My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 27

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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 27
The night before.
Once free of the Laberose Mansion, Silmare tore through the darkness.
The wind rushed past his ears in a blur.
Within it, the distant sound of hoofbeats drew steadily closer.
It was Loice, already summoned.
As Silmare vaulted onto the horse’s back, Loice broke into a gallop in his stead.
No words needed—he already understood Silmare’s intent.
Soon the city walls of Kalburn came into view at the edge of the horizon.
Mew.
A cat approached and whispered that sentries lay ahead.
Silmare smiled his thanks and gave Loice’s withers a light pat.
The horse slowed.
Silmare rose lightly in the saddle.
He unfurled the Transparent Wings at his back, and at once a misty veil seeped into the air around him.
Moments later, Silmare vanished into the darkness.
The walls of Kalburn City lay beneath his feet now, yet no one marked his passing.
Hidden thus, he could survey the sleeping free city laid out below.
The Security Force he had been trailing moved through the streets between buildings.
They tethered their horses in a stable and slipped soundlessly into the alleyways.
All save one man, who turned toward the hill to the west of the municipal building.
Security Force Commander Harold Miller.
Below the hill that rose gently through the city’s heart, a tributary of the Karun River flowed, and beside it stood an elegant stone mansion.
Miller entered it.
Soon the wind carried Miller’s voice to Silmare’s ears.
“My apologies, Treasurer. We have failed.”
An owl settled onto a tall tree in front of the house.
Through the owl’s yellow eyes, Silmare watched what unfolded within the window.
Inside an ornately furnished study.
Expensive volumes lined the walls in elegant shelves, and beside them, golden candelabra gleamed atop a display cabinet, their flames dancing bright.
A man sat across from Miller.
The desk before him was scattered with papers covered in complex equations.
The stout, middle-aged man was the city’s treasurer.
Lucane Fetus.
Once a member of the Fetus Trading Company, which had maintained distribution networks across the entire empire, he now served as treasurer and oversaw all currency flowing through Kalburn City.
He slammed his fist on the desk and rounded on Miller.
“I asked you to bring me a paltry sum, and you couldn’t even manage that?”
“But—there was nothing we could do! A giant appeared out of nowhere!”
“Where in the world are you getting this nonsense from?”
Lucane denied it, but then studied Miller’s face more carefully and asked with suspicious eyes,
“Is that the truth?”
“Would I lie to you? All my men saw it!”
“Then did you at least discover how much money was there?”
“We searched the entire house top to bottom. There was nothing.”
“No money in the house of someone who spends it like water?”
“I’m telling you the truth! We searched every corner. There really was nothing!”
Miller bowed his head in shame, though inwardly he felt the failure was unavoidable.
‘At first they said it would be a simple task, nothing difficult….’
‘Without Marquess Celesta, no one in that mansion could stand against us. So just sweep up all the money using the debt as pretext. I don’t know the amount, but I’ll see you’re well compensated for your troubles.’
‘Wouldn’t it be easier if you simply hired mercenaries instead? Why burden us with this?’
‘Then it becomes an unlawful act, doesn’t it? I’ll issue a retroactive warrant. You just need to collect the money under the pretense of debt.’
He’d thought it dangerous from the start.
It was hardly a commoner’s hovel they’d be ransacking—it was the home of a person of actual noble rank.
Yet Lucane had always wielded Miller like a tool, and had never once suggested anything impossible.
Moreover, with such enormous debts accumulated, confiscating property on account of the creditors’ claims seemed reasonable enough.
With luck, he might even have pocketed a portion.
That had been his reasoning when he’d agreed.
Instead, Lucane was now venting his rage on him.
“How did you manage to botch this? Not only did you fail to bring the money, you didn’t even catch sight of it? And you’re the Security Force Commander—what exactly did you accomplish out there?”
So was he supposed to have died fighting the giant instead?
Miller erupted in frustration too, his voice rising in protest.
“You said there would be no one to oppose us! And yet the young lady of Laberose House! That scrawny girl, she kept fighting back so fiercely! Even when I said I’d cut down everyone in the mansion, she didn’t bat an eye!”
