Margrave’s Bastard Son was The Emperor - Chapter 285

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 285
A Time to Trade Secrets
On a night when moonlight blazed brilliantly, a small carriage that had been racing through the streets came to a halt in the middle of the main road.
A long shadow stretched across the polished stone, and the only sound of human presence came from far away—the stumbling footsteps of a vagrant.
I adjusted the lantern’s flame and issued my orders.
“We walk from here.”
“Understood.”
“She’s no ordinary Gypsy. Stay sharp.”
It would be ideal if I could persuade her to come willingly, but given the Gypsy’s nature, that seemed unlikely. If persuasion wouldn’t work, then coercion would have to suffice.
Her existence would give Bariel an advantage over Timothy and, more importantly, the Kingdom of Burgos. I nodded lightly and surveyed the alley.
“These streets and those are particularly maze-like. Seal them off completely with barriers.”
“Yes, Ian. Don’t worry.”
With their superior repeating his concerns, my subordinates straightened their resolve even further. They confirmed the map one last time, then melted into their assigned alleys and disappeared with grim determination—as if not a single rat could pass without my command.
“Let’s go. Ian, the moon is beautiful tonight.”
Berik, meanwhile, was as carefree as if he were out for an evening stroll. He began walking ahead, humming a tune, piecing together fragmented memories to locate the exact spot.
“Berik, you’re certain it’s the night of the half-moon? Why is it so quiet? I don’t see anyone.”
“I’m telling you it’s right. Romand, how do you even survive not trusting people?”
“It’s not that I don’t trust people. It’s you that I—”
“Shh.”
At my sudden signal, both men froze.
My gaze fell upon the space between two buildings—stacked cargo of unknown purpose. Covered in cloth, its boundaries were difficult to discern in the darkness.
Romand, squinting his eyes, noticed something stirring beside it.
“Ah.”
A faintly glimmering crystal orb. The very one we’d seen in the park! Romand fidgeted nervously and whispered urgently to me.
“That’s her. That’s the Gypsy we saw with him that day. The crystal orb is so distinctive—it left quite an impression.”
“What are you two doing there? You’re not suggesting a legless elder should come and go, are you?”
I nodded and gripped the lantern with my left hand. A signal. We’d found the Gypsy—everyone stay alert.
Berik crouched in front of her and chuckled.
“Granny, hello. Have you been waiting long?”
“Waiting? You simply came to my night.”
“Hearing you speak, you’re perfectly fine. See, Romand? I didn’t cause any trouble.”
Rather than respond, Romand politely removed his hat and nodded. The Gypsy, seeing this, let out a delighted exclamation.
“Hmm. Aren’t you the gentleman I saw in the park before?”
“We meet again.”
“Why do you speak so formally? What difference is there between the gentleman then and me now?”
There’s a saying: the first meeting is chance, the second is fate, and the third is destiny. And Gypsies are those who worship fortune. She instinctively understood that meeting Romand again was no ordinary occurrence.
“How amusing. How very amusing.”
“Granny, the real fun is what I brought separately. Lucky for you, Ian wanted to meet you too.”
The Gypsy’s gaze swept upward from below. Fine leather shoes, neat trouser cuffs and coat, flowing golden hair. And when her eyes met mine—absinthe-colored and piercing.
Her breath caught.
The Gypsy moved her body low without realizing it. Very slowly, and deliberately. As if entranced, unaware she was moving at all. She wanted to crawl forward on her arms and draw closer to Ian.
Was this how a blind ant searching for sweetness felt? After wandering in circles for so long, finding something thick and sugary right before its eyes—it would want to burrow through it, swim through it, lose itself in it.
The Gypsy reached out her hand, savoring the joy that rose from deep within her chest.
“How delightful.”
“Oh my, oh my.”
“I am Ian Hielo, Minister of Magic.”
“Yes, yes indeed. In all my years, I’ve never encountered anyone quite like you. Even the King of Burgos himself doesn’t possess your flavor. How extraordinary. That common ruffian actually accomplished something truly remarkable.”
Common ruffian? Berik, who had just been insulted, was about to protest, but Romandro quickly silenced him.
The Gypsy was showing tremendous favor toward Ian. Things would proceed smoothly from here. There was no need to complicate matters. Romandro kept Berik’s mouth shut and stepped five paces back.
“Ian Hielo, you say?”
“That’s correct.”
“My! Surely you have a true name? That too must be quite the secret. Tell me. In exchange, I shall grant you whatever you desire.”
The true name was Ian Verosion.
But Ian smiled softly and knelt on one knee before her. As he matched her gaze more intently, the Gypsy felt a tremor run through her entire being, even through limbs that no longer existed.
“Gypsy. What is your name?”
“I have none. I am one who consumes secrets.”
“I see. Then, are you aware? The King of Burgos searches for you.”
“Why would only the King of Burgos do so? Countless in this world wish to split my belly open. Within me dwell the voices of thousands.”
…Split her belly open? Ian hesitated momentarily at the Gypsy’s words. The Elder, noticing this, added playfully.
“It seems you too wish to split my belly. But remember this—why am I still alive?”
Should she die, thousands of voices would burst forth and deafen the ears, and ancient thoughts would drive minds to madness.
The secrets, instead of returning to their owner, would spill into the world and create chaos. Though he couldn’t know every detail, Ian understood the nature of the world.
