Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 247

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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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Episode 17.
Not Every Child Is an Angel (17)
Duke Fontina’s true intentions, Count Parinac’s actions, Lemme’s movements, and the “Lightning Four Days.” Could I trust that everything would unfold according to a nine-year-old child’s insight? Yet it all fell into place like pieces of a single puzzle. Impossibly so.
Joshua rose from his chair and opened the window. As the cold air rushed in, I finally felt the heat that had been lingering in the study. Joshua, cooling his flushed face, caught sight of my expression and smiled softly.
“It’s easy to speak of plans. The truly difficult part is making those schemes succeed from a chair. So, are you prepared for the queening?”
I closed my eyes and fell into thought. When I opened them again, I studied Joshua as though seeing a child for the first time. As I did, the sharp glint that had gathered in Joshua’s eyes gradually faded.
“Yes. Now I’ll return to being Father’s young son.”
I moved toward the window and sat in the chair where Joshua had been, pulling him up to settle him on one of my knees. The child’s body was warm, as though fever-touched.
“I’m sorry. For making you speak of such things.”
When I told him to speak freely, I truly never imagined such words would emerge. Joshua shook his head calmly.
“Sometimes it’s necessary. Usually, I keep my eyes half-closed and move slowly—like an animal waking from hibernation. It makes things less difficult. But then, suddenly like now, when I open my eyes wide and truly see the world, it feels so refreshing. Like stepping from a stifling, noisy, foul-smelling room into a snow-covered forest.”
Joshua deliberately narrowed his eyes in demonstration, then laughed.
“Though I can’t maintain it for long.”
I felt a pang of sorrow and couldn’t help but ask.
“What if you continued that way?”
“Are you truly curious?”
Joshua tilted his head, gazing up at my face intently. I began to answer, then hesitated. I sensed dimly that his words contained a secret ordinary people could not comprehend—one whose understanding would only bring suffering.
“I’m trying. I’m a strange being, but I’m also Father and Mother’s son. Sometimes I wonder which nature dominates. But so far, the overlapping parts seem greater. It’s because I’m still young. If the day comes when these two natures separate, I won’t remain here. I both hope for that day and dread it. My heart is still weak. I suspect the demonic ones who left the Family Clan thought as I do. But those people—some departed to distant places across the Continent, while others went somewhere entirely different. A world within the mind.”
After a moment’s thought, I grasped what Joshua was alluding to and flinched, my eyes widening.
“Joshua. That is….”
“Father, it’s not such a terrifying place. I’ve been there myself. I wish I could come and go freely, but some people seem never to return. I didn’t stay long because I feared that might happen to me. But honestly, living there didn’t seem so terrible.”
I couldn’t restrain myself. I stood and grasped his face in my hands.
“Joshua, don’t speak like that. I won’t send you anywhere.”
Joshua smiled gently.
“That’s not a place someone can prevent me from going, Father. I’m gradually coming to understand myself. For now, I hope there are many reasons to stay, but my thoughts may change later. Honestly, there’s little here. More remarkable things will appear—things worth my challenge, won’t they? There will be things I can never fully understand no matter how much I learn? These are simply things I haven’t encountered yet because I’m still young?”
I had no words to offer. Even if I wanted to reassure him, my opinion would only be that of a non-demonic being. What meaning would it hold?
Joshua nodded as though he understood even my feelings. In the child’s eyes sparkled a star so beautiful and so cold.
“I’m speaking honestly only because this cool air feels so good after so long. Only today. Tomorrow, I won’t speak of such things.”
The afternoon of the next day was clear. I stood before the study’s great window, looking down upon the Garden.
Meticulously shaped shrubs spread in patterns of crosses, clovers, and hearts. The freshly cut wood surfaces, dusted with snow that had fallen until morning, resembled a cake topped with white cream.
A tiny child walked through the storybook-like Garden. He had just entered a path where a cross and crescent overlapped and diverged. He walked so lightly that even his footprints seemed invisible upon the snow.
Could anyone observing him imagine the labyrinthine Garden’s structure drawn like blueprints within his mind?
Joshua stopped. He had discovered Ivnoa hiding within the ring-shaped shrub. Their laughter and shouts didn’t reach this far, but I clearly saw them pushing each other, snow tumbling from the shrub, as they raced excitedly down the narrow, long channel toward the next Garden.
How does it feel to transform from a strategist rivaling adults yesterday into a small child playing hide-and-seek with his sister today? He would never know.
Last night, I abandoned the notion that I could manage the demonic Joshua through my own strength. I had lost the wager. Now only one path remained.
Leaving the window, I entered a small room adjoining the study. Entry was forbidden to all but myself and the head secretary. The room contained only a desk and a bookshelf holding a few volumes—so small that even these filled it completely.
Since thick curtains remained drawn even in daylight, I lit the lamp myself. Orange radiance spilled across the heavy ash wood desk. Seated, I drew toward me a bundle of stationery and began writing carefully.
