/

Chapter 24




[You still haven’t found the Heir?]
The Spirit King opened his eyes.
All the awakeners of water had sung in front of the room of the First Owner. Then the knights sang, and after them, the servants.
“Sorry. I’m trying my best to find the Owner.”
The Duke of Elheim had been busy recently. Lianrius’s coming-of-age ceremony approached the day after tomorrow, and it was hectic.
[The owner of the Spirit Stone was the one present at Elheim that night.]
“I’ll keep checking to see if I missed someone.”
No matter how much they tried to silence the servants, it wasn’t enough to prevent the spread of rumours.
There was already a widespread rumour in the Empire that the Duke of Elheim had gone mad and had the people of his household sing.
He felt like the situation was getting even more twisted without any progress.
‘I mobilized most of the people in Elheim that day, but I couldn’t find the owner.’
He felt like he was missing something.
The mistakes of the Duke and his family were taken as excessive prejudice and contempt for the unawakeners.
Even in that moment, no one recalled Liarte’s existence.
“I hope you’ll wait until the day after tomorrow.”
[Why should I wait for such pathetic things like you?]
“There is a coming-of-age ceremony that happens once in the rise and fall of the family.”
The Water Spirit King in the form of a boy laughed bitterly as if he was sad.
[You mean that fake? You don’t know what’s important, so you’re looking after something like that. Do whatever you want.]
“Thank you, Spirit King.”
The Duke bowed his head.
The duke didn’t know that suspicion lingered within the Spirit King who looked down on him.
The duke’s stupid blood and flesh really didn’t know who the Real Owner of the spirit stone was.
If she was born as the successor to Jurien, she couldn’t know that Spirit Stone had chosen her.
Nevertheless, it was suspicious that she was deliberately hiding herself and did not appear so far.
“I’m surprised, but I have a question.”
The duke asked, still afraid of the spirit king.
“You have that kind of power, but why aren’t you looking for the Owner yourself?”
[Are you questioning me now?]
The Duke suddenly realized why the ancient books described the water spirit king as an evil deity.
Before he knew it, the Duke bowed his head again.
“I made a mistake. I will go out.”
The appearance of the duke going out in cold sweat was even more pathetic.
The Spirit King, who was left alone, closed his eyes again.
[You’re stabbing in my sore spot.]
The day when the duke brought in a fake, claiming it to be the owner of the spirit stone, he felt so overwhelmed with sadness that it made him angry.
Although the ability was vast, most of the power of the Water Spirit King was used in the sealing.
Long ago, it was the cause of the death of the First Owner Jurien.
The fallen spirit kings were separated and one was sealed in the imperial palace and the other one in Birce.
The Water Spirit King could not even get out of this room as the seal might get released.
He couldn’t even try to find the owner of the spirit stone with all his strength.
The heir to the Jurien was so close.
[Please come and find me.]
The Spirit King closed his eyes.
He had to sleep again until his lost strength was restored.
* * *
Danterion arrived at the Duke of Elheim.
“Hello, Young Master.”
“Good afternoon. Knight Commander Dupard.”
He felt good enough to send a sincere greeting to the division commander, who he would have ignored when he wasn’t interested.
The knight commander, who was amazed for a moment, greeted him again and stepped away.
‘Everyone’s love for the youngest is special.’
Danterion cared about Lianrius. It was mainly because he was really interested in his strong ability.
Even though he wasn’t the owner of Spirit Stone, he still cared for Lianrius, although his feelings were less stronger than before.
The only thing that bothered him was the unawakener.
“Oh, so brother was telling me the truth, wasn’t he?”
Standing in the main building, Danterion looked out at the room decorated on the first floor.
In the empty room, there were curtains, beds, and furniture that were supposed to be used by female residents.
Liarte never had access to this mansion, where the direct descendants lived.
Originally, Duke and Aynias hated Liarte appearing around the main building.
‘I thought I read the letter wrong because it said that she was both a daughter and a younger sister.’
For Danterion, Liarte was the same thing as nothing.
Aynias pursued yet despised Liarte when he saw her, but Danterion treated her as a mere nobody.
It was not interesting to the general public in the first place.
Liarte, who was a direct descendant of Elheim and had no abilities, was reluctant to say anything against him.
He, to be precise, didn’t even think of her as a human being.
[Ed/n : I wish I can isekai and punch that face of yours right now
(╬ Ò ‸ Ó)]
“S-second brother.”
Danterion encountered Hwi-Amin, who was snooping around the window of Liarte’s room.
A blue flower was held in Hwi-Amin’s hand.
“What is this? Are you going to beg?”
