My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 16

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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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Chapter 16
Between her fingers, the horse’s mane scattered on the wind.
The arm wrapped around her waist was firm, steadying her whenever she swayed even slightly.
Her hair, left loose and unbound, kept brushing against her cheek.
But she didn’t mind it at all.
The meadow rushing past in swift succession, the blue sky stretching overhead when she tilted her head up just a little, the white clouds drifting on the breeze—all of it unfurled across her vision without restraint.
She understood now why Silmare had complained that being trapped inside a carriage was suffocating.
The horse galloped with cheerful vigor.
Unburdened by tight reins, the creature ran as it pleased, delighted and wild, while Silmare and Agnes simply had to maintain their balance.
Whenever the path veered, Silmare whispered in a language that flowed like rolling water.
And the horse, without fail, corrected its course.
Toward the Laberose Mansion—Agnes’s home.
Tucking her windswept hair back into place, Agnes broke into a radiant smile.
It felt like a dream.
Had she ever even imagined such a thing?
Like an unrestrained horse, she had shed the ropes that had bound her entire body.
Silmare watched her with dazzled eyes as she savored the wind, almost as though she’d forgotten his presence entirely at her back.
He had never seen Agnes laugh like this.
She was always pinned beneath some heavy burden, her expression rigid, controlling even the angle of her brows with meticulous restraint.
But now, in this moment.
Agnes laughed like a child.
“Does it please you?”
As he whispered the question, Agnes turned to meet his gaze over her shoulder.
Her eyes glowed with a tender green, like new shoots.
“Yes! I love it so much!”
She stroked the horse’s back, covered in silken fur, raising her voice so the wind wouldn’t steal her words.
“I’ve always wanted to ride like this!”
“Is that so.”
“Since I was very small. But Father said it was too dangerous!”
The memory was vivid.
The chestnut horse she had once vowed to ride someday, claiming it for her own.
When she had to part with Rose, she’d bitten back the tears that threatened to spill over, and only when alone in her room had she wept in earnest.
After Mother passed, such moments came too numerous to count.
“Tell me, Agnes. Will you accept me now as your fortune?”
There was something urgent in his whispered voice.
So she couldn’t answer lightly.
In truth, she had so much she wanted to say that she couldn’t speak at all.
If a beautiful deer came to whisper at the edge of an empty lake that had nothing to give, would it feel like this?
You don’t need to give anything.
Just let me stay at your side.
If he released flowers from some unknown place and not only played beautifully beside her, but even sprinkled water held in his parched palm across the dry ground.
‘How could I refuse? Unless I were to cling to you, begging you to stay.’
So Agnes answered with nothing but a radiant smile, her eyes crinkling with joy.
* * *
Meanwhile, one day before Agnes arrived.
Four hired servants reached the Laberose Mansion.
The moment they stepped down from the carriage, all four exhaled in unison.
It was far more of a ruin than they’d heard.
“Ha, ……ha ha ha.”
Oliver, who had been hired as the gardener, could only laugh in a daze.
Three pairs of sympathetic eyes turned upon him.
“It’s, ……not a garden at all, but completely desolate?”
“Is it even possible to restore?”
Ben and Pavel, who had secured positions as mansion guards, looked at Oliver with obvious concern.
“Of course it is. Well, there’s plenty of work, so surely we’ll be paid generously.”
Oliver recovered surprisingly quickly.
Lillia watched his recovery with an awkward smile.
Lillia, hired as a servant, was the only woman among the newly employed staff.
During the carriage ride, with nothing else to discuss, they’d shared their circumstances with each other, and Oliver’s story went like this:
‘I was simply farming normally, but I lost my family to a monster that appeared from a Rift.’
‘My, you must be quite grieved.’
‘In any case, I’m grateful you’ve hired me. Having work to do will at least help ease my mind.’
Pavel and Ben had parents, they’d said, and lived in a small village in Laenheim territory.
But Lillia was different.
Born and raised on the outskirts of Kalben, Lillia had five younger siblings alone.
Her parents worked hard to provide for six children, but two people’s labor simply wasn’t enough.
As a result, Lillia had been forced to earn money from odd jobs since childhood.
