Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 463

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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 233.
Playing Oneself (9)
“Of course you must have given it careful thought before reaching your conclusion… but still, it all seems rather sudden!”
“For you to marry a lady not of Periwinkle stock—it’s simply unthinkable. There are so many excellent young ladies on The Island….”
That final opinion seemed to speak for all the aunts present, and in an instant their scattered thoughts coalesced into one. They knew almost nothing of Riche. Therefore, it was simpler to press the single point that she was not of Periwinkle descent.
“But my mother wasn’t of Periwinkle descent either….”
Joshua spoke the words almost carelessly, and an immediate rebuttal came flying back.
“The Duchess was descended from those who crossed over from Periwinkle, as far as we understand.”
“Surely the Duke would never have married a woman from the Continent.”
“With such bloodline connections, how could she be anything but extraordinary?”
Of course, none of them had ever laid eyes on the Duchess. Riche’s face grew progressively redder, Maximian pretended to look elsewhere, and the Administrator wedged among the aunts was merely attempting to verify facts. It was becoming clear that Joshua would have to step in and clarify matters.
“I didn’t give it to her.”
The moment those words left his lips, the commotion around them ceased entirely. Yet his second statement was utterly enigmatic.
“She received it.”
Everyone stood bewildered, exchanging only glances. Riche was no different. Joshua smiled broadly and waved his hand.
“Now then, everyone disperse. There’s no secret midnight betrothal happening behind your backs, so go home and rest well. Tomorrow promises to be a busy day for me as well, so I should conserve my strength.”
The crowd dispersed in less time than it had taken to gather. After sending off even the last Sailor, Joshua became aware of two pairs of questioning eyes remaining in his vicinity. Rather than laugh, deflect, or answer, he simply shook his head.
“I need to think deeply about this matter alone.”
In the dead of night, Joshua awoke.
He thought it resembled something that had happened once before. Turning his head with deliberate anticipation, he found Kelsniti sitting at his bedside.
「You’d do better to sleep more.」
A subtle smile played at the corners of Kelsniti’s mouth, just as it had then. Joshua paused to consider, then asked.
“I didn’t call for you, did I?”
「No.」
“I deliberately didn’t call. When you didn’t come, I wondered if perhaps you’d gone to the Land of Mortals again. Was that actually the case?”
「Let’s say it was.」
Joshua sat up. Kelsniti spoke without even glancing at a timepiece.
「It’s still four in the morning.」
“I feel like I’ve slept enough.”
As Joshua descended from the bed, Kelsniti moved only a hand, conjuring light in the candelabra by the doorway. Yet Joshua had no intention of going outside. Instead, he pulled up another chair and sat facing Kelsniti.
“Lying in bed while talking makes me feel like an invalid being nursed back to health. Well, you must have many questions, don’t you? Should I start by explaining how we returned from Sunset Island?”
「You need only tell me what you think is necessary.」
“You’re certain about that? You might come to regret it.”
Though the words might have been meaningless, Kelsniti raised the corner of his left mouth slightly as if he understood the full situation.
「Someone asked me not to speak of it, so I don’t wish to press you to tell me.」
“Hmm.”
Joshua drew both legs up onto the chair in a cross-legged position, then set them back down again.
“But whether I honor that request or not is my own choice.”
「So you have met someone capable of making such a request.」
“No, even you’re conducting a leading interrogation now. You’re becoming more and more like Maximian.”
Though he spoke in a light tone, Joshua was not smiling. After a moment, he gazed into the eyes of Kelsniti across from him and felt a twinge of concern for him. But I could not hide it. I thought I should not. I made it clear right then and there that I would not.
“I actually met someone I thought had died long ago.”
Kelsniti did not answer, only listened. His face appeared as peaceful as always.
“That person said they had not aged or died, and remained exactly as they were in the old days. They said they had slept for a very long time. Of course, they had awakened several times, but… That person was alive, yet did not feel like a living being. It was as if they had forgotten how to express emotion. As if their heart had worn away entirely. But that person…”
Kelsniti’s face still showed no change. Nor did he offer any response.
“They wept upon hearing your story.”
A moment passed, or perhaps a long silence. In the darkness, relying on the light of three candlesticks, the two figures—or rather, one person and a spirit—sat facing each other in wordless regard.
Kelsniti’s voice seemed to come from beyond the long corridor.
「You asked me not to tell you?」
“They did not wish to share their suffering with you.”
Kelsniti nodded. In that moment, Joshua understood that Kelsniti, like Anarose, possessed eyes that had reluctantly endured long ages, and could wear the same withered expression of emotions worn thin.
「Anne has a fate from which she cannot escape that place.」
Anne. That was the name by which Kelsniti called Anarose. A simple, light name—a pet name suited only for a dear friend.
“And you cannot enter it.”
