Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 656

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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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Kim Rok-soo, who dwelt within Kale Heniatus’s body.
Kale Heniatus, who existed within Kim Rok-soo’s body.
The two of them could not tear their gaze away from each other for a long while.

“Kale Heniatus.”

It was Kim Rok-soo, who currently occupied Kale Heniatus’s body, who spoke first.

“How am I able to meet you like this?”
“Who knows? I was working late and dozed off for a moment, and when I opened my eyes, there you were sleeping in this bed. But here’s the thing.”

The true Kale Heniatus, wearing a peculiar smile that the original Kim Rok-soo would never have made, spoke playfully.

“Are you planning to live in that body?”

The question struck hard despite its light tone. The true Kale Heniatus shrugged and continued.

“I plan to end my life in this body. So I’m going to abandon the name Kale Heniatus and live as Kim Rok-soo from now on.”

The true Kale Heniatus’s eyes were calm. There was no wavering in them.
The true Kim Rok-soo gazed quietly at the one wearing his appearance, then opened his mouth.

“…So you want me to call you Kim Rok-soo?”
“Yes. Why, do you dislike it? You’re planning to end your life as Kale Heniatus anyway, right? Then the name Kim Rok-soo should be abandoned.”

A soft chuckle.
Kim Rok-soo within Kale Heniatus’s body—or rather, the one who had decided to become Kale Heniatus—nodded and spoke.

“Fine. Kim Rok-soo, I’ll do as you say.”
“Good, Kale Heniatus. Now your appearance and name match, don’t they?”

Kale watched Kim Rok-soo laugh while making a gesture he himself would never have made, and let out a blunt remark.

“You seem to have been doing quite well.”

He recalled the moment when he had met Lee Soo-hyuk and received the ‘Embrace’ ability.
At that time, Lee Soo-hyuk had handed over the ability and disappeared from Kale’s dream, telling him about the true Kale Heniatus.

‘By the way, your original body’s owner is living well too. Apparently quite happily. And Jung-soo and I—we’re all happy.’

Kim Rok-soo displayed a bright smile befitting someone in their twenties, utterly incongruous with a man in his mid-thirties.

“Yeah. I got to meet someone I’d been wanting to see.”

Kale found it peculiar to witness Kim Rok-soo wearing a smile he’d never worn during his time as Kim Rok-soo.

“Who was this person you wanted to see?”
“My mother.”

Kale found himself momentarily speechless.

She was scarcely mentioned in 【The Birth of a Hero】, feeling like a stranger to him. Countess Viollan had always felt far more like a mother to him.

Come to think of it, during his time at the Heniatus Estate, Kale had never once heard anyone speak of Kale’s Biological Mother.
From what he’d vaguely gathered, discussing her at that place was virtually taboo.

Observing the bewilderment etched across Kale’s face, Kim Rok-soo shrugged and continued.

“My mother was reincarnated into the world where you lived as Kale Heniatus, and where I now live.”
“…She was reincarnated to Earth?”
“Yeah. Earth 1. The world where Team Leader Kim Rok-soo in his thirties lives.”

Kale mentally catalogued that the world he’d originally lived in was Earth 1, and that Tae-rang, Alberu’s Unbreakable Spear, came from Earth 3.

‘Then the place where I underwent the Sealed God’s trial must be Earth 2?’

Kale set aside this suspicion-tinged question for the moment and focused on Kim Rok-soo’s words.

“My reincarnated mother lost her parents to an unranked monster attack and was left alone as a very young child. I’m working on becoming her family.”

A bittersweet yet proud smile graced Kim Rok-soo’s lips. After a moment’s consideration, Kale asked.

“If she’s reincarnated, wouldn’t she be younger than you?”
“Ha. She’s been calling me uncle.”

Kim Rok-soo shook his head as if exasperated.
Yet seeing him show no trace of loneliness, I could understand why the real Kale Heniatus had chosen to live as Kim Rok-soo.
Kim Rok-soo straightened his posture and looked at me, leaning against the headboard of the bed.

“I’d like to tell you everything in detail, but since we don’t know how much time we’ve been given, let’s end this conversation here for now.”
“Alright.”

I spoke my honest thoughts.

“I want to hear your story in detail, but I’m in a hurry right now.”

Worry crashed over me—what had happened in Pursulsi since I collapsed? How were my companions fighting?

“But having experienced a place like this several times before, I’ve learned that this isn’t a space where I can simply leave whenever I wish.”

I had encountered spaces like this before, and each time, escaping had never been within my control.

“Is that so? I didn’t know. You have a lot on your plate.”

Kim Rok-soo nodded as if he’d received useful information, then hesitated before continuing.

