Dry Drowning

Chapter 20

Kyle stopped smiling and made an unjust expression as Ian looked at him with suspicion.

“Our custard cream doesn’t even know what Shetier* is.”

[*T/N: Language spoken by the Shertians.]

Ian looked at him as if it had nothing to do with him. Kyle moved to the next sentence as if he was waiting for him.

“All he can do is write his own name, but telling him how to write the prince’s name is impossible. Don’t you think so?”

It sounded like a bullsh*t, but it was a statement close to the truth. Shyu couldn’t speak, and the last attempt to teach him how to write had already ended with Victoria.

Even those who treated him like a younger brother and cared about his everything neatly gave up within a mere month. Shyu, who couldn’t even remember simple words even after repeating them several times, seemed to have no will to learn at all.

Since all Shyu did was laugh when asked if he understood, many would burst into anger and give up.

Shyu nodded, probably hearing Kyle’s voice, and quickly picked up a branch near him. Still, if he barely memorized at least one letter of what Victoria had taught him then he should be able to write his name.

Shyu squatted on the floor, and with the sound of soil scratching, began to write something down.

A single syllable without a last name.

“Hmm!”

Shyu was proud of the only name he could write, he turned his head toward Ian and smiled broadly. However, Ian, who couldn’t even write his own name, stared at the sloppy writing that he couldn’t even read.

In the meantime, the word ‘cream’ was quickly added next to Shyu’s name. Pretending as if nothing had happened, Kyle groaned as he turned his dirt-soaked hands.

“Look at this kid, who was satisfied with this. You doubted my broad heart for a moment because I didn’t want to give you homework, right? Yeah?”

He was just teasing and using only grandiose words. Unlike Ian, who looked away as if it was not worth responding to, Shyu listened intently to Kyle’s sophistry and seemed to agree to some extent.

That’s why he was being treated like a fool. Shyu’s eyes widened when he patted his forehead with his fingertips*. When he looked down to look at something, Shyu suddenly felt it was unfair and tilted his head. Kyle did not miss to interpret his appearance and gave Ian a branch.

[*T/N: This is a gesture he did while thinking.]

As if he was asking Kyle why he was giving this to him, Kyle smiled and opened his mouth.

“But what if we don’t know each other’s names? Tell me now. Name.”

“…….”

“The letters are not that difficult, so you can memorize cream puffs, Right?”

The person concerned did not know that it was not that difficult.*

[*T/N: It meant to say that to Ian it was a totally new language, so of course it was difficult for him. So it is said that Ian didn’t know that it was ‘not’ difficult.(≧▽≦)]

Ian was taking turns looking at the branches in his hands and Shyu’s eyes that glistened at them. He spat out a sigh.

What are you even doing here?

He didn’t want to get along with anything unpleasant, but Shyu’s gaze was intense to a point that he couldn’t ignore them.

No matter how much he looked at it, there was no way he could think of a letter from a language that he didn’t even know.

He threw the branch and tried to turn around, but he changed his mind with the premonition that Kyle would follow after him.

Anyways, he was a foreigner in this country. He was told to write down his name but wasn’t told to write it in Shetier. Ian came to a conclusion, bowed down and drew a diagonal line just below Shu’s name.

It’s up to me which language I’m going to use.

“…….”

However, Ian, who was staring at the floor for a while without further crossing, drew a circle to the left of “ㅣ”. One more circle next to it and a line sticking out to the side. Both of them stared at the branch that did not stop while drawing an angled line downward.

이언

[T/N: He wrote “Ian” in Korean. Actually what his name is written in Korean is pronounced as “Eeon” or “Ion”, but it doesn’t sound too good, so I went with Ian.]

Perhaps the name written in Korean was so amazing that Shyu remained crouched and kept studying it. As if to understand that the round and angular shape was Ian’s name.

Likewise, Kyle’s expression looking down at the letters was somewhat subtle. It was when he tried to read it several times as if he had witnessed something very strange. His lips trembled at Ian.

“If you’re back, report to the superiors first.”

The three who were looking down at the ground naturally turned their eyes to the deep voice that emerged from behind. The man that had just arrived looked quite familiar.

Blue hair tied high and cross* drawn on the forehead.

[*T/N: It is written as 성호 which probably means cross as in Churches (✝️).]

Neat facial features and an expressionless expression that seemed like it wouldn’t change even if he was being stabbed with a knife.

On the day of the procession, it was Claude, the deputy general who accompanied Ian to the village on horseback.

“Oh, Claude! What, did you run out of morning training because you missed me? That’s kinda creepy.”

“Should I respond?”

“Ah, won’t you deny it anymore?”

The conversation continued quickly, perhaps because they knew each other well. Claude, who walked slower than Kyle, replied calmly like a teacher compared to the joy-filled Kyle.

“The training starts at 8 o’clock sharp, and I always arrive five minutes earlier. Regardless of you.”

“Is that so?”

Even though he heard Claude’s cold reply, he still had a smirk on his face. They knew each other, but they didn’t seem to know each other in a good way. As if he was familiar with this situation, Shyu bowed his head toward Claude and pulled Ian’s sleeve tightly.

‘Let’s write our names together!’

It was a gaze that could be understood without saying, but the atmosphere of the two people next to them was cooling down rapidly. At first glance, he only heard him mention his name, but it was the first time he saw them together.

“Yeah. I think I’ve already told you about a thousand times. Even that b*st*rd has a better memory than you.”

In fact, except for Ian, who had just entered, the relationship between the two was already open within the Knights.

Kyle, who acted only according to his mood, and Claude, a principlist with the tendency to follow like a tag, were contradictory. A former slave who was not sincere in anything and the second son of a noble family who had to take responsibility for everything he said, they were born differently.

