Trash of the Count’s Family - Chapter 662

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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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‘Little brother.’

Basen heard Kale Heniatus’s voice calling him that way, echoing in his ears like a phantom sound. At the same time, his heart trembled.

“We must hurry.”

But soon he snapped back to attention at Kale Heniatus’s words and took a step forward.
With each stride, Basen felt strength gathering in his legs.

‘The entire kingdom is practically in a state of war right now.’

Currently, the Heniatus Duchy had all its forces except for the minimum personnel needed for defense—knights, mages, and the like—arrayed near the Lord’s Castle.
His mother, Duchess Viollan, was exercising military command in his father’s stead, not only managing the fiefdom’s forces but also coordinating communications with various locations throughout the Northeastern Territory to gather troops.

‘Soon Mother and Count Ubar will depart together for Pursulsi.’

The Heniatus Duchy, once renowned for its wealth, had now become equally famous for its military might.
And the Ubar Barony, whose lord possessed a naval force within his fiefdom.
These two powers would serve as the backbone, hastily dispatching troops to Pursulsi.

‘According to Mother, once they deal with what appear to be invaders in other parts of the Roan Kingdom, they will prepare their forces and wait for the Crown Prince’s orders, ready to depart for Pursulsi at any moment.’

And Basen had witnessed it.
The forms of monsters that the Knight Commander’s forces, having evacuated beyond the city wall, had captured and sent through the communication device.
Merely seeing them made his entire body bristle with dread.

“Hey, our human little brother! What are you doing?”

Then, a cheerful voice reached Basen’s ears.

“Hurry! Let’s go!”
“Ah!”

A young Black Dragon was tilting its head curiously as it looked at him.

‘…Dragon.’

Basen witnessed the Gold Dragon’s arrival alongside the monster as a reinforcement for their side.
It was only possible because everyone had been helping beside Mother.

“Basen. You take the lead. I have some thinking to do as we go, so I’ll follow behind.”
“Younger brother Basen! Hurry!”

Though he wanted to think about Raon, Basen judged that following Kale Heniatus’s words came first in the current situation.
He quickly took the lead and began climbing the hill. He could feel Kale Heniatus following behind him.

‘I don’t know why my brother suddenly came to this place, but I’m grateful just to be able to help him.’

Basen stepped forward with that resolve, and at that moment, Kale Heniatus’s voice reached him from behind.

“…How is Mother?”

Kale Heniatus had deliberately skipped stopping by the Duchy and come straight to this hill with only Basen.
Though Basen couldn’t see Kale Heniatus behind him, a faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.

‘My brother has always been like this.’

Sometimes he seemed indifferent, and at other moments, he appeared cold.
But fundamentally, he was a warm-hearted person.

Kale Heniatus suddenly seeking his biological mother’s graveyard in Roan’s critical moment—Basen found it entirely fitting that his brother would ask carefully about Mother Viollan.

“Mother said to check carefully that you have no injuries, and asked me to tell you she’s sorry she couldn’t come to greet you because she’s busy.”
“I see. What about Lily?”
“Ah.”

Basen let out a sigh.

“…Lily also said she would go to Pursulsi herself—”

He paused for a moment before continuing.

“He’s just throwing a tantrum.”
“Aside from age, isn’t his skill—particularly his experience—lacking?”
“…In terms of pure skill, he can easily defeat most ordinary knights in the territory, and even match those above that rank.”
“…Him?”
“Yes.”
“A prodigy.”
“Indeed.”

The two brothers fell silent for a moment, thinking of Lily, who grew stronger with each passing day.

“Human! Your second sibling is remarkable! Truly strong!”

Indeed.
Kale Heniatus nodded in agreement.

‘Should I just tell her to become a lord if she ever expresses the desire to do so?’

If she became a lord, the Roan Kingdom would have its strongest territory.

‘If I could benefit from Lily’s strength and lounge peacefully at home… that would be perfect.’

Just as another plan for a peaceful, idle life was forming in Kale Heniatus’s mind.

“Brother. May I ask why you visit Mother’s graveyard?”

At Basen’s careful question, Kale Heniatus recalled Duke Derth.

‘Father asked me the same thing so cautiously back then.’

Kale Heniatus cast an invisibility spell and approached Duke Derth, opening his mouth.

