Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 280

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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 50.
Not Every Child Is an Angel (50)
“That’s…”
Riche found herself at a loss for words. Mirangette was stingy with wages and constantly meddled in her seamstresses’ private lives, imposing endless restrictions on what they could and couldn’t do. That’s why Riche kept her work as a waitress strictly secret.
Because of this, she used the name “Riche Montplaine” at the Dining Hall instead of “Riche Avril.” The surname “Montplaine” wasn’t entirely fabricated—it was a name passed down by the man who was nominally her father.
But this person was undoubtedly nobility, and surely wouldn’t concern themselves with the daily affairs of waitresses or seamstresses. Thinking there was no way rumors would spread from someone like this, Riche took a sip of the water the man had provided and spoke.
“Actually, I’m a seamstress at the atelier where Max Cardi orders his garments. I’m practically dying from all the stitching every time, so that’s why. If he’d just bring simpler sketches, it would make things easier for everyone. And on top of that, most of his clothes end up falling to me.”
“Mirangette Atelier?”
“Pfft!”
Riche was so startled that she bolted upright and splashed the water from her cup directly into the guest’s face.
“Oh my!”
Things were getting worse by the moment. She didn’t even have time to cry out asking how he knew about the atelier.
Yet the guest who’d been drenched didn’t seem angry. He slowly touched his face, then reached into the apron pocket of the flustered Riche, who was wringing her hands in distress, and pulled out a dry cloth. As he wiped his face with the towel, he held up a finger and whispered.
“If no one saw, let’s just forget it happened.”
“…”
Riche couldn’t understand. This wasn’t a minor mistake, yet the guest himself was telling her to keep quiet about it. But a moment later, she understood why.
“Wait, that beard…”
As he wiped the water from his face, the beard came off cleanly as if it had been shaved away. The hair that had covered even his eyes was swept back. Only then, looking more carefully, did she realize the person before her was just a boy around her own age.
“This is how I actually look…”
Though he wore an awkward smile, his silvery-gray hair with a blue tint fell across a straight forehead, his cheeks were radiant, and his facial features were as if drawn by an artist’s hand. Most of all, the moment their eyes met, she found herself unconsciously holding her breath—his gaze was so deep and elegant.
Riche was flustered. Working at places like the atelier and the Dining Hall, she’d seen plenty of handsome men from a distance, but beauty of this caliber was rare, and she’d never encountered anyone like this standing right in front of her face.
The boy raised his index finger and placed it lightly against his lips as he spoke.
“Pretend you didn’t see.”
“But why would you wear a fake beard?”
“For fun.”
“If it were me, I’d never do it.”
“Of course not. You’re a woman.”
“That’s not what I meant! Is hiding a handsome face your hobby?”
This time it was the boy who looked flustered.
“Huh… What did you say?”
Suddenly, Riche spoke rapidly in an indignant tone.
“If you looked like you do, you should obviously show your face cleanly and dress more beautifully, shouldn’t you? Going around like this shows no consideration for others at all. Do you know how hard it is to see a truly handsome person in this world? You don’t think about the joy of the girls around you at all?”
As the boy listened to Riche’s sophistry, he wore an expression as if recalling old memories, then let out a soft laugh.
“Are you saying I should show my face and walk around for the sake of girls’ happiness? That’s quite an unusual argument.”
“If you don’t like it, there’s nothing to be done, but people like you are a loss to the Continent, you know? Girls of the world have the right to grow up seeing beautiful things.”
Riche stood up from her seat. With absurd situations piling up one after another, she’d completely forgotten that the other person was a guest and she was a waitress. Then the boy spoke.
“Looking at your fingertips, they’re callused—so you really are a seamstress. Is making clothes really that grueling?”
Riche suddenly opened her eyes wide, then lowered her voice.
“Oh, you really! You absolutely cannot tell anyone that I work at Mirangette Atelier. If word gets out, I’ll be fired! You won’t say anything, right?”
“Of course. Besides, I don’t really have anyone to tell…”
“What a relief! You’re a good person! I was so shocked when you mentioned the atelier’s name earlier. But how did you know that Max Cardi gets his clothes tailored at Mirangette Atelier?”
“Oh, that’s… well…”
The young boy, pondering how to answer, suddenly pulled two tickets from his pocket and pressed them into Riche’s hand.
“You won’t tell anyone about this, right? I’m actually Max Cardi’s friend, so I know everything about him. You know about the Aquarian performance? These are tickets. Come watch it with a friend.”
“My goodness, why are you giving these to me?”
“Your hands are worn from making Max’s clothes, so if you tell him you got tickets from me, he’ll definitely be happy. I can get more. So please come see the clothes you made. In a month and a half, alright?”
