Children of the Rune – Winterer - Chapter 560

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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 12.
The Noble Daughter and the Detective (12)
As Charlotte moved forward, Lorang extended his arm to block her path and spoke.
“Wait. I should open it instead.”
After what had happened yesterday, Lorang had also concluded that he couldn’t completely trust what these people said. Charlotte nodded in agreement. When Lorang grasped the box’s lid, the Old Woman Spirit shot him a displeased look, but upon seeing Charlotte nod, she said nothing further.
The lid clicked open.
Lorang lifted the lid and quickly stepped back, but nothing particularly dangerous emerged from the box. Rather, it contained something entirely unexpected. The box was filled with ripe, crimson apples.
“This is….”
Charlotte looked between Nay and the Old Woman Spirit with questioning eyes. Lorang’s expression had grown equally incredulous. Merely apples—and stored in such a locked box at that? Moreover, they looked freshly picked. Had they been harvested this very morning, only to be deliberately locked away like this?
“Why would you keep apples in a place like this?”
As Lorang muttered, Nay chuckled and replied.
“Well, it’s not as though they’re meant for tonight’s table, is it?”
“Then? If you keep them in there, you can eat them even two years from now?”
“You have more deductive ability than you appear. Then try a bit harder. When were those apples picked? The hint is their quantity.”
Though the phrase “more than you appear” would have irritated him, Lorang refrained from bristling. Instead, he slowly ran his hand through his hair before speaking.
“I have no interest in riddles. When the noble lady asks a question, answer clearly. Does the Grand Duke tolerate you behaving this way?”
“Yes, he had a better sense of humor than you. That’s why I liked him.”
Nay turned back to Charlotte and offered a mechanical smile.
“But I suppose I must adapt to new circumstances. Those apples grow only from a single tree in a secret place. The Grand Duke ordered that each year, whenever the apples ripened, one should be picked and placed there. He prepared them so that when a day like this arrived, they could be presented to you, my lady. This has been ongoing since you were approximately three years old.”
That meant roughly twelve years’ worth of apples had been preserved without spoiling. Of course, one could reapply preservation magic each time to artificially maintain them, but why would anyone go to such lengths?
“If there’s reason to preserve them that carefully, they can’t be ordinary apples.”
“Of course not. Those apples contain many secrets, but you cannot obtain them all at once. You must take them slowly, trading time for their revelation. The Grand Duke did the same. When you return to the Palace, place one apple by your pillow each night before sleep. Then the secrets will appear in your dreams. The Grand Duke knew of the latent power within you, but because you were still young, he wished to safeguard this perilous secret until you were ready. Yet it is truly difficult for all things to proceed as planned.”
Charlotte stared at the apples for a moment before asking abruptly.
“Among those secrets… is there one about where my Older Brother went?”
Nay laughed. It was a bitter laugh.
“Perhaps. It may well be there. But I do not know. It is a secret that does not open for someone like me. Should you ever discover it, I would be grateful if you shared it with me. Truly, for I wish to know as well.”
With those words, Nay bowed to Charlotte. It was the first proper bow since they had met. Her tone, too, differed from the sarcastic manner she had maintained throughout. Charlotte found herself believing that Nay’s words about serving her Older Brother were genuine. She could not be certain yet, but her instincts in such matters were usually correct.
A cold wind swept in from the Sea. As Charlotte brushed away her windswept hair, she recalled the past. She must have been about nine years old. She had told her Older Brother that when he became Grand Duke, she would protect him. It was shortly after hearing about the “Courtyard Serpent” incident. After that incident, she had realized that Father could no longer ride horses with his young daughter as he once had.
Bernard had laughed and asked her to do exactly that. It was because of that conversation that Charlotte abandoned ballet, which she had loved dearly, and began learning the sword. Two years later, she entered Etoile for the same reason. By then, her Older Brother had tried to dissuade her, saying it was unnecessary, but Charlotte would not yield. Her Older Brother would become Grand Duke, and she would protect him.