“…Is the family doing well?”
“Of course they are.”

At my indifferent yet resolute answer, Kim Rok-soo offered a smile different from before—one tinged with poignancy that seemed to ache slightly.
So I added more.

“Everyone’s doing well. Father and Mother are both fine. Lily is learning swordsmanship. I want Basen to become the lord, but anyway, Basen is helping with territorial administration.”
“Hmm.”

Kim Rok-soo scratched his forehead with his index finger.

“Kale. Shouldn’t that boy Basen become the next lord?”
“I won’t become lord. Whoever between Lily and Basen wants to can do it. From what I saw when we last met, it looks like Basen will almost certainly take it.”

At the mention of lordship, I made a disgusted expression, and Kim Rok-soo watched with fascination—a Kale Heniatus expression he would never have made as his original self—before opening his mouth.

“He has the perfect aptitude for it too. Does he still think that position isn’t his place?”

The moment I uttered those words, Kale’s gaze fixed upon Kim Rok-soo with unwavering intensity.
Kim Rok-soo faltered beneath that stare for a moment before a faint smile broke across his face, as though some realization had dawned upon him.

“Basen… yes, you’re curious about Basen, aren’t you? There’s the matter of his age, after all. The gap between us is merely three years. It must seem strange to you. It’s not something that appears in The Birth of a Hero.”
“The Birth of a Hero. You know of that book?”
“Of course I do. When I opened my eyes, I was in your studio apartment, and that book was sitting right there.”

Kim Rok-soo answered as though it were nothing of consequence, then paused in thought before turning his gaze toward Kale.

“There was a moment when I first spoke to Basen.”

It had been less than a month after Basen arrived at the Heniatus Count Estate alongside Countess Viollan.

“I said these things to that child back then.”

Recalling that moment from memory, Kim Rok-soo conveyed to Kale the very words he had spoken to Basen.

“Basen. You are a person of House Heniatus. Remember this well. Wherever you go, tell people your surname is Heniatus. Do you understand? Don’t you remember what Father said? Unless you’re an idiot, do as I say. Heniatus flows through your blood. Make sure you say it no matter what.”

When Basen protested that he could never speak such things, the young Kale had spoken to him once more.

“Shut your mouth. Do as I say. If you don’t, you won’t be able to live in this house. Do you think the relatives, those from the cadet branches, will leave you alone? Will you really be foolish enough to let them?”

A deep sigh escaped from Kale’s lips as he listened quietly.
A profound hum of contemplation flowed from Kale’s mouth.

“Kale.”

Kim Rok-soo placed a gentle hand upon Kale’s shoulder.

“I do not know from whom the blood flowing through Basen Heniatus’s veins came. But that child is my younger brother, Lily’s older brother, Count Derth’s son, and Countess Viollan’s son. He is undoubtedly a child through whom the spirit of the Heniatus Count Family flows.”

Kale met Kim Rok-soo’s gaze, which held a faint desperation, and closed his eyes briefly before opening them again to respond.
As his eyes remained closed, Kale conjured the image of Basen from memory. Though his hair color differed, his features resembled Kale far more than they did Derth or Countess Viollan—a delicate, stubborn face painted with fragile determination.

“Basen is my younger brother as well.”
“…Yes. That’s all that matters. What more is there to say?”

Kim Rok-soo withdrew his hand from Kale’s shoulder as though no further words were necessary, his gaze steady upon the young man before him.

“You can ask Countess Viollan for the details. If you want to pass the lordship to Basen, you’ll need to have a conversation with the Countess.”

Kim Rok-soo shook his head, his eyes distant as if recalling the past.

“Sigh. No matter how much of a reckless fool I’ve been, my relatives have been desperate to drive me out, yet the Countess and Basen haven’t budged an inch. If you don’t want to be lord, you’ll have to convince Countess Viollan.”
“I see.”

I let out a small exclamation. Noticing Kim Rok-soo’s puzzled expression, I spoke firmly.

“It’s the Heniatus Duchy now. Not the Count’s Estate.”
“Wow. That’s impressive.”
“Yes. Quite an impressive household.”

As I nodded, Kim Rok-soo flashed a bright smile. My brow furrowed slightly.

“…Hey.”
“What?”
“…When you smile like that using my face, don’t the others say something about it?”

Kim Rok-soo touched the corners of his mouth with his hand at my words, as if questioning what the problem was.

“What’s wrong with my smile? Everyone was happy when the Team Leader let them leave early.”
“…Are you actually doing your job properly?”
“Of course. Right now, I’m determined to protect this world I’m living in. So that the people around me can live in peace.”

