Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 316

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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 80.
Finding the Cat in the Furnace (35)
A large bag sat beside Theo. Inside its open mouth lay a round, flat tin. Theo reached in, plucked out a candy, and popped it into his mouth. The moment it touched his tongue, his face contorted. But soon the expression melted away, and he sucked on it slowly before speaking again.
“This candy has a bitter taste, you know. At first I wondered why anyone would eat such a thing, but it’s more addictive than you’d think.”
The candy tin looked oddly familiar. After a long moment, Anistan realized it was something Joshua von Arnim had kept at Jade Ring Castle.
“Ah… it’s my brother-in-law’s.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
The moment he spoke those words, his teeth clenched involuntarily. He bit down hard, then twisted with a sharp cracking sound.
“He gave it to me as a gift because I said I wanted it. He really does like me quite a lot.”
His face was brazenly serene, utterly untroubled. A spasm rippled across Anistan’s features.
“I don’t want to hear such things.”
Theo smiled, a hint of mockery threading through it.
“Why? Don’t you love your creation? I thought you’d regard him like a son.”
“A son? How can you speak of it that way?”
“I don’t know. It’s not mine, so I can’t say. If I’ve offended you, I apologize.”
Theo offered his apology with a serious face—as if he truly meant it, perhaps he did mean it, his words might be sincere—yet he understood nothing. He never would.
“That thing should never have been born from the start. I don’t want to hear about it ever again.”
Anelli and Anistan had conducted several experiments with the forbidden object they’d brought from Belvedere, but amplifying magical power alone proved insufficient. Even pouring in magical force equivalent to thirty times their normal output changed nothing. Though Anistan had devised the incantation himself, he had catastrophically miscalculated the spell’s difficulty. This magic operated on a far higher dimensional plane than they’d conceived. In hindsight, they should have abandoned it the moment they recognized it. They should have given up upon realizing it lay beyond their level of control.
But Anelli had insisted. She’d said they were almost there, that just a bit more magical force would do it, and that she knew a place where such power was possible. Following her to that place, which neither had ever visited before, had been driven half by curiosity. They’d had no idea what would unfold.
And there, something truly unimaginable occurred. Before the incantation could even be completed, “it” materialized. Merely by arriving. And Anelli, who’d carried the forbidden object, vanished. Literally, vanished.
It was likely death. Yet Anistan still found it difficult to believe. How could such a thing happen? What could possibly exist in that place?
But there was no time to investigate. Fear and shock left only the desperate urge to flee. He felt certain that lingering even a moment longer would erase him as smoke, just as it had Anelli. When he finally escaped, he’d believed nothing worse could exist.
But he was wrong. A result awaited him. The magnificent and terrible creation he had finally brought forth—something no mage in this world had ever successfully achieved.
As Anistan shook his head listlessly, Theo countered with a resilient voice.
“That’s a harsh thing to say. If you don’t care for him, who will? We curse the god who created us and then hid away. So wouldn’t he curse his creator, who brought him into being and then fled to the countryside? Your attitude seems as irresponsible as a parent abandoning a child at a monastery’s doorstep and running away.”
At those trivial words, Anistan’s face flushed as though he’d been insulted. Theo waited for his friend’s response without answering.
“I… don’t intend to hold you responsible just because you asked. Whatever you said, whatever Aunt Anelli said, I consented in the end. My nod, my words of agreement, my own hands—I can’t deny the weight of them. You’re right that I ran. I couldn’t bear the weight crushing my chest. But you, who don’t even feel the weight’s existence… you’re merely trying to drag me back with plausible words. You tell me to take responsibility, but you’ve never cared about it from the start. You don’t even understand what it means for ‘him’ to be something that requires responsibility.”
Then Theo nodded.
“You’re right. To me, he’s just a doll. I don’t understand why you run away unable to bear his face. What are you so afraid of? He’s not a copy of yourself, is he? Besides, you barely knew Joshua anyway, so there’s even less reason to worry.”
“A doppelgänger…”
The words emerged from his throat as though wrung from it.
“A being that kills a person upon meeting them. The most certain method of murdering someone’s soul. When another who is identical to you exists, it threatens the very foundation of survival. Now your brother-in-law has been displaced by the doppelgänger, condemned to wander. For now, there are still those who remember him, but soon he’ll be replaced entirely. All his positions stolen, and what remains of him then? Refuse? Waste?”