Both remained in this world as conscious beings, though in ways fraught with suffering. Yet they could not meet. Even now, knowing of each other’s existence.
「Our parting was fated to end with that day’s farewell. It is well. Anne will understand. At that time… that was a greeting hoping for reunion. When neither of us knew the fate that would come.」
Kelsniti told Joshua of the last day he saw Anarose. After a terrible quarrel with Icabon, when Anarose tried to leave Jade Ring Castle, he rushed to the city gate and exchanged a brief farewell. Anarose said she would not return, but Kelsniti reminded her of one promise. Before accepting that the covenant had ended, he asked her to keep only that one promise.
There was a villa where Icabon and Anarose used to spend the spring rains and summer together. It stood on a cliff by the sea, west of Keltika, a two days’ ride on horseback away. There had been a day when Kelsniti and Stchoan were invited there. The moment Stchoan entered, he saw the clumsily embroidered tapestry above the fireplace and teased Anarose, asking if she had made it herself. Anarose baked a small cake and personally gathered herbs from the sloped grassland to make soup. The table was decorated with star flowers.
Icabon lamented jokingly that it was a meal without a shred of meat, and Anarose was ashamed that the cake had collapsed in the middle and baked poorly. Since her cooking without magic often failed, Kelsniti simply ate it willingly and laughed instead of offering comfort. The herb soup was fragrant and delicious.
Icabon and Anarose had a promise. On some day in April, the month when they first made their covenant, they would surely return there and spend a day together. Some day in April… No one knew exactly which day it was. It was their secret alone. The promise was not kept every year. There were times when both were so busy they could not find time to visit the villa for years. Since neither could go, they understood and looked forward to the next year.
On the day Anarose departed with the resolve never to return, what Kelsniti reminded her of was that promise. Anarose did not answer, but Kelsniti was certain she would keep it. He thought it would be their last chance. In the situation where Anarose had left, he thought Icabon would surely rush to that villa on that day. He hoped that when they met there on the day of the covenant, all the misunderstandings between them would melt away like snow.
But the reunion never came to pass.
“Why couldn’t they meet?”
「I’m not certain of the details, but it seems someone interfered. Not long after Icabon set out for that place, the carriage wheel broke, and it could not be easily repaired. Impatient, Icabon rode off alone on horseback, but the bridge over the Olbronze River, which he had to cross, was broken. Icabon arrived late that night, but Anne had already visited during the day and left. Icabon, who had thought Anne would wait until the day was done, was greatly disheartened.」
It was a bitter tale. Joshua felt a pang of sorrow even though it had ended hundreds of years ago, and asked:
“Anarose is a mage—how could she not have known Icabon was coming?”
「Rather, you should understand that Anne’s heart had already hardened, and yet she went there hoping for a miracle that would change her own heart.」
Joshua thought for a moment, then nodded. Having met Anarose himself, he understood somewhat. Given her perfectionist nature, she would have gone to the villa as promised, and left the moment her standards were satisfied. Whatever else might have happened there, she would have done so even if nothing had occurred.
The wind seeping through the window crack had already embraced the sun. Dawn came early in the Southern Region.
Kelsniti, who had been leaning against the armrest, turned his gaze toward the window. A thin ray of sunlight passed through his face and hung upon the drawer handle opposite. Though Joshua had witnessed this scene several times before, today it carried a peculiar feeling. Without thinking, he spoke:
“Kelce. Do you ever feel that you have lived too long?”
Kelsniti smiled faintly.
「I am not alive, young master.」
“That’s not what I mean, and you know that. It just occurred to me suddenly. I wondered if you, having lived so long and grown weary, might one day decide that you should stop living. Whether such a day might come.”
「Did Anne say something like that?」
Joshua shook his head.
“That person had such a strong sense of responsibility that as long as there remained reasons they should bear it, they would not abandon their burden. That was the saddest part. There was no way to make them stop, no one to take their place, no way to lighten their load.”
Kelsniti did not respond. Joshua continued:
“The truth is, when I saw that person, who spoke of their own circumstances so calmly, grieve upon hearing your story, I felt something strange. I have never forgotten that you are a spirit, but I had never considered whether those long ages of yours were painful. Apart from all other reasons, I had never thought—simply because they were long, so very long—whether it was difficult. Or rather, I had thought of it once, but…”
Joshua gazed long at Kelsniti’s face, which had become transparent only through the price of living long.
“I couldn’t quite feel it.”
The curtain’s edge fluttered, dancing across Kelsniti’s face.
“What do you think?”
Kelsniti laughed.
「Not yet.」
Still, the two of them continued to regard each other for a moment longer—until the chamber grew brighter and the sound of servants’ footsteps echoed beyond the latticed screen. The scent of washing water being brought in reached them as well.
Joshua rose from his chair. He pushed open the white latticed door and stretched, then glanced back over his shoulder and whispered.
“That’s a relief.”
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 contents, 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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