Surviving as the Wife of the Swordsmanship Clan’s Troublemaker - Chapter 44

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 44

 

And that night.

 

She took Docheop to the tower at the edge of the dominion where no one could find him.

 

Little Docheop’s hand gripped hers even tighter.

 

When they arrived in front of the tower door, Francesca turned the long-locked padlock and opened the iron door.

 

As the door creaked open, cool air devoid of even human scent burst out.

 

Docheop stepped back with a frightened face.

 

“Mother, this place is scary….”

 

Francesca opened the door wide and gestured toward the child with her chin.

 

“Go in.”

 

Docheop immediately swallowed his tears.

 

“Why…? Why do I have to go in here?”

 

Francesca spoke with an expression completely devoid of emotion.

 

“Docheop, this is your test.”

 

Docheop’s eyes widened.

 

“A, a test…? The test Father mentioned…?”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Francesca held her breath tightly as if swallowing a lie.

 

Docheop became even more frightened.

 

“Go in.”

 

Francesca took a step closer and met his eyes. Her expression was like ice.

 

“You must become strong. Right now you’re too weak. You can’t endure anything.”

 

Docheop’s lips trembled.

 

“Mother… I, I’m scared.”

 

“Words won’t do it.”

 

Francesca cut him off coldly.

 

“If you don’t even want to take the test of going in here, don’t even think about becoming a soldier.”

 

Tears welled up in Docheop’s eyes. His small pupils turned toward the inside of the tower. In that pitch-black place where not a single ray of moonlight entered, dense iron bars were layered all around. To a small, weak child, that place looked like hell.

 

“Mother… I’m really scared….”

 

Francesca’s expression didn’t waver in the slightest. But her hands were trembling in the unseen darkness.

 

“Overcome your fear and terror here. If a child who will wield a sword can’t even endure darkness, that’s a failure.”

 

“A failure is…?”

 

Docheop asked in a trembling voice.

 

Francesca spoke without a trace of warmth.

 

“…abandoned.”

 

Docheop swallowed his breath as if suffocating. Those were words the Duke always uttered. He had whispered to him every time that failures had nothing but death.

 

At the sight of the small child crying, Francesca’s heart crumbled inside, but outwardly she acted even colder.

 

“If you’re weak, that’s inevitable.”

 

Docheop’s tears fell with a plop. Watching that sight, Francesca closed her eyes briefly.

 

‘I’m sorry, I’m sorry…. But if you don’t hide here, you’ll die.’

 

Opening her eyes again, Francesca grabbed Docheop’s shoulders and pushed him into the dark chamber.

 

Docheop screamed in terror.

 

“Mother! Mother, I’m scared! Please stay with me!”

 

Francesca shouted as she closed the iron door.

 

“This is a test you must do alone. Endure here until dawn tomorrow.”

 

“Mother! Please open the door! I, I’ll do well! I’ll train hard every day!”

 

Francesca hurriedly fastened the padlock.

 

Clank. The sound echoed through the tower like a final dying breath. Docheop pounded on the door and burst into tears.

 

“Mother, aah! Please don’t go! I’m scared. I’ll become an excellent soldier, I’ll train to death, so please…!”

 

Francesca leaned her back against the door and covered her mouth. She bit her lips until they bled, holding back her sobs from escaping.

 

“I’m sorry, Docheop… This is the only way to survive….”

 

But those words didn’t reach the child beyond the door even a little bit.

 

Only the darkness inside the tower remained, as if it would swallow Docheop whole.

 

***

 

“That day, I’m truly sorry for leaving you alone when you were so young….”

 

Francesca shed endless tears as she recalled that time.

 

Back then, she could save Docheop’s life, but she couldn’t simply take his side.

 

If she had, it would have provoked the Duke’s anger, which was already boiling over.

 

If she didn’t pour her efforts into making her remaining two sons excellent soldiers, that anger would fall upon Docheop.

 

“No. I’m sorry for continuing to leave you alone and lonely even after that…. I locked you, so young and tender, in that tower and couldn’t look after you.”

 

Back then, she shouldn’t have left her son alone like that.

 

I should have hidden you tightly in my arms and protected you with my life instead.

 

“I wasn’t confident I could beat your father. I had to at least prevent your father from pushing you off the cliff with his own hands…”

 

Francesca’s tears flowed endlessly.

 

“But that ended up hurting you and remained like a nail driven into my heart forever. I’m sorry… For being a mother who couldn’t accept you as you are.”

 

The deeply buried, stale words flowed out with a metallic sound.

 

Perhaps these words might never be spoken to Docheop until death. This pathetic mother didn’t have the courage for that.

 

Francesca sat in the chair where her son’s warmth could no longer be felt and cried, then wiped away her tears when it became noisy outside.

 

“Ah. What should I do. That child went through such trouble to teach me this recipe.”

 

She looked down apologetically at the meal she had brought, then reluctantly left the room.

 

***

 

Docheop sat alone in the dark room and drew energy up from his core.

 

Something that boiled up from his core soon took control of his entire body.

 

“Hoo.”

 

When he exhaled the breath he had been holding, his vision immediately flashed.

 

“Four more times left.”

 

He had awakened to 5-star.

 

It was simple.

 

The blood of the Bloody Mary Household had special power.

 

When energy was drawn up to make the blood boil, strength and speed increased dramatically.

 

Before his regression, he didn’t know this at this time and just swung his sword mindlessly, but now it was different. He had awakened to 9-star in front of his family’s corpses after his household’s destruction. Recalling the sensation he felt then and warming his body, awakening was easy.

 

So easy it was almost anticlimactic.

 

“Awakening isn’t difficult, but what’s needed isn’t simply my power alone.”

 

But the problem wasn’t awakening. He didn’t know the identity of the power that had destroyed his household.

 

That’s why he tried to obtain the strongest power.

 

Before his regression, those he faced last at the center of the world. The power to eliminate them.

 

‘Johannes. And the Holy Knight Order.’

 

Docheop had certainly beheaded him. However, it wasn’t accomplished by Docheop’s power alone. His comrades scattered across the Eastern Empire, Southern Empire, and Northern Empire, excluding the West where he belonged. Their power was needed.

 

As shown in history, to face Johannes, the power of each heroic household was necessary.

 

No, even greater power was needed. Since the Brinihanta Clan, which once stood shoulder to shoulder with the four families, had disappeared. Power enough to fill the void left by their disappearance was needed.

 

That was precisely 10-star.

 

Immense power that didn’t exist in the world. The power Docheop had finally awakened.

 

But behind that power, countless sacrifices were required. Docheop didn’t want sacrifices.

 

‘A descendant of the Brinihanta Clan. If I could find that person, it would be possible.’

 

Though he couldn’t find them in the past, he had heard that descendants definitely remained. If he found them, they could face Johannes with the power of five families.

 

Docheop sighed and drew heat to his core again. He intended to train a little more.

 

Then, he heard someone sobbing outside. Though it was a suppressed sound as if held down, he could tell it was sorrowful crying.

 

The sound that had continued for a while stopped, and silence came to the room.

 

Creak.

 

Docheop pushed the wall and came out. However, there was already no one outside.

 

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly, then discovered something left alone on a table to one side.

 

An ordinary steak that usually came as a meal, nothing special.

 

And beside it, pickled onions in a dish that stood out more than the main course.

 

He picked up the utensils, speared several onions, and put them in his mouth at once.

 

It was sweet.

 

And it was salty.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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