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Episode 105: Family Line (I)
‘I said within three days, but you brought it the next day.’
It’s a speed commensurate with the national character of a country with a quick temper.
I rubbed my nose in satisfaction and smiled. Then I asked quickly.
“What kind of locket is that?”
“This
”
The wooden locket shone from Kyle’s large hand. With a brighter light than yesterday.
“This is an ancient artifact brought from the Ghost Island by the Southern Pirate King.”
“An ancient artifact
?”
“Yes, the two lockets are ‘a pair’, and when the two lockets meet, each owner’s image appears in the empty locket like a photograph.”
“

!”
“When the pirate king was executed by the admiral, the pair of lockets he shared with his lover was put up for auction. The winning bidder was a secret, but it was said to be a noblewoman around the age of 20.”
He said the winning bidder was a noblewoman?
—Could she be my mother?
Kyle smiled warmly with his dark green eyes.
“Perhaps the owner’s mother put it in the cradle, desperately wanting to get you back.”
“

.”
“It’s a locket that one gives to a lifelong lover.”
Lifelong lover.
I once read in a book that a mother regards her child as a lifelong love.
A daughter who was born after cherishing her for nine months in her own womb.
What was my mother thinking when she put her lover’s necklace in the cradle?
‘You didn’t throw me away because I was useless.’
My mother

‘You always wanted to get me back.’
Actually, either in my past life or in the present, I didn’t think I would be a beloved family member like every other child.
Since I was not born out of love.
“Normal children are born out of love. But sometimes there are children who are just ‘feces’ of sexual desire.”
“

!”
“Just like you.”
The abusive language of the slave trader was actually contained in the unconscious.
Like a big needle that appeared suddenly and stabbed the heart deeply, even if you usually forgot about it.
“
The mother who gave birth to me, she wanted to find me.”
“She must have been so eager.”
Kyle wrapped a warm arm around my shoulder as if comforting me.
I could feel it. That the big needle that pierced my heart suddenly disappeared without a trace.
The words of such a wicked man were really simply foolish.
“Owner, the successful bidder for such an auction is supposed to be a secret, but we have identified the successful bidder by recruiting the host who ran the auction at the time.”
“

!”
For a second, I almost fell in love with Kyle. This quick and clever, the world’s most capable leader of the dark guild.
“The winning bidder is the ‘Duke of Valienne’.”
“

!!!”
In an instant, my mouth opened in shock. My mother was of a ducal family?
‘She wasn’t an ordinary person.’
Kyle revealed the duke’s full name.
(TL/N: raws stated ‘duke’ instead of ‘duchess’, as she inherited the title rather than her husband.)
「Derkis Valienne」
The famous daughter of the Duke of Valienne. It was said that she fell in love with a soldier without a title, married and had a child.
However, during her pregnancy, her husband died on the battlefield.
“It is said that the child of the Duke of Valienne was stillborn.”
“It’s stillborn
?”
‘I’m alive like this. Could it not be me?’
What the hell was this.
‘The situation is to the extent that a healthy child is said to be dead and secretly stolen.’
I once learned about the Duchy of Valienne in a class in the Forest.
It was one of the oldest venerable ducal families.
In its fertile and expansive territory, it has accumulated enormous wealth through crops and magic stone mines that have been passed down from ancient times.
In addition, the family was famous for having honey-like blonde hair for generations. I glanced at my hair.
A princess from such a family was abandoned in an orphanage?
“
Is the Duke safe?”
If the circumstances were to the point of abandoning her daughter, she might be in trouble too.
Kyle replied with a slightly sad look.
“The Duke of Valienne is said to have been lying unconscious since giving birth.”
“

!”
Oh, I see.
“Owner, this locket will only shine under certain conditions.”
“By any chance
”
When I had a hunch and muttered, Kyle continued my words.
“When the life of one of the locket’s owners is in jeopardy.”
“

