Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 216

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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 216.
Choose the Dawn (28)
“First question. Do you have any siblings?”
“No.”
“Then the servant you brought today isn’t in the banquet hall with you?”
“No.”
Everyone was probing to discover who Boris was. Lucian didn’t fall for it because he knew Boris wasn’t a servant.
After both attempts failed, Suiji pondered deeply before throwing out her final question.
“Your most hated food is boiled carrots, right?”
The young cub suddenly became delighted and waved its front paws enthusiastically.
“No, not at all.”
“Ugh, I give up! You’re not Liarpol von Domret, are you?”
“No, I’m not.”
As Suiji left in frustration, the young cub forgot about the heat entirely and bounced excitedly on the chair. Once Suiji was out of sight, it could no longer contain what it wanted to say.
“Suiji seemed to have half-figured it out. But actually, I’ve come to hate something even more than boiled carrots lately—that rich, eggy pudding they make in the northern style!”
As the party reached its midpoint, fewer than half the guests still wore their masks.
The “young cub” had remarkably managed to keep its identity hidden until now. But exhausted by the heat and half-delirious, when a child asked “Do you like Banana?” it reacted so excessively that it was finally exposed. These children also knew the nickname of the servant Lucian kept with him.
Lucian, having removed the fur costume, left the banquet hall looking strangely pleased, washed up, changed into fresh clothes he’d prepared, and returned to Boris.
Of course, no one had guessed who Boris was. In truth, few had even attempted to. When they spoke to him, the conversation didn’t flow well, and since the atmosphere itself felt unfamiliar, they judged there was no chance of guessing correctly and simply left.
After another half hour passed, only three people remained, Boris among them.
But as fewer people stayed, the composition of those who would arrive became predictable, and those who hadn’t appeared became obvious, so the identities of the other two were revealed in an instant.
And Boris remained.
Lucian was thrilled to death but kept his mouth firmly shut, blending in among the other children.
Children like Suiji already knew Boris was part of Lucian’s group. Whispers circulated, but no one actually knew his identity. Boris found himself surrounded by persistent children.
“Seems like a newcomer.”
“I can’t guess at all.”
“Somehow… even looking at his face, I don’t think I’d recognize him.”
“Since he’s the last one, shouldn’t we just have him reveal himself now?”
“I really can’t tell. Yien, what do you think we should do?”
That was when it happened.
From the entrance, someone still wearing their costume strode in unexpectedly. A large hood attached to the rough cloak worn by monks completely concealed their face even without a mask. They moved with quick, urgent steps like someone with pressing business.
Startled by the momentum, the children instinctively stepped aside. As the figure walked toward Boris, they had already begun their first question. This was the first person to ask Boris three questions today.
“First: you’re from a country other than Anomarad, aren’t you?”
It was a young boy’s voice. Boris tried to recall if he’d seen someone in such attire today, but nothing came to mind. The question was precise, so he confirmed it.
“Yes.”
“You have an older brother you parted with long ago, don’t you?”
Boris suddenly tensed and fixed his gaze on the figure. Who is this? Have I heard this voice before?
The voice had strength and precise diction like that of the Master of Ceremonies, but there was an inexplicable excitement mixed in, giving it a slightly hoarse quality. Even if this were someone he’d known before, if they hadn’t yet undergone voice change back then, recognizing them by their current voice would be impossible.
And based solely on talk of a sibling and the mention of parting, it was difficult to judge whether this was someone he knew.
“Yes.”
He came to a stop before Boris. He was slightly shorter than Boris, and his build was not particularly imposing either.
The moment he posed his final question, a fragment of the past surfaced from the sea of memories in my mind.
“The white sword… you’re still protecting it with all your strength, aren’t you?”
That day when peach blossoms swirled in the wind, the mark pressed into the bookshelf, the final farewell left as I turned the horse’s reins in the land of conspiracy…
“Of course… it is.”
“Yes. We promised to meet again. I said I would call your name. Boris, I knew we would meet again.”
Boris let his mask fall away. It was an acknowledgment of his true identity that the other had guessed correctly.
While all the children watched the two of them, Boris fixed an unwavering gaze upon the hooded figure. A light laugh escaped from beneath the hood. Then, without hesitation, he reached up and pushed the hood back.
Sky-blue hair, now shorter, fell across the straightened brow of a boy who had grown considerably more mature. His deep crimson eyes, which I had never seen shine with such brilliance, blazed with a light entirely new to me.
Boris spoke his name aloud.
“Langie.”
“Would you believe me if I said I knew we would meet again?”
“Perhaps I would. I’ve always thought you possessed some strange power.”
They had entered one of several private rooms adjoining the Party Hall. Inside were only Boris, Lucian, Langie, and Yien.
Lucian had believed he had already won, but when Langie suddenly appeared and revealed Boris’s true identity, and especially when he learned that Langie was a guest staying at Yien’s house, he became thoroughly sullen.
Yien was the one who had guided them to the private room. Only now did Boris recognize her. Yien, whom he had heard was the heir to Count Amaranth, was not a boy at all. She was slender and beautiful, yet dressed in a boy’s clothing.