“Ah, no…”
“Don’t bother Hwi-Amin, Dante.”
Suddenly Aynias appeared.
“It’s not a bad thing to give flowers to our kin.”
“Brother, are you crazy?”
Danterion was disgusted by Aynias, who allegedly mentioned Liarte as his flesh.
“The child resembles our mother a little. And she’s our one and only youngest sister…”
“Isn’t Lian our one and only youngest?”
“Danterion!”
“Since when has my brother ever taken care of her? I kept thinking about it from the time you wrote down the words that father thought of her as his daughter, but seriously. Did all of you eat something wrong?”
Danterion then saw Liarte walking in the direction of the garden.
She always wore the same gray dress, the clothes the duke had given her, almost as if it was a uniform, as he couldn’t give her extravagant clothes and forgive her for killing their mother.
Danterion knew that they were clothes that even the commoners would not wear.
What changed in her was her straight posture and front-facing gaze.
The indifferent gaze diverted away from the place where the three brothers were gathered. As if they were strangers she didn’t know.
Danterion witnessed two people watching Liarte move away.
“I don’t know what’s going on.”
Hwi-Amin was in trouble with his eyes red. It was a similar reaction, something he did usually, so they paid no heed.
Aynias barely stopped his hand, which reached out to her as if he couldn’t speak his words out or hold onto her.
It was when he visited the Duke’s office that Danterion felt a certain surprise.
In fact, Danterion was thinking of going to the room of the First Owner.
Before the memory of the half-sleeping spirit king in the imperial palace was forgotten, he wanted to see and compare it with the water spirit king.
It was then that Lianrius’s voice came out through the slightly open door.
“What will father do when Liarte reaches adulthood?”
Danterion looked through the slightly open door.
He was having a conversation with the duke.
“When you reach adulthood, that child will also become an adult.” The duke mumbled.
“I am of age.”
Elheim’s doctor had said that when he reaches adulthood, it was highly likely that Lianrius would be able to use the power of water on his own.
He added that there would not be any need for Liarte anymore.
When the awakening ceremony is held before or on the 17th birthday, the awakening vessel would become stronger than before.
It was said that the body becomes stronger and the water’s ability would circulate in a good condition.
“If  you don’t need that child, I will send her away.”
“No.”
Lianrius replied strongly.
Those blue eyes had been smudged dark for months.
It was the same colour as water, but Liarte’s eyes were similar to a brighter lake, while the light of Lianrius’s eyes reminded him of the deep sea.
“I need Liarte. I wanted her to be by my side.”
Lately, Lianrius had been obsessed about his twin sister. The Duke knew it well.
“Let’s keep Liarte in our family.”
“At one time, I thought that way, but when I think of your deceased mother, I can’t do it. Furthermore, she might leave the family one day. There is no legal right to hold onto her.”
“Aren’t we just forcing them to let us detain her?”
The Duke of Elheim wasn’t in his sane mind. He was calculating that if she went out and looked around the world, Liarte would come back just as before.
Wouldn’t it be hard to live alone outside?
Even though she has changed now, Liarte was originally a child who was hungry for affection.
He again thought that he regretted treating her so bad and wished for her to come back to her old self.
“It was you, father, who said that Liarte was my property.”
Liarte’s fate has already been decided since childhood.
Even without Lianrius looking back, Liarte had been blindly devoted to him.
“You’re right, Lian.”
Danterion, listening to the conversation, pushed the door.
And he reached them with a single stride.
“If Liarte doesn’t listen to us, make it impossible for her to walk or go outside. Are the wishes of that person important?”
Lianrius’s expression froze when he heard Danterion’s words.
“We just need to break her legs so that she can’t go outside. It doesn’t matter if she gets locked up.”
[Tl/n: You crazy psychopaths!!]
[Ed/n: Why don’t we break yours? You won’t complain right? ((╬●∀●)]
Even though his personality was to chase his interests, Danterion loved Elheim.
He loved the duke and his family and the power of water.
The only thing that he didn’t was Liarte.
Had Liarte been an awakener of water, he would not have done it, but he was able to be   cruel enough because she failed to express her ability.
“You can do whatever you want, Lian.”
Danterion smiled as he saw Lianrius agonizing silently.
Then, words flashed by in the Duke’s head.
‘Fake.’
Whenever he saw his youngest son, he kept getting reminded of that word.
Lianrius had lowered his head, after realizing that he wasn’t the real owner of the family.
He had always thought of him as a child of noble character.
“Yes, Danterion is right.”
In the end, he chose Lianrius and abandoned Liarte.
The Duke knew that he himself did not know whether his judgment was really correct.
But the foreboding that something was wrong kept ringing like an alarm.