Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 427

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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 194.
The Face of an Angel and
the Blood Flowing Through a Demon’s Heart (6)
“So I skipped the breakfast laid out before me and searched the Study for that fellow’s friend. No witnesses, no signs of intrusion, the door wide open as if inviting entry, shoes taken and worn away—if he’d been kidnapped, there’d be no reason to put on shoes. When I examined the scattered books and documents carefully, judging by the volume of work reviewed, I concluded he must have disappeared around two or three in the morning.”
Facts tumbled out in no particular order, all occurring to me at once. In any case, merely being able to estimate Joshua’s workload was something another detective couldn’t have managed.
“Even knowing all that doesn’t give me a clue where he went. But I thought there was exactly one person who could lure Joshua away at such an hour. Yes, exactly one! So I needed to find that person and ask them, but how was I supposed to find them? I’m not Joshua, so they wouldn’t come running just because I called. Hey, what’s your opinion? Nothing? Blast it, you can’t sit still for one moment without an opinion, you blasted cat!”
By then the cat had already leaped from the chair, scratched the chair legs several times, dashed about for no reason, tripped over the carpet and tumbled, rolled around as if that had been the plan all along, then came to Maximian’s feet and began tugging at his slipper. Maximian let the slipper go and rested his chin on one hand with his other foot propped on the chair, lost in thought. The cat, more interested in the slipper than Maximian’s deductions, hugged it and scratched with its hind legs, then suddenly bumped its back against the edge of the open door.
“Maximian, lunch is ready.”
Joshua poked his head through, and their eyes met. The kindness in his voice was surely due to guilt, wasn’t it? Maximian sat still for a moment, then thrust out a finger and cried out.
“You!”
Joshua smiled brightly.
“The culprit’s been arrested, or something like that?”
“….”
There was a painful reason why Maximian, contrary to his nature, had launched into such a lengthy tirade while holding the cat. He wanted to summon Kelsniti—the one who could have lured Joshua away at dawn—but had no idea how. Mindful of others’ eyes, he couldn’t just shout carelessly, so he’d rambled on about appearing if nearby, and now the very person he’d been seeking showed up and stared at him with an amused expression….
“Ow!”
He gave Joshua a sharp rap on the head, then threw the door wide open and left. The cat that had been loitering in the doorway quickly followed after him. Joshua tilted his head in confusion, just as the cat had done.
“Why is he wearing only one slipper?”
On the table where late lunch was laid out sat a small blue flower. Placed at an angle in a glass cup rather than a vase, it wasn’t an ornamental bouquet meant for such a place but rather looked freshly picked from a field, and the stem was short. It seemed it couldn’t fit in a vase.
“Yes. But it took two hours to get back. The day had already brightened, and I kept running into people who’d come out early for work, so I kept getting delayed with greetings, and eventually I just ran back.”
Despite having slept only briefly, Joshua’s face was remarkably bright. Yet being human, exhaustion was evident in his features. His sleeve bore scratches where it had caught on a coffin’s edge, and his jacket and shirt collar were dusted with sawdust and soil. Dirt clung to his trouser legs and fell with each step. He’d only managed to change into slippers from his dirt-covered shoes.
“Didn’t you lose track of time walking in the dark?”
Maximian shook his head at Riche’s words.
“When you’re walking in darkness, time moves slowly. It’s hard to feel like the same path took longer when you walk it in daylight.”
Joshua nodded.
“Maximian’s right.”
The three were about to continue their exchange when Dulcia, standing nearby, gave a pointed cough. Joshua smiled and began mischievously spinning a fork with nothing on it between his fingers, then brought it to his mouth and made slow chewing motions.
“Oh my, I understand. Please eat slowly.”
Dulcia, who had by now learned how Joshua ate and had intended to watch him as she had yesterday to ensure he didn’t leave anything, finally gave up and disappeared outside. Joshua gestured for the remaining servants to leave as well. A gesture was sufficient for them. With only the three remaining in the Dining Hall, Joshua set down his fork and looked between them.
“Let’s go to Sunset Island.”
Maximian’s brow furrowed, and Riche’s eyes widened.
“What are you suddenly talking about?”
“What’s on Sunset Island?”
“There. Where the real grave is.”
Maximian’s eyebrows shifted slightly. He asked with a face that suggested he was guessing the answer.
“Whose?”
“Demonic Icabon’s.”
“But just yesterday you said you didn’t know where he was?”
“I didn’t. But you suggested I look for some grandmother who knows legends well, didn’t you?”
“So you crawled out at dawn and went around asking villagers about grandmothers?”
“Well, I suppose that’s what happened.”
Both Maximian and Riche wore expressions of suspicion. However, as Joshua began recounting what he’d experienced the previous night, their attitudes gradually shifted. By the time he explained Aurelia’s bloodline, Riche’s face had flushed crimson, and she waved her hands frantically.
“What? So you’re saying your ancestor and the Mage Anarose Tikarum had a child together? And the man didn’t know about it? How could he not know? So your entire family didn’t know until now? Is this really acceptable? There are limits to irresponsibility!”
