Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 540

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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 310.
Beneath the Almond Tree (53)
Joshua’s interview came last. He had the most to say, though the order was also his own choice. He wanted to let his friends rest first, exhausted as they must have been on his account.
It was late at night. The professors had already heard the general account from the other three, so they did not press Joshua with many questions. They only inquired in greater detail about Anistan as Joshua had witnessed him in life, and about the sculpture. Then they conducted the physical examination Tichiel had mentioned.
Anistan’s corpse had been collected by The Masters themselves while they were trapped in the Reception Room. Since he was from Nenyaple and his body had been contaminated by a weapon of evil, it could not be simply buried. The corpse would be taken to The Masters’ laboratory.
Upon hearing this, Joshua looked around at the professors and spoke.
“I have a request.”
“Do you have more to say? There are far too many problems surrounding you.”
Joshua lowered his head, then raised it as he spoke.
“I understand that Anistan Bölf has no surviving relatives. He created my Doppelgänger and attempted to harm me, so it would not be unreasonable to say that I have rights over his corpse. However, because you created a barrier for Cardi, I thought I could transfer those rights to The Masters. Yet I ask one thing of you.”
“What is it?”
“When your research is complete, please ensure he receives a proper burial.”
Professor Leomentiis exchanged glances with the other professors, then nodded.
“It seems you do not regard him as an enemy. Is it because he is already dead?”
“It is true that he tried to kill me.”
A faint smile crossed Joshua’s face, along with resolve.
“But in his final moment, Cardi called him ‘Father.’ I think I understand why. So when Cardi awakens someday, I believe he should be able to see his father’s tomb.”
When Joshua left the Lewis Tintagel Building, it was already eleven o’clock. He crossed the empty campus alone and made his way to the Dormitory. Since his friends had already passed through, he merely showed his face lightly to the caretaker, who did not press for details, and climbed to the third floor. When he opened the door, the chamber was silent.
Joshua stood in the doorway for a moment, aware of the absence. He thought that even when he had been here, it was always quiet. Because he had remained silent as a shadow.
As Joshua closed the door and stepped inside, he stopped upon seeing something fallen on the floor. He picked up what appeared pale in the moonlight and found it was clothing.
Joshua took up a candlestick and went outside to transfer flame from a lamp lit in the Corridor, then returned. He set the candlestick on the table and was about to examine the clothing when he suddenly looked around. Only then did he realize—it was not just the clothing. Objects lay scattered throughout the chamber.
“….”
Cardi must have been alone here last night. He must have spent a long night with nowhere to turn for help. Hearing Anistan’s call, already knowing that Anistan had taken Joshua away, already understanding why. Cardi had ultimately refused to do as Anistan wished. Yet last night must have been agonizing. Shaking his head at the Puppet Master’s whispered proposals, yet having no way to return the cries to stop him, while simultaneously harboring a thread-thin desire in his heart, yet ultimately refusing.
The clothing Joshua had picked up was what Riche had made for him in Kalayso. The dazzling white jacket that had been the wedding attire of the Young Count at the Wedding of Il de Morbiane. Yet it bore the marks of the battle that had taken place at the Harbor—torn and scraped in places, with stains remaining. It was Joshua himself who had deliberately packed such a thing among his belongings to bring to Nenyaple.
But Cardi could not have known. What memories were held in this garment. With what heart Joshua had brought it. Not knowing, yet somehow selecting it anyway. From among all the clothing. Never once having shown it to him. Why? As though he had not seen, yet simultaneously had seen—those moments, when Joshua had fallen in love with so many things.
Were they truly the same in part, even when apart? Did they dream the same dream?
Joshua’s gaze traced slowly across the fabric. And he saw a stain beneath the rose-shaped cutwork at the sleeve’s edge that had not been there before. He turned the sleeve over. It was blood.
His breath caught, then released with a sigh.
“Ah….”
He felt strange, as though he had become a descendant remembering the past of an ancestor who had departed. It seemed as though it was not he who had performed in this clothing and left it behind, but Cardi. Perhaps that was truly the case. For on that day, he had been Max Cardi rather than Joshua von Arnim.
He had abandoned that day’s passion and brilliance and acclaim at their most radiant moment. Without even a finale. There was no finale this time either. Had Max Cardi truly been satisfied? No. It could not be. No one could be. And yet he had simply shed all that suffering like a garment and departed.
At the same time, he thought how remarkably himself Cardi had been. He had truly not, like Joshua, desperately scrambled to reclaim his stolen place. Like a performance that had ended. Because it had ended, he had tried not to look back.
But was it not unjust? That such beauty need never be repeated?
Soon Joshua rose and entered the chamber where Cardi had slept. On the bed lay the indoor clothes Cardi always wore, scattered and disheveled. Looking down at them, Joshua spoke softly.