‘Father.’
‘Gahhhhh!’

Duke Derth, startled, clutched his head.

‘What is this! Am I hearing things now! I must regain my composure, yet I’m so weak!’
‘….’

Kale was briefly flustered, but soon revealed his transparent state and was able to have a conversation with Duke Derth in an empty alley where no one else was around.

‘Oh, my son! Your complexion, your complexion—’

Duke Derth examined Kale’s entire body carefully and poured out words filled with concern, but he paused when Kale spoke.

‘Father, I think I need to visit the place where Mother is resting for a moment.’

Derth, who had been silent, cautiously asked why, much like Basen had.

‘Mother left something there for me.’
‘…You’re not trying to make some other kind of vow, are you?’
‘…A vow?’
‘Yes. A vow toward the future, that sort of thing.’
‘…The future?’

Making a vow to become unemployed in front of Kale’s biological mother’s grave didn’t seem quite right.
Kale shook his head with a bitter expression at the thought.

‘No. It’s nothing like that. I’m just going to retrieve something.’
‘Then that’s a relief.’

Duke Derth grasped both of Kale’s hands with a more relaxed expression.

‘Yes. Go and return.’

At that moment, Kale thought something was odd.

‘Surely Duke Derth doesn’t know that Kale’s biological mother possessed the power of the Ancient Powers?’

Yet he accepted Kale’s words about going to retrieve something far too readily. However, Kale was able to understand why from Duke Derth’s next words.

‘Do you remember? Your mother’s diary was buried beneath the gravestone along with a box.’

Derth gently patted Kale’s shoulder.

‘Your mother said it was something only you should see. She put it in a box with magic cast on it and gave it to me.’

A bitter smile formed at the corners of Derth’s lips.

‘Your mother, Jur Temps, was a mysterious person. But she loved you so very much. Even now, there is no one who loves you more than she did.’

Jur Temps. Derth recalled Kale’s biological mother and withdrew his hand from Kale’s shoulder.

‘I don’t know what you’re going for, but there must be a reason for it. Take your time and come back safely. Don’t worry about things here.’

And he smiled and bid farewell.

‘I’m just relieved that you’re safe. That’s all that matters to me.’

Having just met the real Kale, I found my conversation with Derth touching in a way that felt different from usual.
I answered calmly to Basen, who had asked his question with the same careful consideration that Derth had shown.

“I came to find the diary my mother left behind.”
“Ah, I see!”

Basen answered hurriedly as if he hadn’t known, then stopped in his tracks and stepped back a few paces to the side.
Then a gravestone came into my view.

【Jur Temps】

I gazed quietly at that name.

‘I suppose I am rather indifferent after all.’

Since possessing Kale’s body, I could have been curious about Kale’s past or his family. Yet I had only retained the information inscribed in the Hero’s Birth.
I had not been particularly curious about Kale’s biological mother’s name, her house, or her appearance. I had simply focused on living in the present and moving forward.

‘It’s immaculate.’

The grave was truly well-maintained. The graves of other ancestors were neat as well, but this one exuded an exceptional cleanliness and an atmosphere as though human hands had just touched it.

Could it be the work of Duke Derth’s hands?
In any case, I resolved that from now on, I would take responsibility for maintaining this grave. Having inherited the body of Kale Heniatus, I believed this duty fell to me, and I opened my mouth to speak.

“Basen, would you mind going down first?”

Seeing the deep gaze in Kale’s eyes as he looked at the gravestone, Basen nodded hurriedly at his question.

“Yes! I’m heading down now! I’ll wait at the bottom of the hill, brother!”

Basen hesitated before adding something more.

“A-and if you need me, please call anytime. Truly, anytime at all.”
“Got it.”

At the sight of Kale Heniatus’s wry smile, Basen felt somewhat reassured and quickly made his way down the hill.
Once Basen’s retreating figure disappeared from view, Kale Heniatus approached the gravestone.

“Hmm.”

He crouched down and placed his hand against the earth directly in front of the gravestone.

“There’s nothing unusual about it.”

Every Ancient Power that Kale Heniatus had obtained thus far had possessed something distinctly odd and peculiar in the vicinity where the power lay buried.

