Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 429

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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 196.
The Face of an Angel and
the Blood Flowing Through a Demon’s Heart (8)
“I don’t know that much either. But when the people of Sunset Island possessed great magical power, no mages on the Continent could stand against them, and when it faded and disappeared, there was no trace left. Even though they immigrated here, the people of Sunset Island still don’t favor those of Periwinkle, and living here may have made them dislike us even more. The same goes for us. That’s why I thought it would be dangerous if they regained their magic.”
“But you can’t hide it forever, can you? There’s no wall across the sea route.”
“Since coming to our island, the people of Sunset Island seem reluctant to return to Sunset Island. Though they’re island-born themselves, their navigation skills were quite poor. Now they barely venture out to sea, so they have little reason to go back deliberately. The problem lies with our islanders. After all, I learned of this through information brought back by those who ventured to sea, so there’s no guarantee such things won’t happen again. But I had no solution other than concealment, as I didn’t yet know what to do.”
Joshua straightened his posture and asked.
“Have you reported this to Father?”
“The situation report is sent across once a year along with the taxes. It hasn’t been time for that yet….”
“I don’t understand why you wouldn’t report immediately if you think it’s so dangerous.”
As I spoke, I suddenly grasped a new truth and lowered my gaze.
“Your attempt to stop me today wasn’t for such a simple reason—fear that my ship would be caught in a storm going to Sunset Island. That’s why you asked if I had interest in magic, wasn’t it? Because you feared that place’s suspicious magical power might have a bad influence on me? Or is it that you don’t want Father or me to become involved with the magic there at all? If you could only keep it hidden, you’d prefer that no one ever found out?”
The Administrator didn’t answer. I tilted my head slightly and spoke decisively.
“Learning of such a matter gives me one more reason to visit Sunset Island—if only on Father’s behalf. And as I said before, I have no interest in magic, and my mind is not as fragile as you think.”
Even as I denied it, a thread of doubt wound through my chest. Aurelia had said that in my family’s ‘Arnim bloodline,’ there were only idiots and madmen instead of Demonic. She claimed this was because Sunset Island’s magical power affected the minds of Demonic, damaging them before birth. Aurelia could be wrong, but as a descendant of Sunset Island’s people, she could well have reasoned with some foundation.
“Are you interested in legends, Administrator? The past of the Island, its origins, such things?”
The Administrator’s expression had become rigid.
“I am not.”
“Do you know the origins of our Island?”
“They must have come from the Continent. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be speaking the same language as them.”
There was no need to explain to this man what Kelsniti had told me…. Thinking so, I stopped speaking for now. In any case, I had made my intention clear to visit Sunset Island, so the Administrator wouldn’t try to stop me further. Yet as I left the drawing room, my mind was clouded with other questions.
If the magic of Sunset Island’s people disappeared while the Continent’s remained unchanged, does that mean the Continent’s magic has no connection to Ganapoli? And why has magical power returned now?
Will the magical power that has returned to Sunset Island truly affect a Demonic’s mind?
If Aurelia’s claim is correct, why did Ivnoa, born far away in Keltika, become an idiot?
4. A Beautiful Visitor
A door no one had knocked on for a thousand years
has been ringing since this morning. At first, weakly,
then shaking the whole house, demanding to be opened,
saying I will enter, I have come,
I have waited, so I have come like this,
I covered both my ears,
but it was no use.
The morning of the next day, sunlight gentler than the broken violent rays over Periwinkle Island’s coastline sparkled above the rows of jade trees at Jade Ring Castle. Ten o’clock was perfectly suitable for setting sail, but somewhat early for visiting another’s home. Yet three carriages were passing through the main gate and racing down the tree-lined avenue.
On the roof’s four edges of the first carriage were golden sculptures of knights, each in different poses. On both doors were carved crescent-shaped emblems engraved with purple irises. Before encountering the King’s carriage, there was no need to yield the way to anyone else. Regardless of who rode inside, or even if the carriage were empty, it mattered not. The authority possessed by the iris and crescent emblem was so concrete that the presence of a person was unnecessary.
Today, there was someone inside the carriage.
The carriage stopped before the entrance. At the foot of the staircase, ten attendants and Countess Le Mol, a sixth cousin of Duke Arnim, waited. As an attendant leaped from the following carriage and opened the door of the first, a fifteen-year-old girl descended. Her small face was obscured by a travel blue bonnet. Only a delicate jawline and a white neck, difficult to maintain so pale in this summer heat, stood out.
The girl stepped onto the white staircase, warmed by the early sun, and turned back once. The entrance path she had just passed showed sharply defined shadows cast by geometrically trimmed trees. To the east lay a hedge garden trimmed as regularly as a carpet pattern. Between the hedges bloomed abundant purple petunias, white pansies, and red begonias. The geometric garden, arranged in shapes, crosses, and letters, was also a point of pride for Jade Ring Castle.
