Chapter 512: Fall (5)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 512: Fall (5)
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Tap, tap, tap, tap…
Anne’s index finger drummed incessantly against the table. She gnawed at her nails, unable to hide her mounting anxiety.
“Damn it, damn it, damn it…!”
Sitting across from her, Myu was just as agitated.
It was no exaggeration to say that the sisters had survived within the family by pinning all their hopes on one man: Joshua.
They had never stood out—not as reserve flagbearers, not after becoming true flagbearers, and certainly not now.
Their trajectory had been a steady decline ever since they lost the rank war to Jin when he was only fifteen and a mere intermediate-level cadet.
Neither Cyron nor Rosa had ever spared them a second glance.
When they achieved something that could be considered a success, they received no praise. When they blundered, they weren't even scolded.
Myu and Anne were like air—just like the other children who, despite their pure blood, failed to show any “extraordinary” talent.
“At least air is essential… Heh. We’re just stepping stones, laid out to make our brilliant siblings shine. Looking back, that’s all our lives have been.”
“What are you talking about all of a sudden, Sister? Is this any time to get sentimental? Our brother is about to be finished!”
“He’s not ‘about to be.’ He’s already finished. And so are we. We’re just livestock waiting for the axe to fall.”
“Ha! There’s no way Mother would give up on him so easily. She must have a plan. Something… she must have something in mind…”
Unfortunately, Myu and Anne lacked the insight to see what Jin had already perceived.
With dark expressions, the sisters sat in silence, recalling the day long ago when Luna had slapped them.
—From what I’ve seen, the youngest isn't a particularly merciful child. You two had better be careful from now on.
—…Is there still something left for you to mock, Sister?
—No, I’m saying this because I’m truly worried about you. I feel like you’ve been straying further and further off the path for a while now, but you’re still my siblings.
The youngest isn't a particularly merciful child.
Even when they heard those words from Luna, Myu and Anne had been certain that Jin could never defeat Joshua.
If only they had been a little more cautious. The sisters had always displayed more hostility toward Jin than necessary, and the results were always disastrous. Now, they were facing the ultimate consequence.
“…Should we go and beg the youngest?”
“Anne.”
“You never know! If we tell him we’ll be his right hand, just like we were for our brother, maybe he’ll take us in.”
“We weren't his right hand. What did we ever do for him? He was too busy cleaning up our messes. The only reason he kept us around was because he pitied us. Maybe he saw himself in us—always getting trampled on.”
“Damn it! Then are you saying we should just sit here and wait to die?”
There were only a handful of siblings who could take the now-vacant position of Next Patriarch: Luna, Luntia, Dipus, Mary, and Jin. Of those five, the sisters believed Jin had the highest chance.
Anyone who had witnessed the Patriarch’s declaration would think the same. And once Jin became the Patriarch, they would undoubtedly be purged.
Even if another sibling ascended, the outcome would be the same. Jin would still hold a key position due to his abilities and the legacy of the First Patriarch, making their purge inevitable.
“…No. We have to find a new umbrella.”
“Right! Sister, we have to! We can’t die like this.”
“First, we need to find out why Mother abandoned our brother. Maybe… could it be because of our eldest sister?”
Anne’s eyes widened.
“Luna?”
“Do you think Father took her to the Black Sea for no reason? I think he’s trying to change her mind by showing her something there. Mother abandoned Joshua because she knows that. It’s frustrating, but Luna is still the greatest flagbearer.”
“If she just declared her intent to become the Patriarch, she’s the only one no one could oppose. If she takes the throne… we might actually survive.”
Despair sometimes leads people into a world of foolish fantasies. The sisters were spouting nonsense, pushing away the reality that such a thing would never happen.
“Or, Luntia is currently searching for the First Patriarch’s legacy, right? If she produces results, Mother might back her instead of Joshua. Luntia has a better chance than Luna.”
“In a few days, we should try to visit Mother…”
Just as she said that, a sudden laugh erupted from the shadows of the room.
“Ahahaha…”
Shring!
The sisters drew their swords and took their stances in a single, fluid motion.
They were in Myu’s room. Even if they were drowning in frustration, they were still flagbearers of Runcandel. It sent a chill down their spines that someone had approached this closely without them noticing.
‘I didn't sense a thing.’
‘That voice…!’
To their surprise, the laughter belonged to someone they knew well.
“I can’t listen to this anymore! Ladies, honestly, do you really think Joshua is finished?”
Playful, sparkling eyes, black hair, and a slender frame.
“Ilina…?”
Ilina Runcandel.
