Sethian leaned his back deeply on the chair and surmised Zairâs intention as he recalled his face.
Idelloâs petals were famously known as a special remedy and panacea for trauma comparable to evelloâs tea leaves.
Regardless, that story is only possible when all the flowerâs âstamenâ that contains its toxins were removed. However, the idello in the center of Crown Prince Sethianâs Emerald Castleâs garden was still a poisonous herb that has never had its stamens removed.
The merchant who visited from a foreign country offered authentic expensive products not only to the emperor but also to the Imperial family members who had the right to succeed the throne. Someone was gifted with one of the only five gems in the world, someone received a splendid ornament, and a cape made from the skin of a rare animal was given to another one. [1] Finally, he dedicated the seeds of idello to Sethian. To wish him a long life.
Each of Sethianâs siblings that were present at that time laughed at him.
As the merchantâs outspoken words, its petals are famous for being the finest medicine there is, but before that, it was still the most poisonous weed among poisonous weeds. Combined with Sethianâs cruel nature, there was a rumor that was implicitly spreading within the populace that he is an evil spirit who tore the Empressâ belly when he was born. And upon hearing such rumors, the merchant mocked Sethian despite the fact of being the only prince born of the Empress but did not become the crown prince, and deliberately prepared such an authentic gift in order to stand in the eyes of the Imperial family who were closer to the throne and were hostile to him. [2]
The merchantâs intentions were immediately perceived by Sethian as well.
âI also heard a rumor that idello grows well when fed with humans.â
These were Sethianâs words in the presence of those Imperial family members who were all grinning with mockery as he grasped the seeds of idello within his hand with an unusually small smile that was very unlike him.
The next day.
The merchantâs group met a band of bandits on their way back to their country while leaving the Imperial city and everyone was brutally exterminated. Among them, the merchantâs body was nowhere to be found, and it is said that there was a long trail of blood going in the direction of the Imperial Palace.
That same night, it was also said that a strong scent of blood prevailed on the flower bed in the center of the Emerald Castle where the idello was planted.
Whether the truth could be found within Sethianâs words, the idello grew healthy and speedily blossomed in the blood-filled soil. This plant is considered rare because of its seeds, only a few sprouts and once it blooms, it doesnât die until it breaks its neck for only a couple of years. Despite this, the idello in the center of the Emerald Castleâs garden was surprisingly still brazenly blooming.
The idelloâs venomous stamen was deliberately not removed. It was like the symbol of the deadly Sethian, and so the other Imperial family members regarded it as such.
Sethian recalled Zairâs face and twisted the corners of his eyes crooked with ridicule.
Perhaps Zair intended to secretly receive the petals that would have been stained with the poisonous pollen of the stamen from the ignorant Yi-Gyeol, and poison someone to make trouble for himself or use it personally to falsely accuse him. But since he wasnât someone who could be easily swayed by such things, perhaps the person to be falsely accused is Yi-Gyeol.
Sethianâs eyes touched the faint presence in front of him. He could instinctively feel that he was looking straight into Yi-Gyeolâs eyes.
âWhat do you want to do?â
âWhat do you meanâŠwhat do I want to do?
With his arms folded and his head slightly tilted, Sethian said.
âIf we hand over idelloâs petals to Zair, heâll surely use it to plot a scheme against me.â
âSchemeâŠ.
Yi-Gyeolâs voice instantly dropped.
âNonetheless, thereâs no need for you to worry. Itâs easy to understand what Zair is going to do and we can just prepare a counterplan ahead of time. So just do as you please, and do what you want.â
As long as they know in advance that Zair is targeting the idelloâs petals, there are plenty of ways for them to counterattack. Or perhaps they can also make a way to trouble him the other way around.
ââŠ.
Yi-Gyeol remained silent without a single word. Sethian thought he was worried about him so he opened his mouth to ask if he should give Yi-Gyeol more detailed countermeasures but,
âThen the crowâŠ, Did Zair lie to it? That itâs not really effective in treating traumas, but itâs toxic?
