章節 353: Chapter 512

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***

Tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap, tap...

Anne was constantly tapping her index finger on the table. She sometimes bites her nails, unable to hide her anxiety.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it...!"

On the opposite side, Myu also couldn't conceal her troubled expression.

It is no exaggeration to say that the sisters were surviving in the clan by focusing solely on Joshua.

They never stood out in any period. Not when they were reserve flagbearers, not when they became flagbearers, and not even now.

In particular, things have been going downhill ever since they lost a ranking war with Jin, who was a 15-year-old intermediate cadet.

Chiron and Rosa never showed any interest in them.

They were not praised even when they achieved something that could be considered an achievement. And they were not severely reprimanded when they made mistakes.

Myu and Anne were like air. Just like other pure-bloods who did not show an 'exceptional' appearance.

"Even air is necessary... tsk. We are just useless decorations to highlight the outstanding siblings. Looking back, we've always been in such a position."

"What are you suddenly talking about, unnie? Is this the time to get lost in such thoughts? Our Oldest brother is finished now!"

"It didn't happen, it's already over. So, we're done too. Now, we're no different from chickens about to have their necks twisted."

"Ha! Mother would never give up oldest brother so easily. She must have some thoughts. Something, definitely, in her mind...."

Unfortunately, Myu and Anne had no way of seeing what Jin had insight into.

The sisters were silent, with dark faces, recalling the day they had been slapped by Luna a long time ago.

-From what I've observed, the youngest is not a very merciful child. You two better be careful from now on.

-...Is there still something left to ridicule? Unnie.

-No, I'm saying this because I'm genuinely worried about you. It has felt like things have been going astray for a while, but you two are still my sisters.

The youngest is not a very merciful child.

When Myu and Anne heard these words from Luna, they were confident that Jin would never be able to defeat Joshua.

However, it would have been better if they had been a bit more cautious. The sisters always showed more hostility towards Jin than necessary, and the results were never good, especially now, which was the worst.

"...Should we go to the youngest and plead?"

"Anne."

"You never know. Just like what we did to our oldest brother, we can offer to be his right hand if he asks."

"We were never his right hand. What benefit did we provide to our oldest brother? If we caused trouble, the oldest brother would just cover it up. He took us in because we looked pitiful. Maybe he saw himself in us, who were trampled on every time."

"Damn it, then, are you suggesting that we just sit still and wait to die, unnie?"

There weren't many siblings who could take the vacant position of the next patriarch. There were only four: Luntia, Diphus, Mary, and Jin. Among them, the sisters considered Jin to have the highest possibility.

Anyone who saw his patriarchy declaration would think the same. And if Jin became the patriarch, they were destined to be purged.

The same would happen even if another sibling, rather than Jin, ascended the throne. It occurred to them that there was no way to avoid the purge, as Jin would not be eliminated and would hold important positions due to his ability and the legacy of the first patriarch.

"...No, we need to find a new umbrella."

"Yes! Unnie, that's right! We can't die like this."

"First, we need to find out why Mother abandoned oldest brother. Maybe... it could be because of our eldest sister?"

Anne's eyes widened.

"Eldest sister?"

"Why would Father take the eldest sister to the Black Sea Expedition for no reason? Maybe he wanted to show her something there and try to change eldest sister's mind. Mother knew that, so she abandoned oldest brother Joshua. It's frustrating, but eldest sister is still the best flagbearer."

"If the eldest sister just expresses her intention to become the patriarch like you said, then there is no one who can object to her. I think we can survive if our eldest sister ascends to the throne…"

Despair sometimes leads people into a dim world of imagination. The sisters were saying nonsense, pushing away the reality that there was no way for that to happen.

"Or, isn't Luntia Unnie looking for the legacy of the first patriarch? If she achieves good results, Mother might push Luntia Unnie instead of oldest brother Joshua. The possibility is higher for Luntia Unnie than eldest sister."

"After a few days, I might as well go visit Mother...."

The moment she said that, laughter suddenly came from behind the table.

"Ahahaha...."

Srrk!

The sisters drew their swords at the same time, assuming a defensive stance.

The place where the sisters were was Myu's room. Despite being in a state of despair, they were still flagbearers of Runcandel. It gave them goosebumps that they didn't notice at all until someone got this close.

'There was no sign at all?'

'This voice...!'

Surprisingly, the laughter belonged to someone the sisters knew well.

"I can't listen anymore! Young ladies. Do you really think Joshua is finished?"

Mischievously bright eyes, black hair, and delicate body.

