Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 136

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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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An hour had passed.

Ssssshhhhh—
A sound like something burning filled the room.

“Ugh… hack.”

Groans escaped from Merry’s lips.

‘…So that’s how the scars form.’

Kale Heniatus bit his lip.

-That must hurt.

Raon’s somber voice reached him.
His concern extended not only to Merry, but to Hana as well.

The black veins that had bulged across Hana’s entire body as if ready to burst were slowly subsiding. The veins on her exposed arms, face, neck, and calves—everywhere—were gradually fading.

Yet in their place, lines like black spiderwebs were slowly spreading and etching themselves into her skin.

It was repulsive. Grotesque.

Like parched earth cracking under the sun, black lines were endlessly being carved into her flesh.

“…Hana.”

The Saint stared at her with wide eyes.
That was the moment.

“Nngh… ah.”

Hana’s body suddenly lurched forward. Tasha, alarmed, caught her. Hana’s closed eyes fluttered open slightly. Her pupils were unfocused.

“Hey, stay with—”

Merry opened her mouth to speak, but her entire body trembled, preventing her from forming words properly. She too appeared to be reaching her limits.

A sharp, crackling sound pierced the air.

Merry’s two hands, pressed against Hana’s back, were simultaneously creating a pathway for the dead mana to flow through while absorbing the black smoke emanating from Hana’s body.

Another crackling sound echoed.

Merry’s hands were charred black and burning.
For an hour, she had been creating a pathway through another’s body for dead mana to traverse. It was an arduous task. Only Merry, the sole person who possessed and understood the pathway through which dead mana flowed, could accomplish this.

Then, a voice rang out.

“Hana.”

Kale Heniatus had approached the bedside without anyone noticing. He spoke while gazing into Hana’s unfocused eyes.

“Come back to yourself.”

Hana’s fingers twitched slightly.
She had not yet withdrawn the golden aura flowing from her body. She had not completely lost consciousness.

“…Young Master.”

Tasha, the Dark Elf, bit her lip as she watched Kale Heniatus gazing at Hana.
As an elf with the attribute of darkness, she could not assist Hana in creating the pathway. Had she been able to, she would have helped long ago when Merry was poisoned by dead mana.
Unable to help directly, she had merely handed books to young Merry back then, guiding her toward the path of becoming a Necromancer.

“Hana, it is you who protects yourself.”

At Kale Heniatus’s words, Tasha’s grip tightened on Hana, who was about to collapse. She wanted to save her. She wanted to save this woman from the Sun God Church, whom she had found distasteful.

That was when it happened.

“Ah.”

An exclamation escaped Tasha’s lips.
Hana closed her eyes.
Yet before closing them, her pupils held a clear, unwavering resolve.

Uuuuuuuung—

Without realizing it, Tasha released the hand she had been holding onto Hana. A resonant hum emanated from Hana’s body.
Hana sat upright once more.

From her ravaged, cracked lips came ragged breathing and a voice.

“…Not dead.”

Kale Heniatus smiled faintly.
He stepped back once more.
In that instant.

Flaaaaash!
Like the final spark of a lifetime, a blinding golden light erupted from Hana’s body. Kale heard Erhafen’s voice.

“She’s truly risked her life.”

Hana poured forth her final strength, wagering everything she possessed—even her very life.
At that moment, Merry’s voice reached Kale’s ears.

“Heh, haha—”

A small laugh mingled with a groan. Though Kale saw nothing beneath the black robes that enveloped her, he realized Merry was delighted.
Watching Hana pour forth all her strength, Merry rejoiced. In response, the sound of Merry’s burning intensified.

Skreeeeeech—
A nauseating sound. Simultaneously, black smoke poured forth more abundantly from both Merry and Hana.
Yet Kale did not erase the smile from his lips.

‘She’ll live.’

That was the feeling that came to me.

Hana will survive.

My instincts had rarely been wrong.
Kale gazed quietly toward the bed, where golden light and black smoke intertwined so thickly that nothing could be seen clearly. He placed a hand on the shoulder of the Saint standing beside him.

“Huff… ugh.”

You truly have a tender heart.
I patted the Saint’s shoulder gently. He had felt it too—that his sister was struggling to overcome this critical moment, and that she would succeed. As family, he sensed it all the more clearly.

“Thank you, thank you.”

The Saint continued offering his gratitude to no one in particular, his words like a prayer. I watched over him, listening to his thanks until the treatment was complete.

Finally, another hour had passed. I could see the figure in the black robe rising to her feet, turning toward me.

“…She’s alive.”

Hana lay on the bed with a visibly more peaceful expression. I shook my head at Merry’s words. At that gesture, Merry, who had been rising from the bed to approach me, froze. In that instant, my voice reached her.

“Merry, you saved her.”

Beneath the black robe, a smile bloomed on Merry’s lips—invisible to all others. At the same moment, Tasha’s startled voice rang out.

“Merry!”

Merry felt her body beginning to sway. Every muscle had abandoned her.
Yet she realized she was not falling. Someone had caught her, cradling her in their arms.

Pat. Pat.
I felt a gentle hand stroking the black robe.

“You did well. Rest now.”

It was my voice. Merry closed her eyes without hesitation.
She had saved her. With that word as her final anchor, Merry lost consciousness.

I gazed quietly at the black robe nestled in my arms. I had rushed forward quickly enough to prevent her from falling.

‘…But I don’t think I can actually lift her.’

My physical strength wasn’t in good enough condition to carry Merry. My legs ached from standing for two hours straight.
I quietly shifted my gaze. My eyes met Tasha’s. She had been rushing toward Merry but now stood frozen. I opened my mouth to speak to her.

“Tasha.”
“Yes, yes?”
“Can you move Merry using a wind spirit?”
“Ah, yes.”

