Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 544

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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 314.
Beneath the Almond Tree (57)
A moment later, a smile appeared on Anarose’s face—surprising both Joshua and Maximian, who exchanged bewildered glances.
“I’ve never sewn a garment before.”
Anarose lifted both hands and swept her hair back, sending a cascade of leaf debris scattering. When Riche noticed how her sleeves and skirt hem had become tattered and worn, she spoke without thinking.
“Would you like me to mend them for you?”
Now it was Joshua’s turn to look flustered, his eyes darting toward Riche. When Anarose nodded in agreement, his bewilderment only deepened.
“Yes, please.”
Riche withdrew a small sewing kit from the front pocket of her skirt. She settled beside Anarose on the left, selected thread, and threaded the needle. Taking Anarose’s left hand first, she pulled the sleeve end taut to catch the seam allowance. As the needle began its rhythmic dance, Anarose watched in silence before speaking.
“You’re quite skilled.”
“Thank you.”
Joshua and Maximian exchanged helpless glances, words failing them. Riche had fallen into the rhythm of her work as naturally as breathing. Even Anarose, who rested her hand in complete ease, seemed to inhabit a world the two men could scarcely comprehend.
Soon, Anarose turned her gaze toward Joshua.
“Then we must honor the next promise.”
“You asked me to die.”
Maximian’s expression shifted to confusion.
“Wait—now that you’ve destroyed the fragment, isn’t it finished? Why are we talking about dying again?”
Joshua turned back to Maximian and shook his head.
“The promise was that I would come after destroying the fragment and then die.”
“No, that’s… it doesn’t necessarily mean…”
Looking back, that day’s conversation had been laden with implications, leaving much unclear. Maximian searched his memory but found himself confused about where exactly to mount a counterargument. Anarose had asked him to die, Joshua had refused, claiming he couldn’t die as Icabon’s descendant, whereupon she’d said he couldn’t escape Icabon’s name so long as he sought to become the fulfiller of the contract, then Joshua had defended the People of Promise by citing Kelsniti’s case, yet she’d acknowledged she understood how her pride wouldn’t permit her to forgive them, and…
“Damn it, whatever happened, one thing’s certain—I have rights over this man’s life too! I saved him. I made it clear I didn’t consent.”
Anarose nodded at this.
“I acknowledge your rights.”
“Then we’re done, aren’t we? I can’t let Joshua die.”
But Joshua spoke.
“I understand Anarose’s demand.”
“What are you—”
Riche’s hands stilled in her sewing. Joshua shook his head, smiling.
“I am Icabon’s descendant, and I have inherited both his merits and his transgressions. The Demonic blood flowing through me, the Duke’s station, the People of Promise still bound to me through his oath, and my resolve to become the fulfiller of their promise—I acknowledge all of it. I cannot enjoy the merits while discarding the transgressions. Therefore, Anarose’s demand, which I cannot forgive on behalf of Icabon and the People of Promise, falls entirely to me. Whatever that demand may be.”
Anarose nodded and spoke.
“I want your death. Can you grant it?”
Her voice was so composed that Riche wondered for a moment if she didn’t truly mean it. But Joshua spoke in that same measured tone at times, uttering words that defied reason. And when he did, those words were never jokes.
Everyone held their breath as they waited for Joshua’s answer.
“Yes. I am already dead.”
It was an answer difficult to comprehend at first. Anarose tilted her head slightly.
“You mean you died and came back to life to stand here?”
“Yes. I was dead for half a year. After that, I came back to life.”
“The dead cannot be revived, even by magic.”
Joshua reached out and placed his hand over his chest.
“While I was dead, someone moved my body in my stead. That’s how I could return after half a year had passed. In this body.”
As my fingertips parted the collar of my garment, a vertical scar remained sharply visible. Anarose gazed at it for a moment, then slowly nodded.
“You truly were dead and brought back to life.”
“Aren’t you curious who resurrected me?”
A sorrowful smile played at my lips. Anarose’s green eyes lingered somewhere near my face.
“Tell me.”
“The People of Promise… and Kelce.”
Anarose’s pupils drifted upward into empty space, trembling. For a long while she groped through the forest in silence, through the darkness. At last, when Anarose opened her mouth, her voice shook violently.
“Kelce… is there….”
I closed my eyes.
“You understand. Yes. Kelce now sleeps within my body.”
“Kelce sacrificed himself to save you….”
Moments later, tears welled in Anarose’s eyes. They flowed down her pallid, statue-like face and scattered across dead leaves and stems. They fell upon Riche’s hand holding the needle. Tears also welled in my closed eyes and streamed down. Maximian’s eyes narrowed before he bit his lip and turned away. From Anarose’s lips came a sound like wind, a ragged breath.
“Why… do you always give everything away?”
