The Son-In-Law Of A Prestigious Family Wants A Divorce

✦  Chapter 39 — The Abandoned Man   ✦

「Translator — Creator」

᠃ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ⚘᠂ ⚘ ᠃

*Clunk—*

As the door opened and Isaac stepped inside, a complex blend of antiseptic and rotting bandages wafted through the air; the heavy, lingering scent of blood overpowering it all spoke volumes of the urgent hours this place witnessed daily.

The Malideen infirmary.

While temporary medical tents were set up outside for routine treatment, this was a place for critical patients who couldn’t be treated there. Rumor had it that a mage dispatched from the Tower of Magic was stationed here specifically for such emergencies.

Groans of pain echoed throughout the space, coming from every corner.

Among the medical beds, a man sat upright with wide, round eyes.

It was Jonathan.

“How are you feeling?”

As Isaac approached, Jonathan sprung to his feet and exclaimed,

“I’m perfectly fine, m’Lord!”

“Is that so?”

“Yes! I’m ready to return to duty immediately!”

Despite his words, Jonathan didn’t ask to leave or complain about staying in the infirmary.

His discomfort at occupying a bed here was clear — his nature wouldn’t allow him to sit idle. Yet he understood his precarious position. He was fortunate not to be confined to a prison cell; remaining in the infirmary was a mercy granted by the Margrave of Malideen.

“Let’s step into the corridor for a moment.”

“Am I allowed to?”

“We can’t have this conversation in front of everyone, can we?”

The mage overseeing the infirmary cast a fleeting glance in their direction but made no comment.

The corridor, cast in shadows from the wall sconces.

Through the windows, the darkening sky outside was visible, twilight spreading its somber hues.

Jonathan followed behind.

His skin, once sullied, along with the protruding fangs and blackened eyes, had already returned to normal.

“I didn’t know either.”

Jonathan was the first to offer an explanation, seemingly embarrassed despite no questions being asked.

“I didn’t know Transcendents existed. Didn’t know I was one of them. I just thought I had different sensibilities from others.”

His honest confession was accompanied by a shadowed expression, weighed down by regret.

“It would have been better if… if it had just been some twisted sensitivity. At least then, I’d still be human.”

A confession beneath the lamplight. The flickering shadows seemed to mirror the turmoil in his heart.

“Ever since Nortemus laid hands on me, something’s been wrong. Something writhes inside my chest. It feels like… like it might devour me at any moment.”

Jonathan started to reach out for help but hesitated and withdrew, realizing he might harm Isaac.

“Why did you choose Helmund?”

“Pardon?”

Jonathan stared at Isaac with a bewildered expression, caught off guard by the seemingly random question.

“Helmund… he’s different from other knights.”

What was it about Arandel Helmund that Jonathan admired so deeply?

What was it that made Jonathan cling so desperately to Helmund?

“You know it too, don’t you, Lord Isaac? How the Knights of Helmund and the Helmund direct lineage are completely different breeds.”

The Knights of Helmund were, in essence, the last remnants of humanity bound to the Helmund name. If one were to compare, they were no more than a label bearing the Helmund insignia.

“The direct line… they’re monsters wholly devoted to the sword.”

“I know that all too well.”

Except for the young Shauren and the youngest brother Edel Helmund; they truly lived breathing nothing but the sword, day in and day out.

Common sense within the Helmund mansion differed from the outside world.

To them, only the sword and strength defined justice.

“That’s why everyone hails Helmund as great.”

Isaac let slip a bitter smile.

To someone who had seen Hemund up close, it seemed more like a den of lunatics than a noble family.

But from afar?

Helmand was the kingdom’s mightiest sword, a bastion of strength.

In times of crisis, their knights would be the first to charge into battle.

They were a symbol whose mere existence deterred wars.

In the eyes of both the imperial family and common folk, what noble house could be more reassuring than Helmund?

The immense power that was Helmund.

Ironically, it was this that kept the kingdom most peaceful.

For none would dare cross swords with Arandel of Helmund.

“That… that’s what I admired.”

A bright smile spread across Jonathan’s face. He must have unconsciously recalled Arandel Helmund.

“Lord Patriarch abandoned everything. All for the sword. Don’t you know how extraordinary that is?”

“………..”

“I wanted to become like that. I wanted to live an ascetic life devoted solely to the sword, casting aside my hideous desires.”

Arandel Helmund was the figure who changed Jonathan’s life.

There was no denying it.

It was this admiration that allowed Jonathan to overcome his grotesque nature and become a knight.

“Do you know? When I told the nun who raised me… that I had become a Knight of Helmund…”

A gentle smile graced Jonathan’s lips as he recalled that moment.

“She wept profusely. She was so worried about the darkness within me, so afraid that I would fall. But when she saw I’d become an honorable knight, she cried… and cried so much.”

“……………”

“Lord Isaac, I know I’m making a difficult request.”

Jonathan slowly knelt, bowing his head deeply.

“Please. Let me remain a Knight of Helmund.”

“Jonathan.”

“I’ll keep my mixed Transcendent blood secret until death. Even though Lady Sha-Shauren saw it, if you could somehow explain-!”

“My master was a half-blood of the Transcended too.”

Jonathan’s frantic words faltered, cut off mid-sentence. He slowly raised his head to meet Isaac’s gaze.

