Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 298

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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 68.
Finding the Cat in the Furnace (17)
Sir Baiyer responded with slight irritation.
“The Young Duke is currently indisposed and resting. Would I trouble him to come out for such a matter?”
Maximian began speaking with his eyes half-closed, his words flowing like a rehearsed monologue.
“Even so, wouldn’t the proper course be to at least send someone to ask the Young Duke whether he wishes to come out? Or perhaps I could visit him directly myself? As someone representing the Duchess’s envoy, I have a duty to observe how the Young Duke is faring while staying alone in this distant place and report back to the Duchess. Moreover, having heard that he is unwell, I cannot simply turn back. It would be only right and proper, as one receiving the Duchess’s patronage, to meet him and convey his condition in detail to her. Consider this: if I return having heard only that the Young Duke’s health is troubled, without even being able to describe his appearance to the Duchess, how could she bear such anxiety? Do you not think the Duchess—and indeed the Duke himself—would be pleased? This is not merely my concern. Please think carefully on the matter.”
Riche watched in astonishment as he delivered the naked threat with such casual ease, then inflated the facts he had just invented into something grand and elaborate.
“That is, of course… but…”
Just as Sir Baiyer struggled to maintain his dignity while searching for a response, the reception hall door suddenly burst open with a loud knock. A figure strode in, followed by several soldiers who attempted to stop him. The soldiers hesitated, neither daring to seize him nor fully blocking his path, merely wavering uncertainly.
“What is this commotion?”
Taking advantage of the confusion, Riche whispered to Maximian.
“Why did you dump explaining the letter’s contents on me?”
“I didn’t have anything better to say than what you would have said.”
“Then you should have done it yourself. Why did you make me look foolish?”
“That’s precisely why. A detective cannot afford to look foolish, can he? What would be the assistant’s role then?”
But Sir Baiyer suddenly rose from his seat in shock.
“No—how did you come to be here, sir?”
The figure whose face had been obscured against the sunlight was Joshua. Yet Joshua paid Sir Baiyer no mind whatsoever. He immediately crossed the hall at a run and embraced Maximian from behind, completely indifferent to the fact that he was covered in dust and sweat.
“Ah, you really came!”
Maximian responded with a wry expression, the result of a relieved smile gone slightly wrong.
“If you would… release your grip first.”
With the Young Duke standing below, Sir Baiyer had no choice but to leap down from where he had been sitting.
“How is it… do you know each other, sir?”
Only then did Joshua turn to Sir Baiyer, shrugging his shoulders with arms spread wide. His manner was somewhat arrogantly unrestrained.
“Ah, he’s my childhood friend and my dearest companion. If you were going to summon such a person, shouldn’t you have informed me beforehand? I cannot fathom what is happening. First the Count appears suddenly, and now Maximian arrives as well—did you all conspire to astonish me?”
Then, before Sir Baiyer could respond, Joshua turned to Maximian and spoke.
“Count Armorique here is like a dear friend of my father’s, and when I seemed to fall ill, he arranged a separate place for me to rest within the villa. Shall we go there and catch up on all we’ve missed?”
“Wait, sir…”
Joshua seemed to have no intention of allowing Sir Baiyer to finish speaking.
“Is there some reason I should not leave that room? I understand this villa belongs to my mother, so who could possibly prevent me from moving about? I have no wish to be interfered with regarding the invitation of a friend.”
At that moment, Maximian opened his mouth in a tone entirely different from before.
“Of course, Count Armorique. Then let us go together. The Duchess is most curious about how the Young Duke is faring, and I have much news to convey to her.”
As Sir Baiyer stood with a bitter expression, having no grounds to object, Joshua glanced at Riche. Though they clearly knew each other, he showed no sign of recognition, addressing her instead with the fluid courtesy one might show a noble lady he had never met.
“I apologize for the disorder you have witnessed. Since you appear to be part of our company, would you care to join us?”
Riche nodded, muttering silently to herself, “No wonder he’s an actor.”
The three walked in a line, yet unexpectedly, no conversation passed between them until they reached the courtyard where Joshua had been. Even Joshua, who had greeted Maximian with exaggerated warmth before Sir Baiyer, remained silent.
At the spot where he had eluded the soldiers earlier, a new soldier now stood, but upon seeing Joshua, he merely bowed respectfully. Passing that point, they finally reached a courtyard where no one could see them. Joshua, who had been leading, turned around. Maximian stopped. The two faced each other.
They remained thus for a moment.
“It seems impossible that five years have passed since we last met.”
Joshua smiled.
