Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 484

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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 254.
Playing Oneself (30)
“Joshua, remember when you were on the Uninhabited Island and you were channeling Korned?”
“I was going to bring up Ines then… but seeing your face, I just couldn’t find the words.”
Joshua offered no response. He lay silent as death, as sleep. Something felt strange. It seemed as though there were words that needed to be spoken—words that under any other circumstance would never have crossed her lips, words that might have remained buried forever. But the uncertainty of whether he could even hear her, and the two months of unguarded comfort spent at Jade Ring Castle, the imaginings those had kindled—none of it could keep her heart from stirring.
For just once, she felt she could be honest.
“It’s about when we were in Kalayso.”
The snow falling beyond the window grew heavier.
“Back then, you cut my heart, but you grazed it so shallowly that it healed without leaving a trace.”
Snow fell through the night. In Duke Arnim’s Study, two figures sat facing each other. The chairs and carpet had been replaced with new ones. The gruesome bloodstains from months before had vanished. But not from their hearts.
A bottle of cognac rested on the table, already half empty.
“Do you remember what I said on the day Ive died?”
Hispanie drained his glass in one gulp. Duke Arnim—Franz—kept his eyes fixed on his cup.
“You offered wise counsel, sir.”
“No. Every time I recall what I said then, I feel ashamed.”
The old man poured his own drink. Light illuminated only the table where they sat; the rest of the Study lay in darkness.
“I said I wouldn’t abandon that child, whether he lived or died, succeeded or failed. I said it with my own mouth. And now look at the result.”
Franz picked up his glass, turned it over in his hands, then set it down. A low sigh escaped him before he spoke.
“Joshua neither died nor failed.”
“Perhaps. But this night is long, and a long sleep is painful. A young man’s long sleep.”
The glass he lifted again touched his lips before falling away.
“We found the assassin.”
“Yes. We didn’t flee, and we finally found him. Just as I said—I exposed Joshua, didn’t hide him, made the assassin bare his fangs. In return, I should have protected Joshua from those fangs. I believed I could do it, so I left Joshua on the Stage. It was a gamble. Did we succeed? Do we still hold the stakes in our hands? Hehehehe…”
The glass Franz set down was empty. Wind beyond the window howled.
“You told me to believe in Demonic’s storm-like fortune… I believe that fortune is what has kept Joshua alive like this. I will continue to believe. In the fortune of Joshua that you spoke of. I will watch over that child, believing he will become a Duke, and even become a Duke worthy of Demonic.”
Hispanie said nothing. Franz drew the bottle closer and poured two fresh glasses.
“I cannot express how grateful I am that you remained at the Castle, sir. When Ive died, you refused to stay.”
“I remain only because Joshua might need me. The moment he wakes, I will leave.”
“I understand. But just as my late Father did, when I sit across from you like this and discuss matters, I find myself strangely at ease. When I think of Joshua too, our family benefits from your grace across three generations.”
Hispanie suddenly furrowed his brow and spoke.
“You’re the best of them. At least you’ll sit with me and drink this.”
Hispanie’s brother Friedrich could not drink wine made from grapes in life. He had an allergy. Franz smiled bitterly.
“You have accomplished much. You protected and nurtured Periwinkle as you resolved when you left the Family Clan. Had your ship not appeared in Keltika Bay, Joshua would never have come this far. I understand your vigilance toward King Checel, as you once were toward the old King. But we cannot hide Periwinkle forever.”
Hispanie shook his head and gazed into the dark corners of the Study.
“Joshua went to Periwinkle. The people love that child. He will make a good Duke.”
“Thanks to you preparing the way for that child in advance, sir. One could say the current Duke of Periwinkle is you.”
“Don’t say such things. You have kept the Family Clan well, just as you promised your brother. Even during the Republic. As you say, by the time Joshua becomes Duke, the Family Clan won’t be able to hide its connection to Periwinkle. But the time is not yet. I prefer to remain hidden a while longer. We must build strength to stand against the King until that time comes. You and I will do our utmost. You in Keltika, I on the Sea. For Count Armorique Joshua—for that day when he awakens and becomes the second Demonic Duke in history.”
The two men clinked their glasses, bitter smiles playing at their lips. Hope lay very far away. Yet it did not seem as though it would never come.
3. Why One Must Become a Mage
We hate and love each other
Exhausted, we sat facing each other in the Grassland.
Words exchanged across decades of sunrises and sunsets—
if scattered into individual syllables, would number like the stars in the heavens,
yet not a single star was ever cradled within those words.
Only the distance between you and me rolls about, a fallen star.
The primordial fire has cooled, grown heavy and cold.
When the bones of dead stars melt and become a Mountain Range,
will new fire be born there?