At his words, I fell silent. He held the same wish as the real Kale Heniatus did.
This world where I now live as Kale. I wanted to protect it. Absolutely.

“Anyway, is something strange about my smile?”

Kim Rok-soo continued to touch the corners of his mouth.

“It seems like a charming smile with a certain maturity to it?”

I listened to Kim Rok-soo’s words with exasperation.

“Hah. Using my face—maturity, no less.”

He felt a different kind of headache coming on. He had never imagined meeting the real Kale Heniatus, but he certainly hadn’t expected him to spout such nonsense upon their meeting.
At that moment, Kim Rok-soo spoke as if questioning what the problem was.

“Well, my actual age is over forty.”

What?
Kale’s eyes gleamed with a sharp light as they turned toward Kim Rok-soo.

“…Why are you forty?”

Kale had certainly opened his eyes in the body of eighteen-year-old Kale Heniatus.
Meeting Kale’s gaze full of confusion, Kim Rok-soo faced that stare head-on and parted his lips.

“Choi Jung-soo was offered a deal with the God of Death at the moment of death.”

Either survive and go to another world, or save Kim Rok-soo.
The God of Death told Choi Jung-soo to choose, and Choi Jung-soo chose his own death.

“The God of Death offers deals at the moment of death or when a crisis of comparable magnitude arrives. I’m forty. So at my moment of death, I received a deal proposal from the God of Death, and I took that hand.”

Kim Rok-soo. The real Kale Heniatus had accepted the deal with the God of Death.

“The conditions of the deal the God of Death set were simple.”

Only now did Kale see the regret dwelling in Kim Rok-soo’s eyes, unlike the bright smile that had appeared before. That emotion was similar to his own.
That emotion was similar to Kale’s.
Kim Rok-soo recited his deal conditions to the only person who could know them.

“To go to the starting point where I first met Choi Han, the point that changes the fate of this world, and at the same time, I enter the body of Kim Rok-soo, a human from another world. That is the condition of the deal.”

As a bonus, he also heard that his mother was reborn in the world where the human Kim Rok-soo lived and lived a lonely life alone.

“Do you know why I accepted that deal?”

Kim Rok-soo pressed his forehead with his hand as if his head ached. He closed his eyes.
His eyes full of regret were no longer visible.

“Where should I even start? Hmm.”

He maintained his silence for a long while, seemingly lost in thought, before finally opening his mouth.

“I hate Harris Village.”

Harris Village?
I recalled memories connected to Harris Village—a name I had never expected to hear.

The Dark Forest, one of the mysterious regions.
The village that lay just beyond the city wall separating it from that forest. It was where Choi Han first encountered people of this world after escaping the Dark Forest, and now it served as home to the Tiger Tribe, the Wolf Tribe, and my companions.
After the people of Harris Village were slain by invaders, Choi Han had left the village seeking vengeance and traveled all the way to the Heniatus Territory Castle.

Kim Rok-soo continued speaking calmly, his eyes still closed.

“My mother said she would visit Harris Village. She said there was something she needed to bury there. I found it strange that she would go to a place with no connection to us—merely a village belonging to the territory.”

His voice was composed, but the content was anything but.

“Even though it was a day when fierce wind and rain were raging, my mother departed for Harris Village. She had always been frail, so I worried greatly. But then…”

Kim Rok-soo paused here, as if the words were difficult to speak, before continuing with an expressionless face.

“On the way back from Harris Village, the carriage overturned in a violent storm, and she was gravely injured. The Count’s household treated her afterward, but ultimately she passed away.”

I seemed to hear the fierce wind of that stormy day—a sound I had never witnessed myself.
Kim Rok-soo remained silent.

“But the carriage accident was not the reason my mother died. It was not a serious accident. No one else was injured except my mother. Of course, everyone believed she had suffered internal injuries from the carriage accident and died from that.”

He exhaled a sigh, his eyes still closed.

“I only learned the true reason after meeting the God of Death. My mother…”

He paused briefly, then opened his eyes and looked at me.

“My mother seemed to have dimly foreseen that this would happen.”

Like opening a box sunken deep to the bottom of a lake, Kim Rok-soo began to unfold an old story, piece by piece, to the one who now lived as Kale Heniatus in his stead.

“Kale.”

Kim Rok-soo spoke with a sorrowful expression.

“My mother was a possessor of Ancient Powers.”

…What?
Kale Heniatus couldn’t suppress his astonishment this time.
Kale’s Biological Mother had been a possessor of Ancient Powers. It was something he had never even considered.

The birth of a hero.
Within that narrative, the story of an extra—neither protagonist nor supporting character—had begun.
Yet outside that story, it was simply the tale of one person living through reality.

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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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