Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 326

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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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Chapter 72. It Shines

Choi Han’s steps carried him toward Crown Prince Adin.

“What kind of speed is that!”

One of the Imperial Knights couldn’t help but gasp in astonishment.

Black. Everything was black.
A man whose sword, body, and very essence were consumed by a black aura lunged at Crown Prince Adin like a ravenous beast.
The black aura rippled with unrefined, savage intensity.

‘His Highness is a high-ranking knight!’

Fear washed over the knight as he watched Choi Han reach the Crown Prince in an instant, raising his blade. Then his superior spoke.

“It’s fine.”
“…Sir?”

The moment he questioned it, blade met blade.

Kwaaaaaang!

A deafening roar erupted as if two mountains had collided.

“Ugh! Cover your eyes!”

The knight obeyed his superior’s command, shielding his eyes.
The dust of the underground chamber and fragments of the shattered floor were swept up in a violent wind born from the colossal impact.
And when the dust storm finally settled.

“…By the heavens, is that even possible?”

The knight forgot they were even in the midst of battle, his gaze fixed on the sight before him.

Black things clashed against each other, each trying to devour the other.

Choi Han stared at the black blade that had met his own.

A blade forged from dead mana. A sword wrapped in black aura smoke.
The Sword Master’s aura-clad blade could not shatter it.

Crown Prince Adin laughed at the sight.

“How is it? You already know this yourself. My blade’s aura smoke and your blade’s aura exist on entirely different planes.”

Screeeech—
The blades locked against each other in a tense standoff.
Adin’s lips curled higher and higher. There was no helping it.

One exchange just moments ago, and now this second clash.
Choi Han’s expressionless face.
Of course, unlike before, he now unleashed his aura without restraint, wielding it savagely.
Yet Adin saw it all. His mouth opened.

“You want to devour it, don’t you?”

At those subtle words, Choi Han’s vacant eyes turned toward Adin.
Adin’s gaze shifted to Choi Han’s hand.

A hand trembling faintly.

The Crown Prince whispered like a serpent.

“My blade is despair. You want to devour that, don’t you? Hmm?”

Adin could see Choi Han’s eyes darken. In that instant, the blade locked in their standoff changed direction.

Crash!
Blade met blade once more.
And Choi Han’s sword aimed for Adin’s left leg.

Boom!
But before Choi Han’s blade could reach his leg, the Crown Prince’s right leg collided with it.
A leg forged from dead mana.

“Kuh, kuhaha!”

Crown Prince Adin burst into laughter.

“See? Now your sword can’t even scratch my right leg!”

Crack.
The moment that monstrous leg exerted force and kicked off the ground, the floor shattered. Simultaneously, Choi Han and Crown Prince Adin began clashing against each other.

Boom!
Bang! Bang!

With each collision, black light erupted. Crown Prince Adin grinned widely as he conjured black aura smoke.

“You really won’t devour me?”

And he sent that smoke toward Choi Han.

Whoosh!
Choi Han’s blade cleaved through the smoke. Yet the black smoke did not dissipate and continued advancing toward him.

Bang!
Choi Han evaded the smoke and swung his sword at Crown Prince Adin, only to be blocked again.
Crown Prince Adin observed Choi Han’s trembling hands and spoke.

“Your hands are shaking—you can’t display your true strength, can you?”

How could one wield a proper blade with trembling hands?

Crown Prince Adin unleashed black despair more ferociously from his wildly pounding heart. In that instant, a strange sound began echoing throughout the Underground Cavern.

Screeeee— Screeeee—
Black despair. Within it, the wails of dead souls.
It engulfed Choi Han.

“Ugh!”

His expressionless face contorted for the first time.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
Choi Han’s heart pounded violently.

Devour it.
Consume that black despair and make it yours. Become whole.
Choi Han felt a silent temptation piercing through his entire body, crawling across his skin.

“Ugh—kh!”

It was far worse than with the Golem.
Unlike the black despair buried within the Golem, the black despair emanating from Crown Prince Adin became smoke, burrowing into him.

Screeeech— Screeeech—

In the end, Choi Han’s feet retreated two steps.
In that moment, Crown Prince Adin’s voice reached his ears.

“Despair, you see.”

Crown Prince Adin spoke while watching Choi Han’s eyes grow increasingly hollow as he unleashed the black despair locked within his heart. Despair was.
Despair was.

“Contagious. When you think about it, it makes sense. Who in this world wants to despair alone?”

Choi Han heard his own heartbeat thundering louder and louder, intertwined with Crown Prince Adin’s voice.

