Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 247

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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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Like a feather descending from the sky to earth, the Dragon Hybrid plummeted in scattered fragments toward the ground.
The path forward, toward him.

Kale Heniatus approached one person first.

“Rosalind.”

Rosalind’s gaze shifted toward Kale Heniatus. In that instant, the sound of something crashing echoed in her ears.

Boom!

She recalled the falling Dragon Hybrid. A dark figure plummeting in a grotesque form—neither human nor reptile.
Just as her gaze began to drift from Kale Heniatus toward the fallen enemy—

“Commander Rosalind, choose.”

At that title—Commander—she found herself looking back at Kale Heniatus.

“Choose?”

Kale Heniatus met the gaze of Rosalind, who questioned him in return. Her eyes were bloodshot, her fingertips trembling from the strain of excessive mana manipulation, and dried blood clung to the corner of her mouth. The final words earned through such harrowing sacrifice belonged to Rosalind alone to speak.

The hand holding the crown pointed in one direction.

Beyond the cliff where the Indomitable Alliance stood.
With water and fire both gone and even the steam vanished, the enemy encampment lay fully visible—their betrayal and division laid bare for all to see.

“Will you cross the bridge? Or will you turn back?”

The bridge.
As the barrier of fire and water disappeared, the shattered cliff face became visible. Many rocks had been consumed by Kale Heniatus’s stone spears, but the collapsed section was now passable.

“Ha, haha—”

Rosalind gathered strength in her legs. She laughed, gripping the spatial magic pouch containing mana stones. The moment her burning gaze met Kale Heniatus’s, he spoke.

“That bridge now belongs to us. Choose, Commander. You are the final authority here—Rosalind, you decide.”

She turned around.
Members of the Mage Battalion slowly lowered their shields. Soldiers and Knights holding shields formed circular formations, crouching in various positions across the battlefield.

The enemy’s collapse.
And the enemy’s fracturing unity.

Rosalind’s lips curved upward gradually. She opened her mouth.

“Knights and soldiers, reform your lines! Mage Battalion 2nd, 3rd, and 4th Companies, prepare offensive magic immediately! We will!”

Breck Kingdom and Ascoson Kingdom, with the Canyon of Death as their boundary. At the commander’s words to reform their lines and prepare for attack, the hearts of Breck Kingdom’s soldiers began to race.
What lay beyond the rampaging enemy.
Rosalind proclaimed it.

“We will cross the border and annihilate the enemy!”

When Kale Heniatus told her to choose, Rosalind naturally chose to cross the bridge. And she chose one more thing as well.

“I will create the bridge! The 1st Company will provide support!”

There were too many broken ruins for soldiers and mounted Knights to pass through. Rosalind decided to spread earth to cover the uneven ground.

‘…I always remember these ideas only after seeing Prince Kale Heniatus’s actions.’

Fire, water, and earth—I only thought of them after Prince Kale Heniatus mentioned them. Since the ideas came late, I had to move quickly. Rosalind immediately grasped a supreme-grade mana stone.
A voice reached her as someone passed by.

“Do not overexert yourself. One must protect their own body.”

Rosalind let out a wry laugh. The person who said that was Kale Heniatus. She found it amusing that the person least likely to care for his own body would say such a thing. She watched him grow distant, hesitated, then asked.

“…Are you still alright?”

The shield, the water, the earth.
Was his body truly fine? Had he not become like a magical bomb?

“I am fine. My body takes good care of itself.”

A liar.
The words rose to the tip of my throat, but I swallowed them back down. Instead, I heard Kale Heniatus’s voice.

“Merry.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
“When you build the bridge, use bone fragments as supports.”

Merry still had many pouches filled with bone fragments she’d collected from the Dark Forest, aside from the wyvern. Kale Heniatus instructed which ones to use and issued orders to the others as well.

“The Roan Kingdom follows the Breck Kingdom commander’s orders above all else! Knights, maintain your formations, and Mage Battalion, follow Commander Rosalind’s orders!”

The Roan Kingdom forces, the Breck Kingdom, and Rosalind.
They all began targeting the throats of enemies who had lost their strength and were fracturing apart.

At the same time, none of them fixed their gaze on the final moments of the enemy who had fallen but was the strongest among them.
Rosalind was no different. She could see Choi Han, Witira, and Gashan following behind Kale Heniatus.
With those three together, there was no need to worry about Kale Heniatus being injured or the fallen enemy’s final moments.

Rosalind smiled at her companions approaching her side, excluding those three. Rak, the Tiger Tribe, Merry, and two members of the Whale Tribe. With them by her side as well, she had nothing to fear.

Uuuuuung—

Magic began to vibrate once more.
The vibration traveled up from Kale Heniatus’s feet.

‘Indeed, Rosalind is impressive too.’

