“Oh…… It’s nothing, it’s just that I gave you the jewelry inside this pendant last time.”
That’s right. Thanks to her, she was able to meet Zenuit.
“Did you sell it?”
Nelia, who was holding the teacup, paused her movement when Charlotte asked.
Is she asking about it to ask for it back?
Well…… It didn’t matter anymore at that point.
It was used to take Zenuit out of Elena Tears.
However, it was still quite worth it because it was pretty, so Charlotte probably wanted to get it back and sell it.
“No, I still have it with me.”
“Phew, that’s great……”
Seeing her being relieved, Nelia was convinced about the reason for Charlotte’s visit.
“Should I return it to Charlotte?”
Charlotte opened her eyes wide.
And she shook her head quickly. Considering her usual emotional expression it was a firm and strong gesture of disagreement.
“I gave it to you, Nelia. However, to think that you’re going to return it to me……”
She didn’t mean to ask that.
“Nelia, you must have misunderstood my question…… I have come to tell you that I think the value of the jewelry could be much higher than I originally thought. Therefore, you can sell it at a high price, Nelia.”
“Oh, I see.”
Nelia replied with an embarrassed look.
‘Charlotte is really kind.’
Ordinary people would feel sick in their stomach knowing the jewelry they’ve given to others turned out to be very expensive, but to come in a hurry only to tell her that?
“I recently found out what the letters are written in this pendant.”
That topic was appealing to Nelia as well.
That pendant was related to Sigrid. It was said that Sigrid sealed the divine dew and brought the pendant to the monastery himself.
It would be nice to get any relevant information even if it was just a trivial thing as the door of the dimension with Sigrid’s heart will open soon. Of course, she was concerned whether he would be able to cross the door of the dimension safely before that, but……
Nonetheless, she should focus on what Charlotte was talking about for now.
“What was written in the pendant?”
Charlotte opened the pendant and put it on the table. It’s been open once, so it seems to be open quite easily now.
“A few days ago, I met the high priest of the monastery where I was staying. The high priest saw the letter engraved on the pendant and said it was the dragon’s language.”
“Dragon’s language……?”
“Yes, the dragon’s language. The monastery where I stayed is not big or famous, but it was said that Sigrid was worshiped there a long time ago.”
Nelia looked at the pendant quietly.
Those letters were strangely familiar to her. Nelia rummaged through her memories for a while at the strong sense of deja vu.
‘Where have I seen this letter……?’
She felt as though she just saw them recently.
……Oh.
Nelia finally recalled it. This letter looks similar to what was written in the book found in the basement of the duchy’s castle.
However, if the letters in the book are the language of the dragon, then……
‘As expected, the duke’s ancestors were dragons.’
The drawing in it was also, indeed, a dragon.
Then, she wondered if the fact that the duke’s ancestors were dragons, were they related to Sigrid?
The only dragon known during that era was Sigrid. However, the dragon drawn in the book they found in the basement was definitely not Sigrid.
Then, what is the true identity of the dragon?
“Charlotte…… If you grew up in the monastery where Sigrid was worshiped, you must have heard a lot about Legend of Sigrid.”
Charlotte nodded slowly.
“Yes, the priest who raised me used to tell me the story of Sigrid, which is always done before we went to bed.”
“So…… Have you ever heard from the priest that there were other dragons during the era when Sigrid existed?”
Charlotte didn’t say anything for a moment. It seemed that she was recalling her memories. Then she answered, tilting her head gently to the side.
“There must have been no other dragon during that era…… The priest said Sigrid was the only great dragon that existed in the world.”
“All right then……”
Then, Charlotte exclaimed, ‘Oh……!’ and initiated eye contact with Nelia.
“Now that I think about it, there was one dragon other than Sigrid back then…… I heard it is the only dragon beside Sigrid.”
Nelia opened her eyes wide.
“Who is that……?!”
Charlotte blinked slowly and said.
“Shilin.”
Shilin……?
“I heard that Sigrid’s first son, Shilin, is the only dragon except Sigrid. He’s not a pure dragon because he has Elena’s blood inside him, who was a mere human being……”
Nelia was frozen and couldn’t move her body at all. Goosebumps ran all the way from her feet to her head in a brief moment of time.
“Although Shilin is not well known amongst people, I’ve often heard about the two sons of Sigrid…… Shilin was the one who resembled Sigrid and had the appearance of a powerful dragon, and I also heard that his silver scales were very beautiful.”
Silver scales. The dragon drawn in the books they found in the basement was also silver.
‘So this is it…… His Grace’s ancestor that was drawn in the book was Shilin, the son of Sigrid.’
With this, it became clear that the first head of Duke of Hart was Shilin, the first son of Sigrid.
Then, she naturally speculated about his curse.
Nelia barely managed to move her stiff jaw to speak.
“……Charlotte, do you know about the punishment that Shilin received from Sigrid?”
“Yes, I know about it…… After Shilin attacked Carl, his brother, Sigrid, who was enraged, descended a curse on him.”
Nelia swallowed thickly.
“What kind of curse was it……?”
“Sigrid took away Shilin’s arms and legs so that he could no longer attack others, and he also took away his wings so that he could crawl on the ground and regret whatever he had done.”
The appearance of a dragon without arms, legs, and wings……
“Therefore, there’s a saying that the curse Shilin is the origin of the snake. Some people say the reason snakes are despised is because they think of Shilin who has violently attacked people……”
Nelia couldn’t stand the huge chunk of truth coming her way and eventually closed her eyes tightly.