“Of course, I don’t think it’s ideal either…”
Riche disagreed with Aurelia’s perspective, and it seemed she believed Icabon was entirely at fault, regardless of Anarose’s reasons for wanting to conceal the child’s existence. Riche quickly reached her conclusion.
“Pretending not to know about a woman carrying your child is truly shameless!”
“But he didn’t pretend—he genuinely didn’t know…”
“That’s obviously a lie! Damn it, you’re right about one thing, but how could he not have known?”
“Couldn’t he?”
Joshua faltered, unable to find a response. Though the fault wasn’t his, there was no one else present to argue the point.
“He couldn’t! If he wasn’t a fool—and you said he was a genius, no less—shouldn’t he have grasped what was happening when things reached that state? Even if he hated her to death, they’d once loved each other. He visited several times, yet she wouldn’t even show her face? At the very least, if she wanted to tell him to disappear, she’d have appeared to say it. Why didn’t he show up? He must have had guilt about what he’d done. At that point, it’s obvious as the nose on your face!”
“That… what does the nose have to do with it?”
“In our village dialect, it means ‘obvious’!”
As she spoke, Joshua found himself cornered and finally managed a response, shrinking his shoulders.
“You’re right about all of it. There are men who wouldn’t grasp such things immediately, but that’s…”
“Of course there are. Obliviousness is a trademark skill of men. But that doesn’t lighten their guilt!”
While Riche pressed Joshua into a corner, Maximian sat lost in thought before suddenly speaking.
“That’s enough. We can’t go beat a man who died centuries ago.”
As Riche glared at Maximian, Joshua sighed and spoke.
“I’m also in a position where I have to account for my ancestor’s actions from hundreds of years ago…”
“Are you saying my anger is pointless, Maximian too?”
“No. You’re completely right, Riche. But I’m simply trying to hear more of the story. We’re in a position where we must resolve the matter at hand.”
Then he glanced at Joshua.
“Do you expect me to suddenly hold a different view of a father who didn’t take responsibility for his child?”
“Of course…”
Riche cast a suspicious glance at Maximian, but she didn’t get the chance to hear an explanation. Maximian continued.
“See? Joshua knows it too. So let’s keep listening. What does that Aurelia—or whatever her name is—want from you?”
As the story continued to the meeting with Grandmother and what she had said, Riche’s eyes widened in surprise. When Joshua reached the parts requiring precise transmission, as befitted a Demonic, he relayed exactly what he’d heard. The fact that Aurelia was a medium, not a Demonic, came up, as did the story of Meloren and Zenobia—in other words, Anarose’s daughter and granddaughter. Soon the conversation turned to their final fate.
“The witch was able to meet the Duke again, but what she encountered was the Duke’s corpse, she said. They never parted again, never parted for eternity, she also said. Taking this literally means Anarose saw Icabon’s body, and given that they never parted for eternity, I’d say the place where he was buried should be considered Anarose’s homeland. Perhaps the two were buried together. In other words, on Sunset Island.”
“What happened? Why did Icabon go to Sunset Island and die there?”
Riche forgot her anger and blinked her eyes. Joshua spoke.
“Once he learned of his daughter and granddaughter’s existence, he must have decided he had to meet Anarose again no matter what.”
“Could he have been transported to Sunset Island after death?”
“That’s unlikely. If that were the case, the people of Periwinkle wouldn’t still believe Icabon was buried in the ossuary, would they? Given that people have been deceived all this time, I think Icabon held a fake funeral and secretly went to Sunset Island alone. That’s where he died.”
“Then why didn’t he meet Anarose? You said the witch encountered the Duke’s corpse?”
“Well, in my opinion…”
Before Joshua could continue, Maximian spoke.
“The fact that she hid her daughter’s existence even until her granddaughter was born shows she wasn’t an ordinary woman of pride. People grow softhearted with age, but not everyone does.”
“You mean… even knowing Icabon came deceiving his own people just to meet her once before death, she refused to see him and waited until he died?”
Neither Joshua nor Maximian objected. Soon Riche pressed her lips together and shrank her shoulders.
“She’s certainly harsh. It’s hard to imagine. Did she think she’d won by never showing her face to that living person?”
“There are many forms of pride in this world.”
“But what’s truly terrifying is….”
Riche tapped her fork against the table, though she hadn’t touched her food. The meal had long since become an afterthought.
“That part about ‘they were never parted.’ She wouldn’t forgive him while alive, but together after death? Truly…. Since ghosts apparently exist, I’m curious what they might have said to each other after they both passed.”
Maximian scraped the bottom of his cold stew bowl as he spoke.
“They probably just fought again, naturally. After decades apart, there’d be plenty to say—’I was right,’ ‘you were wrong.’ If you pretend to throw a pumpkin….”
“…it rolls past the hill and you hear it fall.”
He’d fumbled the idiom, but Maximian continued without shame.
“Anyway, it’s all so predictable.”
“Mm.”
Joshua didn’t broach the subject of Demonic’s origins. It was a story difficult to convince anyone of, and for now, he intended to keep it as a secret for himself alone.
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 this book’s content, 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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