“I want to be alive when you return. Even if I must wait forever, I want to see what you create.”
Then, with eyes glistening with tears, he suddenly laughed.
“Though I do not know if that is what you would want.”
13. Once More Upon That Ship
It was your promise then
But now it is mine.
It was your oath once,
but now it is mine.
I ate the fruit you gave me,
drank its juice, and grew,
so I am your child.
I am the one who dreams your dreams.
The next day, a messenger from Hispania arrived.
Late in the morning, Joshua woke and ignored his classes, reading the note that Maximian had slipped beneath his door. He muttered in admiration of a different sort.
“Makgun waking up this early?”
He then went to search for him at Acorn Villa, but Maximian wasn’t there either. After checking the campus, he headed to the Dining Hall as lunch hour approached, and there he found Maximian sitting with a half-empty bowl before him, lost in thought.
As Joshua approached, Maximian didn’t even look up and blurted out abruptly.
“How can you sleep like that?”
“Hearing that from you of all people—it’s genuinely absurd, isn’t it?”
Maximian’s face showed signs of sleep deprivation, but he didn’t complain as he usually did. When a tray of food was placed before Joshua, he simply asked.
“You saw the note?”
“Yeah. Let’s leave after class.”
“We should depart immediately.”
“I need to inform the Professor first and come back.”
Maximian withdrew his gaze from the window and looked at Joshua. Joshua lowered his eyes and spoke.
“You didn’t eat much either.”
“My dreams were unsettling. You eat plenty. Live long and well. Could you grab about ten chocolate donuts?”
Joshua shook his head and chuckled, then began eating—quite balanced, more so than usual. Maximian rested his chin on his hand, and when he spotted Boris appearing in the distance near the entrance, he waved him over. As Boris approached, Maximian spoke.
“Hey, you’re free this afternoon, right? Come with us. I’ll show you something interesting.”
Boris brought his own tray, set it down, and sat before them, his face as composed as always.
“I hope this time it’s something ordinary.”
Maximian glanced at Joshua and snickered with amusement.
“Ordinary? Where’s the fun in that? It’s practical wisdom, and there’s nothing ordinary about anything involving this bastard.”
Joshua quickly waved his hand and spoke.
“This time it’s not dangerous. Don’t worry.”
Boris looked at Joshua briefly while holding an apple. His expression was unremarkable, but Joshua chuckled a moment later and spoke.
“I know what you’re thinking, but honestly, your life doesn’t seem ordinary either. Your sword, I mean. An opponent tainted by malicious artifacts can’t even be scratched by normal blades, let alone cut.”
Boris didn’t particularly deny it and spoke.
“That’s why I try not to get involved in other complicated matters as much as possible.”
“But you already knew what malicious artifacts were. More than that, you knew exactly how to sever the part of the body that contained the malicious artifact.”
“I didn’t know. I just thought about it logically.”
Joshua made a sound like “Ah, is that so?” while spreading one hand and shrugging his shoulders.
“Then what about that sheet music?”
Boris suddenly stopped eating. Then he slowly chewed again and spoke.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The one that was in my room—you fixed it, didn’t you?”
Maximian looked back and forth between them in confusion. Then, furrowing his brow, he asked.
“Are you talking about the Chant?”
At that moment, Boris rose from his seat. He had already finished his meal.
“I don’t know what that is. I’ll be going then.”
After Boris left, almost as if fleeing, Maximian asked.
“What’s going on? You’re saying Boris knew about the Chant? And he fixed it?”
Joshua picked up a single olive between his fingertips and rolled it while gazing in the direction Boris had gone. Then he shrugged his shoulders again.
“I was half guessing, but seeing his reaction, it seems I was right. Though he doesn’t want to talk about it. If I count by musical notes, there were exactly seven of them, and the moment I saw how perfectly appropriate they were, I understood.”
Maximian examined the score alongside Joshua, and having even played music before, he understood the value of those seven perfectly placed notes. When a few measures of empty space were filled in, the main theme became clear, and the options for the following section were drastically reduced.
“You told me before that just because something sounds good to your ear doesn’t mean the Chant is valid. So how did you know whether it was appropriate or not?”
“The Chant is fundamentally music, after all. So the main theme isn’t completely without rules either. It’s just vastly different from the habitual balance that existing compositions have. I’ve done my own research over time, haven’t I? Honestly, if I’d had just a few completed scores, I wouldn’t have been so lost.”
This was probably the score Joshua had revised most repeatedly in his entire life. To the point where his pride had been somewhat wounded.
“But you’re saying that seeing what Boris fixed helped you understand?”
“Yes. There was a definite… well, not so much definite as subtle rule underlying it. If I hadn’t struggled so hard up until now, I wouldn’t have recognized it immediately. But now that I know, I won’t flounder around like before.”
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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