Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 348

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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 118.
Ninety-Eight Souls (31)
“Joshua, I understand your feelings, but what you’ve done is not a simple matter. As for your sister, I have nothing to say either… And while this may not be comforting, spirits walk in the same form they had at death for some time after dying. So if you had encountered her, you would have recognized her easily. That’s why I don’t think your sister was there. Your sister drank poison, so she wouldn’t have looked that terrible.”
Joshua remained silent for a long while, but when he finally spoke, his voice had improved somewhat.
“My sister died five years ago already. If Caesar saw her at the moment of her death, he must have been quite shocked.”
As he spoke those words, the vivid crimson blood that had soaked his palm flickered through his mind.
“Five years is not a long time for a spirit. If the person who met that young lady without a drop of blood on her really did encounter your sister, then she must have harbored almost no resentment. That’s fortunate.”
The eastern sky began to brighten. Nearly twenty hours had passed since the airship started flying. As the morning breeze began to blow gently, the two who had stayed awake all night started to feel headaches. Joshua had slept well enough, but he said he felt drowsy again, perhaps from mental and physical exhaustion. After Joshua checked the course roughly and said the condition wasn’t bad, Maximian spoke.
“Then let’s all get some proper sleep. Juspian must have done things well. Even if he didn’t, we’re too tired now to think about anything.”
Perhaps because of the habit of traveling on foot, they had been careless about the peculiarity of the situation of controlling something while moving. The three exchanged brief greetings and went into their respective cabins to rest. Sleeping for nearly ten hours straight became the first cause that would make this journey flow in an unexpected direction.
4. The Broken Place
A genius must walk through the world like carrying a cross through a muddy field.
Laughter flowed from inside the door. Hispanie hesitated before entering. A moment later, conversation mixed with the laughter could be heard.
“Hey, let’s take back just one move, alright?”
“I can take it back, but one move won’t be enough.”
“Then take back two moves.”
“Haha, why don’t we just start a new game entirely?”
He was about to turn back, but changed his mind. Opening the door and entering, he saw a mother and son bickering with smiles on their faces across a chessboard. Both of them brightened when they saw him.
“Oh my, when did you arrive?”
“Come quickly, Grandfather. Let’s play a game with you. It won’t work with Mother. She keeps insisting on taking back moves.”
“That’s right. You need to win one game against Uncle. He’s won three times in a row, and his pride is absolutely unbearable.”
Duchess Elza rose with a smile and sat aside. Even though there was no way she could beat her demonic son at chess, it was her long-standing habit to speak of him as if he were an ordinary child.
Hispanie sat across from the Duchess instead and spoke.
“Let’s see if an old demonic can beat a young demonic.”
The Young Boy smiled brightly as he arranged the chess pieces.
“I’m happy that Grandfather visits so often these days.”
Hispanie, looking down at the arranged chessboard, suddenly spoke.
“I hear you’ve been going out a lot lately?”
“Ah, I’ve been wandering around antique shops. There are so many interesting things there.”
Elza chided him.
“It’s all junk, junk. This boy has taken a liking to collecting old things. It’s not just one or two items. Even this chessboard is like that.”
The Young Boy responded immediately.
“How valuable this is, yet Mother won’t acknowledge it because it’s old. Among Temoran’s works—he was the greatest marble artisan during Queen Isabella’s era—only seven pieces remain with signatures like this one…”
“The sound of the pieces moving is pleasant to hear. But there are so many good things made nowadays. Why use something with a broken corner like this?”
Elza seemed to enjoy bickering with her son. With her son staying nearby, her physical condition had improved greatly lately. She could often get through the day without taking an afternoon nap. Moreover, unlike before, her son spent time with his mother frequently, making these days all the more joyful.
But that joy was interrupted when a maid appeared from outside.
“Madam, your friend Countess Kammergutt has arrived.”
“Oh my, what was I thinking?”
Elza rose from her seat.
“I made an appointment and completely forgot about it. Well then, Joshua, you must treat your grandfather well. If you play against him the way you do against me, you absolutely won’t be able to win. Then, Uncle, I’ll be going.”
After Duchess Elza left, for a while there was only the sound of chess pieces being moved. The chessboard was carved from marble, and the ivory pieces made a crisp, pleasant sound as they struck against it.
Click.
Clack.
“Joshua.”
Hispanie, who had been hesitating while holding a black piece, called out to him.
“Yes, what is it?”
“Have you been making any new friends lately?”
The young boy answered while keeping his gaze on the chessboard.
“I meet new people quite often. I wander through the market streets, after all. Why? Did you happen to meet someone who knows me?”
“That’s not it.”
“Then go ahead, please.”