Tasha nodded. A wind spirit could easily transport someone like Merry. She could see Kale Heniatus smiling at her response. He pointed at Merry in his arms with his chin as he spoke to her.

“Move her.”

He lacked the strength to do it himself.
After the treatment ended, two of them lost consciousness. But there was no doubt—they had both survived.

* * *

“Young Master.”

Kale Heniatus turned his gaze toward the careful voice calling out to him.

“Yes, Saint.”

Saint hesitated briefly at Kale Heniatus’s response. But upon seeing Hana’s face as she slept peacefully on the bed, he asked Kale Heniatus without hesitation.

“Will… the Necromancer be alright?”
“Yes. She should be fine. Tasha will look after her.”
“…Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness.”

Saint clasped his hands together, smiling brightly—a smile that radiated genuine holiness. Yet soon a bitter smile played at the corners of his lips.

He gazed at his sister, Hana.
Only he, Hana, and Kale Heniatus, who had stopped by briefly to check on her, remained in the room.

The place where treatment had been conducted had become a complete wreck, so Hana had been moved to the adjacent room and remained asleep ever since.
As Saint emerged from the chaos and faced his living sister beneath the bright light, overwhelming emotion surged through him—yet so too did the weight of the hardships that lay ahead.

Black spider-web scars marked Hana’s face.
Anyone could see she was a survivor of dead mana poisoning.

‘Even if I flee the Empire, in the end, will she have to live somewhere without people?’

Beyond the Religious Order lay the Empire, and beyond the Empire, he would have to spend his life fleeing from people. He couldn’t swallow the lament that escaped unbidden from his lips.

“…It seems there will be much hardship ahead.”
“Is that what you believe?”

At Kale’s question, Saint nodded. Yet his voice was not entirely dejected.

“Yes, because people’s revulsion toward dark attributes and dead mana is severe. But now I must protect my sister.”

If he had to hide and flee from the world’s persecution, then he would protect Hana and conceal her. A bittersweet smile bloomed across Saint’s lips, mingling sorrow and joy.

“When people see Hana’s scar, they will discern her attribute and she will have to hide her entire life. But we survived—isn’t that enough?”
“Why hide?”
“…Pardon?”

For a moment, Saint thought he had misheard Kale. He turned his gaze from Hana to look at Kale.
Kale appeared composed. In his mind, Raon was speaking.

-Human, that Sword Master seems to have awakened?

Kale let the remark pass lightly and continued with his words.

“Dead mana is a fatal poison to humans. To overcome it and survive—isn’t that a miracle that humans can create?”

Saint could sense that Kale’s gaze upon Hana remained unchanged from usual. And so a thought suddenly occurred to him.

‘Is it because Kale is a prince that he can stand beside a necromancer?’

Dark Elves, a necromancer, and a Servant with an artificial arm—Kale, who commanded them all, suddenly seemed far greater.
Kale’s words continued still.

“Those who have endured hardship tend to have rough hands, do they not? I believe it is merely such a rough scar.”

Ah.
An exclamation escaped Saint’s lips.

“Someday, won’t people and the world recognize those who have overcome such hardship and offer them applause? Just as you are grateful to Merry.”

Saint felt his heart strike deeply, as if resonating with profound emotion.

I had defied the teachings the Sun God inscribed upon my instincts and refused to purify Merry. Instead, I harbored gratitude toward her.
It was because I understood.
How Merry had become addicted to dead mana and survived through such agonizing trials.
Despite surviving such hardship, I knew she had endured pain to save others.

The Sun God had spoken to his followers.

That goodness was like radiant light.
No matter how deeply humanity wandered through darkness, a single ray of light could sustain them.

Saint Jack, who had been designated as merely a half-fledged saint and lived within the Religious Order.
The doctrine that existed only in the Saint’s mind now resonated with the heart of the human Jack.

Jack’s lips parted.

“Master, just because someone is tainted by the properties of darkness doesn’t mean they lack goodness. If that’s so, then they too shine with light, don’t they?”

Jack desired Kale Heniatus to answer him.
And Kale Heniatus gladly provided that answer.

“Saint, a world that recognizes that truth will soon arrive.”

Raon’s voice echoed within Kale Heniatus’s mind.

-Human, look! That Sword Master’s eyebrows are trembling! I was right about her awakening. Truly, I am magnificent!

Ignoring this, Kale Heniatus continued speaking to the Saint.

“I believe that if we make the effort, such a world will come to pass.”
“That’s right. Yes, it is.”

Saint Jack nodded. His heart swelled with resolute determination.

“I will strive with all my might to bring about such a world. Hana and the Necromancer, they simply possess the properties of darkness. I will work tirelessly so that people come to understand they are human too—beings who shine with goodness.”

Saint Jack could see Kale Heniatus smiling.
Kale Heniatus gazed past Saint Jack’s shoulder toward the Bed.

Sword Master Hana. Her eyes had opened. Finally awake, her gaze met Kale’s.
Kale opened his mouth as he looked at her.

“Those who overcome adversity deserve applause. Those who survive to the very end have earned that right.”

Those who survive to the very end.
Hana understood the true meaning behind those words.
With difficulty, yet without hesitation, Hana smiled at Kale. That smile held no warmth whatsoever.
Beneath the joy of survival lurked venom and the thirst for vengeance.

“Indeed. Truly, Prince Kale, you think so deeply!”

Kale offered only a humble smile in response to the Saint’s words, which seemed to overflow with emotion.
He gazed upon the genuine Saint and the false saint who had not forgotten her purpose, and he reflected.

‘Hana has already prepared to stab the Empire in the back.’

The preparations for the spectacle that would shake the Empire were complete.

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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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