That’s right.
His heart screamed that Crown Prince Adin was right.

When I lived alone in the Dark Forest, didn’t I cry out while fleeing?
Why must only I suffer such things? How unfair it was.
I cried out like that, screaming my past to him.

“That’s why you covet others’ despair.”

That’s right.
My heart spoke again.
That’s why my entire body now covets others’ despair.

Choi Han heard his heartbeat and Crown Prince Adin’s voice merge into one.

“You must accept this black despair to grow, my friend.”

Yes. Accept it.
Grow stronger.
Just as you became the strongest in the Dark Forest in the end.
That’s all that matters.

“Or perhaps you were born into a position where everything comes easily, like me… What are you doing?”

Crown Prince Adin’s gaze turned toward Choi Han.

“Kekeke!”

Choi Han’s shoulders trembled, then tilted back as his face became visible.

“Puhaha, hahahaha!”

Choi Han was laughing.

-Human, this is the first time I’ve seen Choi Han laugh like this!

Kale Heniatus, who had been observing the battlefield, was equally taken aback and nodded at Raon’s words.

“Exactly.”

I’ve never seen him laugh like that before.
Kale’s expression grew uneasy, but Choi Han’s laughter continued for a while longer.

“Hahaha- haha! Kweek, hahaha!”

Choi Han laughed while breathing heavily.
When he finally stopped laughing, Crown Prince Adin’s expression became strange.

It was gone.
The black aura had disappeared.

Choi Han had withdrawn all of his black aura. At his next action, Crown Prince Adin’s expression filled with bewilderment.
Choi Han rushed toward Crown Prince Adin once more.

Without aura.
Armed with only his body and sword, he approached Crown Prince Adin.

“Have I lost my mind?”

Crown Prince Adin’s cry reached me.
The voice of my heart reached me as well.

‘I must grow stronger by embracing black despair.’

In that moment, my lips parted.

“I abandon it.”
“…What?”

Crown Prince Adin’s questioning voice did not reach me.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
I did not hear the voice of my heart either. I listened only to the violent rhythm of my heartbeat—proof that blood was circulating through my body.

Proof that I was alive.

When I first fell into the Dark Forest.
I abandoned many things to survive.

I scavenged fruit and meat that monsters had discarded on the ground, hunching my body as I devoured them desperately.
I hid myself in the gaps between corpses of beasts, holding my breath even as insects crawled across my skin.
To conceal my scent, I smeared the filth of monsters—things people called abominable—across my entire body and crouched in underground tunnels.

Pride. Cleanliness. Warm food. A comfortable place to rest.
I abandoned each one.

And something filled those empty spaces.

From some day onward.
From some moment onward.
What bloomed from my blade was black.

Yet there was one thing I never abandoned.
That night, covered in the filth of predators, hiding in tunnels to escape others of their kind.
A night when sleep would have been fatal.

On such nights, he would murmur under his breath, voice barely audible.

‘…I am-‘

But it wasn’t only at night.
Whenever a moment presented itself, he would murmur those words.

‘I am Choi Han.’

I am Choi Han.

‘Choi Han.’

I committed my name to memory.
Thousands upon thousands of times. Countless repetitions until my name became etched into my very being.

In a place where no human existed.
In this realm where there was no one to speak to, I refused to lose my voice.
And I refused to forget myself.

The one thing I never abandoned was my name.
Because that was who I was.
Even if I surrendered everything else, I could never surrender the ‘I’ that was Choi Han.

Through decades—perhaps even longer—of endurance, I never relinquished my name.
As long as I could exist as Choi Han.
I could discard everything within that identity and rebuild it anew.

Choi Han’s blade descended before Crown Prince Adin’s eyes. An ordinary sword, devoid of aura.
The moment Crown Prince Adin glimpsed the unwavering gaze beyond that blade, he heard his voice.

“I discard what is unnecessary.”

The trembling vanished.
Choi Han’s hand no longer shook.

He recalled what he would rebuild.
The life after escaping the Dark Forest.
A span of time woefully brief compared to those decades.

However, that time had not made Choi Han’s hands tremble.

One day while staying at the Heniatus Territory Mansion, I recalled the voices of Raon and Kale from that day.

‘Choi Han! But I’ve been thinking about it for a while—your pronunciation is really unique!’
‘I like it.’
‘Of course, by human standards, the name Choi Han is great! Of course, my name is the greatest!’

I kicked off the ground.
As I rose into the air, I watched Crown Prince Adin kick off the ground to follow me, slowly lowering my sword downward.

At that moment, Raon and Kale exchanged words while looking at me.

