My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 18

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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 18
He’d likely meant to slip away before Agnes arrived.
He must have thought he’d bungled the plan by arriving earlier than expected.
‘Did he leave because my presence made him uncomfortable? Or because he thought I’d stay at the Mansion longer?’
But it wasn’t necessarily bad.
The Mansion needed repairs anyway, so resting somewhere more spacious than a place that would soon be filled with noise seemed reasonable enough.
If only she didn’t think about how that money had been earned by Amy—who had vanished into a fissure on the day Elisabeth was subjected to harsh words.
“But there’s a condition.”
As if she’d known it all along, Elisabeth’s blank expression twisted.
Agnes watched this transformation with calm eyes before continuing.
“When Amy comes back, apologize to her.”
It was an unexpected demand; Elisabeth drew in a sharp breath.
Agnes could read Elisabeth’s heart.
Elisabeth had a strong sense of pride, but she wasn’t inherently wicked. She must have regretted what happened that day.
She’d certainly blamed herself when Amy disappeared.
But her resentment toward Agnes for seeming to neglect her—
And her self-loathing over the sudden shift in circumstances after their mother’s passing had made her sharper, more brittle. Agnes saw this clearly.
‘But things will get better now.’
The situation had changed, and most importantly, Amy would come back.
“I think you’re capable of that much. As Amy’s sister.”
Elisabeth looked away, biting her lip, while Agnes observed her with a steady gaze.
“You’ll do it?”
“…Yes.”
Before debating right and wrong, Agnes simply wanted to secure that agreement.
* * *
‘As if she’s the only one who’s accomplished anything!’
Alone in her room, Elisabeth fumed.
She packed her belongings and carefully placed the money Agnes had given her into her bag.
If only her sister had raged at her, shouted at her—then she wouldn’t feel this sick gnawing inside.
Tears welled up somehow; Elisabeth wiped her eyes with her fingertips.
‘We finally see each other after so long, and all she does is talk about Amy, Amy, Amy…! Did you think I wasn’t hurt?’
Her voice breaking into sobs, Elisabeth recalled again the cold composure her sister had shown.
“I cried just as much when Amy became like that…”
A newborn who lost her mother the moment she was born.
Agnes and Martha had mostly cared for her, but when the two were busy, the responsibility fell to Elisabeth.
Fitting a bottle to a tiny mouth, patting the back of a child who kept spitting up.
Of course she’d changed diapers, helped with her first steps.
Yes, she’d said something cruel. But the family’s fortunes really had begun to decline right after Amy was born.
And more than that—Elisabeth had lost her mother too, not just Amy.
“You treated me like I could do nothing, locked me away in my room? Just wait. I can do well too.”
If she couldn’t become a governess like her sister, then at least let her do odd jobs.
The household was struggling, yet she’d tried to handle everything alone, and Elisabeth could only watch nervously from the sidelines.
‘Is there nothing I can help with?’
Whenever she gathered the courage to ask hesitantly—
‘It’s fine. You just need to be well.’
That’s what her sister had said.
Elisabeth checked her face several times, terrified someone might notice she’d been crying.
Once she’d composed herself a little, she picked up her bag and stepped downstairs, where Edmund stood alongside an unfamiliar man.
Apparently, the guest who had come with her sister.
Seeing Edmund fidget awkwardly in front of him, Elisabeth felt her chest tighten.
‘Good heavens, that fool! So timid! Shouldn’t he at least greet the man properly?’
As Elisabeth descended the stairs, bag heavy in her hand, the man looked toward her.
For a moment, she stumbled and nearly tumbled down the steps.
Ironically, the one who was foolish in that instant was not Edmund, but herself.
Despite having made such an embarrassing display, Elisabeth could do nothing.
The man rushing up the stairs in alarm was so breathtakingly beautiful that it took her breath away.
“Are you all right?”
“Oh, yes! I’m… I’m Elisabeth…”
“I know. You’re Agnes’s sister, yes? I am Silmare.”
Good heavens. Even his voice was beautiful.
“That bag looks heavy. Do let me carry it for you.”
Even kind, she was.
Elisabeth climbed into the carriage as if moving through a dream, and only later did she search the window for Silmare, but he had already vanished from sight.
* * *
“Are you certain you’re all right with this?”
“With what?”
Agnes looked up from the stack of promissory notes she’d been organizing to pay back debts the moment they’d returned, responding to Alfred’s question.
