the table, clutching his head.

“……”

Silence fell again. Finding it too quiet, Romandro slightly raised his head. Jin was staring intently at a corner of the greenhouse, as if thinking about something, while Ian was savoring the tea’s aroma. One side was desperate, the other calm. Feeling puzzled, Romandro tapped Ian’s arm.

“Ian. Say something.”

But Ian just winked, signaling him to be quiet. As Romandro raised an eyebrow at this puzzling behavior, Jin spoke.

“…I’m not the only cursed one in the palace.”

“That’s right, Your Highness.”

“They will consider this as being given to my brother Gale, not to me.”

Gale is also cursed. If you think about it, isn’t his curse more certain than Jin’s unverifiable prophecy? His curse was a clear ‘fact’ – who cursed him, how, and why were all known.

Romandro, who had forgotten about Gale’s existence, exclaimed:

“That’s right. That’s it. This prophecy is for His Highness Gale, not His Highness Jin. Yes, yes. That’s it.”

“Yes. That’s what I’ll believe.”

Although it wasn’t clear exactly who the prophecy pointed to, Jin intended to believe it this way. He knew all too well how cruel and arduous the fate derived from belief could be. He had experienced more painfully than anyone that belief creates actualized fate. From now on, he would not accept any misguided words in his life. The child steeled his resolve, glaring into the darkness.

“That’s an admirable decision.”

Ian praised Jin generously. In fact, Ian knew Jin would become emperor, so as soon as he saw the phrase “cursed one,” he thought of Gale. But he waited for Jin to realize and act on his own. Jin needed to fully recognize that he was precious.

“But what about Hayman? If Hayman finds out about this, no, we don’t even need to go that far. If Arsen’s supporters find out, they’ll seize the opportunity to try to kill brother Gale again.”

Already, there were demands from all sides for Gale’s immediate judgment due to his attack on Arsen. If the interpretation of the prophecy was twisted that way, they would surely seize the opportunity. Ian nodded at Jin’s concern.

“You’re right. In fact, all the evidence gathering for His Highness Gale is complete. We have proof that he colluded with Hayman to incite rebellion, and details of some related transactions are prepared. The issue is the trial date.”

Unlike Mariv’s trial, which was handled swiftly with one mind and one will, Gale’s case was more complicated. Ian’s side wanted to hold the trial as quickly as possible, but Hayman, or more precisely, Hayman’s side, would likely take the stance that they couldn’t proceed with the trial before dealing with Gale. They would keep finding various excuses to delay the trial. Eventually, the trial would be held when it reached its limit, but it was undeniable that time was being dragged out.

“It’s best to observe the grand council first, then set the schedule again.”

Ian gestured to Romandro, asking if the indictment was proceeding without any issues. Romandro confidently thumped his chest, as if to say “just trust me.”

“Yes. I understand.”

Jin muttered, slightly unfolding the crumpled note, as if to confirm once again that the cursed one wasn’t himself. Ian snapped his fingers, releasing mana. A small spark was born at his fingertips.

Ziiing. Zing.

“Your Highness. If you wish.”

If you wish, burn it. If it goes against Your Highness’s will, there’s no reason for it to exist in this world. So, destroy it.

“Thank you.”

Jin caught Ian’s implied meaning and smiled faintly. Then, without hesitation, he burned the note at Ian’s fingertips.

The ashes fluttered briefly, but they were pitifully weak. The weight of the prophecy that had been pressing down on and oppressing Jin was that light.

“Your Highness. The sun will set soon. It would be best to return before the wind turns cold.”

“What about you, Lord Ian?”

“Of course, I’ll come too.”

The Ministry of Magic was their workplace and their resting place. Jin dusted off his hands and stood up. He didn’t know about outside, but inside the greenhouse was still warm.

***

Perhaps it was because he had been preparing since early morning and had witnessed his brother’s death. Jin fell asleep in the carriage and was carried in on Xiaoshi’s back. Ian and Romandro wished they could lie down like him, but reality wasn’t so accommodating.

Rustle.

“What’s next?”

“ requested an interview about the special edition. Remember? Viviana promised them an exclusive in return for printing the extra.”

“I remember. Schedule it in the remaining time. We’ll be even busier once the mana confirmation ceremony starts, so it’s better to do it before then.”

A mountain of documents greeted Ian and Romandro. It certainly wasn’t this much when they left in the morning; probably reports from ministers including Quintana had been mixed in.