Yi-Gyeolâs voice was rather calm and cold.
âThe poison is the stamen of the flower and the pollen from it. It is indeed true that its petals are great medicine for treating wounds but since theyâve been exposed to the pollen for a long time, if you use them as they are, you would be poisoned and die.â
âCanât we just remove its stamen or pollen?
âItâll survive if we remove it, but I donât intend to remove the toxicity of the idello which is my symbolic representation.â
âIâm sorry to keep asking, but why is it your symbol?
It was a pure question that Yi-Gyeol really doesnât have any knowledge of. And soon after, an infuriated voice containing Yi-Gyeolâs uncontrollable emotion followed.
âWhy do you use idelloâs poison as a symbol? Who stuck those wordsâŠ!
Yi-Gyeol swallowed his raised voice. He seems to be calming down his enraged emotions. Sethian thought that such a response from Yi-Gyeol is pretty interesting.
Yi-Gyeol looked into Sethianâs eyes and desperately tried to suppress the anger that kept rising to his throat.
It was obvious that Sethianâs siblings demeaningly and defamatoryly stuck those words on him. Thatâs why Sethian also describes toxicity as his symbol in order not to lose to them. [3]
âWithout even knowing much about SethâŠ.â
The same goes with Zair, and as well as his other siblings. Why do they hate Sethian so much when they donât even know him that well. On the contrary, Sethian is a person who is much more suited to idelloâs other name which is, âthe finest medicine.â
While Yi-Gyeol was busy resenting Sethianâs siblings who he had never even met properly except for Zair, Sethian was motionlessly watching him with his chin placed on the top of his hands. In his head, he was imagining Yi-Gyeolâs possible expression. At the same time, he was having this desire to leave the office and immediately head to his bedroom.
What expression is he making? What emotions were contained within those eyes? Or is he biting his lips and has a frown between his brows. Itâll surely be worth watching since he easily turns red whenever he gets emotional.
Sethian felt a tingling sensation as if something was tickling his entire body.
A faint smile appeared on his lips, who had been imagining Yi-Gyeolâs appearance.
âââââââ
âZair-nim!
The crow that came through the open window flew in front of Zair who was reading a worn-out book. Then it displayed the light purple petal that it was clasping with its two small claws.
âI got it!
It flapped its wings and pulled its small head towards Zair as if wanting to receive a compliment. Zair inserted a flat rod-shaped bookmark made of thin metal between the books and closed it. Meanwhile, his sharp eyes arrived at the rolled petal that was being clasped by the crowâs feet.
Zair stood up and stroked the crowâs head a couple of times with his fingertips, brought some white gloves, and a glass bottle with half transparent water. Zair received the flower petal from the crow with his gloved hand and looked at it carefully as he turned it around.
âAre you sure he took it secretly from the flower bed?â
âYes, I saw it myself. The big knight who was with him didnât even notice.
The crow verbally reported what it had seen.
After Yi-Gyeol changed his clothes, he straightaway headed to the garden with Kirsty, who was guarding outside. The soldiers who were rigidly watching the garden in the name of protecting the flower, to the point that even birds couldnât get any closer, as a result, didnât make a single movement as they recognized Kirsty escorting Yi-Gyeol.
As it flew in the sky and followed them from afar, Yi-Gyeol, who was pretending to look at the flowers secretly picked a petal of the fully blooming idello once he reached the center of the flower bed and hid it within his arms. After that, it was only until they returned to the room that he took the petal out of his arms, and all he had to do was hand it to the crow that was standing proudly by the window.
âHe really doesnât have any idea about the toxicity. He just grabbed and picked it up with his bare hands. As it stands, if he unconsciously sucks even just one finger, the road to hell will be the only way left for him. Heâs really stupid!