After more than an hour of deliberate composition, I lay back in my chair, eyes closed, the letter spread before me.
I rarely borrowed others’ hands for personal matters. Now I opened a locked drawer and retrieved a sturdy box. From within came a single envelope, yellowed and discolored with age.
I placed the first letter inside. Then I sealed a second letter separately in its own envelope. After affixing sealing wax to both and pressing my seal, I pulled the bell cord, and Hessel, my head secretary, appeared.
“You called for me?”
Franz held two letters in one hand while pressing his forehead with the other. His face was weary.
“I intend to hold Ivnoa’s wedding this coming May. See that preparations are completed with all haste. Once the ceremony concludes, I plan to send her to the country estate in Hyacan, so arrange for travel permits as well. Ah, and now that I think of it, the invitations are most urgent. Will you prepare a guest list and bring it to me?”
The secretary appeared startled.
“It is quite rushed, but it can be done. However, is there some particular reason for this sudden urgency?”
“You’ll understand soon enough. And one more thing—I’ll need a courier prepared for a distant journey. I have an urgent letter to send.”
Franz placed the two letters at the edge of his desk. One bore a discolored envelope addressed to “Iveland Harbor Guild.” The other had no name written upon it.
The secretary picked up the envelopes and examined them, then held out the one without a name and asked.
“Where should this one be sent?”
“To Duke Fontina.”
5. Abhorrence
My five senses learned hatred—a hatred deeper than jealousy, deeper than rage, deeper than murderous intent—only after I came to know that creature.
In that respect, he taught me well. He deserves to be called my teacher.
When the wedding that had been postponed for over a decade was finally set for May that year, Ivnoa was overjoyed, though she scarcely understood what marriage meant. Her betrothed, Theo, seemed delighted as well.
For House of Arnim, a family far removed from extravagance, the wedding was to be conducted with unprecedented grandeur. Dozens of precious dresses were commissioned for the bride. The groom’s formal wear for the day numbered several sets. Sugar for desserts was stacked in over a hundred sacks, and the flowers for the ceremony were beyond counting. A new carriage for the couple was also ordered.
Ivnoa’s happiness reached its zenith when a lace veil arrived that exceeded five times her own height. She buried her face in it repeatedly, refusing to let go, until Theo himself came and barely managed to pry her away. The jewelers of Keltika were equally delighted, their order books filled with the finest commissions in ages. Since the sumptuary laws imposed after the Republican Government came to power had become effectively obsolete, this was the wedding with the most jewels ever ordered.
The guests who occupied the rooms of Jade Ring Castle over several days were diverse in character, yet nearly all had been invited by Duke Arnim. The bride and groom themselves had scarcely any friends among the assembled company.
While Ivnoa’s situation was perhaps unavoidable, it was surprising that Theo had invited no guests of his own. Though Theo’s parents were deceased, he surely had relatives, yet he had invited none of them.
It was only the day before the wedding that a single figure appeared at the castle entrance, asking for Theo by name.
“You’ve come seeking Theostid da Moro, have you? Who might you be?”
“A friend from my homeland.”
The servant looked the stranger over. He was a young man in his early twenties, not unkempt, but dressed in modest traveling clothes with only a short serge cloak draped over his shoulders—hardly the appearance of someone from a wealthy family.
Yet the servant soon adopted an expression of understanding. Theo himself was not of distinguished lineage, after all.
“Please wait a moment.”
Since the young man had not even arrived by carriage, the servant doubted whether he was truly an invited guest and summoned the Head Servant. The Head Servant told him to ask the Silent Steward, but the Silent Steward was too busy with guest preparations to listen carefully and merely suggested that perhaps Theo had dragged in some lodger from somewhere. In that moment, the fact that Theo was the principal of the gathering vanished entirely from the Silent Steward’s mind.
So the young man sat in a chair by the entrance and waited for over an hour. Elegantly dressed guests and temporarily hired workers and timber and barrels of wine and piles of flowers passed by him in countless numbers. Items that would normally use the back entrance all came through the front today. Throughout it all, the young man watched them pass with little complaint, his expression even appearing peaceful.
At last a servant appeared and asked for the young man’s name. It was the third time he had been asked, but the young man answered calmly.
“My name is Anistan Bölf.”
Following the servant up to the second floor and turning into the corridor, the servant told him to wait there for a moment. While the servant opened this door and that, searching about, Anistan examined the paintings hanging on the walls. Then a familiar voice came from over his shoulder.
“Welcome.”
It was Theo. He had apparently stepped out while trying on formal wear—his upper garment was a pale blue jacket, but his trousers were black. A bright smile bloomed across Anistan’s face.
“Congratulations.”
Children of the Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Moon Books
The copyright of this book belongs to the author and 14 Moon Books.
To reuse all or part of the contents of this book, written consent from both parties is required.

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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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