“But it’s quite different from what I saw in my dreams.”
Maximian paused briefly before responding with a frown.
“A so-called noble Young Duke, living in a place with fine air and clean water, and yet you look like you’d need to visit a grave to reunite if I came back five years later?”
“It’s like the wretched life of a runaway boy, I suppose.”
Maximian turned his gaze skyward without answering. After counting to five, he examined Joshua once more and offered his assessment bluntly.
“Well, since you’re standing on your own two feet now, I won’t need to carry you around anymore.”
Joshua’s expression turned bewildered.
“Carry me around?”
“Yes. Damn it, you were skin and bones yet impossibly heavy. Were you eating gold ingots with every meal?”
This conversation bore no resemblance to the exaggerated embrace from moments before—it was such a simple reunion that Riche suspected they’d only parted recently. Then she corrected herself: yes, they really had only parted recently.
Instead of shaking hands as a sign of joy, one had his arms crossed while the other wagged his finger and launched into complaints.
“So you’re telling me you left me in such terrible condition that I couldn’t wake up, and you just went off to handle your business?”
“Don’t you know the true nature of your friend? I’m neither a doctor nor a mage—what was I supposed to do sitting there? Did you really think I’d be good at nursing?”
“Ah, I was mistaken. I thought my friend was someone who worried about me. How pathetic—the only thing I can expect from my one and only friend is just….”
“What, did you expect me to put on some melodramatic weeping act!”
Joshua burst into laughter without responding, which finally gave Riche an opening to interject.
“Excuse me, both of you. I understand you’re friends, but does that story somehow connect to the absurd situation that brought me all the way here?”
Both boys turned to look at Riche simultaneously, and each introduced her to the other.
“A seamstress who finds me absolutely detestable.”
“An assistant who insists she’s a beauty.”
And at the same moment, they both asked the other the same question.
“What did you say?”
“What did you say?”
Riche’s expression soured as she glared at each of them in turn.
“Are you just going to spout nonsense that avoids the real issue? You two are the ones who destroyed my peaceful life—I wouldn’t have known you otherwise. Stop the bickering and talk about solutions. Or at least show me the path toward resolving this. From the collapsed Theater to the Manager’s house, your home, the Villa alley, and now here—there’s a limit to how much I can wander in circles. I have family at home who are worried about me. Doesn’t it concern you that I haven’t been able to go home for more than half a day?”
Joshua listened to Riche’s mixture of casual and formal speech with a puzzled expression, then looked at Maximian.
“What is she talking about?”
Maximian placed his hand on his forehead and looked up at the sky again.
“It’s a long story to explain.”
Joshua then turned toward Riche.
“How exactly did I ruin Miss Montplayne’s life?”
He remembered the name he’d heard only once a few months ago with perfect accuracy. Riche merely frowned and fell silent for a moment. While it was certain this situation had originated because of Joshua, it wasn’t intentional, so it was difficult to hold him responsible.
“Simply put, someone deliberately caused an accident at the Theater to kill you, but your friend and I ended up saving you in the process. Because of that, the mysterious person who tried to kill you escaped, and now your friend and I—our faces are exposed—are in danger of being eliminated to cover up the evidence.”
Maximian, who had been watching with narrowed eyes from the side, threw in a comment.
“Oh, quite skillfully summarized.”
“Be quiet. Who asked for your praise?”
“Occasionally praising one’s assistant is quite an important thing to do.”
Joshua tilted his head as he watched the two of them exchange words with the ease of long acquaintance.
“How long have you two known each other?”
“Since last night.”
“Yesterday afternoon.”
“…But you two seem awfully close.”
At that, both of them reacted identically.
“We are not!”
“What are you talking about!”
Joshua’s mouth corners drooped as he made an odd expression, then burst into laughter. After listening to his cheerful laughter for some time, Riche finally couldn’t help but speak.
“Do you have absolutely no sense of danger? Someone tried to kill you, yet you don’t even ask if it’s credible, don’t inquire into the circumstances, and you’re neither shocked nor frightened… Wait, did my entire story sound like a joke to you?”
“No, no. I apologize if it came across that way. But….”
Joshua glanced at Maximian before smiling again.
“I’d need to hear more details about the whole killing business, but when someone reaches the rank of Young Duke, there are plenty of people who’d be delighted to see them eliminated without lifting a finger. Well, Max Cardi doesn’t seem all that different, so perhaps the odds are doubled. Ah, come to think of it, I was in quite a dangerous position.”
Children of Ron – 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, you must obtain written consent from both parties.

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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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