!”
The light of the locket was a signal that one of the two lovers was calling out before they died.
“I don’t have much time.”
Kyle immediately stood up at my words and said,
“Yes, you must leave now.”
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
Zannen Street in El Dorado.
This street was filled with those who were extremely poor, sick and abandoned among the lowest-born people.
Also known as the human trash can.
―Or, ‘living hell’.
On this street that even ordinary commoners normally do not go close to, a high-ranking person came today.
It was the first prince of El Dorado, with long silver-gray hair, red eyes, and dignity and benevolence.
Gerard looked at the woman kneeling in front of him and said,
“The situation has gotten worse.”
It has been more than 20 years since Gerard von Axelferion came to the streets of Zannen and cared for the dirtiest, least, and lowly.
The woman kneeling at Gerard’s feet had dirty bandages wrapped around her body.
She was a woman with a terrible skin disease, in which her flesh wore and rotted, and eventually it fell off.
“Prince, prince
 It is an incurable disease that causes death and is even contagious. You cannot approach me with that noble body or touch my skin.”
Gerard’s eyes were still.
“Okay.”
A large hand raised the sick, and touched the rotten and stinky shoulder.
―For the woman, it was the first touch from another person after suffering from this illness.
She trembled with wonder and emotion from the touch of the prince.
His dignified voice flowed low.
“You are also a citizen of El Dorado, my people.”
“
Ugh, oh
 Prince!”
“I will send a doctor so that you can receive regular treatment. Get well soon and take care of your child.”
Gerard’s red eyes moved. To the little boy kneeling next to his mother.
The child was trembling.
“As a mother, you shouldn’t die and leave your child behind.”
“
Prince, how should I repay this favor? Thank you very much
”
The patient with skin disease shed hot tears.
Other poor and the sick surrounded them and wept.
Loyalty to Gerard grew today.
This was the reason why the first prince was most admired in the empire.
He went to the lowest, filthiest places of El Dorado and cared for the people of the Empire—
He embraced all the people like his father.
This perfect and benevolent personality was called the perfect ‘next emperor’ until Sislin became a prince.
When Sislin, who was known for being cruel and ruthless, became the ‘Crown Prince’, the public sentiment fluctuated at its worst.
“The ‘Monster of Crevasse’ pushed Prince Gerard out and took his place by force!”
“We must stand up!”
The will of the people of the empire was strong.
Sometimes they overthrow a dynasty, change leaders, or even destroy an empire.
This was the reason Sislin kept Gerard alive.
—Sislin was an expert.
By not being openly at odds with Gerard, he kept his own narrow public sentiment intact.
Even if he secretly assassinated Gerard now, the people of the empire would be suspicious of him.
An emperor who did not win the hearts of the people of the empire was only a half-emperor. So, Sislin spared his life for the time being.
However

If public opinion changes, Gerard would be executed.
That was why;
After Sislin became a prince, Gerard tripled the time he spent caring for the people.
All of this was a politically calculated act.
As Gerard took care of all the patients, his escort stepped up.
“Prince, it is time to move.”
“
P-Prince. There is something I want to ask you!”
At that time, the child of the woman with skin disease put his forehead on the floor and said,
“Can I be a great person in the future, even if I am lowly
? Just like you.”
The surroundings became noisy and the child shriveled up. How dare he want to become like the prince in the future!
“

.”
But Gerard looked down at the child calmly. He didn’t show any displeasure at all. He was just like a calm river.
The lips that had been closed in a straight line moved slowly.
“Even if you are born humble.”
Even if he was a human born from a lowly body.
“Die noble.”
If you’re in a noble position when you die

“—If that happens, your life will be wonderful and complete.”
“

.”
The child stared blankly at Gerard with an enlightened face.
Gerard turned away from the child and slowly left the place.
A very long time ago.
There was someone who said the same thing to Gerard.
It was when he was still a boy.
Gerard’s mother, the empress, was fond of young Gerard, but she sometimes said crazy things as if she was insane.
“That child is not mine! A slave swapped her son with mine! My child can’t be like that!”
“
Mother
”
It was a wound for young Gerard.
Everyone thought the empress was crazy, that she got a nervous breakdown after childbirth and she was out of her mind.
Every time she drank, the pain was severe, and she thought about it all the more because she was always in her mood swings.
―Besides, the emperor and Gerard looked exactly alike.
When he was hurt by the empress’ words, Gerard used to repeat himself.
“I am of the noblest bloodline.”
Born to the emperor and empress, the first son of a perfect lineage.
He would become the crown prince in the future, and when he grew up, he would become the emperor of El Dorado in name and reality.
Gerard, who was born with arrogance and dignity, found it hard to bear the empress’s mad words. But, he persevered.
—Because he loved his mother.
Then one day.
A beggarly slave woman hid in the Imperial Palace and approached Gerard.
Before even questioning how she got in here, Gerard was enveloped in a strange feeling.
The moment he saw the slave woman’s face, his heart beat ominously.
The woman covered Gerard’s cheek with her bony, rough hands; they felt as thick as thorns.
“My baby, my son
”
“
What the hell are you talking about!”
Gerard trembled and pushed the woman away. The lady stepped back and raised the corners of her lips. She was obviously crazy.
“You don’t even recognize me? There’s a half-moon-shaped mole around your waist. Hehe! It’s been with you since you were born!”
The woman said that was a characteristic of the ‘Morserks’, and she has the same thing.
All this while, Gerard lived thinking that it was an ‘illness’.
A mole that appeared on the day of a full moon and disappeared the next day.
So he kept it a secret without telling anyone.
That day happened to be a full moon.
“Look, my son!”
The woman showed him her own mole. She said their kind were characterized by moles of the same shape between parents and children.
“

!!!”
The boy, who confirmed the mole, was instantly dizzy.
He asked, trembling.
“
I-It’s ridiculous that you’re my mother. Then how did you sleep with the Emperor?”
“What do you mean? My son.”
A woman with a shabby appearance smiled, revealing her yellow teeth.
“Your father is not the emperor.”
“

!!!”
“He was a street drunk with silver-gray hair and red eyes.”
Gerard’s breath stopped for a moment.
“He bought a night with me for 50,000 gold.”
Ame: Annette having a noble lineage is something we all saw a mile away
 but oh my gosh!? Gerard isn’t a real prince?! 
Poor boy, to find out his life is a lie