The Voice of Wind, which had stirred whirlpools in the sea.
The Destructive Fire, which rested at the heart of lava.
The Unbreakable Shield, which had searched for food beneath the Tree.
Unlike those cases, now there was only silence.

Kale Heniatus pondered for a moment before speaking.

“First, I need to find the journal.”

The journal Duke Derth had mentioned. An item left behind by my biological mother. Perhaps information about the incomplete Ancient Power lay within it.

“Human! Should I dig it up?”
“No. I’ll do this myself.”

He shook his head at Raon’s words and retrieved a small spade from his spatial pouch.

“My apologies.”

He bowed slightly toward the gravestone and the grave behind it.
Then he began to dig into the earth.

Thunk, thunk.
The earth gave way easily.

‘That’s strange.’

With the temperature dropping, the ground should have been frozen solid and difficult to dig. Yet the earth before the gravestone crumbled as easily as mud the moment the shovel touched it.
Kale Heniatus assumed this peculiarity was connected to the Ancient Powers and quickened his pace.

“…Good heavens.”

Raon sighed as he watched Kale Heniatus crouching down.

“…Our human, sweating profusely just from digging a bit of earth. Your stamina is… worse than paper… I should really keep you confined to the house for a while….”

As Raon muttered on in shock, Kale Heniatus let the words wash over him and continued digging earnestly.

Clink!

The shovel struck something hard. Kale Heniatus set it aside and brushed away the soil with both hands.

‘A box.’

A small metal box emerged from the earth.
A box with no particular lock. Kale Heniatus gazed at the center of its lid.

‘My son. If you wish to see the diary, you must place a drop of your blood upon the magic circle drawn at the center of this box. Only you can open it.’

Kale Heniatus drew a dagger and pricked his finger slightly, then pressed the small bead of blood that welled forth against the magic circle on the box.

Whirrrr—
With a faint hum, the box clicked open effortlessly.

“Human, it’s the diary! But your blood…! Wrap it quickly! Should I call the Saint!”
“The bleeding has stopped.”

It was only a small wound; the vitality of my heart had already staunched the flow with ease.
Kale Heniatus examined the box.
The interior of the opened box was filled with magic circles.
It appeared to be a preservation spell, and though slightly worn by time, the diary within remained in remarkably good condition.

“Huff.”

He exhaled softly and picked up the diary.
The real Kale Heniatus—or rather, the one who had become Kim Rok-soo in his stead—had said it.

‘Mother seemed to have faintly sensed that this would happen.’

An Ancient Power of the Tree attribute. One who possessed the ability to see the rings of life within living beings.

“…Jur Temps.”

Kale Heniatus murmured the name carved upon the gravestone once more, then slowly opened the diary.
He would be able to learn of her past.

Rustle.
The moment Kale Heniatus saw the first page of the diary, his expression hardened.

【If anyone has seen this diary, I wish to ask them this.】

It was not a diary.

【You who dwell in my son’s body—who are you?】

It was a letter recorded within the diary.

“…Ha….”

As Kale Heniatus read through the diary—or rather, the letter—a hollow laugh escaped his lips.

【Life inherently undergoes rebirth repeatedly, living on with new bodies and new memories.】
【Yet exceptions have always existed.】

The hollow laugh faded from Kale Heniatus’s face.

【Most do not know of this exception. Save for our House, few would know of it. Most regard it as an impossible law.】
【There are two such exceptions.】

Those who are exceptions to the law of undergoing rebirth, living on with new bodies and new memories.

【First, those who cannot reincarnate—the single-lived.】
【Second, those who live eternal lives—the immortal.】

Kale Heniatus’s mouth fell open.

“…How does she know something like this?”

Jur Temps. Who was she?
Kale Heniatus’s gaze lingered momentarily on the phrase ‘our family’ before he continued reading.
But then his eyes froze, unable to move past a single point.

【However, there exist variables that fall outside these two exceptions.】

Those called ‘exceptions’ and different ‘variables’.

【Reincarnators. Possessors.】

White Star. Kale Heniatus. Kim Rok-soo.
These three names circled through Kale Heniatus’s mind.

【And finally, regression. That law was known to be impossible, yet we were able to discover that it surely exists somewhere. But that is all—we could not learn any details. Perhaps only the gods know the answer.】

Kale Heniatus thought of the real Kale Heniatus.