Charlotte saw Nelia and asked worriedly.
“Nelia…… Are you alright?”
“I’m sorry, Charlotte. Please take your leave early for today.”
Nelia knew Charlotte would be surprised by the sudden change of attitude she showed, but she couldn’t continue their conversation with a composed mind right now.
Fortunately, Charlotte seemed more worried about Nelia than being surprised. She told her to take care and left the duke’s residence.
As soon as Charlotte left, Nelia went up to her room on the fourth floor. Nelia’s step was hasty and precarious.
Arriving at the door of her room, Nelia opened the door without an ounce of hesitation. She spotted Zenuit sitting in front of the desk, reading a book on his own.
Nelia strode toward him and stood before him.
“You knew everything, Zenuit.”
“……”
“The fact that His Grace inherited Shilin’s bloodline, the first son of Sigrid.”
Zenuit looked out the window. Charlotte’s carriage was seen leaving the duke’s residence.
“She must have told you.”
“How can you not say anything to me when you know it all along?”
Zenuit closed the book in his hands.
“It would be revealed to the surface at the right time anyway. If you found Sigrid’s heart, you would naturally come to know about it.”
“Nevertheless……! If I had known about it earlier…….”
“If you knew about it, would you have told His Grace?”
“It’s……”
“You know it, don’t you? His Grace can’t afford to face the truth right now. Telling him about it would only add to his confusion.”
Nelia clenched her hands tightly. She needs to make sure about a lot of things.
“Tell me the details. Whenever His Grace turns into a monster on the day of the total lunar eclipse, is it because he inherited Shilin’s bloodline?”
Zenuit nodded.
“I was asleep for a long time, so I didn’t know how the curse that had been placed on Shilin developed. I didn’t know about it until I read the book in the basement of the duchy’s castle.”
It seemed that Zenuit was able to read the letters written there because he was a dragon himself.
Once again, she felt betrayed, however Nelia knew that getting worked up over it now would cause no good.
Instead, she listened carefully in order to not miss a single word from him.
“Shilin, whose arms, legs, and wings got taken away, had to bear the humiliation of crawling on the floor. Moreover, he wasn’t welcomed by people because of his ugly appearance.”
“……”
“However, Shilin didn’t want to die in such a miserable way, so he spilled his own blood just before he died to produce offspring as though his other self.”
Spilling his own blood to produce offspring…… Such a story sounded so much like a legend.
“The descendants born inheriting Shilin’s blood were smart, so they quickly found a way to escape from that miserable state. At first, they appeared in a small form. And they made their body long and thin so that they could crawl on the floor quickly.”
……That explains why they look like a snake like the duke’s snake form now.
“As the time passed by, they finally figured out how to turn into humans and get out of their snake’s form. They invented a sort of medicine.”
It eventually became clear after hearing the explanation from Zenuit.
That the original appearance of the heads of the household in Hart Duchy was not humans. The snake was just trying to keep their human form, not the other way around.
That was a bitter truth. Perhaps, it was the subject the duke wanted to avoid the most.
“That’s how they used their brilliant brains and abilities to accumulate wealth and gain status in society. That’s how the current Duke of Hart was created.”
Nelia had a question.
“But, why can’t His Grace suddenly keep his human form with medicine all of a sudden? According to you, the Hart Family’s heads have been able to keep their human form by consuming medicine for a very long time.”
“Technically, people get sick if they push themselves too hard to do anything.”
Zenuit peeled the candy he had received from Ton and wrapped it around one of the cookies on the table. However, the candy shell soon came out helplessly from the cookie.
“It’s like wrapping a cookie whose size doesn’t fit the size of this candy shell, but they will be free eventually. The true form of His Grace is, after all, a snake, so he will keep trying to revert back to his original form, and the medicine can no longer hold that power back.”
“……”
“However, they lasted a long time with medicine. They have maintained their human form with medicine for centuries.”
Nelia muttered with a blank look.
“Of all generations, why does it have to be His Grace……”
“It’s not a matter of that. When the medicine didn’t work anymore, His Grace decided to find Sigrid’s heart. He’s finally looking for a way to end this long-lived curse that is rooted deeply in the Hart Family.”
“That’s only possible after he’s able to pass the door of the dimension and pass the test completely.”
Zenuit failed to come up with a positive remark this time.
“Why do the heads of household in the Hart Family turn into monsters on the day of total lunar eclipse?”
“The day of total lunar eclipse is when Sigrid descended the curse to Shilin. Therefore, the bloodline of the enraged Shilin would have to turn back into their original form on that day.”
“Their original form?”
“Yes. As I’ve said earlier, the appearance of the small snake is just a developed form to avoid the attention of human beings drawn to them. That explained why the head of household in the Hart Family lived that way.”
Nelia organized the confusing story in her mind.
Therefore, that explained why his snake form was not what she saw on that day, but he turned into a monster, which was his original form. Of course, he would have been a complete dragon before he lost his arms, legs, and wings.
One thought suddenly crossed Nelia’s mind as she had no power to stand and flopped down recklessly on the chair.
“Is…… His Grace’s deteriorating health related to that?”
The duke said this often happens when the day of total lunar eclipse is getting near, but Nelia felt as though the duke was hiding something from her.
Zenuit’s gaze was deeply subdued as he stared at her.
“Nelia.”
The truth he had told her until now has never been light ones, but Nelia knew from his hushed voice.
There remained other hidden stories.
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