"Ilina...?"

Ilina Runcandel.

It was shocking enough that someone had infiltrated without any sign, but the fact that it was Ilina made it even more surprising.

She is Joshua's wife.

"Since when have you been there?"

"How can someone so foolish and incompetent wear the coat of a flagbearer? The Runcandel I knew wasn't like this."

Ilina had never been so impolite and hostile to the sisters before.

The flagbearers of the Runcandel rarely married until the patriarch of the generation was determined and the battle of hegemony came to an end.

This was because the risk of their spouses and children being purged and assassinated was too high.

Furthermore, when a new patriarch was selected, the surviving siblings usually have strategic marriages according to the clan's orders.

However, since Joshua had already been the next patriarch for a long time, he married Ilina.

Everyone thought that the reason Joshua married Ilina, who was not the daughter of a famous knight clan, had an unknown origin, and had no special abilities, was just an impulse or a passing passion.

As if to prove that point, the wedding was very modest, and the marriage was not publicly disclosed.

Ilina lived quietly like a shadow after marriage, never interfering in power struggles or expressing greed. Joshua also rarely visited her after their honeymoon.

Therefore, the clan members believed that once Joshua found a new bride after becoming the patriarch, Ilina would naturally disappear.

Even the sisters, who were now unexpectedly facing her, thought the same.

She had no personal power, just Joshua's wife, a powerless figure. Yet, such a powerless figure was mocking them.

It wouldn't be a problem to kill her with a single blow. Since Joshua was imprisoned in the dungeon, Ilina would also undergo a process of downfall or expulsion. However, for some reason,

Their hands holding the swords did not move. The sisters intuitively realized something. Ilina was not the inconspicuous person they thought she was.

Moreover, if they drew their swords now, the one who would fall wouldn't be Ilina, who was just a nobody until yesterday, but rather themselves.

"You... what is this?"

"What is it, young ladies? Just your sister-in-law."

"I am not asking that because I don't know!"

"Anyway, you have no talent other than barking loudly, right? The reason my orphan cherishes you is precisely because of that incompetence."

Thump, thump, Ilina slowly approached step by step.

"Back off."

"Go away...!"

Myu and Anne unconsciously took a step back as they saw her shadow growing larger.

The shadow beneath Ilina's feet depicted something entirely different from her delicate body—something like a demon, a monster, or something even more horrifying. The sisters' breathing suddenly became heavier as they observed the change in the shadow.

It felt like an irresistible darkness was closing in.

In the end, the sisters couldn't swing their swords until Ilina was right in front of them. They were just shaking and sweating.

"P-please spare... spare us..."

The flagbearers of Runcandel are begging for life in a daze. They completely surrendered just facing Ilina.

Even if they were deemed incompetent, it was only insufficient when discussing the next patriarch of Runcandel.

The sisters had traversed countless battlefields as flagbearers of the Runcandel, facing numerous formidable opponents and overcoming them.

The sisters had never shown signs of fear even when facing opponents stronger than themselves.

Whether it was Luna slapping them, Mary beating them, or challenging Jin whenever the opportunity arose.

However, as they had never experienced the wrath of Chiron, the sisters could only be sure that there was no greater terror in the world than this.

Ilina looked at the sisters and gently smiled.

"You don't have to be afraid, young ladies. I won't harm you."

Whoosh...!

Ilina's massive shadow surged upward, enveloping her.

The sisters, looking up at that figure, were laughing and shedding tears.

In a moment of despair, it felt like they had grasped the helping hand offered by fate.

"Haha...!"

[I am the Prophet of Calamity.]

Ilina, emerging from the shadow, had a completely different appearance from before.

The darkness that could be described as her body filled the spacious room, and her button-like face in the middle of it all had a grotesque shape, swollen as if it would burst at any moment.

[Orphans, take my hand.]

Myu and Anne knelt down, extending trembling hands toward Ilina. Something indescribable, cold yet warm, seemed to grasp their hands.

[I will become your parent. Say you want it.]

"We want it..."

Then, the shadow of the sisters shattered like broken glass.

One of the largest pieces was absorbed into Ilina's arms.

[The despair you have embraced as sorrowful orphans will make you even more valuable...]

Soon, Ilina's body became smaller again.

There was an ordinary-looking shadow beneath her feet, which had returned to the way the sisters remembered. The sisters remained kneeling.

"Your role is to save our orphan, Joshua. Young ladies, you are taking that responsibility. You can handle it, right?"

The sisters nodded their heads with newfound faith.