She was not the next Tower Master for nothing.
Even after deploying such large-scale magic that pushed against her limits multiple times, she overflowed with increasing vitality. She was growing.

‘Terrifying humans.’

I was astounded by how Choi Han, Witira, and Gashan, who surrounded me, all appeared unscathed despite being injured and covered in blood.

‘…Don’t these bastards all possess the vitality of the heart when you really think about it?’

I approached the Dragon Hybrid with an uncomfortable feeling, my expression hardened. The three people surrounding me like a guard could say nothing.

“Mm.”

However, Gashan arrived at the Dragon Hybrid’s crash site and let out a sharp breath.
The ground had been carved into a massive crater, as if a meteorite had fallen. At its center, I could see the Dragon Hybrid coughing up blood, dying.

Its entire body trembled and writhed, but that form was unmistakably the throes of death.
The body covered in scales unique to reptiles was twisted together with chaotic vital energy, creating a grotesque form that was difficult to look at directly.

Then, Witira’s calm voice reached my ears.

“Young Master Kale, the Dragon Hybrid is originally beautiful.”
“…Is that so?”

I responded dismissively and slowly stepped onto the pile of earth shattered by the impact of the fall.

“Since the Dragon’s power has run rampant, the Dragon Hybrid with half Dragon’s blood will surely die.”

Witira confirmed the Dragon Hybrid’s death. I let her words pass through me as I moved toward the writhing existence.

Uuuuung.

The white crown in my hand trembled with increasing intensity. The sorcerer Gashan and Witira glanced at the crown. They didn’t know what that object was.
I ignored their gazes and crouched down. Then I met the eyes staring at me from a short distance away.

“Kekhe, cough.”

Along with a faint laugh, blood dripped from the Dragon Hybrid’s mouth. I stared intently at the Dragon Hybrid with black eyes and black hair, then looked away from the crown to something else.

I felt the Black Dragon’s ragged breathing.

‘…It couldn’t be, right?’

The Black Dragon’s black hair and the Dragon Hybrid’s black hair kept catching my eye. And the World Tree’s words to find Raon’s parents came to mind.
Something felt increasingly off.

‘…It’s not like my actual younger sibling is about to appear, right?’

No way.
But my expression grew increasingly strange, as if I had bitten into something astringent.

Why was it that a Dragon Hybrid with black hair and eyes happened to be in the Dark, and why was the Black Dragon Raon raised by the Dark in the Marquis Household?
Could it truly be mere coincidence?

“…There is no such thing as coincidence.”

The group’s attention focused on Kale Heniatus’s voice, but he kept his gaze fixed on the Dragon Hybrid before me, who continued to wear a shallow smile.

“How does it feel to be dying?”

As the Dragon Hybrid’s rampage subsided, his vision, which had been blurred, gradually cleared. Simultaneously, he became aware of his body’s condition.

I am dying.
Nearly nine hundred years of desperate struggle to survive crumbled away in an instant, rendered meaningless.

The Dragon Hybrid’s eyelids grew heavy, yet he did not close his eyes. He kept them as wide open as possible while crouching, staring at Kale Heniatus who looked down at me.

At the same time, he caught sight of a bulging blanket bundle cradled in his arms. The Dragon Hybrid’s face contorted. He knew that the more he frowned, the more grotesquely his features twisted into something neither human nor dragon, but he couldn’t help but smile crookedly.

“Heh, kugh, a, are you, kugh, mocking me?”

Words barely forced out after several attempts.
The Dragon Hybrid could see the enemy’s contorted face.

“Would I mock someone dying in madness?”

Though Kale Heniatus bore the role of a reckless brute, he would not mock the dying, no matter what. During torture, he might laugh to drive his enemy’s mind into a corner, but he had no desire to laugh with genuine malice.

Instead, he had come with a different purpose.

“Shield the surroundings.”

When Choi Han and Witira hesitated at his sudden command, only one person understood immediately.

Caw. Caw. Caw.

The black birds that had fled descended to the ground once more, forming a perfect circular wall. Gashan grinned and opened his mouth.

“Quick as a snap of the fingers, sir.”

The ravens formed a wall, obscuring the view of those around us. Only then did Kale Heniatus rise again and approach the Dragon Hybrid. Choi Han quickly followed in his wake.

“Kugh, so you’re finally going to kill me properly. I’m dying anyway, hehe.”

The Dragon Hybrid watching Kale Heniatus approach could not move an inch. His dying body lacked even a handful of strength to realize the slightest intention.

Kale Heniatus stopped near the Dragon Hybrid. When the distance became close enough to touch with an outstretched hand, he handed the bundled blanket to Choi Han.

“…Kale Heniatus?”
“Take him.”

Choi Han found himself suddenly cradling the heavy weight of the boy. Kale Heniatus, his arms cramping from holding Raon, shook out his limbs and crouched down in a casual posture.

