Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 519

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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 289.
Beneath the Almond Tree (32)
Joshua may have been trying to observe proper courtesy, but to the other students who had been tormented by entrance exams and tuition fees, his words would have sounded remarkably carefree. Maximian sighed.
“But then, how are you planning to hide that Puppet? Is it going to enroll with you too? Of course, that’s impossible…”
“Right. That won’t work.”
No matter how quietly Joshua kept to himself at the Academy, he couldn’t hide the fact that he was Arnim Duke. There were many noble students at Nenyaple. It would be troublesome if rumors spread that the Young Duke had suddenly acquired a twin.
“I’ve arranged to keep him quietly in my chamber and obtained the Headmaster’s permission. Since it would be problematic if he were noticed by others, whenever one of us goes out, the other will stay in the room.”
“He actually gave you permission for that?”
“To be honest, I thought it would be a difficult request, but I was surprised how easily it was approved. It seems all sorts of magical experiments are conducted within Nenyaple that we simply don’t know about. Perhaps that’s why there was no strong objection. It seemed like he understood the situation since there were no other alternatives. Oh, and while talking with the Headmaster, I realized that Mages have quite a fondness for the concept of ‘Puppets,’ which helped too. When I checked the records at the Vineyard, it appears most Ganapolian Mages created Puppets. Of course, they weren’t replica Puppets like this one.”
“I’m not sure if it’ll be fine. I have no idea.”
Maximian sighed, and Joshua hesitated before speaking.
“Well, about that friend you call a Puppet… we can’t keep calling him that forever, so… I’ve decided on a name.”
“What?”
Maximian’s expression suggested he thought Joshua was spouting nonsense.
“Call him Cardi. I’ve decided to give him that name.”
“…”
Before Maximian could react, Tichiel suddenly threw open the door and shouted.
“We’re going to be late for the entrance ceremony!”
Maximian replied listlessly.
“Do we really have to go to the entrance ceremony? We can just take a leisurely look when it’s ending.”
But Tichiel stamped her feet impatiently.
“No way. I’m the freshman representative!”
“Why do we have to run too? You’re the representative, not us.”
“Still, I can’t just ask you to let me go alone…”
The corridor had already emptied. Maximian carried the hand bag while Joshua held the hat, and the three of them rushed through the corridor in an instant. Tichiel then bounded down the stairs three at a time, stumbling twice, but the two boys caught her alternately and saved her from falling. Next came the empty courtyard. Whether it was because both of them were running alongside her or the power of responsibility, Tichiel crossed the courtyard quite quickly.
Standing at the entrance to the Garden where the entrance ceremony was taking place, Tichiel caught her breath, bent her waist in a curve, and began walking along the edge of the Garden. From the platform, an announcement was just being made again.
“We will now have the entrance oath from our freshman representative, Miss Tichiel Juspian!”
Tichiel, who had barely reached the platform, glanced at her aunt, Professor Leomentiis, and then stumbled right before the steps. She rose with tears in her eyes. Though she finally stood at the freshman representative’s position, her face was flushed from running so fast, her bangs clung messily to her forehead, her skirt hem was torn and tattered, and her knees were scraped and trembling—she looked less like she was about to recite an entrance oath and more like she was about to make a bomb declaration. The freshmen and upperclassmen, as well as the Academy’s professors and staff, who had been eagerly anticipating the freshman representative’s careful entrance, witnessed a tearful entrance oath unprecedented in the Academy’s history.
“Isn’t crying usually something people do at graduation?”
“Is it? I’ve never graduated. This is my third entrance.”
“That’s quite a refined hobby you have there.”
The two boys, holding Tichiel’s bag and hat between them, gave up on entering the ceremony hall and positioned themselves to watch from outside the Garden fence. About a hundred chairs arranged in the Garden were for the freshmen, and behind them were seats for the upperclassmen. Among them, the second-year students were supposed to take an oath to help the freshmen well.
Of course, they would certainly have no leisure to care for freshmen. Becoming a second-year student meant having just passed, or having passed last year, or having passed several years ago, a terrifying advancement exam, and it was also a time to realize that a long ordeal still awaited before becoming a third-year. Some of them were in crisis—if they failed advancement one more time, they would be expelled and have to enroll anew. That meant another entrance exam, enormous tuition fees, and the tedious effort of retaking first-year courses from the beginning.
The freshmen, who felt none of this terror, endured the boring entrance ceremony joyfully with the happiness of having passed the entrance exam. However, for the carefree special-admission student who hadn’t even wanted to enroll and had no memory of taking the test, there was not a shred of emotion. Maximian, already bored while waiting outside and glancing around, noticed something and asked with a sidelong glance.
“By the way, why did Tichiel become the representative?”
“She was the top-ranked entrance. It’s only natural.”
“It’s natural that Tichiel was top-ranked, but… what about you?”
When Maximian looked at him, Joshua laughed awkwardly and dodged the question.
“Well, how should I put it… being an honor student was enough when I was at Mona Sid, and I’m tired of standing out…”
“Stop spouting that privileged nonsense. You deliberately bombed it, didn’t you?”