“What?”
Lucane’s eyebrows twitched with a convulsive tremor.
“You threatened to kill her?”
“Yes! I said I’d massacre everyone in the mansion if she didn’t talk, but she wouldn’t budge!”
Silence descended between them.
Lucane had fallen silent, his face twisted with shock and fury.
He sagged back in his chair, exhaling sharply through his teeth with a sound of disgust.
“Are you out of your mind?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“I told you to bring me money. Did I tell you to kill anyone? I used the Security Force instead of mercenaries precisely to keep this legal, didn’t I?”
Miller’s lips moved soundlessly, but no words came.
Lucane twisted his mouth into a cruel smile, regarding Miller with contempt.
“Greed has blinded you.”
“No, no! I was following your orders, Treasurer!”
“She’s a noblewoman regardless. If my aim were money, would I have sent you at all? If it looked like things might go wrong, you should have simply withdrawn!”
“But I… that is…”
Miller’s hands began to shake.
Without allowing him time to protest, the Treasurer carved out his heart with words sharp as steel.
“This failure is entirely your doing.”
And so Miller’s fate became obvious.
If Lucane refused to defend him, today’s events would rest solely on Miller’s shoulders.
Seeing the consequences before him, Miller immediately fell to his knees and prostrated himself.
“Please, Treasurer, spare me!”
There was no way out.
Of course he knew what a member of the Security Force ought not to do.
But hadn’t they said the Laberose House had already fallen?
He’d thought that even if he’d been rough with those nobodies, the Treasurer’s authority would smooth things over easily enough.
But now.
The Treasurer was saying he would do no such thing.
‘I have no way to prove my innocence…!’
The Treasurer’s orders had come only by word of mouth.
So no matter how much he cried out that he’d been following orders, no one would listen.
“Haven’t I served you faithfully all these years? Please, please help me!”
Then Lucane gazed down at him with an odd smile.
Even as he seemed to pity Miller’s clasped hands and desperate pleas, he looked at him as though he were mere trash to be disposed of.
“If Laberose files a formal complaint, there’s nothing I can do to protect your position.”
“If you would only spare my life…!”
“Of course. At trial, you’ll lose your head for attempted robbery while serving as Security Chief.”
Lucane’s eyes grew cold as he stared at the back of Miller’s bowed head.
‘If he were stupider, if he’d simply died there, this would be much easier.’
Lucane cleared his throat and spoke in the most benevolent tone he could muster.
“So I’ll have you imprisoned first, from my side.”
“What?”
“When Laberose files charges, I’ll say you were already locked away—for taking the Security Force out privately during the night.”
“Then I would…!”
“It’s merely getting ahead of them. If I say you’ll face punishment according to law, they’ll have nothing to say. Once public attention fades sufficiently, I’ll have you released.”
“You truly mean that?”
“Have you ever known me to lie?”
“But then what becomes of me after…?”
“You’ll go elsewhere and make a fresh start. I’ll give you a generous severance package.”
Miller bowed his head, swallowing his bitter grief.
After all he’d done to reach the position of Security Chief.
He’d been earning good money, planning to buy a house, planning to marry.
He couldn’t fathom how a single misplaced word could be such a grave sin, yet Lucane the Treasurer was hardly one to speak carelessly.
Better to live than to die.
Miller was just nodding reluctantly when something stirred in his chest—an uneasy feeling.
He lifted his head.
From his position on his knees, most of his view was blocked by the large desk, but he could see a wide window at its far end.
Amid the dense thicket of trees.
An owl stared at him with yellow eyes.
The gaze was deeply unsettling.
* * *
The Reception Room of Laberose House.
The dawn light had faded, and sunlight now touched the windowpanes.
The teacup between them had grown cold.
Warming it between her hands, Agnes asked with a pallid face.
“So he’s been locked away in prison?”
“Yes. I watched the Security Force take him away myself.”
“Then officially, he’s being held on the charge of leading the Security Force without authorization?”
“That is correct.”
Agnes set down the teacup and composed herself with measured calm.
“For now, we have little choice but to play along with his designs.”

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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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