Her hair was short, but strangely, she had grown only a handful of strands long at the back, as if compromising with the world itself.
Langie leaned back against the chair and laughed.
“I appreciate your faith, but I’m afraid I must be honest—I never imagined we would meet in a place like this.”
Langie speaking to Boris in casual tones felt both unfamiliar and intimate, yet strange as if he were a different person than before.
Yet the fact remained unchanged that both were thrilled by this unexpected reunion. This was precisely what made Lucian even more displeased. The sight of Boris, whom he had thought was his own unique and fascinating friend, delighting in meeting an old companion did not sit well with him.
“Well then, it’s time you explained something to us too. Both Lucian and I are bewildered. How do you two know each other?”
As Yien tapped the table and spoke, Langie turned his head and offered her a smile.
“Before the incident with Mr. B that you also know about, we lived together in that house. You might say we’re fellow sufferers who escaped from the same enemy.”
“Really? Then it’s been four years since you’ve met? That must be wonderful. But it seems you two have quite a few mysteries between you. Won’t you at least introduce yourselves to us watching?”
Only then did Boris turn toward Yien and introduce himself in a manner that was not particularly graceful.
“I’m Boris Misterie.”
“Boris Misterie?”
Yien crossed her arms and furrowed her brow, then suddenly exclaimed with an “Ah!”
“That’s it! The Silverscull Tournament champion, Boris Misterie! I kept wondering where I’d heard that name. I didn’t see the tournament myself, but I heard about it so much from those who went that it’s been ringing in my ears. You really are that Silverscull champion, aren’t you?”
Lucian answered.
“Yes. That’s right. He’s currently staying at my house as my friend.”
“That’s similar. Langie is also staying at my house as my friend.”
Yet Boris sensed that the nature of these relationships was subtly different.
Unlike Boris and Lucian, who had only recently met, there seemed to be something more than mere friendship between Langie and Yien. It was a bond that could not be explained merely by their ease with one another.
Boris asked Langie.
“Have you been here long?”
“No, not very long. About two months, I’d say.”
It seemed impossible that Yien and Langie had known each other for only two months.
“Before that?”
“I attended school in Keltika. I was fortunate enough to meet a generous patron there. That’s where I met Yien as well.”
“Wait—could that be the Royal Grome School?”
Langie’s eyes widened in surprise.
“How did you know that?”
Long ago, when I had encountered Rosnis at the Silverscull Tournament, I had heard someone mention a person who bore a striking resemblance to Langie.
But back then, I had dismissed the notion entirely—the person described as attending school, mingling comfortably with nobility, and attending parties could not possibly be Langie.
Yet now, with talk of a generous patron and schooling… it painted a remarkably gentle existence. Perhaps I had walked a different path than what I had once imagined for myself.
Something felt peculiar. The Langie before me had shed that razor-sharp edge from before—that brittleness that seemed ready to shatter at any moment—and had become someone supple and yielding.
Among those I had parted ways with long ago, Langie was one of the few I had been most curious about—wondering what he might become as he grew. I had recalled him several times, pondering whether he would become someone even more remarkable, or simply grow into his former self unchanged.
Yet neither possibility matched the person before me now.
His face still retained echoes of the past. When those crimson eyes lost focus and wavered, I could see he was gazing upon an ideal—one so distant that a lifetime of effort might never bridge the gap, yet he regarded it without fear of that impossibility.
I shook my head, dispelling the thought. Time flows, people change, and I had no place to judge another’s life as pleasing or displeasing.
“No, well… I’ve simply heard of a similar school before.”
“I see. We…”
Langie trailed off, then cast a sidelong glance at Yien. Before I could even guess what it meant, Yien suddenly sprang to his feet and spoke to Lucian.
“Lucian, since these two haven’t seen each other in ages and likely wish to reminisce, why don’t we step outside for a moment? We should inform the children waiting out there about matters.”
“Leave? But… what matters do I need to tell them?”
Lucian’s expression was reluctant, but the moment Yien spoke again, his face brightened.
“What matters? Don’t you know? We need to tell them right away that you’ll be hosting the next party. Since Langie didn’t attend this one, the last remaining participant among those who did is Boris.”
“Is that really true? I’m allowed to host the next party?”
“Of course. If we said we’d hold another party here, even our generous parents would send me straight back to Keltika.”
Lucian looked at me. He was pleased by Yien’s words, but hesitated to leave so readily. I spoke.
“I’ll follow shortly.”
With even my agreement, Lucian reluctantly nodded.
“Then I’ll head out first.”
The two departed, and only Langie and I remained in the private chamber. Facing each other across a single table, we gazed at one another for a long time.
Eyes I had thought clouded suddenly brightened… A new light emerged, and where our gazes met, it swirled and gathered, then suddenly expanded, consuming everything in white. In that bleached world, peach blossoms from outside the windows of Belnoir Castle swirled like a tempest before finally settling into stillness.
“What meaning does it hold, that we meet again like this?”

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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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