Will You Cry for Me If I Die? - Chapter 91
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 91
The scars left by the Daytime Emperor were greater than the children could imagine.
From the Founding Ceremony to Yurahel’s incident.
Though peace seemed to have returned for now, the Daytime Emperor still lurked within the Imperial Palace.
Led by Clofford, the few remaining sacred families began pressuring the seasonal families with the Emperor’s backing, while the temple still coveted the immortal mage and sharpened their teeth against the Winter Family.
At first glance, all of this appeared to be a conflict between magic and divine power.
However, those who knew the Daytime Emperor understood that this was not the truth.
Could there be limits to a tyrant’s cruelty?
After his attempt to hunt the children ended in failure, it became clear that the Emperor might do even worse things, and the seasonal families began to guard themselves more strongly.
The cracks were beginning to show on the surface.
Winter Castle, at the center of all this turmoil, was currently wrapped in very peaceful tranquility.
A time when the bitter cold had somewhat subsided.
The children began to fully enjoy the less cold period that made up the other half of the year.
Those small silhouettes visible beyond the window were busy pulling each other’s scarves or packing snow to throw at each other’s backs.
The child with strength enough to knock down a grown man gently sprinkled snow on the youngest before running away with laughter, followed by another child who seemed ready to dive barefoot across the snow.
Barefoot.
‘That child is particularly unaffected by the cold.’
Even though the bitter cold was passing, even the Winter Castle residents who were all ability users optimized for winter wouldn’t dream of running barefoot in the snowy fields.
Looking closer, he could see fingernail-sized shoes left to one side.
Seeing this, Millayen frowned briefly before relaxing.
Right, Becky and the other maids wouldn’t have failed to properly prepare the children.
Even his eldest, Demian, was there with them.
If there was any risk of catching cold, they would have stopped it.
‘Children, indeed.’
Getting sick from the cold didn’t seem to be a concern for those children, at least not now.
He wanted to protect this.
Always, consistently.
“So.”
Millayen turned away from the window.
Several documents were already spread out on the table, and across from them, Count Iden stood leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
“Rumel’s birthday is a month away, you say?”
“Yes. It’s top-secret information that was whispered only to me.”
Millayen’s eyebrow twitched.
He continued speaking as if nothing had happened.
“I knew the birthday was coming soon.”
“Of course you would. We all heard that together, didn’t we? But I was told separately, in a whisper!”
“The gift is the problem.”
“Of course we have to! Probably only expecting it from me though.”
Thwack.
Creating snow harder than stone where there was no snow and throwing it, it hit the center of Count Iden’s triumphant face.
“What’s important is that everyone knows now.”
“R-right. Of course.”
Count Iden eagerly agreed with Millayen’s muttering as if the recent disciplinary action was unknown to him.
And soon sighed with the same expression.
“What on earth should we give?”
Yesterday. No, was it the day before?
Professor Shura asked that child who would soon turn five.
Whether there was something he wanted, or something he wanted to do.
It would have meant to think about it since his birthday wasn’t far away.
The child’s answer was clean.
“Give me back Number 2!”
When asked what Number 2 was.
It was the hidden weapon that child had thrown at the Lord on his first day arriving at Winter Castle, saying he would kill the snowman.
Millayen still vividly remembered that moment.
The moment when that forearm-sized little one with limbs drooping from poison paralysis shot a direct gaze without fear or hesitation while making sounds close to shouting.
The voice that instantly became a fraction of its size and the chubby cheeks that flushed as he responded to the conversation.
From the first moment he saw him, the child had shone.
Lovable, and while angry at his pitiful circumstances, watching his spirited behavior made one feel both touched and naturally amused.
Of course, no one would know that Millayen felt that way.
Anyway, the problem wasn’t that historic first meeting between him and his external daughter—a daughter he was looking for opportunities to reach an agreement with to make her his real daughter if possible.
What mattered was that he had immediately disposed of the hidden weapon the child threw that day instead of keeping it as a memento.
‘…Should not have thrown it away.’
Couldn’t he have returned it after just removing the poison?
But because it was a hidden weapon, he had disposed of it while half-venting his anger at Clofford, who had abused the child to that extent!
‘But still, giving a new hidden weapon as a gift…’
To a five-year-old. As a birthday present. A hidden weapon…?
Wouldn’t that be seen as encouraging a future as an assassin?
Of course, Nocturne, a senior assassin, might give one, but his hidden weapon would be much safer and more professional. And crucially, who would say anything if an assassin gave a hidden weapon as a gift?
But the two of them were different.
One was a father-aspirant, and one was an uncle-aspirant.
They had to be more… more… amazing!
And anyway, they couldn’t give a hidden weapon!
After a considerable silence, Millayen pressed his temple.
“We need to blow his mind with a bigger gift.”
Count Iden briefly crossed his arms tighter and asked cheekily.
“Isn’t that too impure a reason? I’m saying to purely celebrate our baby, brother.”
“It’s also for pure celebration.”
“Really, if you can’t speak properly.”
“…I think our castle’s discipline has gotten a bit lax lately.”
“Right now I’m neither an aide nor a special knight, you know?”
“If not that, then what are you?”
“Is this how you treat a brother-in-law?”
Millayen didn’t answer. Instead of answering, he picked up a document.
“So what I’m saying is, let’s join forces to give an amazing gift.”
Count Iden winked and quickly said.
“It’ll probably be our baby’s first birthday gift ever.”
Then from one corner of the room, three people who had been listening to this conversation from the beginning with serious expressions shouted “Exactly!”
“I finished work that should take two years twice as fast and came back, so wouldn’t it be too hollow if we carelessly celebrate that child’s birthday?”
Green-haired Baroness Adelaine spoke with a gentle smile on her sharp-looking features.
Though she appeared as a dignified noblewoman, she was strictly Winter Castle’s intelligence chief.
She had left the castle to find evidence of collusion between Clofford, the Royal Palace, and the temple regarding Rumel, but had recently returned after finding evidence at a brilliant speed.
Nocturne, who had been away for similar reasons, said.
“If you’ve prepared a doll, I’ll handle the dollhouse.”
“I prepared a fluffy dolphin, are you planning to create an ocean?”
“…”
While Nocturne fell seriously back into thought, Professor Shura, Ikaros’s attending physician, cleared his throat.
“If we’re doing this together, wouldn’t it be better for everyone to participate? You called us here to include us too, didn’t you, my lord?”
“I called you to receive reports about Clofford and to brainstorm ideas.”
“If we brainstorm ideas, will you actually listen to them? Heh, we’ll see about that.”
Professor Shura smirked at his lord who was beginning to show signs of being a doting parent.
Lord Iden shrugged his shoulders and opened his mouth.
“Then let’s begin.”
Sparks flew from the fireplace. Faint laughter of children could be heard from outside the window, and when that sound was at its peak, the Winter Family’s meeting began.
* * *
Baron Adelaine, who had instantly transformed from a noble lady into an intelligence chief with cold eyes, placed the first document on the table.
Thud.
Using that sound as a signal, the atmosphere in the room changed. The laughter from outside the window seemed to grow distant.
“Let’s start with the reports first.”
The Baron said.
“I’ll show you my collection first.”
“Alright.”
The man in black, Lord Nocturne, stepped forward from the shadows. A thin metal case was held in his hands. When he placed it on the table, the side with the lock mechanism faced upward.
“These are what I’ve collected over the past three months.”
When he opened the lock, documents were packed tightly inside. Some were old, and others had ink that still glistened as if recently copied.
Councilor Shura picked up the topmost one.
“The Clofford Family began experimenting with undead mages twenty-three years ago from now.”
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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