I released Anarose’s hand and rose. I placed one hand upon my own chest.
“This body is a gift from them. Kelce lost himself to save a life I had long regarded lightly—a life I once thought of as a ribbon that might snap at any moment. The People of Promise also lost much of the power that allows them to exist as spirits. Now most of them cannot even speak to me. Now they cannot demand the fulfillment of their promise from me.”
I knelt before Anarose on one knee.
“I understand your heart’s inability to forgive Icabon von Arnim and the People of Promise. But they saved my body. Therefore, it is no longer mine alone. My becoming the fulfiller of the contract is no longer my choice alone. If I do not inherit the will of those who sought to save me, then I am no descendant of Icabon von Arnim, and thus have no need to heed your demands. So please, forgive them. I will no longer yield this body to anyone’s blade, and I will never again regard death lightly. If I can, I will live forever.”
Anarose’s eyes met mine. I then bowed my head in obeisance.
“”
Anarose’s gaze withdrew from me. Only her lips trembled faintly. With my head bowed, I whispered.
“That is why I ask you. Please summon the Wish Mirror with your power. Before they fade away on their own, before Kelce becomes buried in my consciousness and loses himself forever, I wish to let them set foot upon the Homeland they so desired.”
An eternity of silence flowed between us. Only an answer that could be exchanged for centuries of rage could break this silence.
“You ask me to forgive them.”
Anarose rose to her feet. Traces of the forest scattered from her skirts. Vines snapped of their own accord and withered. Wherever her steps fell, indescribable change occurred. The forest followed and parted from her movements like light, or like shadow.
“Your words are right. Their will was to save you, and if you do not inherit such a will, then you have no need to heed my demands. Merit and fault follow one another—one cannot choose to keep only one. But does that become reason enough for even me to forgive them?”
I shook my head.
“No.”
“That’s right. No. I know it too.”
Then Riche rose.
“Um, excuse me, but may I say something?”
Anarose’s gaze upon Riche was not cold. She nodded.
“Speak.”
Riche gathered her thoughts carefully, trying to speak well, but it was not easy to begin.
“I also… I know something happened between the People of Promise and you. When I first heard that story, I thought you… were so unfortunate. So, I’m just an ordinary girl, but even I… it seemed like something I couldn’t forgive.”
Anarose simply listened in silence. Riche, tense, kept fidgeting with her hands. She still held the needle she had drawn from Anarose’s sleeve.
“But now, hearing this story, I think something else too. Please don’t be angry. It’s just imagination. What if we went back to before these centuries passed, to the time when you left Icabon von Arnim?”
Anarose slowly nodded.
“Went back?”
“If you had learned after you left that the People of Promise died for Icabon von Arnim… what would you have done?”
A look of confusion crossed Anarose’s face, then gradually shifted into contemplation.
“Are you saying that if things had been different, I would have returned to Icabon, and I would have forgiven the Promise People even in death?”
Riche nodded and attempted a smile.
“Yes. I… I believe you hated them not because they tried to take Icabon from you, but for that reason alone. Yet if those very people died for your Icabon… then the original cause of your anger would disappear, wouldn’t it? Because Icabon’s existence brings you joy, doesn’t it? Couldn’t it be seen as them having aided the love between two people? Even if you had left Icabon, you wouldn’t have wished for his death, would you?”
Anarose gazed at Riche without answering. Riche hesitated before continuing.
“My thoughts may differ from yours. I lack the experience and maturity to truly understand such matters.”
Anarose’s eyes remained closed. Centuries of silence. Love and resentment buried unspoken. She had resented love while loving it. She had confined herself. She had not cursed him. Here, in this place, Anarose had sought to protect the world in which Icabon lived.
“You spoke your truth as best you could.”
Anarose opened her eyes and slowly turned back. She stopped before Joshua von Arnim, who stood beside Riche.
“Joshua von Arnim. If I see Icabon’s faults in you, then I must see with equal clarity the love I held for Icabon. That is the only way to be fair.”
Joshua could not answer. Light awakened in Anarose’s eyes—a pulsing green he had seen only once before.
“As the Shop Girl said, while Icabon came searching for me, they all died defending the Castle. They cast their lives away for Icabon.”
Anarose gazed into Joshua’s eyes, and he gazed back into hers. In those dark eyes, he searched. For the trace of a single person. For the moment that person had looked upon him. For the brilliant light he must have held.
“And once more, Kelce… and the Promise People sacrificed themselves, and so you, who carries Icabon’s name, were born to live.”
Anarose reached out and drew Joshua close, then embraced him. Warmth flowed through her once-cold body. Her heart was beating. Tears streamed down her face.
“I must rejoice in that truth. As if Icabon had lived. So I must forgive them—those already dead and those who would die again…”
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 content, 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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