After studying the chessboard for a moment, Hispanie deliberately placed a piece in a somewhat awkward position. The young boy chuckled softly.
“Grandfather, you’re just tired of playing, aren’t you? That’s not a move someone like you would make.”
It was as expected. Both of them could read five moves ahead without any difficulty.
“Yes, I’m tired of it. What point is there in us playing seriously against each other? Besides, I came here because I wanted to talk about something.”
“Yes, please tell me.”
The young boy quickly cleared the chessboard.
“Joshua, you were in Hyacan for several years, weren’t you?”
“A little over three years.”
“I heard from Maximian the other day that you performed in some kind of theatrical production there?”
The young boy broke into an embarrassed laugh.
“That’s right. I did something like that. I used a pseudonym, though. Just as you once told me, Grandfather—I was trying to find a place where ‘no one knows who I am, and I’m surrounded by people who love me for being myself.'”
“And did you find it? Was it better than fish farming?”
“It seemed like it might have been…”
When the young boy trailed off without continuing, Hispanie also chuckled softly.
“I did something like that once when I was young too.”
“You did, Grandfather? Where?”
“At some harbor in Durnensa. I only stood on a small stage once. After that, there were no more opportunities. It’s just an old memory, but I’m delighted that you’re interested in such things too. It would have been even more enjoyable if I could have seen it.”
“I really should have sent you an invitation ticket. Ah, so that means Grandfather didn’t receive a ticket after all? Then what was it that Maximian received?”
Hispanie asked in a casual tone.
“What do you mean by that?”
“Well, you see, when I returned to the Manor after a long time and threw a party, Grandfather came along with Maximian. But Maximian said something strange—he told me he received a letter from me containing two performance tickets. I don’t remember sending anything like that. Was it a joke?”
The young boy tilted his head in confusion.
“If Grandfather doesn’t know about those tickets, then Maximian didn’t give them to you, so it must have been a joke after all. But my friend, making jokes so seriously like that.”
The young boy’s expression was genuinely puzzled, so Hispanie, who was observing his face, could find nothing suspicious about it. The old man changed the subject.
“Hyacan is very far from here. Even if you had sent an invitation, it wouldn’t have been easy for me to go there. You know well how far that journey is, don’t you?”
“It really is far. On this trip, I didn’t have anyone to talk to, and for some reason I felt tired, so I slept the whole way. I’d wake up and see a different city, wake up again and suddenly there was a meadow, then we’d crossed the border, and so on. Now that I think about it, it was a journey where I remember almost nothing.”
Hispanie asked casually.
“Which pass did you cross when you went through the Drakenz Mountain Range?”
“Let’s see, which one was it? I must have been sleeping then too. I can’t remember, so it was probably one of the two passes in the Durnensa area.”
“But tell me, why on earth did you come back?”
The young boy’s expression wavered subtly before his gaze fixed upon the old man’s eyes.
“Why would you say such a thing? Is there a reason I shouldn’t have returned?”
“There’s no such reason. No one could have stopped your return. What I want to know is the opposite. If you truly found ‘a place filled with people who love me for being myself,’ then you would have had no reason to come back, wouldn’t you? When you left, you said you never wanted to return again.”
The young boy did not answer immediately.
After Ivnoa’s death, Joshua remained at Jade Ring Castle through the following early spring. Following Hispania’s counsel, he did not flee but stayed within the castle. However, warning signs gradually began to manifest. Elza, noticing that he would speak in disconnected ways to empty air, broached the subject of taking a restorative visit to Hyacan. There stood the villa where Ivnoa had spent her honeymoon—a place both serene and beautiful, but more importantly, a place where her happiness lingered. Unlike here, where the memory of bloodstained dresses haunted him, Joshua had not set foot in the banquet hall since that day.
Upon hearing his mother’s suggestion, Joshua agreed to go. Immediately, in fact. Without even time to bid farewell, he sent a letter to Hispania. It read: ‘I never wish to return to Jade Ring Castle again.’
The young boy lowered his head, gazing at the broken corner of the chessboard.
“I’m not entirely sure myself. Perhaps it was a momentary impulse. I was living contentedly enough as a performer there, but I was always aware that I would eventually have to return. I cannot explain why that time became now, but even if not now, I would have come back eventually.”
“So you suddenly returned and even cancelled a scheduled performance?”
“Grandfather, do you think I shouldn’t have come back?”
The two stared at each other. Each sought to discern why the other spoke such words. And within moments, they both understood. They were the same kind of demonic being.
“Grandfather, I’m not lying.”
“I don’t believe you are.”
Children of Rune – Winterer
Author: Jeon Min-hee
Publisher: 14 Months Publishing
The copyright of 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.
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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