Chapter 134: Those Harboring Poison (2)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 134: Those Harboring Poison (2)
“Are you alright, Sister?”
“Yes… I’m fine. Though if you hadn't been there, I might have lost control of my rage and gotten myself badly hurt.”
Luna sank into the sofa, pressing a hand to her forehead.
The murderous intent and fighting spirit that had just torn through Joshua’s mansion were gone. In their place, deep shadows clung to her gaunt face.
“Sigh.”
Soon, tears welled in her reddened eyes.
A day had passed since Taimun’s death, yet Luna had been unable to hold a funeral for her.
The poison-tainted corpse had slowly shriveled and oxidized until nothing remained but a small, black puddle. Luna had stood there for a long time, staring blankly at the spot, unable to bring herself to leave.
One could hardly call that a funeral. Besides, she wasn't even sure if her nanny deserved one.
After all, Taimun was the person who had deceived her and tried to kill her most beloved brother.
“Joshua… that boy didn’t seem to care about Taimun’s death at all. He just sat there, terrified, waiting for me to draw my sword first. Just as you predicted. And yet, he had already mobilized the family’s Black Knights.”
The Black Knights.
Among Runcandel’s Guardian Knights, only those recognized by all as the absolute best could don the black robes of a Black Knight. Joshua had already brought them into his faction.
Furthermore, they were directly subordinate to the Patriarch and his spouse. They were the strongest Guardian Knights in Runcandel, taking orders from no one else unless both parents gave their consent.
The Black Knights, too? Did Mother already hand them over to Joshua? Father doesn’t particularly care for him, so it couldn't have been easy to get his consent.
He had gained new information about his enemy, but Jin pushed the thoughts aside for now. Holding his sister’s hand and offering her a handkerchief was what mattered.
Traitor or not, Taimun had been family to her. And though he was a piece of trash, Joshua was her brother, too.
Luna had lost them both at once. One was dead, and the other was now an explicit enemy.
“Haha… Nanny… If she had betrayed me for someone who actually cherished her, maybe I could understand. No… it’s probably my fault. If only I had been more considerate of her feelings.”
The inability to forgive Taimun and an irrepressible sorrow tore at her heart.
What could possibly erase this sense of loss?
What could cover this wound?
Even in the moment she was threatening Joshua, she had barely been able to shake off these questions.
“It’s all my fault. Nanny betraying me, Joshua cursing you, my servants dying at the hands of my siblings’ daggers… none of this would have happened if I had conducted myself properly.”
She was wrong.
Following Luna's logic to its conclusion, one would have to decide her very birth was a mistake.
Above all, as far as Jin was concerned, the curse had absolutely nothing to do with Luna.
He had suffered the same curse in his past life, a time when he’d had no relationship with Luna whatsoever.
That madman would have found someone else to curse me, even if it wasn't Taimun. I still don't know why. The fact that I chose Barisada at the Selection Ceremony isn't reason enough.
Chronologically, the curse seemed most related to Barisada.
However, at that time, Joshua was already consolidating his power among the siblings.
That was thanks to Rosa, who had pegged him as the next Patriarch immediately after Luna gave up on the throne and began providing him with subtle support.
Joshua’s greatest power base is Mother. I didn't know she had already given him the Black Knights, but it’s a fact known to all the siblings that Mother is exceptionally biased toward him.
It was the same last year when Cyron visited the Garden of Swords to host a banquet.
—Rosa. You must have gone to a lot of trouble.
—Not at all. Our grown son prepared everything himself. I had nothing to do.
—If our grown children were doing so well on their own, I wouldn’t have needed to leave the Black Sea. The guests visiting Runcandel today are wary of me, not our children.
Even then, the "grown son" Rosa referred to was Joshua.
The "our children" Cyron spoke of referred to all the siblings. It was a statement made in front of all the family elders and purebloods.
Even if he hasn't earned Father’s trust, Joshua has enjoyed Mother’s full support since before I was even born. I was never a competitor to begin with.
Attacking a young pureblood in Storm Castle was the ultimate taboo.
If one were caught breaking that taboo, it was a matter that could not be overlooked, whether the culprit was a Flagbearer or even the Patriarch himself.
While Runcandel’s superstitions about Barisada ran deep, the potential gain was far too small for Joshua to risk so much just to kill Jin.
It would have been much safer and more effective to kill or curse me once I returned to the main house.
After his regression, Jin had assumed the curse would strike him after he turned ten.
Or perhaps the curse had taken root while he was still in Rosa’s womb. That was why, immediately upon being reborn, he had worried that the curse Solderet had lifted would still be there.
Then, just as he was worrying about what to do next, the red shackles had descended upon his cradle in Storm Castle.