“Listen, can’t you understand me that way?”
This time Theo’s tone carried anger. Anistan knew well what emotion lay behind those words. He had stood by Theo’s side since taking him in, loyal throughout his life. Yet now he could only say this. It was a matter of inescapable nature.
“What I created was a doppelgänger. I… didn’t know. I didn’t know it would be so identical. Just as twins may resemble each other without being the same person, I consented to a plan to deceive with something merely similar. But what did I actually create? Joshua von Arnim was a Demonic—a being so rare and special the world would struggle to find another. But what is ‘he’? How could… not just his face, but his Demonic abilities too become identical? Did Aunt Anelli truly foresee this happening?”
Anistan shook his head again. This time vigorously.
“I can’t be certain anymore. What if their souls are identical too… I don’t know. If they are, then I’ve committed the most terrible act in the world. It’s incomparable to stabbing someone with a blade. Could I endure seeing such a being? When a doppelgänger appears, a person is denied from their very foundation. They become someone who was never born. Their parents won’t remember them. Their friends won’t. Because they’ve already accepted the doppelgänger as their child, their friend.”
Theo studied his friend’s ashen face. At first expressionless, it gradually shifted into a smile—warm, and therefore all the more artificial—as he spoke.
“Why are you so angry? If someone had seen this, they would have said it. ‘Ah, what on earth did that Theo do to make a friend like Ani rage like that? That Theo must have done something terrible,’ they’d say.”
Anistan made no reply, cradling his trembling cheeks in both hands. Theo continued.
“What does it matter if you created a doppelgänger? You simply made one thing—whether it’s a puppet or a monster, who can say? And you won’t do it again, will you? The decisive part is already finished. Yes, this works. You created a twin exactly as you planned. But by chance, that creature happens to like you, so it obeys your words, and therefore it’s very cooperative with my plans since I’m your friend. The result is, everyone becomes happy. That’s all the essence of this situation amounts to.”
Anistan stared without answering, then spoke a single word.
“Why did you come here?”
“To take you back.”
Anistan started to rise immediately but stopped himself and spoke.
“I clearly said I would withdraw from this matter. You acquiesced. I came here and have been living peacefully, having forgotten everything about that day.”
Then Theo spoke as if surprised.
“Surely you couldn’t have forgotten? You were just saying that. In truth, you must have been thinking about it all along.”
“….”
While Anistan couldn’t respond, Theo reached into his bag again and pulled out a candy to eat. Anistan’s lips trembled. He wondered if he could escape this. Unfortunately, it seemed he could not….
“It’s regrettable what happened to Aunt Anelli, but as you know, it was an accident. None of us could have foreseen it. When I heard the story of that accident, I thought I’d used up all my luck just by having you survive.”
Anistan shook his head and spoke.
“When my spells at Nenyaple produced results stronger than intended, the professors would worry rather than praise me. Back then, it seemed unfair. I even wondered if they were jealous of me. But now I understand. There was a reason for all of it. A mage who cannot control his own spells is nothing but dangerous garbage…. You gave me the position of court mage in a quiet, remote Rural Territory where nothing happens, just as you promised. For me, this is where the story ends. I don’t want to think about what happened that day, the puppet, any of it, ever again. I have nothing more to receive from you, nothing more to give. Why did you come? I’ve only just barely….”
Theo cut him off.
“I can say one thing.”
His gaze was indifferent, yet his eyes held a supple light as they fixed on Anistan.
“Everything you fear right now is nothing but things that don’t exist. You’re afraid of ghosts. A doppelgänger? What is that? Doesn’t it only appear in books read at children’s bedsides? Is that ‘puppet’ truly identical to Demonic Joshua? That’s a question no one knows the answer to. Not even you. No one knows whether he, from the moment of his replication, is a being capable of developing on his own. Whether he can even grow or age remains unclear, doesn’t it?”
“I… don’t care.”
“You do care. Your mouth refuses, but in truth you must be dying of curiosity about how that magnificent creation you made will develop from here on. I don’t think the substance of what you’re afraid of, trembling in helplessness, is conscience. If you exercise your imagination, believe that calamity approaches soon, and tremble—would that be fun? Whether you’re weak-hearted or not, you’re a mage without choice. Mages cannot resist wanting to know. It’s impossible for them not to see the results of their experiments. After all, you’re a breed that’s inherently somewhat mad.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright to this book belongs to the author and 14 Months Publishing.
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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