Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 517

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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 287.
Beneath the Almond Tree (30)
Langie nodded and looked up at Giscar.
“Giscar.”
“Speak.”
“Was it right that I protected Aizenelmo?”
Giscar took a moment before answering.
“Your decision may have ultimately led to what happened today, but I don’t want you to regret it. If something worse had befallen you, I too would have resented Anna. But if we regard the fact that you’ve returned alive as a blessing, then that emotion of yours—whether it was compassion or camaraderie—I want to praise it as your transformation for a distant future. This is sincere. I believe that your choice not to report Anna to the Investigation Division will one day bear more positive fruit.”
Langie smiled bitterly.
“In any case, it seems I must report to the Investigation Division this time.”
It was customary for organization members who were arrested and fortunately survived to undergo investigation to determine how much information had leaked. After Langie’s arrest, the Exile Council was well aware of the enormous amount of information that could come from the mouth of a chairman-level member, and they had steeled themselves accordingly. Yet the large-scale arrests they had anticipated did not occur. By now, they would certainly be waiting to thoroughly investigate the details of the interrogation and examination Langie had undergone, whom he had met, and what torture he had endured. Having survived, they would likely scrutinize whether there had been any deals or betrayals.
Giscar’s expression grew stern.
“That won’t happen. In your condition, where do you think you’re going? No, even if you recover completely, I have no intention of sending you. Once your body improves somewhat, you’ll go to Rosa Alb. Rest thoroughly until next spring. I’ll bring Lanzumi as well, so don’t worry.”
Langie’s eyes widened slightly as he spoke.
“That’s quite a plan.”
“You understand well. It would be best to forget about the Exile Council for a while. As I said, for at least several years I will be your guardian and meddle in everything like raising a child, deciding what you should do. I believed you would manage well on your own, but seeing you like this, how can I trust you? Prepare yourself to return as a docile student.”
Langie gazed at Giscar for a moment, then smiled broadly.
“So my graduation has been cancelled. I’m returning as Giscar’s student again?”
“For now, that’s how it is. Around next spring, if your recovery looks promising, I’ll find you a new school. Didn’t you fail to graduate from Grome? This time, don’t scheme about anything else and devote yourself to your studies to earn your diploma. The Kingdom 8th Army’s eyes will always follow you, so it will be optimal for focusing on your studies.”
Langie smiled slightly and turned his gaze toward the window. Giscar watched his haggard profile. He needed to grow more. He could not wither before he bloomed. Not yet. He was a precious seed that must be protected until the time came. The path to the Republic was bloodstained anyway.
“Giscar.”
Langie was looking at him.
“I don’t remember when it was. I lost consciousness so often. When I came to, moonlight was streaming in from somewhere. The cell I was in had no window.”
Giscar’s expression darkened. He had asked nothing, not wanting to be reminded of those days, but he had not expected Langie to speak first.
“I forced my body to turn to see the moonlight. For so long, I could see nothing but the red lamp in the interrogation room. Then someone was there. A man who looked middle-aged. He extended his hand to me. In that moment, my heart grew so weak that I nearly called out Giscar’s name.”
“….”
“I steadied myself and turned away, and when I looked again, there was nothing. No moonlight, no shadow.”
Jenas, having obtained Brian’s information, must have focused the interrogation on proving the connection between Langie and Giscar. How much suffering must he have endured for someone as resolute as Langie to see hallucinations?
“From that point on, I became afraid that I might confess without realizing it. I threw myself at them trying to choose death quickly, and to sever my hope of living, I tried to make everything I loved feel worthless. People, small joys, the world’s beauty, all good memories—I tried to turn them gray.”
The tone in which he spoke was sad in its flatness. Giscar started to say something but fell silent. Langie soon lowered his gaze.
“It wasn’t easy. If it had been my first time, I wouldn’t have managed it.”
Giscar found himself asking in return.
“Your first time?”
Langie’s gaze groped through empty space and stopped. But he was not looking at Giscar.
“Long ago… before I even met Giscar. Because it lasted much longer that time, I failed several times and tried again… and eventually I succeeded. Giscar lamented that I showed no interest in the world’s beauty, art, or happiness in daily life. I know that what Giscar taught was right. But I think I carved out my heart too severely back then.”
I could see Langie’s lips press into a thin line.
“I don’t know how to accept the fact that because of that experience, I was able to endure this torture and ultimately protect important information.”
A suffocating helplessness pressed down on my chest. Too many things happened in Langie’s childhood, and they continue to happen now. When will it end?