At that exact moment, Solderet’s authority had manifested, sparing him from disaster.
Along with the contract, Jin realized his talent remained intact, and he had been searching for the culprit ever since.
That was how he had reached this point.
I'll find out why he broke the taboo and what he stood to gain when I crush him after becoming a Flagbearer.
Just as Jin finished his thought and was about to tell his sister it wasn't her fault—
“…Jin.”
Luna called his name first.
“Since I was young, I hated staining my hands with the blood of my siblings. No, I was afraid of it. Seeing the purebloods of our parents’ generation killing one another was too much for me to bear.”
“And that is why you became the sword that protects the family, so the siblings of our generation wouldn't engage in excessive competition. Isn't that right, Sister? Thanks to you, unlike the previous generation, all of our siblings are still alive.”
Cyron’s children, the current second generation of Runcandel.
They were a special generation in all of Runcandel’s thousand-year history. In other generations, if ten siblings were born, usually only five survived, and one of them would become the Patriarch to lead the family.
However, Jin’s siblings had not experienced the tragedy of kin-slaying, all thanks to Luna. While rank wars existed, they were fought without the intent to kill.
It was because Luna had used her overwhelming martial prowess to prevent them from "killing" each other every single time.
In a sense, Luna was the counterweight that maintained the balance of the current Runcandel.
However, the way the siblings looked at that counterweight was not very pleasant. It was only natural, as Luna’s very essence did not fit Runcandel.
To her siblings, it must have looked like she was idly playing the part of a transcendent being despite possessing the greatest power.
“Yes, it’s true that everyone is still alive thanks to me. But I see it now. I was just a coward who ran away from the struggle and settled outside the cycle.”
Luna let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.
“Hypocrite. There is no word that suits me better. I am being punished for the disgusting hypocrisy I’ve practiced all this time.”
“The hypocrisy belongs to Taimun, not you, Sister. And the punishment is something Joshua will receive in the future.”
“While my servants were dying, while Nanny betrayed me to save her own life, and while she tried to harm you on Joshua’s orders… what exactly was I doing? I was just looking away, pretending to be kind.”
“Sister.”
“Nanny was right. If I hadn't given up on the throne, things would never have come to this. No, I even find myself thinking that I should never have been born.”
“Does saying that make you feel any better?”
“No. Nothing I do will make me feel better.”
Though the circumstances were different, Jin saw his past self in Luna.
Why was I born? Why was I born into Runcandel of all places without talent, only to experience this despair?
The same logic applied to Luna.
Why was I born? Why do I have such immense power yet remain unable to adapt to Runcandel?
Both had put in immense effort to overcome their respective talents and temperaments, which were no different from a heavenly curse. Jin had never let go of his sword despite being held in contempt, and Luna had endured the family’s machinations to ultimately protect herself.
As a result, the Jin of the past life lost Gilly, and the Luna of the present lost Taimun.
What were the words that comforted me the most back then?
A single voice immediately came to mind.
—Young Master, I will always love you. No matter who you are or where you are.
The words Gilly had said in his past life, never giving up on Jin until the very end.
And the words Luna had said when she first visited Jin at Storm Castle in this life overlapped in his mind.
—Remember one thing, Jin. My brother. No matter what you do or what you become, I will always support you.
As Jin spoke those two sentences exactly as he remembered them, Luna covered her face and burst into tears like a child.
“I am here, Sister. I will be the one to drench myself in our siblings' blood, so you can keep running away, just as you always have. And if you still find no peace after running, then you can lean on me.”
Luna stopped crying and shook her head.
“No. I have no intention of running away anymore. Killing Joshua is your task, but if another sibling targets you… I will cut that sibling down.”
“By the time I become a Flagbearer and go to war with our siblings, won't I be stronger than you, Sister?”
“It means that from this day forward, I will no longer be the sword that protects the family, but the sword that protects you. Jin Runcandel, my youngest brother. I will make you the Patriarch.”
“Don't push yourself too hard. And feel free to mourn Taimun as much as you want in front of me; don't try to hold it back. Even if I have nothing but bad memories of her, she was family to you.”
Afterward, Jin stayed for a long while, listening to Luna recount her memories of Taimun before leaving her estate.
All the way back to Tikan, his thoughts were consumed by revenge and Joshua Runcandel. He plotted how to systematically crush his despicable eldest brother.
Taimun said he knows about my contract. The person who leaked that information to Joshua must be the mage who confirmed that the curse didn't work.
Kidad Hall.
The 9-star mage who had personally cast "Delusion of the Blade" on Jin.
He was a Great Mage whose name Jin had heard countless times even in his past life, but he had never imagined that man would be connected to his curse.
I'll kill him first. That will be my message to Joshua.