“There is nothing to remember. Those who tempt one to self-destruction carry poison within them.”
“A righteous principle! Hahahaha!”
“But I have a question. If I wished to know some secret, is there no way? You ‘consume’ secrets and erase them—does that mean they vanish forever?”
The Elder gestured for Ian to come closer. As he carefully leaned forward, she grasped his sleeve and whispered.
This was something she revealed only to those who possessed truly delicious secrets.
“Old things are digested and disappear. Small things vanish even faster. Even I cannot help it, but what remains can be savored. Yet I grow hollow and suffer from it. If you provide me with secrets rich enough to fill that void—no, secrets even more abundant than what was lost—then I shall aid you.”
“…You are quite the starving creature.”
“That’s not for you to say. Those burdened with many secrets are inevitably depleted. What do you lack? And with what do you wish to fill it?”
Ian fell silent at the Gypsy’s question.
What Ian lacked, what he desired to fill—it was formless like the Gypsy’s secrets, yet more fundamental, and simultaneously unwavering.
But…
“A secret.”
“Ahahaha! My mouth waters, it waters!”
He could not tell the Gypsy. From this moment forward, everything he spoke would become currency in their transaction.
As Ian replied with a soft smile, the Elder burst into nearly hysterical laughter. It was as if moonlight had settled brightly upon an empty street.
Ian gestured to Romandro to step further back. It was time to trade secrets.
“Now then, before that, let me tell you one more thing.”
The Gypsy held a crystal orb and rubbed it meaningfully. Following her gesture, the universe within the sphere spiraled and moved. As if human destinies were interlocking and swirling together.
“If I regurgitate the secrets I’ve consumed and speak them aloud, their owner will know the secret has been revealed. Moreover, they won’t be as complete as when I first consumed them. The longer time passes, the more they fade until only fragments remain. But if you don’t mind that, shall we share? Your secret and the secrets dwelling in my belly.”
The moment I nodded in agreement to the transaction, I suddenly understood. Why the King of Burgos had been searching for the Gypsy.
‘If a secret is revealed, the person involved will know. So the King of Burgos searches for the Gypsy to discover who leaked it and bury it completely? Or perhaps to eliminate the threat before it spreads? I should listen to everything I can first, then piece together the whole picture.’
“Why do you ask?”
“I’m curious that you’ve lived so long.”
Honestly, when I only heard Jin’s account, I thought the secrets were completely consumed. But if it works like this, isn’t this creature’s very existence precarious?
The Gypsy chuckled and clutched the crystal orb.
“What nonsense. Of course it takes time for something to be digested once eaten. If it’s solid and large, it takes even longer. After that, it disappears completely from the world. I didn’t lie. And do I seem like someone who makes such proposals to just anyone?”
It meant my secrets were coveted—secrets so vast they could fill her belly once she disgorged it.
I carefully extracted a secret I’d buried deep within myself. Something I’d unconsciously forgotten over the long years it had resided there.
“…I hide many things from those I walk alongside.”
“I can see the bottom of the secrets you can offer. If you merely trim the surface, my belly won’t be satisfied. Please reveal everything.”
The act of hiding itself was a secret, but for her, savoring each thread of it was the meal. Knowing a feast awaited, she couldn’t merely taste the appetizers. The Gypsy gestured for me to wait.
“A hungry one can only show kindness. Let me share a little first. Now then, what did you say you wanted? From the Kings of Burgos?”
“First, from the ‘dead’ previous king.”
So no one would notice my transaction with the Gypsy, I asked first about the secrets of the dead. She snapped her fingers lightly as if showing benevolence.
Ssshhh.
The crystal orb glowed. Simultaneously, she pulled back her robe. There was a slit beside one cheek. Just as Jin had described, it resembled gills.
The Elder smiled wickedly, tilted her head slightly, and extracted the secret. The slit beside her cheek moved gradually. That was the mouth through which she expelled secrets.
“The previous… King and Queen of Burgos… despised each other. So much so that they constantly… imagined each other’s death. It began with….”
Her voice was faint and thin, difficult to discern. I furrowed my brow and leaned my ear closer, but there were considerable gaps in what I could hear. These were secrets from a previous generation, already more than half dissolved.
‘When I examined historical records, I found no special hints about the relationship between the King and Queen. Externally, they maintained appearances without issue.’
“It started when the current King was born. He was brilliant, a child without flaw… yet strangely, problems emerged as he grew. Over time, the King and Queen each saw children from different lovers, and they… secretly hid them throughout Burgos. Their existence is as follows….”
Hidden royal bloodlines of Burgos. I listened intently to each word she uttered, engraving them in my mind. Was this what the current King sought to know? To find his siblings hiding their fangs somewhere?
Ssshhh.
The Gypsy suddenly looked up at the sky. Her grayish eyes seemed to tremble relentlessly. Like those of the crystal orb. Like those of the universe.
“The King of Burgos knows this. And in exchange, he told me something.”
The Gypsy leaned close to me, her gills fluttering slightly. Now it’s your turn to pay the price.
I extracted the secret I’d buried in the deepest place.
“…I am not Ian Hielo. I am Ian Verosion from Bariel, a hundred years hence.”
“It was I who drove a wedge between the King and Queen. The hatred between them was born from my hand.”
“…I was an Emperor.”
“I am living a second life.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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