The girl looked up at the head steward who had come to greet her and spoke her first words.
“Please put those flowers on the lunch table this afternoon.”
A somewhat provocative request for a guest visiting the castle for the first time, yet no one doubted it would be carried out. The girl turned and entered the castle. The attendants she had brought and those who had come to welcome her followed in her wake. Four attendants remained at the carriage, busily unloading: twenty dresses the girl would choose to wear according to her mood, panniers and stockings, combs set with sable fur and coral, pearl powder and rose oil and sandalwood perfume, boxes of shoes and hats, jewelry cases and accessory boxes, honeyed almonds the girl enjoyed, books and instruments, and large gift bundles prepared for the lady of the house, all descended in succession.
The girl was the first guest to arrive at the celebration honoring the lady of the manor’s birthday. Following her arrival from afar, guests from twenty-four carefully selected families were scheduled to come to Jade Ring Castle.
“This year is truly strange. I never expected to wear a dress twice.”
My haphazardly cut short hair had been curled and desperately fluffed up, and the water-drop emerald hanging from a tiara woven with small crystals and gold-green stones barely saved me from looking like a child. The lime-colored chiffon dress with its many elegant pleats and the silver-threaded rose corsage all bore the marks of an effort to cultivate a more mature atmosphere, yet I still resembled a cute little lady—Yien, or rather Yienna—and I was even crossing my arms and wiggling my toes. Then, catching a glimpse of my friend’s attire across from me, I complained again.
“If I had clothes like yours, the party wouldn’t have been so bad.”
The white jacket with mother-of-pearl embroidery that only revealed itself in the light was somewhat long, as if modified from a tunic, and it was an elegant garment with accordion pleats and lace trim. Even the way Langie had skillfully tied a thin ribbon bow tie over it made it seem impossible to believe he didn’t usually wear such clothes. I had seen Langie dressed this way only a few times, but each time I muttered that I couldn’t believe he wasn’t of noble birth.
Moreover, somehow his bearing and etiquette were beyond reproach. Since these were things difficult to learn naturally, I had probed him several times, but to no avail. I knew roughly what kind of childhood Langie had spent. However, I did not know why he had needed to learn perfect etiquette even more thoroughly than true nobles.
Soon, Langie smiled softly.
“It must be uncomfortable, but bear with it for a while.”
“Of course. I know how important this is, so for today I shall become an elegant young lady of high society. For the future of the Republic, such a thing is nothing.”
I spoke in an exaggerated tone as if joking, but the content was sincere. Then Langie turned his gaze toward the window and spoke.
“You can actually do it?”
Leaning diagonally in the corner of the carriage with my legs crossed, my elbow propped on the windowsill, my posture was such that one might believe I was a street vagrant dressed in a gown. The hem of my dress had fallen open, exposing my calves entirely, but I paid it no mind. Had the elegant Countess Amaranth seen it, she would have fainted, but in truth my legs were as thin as a child’s, with no sensual quality whatsoever. My friend deliberately paid them no attention either. No—I took it for granted. The person sitting across from me was ‘a man just like myself.’
Noticing that my friend had turned his head to suppress laughter, I mischievously raised my chin.
“Oh, Langie. I guarantee I won’t manage it as well as you do.”
“Don’t joke, Yien.”
“Why is that a joke? Anyone who sees you today will think you’re the only son of a centuries-old noble family.”
“That expectation will shatter the moment they hear I’m your friend.”
In Keltika, there were countless who claimed noble names. Many of them held receptions to which they were invited, and families often thought the more guests, the better it looked.
However, today was a gathering attended only by those who had received invitations. The birthday of the lady of Jade Ring Castle, Duchess Elza, was an occasion where she could have summoned even the newly ennobled to flaunt her power, yet the Duchess had been in poor health for a long time. Having passed through days of counting down to death, she had reached an outwardly peaceful state, but she attended large receptions only a few times a year. She was told to avoid excessive tension or excitement.
Therefore, those invited today were without question the highest-ranking powers of Keltika’s social circles. The smaller the reception, the more an invitation determines a family’s standing. It was said invitations had been sent to exactly twenty-four families.
Had this been an ordinary reception, Langie could have managed to slip in by borrowing the identity of some other noble. However, at a gathering like today’s, where everyone knew how many sons and daughters each family had, their ages, and whom they had married, such a thing was impossible. There was only one method: to serve as a chaperon, as noble children commonly had. Of course, Langie’s age didn’t suit the role of chaperon, but since many families employed peers as companions for their children’s conversation, explaining him as something in between would not be unreasonable.
Even so, appearing at such a gathering certainly meant accepting a certain degree of risk. The reason for taking such a risk and coming here was clear. There was someone I needed to meet.
Duke Joshua von Arnim.
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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