“Why should I just kill you?”
“What? Haha, cough, haha!”

The Dragon Hybrid burst into laughter at Kale Heniatus’s words about not simply killing him. Then something entered his field of vision.
Kale Heniatus held an object before his face.

A white crown.

“…How, how did you… You?”

The Dragon Hybrid’s pupils trembled violently.
He knew that object. He had seen it since he was very young. His face twisted in terror. Simultaneously, he realized something.

The crown that had suddenly vanished from the Northern Region—or rather, been stolen. How delighted he had felt upon hearing that news. He had found happiness in the disappearance of that dreadful thing.
Yet that object was in the hands of this man. Kale Heniatus. At the fact that it was in this bastard’s hands, the Dragon Hybrid recalled the mysterious beings who had interfered with Arm, and simultaneously understood their identity.

“This, all this time everything was you, you bastard-!”

Kale Heniatus opened his mouth, watching that reaction.

“Hey.”

He cared not whether the Dragon Hybrid was shocked or not.
Rather, this crown was strange.

“Why does this white crown react when looking at you, when it showed no reaction even when the Black Dragon was near?”

No matter how close Raon had been to me, the crown had shown no reaction whatsoever.
But the moment Choi Han’s black aura pierced the Dragon Hybrid’s body and began to trigger its rampage, the crown vibrated and radiated heat—emitting a sacred and beautiful light.

And then a voice echoed in my mind.
The owner of that dominating aura spoke to me.
I relayed those words directly to the dying Dragon Hybrid.

“This crown has grown fat on your blood. Hasn’t it?”

The Dragon Hybrid’s face contorted. His eyes twisted with fear and anguish. The father who had found him trapped in that cave would sometimes hold this crown in his hands.

That damned father would smile at him then.
No—he would smile as he gazed upon the crown glowing with his own blood.

“Hehehehe, in the end, you’re all the same.”

The Dragon Hybrid finally let go of everything.
No matter how strong he became, no matter how long he lived, he could never live a single moment as he wished. Everything was predetermined, and he was bound to follow his fate.

He coughed up blood endlessly, as if wondering whether he had any left to spill, and asked me calmly.

“Are you going to feed my blood to that crown too? Do you want to become a king?”

In that moment, the Dragon Hybrid saw the most displeased expression I had worn throughout this entire ordeal.

“A king? What nonsense. Why would I want this grotesque monstrosity? We’re already strong without it.”

I would devour the crown’s power, but I had no desire to use the crown itself for anything. All I wanted was the small amount of power from the crown to balance my vessel.

“…What? Puhaha, hahahaha!”

The Dragon Hybrid laughed despite his agony. This was the first time he’d encountered someone so mad as to speak like that. He clearly understood the crown’s power, yet he spoke as if it were nothing—it was genuinely hilarious.
So, facing death, he decided to give one final gift to the enemy who had made him laugh.

“…Do not touch ‘Arm’. And cherish.”

The Dragon Hybrid hesitated, but then opened his mouth.

“Hide your precious dragon. Only then can you find happiness.”

The Dragon Hybrid found himself ridiculous and pathetic for uttering the word happiness.

“And thank you for letting me smile as I face my end.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“…What?”

The Dragon Hybrid could see Kale Heniatus’s expression shift.

“Why would I let you die in peace?”

Those standing beside Kale Heniatus faltered. His voice was devoid of emotion, cold as if addressing an object, and it etched itself with particular clarity into their ears.
Yet it carved itself into the Dragon Hybrid’s consciousness far more vividly. The Dragon Hybrid could see Kale Heniatus looking down at him, a luminous white crown clutched in his hand.

“Choose.”

Kale Heniatus was not the type to forgive those who touched him and his domain. He was someone who would absolutely make them pay the price for their transgression.
The other red stars of Dark, including the false Dragon Slayer Sirem, would soon pay for their sins as well. Death, the thing they feared most, would find them.

“Die in agony, or live a more agonizing life with a countdown to your end.”

A limited lifespan. As he uttered a word he did not particularly favor, the voice of the Dominating Aura that governed his mind reached him.

-If I place shackles on him, I could keep him alive for six more months. Of course, death would be easier.

The Dominating Aura continued to bring him information about this Dragon Hybrid. He wondered why, but before dwelling on that, he calmly conveyed what needed to be said.

“Regardless of what you choose, only hell awaits you.”

For the first time, the Dragon Hybrid was given a choice.
Yet the eyes of the one presenting the options were cold, leaving no room for mercy.

-In six months, you’ll be torn to shreds. You’ll die without leaving the slightest trace in this world.

If it were merely this, hell would not apply to the Dragon Hybrid.
Yet Kale Heniatus, recalling the information the Dominating Aura had given him, gazed upon the Dragon Hybrid who would fall to the depths should he choose the limited lifespan.

“Of course, death would be the easier life.”

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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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