“Then you’ll fail the exam.”
Joshua spoke with a stern expression, and Maximian glared at him with a look of contempt. Joshua laughed and averted his gaze. Maximian rolled his eyes, then irritably pointed above his head and muttered.
“But why has that bird been circling around up there this whole time? It reminds me of that one from Sunset Island that used to fly around mocking us. I’m in a foul mood.”
Joshua also shaded his eyes with his hand and looked up.
“That bird is incredibly large. I’ve never seen one like it before.”
The entrance ceremony had ended. The returning students began rising and filing out in a rush. Standing at the entrance, Joshua found himself swept past by countless students. A few familiar faces passed by, but with so many people and the chaos of the moment, no one stopped to greet him. Maximian spoke.
“If we stay here, there will probably be plenty of people bothering you and chasing after you.”
“I’m already experiencing that.”
“Right, you’ve been here a while, haven’t you? If we stay much longer, it’ll become absolutely unbearable.”
Joshua watched the students without answering, then suddenly spoke.
“By the way, you should tell me something. About your trip to Hyacan.”
“Later, when we’re somewhere private. It’s a serious matter.”
As they exchanged these words, most of the returning students had filtered out, and the new students began passing through. Joshua, who had been casually observing their faces, suddenly changed expression.
“Huh…?”
The narrow entrance experienced a brief congestion. As the students ahead departed one by one, a young boy who had stepped back to wait approached again. The closer he came, the more certain it became. In the moment he passed before Joshua’s eyes, an indescribable emotion seized him—so much so that he didn’t even notice Maximian poking him from beside.
“Hey, what’s wrong with you?”
It was a boy of similar age. Tall and slender, with what looked like a sword bundled on his back. Long, dark blue hair spilled out from beneath the cape of his school uniform coat. He didn’t appear to be a mage or anything of that sort. By any measure, he was a boy with the bearing of a Warrior.
“What are you staring at!”
Only after Maximian struck the back of his head did Joshua come to his senses, muttering as if waking from a dream.
“It’s gone quiet.”
“Gone quiet?”
All around them, students chattered noisily. Yet Joshua, with his eyes wide open, kept his gaze fixed on the receding figure of the boy as he spoke.
“The ghost has disappeared, so it’s become this quiet.”
Cardi stood pressed against the window, looking down below. He watched students flowing past like a tide. He saw branches swollen as if ready to bud in the suddenly warm weather of entrance ceremony day, and rivulets formed by melting snow. Chattering voices mingled with bird calls and scattered skyward. His eyes found the people he sought, followed them, and soon lost them. They would speak of the coming spring in a place he could not follow. Leaving him behind in winter. In this winter that would never end.
Cardi turned his head and looked down at the table. There lay a chessboard with a broken corner. It was something Duchess Elza had deliberately given him. He understood what had moved her to do so.
Yet now that object brought him no joy. Rather, it was himself. He wanted to ask: would he be alright like that chessboard? Could he survive with a broken corner?
Even if he could, the only place for him to live was this tiny chamber. This was his world. Other worlds belonged to another him. That she had shared even this much with him might have been kindness. In some way, it might have been a trace of her effort to share, to try to make it work.
He whispered: I hate it.
I hate sharing.
6. Acorn Villa
Even if you travel the world and see many things,
do not give them new names.
A temple is a temple and a palace is a palace,
and a manger is a manger.
“Eleanor Teniton. That was her name.”
Joshua gazed intently at the box Maximian had placed on the table. The two of them had come to the Reading Room of the Vineyard, which had practically become their private space.
“She fell ill and died. Some say she was possessed by a ghost. How much you believe is up to you, but it didn’t seem like those people hated the child. Unless they’re better actors than you are.”
Maximian rummaged through the box and pulled out a drawing. It wasn’t a properly colored piece, but a simple sketch someone had made with charcoal or the like. It was old enough that many of the lines had smudged. A small child of about three sat blankly on the stone step before the gate, chin resting on hand. Joshua’s gaze lingered long on the drawing.
“A neighboring student drew it, so I can’t say how close it is to the truth, but see if there’s any resemblance at all.”
Joshua nodded.
“It’s similar.”
“If you say so, then it must be.”
Joshua tore his gaze from the portrait and glanced briefly toward the ceiling.
“Is it really true that I was possessed by a ghost?”
“You kept seeing strange things and getting frightened, then you’d have fits. Most people would call it a seizure, but given what happened, it makes sense they’d say that.”
“The first time I saw a ghost was after my sister died.”
“Yes. That was quite late. Didn’t Kelce mention something about a painting being responsible?”
Joshua nodded.
“Right. I asked Father about it last time, and he said Grandfather ordered that painting to be hung. When I was one year old and they heard I might be Demonic, Grandfather said something about it, so Father deliberately searched the Warehouse and hung it up.”
Maximian pushed the portrait aside and lifted one corner of his mouth.
“Man, really. That old man did a lot of research trying to save you. He must have been terribly lonely.”
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 the contents of this book, you must obtain written consent from both parties.

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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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