Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 559

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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 11.
The Princess and the Detective (11)
Wind rushed toward me. My short hair and cloak fluttered like a triangular sail caught in a tempest. As I stood at an angle with one hand on my hip, looking down at Nay, she spoke.
“Your speech was impressive, Your Highness, but you don’t have the strength to kill us. Bloodied is a power that manipulates Psyche.”
“Is that so? But I have this blade. Its effects are precisely identical.”
I spoke without even touching the sword, yet my words carried no hint of jest. The Orleans Grand Duchy Family maintained a warrior’s tradition, and though rare, summary executions had occurred. With sufficient justification, such acts posed no problem, and reasons as simple as “disrespect” sufficed.
At that point, Nay showed signs of flinching. Yet she raised her eyebrows once more and smiled before speaking.
“Aren’t you curious about what your Older Brother left for you to hear?”
“I do not converse with those who show me no respect. Do not test me. I may soon remove your head.”
“…”
Lorang, listening from the side, felt some admiration for the fifteen-year-old princess. The moment Nay mentioned knowing Bernard, I would have wanted to extract every detail. With my Older Brother missing and no leads, even the smallest information would be irresistible. Yet clinging to curiosity meant being led by the other party, and worse, losing the opportunity to verify them.
If I didn’t know who they were, I couldn’t determine whether their words were truth or lies. I had to verify whether they were trustworthy first, then hear what I wished to hear. Otherwise, I would be swayed by what I wanted to believe and make the mistake of trusting someone I shouldn’t. For a fifteen-year-old, restraining desperation and practicing such wisdom was no simple truth.
I was shorter than Nay, but the ground where I stood was elevated, so our eyes were at nearly the same level. When I asked nothing further, Nay’s demeanor shifted. She stepped back, lowered her gaze, then nodded slightly and spoke.
“Since you’ve noticed, I should apologize. It’s true I tested you. I once served your Older Brother, Bernard. I endured in this freezing land for him alone. But he disappeared, and I wondered if you were worthy.”
“Worthy?”
“Worthy of my loyalty.”
I regarded Nay for a moment. I thought the word “loyalty” seemed ill-suited to a fifteen-year-old. It carried a different nuance than mere courtesy granted by birth. To receive someone’s loyalty, shouldn’t one have acted accordingly? Moreover, this person was not even a subject of Orlanne.
I extended my unbandaged left hand and asked.
“What do you see?”
Nay held a subtle smile before speaking.
“Burning death.”
“Is that so? Do I seem like I would burn this entire meadow?”
Nay extended her right hand and swept it through the air above my palm as if grasping something, then slowly drew her hand upward as if pulling something free. Then something remarkable occurred.
A soft crackling sound.
My eyes widened. Nay’s eyes narrowed. Between our hands, a faint flame—a mixture of white and orange—rose slowly. Like a delicate plant, like a stamen, it became more distinct. The moment it took the form of a small humanoid figure with many limbs, I gasped in surprise. The flame’s shape immediately scattered, bursting like pollen and scattering in all directions.
Rather than withdrawing my hand, I tensed my fingertips and asked.
“What is this?”
“Entities possessing the energy to burn this entire meadow and us along with it—yet beings you cannot yet control.”
I stared at my palm for a moment. There was no trace left there. Not even a speck of ash.
“Did you cast magic?”
Nay laughed softly and replied.
“Magic, you say? In Recordable, there are no mages as these people imagine. We don’t believe magic can be learned at school. In any case, I can only annoy them slightly. They follow you, and I merely tickled them to reveal their forms. Only your power can command and annihilate them.”
“Why do I possess such power?”
Nay opened both her hands and gave a bitter smile.
“If I knew even that, how fortunate it would be?”
“Who are they?”
“The people here call them Psyche. The fragments left over from creating this world, or the source itself. Our siblings, or our ancestors, or our future. They exist everywhere in this world but are normally invisible, taking on all forms of energy. They appear as fire, as stone, as you witnessed yesterday. To us, they seem to follow no rules, yet they appear to have their own. Most importantly, they seem to see what lies ahead. That’s why they’re agitated. But the great problem is that we cannot understand their language.”
By the time I finished speaking, the Island Elders had reached us. Then, as before, they began to prostrate themselves one by one. The sight of roughly twenty people in grand clothing arranged in two long lines and bowing was, in a sense, magnificent, but I did not see it that way. I spoke immediately.
“Bowing without reason is sufficient once. If you have something to say, I would prefer you stand and speak it.”
I did not ask Nay to interpret, yet she spoke to the Island Elders as if it were natural. However, they still did not rise, and only the Red-Robed Elder Woman at the front lifted her upper body and spoke.
Nay nodded and turned to Charlotte with far greater deference than before.
“We bow because we are afraid. You do not know your own power, nor do we. Yet they whisper that the time has come, that your strength is needed—and so we have no choice but to inform you.”
Charlotte asked.
“By ‘they,’ do you mean the Psyche? You said you couldn’t communicate with them.”
“We cannot converse with them, but we can sense when they are anxious or when they desire something. According to what these people believe, the Psyche perceive approaching danger far sooner than anyone else—like rats that flee before a house collapses. But whether this danger threatens only the Psyche or extends to humans as well, we have yet to determine.”
“How do these people know such things?”
“The islanders have long tended to the invisible Psyche. They regard themselves as priests who serve them. When the Psyche grow restless and cause disturbances, it falls to these people to soothe and calm them—for if left unchecked, such turmoil can lead to earthquakes or storms. How long they have served, I cannot say. Centuries? Millennia? I am not native to this place. The Grand Duke confined me here for years, and I simply came to understand their language in time. I am merely a foreigner who stumbled into their ways.”
“I understand. Then let me share my thoughts.”
I had only just heard that I possessed an ability I had never dreamed of. Yet Charlotte felt no particular astonishment, nor any confusion. Rather than pressing for fuller explanations, I cut through their words and spoke plainly.
“There is something amiss in your account. I understand that invisible beings called the Psyche exist, and that I possess the power to summon or destroy them. I confess it troubles me that such an ability should suddenly manifest when none existed before, but I grasp the essence of what you say. Yet you claimed that yesterday, you deliberately placed me and some of Etoile in danger to awaken my power. As a result, I killed these so-called Psyche. So what did the Psyche truly want? To die by my hand? Are you telling me that I myself am the danger they feared?”
Then the Red-Robed Elder Woman lifted her head. She crawled forward on her knees and placed a box at Charlotte’s feet. The box, crafted from dark wood, was an ornate thing with reinforced corners and hinges, each embellished with intricate patterns. The old woman drew a key from her own pocket and unlocked it. She spoke a few words, and Nay translated.
“She says this box contains something that will answer your questions.”

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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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