NOVEL NEXT Chapter 204
Chapter 204. The Beggar Siblings – Cat’s Cradle
“Shouldn’t you hold the outer part? With your pinky.”
“Like this?”
“Oh no, it came undone.”
Inside the gently swaying carriage, Santian Rauno and Lena were playing cat’s cradle, sitting across from each other.
As the string effortlessly disentangled, Tian wrapped it around again.
It was a shuttle.
At the start of the cat’s cradle, the shuttle is made by wrapping the string once around both hands and using the middle fingers to lift the string caught on the other palms.
Lena thought for a moment while looking at the shuttle Tian held out. She debated whether or not to go for the “chopsticks,” but in the end, she opted for the simple choice of holding the crossed part of the shuttle with her thumb and index finger. Wrapping the outer string like that, ta-da! The “tray” was completed.
The tray is a frame where four strings cross each other. As anyone who’s fairly good at cat’s cradle knows, there are two types of trays: the flipped and the unflipped. This one was unflipped.
Tian thought about going for the “scissors string” but soon chose a simple path. Holding the crossed parts in a manner similar to Lena, he created “chopsticks.”
“This is the most fun part for me.”
“Me too.”
The chopsticks are a frame where four parallel strings stand, leaving no other option. Lena crossed the inner strings of the chopsticks with her pinkies and used her thumb and index finger to hold the outer strings.
That resulted in the “loom” appearing in Lena’s hands. The flipped shuttle, again leaving no choice. In Santian’s hands, as the next in sequence, the “flipped tray” appeared.
This marked the point where the subtle charm of cat’s cradle began. Those who think of cat’s cradle as a game to win or lose would not tolerate this process.
From the flipped tray, you can create the “scissors string,” “mat,” or “unflipped tray.” However, if Lena used her pinky to create the scissors string, it would only yield another flipped tray.
Repeating with no change in sequence and returning to the original state without any incidents is boring, so Lena made a different choice.
She lifted the tray in Tian’s hands in the same manner she made the chopsticks. Since it was a flipped tray, instead of chopsticks, a “mat” emerged. Soon, a mat with clear cow’s eyes appeared in Lena’s hands.
A mat is a frame where a lozenge sits in the center, often called cow’s eyes. However, the truth is…
If the “cow’s eyes” appear, you lose.
Lifting the cow’s eyes with the thumb and index finger creates a “fish,” with two parallel lines standing in the middle that leads to nothing. However you lift the string, it will untangle, causing Lena to lose.
So, if you aim to win this game, the choice should have been made from the beginning.
When Tian first held the shuttle, instead of simply making a tray, compressing both sides of the shuttle’s cross to directly create chopsticks from the start would have been the right path. Then Tian would have made the loom, and Lena would have held the flipped tray.
But cat’s cradle isn’t a game meant to win.
Here, creating a fish ends the game, but Santian Rauno gently caught the string caught between Lena’s index and thumb with his pinky, going in a completely different direction.
The “scissors string” emerged.
Sometimes known as a spider web or a mortar, it had many names reflecting its complex form.
The scissors string is a frame where ‘six strings converge at the center.’ Unlike other frames, which you could gauge roughly with your eyes, the scissors string required holding the intersection firmly, revealing the hidden string.
Lena was grateful that Tian didn’t end the game and saved her, as she grasped the string. Uncovering the hidden string and giving it a spin, the only route the scissors string could follow emerged in her hands as the flipped tray. She was given a concession.
From here, it became repetitive.
Lifting the flipped tray results in an unflipped tray. With that, play can restart from the beginning.
Lena and Santian continued their chatty cat’s cradle. Though the journey might be dull, thanks to this, the boy and girl didn’t find the time they had to sit quietly in the carriage tedious.
Meanwhile, Leo observed his sister and Santian Rauno playing cat’s cradle with a peculiar gaze.
‘Why does my sister get entangled with this kid?’ he thought, unable to definitively determine it was Minseo anymore.
At some point, anyway, [18/22], in just a few weeks since the scenario involving the beggar siblings began, the trace of Minseo had faded.
Thus, Leo’s view of Santian also changed.
When Tian first popped out from the luggage compartment, sensing Minseo’s presence, Leo considered him as excess baggage.
Such a little kid seemed to be no help, and he intended to send him back immediately, but Lena intervened, “Oh – why! He’s coming with us! Brother, you brought Xenia too.”
Given that both Minseo and Leo were particularly weak to their younger sisters, especially Minseo towards Lena…
‘Yeah. There isn’t enough time to get back to Orville and return… and I can’t send him back alone half a day’s journey by carriage.’
Leo had to allow Tian to accompany them.
If thinking positively, it was good that Lena had a friend to play with on their months-long journey.
Even if the thuggish Runo family from Orville, who controlled the market, chased after them yelling, “Catch the kidnapper!” they had Xenia to testify, so there was nothing to worry about.
This changed a lot over the past few weeks. Leo, stroking his chin, observed the curly-haired boy a year younger than Lena, who had been appearing rather often.
Actually, Leo’s view towards this boy named Santian wasn’t that bad. He only thought he was unnecessary baggage on the journey to reclaim {Bloodline}, but found the boy himself rather likable.
It was because of the third beggar siblings’ scenario ending. It was the round where he was chased by Marquis Tatian and separated from his sister. Leo had been incredibly worried about his sister, who was probably also being chased by the marquis.
At that time, he didn’t have the {Tracking} ability and searched the entire kingdom by hand (his eyesight was really bad because he used Depare root juice to change his eye color), and wandered around the right kingdom in his futile search.