Before dessert even arrived, the boy stood to leave. Riche, clutching the tickets and trying to make sense of what was happening, finally collected herself and asked.
“But who are you? What’s your name?”
The boy seemed to think for a moment, then smiled and answered.
“Just call me Jo. And you?”
“Riche… Montplanet.”
“Then I’ll see you at the Performance Hall, Miss Montplanet.”
The boy called Jo pulled his hat down low as if afraid someone might look at him, then vanished from the Dining Hall like the wind. Riche, still dazed, looked down at the tickets in her hand, and when she saw the seat numbers, her face brightened.
“Wow, what luck! Front-row Aquarian tickets go for over a hundred Elsoes!”
Riche wasn’t speaking from dreams of watching the performance. If she sold these tickets to her older sisters who wanted to see the Aquarian performance, adding a premium, she could make a month’s wages instantly. And if she sold them as scalped tickets closer to the show date, she might get even more.
While thinking such thoughts, Riche turned back toward the entrance with a regretful expression.
“He could’ve given me a couple more while he was at it.”
“I mean, does that even make sense?”
“If it doesn’t make sense, what can you do? It’s just a whim.”
Maximian waved what he held in his hand with an exasperated expression.
“You call that a whim, Old Man? I should go smack him on the back of the head. I’ve only had these tickets for five days, and in that time the performance got cancelled and that brat shows up in Keltika?”
“His doing this nonsense in the first place was a whim. I told him to go farm seaweed by the sea, but he said he didn’t want to, and instead he went off somewhere ridiculous and became an actor? The audacity of it all! He knows nothing of humility!”
Though Hispanie spoke with dissatisfaction, his expression said otherwise. Something closer to pride. Maximian caught on immediately.
Maximian had also been flabbergasted when he heard that Joshua had secretly become an actor in Hyacan. But calling it audacious felt somehow off. Could it be that this old man had done something similar once?
“For someone who knows nothing of humility, you’re the strongest on the Continent—what are you going on about? Tch, whether he’s an actor or a fisherman, it’s equally absurd for the heir of the Duke’s House. It was always predictable that he’d do something mad eventually, so now we just have to see how well he does it.”
“Were you really planning to go watch it?”
Hispanie narrowed his eyes, and Maximian lifted his chin defiantly.
“Of course. My friend sent me tickets, so I have to go.”
“Do you know how much the carriage fare alone costs to get to Hyacan? And do you even know how many documents you need to cross the border?”
“Well, surely my one and only master would handle such trifles for me, wouldn’t he? Or were you about to say otherwise?”
Hispanie suddenly raised his hand, and Maximian stopped talking. Joshua, the guest of honor, and Duke Arnim and his wife were entering the hall.
It had been five years. Maximian and Joshua, who were eleven and twelve when they parted, had both grown taller, their faces now bearing more mature contours. What surprised Maximian most was that Joshua, whom he used to tease as a runt, was now taller than him. He suddenly remembered that ten-year-old scrap of a boy starving in an empty house. Back then, he would have believed it even if they said he was seven.
And there was something else—his black hair had turned a bluish gray. Whether it was dyed or his hair had actually faded was unclear.
Joshua made his way around the party, greeting the guests in turn. This party was to celebrate Joshua’s return home after several years. For Maximian, seeing Joshua dressed so handsomely was a first. It felt a bit strange, but then again, the guy was nobility to begin with, so he thought nothing more of it.
After making the rounds, Joshua finally approached Maximian and Hispanie. They were almost last.
Today Hispanie was posing as Maximian’s guardian, and since Joshua couldn’t reveal his grandfather’s identity in front of his relatives, they hadn’t greeted each other earlier. He knew the reason, but there was still a hollow feeling in his heart. There had been a time when it was just the three of them by the Riverside with Campfire.
Joshua greeted Hispanie first, then approached Maximian.
“Max! How long has it been?”
Seeing his friend call him by his old nickname and extend his hand, all the longing from before and the disappointment he’d felt moments ago vanished instantly.
“Hey, you managed to survive without dying before fifteen? Lucky bastard.”
When I recalled what I’d heard about Demonic in the past and threw out a joke, a smile bloomed across Joshua’s face as well.
“And you—a dog bite wound that didn’t fester, and here you are walking around perfectly fine?”
“Yeah, but apparently that dog’s teeth rotted and it died.”
“Really, I should have set the fire a bit earlier for the dog’s sake.”
The two of us burst into laughter simultaneously. Hispania watched us laugh, then excused himself, saying he had to meet with Duke Arnim.
“But seriously, what happened? You were acting like you’d stay in Hyacan forever, and now you’re back already.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Month Books
The copyright of this book belongs to the author and 14 Month 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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