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章節 354: Chapter 513

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***

Dungeon, the lowest level.

It had been two days since Joshua was confined here.

His limbs were bound to the wall, his eyes devoid of focus.

The gag in his mouth, fastened tightly, rendered him unable to even bite his own tongue.

'It can't end like this...….'

But what could I do?

His bound limbs were pierced with iron spikes like nannies of reserve flagbearers, and the knights he trusted turned out to be servants of his mother.

The siblings, once regarded as close as Myu and Anne, had no power to rescue him, and the elder council was no different.

He couldn't pin his hopes on the hunting dogs raised outside the clan.

They couldn't possibly break through this dungeon, and, from the start, his hunting dogs were not as blindly devoted as Taimyun's offspring.

The hunting dogs would lose their focus and collapse.

Now that he has fallen, the other flagbearers closest to the throne.

Luntia, Diphus, Mary, and Jin. There was only a slim chance if they personally petitioned, but that is absolutely impossible.

Even if his father in the Black Sea knew of this fact, there was no chance of him revoking his mother's order.

Even ending his own life was impossible.

The dungeon of Runcandel was not a place to kill prisoners.

Whether the subject was human, dragon, demon, or anything else, the goal was to isolate the prisoner in complete solitude until the end of their lives.

If a person refuses to eat, he or she is forced to eat, and suicide attempts were futile.

Not even the prophet could get him out of this place.

'I can't do anything. I can't rely on anything.'

If there was at least one thing, a sliver of hope to bet on.

'Mother.'

The cruel mother who had pushed him into this very hell, personally coming forward to offer a way back up to the surface.

That was the only means to ascend again.

Kiiing...

The sound of the entrance to the lowest level opening echoed from afar.

Joshua, fixing his blurry gaze, looked towards the closed door.

If that door opened, his mother would come in, or so he hoped.

It was quite a while after that the door of Joshua's prison cell finally opened.

"What a sight, 2nd flagbearer... Ah, no, you're not a flagbearer anymore."

An old, serpent-like voice.

It was Jorden Runcandel.

He pulled out Joshua's gag and clicked his tongue.

"How does it feel to fall?"

"Chief of Black Sword Association...!"

"Don't look at me like that. I didn't come to mock you."

Jorden then freed Joshua's limbs that were tied to the wall.

"I may not have been imprisoned, but my situation is not much different from yours."

"What are you talking about?"

"I may not have lost my limbs, but I've lost everything else. Though I haven't suffered public disgrace like you, my pride has been trampled to the ground by the acting matriarch of the clan."

Black Sword Association, clan's punishment unit composed of particularly powerful elders.

Jorden was no longer their leader.

Although he still held the position of Chief of Black Sword Association, the command had completely passed to Rosa.

Of course, all the forces of the clan were in the hands of the patriarch and the acting matriarch. Still, Jorden could no longer personally maneuver the Black Sword Association under any circumstances.

It was because of the Exile Incident.

"Both you and I. We fell at the hands of the 12th flagbearer."

"I..."

"Are you trying to say that you are here not as a result of being defeated by the 12th flagbearer, but because of the acting matriarch?"

Joshua couldn't answer.

"Stop denying it. We lost. Perfectly."

"..... What are your plans, Chief of Black Sword Association?"

"Fortunately, my head is still attached, so I have to plan for the next step. You're asking the obvious. And... aren't you in the same situation?"

"In the same situation... As far as I know, you have never experienced such a fall. Didn't you survive after being treated like a bug by my father? Did you gnaw away yourself with the futile desire to become the patriarch? Did you lose the Black Sword Association? Not a single one of these can be compared to the cold floor of this dungeon."

Snickering, Jorden let out a laugh.

"Kids like you might think so."

"Huh, you said you didn't come to mock. In the end, you came to gloat at a loser who is even lower than you."

"No, I came because I envy you."

"What?"

"Soon, the acting matriarch will come visit you."

Joshua's eyes widened.

Only now did it seem like he understood the meaning behind Jorden's words.

"If you show your mother the same degrading behavior as you are doing to me now, then it may really be the end. I came early because I was worried that such a thing might happen."

"Mother... Did Mother say she's coming to visit me?"

"Mother, Mother, Mother. You really are fundamentally a child. It's almost humiliating to have the same last name as you. I never had a mother like you. Besides, my rival was not the 12th flagbearer, but flagbearer Chiron Runcandel. Once I fell, I had to spend an eternity unable to rise back to the surface."

A bitter smile crept onto Jorden's lips.