Isaac’s calm eyes locked with his as he added,

“To be precise, should I say a Transcendent with human blood? Since they were closer to being Transcendent.”

The black hair hanging down.

Wolf ears that stood perked upward.

Eyes that resembled the moonlight.

A greatsword that seemed to hold the crescent moon in its grasp.

“That’s why I don’t harbor strong resentment toward mixed-bloods. I have no intention of relieving you of your duties as my guard. I came today to tell you this.”

“Lo-Lord Isaac!”

Jonathan clutched Isaac’s feet with tear-filled eyes, overcome with gratitude.

Finding it awkward, Isaac subtly withdrew his leg and continued speaking.

“I’ll talk to Shauren about it. So don’t worry and return to your duties tomorrow.”

“Kuhp!”

Jonathan sprang to his feet, wiped his tears, and saluted.

“Jonathan, Knight of Helmund! I pledge my life to following you, Lord Isaac!”

“That’s enough, get back inside.”

“Yes sir! I’ll see you tomorrow!”

Leaving the overly enthusiastic Jonathan behind, Isaac walked down the dimly lit corridor, his expression heavy with mixed emotions.

‘Foolish fellow.’

He hadn’t planned to mention anything about the divorce to Jonathan.

He hoped Jonathan would simply remain with Helmund, spared from unnecessary worries.

Outside, night had fully fallen; the round moon now hung high in the darkened sky.

‘I can’t help but acknowledge the Father’s swordsmanship.’

Quite literally, for Arandel Helmund, nothing in this world held meaning except the sword.

Once, long ago—

[Hmm?]

—Isaac had asked his Grand Master a question.

[What do you think the course of the war would have been if Arandel hadn’t died?]

The question arose after Isaac had stumbled upon Arandel’s posthumously published memoirs and last will following his death from illness.

[Heh heh, what a foolish question.]

His master chuckled and took a sip of her drink, the corners of her mouth curling in amusement.

[What do you think? Silent Sword Isaac, what’s your view?]

The question wasn’t asked in seriousness but rather to tease Isaac, testing him like a game.

‘No matter how strong he was, it’s hard to believe a single man could overturn the entire tide of war.’

Isaac replied evenly, leaning on his staff.

Meanwhile, his master laughed heartily, clapping her hands in amusement.

The prolonged laughter began to wear on Isaac’s nerves until his master finally spoke.

[I’d rather not say this, knowing you won’t like hearing it-]

His master’s expression turned resolute as she declared,

[There would have been no war.]

‘…Pardon?’

[The Transcended would have simply bided their time, watching from the shadows.]

Waiting, scheming among themselves, wondering when Arandel might die.

A sword of unparalleled greatness.

No one could deny its might.

“Ha.”

Isaac let out a dry laugh as he walked beneath the moonlit sky, clutching an unseen wound.

“How absurd.”

Arandel Helmund, the man who abandoned everything for the sword.

“From the perspective of those abandoned.”

Among the things Arandel had cast aside… Isaac himself had been one of them.

🎕

“…………”

“…………”

It was early dawn.

Rianna Helmund stood before Isaac, who had come to the training grounds for his morning practice.

They faced each other in silence.

There had been no prior arrangement to meet.

Isaac had simply come to train as usual, only to find Rianna crouching there, waiting.

“What brings you here?”

When Isaac finally broke the silence, Rianna drew out the greatsword she had brought and spoke.

“Aura. I promised to teach you.”

“I didn’t think we’d start this quickly.”

“We need to do it while I’m here.”

“…True enough.”

Once back at Helmund, any talk of sword training would be met with immediate condemnation.

The moment they saw the curved sword at her waist, they’d likely split it in two, demanding to know how a Helmund could dare carry such a slender blade.

“Draw your sword.”

Isaac unsheathed his curved blade in a single, fluid motion.

Even in this brief action, there was an inherent grace that marked him as having truly entered the ranks of accomplished swordsmen.

There was something almost amusing about the sight — the much smaller and seemingly fragile Rianna wielding a man-sized greatsword, while Isaac handled his thin curved blade.

“Aura is about manipulating the mana within your body. Have you ever had your mana reserves measured, Isaac?”

“No, never.”

“Thought so. Even if you don’t know the total amount, you’ll get a sense for it as you learn.”

Like a gentle flame being kindled, crimson energy began flowing from the greatsword.

“Once you master aura, it’s about finding the right direction and—”

“Isaaaaac!?”

A woman’s voice rang out from afar.

It was Silverna, her white hair streaming behind her as she ran toward them, waving. She too carried a spear across her shoulders, seemingly intent on training together.

“I thought I’d join starting today. Am I interrupting?”

Silverna looked back and forth between Isaac and Rianna, grinning as she inserted herself into their session.

“You don’t mind, do you?”

A bull.

Once decided, she charged straight ahead without hesitation, true to her bull-like nature.

Rianna pressed her lips together in silence, waiting for Isaac’s decision.

“Do as you please.”

And so, an unusual sight unfolded — someone from Helmund teaching aura to someone from Caldias.

🎕

“Isaac.”

Perhaps thirty minutes had passed.

Rianna lowered her greatsword slowly and spoke with an expressionless face.

“You seem to have no talent for aura.”

“…………”

[Pfft.]

Why was it?

[Look at this, boy.]

Isaac could almost hear the Grand Master’s mocking laughter echoing in his ears.

END of CHAPTER

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