Chapter 191
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 191
At the same time, I checked my status window for the first time in a while.
‘Hey! Kim Ddong-byul! Get out here!’
[System: Status Window]
Tulia Frezier (17)
-
Overall Rating: B
‘It’s a long road from B to A.’
Besides, my Skill stat was only at 10 because of a temporary +1 boost; it was originally a 9. I’d have to invest more coins later to make it a permanent 10.
Still, looking back at how pathetic my stats were at the beginning, this was nothing short of a monumental improvement.
As I planned to recruit Schuls Schmidt as an advisor, I figured it was about time I fulfilled the promise I’d made to him long ago.
I was the type of person who spent at least an hour every night before bed tossing and turning Kim Ddong-byul like a pancake, or throwing him around like a ball.
That was how I’d discovered there was a function to temporarily boost stats by investing a few coins.
‘Since it’s a temporary boost, the coins I use just vanish into thin air without a trace...’
Technically, it was a loss, but I had a reason for boosting my stats to decode this Ancient Language letter.
I looked up at Schuls Schmidt, who was staring at the letter with a pale face.
[System: Profile]
Schuls Schmidt (29)
Perhaps because it had been a while since I checked his profile, many details had been added since the first time I saw it.
And...
‘Hmph. I can check it now.’
I clicked ‘See More’ without hesitation.
Since I had already unlocked it previously, it appeared immediately without any cost.
That Ancient Language letter Schuls Schmidt was holding.
I had been able to translate that long first line the very day I received it.
“The phrase ‘To the part of me that broke away from my body’ is an idiom used in ancient times for one’s most cherished child.”
At that time, Schuls Schmidt had asked for clarification, his face etched with confusion.
I had continued to decode the letter in my spare time since then, but once the translation passed the 70% mark, I only grew more confused rather than enlightened.
‘At first, I thought it was that kind of story.’
The cliché trope where a scary, strict father actually cherished his son deeply.
However, the letter filled with Ancient Language contained content entirely different from my common assumptions.
‘Lord Schmidt was Schuls Schmidt’s... uncle.’
Having finished reading the decoded letter, Schuls Schmidt quietly set the letter and his glasses down on the table.
Then, he buried his face in his hands. He was silent. He didn't wail or sob with shaking shoulders.
But even without touching him, one could sense the dampness.
After some time had passed, Schuls Schmidt raised his head. His eyes, usually so cold and sharp, were bloodshot and wet.
“...Lord Schmidt was my biological mother’s younger brother.”
His voice was bitter.
I already knew the contents from decoding that long letter, but I listened to him in silence.
“My mother loved a man from a humble family. The Schmidt family has been conservative since ancient times, and that man... my biological father... was eventually poisoned.”
At that time, Schuls Schmidt’s mother was already pregnant with him.
The stubborn and conservative Schmidt family viewed their daughter as a tool for political marriage.
Naturally, they intended to get rid of the child she secretly carried.
Realizing her family’s plot, she fled the estate, gave birth alone, and froze to death in a cold, icy field.
The man tasked by the family to track down his runaway sister was Lord Schmidt—the man Schuls Schmidt had known as his father.
He found his sister and the newborn baby in a winter cave.
However, his sister had already drawn her last breath.
She had stripped off her own clothes to wrap the baby tightly, clutching him to her chest.
Scattered around her frozen body were a few winter strawberries.
They were meager wild fruits, frozen by the frost, lacking any sweetness or nutritional value to warm the body.
“It is written... that my mother died while personally thawing those few winter strawberries with her own two hands to put them in my mouth...”
Tears finally began to well up and spill from Schuls Schmidt’s eyes.
A frozen sister and a nephew on the brink of death.
In the end, Lord Schmidt brought the nephew back and raised him in secret without informing the family. Later, after his own marriage, he even went as far as to register the boy as his youngest son.
The letter I translated was filled with apologies.
“He says he only wished for me to live a quiet life. To be moderately clever, to spend the family’s money moderately, and to live in comfort and peace. In other words, he wanted me to enjoy the life of an idler who would never arouse the family’s suspicion...”
The more Schuls Schmidt stood out, the more certain it was that the family would take notice of him.
Lord Schmidt had been terrified of that fact.
He feared that, by some mistake, it would be revealed that Schuls Schmidt was ‘that child who should have died.’
He feared that Schuls Schmidt would be killed...
“That’s why he fought with me every day. Because I refused to live that way.”
“...”
The two of them, with their conflicting views, had done nothing but shout at each other every day, which eventually led to the cold outcome of disownment.
Lord Schmidt knew all too well that to his sister, he had been a terrible person, and that if he showed special favor to the youngest son who wouldn't listen to him, it would only invite more suspicion.
And yet, until the very, very end, Lord Schmidt worried and worried for Schuls Schmidt, who was actually his nephew.
Ultimately, there was only one sentence written at the end.
[I have never once thought of you as anything other than my own son. I am sorry for preventing you from doing what you wanted to do.
The fact that I truly loved you will never change, even if the mountains crumble and the heavens split apart.
So, please do not hate me too much.
I love you.]
‘I love you.’
Only someone who had read the letter could know how much emotion, how many secrets, and how much sincerity were hidden in that blunt closing.
I shifted my gaze as I watched Schuls Schmidt quietly close his eyes.
How long did the silence last?
Finally, Schuls Schmidt took a few sips of his now-cold tea and set the cup down with his usual composure.
“There was a reason why this Ancient Language letter was exceptionally difficult to decode.”
“Yes. It was mentioned in the middle.”
“That he had placed a spell on it... My father really was something else.”
Schuls Schmidt gave a faint smile.
“He really went to great lengths...”
This was another unique aspect of the Ancient Language.
Countless scholars had tackled the Ancient Language over the years, so how could there be no deciphered characters?
In the world of The Milk Bread, the Ancient Language allowed for special magic to be imbued into the characters themselves. This enabled countless variations of the script if one put their mind to it.
‘Actually, this was because the users of The Milk Bread game complained so much. They said it made no sense that the White Tower, with all its geniuses, couldn't solve a single line of the Ancient Language.’
I remembered well that this setting had been hastily added for that reason.
“Teacher.”
Shaking off the old memories, I stood up and pulled the bell pull on the wall.
“I’ve prepared a snack, so please have some.”
Usually, when offering something to a guest, one would say, ‘Would you like to try some?’
So, what I just said to Schuls Schmidt was, strictly speaking, a bit informal.
But isn't the result what matters most?
The door opened, and a servant who had been waiting outside placed a plate of snacks down. Schuls Schmidt’s eyes turned toward me.
His gaze was heavy with complicated emotions—bitterness, tenderness, and sorrow.
“You certainly have become wealthy. To be able to obtain these regardless of the season.”
“Of course. I’m quite rich.”
Without a word, Schuls Schmidt picked up a winter strawberry from the plate with a fork and brought it to his mouth.
It was at that moment. Suddenly, the world before my eyes flashed with brilliant colors.
[System] You have completed the Hidden Quest <The One Who Truly Loved You>!
[System] A success reward is granted.
[System] ‘Curse: Bloodbath of the Ball’ has been permanently lifted.
‘What?’
A look of bewilderment crossed my face.
[System] ‘Curse: Bloodbath of the Ball’: A curse that turns your partner’s feet into a bloody mess no matter how much you practice dancing.
(However, the influence of the curse increases or decreases depending on the partner’s dancing skill.)
Wait, what on earth...
Does this mean I’ve been cursed all this time?