Given her station, she’d never even dared dream of becoming a maid in a noble’s mansion.
‘You’re going to the Laberose Mansion? Are you out of your mind? If we work hard and don’t get paid, what are we supposed to do?’
Her mother had protested when she heard about the move to the Laberose Mansion.
Lillia had barely managed to persuade her.
‘Maybe I’ll get a letter of recommendation and be able to move somewhere better.’
For the sake of her younger siblings, who were still too young to find steady work, she would do anything if it meant earning more money.
Though she certainly hadn’t expected to end up working in such a run-down estate.
Pavel and Ben muttered worriedly as they surveyed the mansion, which was hardly better than an abandoned house.
“I’m not sure there’s even anything worth guarding.”
“He did say if there’s nothing to do here, we should patrol the village instead.”
“True enough.”
The two had been guards in Kalben, they’d said.
Since that work was grueling enough, they seemed to have transferred to a position that paid reasonably well and appeared easier.
Whether it would truly prove easier, only time would tell.
Under the butler Alfred’s guidance, the four of them made their way to the servants’ quarters.
Only after stepping into her room did Lillia let out a sigh of relief.
Though dust had accumulated thickly from having stood empty for so long, it was the first room of her own that Lillia had ever had.
When another maid eventually arrived, she’d have to share it, but even so it was incomparable to the house where she’d lived in Kalben.
“The young mistress seemed pleased too.”
She’d been given a generous allowance so she could bring back treats for her family.
Though the work ahead looked daunting, the butler Alfred had kindly suggested they rest today and begin tomorrow morning.
She had a good feeling about it all.
Lillia fell asleep with a sense of satisfaction.
The next morning, Lillia woke early. When she stepped outside, Martha was already awake and moving about.
She was the nursemaid of young Agnes, and had continued caring for the Laberose household’s children, or so she’d said.
Now she seemed to be working as a maid alongside the others.
“Welcome, you’re Lillia, right?”
“Yes.”
“We need to clean the guest rooms first. Can you manage?”
“Of course!”
“After that you’ll need to help with meal preparation, so hurry!”
Not just Lillia, but the other employees were busy from the start of the morning.
Oliver went out to inspect the garden, while Pavel and Ben carried provisions that had been delivered to the mansion’s entrance into the storehouse before helping Oliver.
That morning’s meal turned out more generous than expected, with plenty of food for the employees as well.
Elena’s cooking was surprisingly competent, and it was thanks to Lillia and Martha’s tireless, willing help.
‘They’re all good people.’
Watching the employees—whether newly arrived or long-established—help one another without complaint, Lillia smiled warmly.
Yet the people living in this mansion were not limited to them.
While meal preparation was underway, Martha came to the kitchen and set aside three more portions. Three servings in all.
“Whose meals are those for?”
Martha’s smile turned bitter.
Martha didn’t answer her question and instead asked Lillia to carry the meals with her.
Only after they stepped into the corridor did Martha tell her where they were headed.
“The Laberose Marquessate has four young masters and mistresses.”
“Four?”
“Yes. Agnes is the eldest, and Amy, who’s missing, is the fourth. The two of them are gracious, but the others can be… difficult, shall we say.”
“I see.”
“Let’s visit the second young mistress’s room first.”
Martha stopped at Elizabeth’s room first. She knocked—tap, tap. A voice called from within.
“Come in.”
As she entered with some trepidation, Lillia found a girl with long, unruly brown hair sitting before a vanity.
She seemed to be in the midst of preparing herself, as if getting ready to go out.
Despite her beautiful face, the glance she cast in their direction was dark and brooding.
It seemed she hadn’t slept well the night before—there were faint shadows beneath her eyes.
“I don’t recognize this face.”
“Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Lillia.”
“A new maid?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Martha set the meal down on the table.
“Please, have your breakfast.”
“What’s this? The meals have been quite lavish since yesterday.”
“Miss Agnes instructed me to ensure you’re properly fed from now on.”
“So she grudges every copper when it suits her—locking us away in our rooms—but now that she’s come into a bit of money, she turns generous?”
Martha said nothing, only lowering her head.
As if Elizabeth had expected some particular response, she continued.
“Still not a word to us about any of it?”

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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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