“Miss Elisabeth and young Edmund, I mean.”
“Oh. They’re old enough now, aren’t they?”
“Should anything happen to them—”
“It’s fine. I’ve thought it through.”
Not that she had any intention of simply leaving them be.
Since they were still children, if anything went wrong, she would contact the Labor Office and find someone trustworthy to watch over them from a distance.
That way, she could keep abreast of how they were managing.
“Besides, it’s not as though I sent them an abundance of money.”
She had sent them comfortably enough, but it wasn’t the sort of sum that could sustain them for long.
If they squandered it, they’d be back at the Mansion all the sooner.
‘Elisabeth knows that much, I’m sure.’
Moreover, once her mind grew easier, she would have the leisure to look around at her surroundings, just as she did.
Presently, Lilia knocked on Agnes’s door.
“The Duke has arrived, Miss.”
“Yes, I’ll come down right away!”
Leaning over the second-floor railing and peering down, Agnes caught sight of Kesenor, who had only just arrived.
Beside him stood a stranger.
Kesenor, upon spotting Agnes, broke into a smile, and the man standing next to him bowed deeply.
Agnes stopped her conversation with Alfred and descended to greet the visitor.
“Welcome, Duke! What brings you here?”
“I came by Teleport, as you may have heard. And I’ve brought along someone I thought you would find invaluable.”
“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss. I am Gallus Brook, proprietor of the Brook Merchant Guild.”
In that moment, Agnes’s eyes, as she turned back to Kesenor, brimmed with wonder.
“Duke!”
“I had a feeling that what you truly wished to do was not merely to clean the Mansion, but rather something of this nature.”
“Yes, but how did you know?!”
It was as though he had read her very thoughts. Surely it wasn’t magic, was it?
As she asked in astonishment, Kesenor laughed and replied.
“I govern a fiefdom myself, you see.”
Agnes smiled in return.
It was true.
When she had first laid eyes upon the safe brimming with gold coins.
‘First I must pay back the debts, so I’ll organize the ledger…’
There were so many who had been owed money that sorting through the accumulated interest and principal would take far longer than a day or two.
‘Once all the debts are settled, what comes next?’
The moment the thought struck her, a fierce, crystalline hope surged through her mind, overflowing.
‘I want to restore everything!’
She longed to tend to the Mansion, which had grown shabby and crumbling over five years of neglect.
‘I want to make this house what it was before, what it was when Mother was alive. Somehow, before Amy returns.’
Since Amy’s birth, the Laberose Family had entered its decline.
Naturally, Amy had grown up knowing nothing of abundance.
The toys that had been commonplace when Agnes was young, the delicious foods and desserts, even the seasonal fruits—all of these had been luxuries to Amy.
Unlike Agnes and her two other siblings, for whom such things had always been taken for granted from childhood.
It had always weighed on her heart.
‘Since this money came from Amy, I want to make her room beautiful, and the Garden beautiful too. Beautifully enough to astound her when she returns.’
She would prioritize readying the spaces for guests first, and then tackle the rest one by one.
‘The Guild likely viewed our house with disfavor.’
The fact that they had come directly like this meant either Kesenor had vouched for her, or he had persuaded them himself.
The meticulous courtesy with which they treated Agnes—as though addressing a great noble—gave her a clear sense of how Kesenor must have spoken of her.
‘He must have told them to trust me, or that he would resolve any troubles that arose.’
As Martha had said, all of this truly felt like a miracle.
And because it was.
‘I want to show him the Mansion as it truly should be—magnificent, as its rightful mistress.’
Agnes summoned the image of her mother as she had been in childhood.
The memory of that composed yet resolute figure straightened her spine instinctively.
“First, I’m grateful you came directly. There’s much to discuss—do you have somewhere to write things down?”
“Of course. Please, just tell me what you need.”
“How capable is the Brook Merchant Guild at the moment? I’d like to know how far you can extend yourselves.”
“Just say the word. We have operations not only in the capital, Kavas, but throughout the Three Kingdoms.”
“That’s quite remarkable. All the way to the Three Kingdoms?”
“Of course, since we’re based in Calven City, we do need to collaborate with other guilds, but we can procure rare materials readily enough, I assure you.”
“Well, the Duke introduced you, so I imagine you’re more than capable.”
“Indeed so, absolutely.”
“Then let’s start by showing you which parts of the house need repairs.”

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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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