The crow twitched and laughed. Itâs also holding the petal in its claws bare, but it didnât seem to care much since it was just a temporary body for him anyway.
Zair, who was looking at the petal, put it in a glass bottle after hearing the crow badmouth Yi-Gyeol. Then he covered its entrance with the cap and shook it around in a circle. The rustling water soon engulfed the petals.
âBy now, that idiot probablyâŠ.
âWell, weâll find out. Letâs see if heâs really an idiot or not.â
Zairâs voice interrupted the crow. His keen eyes touched the idelloâs petal that was completely mixed within the transparent liquid.
âIs it simply because of natural variables that Sethianâs symbol-the idelloâs poison-was removed, or whether Joo Yi-Gyeol, who we thought was naive and ignorant, made a move in a short period of time?â
Zair looked into the unchanging liquid and clean petals, called a servant that was waiting outside, and threw the bottle over.
âThatâs the petals of idello that have been detoxified. I donât need it so bring it to the one who used to be His Majestyâs servant. Those wrists covered in pus will probably get a little better with that.â
The servant who received the glass bottle opened his eyes wide and swallowed his dry saliva. He was aware that a single poisonous petal from idello costs millions of gold on the market. He really wanted to click his tongue, thinking that it was ridiculous to give such a thing to a servant.
âUnderstood.â
âGo and tell him. He should get better soon for His Majestyâs sake.â
He doesnât have any affection for his father emperor, but it would have been a ray of sun for the servant whose wrist was cut off by Sethian. Sending idelloâs petals, which is an expensive cure, and adding words pretending itâs for both him and the emperor, could spark his resolution a little more.
Toxic petals or not, it doesnât matter in the first place. Either way, they will be poison for Sethian.
Translation Notes:
Author-nim canât just mention the names of those stupid people lol. Rushing to die, arenât we?  Babe, wake up! Your hubbyâs not a saint you know!
TRANSLATORS MESSAGE:
Please stop messaging and asking me when the next update will be.I already informed everyone that Iâm a bit busy. I study and work at the same time, and bugging me about the release just makes me lose motivation instead.If someone doesnât know yet, thereâs an ongoing big hunt nowadays and in fact, a novel was already removed on this site. I think that lying low and not updating frequently(maybe a week or two) would help us step away even a little from the radar.NO RE-POSTINGS PLEASE. Thereâs a reason that we post a warning page every time we release a single chapter, Iâm expecting that you guys have read it somehow by now and know the reason, especially if you got here from NU. If not, please do. NO RE-TRANSLATIONS PLEASE. Also, to those asking for re-translations, Iâm really sorry to say this but I donât want to let anyone use my chapters to translate into a different language.My translation is not perfect. My Korean is only at the elementary level and I admit that I made a few little changes as I translate along the way. I donât want to recommend my translation to be used for another language in respect to Author-nim since I believe that stories that have already passed through different beginnings have different meanings. If you really want to translate it to your language, please just use Author-nimâs OG version.THIS IS IMPORTANT. As I stated in A.2, there is a big ongoing DMCA hunt nowadays and I think itâll be much better if just a single site would cater FT in the meantime. Especially in WATTPAD, that is where most hunters lurk around so I donât want FT to exist there as much as possible. Not sure if anyone still remembers but this project already got flagged down once. TL is just hard-headed and didnât listen but if it got reported once again, I donât think we still have any choice but to go private. Please, please, please, please, please⊠Let us all behave, ne?!For those who still will, and I know there will and there will be. Can you please keep your hands to yourself in the meantime until we finish the project? I promise it wonât even take next year~. TL doesnât really want to rant, Iâm sorry!!!  In return, Iâll release the next few chapters after a day or two. And thanks to those who gifted me coffees! I canât mention your names since itâs a red flag but know that TL never forgets! You will see my return gifts inâŠoh, no! I canât promise a date but they will come for sure.  LOVE YOU ALL, MWAH.