‘Well, since the name is unique, it’s easy to remember. And.’

Kale chuckled and spoke.

‘And Choi Han, that name really suits you. I can’t really think of anything else.’
‘That’s right! Choi Han suits Choi Han perfectly!’

The corners of my mouth lifted.
As I rose to follow myself, I watched Crown Prince Adin bloom his black despair to its maximum and spoke curtly.

“How foolish.”

Crown Prince Adin was foolish.

A Sword Master is not simply one who creates aura.
It is one who swings the sword thousands and tens of thousands of times, pouring my entire life into that blade.

Black Void Swordsmanship.
That was the name of my swordsmanship.

At that time, my life was dark, and there was nothing.
That is why I named it Black Void.

However, I must abandon that name now.
Why?

It was still dark, yet it was full.
So many things occupied the space around me.

Thump. Thump. Thump.
Choi Han drew a radiant smile.

The voice of my heart had vanished. I tightened my grip on the sword. Blood surged through my entire body.

‘I will grow, and I will ultimately survive.’

Smoke rose from the sword as it descended in a downward arc.
A transformation began to occur in Choi Han’s blade.

It blooms.

Black aura blooms from Choi Han’s sword.
But it was different from before.

-This, human! Look, look at that! That, that thing!

I see it too.
Kale Heniatus opened his eyes wide.
It shines.
Despite being black, it radiated a brilliantly beautiful light that dazzled the eyes.

Still a rough and violent black aura, yet it shone with light.
It was different from dead mana and black despair.
It bore a different hue from the Mage, the Necromancer, the Dark Elf, and Adin—from any of them.

“This, this is—”

Crown Prince Adin’s pupils dilated. His sword made of dead mana, the black smoke—and now a bright, dark light engulfing it all.
Beyond it, Choi Han was laughing as if weeping.

I had not abandoned all despair.
I cast away half of my despair and filled that space with happiness.
I held both past and present within me.

“This is me.”

A dazzling black light erupted from the tip of Choi Han’s blade, engulfing Adin.

“This… this is impossible!”

Adin could see the black light shattering the black smoke of his sword.

‘He changed his attribute?’

Kiiiii— Kiiiiii—
The strange wailing sound gradually faded away.
Choi Han’s new aura did not attempt to consume the black despair. It simply pierced through.
Like a sharp blade, it cut through what lay before it and advanced.

‘Is this even possible?’

The one who possessed an inferior attribute to mine now wielded a different attribute entirely?
Adin’s face contorted.

The superiority of attributes had vanished.
Then what remained was purely the skill he had accumulated over time.
The aura smoke of a peak-level Expert could not overcome the pure aura of a Sword Master.

“No, this can’t be—!”

Adin cried out in shock as the beautiful black light descended upon him, shattering even his dead mana sword.
In that moment.

Kwaaaaaang!

With a deafening roar, the beautiful black light burst forth, stealing the sight and hearing of all who witnessed it.
When the brilliance of that light faded.

Thud!
Adin plummeted once more.

“Cough, cough!”

Adin’s two hands and both arms were mangled as he hacked out violent coughs. His dead mana sword had already vanished without a trace.

“I… this… can’t… cough!”

A dark shadow fell across Adin’s body.
It was Choi Han.
He sheathed his sword and gripped the scabbard like a club. Then he raised one foot.

“Cough… hack!”

Choi Han stepped down on Adin’s chest as black blood spilled from his lips.

“Hack! Cough, gag!”

As Adin coughed up more blood under the pressure, Choi Han turned his head.
Kale Heniatus stood with his thumb raised.
Kale grinned widely, his mouth open in approval.

‘Go ahead and beat him.’

Then Raon’s voice reached him.

-Choi Han! Magnificent! Your new attribute is excellent! It’s just like mine!

Choi Han lifted the scabbard.
And brought it down.

Thud!

He lifted it again and brought it down.

Crack!

A relentless beating had begun.
Choi Han reflected on his new attribute.

Not darkness.
Not despair.
It belonged to nothing. There was no word in this world to name it.

Just Choi Han. It was an attribute that resembled him.
That was what I loved.
I was happy.

“Ha, haha—”

Choi Han couldn’t suppress his laughter at finding himself. A smile both youthful and mature bloomed brilliantly across his face.

Thud, crack, thud!

Even as he fought, Choi Han dutifully followed Kale Heniatus’s commands, delivering blow after blow.
So Choi Han didn’t notice Kale Heniatus’s uncomfortable expression as he laughed while mechanically striking people down.

—————
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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