“I’m not sure if I can recover. Even if my body heals, I have no confidence that I can become the humanistic republican that Giscar taught me to be. My soul is ravaged by the wounds hatred left behind, by the self-inflicted scars I carved to endure them. Now that I’ve contemplated taking my own life once more and all those old wounds have vividly resurfaced, I’m even afraid to sleep. I don’t think I can bear those nightmares. Is this just temporary weakness? Will I overcome it soon? But I’m afraid I’ll end up feeling nothing, afraid I won’t be able to love anyone. Truly….”
“Langie.”
It had been a long time since Giscar called him by his name.
“Stop your thoughts. As if time itself has stopped.”
Langie looked into Giscar’s eyes. His face was defenseless, like a child who had suffered and awakened—a face Giscar had never seen before.
“When time stops, the world stops, and nothing more happens. The consequences of what you’ve done so far won’t come. There will be nothing more to do ahead. From now on, time won’t flow. You will rest for a very long time. Long enough and more than enough—if you wish, rest eternally before letting time flow again.”
Giscar extended his hand and gently stroked the empty space before Langie’s face. After a moment, Langie closed his eyes. There was no sound. The stars beyond the window made no movement. Only the fireplace flickered and burned.
“Humans live only for decades, but some trees live for centuries, mountains and forests for thousands of years, and stars and rocks and water for eternity. Which of these does the human soul resemble? No one knows. Some say that after death, humans can be reborn as trees or stars. I laughed when I heard that, but at the same time I thought it was poetic. Art, too, is among the things that live long.”
Giscar gazed out the window. The wind silently shook the stars and passed.
“Since I’ve stopped your time, you will live like mountains or stars. You will live very long. You will live until your childhood becomes a distant memory, so distant that even if you try to recall it, it won’t come to mind.”
Langie’s tightly closed lips slowly parted. Like torn and split lips, brief respite came to his tattered soul.
“Wait. It will come slowly. Don’t forget. Even if it’s difficult for you to love people, people love you. I’m so grateful that you trusted me enough to speak such words for the first time. If that too is a change, then you will improve. Slowly, without impatience. Like a child taking its first steps.”
Giscar rose and extinguished the candles one by one. He returned to the head of the bed. And he sat watching over Langie’s face. Beyond the small window, the constellations that had risen moved westward, and moved again, so that the celestial sphere showed all four seasons. The wounded child he guarded never woke from nightmares as he kept vigil through the night.
5. Nenyapl School Entrance Ceremony
Tangled thread is very difficult to unravel.
Even if it miraculously comes undone today,
It will tangle again starting tomorrow.
But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to untangle it.
The year 991 drew to a close.
The winter of the new year was unusually cold. Snow fell in the Southern Region in February, which delighted the children, but it was the worst winter for those gathering medicinal herbs in the Panojarae Mountains. As the supply of herbs dwindled, the Nenyaple professors, their main customers, grew frustrated with their stalled research. And the students of the school, directly affected by their professors’ moods, felt doubly worse. The students needed prey.
“Hey, you there with glasses!”
Maximian stopped scratching the back of his head, seized by an ominous premonition. Something told him that turning around would bring no good—that fatal sort of feeling. He tried to keep his gaze forward and move on, but the shout came again.
“Hey, glasses. Aren’t you stopping?”
The moment his premonition turned to certainty, an unfamiliar boy’s face thrust into his field of vision. Seeing the face of another bespectacled boy calling out “glasses,” Maximian tilted his head and replied.
“What?”
“What do you mean what, you’re a freshman, right? Go to the Lower Village and bring back four pies from Roglantang. Just four.”
Four Elsono coins were suddenly pressed into his hand. In Maximian’s estimation, there were three flaws in what the other boy said. If he were a freshman, he wouldn’t know where the Lower Village was, and if that were true, he certainly wouldn’t know who Roglantang was. Most importantly, he wasn’t even a freshman yet. The entrance ceremony hadn’t even started.
However, Maximian had a habit of automatically putting money into his pocket whenever it was placed in his hand.
“Bring it to the first room on the east side of the second floor of the South Tower. Got it? Don’t even think about eating any on the way. I’ve got a good look at your face. There are only about a hundred freshmen, so if I decide to find you, it’ll be quick as light.”
The nameless bespectacled senior pointed his fingers back and forth between himself and Maximian, then skipped away sideways. Having somehow acquired four coins through an utterly unpredictable and absurd turn of events, Maximian patted his pocket and muttered.
“Money has no integrity—once it enters a new pocket, it forgets its previous owner.”
Even Maximian, who possessed such a positive outlook that he could dodge even sudden misfortune, had a natural enemy. The moment he slipped out of the leisurely walking path in front of the dormitory and was about to enter Des Davin Hall, where freshmen and their companions were bustling about, someone in the crowd suddenly raised their hand and shouted.
“Oh, Maximian! It’s me, me! Over here!”
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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