My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 12

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 12
In the days that followed, the Laberose Mansion fell into a state of considerable upheaval.
“You mean to depart at once? You’ve only just arrived—surely you don’t mean it!”
“But wouldn’t our guests find the inn in the city far more comfortable than our home?”
“The hour grows late. If you set out now, you won’t reach Kalbern City until the dead of night! The guest rooms aren’t fully prepared yet, so if you would kindly wait in the parlor for a moment……!”
“The rooms have been empty for years—how could we ready them so quickly?”
“I can help with that!”
“Alfred isn’t the problem—we must think of Martha and Elena’s age! Here’s what we’ll do: let me help as well, and I’ll make it worth your while!”
“That’s out of the question! Miss Agnes cleaning house herself!”
“I cleaned my own room when I was at the Count’s Estate.”
Over the trivial matter of who should clean the room, the two of them refused to yield an inch, locked in an increasingly heated dispute.
At last, two men who could bear to watch no longer stepped forward.
“Agnes, I can sleep in the garden! The forest and trees have always been my home, after all.”
“I could clean it with Magic, if you wish…….”
At that, Agnes and Alfred cried out in unison.
“Absolutely not! You are our guests! We may not be able to offer you much hospitality, but at least we can prepare proper rooms for you!”
“Quite right! That is something we simply cannot allow!”
Not a drop of blood ran between them, and yet.
When Agnes and Alfred turned their heads to regard the two men, their expressions were strikingly alike.
A short while later.
Faced with Agnes’s stubborn resolve, Alfred finally raised his hands in surrender.
While Silmare and Kesenor waited quietly in the parlor.
Agnes and the meager staff—only three in number—made a fuss as they set about tidying the guest rooms.
The next ordeal was supper.
The lack of suitable food to serve their guests became the source of yet another commotion.
“Goodness, if we lack the ingredients, we can simply go down to the village and buy some!”
“I cannot possibly serve our honored guests the same fare as the Territory residents!”
“But if there’s nothing suitable to eat, what are we to do? We can’t just serve boiled eggs and bread.”
After much bickering, Agnes and the three servants ventured to the village, procured a chicken, and prepared supper for their two guests.
Silmare and Kesenor maintained their silence throughout the meal.
At last, when supper had ended.
Agnes showed the two men to their rooms, then made her way to her own chamber.
The Laberose Mansion was arranged with a central hall on the first floor, flanked on either side by the servants’ quarters, parlor, and dining room.
On the second floor’s left wing were the rooms of the family’s lord and lady and their children, while the right wing held the guest quarters.
On the left, five rooms stood in a row—the innermost belonged to Agnes’s father, Count Laberose, and the rest belonged to Agnes and her younger siblings.
To reach her own room, one had to pass through her siblings’ chambers in succession.
At the first door beside the staircase—before Amy’s room—Agnes came to a halt and stood motionless for a long while.
Martha, who usually managed the household’s affairs, would surely have seen to it, but Agnes wanted to check on the room herself.
Yet when she grasped the handle, she found herself unable to open it.
It was a room she had not entered once in the year since Amy disappeared.
She feared that confronting an empty space would be the unraveling of her.
When she finally gathered her courage and opened the door, a sparse chamber lay revealed before her.
On the bed lay a colorless blanket, and a single worn doll—one Agnes had cradled as a child—rested there.
In the corner sat a table with worn and faded edges, and a wardrobe.
Those were all the possessions Amy had ever owned.
They were all things Agnes had used in childhood. Not a single item had been purchased new for Amy.
‘The family’s fortunes began to decline the moment Amy was born.’
There was one exception.
A doll that Agnes had bought with the money she earned working as a tutor for her younger sister.
But that too had vanished when Amy was pulled into the Crevasse.
The sight alone was enough to constrict her heart, and Agnes hastily shut the door and stepped out.
Next to that room lay the chambers of her other siblings.
As Agnes looked upon the rooms of Elizabeth, her second-youngest, and Edmund, the third, her eyes grew sharp and cold.
One year ago, on the day Amy disappeared.
Not for a single moment had Agnes forgotten what happened that day, and now the memory made her clench her teeth.
* * *
“Bread and omelet again? How tedious!”