"Now it's time for you to bear that weight. When you finish your seclusion training and return to the world... I wish I could see you shed your fragile shell."

"Seclusion training? Do you believe that I can turn things around now with something like that?"

"In the end, what rules the martial arts clan is the overwhelming martial arts that everyone has no choice but to follow. I, too, have ignored that fact for too long, using your father's shadow as an excuse."

Jorden turns around.

"It is up to you to change hell into paradise. This is not a statement made as the Chief of Black Sword Association but as a companion."

Jorden left the dungeon.

And on the stairs, he encountered Rosa, who was descending into the dungeon.

"Acting matriarch."

"I suppose you didn't come down to look at the ghosts of the dungeon. Did you meet Joshua?"

"That's correct."

"You've done something unnecessary."

"If parents are cruel, someone in the family should treat them warmly, shouldn't they?"

"Have you regained confidence after losing everything? You speak so arrogantly."

"I just recalled the essence of the clan that I had forgotten."

"If many people had not forgotten from the beginning, today's Runcandel wouldn't have been so precarious."

"But the acting matriarch hasn't become dull either."

Rosa smiled, as if it was ridiculous.

"The words of the powerless are nothing more than complaints. If you want to foil my mood, let alone my sword and body. Prove it. Finish perfecting that lowly sword of yours, as I suggested. That's what I left your neck for."

During the brief time Rosa passed by Jorden and entered the lowest level,

Joshua was thinking about what Jorden had just said and what Black Knight Jane showed him before she died.

-I hope my current state becomes a lesson to you.

Jane's parting words and the visit from the Chief of Black Sword Association.

They could not change the essence of Joshua Runcandel in an instant.

It remained just points of discussion.

As Rosa entered, Joshua straightened his posture.

"You've come, acting matriarch."

Thunk!

Rosa suddenly thrust the blade of Frenzy into his right shoulder.

"Ugh...!"

Flesh tore, and blood spurted.

Then, with a light and swift swing, the sword left a gash on Joshua's left shoulder.

Fear struck again.

A fear he had never overcome, the fear of his parents.

A new fear created by the indiscriminate attacks of his mother, who seemed determined never to let him go.

"You will say you have exhausted your strength, but does that mean you can't even react to a sword like this? It was a speed that even advanced cadets could avoid."

"Acting matriarch...!"

"Well, now you don't dare to call me mother anymore. But is that all? If it were those exceptional children, your sisters and brothers, they would have avoided it."

The frenzy swung again, this time it slashed Joshua's chest.

The depth of the blade was not shallow at all.

"Guh!"

"No, did you barely manage to dodge? Luntia, Diphus, Mary, Jin wouldn't be screaming like you! They would be looking straight into my eyes and attempting to counterattack. Regardless of the reason or who was wrong, once the blade strikes!"

Squeak!

"And if it were Luna, she would have taken the frenzy and aimed it at my neck. Wouldn't that child be able to do that even after losing her strength? So, why wouldn't Chiron and I regret it so much?"

What Joshua was enduring, the stabbing and slashing of the blade, was truly nothing compared to the excruciating pain inflicted by comparisons and feelings of inferiority.

"Kraaaah! What do you expect me to do!"

Joshua's jaw was turned and his sternum was shattered as he rushed at her recklessly.

It was not a counterattack but an outburst.

"Kuk, cough."

"Why can't you do something like that? Why couldn't you, the child of prophecy, do that?"

At those words, Joshua blamed his mother for the first time in his life.

"You... raised me like this."

"I don't have memories of raising you like that."

"No, you're right. You raised me like this!"

"No, I didn't raise you like that."

"And didn't you give birth to me like this? Luna, Luntia, Diphus, Mary, Jin! Why didn't you pass on to me talents like theirs? They are all your creations...!"

"Talent? Fine, I admit about Luna. But do you really think the other kids are more talented than you and that's why I put you here? You simply didn't struggle as much as they did. Despite giving you so many chances... Ah, if I say this, now you'll say those opportunities were poison, right?"

Rosa let out a bitter laugh.

Joshua fell forward and was shaking.

He wanted to get up again, but his body, slashed and stabbed mercilessly by Frenzy, refused to respond.

"I'll admit that too. Now that I think about it, the opportunities I gave you over the past few decades seem to be poison. I didn't expect just spoon-feeding wouldn't be enough. If I had known I had to chew it for you in advance, you might not be here right now."

"What... kind of... nonsense is this?"

"Did you really think I would send only you flagbearers and the two Black Knights in Sota Desert, on that important mission... ?"

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