‘At forty, he made a deal with the God of Death, and his soul went into the body of Kim Rok-soo, who was in his mid-thirties. And the body left behind when the real Kale Heniatus disappeared regressed through time to eighteen, and Kim Rok-soo possessed that eighteen-year-old body.’

The real Kale Heniatus, caught in the complex simultaneous occurrence of regression and possession.

“What is this?”

Kale Heniatus stared at the diary in his hands with an indescribable expression.
The diary he had intended to read lightly was inscribed with weighty truths.

“Good grief.”

Yet the moment he saw what came next, Kale Heniatus hastily closed the diary.

And one more thing.
Those with a single lifespan, the immortal, and those reincarnated or possessed—there exists one difference between ‘exceptions’ and ‘variables’.
This is why the reincarnated and possessed are distinguished from the two prior exceptions.

“Human, why do you look like that?”

Raon spoke with concern, but Kale slowly recalled the text I had seen moments before.
The reason ‘exceptions’ and ‘variables’ differ.

The reincarnated and possessed—unlike exceptions, there must necessarily exist a soul affected by these two.

In the case of the reincarnated, a soul prepared only with new memories, one that did not receive that new body in place of the reincarnated, must exist somewhere in another dimension, obtaining a different body like a twin and completing the new body and memories.
The one whose body was stolen by the possessed must ultimately obtain the possessed one’s body.
In the former case, since it is another dimension, there is no problem, but in the latter case, it caused great confusion to the soul suddenly robbed of its body.

And the content that followed.

Usually, when the world faces a crisis and gods find direct intervention difficult, they summon those with a single lifespan or the immortal to overcome the world’s peril.
This is because even when they move between dimensions, they do not affect other souls.

Kale’s lips parted.

“…Choi Han.”

No—the three people of the Choi Clan.
Choi Jung-gun, Choi Han, Choi Jung-soo.
They were not immortal. However, Choi Jung-gun and Choi Han, who came to this world, possessed abnormally long lifespans.
There was only one name I could think of.

“…Those with a single lifespan.”

Kale hurriedly opened the diary again.

My son lived the life of a ‘variable’.
It must be reincarnation or possession.

Suddenly, one face came to mind.
It was the face of Kim Rok-soo.
And there was a person who resembled that face.

“…Doesn’t the White Star’s face resemble Kim Rok-soo’s?”
“That’s right, human! Didn’t we talk about that before!”

When I went to the Endable Kingdom, I saw the White Star’s unmasked face in a secret chamber within Duke Fredo’s bedroom.
I had said that face resembled Kim Rok-soo’s quite closely.
I recalled the contents of the diary once more.

【In the case of a reincarnator, the soul that did not receive the reincarnator’s new body and memories will inevitably obtain a different body somewhere across multiple dimensions, existing as if they were twins.】
“…Like twins.”

The White Star is a reincarnator.
Kale Heniatus is a possessor.

And Kim Rok-soo, whose body was swapped with the possessor Kale Heniatus and came to this place.
That Kim Rok-soo’s face resembles the White Star’s.

I recalled the life and future that the true Kale Heniatus had experienced, which I had learned through him.

“It was ruined.”

Choi Han had confronted the White Star, but the East-West Continent was devastated by decades of war, and people died, were injured, and grew weary from the prolonged conflict.
Moreover, the White Star was on the verge of becoming a god himself by attacking Pursulsi.
It was quite likely that the White Star of that time would have summoned the Lion Dragon and killed it by some means, opened the Temple’s doors, and either awakened the Sealed God or obtained its power.

What choice could the God of Death, watching all this, have made?
Based on what I had observed so far, direct intervention by a god was difficult, and ultimately only indirect intervention through a person or object would have been possible.

But the next presumed single-lifer, Choi Jung-soo, had refused the deal.

Then what choices remained for the God of Death?

Without an immortal, without an ‘exception’.
The god would choose a ‘variable’.

And there was a way to resolve both variables—reincarnation and possession—in one stroke.

“How predictable.”

There was no need to think further.

“So that’s why you summoned me.”

He voiced a conjecture of his own—one that bordered on certainty.

“I was one of the souls influenced by the reincarnated White Star.”

His gaze turned toward the journal. There remained so many untold stories within its pages, so many truths yet to be uncovered.

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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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