Agnes had just returned to the Laberose Mansion after obtaining a rare leave from her position as a tutor. Elizabeth, her second-youngest sibling, began complaining about the meal once more.
Agnes lifted her weary eyes and fixed Elizabeth with a sharp look.
“Don’t behave like a spoiled child.”
“You eat well at the Count’s Estate! Unlike us!”
“Elizabeth.”
Agnes called out in a stern voice, but Elizabeth paid no mind. Finally, with shocking lack of decorum, she picked up her fork and pointed it at her youngest sister huddled in the corner, her anger boiling over.
“It’s all because of you! Because you were born!”
The dining room fell silent in an instant.
Elizabeth had always been sensitive by nature, and since their mother’s death she’d thrown tantrums often enough, but this was the first time she’d said something so cruel.
‘Surely she didn’t understand what that meant?’
Agnes turned urgently toward Amy, but the girl was simply stirring her spoon, seemingly unbothered.
Amy was five years old this year.
Of course she was old enough to understand whether someone had said something mean to her or not.
But the fact that she showed no alarm, no hurt…….
“You don’t mean…….”
Agnes’s heart seemed to freeze solid.
“This wasn’t the first time she spoke to you that way, was it?”
“Why? Is it wrong to say? It’s the truth!”
Amy, who had been mumbling silently until then, lifted her head. Her eyes were red as fire.
What on earth had happened to this little sister while Agnes was away?
At that thought, Agnes felt as though she might break apart from the pain.
Her voice rose without her meaning to.
“Go to your room this instant, Elizabeth!”
“What gives you the right to order me around?”
“What?”
“Are you the mistress of this house? Just because you live at the Count’s Estate, do you think you belong there now? While your siblings starve like beggars in this house, does the food even taste good in your mouth?”
“How dare you? Do you think I don’t know why I’m living there?”
“What does it matter what you say? When Father dies, we’ll all be ruined anyway!”
Elizabeth twisted her mouth into a bitter smile, her eyes boring into Agnes with contempt.
“Our house is already finished! Struggling won’t change anything.”
With that, Elizabeth shoved back her chair and stormed out. Edmund, who had been watching nervously, soon rose and followed her out.
At last, Amy burst into tears. Agnes held her little sister tight until the sobs subsided.
Poor Amy. So very poor.
A wretched child denied even her parents’ love.
That she should hear such terrible words from her own sister, and so young.
“It’s all right, Amy. I’m here. I love you so much. I can’t live without you. All right?”
That night.
Agnes held her close, trying every comfort, whispering love and kisses until they fell asleep together.
But Agnes woke with a terrible premonition.
Amy, whom she had been clutching to her breast, had vanished.
That very same day.
Amy disappeared into the crevasse.
Perhaps Amy had thought that if only she were gone, things would be better in this house.
Otherwise, she would never have had the courage to venture outside into the dark night.
After the crevasse swallowed Amy.
Agnes tore herself apart with blame, cursed her sister, and fought with Elizabeth at the top of her lungs until her voice gave out.
‘If that hadn’t happened, Amy would never have fallen into the crevasse.’
It was all because I fought with Elizabeth.
It was because Elizabeth said such horrible things.
That was the last time Agnes ever saw Elizabeth.
When Agnes returned to the Mansion, Elizabeth wouldn’t leave her room, and Agnes made no effort to seek her out.
Edmund, who always went everywhere with Elizabeth, was the same.
Agnes might as well have lost all three of her siblings.
Today too, Agnes walked past the doors to her siblings’ rooms without knocking.
She only checked on her father at the end of the corridor.
He remained unchanged.
When she knocked and opened the door, the reek of alcohol and stale air filled everything.
Even when Agnes greeted him and asked how he was, he only coughed weakly now and then.
His eyes, always drunk, were clouded and unfocused.
Agnes sighed and stepped back outside.
‘It will be all right. Things will get better.’
Before Amy comes back, I’ll buy her a beautiful doll and furniture, and I’ll find a doctor who can cure Father…….
‘Then everything will be fine.’
Yet Agnes found herself at a loss as to what could be done for Elizabeth and Edmund.
The moment her thoughts turned to her two younger siblings, her chest grew tight with frustration and anger.
After Agnes had retreated to her room,
the door to the adjoining chamber opened briefly, only to close again moments later.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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