Episode 134
Chapter 43: Those Who Harbor Poison (Part 2)
“Are you hurt anywhere, sister?”
“No… I’m fine. If it weren’t for you, I probably would’ve lost control of my anger and gotten badly injured.”
Luna sank into the sofa, pressing her palm to her forehead.
The fierce, murderous aura she’d carried while storming Joshua’s mansion had vanished without a trace, leaving her pale face shadowed with exhaustion.
Sigh.
Tears welled up in her reddened eyes.
A day had passed since Taimun’s death, yet Luna hadn’t been able to hold a proper funeral.
The poison had slowly shriveled the body until it completely oxidized, leaving only a small black puddle behind. For a long time, Luna had just stared blankly at that spot, unable to move.
That couldn’t be called a funeral. And she wasn’t even sure if her nanny deserved one.
After all, she had deceived Luna and tried to kill her beloved younger sibling.
“Joshua… that bastard didn’t even seem to care about Taimun’s death. He was just scared out of his mind, hoping I’d be the first to draw my sword. Just like you predicted. But he even gathered all the Black Knights of the family.”
The Black Knights.
Among the guardians of Runcandel, only those recognized as the absolute best could wear the Black Knights’ robes. Joshua had already brought them under his control.
And they answered only to the head of the family and his consort. Without their joint approval, no one else could command Runcandel’s strongest guardians.
Even the Black Knights? Mother must have already handed them over to Joshua by now. Father’s never been fond of him, so convincing her must have been difficult.
Though this was new intel on the enemy, Jin pushed those worries aside for the moment. First, he took his sister’s hand and offered her a handkerchief.
Taimun may have been a traitor, but she was still family to Luna. And Joshua, no matter how much of a scoundrel, was still her brother.
Luna had lost them both at once. One was dead, the other now a clear enemy.
“Haha… Nanny… if only she had betrayed someone who cared for her. Maybe then I could’ve understood it a little. No, it’s my fault. If only I had understood her feelings better.”
The pain of being unable to forgive Taimun and the unbearable sorrow tore at her heart relentlessly.
What could possibly erase this sense of loss?
What could ever heal this wound?
Even in the moments when she confronted Joshua and threatened him, she barely managed to push these questions aside.
“It’s all my fault. Nanny’s betrayal, Joshua’s curse on you, my servants dying by the blades of my own brothers… If I had handled things properly, none of this would have happened.”
It was a flawed way of thinking.
If Luna’s logic were followed back through cause and effect, it would mean everything had been wrong from the very beginning.
Above all, Jin was certain the curse had nothing to do with Luna.
He had experienced it even in a past life when he had no connection to her.
That madman would have had someone curse me regardless of Taimun. I still don’t know why. Just because I chose Barisada in the selection ceremony doesn’t explain it.
Though the timing pointed to Barisada as the most likely link to the curse, Joshua had already been gaining dominance among the siblings.
Right after Luna gave up the throne, Rosa quietly began supporting Joshua as the next head of the family.
Joshua’s greatest power base is Mother. I didn’t know she’d already handed over the Black Knights, but everyone knows she favors him.
Even last year, when Siron came to the Garden of Blades to host a banquet, it was clear.
“Rosa, you must have worked hard.”
“No, it was all handled by our grown children. I had nothing to do.”
“If the grown children can manage well, I wouldn’t have had to leave the Black Sea. The guests coming to Runcandel today are watching me, not afraid of our children.”
The “grown children” Rosa mentioned was Joshua.
The “our children” Siron referred to were all the siblings. This was said in front of the family elders and purebloods.
Even if Father doesn’t trust him, Joshua has had Mother’s full support since before I was born. I was never even a contender.
Attacking young purebloods in the Storm Fortress was the ultimate taboo.
If caught breaking that taboo, even the head of the family couldn’t just let it slide.
Though Runcandel’s superstition about “Barisada” was deep, that alone didn’t justify what Joshua stood to gain by killing Jin.
It would have been much safer and more likely to succeed to kill or curse me when I returned to the main house.
Jin had thought the curse would strike after he turned ten.
Or perhaps he had already been consumed by it while still in Rosa’s womb. That was why he had worried if the curse Solderet had lifted would remain intact after rebirth.
Just as he was worrying about what to do next, the red shackles descended upon the cradle of the Storm Fortress.