What would have happened to his sister? She wasn’t dead, but had she been caught by the marquis and was suffering horrible fates?
It was truly a continuous series of nerve-wracking days. Leo, who had become a fervent follower of the Cross Church out of desperation, suddenly faced the ending while wandering around.
Fortunately, it was an ending where Tian and Lena got married.
In the wedding photo, his sister had the same dried leaf-colored eyes just like Leo. Looking at her with a pretty scowl on her face, scanning the guests, probably hoping her brother had come… it tugged at his heart. I’m right here. His heart ached, but even this much was a relief. It must have been really hard to elope with such a beautiful sister, but he was grateful that the boy Tian had taken good care of her.
After that, Lena married Tian two more times. The fourth route where his sister became a duke in anger, was influenced by the childhood friend route where she became an apostle of Barbatos, and with the help of Xenia Zachary, Lena returned to Orville and married Tian.
In the fifth route, where Lena was left alone in the theater and became an actress, she had also married Tian.
It might just be a mere coincidence.
However, when similar events repeat three times, people start to think it’s not a coincidence but destiny. Leo glanced at Santian Rauno and then turned his head.
Sitting opposite him with her back straight was the quietly sleeping Xenia. Thinking how this innocent person was also suffering because of him, Leo opened the small window near the coachman’s seat.
He asked the coachman to go a little slower, and the coachman, who Count Peter had sent, showed an unusually polite attitude.
* * *
They made stops in visited villages, with Lena, Xenia, Santian, and Leo each taking a room for the night, and continued to depart early the next morning.
Because Leo was in a hurry, they spent almost every day confined in the carriage, yet Lena and Tian still had fun. This time, Tian made a sling and showed Lena how to use it.
Popping their heads out the carriage window, they launched pebbles at the passing landscapes.
Though it was a sling, it wasn’t a contemporary object Minseo knew. It wasn’t Y-shaped and didn’t use rubber elasticity to fling the stones.
It was a sort of sling using a leather strap with some elasticity to whirl and release stones.
The sling was used across various civilizations throughout different times and places. This primitive hunting tool…
Who cares about the details.
Leo diverted his eyes from the kids playing cheerfully. Feeling tired from the journey, he gently brushed Xenia’s hair, who had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and woke her up before stepping out of the stopped carriage.
“Here?”
“Yes, we’ve arrived. We’ll stay here for two days before departing again. Lena, put on your hat.”
They had arrived at the village of Tiamun, not far from the ruins of Badobona Castle. In the round where he killed Gilbert Forte and fled, he and his sister, and Cassia had hidden in that visible mountain to spend the winter.
‘Back then, we didn’t even manage to enter this village…’
It was a faint memory. Prior to escaping from the bonds, Cassia would cook, his sister would clean the dugout while learning letters and etiquette, and he would hunt…
Cassia seemed to have struggled with the mountain life, but they were quite harmonious at that time.
It was during the first time he challenged the {Bloodline} event, hoping that meeting Knight Bart, who must have served him, could open some path, he was full of anticipation.
Of course, this time they weren’t on the run. Count Peter Gustav promised to handle Gilbert Forte.
As long as Gilbert didn’t attend the banquet when the prince of Astin Kingdom arrived in Orville, everything would be fine. Leo had asked Count Peter to send Gilbert far away.
Whether it was a grand journey or an invitation to a frenzied party, it didn’t matter. The key was to prevent Gilbert Forte from kissing the princess and getting banished to the capital church.
It seemed like it was well resolved, but Leo felt uneasy. He wasn’t sure if Count Peter would carry out such an odd request properly.
While it wasn’t a difficult task, if it wasn’t considered important enough, Leo worried that Lea might end up meeting Gilbert Forte.
Then… Lea would be chased out of the capital church.
‘…If that happens, it will likely mark the end of the childhood friend scenario this time. I should make sure it doesn’t go wrong in the next childhood friend scenario.’
Leo assumed the worst-case scenario as calmly as possible. Unfortunately, this time he had no choice but to leave her future up to some extent of probability.
It was to prevent Sir Bart from raiding Palast Teritan and Harret Guidan. For that, he needed to get to the Conrad Kingdom as soon as possible, but it took time to resolve the troublesome Gilbert Forte without killing him.
It was an unavoidable decision… but he felt sorry for Lea. He decided he would have to send Lev to the capital church.
“Wow. Is that a carriage? It’s huge.”
“Looks like some grand noble has arrived.”
At that moment, the villagers rushed out to see Count Peter’s massive carriage. Chattering and whispering, they cautiously greeted Leo’s group, who were unmistakably nobles.
As expected, it was a pristine village untouched much by noble hands.
Even so, needing to be cautious, Leo firmly pressed down the hat his sister was trying to stealthily remove. Assigning the task to Tian, he said, “Tian, make sure Lena doesn’t take off her hat,” and then went to meet the village chief to arrange accommodations.
They planned to stay for two days. Their destination, the Kingdom of Conrad, was still far away, but the reason they stopped here was to fetch Lev, who should currently be hurriedly heading towards Orville.
The Kingdom of Conrad was to the southeast, while the kingdom where Lev had started, Oron, was to the southwest, so their paths slightly diverged.
After securing the accommodations, thinking it would be safe enough in such an innocent village, Leo told Xenia that he would briefly go pick up a friend. Promising to return as soon as possible, even within the day, he urged his horse in the direction of Rev using his tracking skills and disappeared.
That evening, an older man came down from the mountain near Taamun Village, casually swinging the rope and leather pouch at his waist.
“Uban, you’re here. What’s the matter this time?”
A man from the village asked bluntly. The hunter responded with a sly smile.