She had never harbored a single regret about the future she had decided that day. Whenever privileges in training were offered because she was a noble lady, she refused them stubbornly. Otherwise, she could never become a true Etoile—and more than that, the most exceptional Etoile Brillante.
There were only seven Etoile Brillante. Their identities were kept secret. Only the Captain, the Vice-Captain, and the Grand Duke knew who they were. On the day she became Brillante, she wanted to run to her Older Brother and proudly declare it. That he was safe now, that no one could touch a person guarded by Etoile Brillante.
Her Older Brother had not waited for that day to come. He had disappeared, leaving only incomprehensible secrets behind. Moreover, he had never once told her what he was doing. Perhaps he himself had not known that today would arrive so suddenly.
You did it for me? Without telling me? I wanted to protect you, but you wanted to protect me? I’m not grateful at all. I would have preferred if you had simply stayed by my side without doing anything.
“….”
She blinked several times and wiped her eyes, using the wind as an excuse. She clenched her teeth. She could not let them see her tears. They were not people before whom she could afford such vulnerability.
Lorang’s voice reached her from beside her.
“The Captain is coming.”
Though her vision was blurred, she forced her eyes open and looked down the slope. In the distance, Crupard was approaching with two Trainee Soldiers. Something white was held in Crupard’s hand.
Soon Crupard reached Charlotte and extended an envelope, saying.
“Please accept this.”
Charlotte flinched before speaking.
“Captain, why are you treating me this way? I’m not even an official member of Etoile yet.”
Trainee Soldiers only reclaimed their unique status and proper titles upon becoming full members of Etoile. Yet Crupard shook his head and replied.
“No, my lady. You are no longer a Trainee Soldier.”
The two statements seemed identical at first glance, but their meanings were entirely different. Charlotte furrowed her brow and asked back.
“What do you mean by that?”
“This is an order sent by the Commander. It arrived here before we did. His Highness the Grand Duke wishes to ennoble you as Grand Duchess and has commanded that you be brought to the Palace with all haste. Now that His Highness’s will has been made clear, we must treat you with the respect befitting the heir to the throne.”
“….”
The sense of reality vanished in an instant. My head grew slightly dizzy. It wasn’t that I didn’t know. I had understood this would be my final mission. But Father… had he finally accepted Older Brother’s death?
While Charlotte remained rigid, Crupard knelt on one knee and bowed his head as he spoke.
“My lady, we are your servants.”
The honorific “Your Highness” could be used for noble daughters and sons, but it was typically reserved only for Grand Duchesses and Grand Dukes. Thus in Orlanne, whenever someone said “Your Highness,” it had always referred to Bernard. Immediately after, Lorang also knelt on one knee. Then the two Trainee Soldiers who had come with Crupard knelt as well.
Charlotte stood tall, looking down at them—or rather, looking through them into empty space. From the age of eleven, I had locked away my noble status as if sealing it in a box and lived as a young Trainee Soldier. Yet being born the daughter of the Grand Duke meant this authority could be reclaimed at any moment. It had been foreshadowed, but I had not become a member of Etoile through my own strength, and I did not wish to reclaim it in this manner.
And I still could not accept that Older Brother was dead.
Charlotte looked down at Crupard and spoke.
“Very well. I will honor the Grand Duke’s command when I return. But I ask that you not address me by that title here.”
“Understood.”
That much was merely a matter of protocol. But what followed was different.
“And I will not abandon my pursuit of becoming a member of Etoile.”
Lorang suddenly understood. The meaning of those words was….
“I do not wish to end four years of effort as merely a Trainee Soldier. When that day comes, I will return to being a Trainee Soldier and take the final examination. Until then, I ask that you grant me a temporary suspension of status.”
No one immediately grasped what “that day” meant. Did she mean the day she would cease her role as Grand Duchess, or the day she would cease her role as Grand Duke?
Though uncertain, Crupard nodded with a measure of understanding and replied.
“Granted.”
Charlotte nodded. Then she straightened her head, corrected her posture from its slight tilt, and stood with perfect composure. In doing so, her gaze transformed as well. No—even her voice changed.
“All of you, rise.”

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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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