“And here’s the indictment to submit.”

Romandro put down a thick stack of papers. All of these, about a hand’s span thick, were lists of charges against the Hayman family for rebellion and felonies. Ian’s eyebrows arched at the unexpected volume.

“Quality over quantity. If unnecessary things are mixed in, it will take time for the Judicial Department to sort through them, which is disadvantageous for us.”

“These are all based on facts. Or should we just submit the black armor rebellion charge? Then it would be about twenty pages from here to here.”

“Just a moment.”

This was the final check by Ian before it was officially submitted to the palace. After all, anything submitted in the name of the Ministry of Magic was essentially submitted in Ian’s name. He slowly examined it, pointing out parts to be revised.

“Here, revise this. Change the order of the list. Although Hayman has shares in Chetur, nothing has been revealed yet. It’s right to move it to the back.”

“Hmm, wait a moment. Yes. I understand.”

Romandro’s quill moved diligently. As they continued working like this for a while, there was a sound from outside.

Knock! Knock knock!

Ian glanced at the clock. It was almost past midnight. He seemed to know who it was just from the knock, so he lightly gave permission to enter.

“Is that Captain Akorella? Come in.”

“Oh?! How did you know?!”

“Only Beric or you knock like that.”n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Hahaha. Well, well. I heard you’re submitting an indictment to Hayman tomorrow, so…”

She waved a thick stack of documents in one hand, smiling. Romandro, who was at the point where he felt nauseous just seeing white paper, covered his mouth and gave a horrified look.

“Is this additional material? Ugh.”

“Oh my. How come you’re having morning sickness on behalf of Lady Viviana?”

“It’s not morning sickness, it’s just, I feel sick just seeing new paper now. Seriously.”

“It’s the research results on the black ore obtained from the Chetur district.”

Ian received Akorella’s report, tilting his head in confusion. Research results? Already? It’s physically impossible to understand in this timeframe. Ian pressed his brow as if he had a headache.

“Captain Akorella. Please don’t misunderstand. If you’re concerned about attaching this to the indictment, I must politely decline.”

“It’s not rushed work. Of course, it’s still in progress, but it might be content that absolutely must be included in the indictment, so I’m submitting it like this.”

Content that must be included? Ian thought for a moment, then slowly began reading the report. As he did, cracks appeared in his usually calm expression, clearly showing ‘surprise’.

“From what I understand now…”

Romandro recalled Akorella’s mention of organic compound something or other, waiting for Ian’s question. Ian, can you understand this?

“Are you saying this is dragon scales?”

Clang. Romandro had picked up coffee to wake himself up but dropped it. That’s because while dragon teeth and various bones could be seen uncommonly, scales were a different matter.

“S-scales? Scales? The scales I know?”

‘This definitely could be problematic.’

Ian sighed and rested his chin on his hand.

Dragons were defined as inviolable divine beasts in the world. Regardless of their population, the myths surrounding them made them so.

Romandro wiped his face with trembling hands, then turned to Ian.

“Ian, do you know about the ‘Dragon’s Sacrifice’?”

In the chaotic beginning times. The powerful dragons became weapons for humans and swept across battlefields. The continents split from their flames, the gaps were filled again with their tears, and this repeated for hundreds of years, creating the current crust, according to legend.

The sight was so horrific to God that He took away the dragons’ abilities and stopped the war.

“Isn’t it about dragons losing their power due to human greed? There isn’t a single country that calls itself a nation that hasn’t signed the inviolability treaty. Bariel is also one of the representative signatories of that treaty.”

“Y-you know it well?”

In short, the whole world made an alliance not to catch dragons. However, as an exception, the corpses of ‘naturally deceased’ dragons could be used, so teeth or bones were sometimes made into swords.

Akorella tapped the report and added:

“That’s why it was a bit confusing. There was definitely something similar to mana, but the crystals were different. Oh, and they say that when dragons die naturally, their scales decay and disappear first. It’s extremely difficult to obtain them.”

“That means there’s a high possibility they were obtained while the dragon was alive?”

“They’ll likely respond by saying there’s a separate supply factory. There are actually a few large ones near Bariel.”

There are a few state-certified factories that raise dragons for a hundred years from the moment they’re born until the day they die, waiting for their corpses. Ian handed Akorella’s report to Romandro and instructed:

“Let’s attach this and submit it too.”