Even if both were elite members. They often had to carry out the instructions of the Grand Duke side by side, so they met whenever they ran into each other. Both were top-notch, so it was almost a hobby to make the entire Knights Templar* into thin ice sheets.**

[*T/N: Knights Templar- The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon, also known as the Order of Solomon’s Temple, the Knights Templar or simply the Templars, was a Catholic military order founded in 1118.]

[**T/N: Like thin ice is dangerous and hard to walk on, they made the Knights Templar a dangerous place or a strict place most probably.]

“What?”

Kyle seemed to be in outrage by Claude’s words.

He was not the kind of a human being who would be hurt by such criticism. However, at the next moment, Kyle shouted indignantly, going along with Ian’s guess of what he was going to say.

“Apologize to the puppy*!”

[*T/N: So the “b*st*rd” whom Claude was talking about is Shyu, because Shyu reacted like that when the atmosphere seemed familiarly cold, so Claude said that he had a better memory than Kyle. And Kyle understood whom Claude meant by the “b*st*rd” so he asked Claude to apologize to Shyu, referring to him as a “puppy”. (Truly I am hating every character except that kid and Kyle◉‿◉)]

He wondered what kind of bullsh*t it was, but the next words that came out were more spectacular.

“Claude, that’s your problem. You should be more mindful of other people’s feelings. How disappointed would they be if they were being compared to me? Alexander, who was raised in front of a tavern, is so smart but I can’t believe he said that?”

“…….”

“What’s with that expression? No way…”

Kyle, who voluntarily changed Kiki’s* name to Alexander in front of a tavern, covered his mouth with his hands.

[*T/N: I have no idea who Kiki is….ʘ‿ʘ…Could be Claud’s nickname…]

“Did I just touch your wound? By the way, I need a friend to go to a tavern… Sorry. This was my mistake. You understand right Claude?”

“It’s my fault for mixing things up.”

It just seemed that the way he talked to everyone was consistent in that way. As if tired of Kyle’s words, which were pouring out again, Claude walked to the side without regrets.

If Kyle was born with a natural talent for overturning others’ minds, Claude was a man who was good at ignoring other people’s nonsense. No matter what he says behind the scenes, he walked towards Ian, who was watching the situation with an expression of disinterest.

“We received a report yesterday that there was a minor misunderstanding with our knights.”

It didn’t seem trivial, but there was a sense of vagueness even though it was large. In fact, Ian, who had nothing to do with either side, nodded moderately only after one beat had passed. He had no intention of asking. It would be the same in any era to reject those who didn’t suit the group.

“It was something I should have cared about.”

Lies. There was no way that he didn’t know what Fred had done, who had been tumultuous for over a week. It was when Ian, who regarded it as a word of mouth, tried to nod once again.

“Honestly, I didn’t write it.”

“…….”

Is he bragging?

It was a questionable statement whether he was arguing or just being honest. Claude, who didn’t lose a single expression from Ian’s face, continued without delay.

“If you want to punish those knights, you can tell me. We will include all the instigators, including those who watched the situation.”

If he nodded, the trial would be heated immediately. Ian couldn’t find out the reason why he appeared and why he was doing this after a week. However, the answer to that question was already set. Ian slowly raised his arm, and Claude’s eyes followed.

“…….”

Claude was speechless for a moment as Ian’s hand now pointed at him.

It was because there was only one reason for pointing out him when asked if he wanted punishment.

The tips of the neatly positioned eyebrows were raised, but it was just for a moment. The news that he had entered the Knights Templar and flirted with Fred and others was strange to begin with. He had a lot of nerves. Claude, who recalled what he had seen during the procession, spoke slowly.

“Yes, I’ll include myself.”

It was the same with him who stood by.

If punishment is imposed, it should be fair.

Ian lowered his hand at Claude’s attitude of accepting his mistakes without excuses and shut his mouth. He shook his head as he swallowed a sigh as he knew what kind of a person Claude was.

He was not a child, and he didn’t have any hobbies of talking behind people’s backs.

He shook his hand as if he didn’t need it and turned around.

Even if he was here, it seemed that he would never have met the man. In the beginning, his* purpose was considered a waste of time. Ian, ignoring Shyu, who stared at him, walked to the entrance. He thought it was better to go back to his own room.

[*T/N: Talking about Ian.]

“Ian.”

Come to think of it, Ian should have ran away at that time.

No further questioning, no wanting to know anything. If he had run away without looking back at the man he killed, he would have been able to die peacefully that time as he had hoped.

It was already enough to look through the memories that he lost.

Ian, not realising it, was caught off-guard by the awkward voice. A few unreadable emotions passed through Claude’s expressionless face.

“The captain wants to see you.”

This was a mourning.*

[*T/N: By mourning, it’s like, it was a pain in the a** for Ian.(ㆁωㆁ)]

ㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡㅡ

T/N: This chapter was a bit TOO long…. The other chapters are like 1500 words, and this chapter has more than 2000 words◉‿◉. Probably the longest chapter I did till now. Probably, it’s not very long for some people, but for a newbie translator like me, it’s too long.ಡ ͜ ʖ ಡ. Sorry for the late update again, alot of things happened, which includes my tablet going crazyʘ‿ʘ and me being a bit busy with my studies( ；∀；). I would probably release 1 or 2 more chapters of Dry Drowning and then I will go on a looooong hiatus for 2 to 3 months. I have a very important exam coming up, so I need to prepare.(´；ω；｀)(｡ﾉω＼｡)

Also guys, I you like this novel then please rate and review this novel in “Novel Updates” website, as many rely on the ratings and reviews before reading a novel.(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.)