It was shocking enough that someone had intruded without a sound, but the fact that it was Ilina was even more staggering.
She was Joshua’s wife.
“You… how long have you been there?”
“I don’t know how you can wear the flagbearer uniform when you’re this stupid and incompetent. The Runcandel I knew wasn’t like this.”
Ilina had never been this disrespectful to the sisters before.
The flagbearers of Runcandel rarely married until the Patriarch of their generation was decided and the rank wars were over. The risk of a spouse and children being purged or assassinated was simply too high. Furthermore, once a new Patriarch was crowned, it was customary for the surviving siblings to enter into political marriages as commanded by the family.
However, because Joshua had been the presumptive Next Patriarch for so long, he had married Ilina.
Everyone assumed he had married her—a woman with no renowned martial family, no clear background, and no notable skills of her own—out of a mere whim or a passing passion. As if to prove it, the wedding had been extremely modest, and the marriage was never officially announced to the outside world.
After the wedding, Ilina had lived as quietly as a shadow. She never meddled in power struggles or showed any ambition. Even Joshua rarely visited her quarters after their honeymoon. Thus, the family members assumed that once Joshua became the Patriarch and sought a new consort, Ilina would naturally disappear.
Until this very moment, the sisters had thought the same.
She was a sister-in-law who held the title of Joshua’s wife but possessed not a shred of personal power. And that sister-in-law was now mocking them.
They could kill her right now, and it wouldn’t be a problem. Since Joshua was locked in the underground prison, Ilina would eventually be cast out or exiled anyway.
And yet, for some reason…
The hands holding their swords wouldn’t move. The sisters realized it instinctively: Ilina was not the insignificant person they thought she was.
They also realized that if they swung their swords now, the ones to fall wouldn’t be Ilina—the woman they had considered a nobody until yesterday—but themselves.
“You… what are you?”
“What do you mean? I’m your sister-in-law.”
“That’s not what I’m asking!”
“You really have no talent other than barking loudly, do you? Though, that incompetence is exactly why our orphan cherishes you two.”
Step, step. Ilina slowly approached them, one pace at a time.
“St-Stay back.”
“Get lost…!”
Myu and Anne unconsciously backed away as they saw her shadow growing larger.
The shadow beneath Ilina’s feet was casting a shape entirely different from her slender frame. It writhed like a demon, a monster, or something far more horrific. The sisters’ breath hitched in their throats as they watched the shadow twist and grow.
It felt as if an unstoppable darkness was surging toward them.
In the end, the sisters couldn't even swing their swords by the time Ilina was right in front of them. They could only tremble, drenched in a cold sweat.
“Pl-Please… spare us…”
They were out of their minds, begging for their lives—flagbearers of Runcandel.
They had been utterly dominated by her presence alone.
No matter how incompetent they were, that was only in the context of being unfit for the position of Patriarch. They were still flagbearers of the sword-demon clan who had survived countless bloodbaths. They had faced numerous powerful foes and crossed the line between life and death every time.
Even when facing enemies clearly stronger than themselves, the sisters had never lost their nerve—not when Luna slapped them, not when Mary beat them, and not when they challenged Jin at every opportunity.
But to the sisters, who had never personally felt Cyron’s wrath, this was the greatest terror imaginable.
Ilina smiled softly at them.
“There’s nothing to be afraid of, ladies. I won’t harm you.”
Whooooosh!
Ilina’s massive shadow shot upward and began to envelop her.
Looking up at that sight, the sisters began to laugh through their tears, as if, in a moment of despair, they had grasped a saving hand extended by a god.
“Ha, haha…!”
[I am the Prophet of Disaster.]
When Ilina emerged from the shadow, she looked entirely different.
The darkness that was her now filled the vast room. From its center, her face protruded like a burl on a tree, swollen and distorted as if it might burst—a truly grotesque form.
[Orphans, take my hand.]
Myu and Anne knelt and reached out their trembling hands toward Ilina. They felt something indescribable—both cold and warm—grasp their hands.
[I shall be your parent. Say that you want it.]
“We want it…”
At those words, the sisters’ shadows shattered like broken glass. The largest fragment of each was absorbed into Ilina’s bosom.
[The despair you have harbored as sorrowful orphans shall make you all the more valuable…]
Soon, Ilina’s form shrank back down.
She returned to the woman the sisters remembered, and beneath her feet lay a normal-looking shadow. The sisters remained on their knees.
“The role of saving our orphan, Joshua… shall be yours. You can do it, right?”
With a faith they had never possessed before, the sisters nodded.