When flower-fire burns and dances, warming the heart of the mountain,
will someone far away finally gaze upon us
and point, saying a new star has been born?
In early December, the snow that had fallen for four days ceased.
Nearly two spans of snow blanketed Jade Ring Castle, its Garden, and the Forest. With few visitors, the unbroken snow lay like a thick quilt across the Garden and the pathways.
In the early morning, at some moment, a man stood at the entrance.
One could not reach this place without passing through the main gate and along the long sycamore-lined path, yet there were no footprints anywhere. Had he just emerged from the Castle? Or had he stood in that spot so long that his arriving footprints had vanished?
Neither was true.
“How did you arrive, sir?”
asked the servant blocking the entrance, and the reply came thus:
“I walked.”
“No, I mean—what business brings you here?”
“Important business.”
“That is to say, whom have you come to meet?”
“You serve as a servant yet don’t know who your master is?”
The servant suppressed his irritation and spoke again.
“To meet the Duke, you must arrange an appointment in advance….”
“The Duke would need to make an appointment a month ahead just to meet me. Stop spouting nonsense and guide me inside at once.”
The Castle’s atmosphere had been subdued for months, and the servant, who had been trying to handle matters without conflict, finally reached the limit of his patience.
“Who exactly are you!”
The man in the black cloak with an attached hood struck his chest once with his hand and cried out.
“I am a visitor! To be precise, I am ‘the solitary visitor who came to this Castle you guard on the afternoon of December 5th when snow was falling at four o’clock.’ Surely that is explanation enough in considerable detail? I provide such courteous explanations only once a year. So if you have further questions, ask me again next year. There isn’t much of this year left, after all.”
Having finished speaking, the ‘visitor’ shoved the servant aside with one hand and strode inside with a swishing gait. The servant was startled. He had not expected the gaunt-looking man’s hand to actually move his larger frame—yet he was pushed back as easily as a flour pastry. Just as the servant staggered and came to his senses, about to cry out, “Wait, you can’t—!”
Hispanie appeared from the staircase on the left across the way.
“Sir, over there….”
The servant, about to seek help, could not finish his words. The moment Hispanie saw the ‘visitor’ entering the entrance, he fled.
He was not the only one to flee. As soon as the problematic ‘visitor’ ascended to the second floor, the first person he encountered was Maximian, walking the Corridor. The moment Maximian saw the visitor, he cried out:
“Ah!”
Leaving only that single exclamation, Maximian too bolted away. The servants following behind—now numbering three or four—were dumbfounded by the sight and whispered among themselves.
“What on earth is happening?”
“Could he be a loan shark?”
“Has the master incurred a debt?”
“That’s a bit odd, though….”
Riche emerged from Joshua’s chamber just as the visitor arrived, and she too let out a startled cry.
“Oh my!”
But Riche did not flee. The visitor placed a hand on his hip and narrowed his eyes.
“I watched your master and disciple run away one after another. If you’re going to commit a crime, you shouldn’t do it in the first place. So why aren’t you running?”
Riche lifted her chin proudly and wagged her finger.
“Because I haven’t committed any crime against you, sir.”
“Is that so?”
The visitor narrowed his eyes even further. Riche’s expression grew somewhat anxious. This man seemed capable of uncovering guilt anywhere—he could probably even pluck hairs from a serpent’s skin to make a scarf….
But this time, that wasn’t it.
“What happened to my beautiful ship!”
Riche quickly bolted up the nearest staircase and fled.
Jade Ring Castle was vast, but it proved insufficient to hide three fugitives. Shortly after, all three were brought before the visitor—none other than the self-proclaimed “Great Hermit Archmage” Alberic Juspian—in a modest parlor.
Once he removed his cloak, Juspian wore a white robe adorned with more embellishments than before, its silhouette refined enough that he could pass at a formal gathering. Had he perhaps taken unexpected care with his appearance for visiting the Duke’s House? Yet his gaunt, unimpressive frame and a face whose age remained ambiguous between his twenties and forties were unchanged from before.
“First, you with the violin.”
As Juspian’s hand pointed to Hispanie, the old man gazed out the window, feigning indifference.
“That matter—I already made a deal with that bespectacled, slovenly fellow last time, so let’s set that aside for now.”
Hispanie sent a questioning glance toward Maximian. Maximian found it too complicated to respond and simply ignored it.
“Next, the one who should be attending school.”
“Who said I wasn’t going?”
“Then why haven’t you gone yet!”
“Ah, I’ve been rather busy.”
“Go at once. Enroll next year.”
Juspian shrugged and turned his gaze to Riche.
“Next, you. My ship.”
Riche, burdened with the greatest problem—one with no apparent solution—protested.
“Why should I be responsible for your ship?”
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 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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