At that moment, Solderet’s power manifested, sparing him.
Jin realized that along with the contract, his talents remained intact, and since then, he had been searching for the culprit.
That’s how he ended up here.
Why would he break the taboo to target me? What does he gain? I’ll find out when I become a Knight and defeat him.
Just as Jin was about to tell his sister she bore no fault, Luna spoke first.
“…Jin.”
“I never wanted to stain my hands with the blood of my siblings. No, I was afraid of it. Watching our parents’ generation kill each other was too much for me.”
“That’s why you became the sword that protects the family, to prevent our generation from falling into excessive rivalry. Thanks to you, unlike the previous generation, all of us siblings are alive and living our lives.”
Siron’s children—the current second generation of Runcandel.
They were a special generation in the family’s thousand-year history. Usually, out of ten siblings, only five survived, and one would become the head.
But Jin’s siblings had never suffered fratricide thanks to Luna. There were power struggles, but none that ended in murder.
Because Luna always stopped them from killing each other—with overwhelming force.
In other words, Luna was the family’s balancing weight.
But her siblings didn’t look at that balance kindly. It was only natural, since Luna’s nature didn’t fit with Runcandel.
To them, she must have seemed like someone with immense power who just played at being a carefree immortal.
“Yes, it’s true that everyone is still alive because of me. But now I realize I was just a coward running away from the fight, settling for comfort outside the battlefield.”
Luna gave a bitter laugh, shaking her head.
“A hypocrite. There’s no word that fits me better. I’m being punished for the disgusting hypocrisy I’ve lived with.”
“The hypocrisy belongs to Taimun, not you. The punishment will fall on Joshua.”
“While my servants were dying, while Nanny betrayed me to save herself, while Joshua ordered you harmed… what was I doing? I was just turning away, pretending to be good.”
“Sister.”
“Nanny was right. If I hadn’t given up the throne, none of this would have happened. No, sometimes I think I shouldn’t have been born at all.”
“Does saying that make you feel any better?”
“No. No matter what I do, I’ll never feel better.”
Though their situations differed, Jin saw his past self in Luna.
Why was I born? Why was I born in Runcandel without talent, only to suffer such despair?
The same questions applied to Luna.
Why was she born? Why, despite her immense power, could she never truly fit in with Runcandel?
Both had struggled to overcome what was essentially a curse—their talents and natures.
Jin had never let go of his sword despite being scorned, and Luna had endured the family’s infighting to protect herself.
As a result, Jin’s past self lost Gilly, and Luna’s present self lost Taimun.
What was the story that comforted me most back then?
Two voices came to mind immediately.
“Master, no matter what, wherever you are, I will always love you.”
Gilly’s words, never giving up on Jin until the end.
And the story Luna first told Jin when she came to the Storm Fortress.
“Just remember one thing, Jin. My brother. No matter what you do, no matter what you become, I will always support you.”
When Jin repeated those two sentences aloud, Luna burst into tears like a child, covering her face.
“I’m here, sister. I’ll bear the blood of our siblings. You just keep running. If running doesn’t bring you peace, lean on me.”
Luna stopped crying and shook her head.
“No, I won’t run anymore. Killing Joshua will be your task, but if another sibling targets you, I will be the one to cut them down.”
“When I become a Knight and fight the siblings, I’ll be stronger than you, won’t I?”
“From today onward, I will no longer be the sword that protects the family—I will be the sword that protects you. Jin Runkandel, my youngest sibling, I swear I will make you the head of the house.”
“Please don’t overexert yourself. And feel free to mourn Taimun as much as you need in front of me—there’s no need to hold back. He may only bring me bad memories, but to you, he was family.”
After that, Jin listened quietly for a long time as Luna murmured her memories and recollections of Taimun, then left her estate.
On the way back to Tikan, his thoughts were consumed by revenge and Joshua Runkandel—how to methodically crush his despicable eldest brother.
“Taimun said he knew about my contract. Whoever leaked that information to Joshua must be a mage who confirmed my curse didn’t work.”
Kidad Hall.
The nine-star mage who personally cast the “Widow of Blades” on Jin.
A legendary archmage whose name Jin had heard countless times even in his previous life—but he had never imagined that this person would be connected to his curse.
“I’ll kill that bastard first and send a clear message to Joshua.”