My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 37

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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 37
She lived on the outskirts of the village, so she likely hadn’t heard the fire bell ringing clearly.
Yet she had arrived before anyone else and was already dousing the flames.
‘She was always like that. The moment the children squabbled, she’d come running.’
That was probably why the villagers had quietly looked after Kania.
Anyone living in this village had received her help at some point.
Agnes pulled the Warehouse Key from her pocket and offered it to Kania.
“The storehouse is gone now, but I’m giving you this as a symbol that it will be entrusted to you when it’s rebuilt.”
“I—yes?”
“I know the village elects the Village Chief. But since Yohas is ill and these are uncertain times, I’m ordering you to take the role as my Lord’s Deputy.”
“Ah, miss…! The Village Chief? Me?”
It was unusual for someone as young as Kania, and unmarried besides, to take on the role of Village Chief, but Agnes believed Kania would do better than anyone.
“You’re someone who can speak rightly in any situation. And you’ve cared for and cherished many people—including me. You’re the Kania who even resisted Baren when he drew his sword, so I know you’ll do well.”
“But, miss…”
Agnes turned away from the bewildered Kania and surveyed the surroundings.
All the villagers seemed taken aback, but not a single one voiced objection.
Several laughed with a kind of incredulous awe, yet their heads bobbed in agreement.
They all believed Kania had the right to do it.
“Thank you, Kania. I’m counting on you.”
Agnes pressed the key into the hands of the wavering woman.
Her hands were blackened with ash—testament to how fiercely she’d fought through the night.
“If difficult matters arise, I’ll help you greatly. I’ll provide the workers to rebuild the storehouse, the materials, and supplies for the time being.”
“No, no, miss! You couldn’t possibly burden yourself like that…!”
“Of course, only this once. Not again after this.”
As Agnes smiled, Kania released a long breath and managed an awkward smile of her own.
A new sun was already rising in the eastern sky.
Once the situation had been settled, Agnes and Ignitan set off for the Mansion immediately.
There was an enormous amount of cleanup to be done, but it didn’t feel like their place.
Lingering longer would only get in the villagers’ way.
They hadn’t even eaten breakfast, as there was no time to prepare a meal.
Halfway through the journey.
Ignitan, walking ahead, kept turning back to look at Agnes.
Agnes’s footsteps grew slower, her gait unsteady.
More than that, she swayed and her head drooped.
Without realizing it, her eyes would close, then she’d start awake and resume walking—the cycle repeating.
Seeing this, Ignitan came toward Agnes and lifted her onto his back.
“Ignitan!”
……
He said nothing this time either.
He simply carried the struggling Agnes silently and continued walking.
“Please, put me down!”
Only Agnes’s face burned red with embarrassment.
Since Agnes wouldn’t stay still, Ignitan finally spoke.
“This way is better. If you fell and scraped your face, that would be troublesome.”
“But, I…”
Even as she protested, Ignitan merely shook his head.
“It’s fine. You can sleep.”
Deeply embarrassed though she was, carried on his broad back, her eyelids grew heavy and began to close.
In the dimming darkness.
Nightmarish images flickered past like a lantern show.
Baren’s corpse, charred black.
The blazing storehouse.
The deafening cries of the people still ringing in her ears.
There had been so much in such a short time.
Ever since the day Ignitan arrived, events had poured down like a storm.
Because of it, Agnes hadn’t had a single night of proper sleep.
And yesterday alone, she hadn’t slept at all, fighting the fire.
She was so exhausted that her vision blurred, and sleep wouldn’t come.
In the moment when, suffering, she unconsciously leaned against him.
A steady, heavy heartbeat echoed against her ear.
Thump-thump.
Slow and heavy, yet strong, his heartbeat pulsed with steady rhythm.
Like his steps—carrying Agnes without a tremor—his heart too beat with that same unwavering cadence.
The regular sound echoing in her ears.
The warmth that held just the right measure of heat.
Feeling the sensations transmitted from him, Agnes drifted into sleep as though a lamp had been snuffed out.
The moment her full weight finally came to rest upon him.
Ignitan paused mid-stride.
Rather than weight, what he felt was impossibly light and soft—like touching down feathers.
The corners of Ignitan’s mouth, always held tightly before, curved upward in the faintest smile.
So brief it was like a single flash of time.
* * *
When her eyes opened, she heard birds chirping merrily.
It felt as though she were waking from the deepest of dreams.
As she raised herself up, her body felt remarkably light.
‘I don’t think I’ve felt this refreshed waking up in quite some time.’
Her limbs were stiff, so she stretched luxuriously.
The blanket that had slipped from her body was thin.
Somewhere along the way, it had been changed to a summer blanket.
“Has it really come to that already?”
Looking back, it had been April when Kesenor first came to tell her that Amy was alive.
It was too early yet to bring out the summer bedding.
As Agnes lay quiet in thought, she rose from the bed and looked out the window—only then did she understand why.
Outside, it was already midday.
The sun glittered from the center of the sky.
Knowing that Agnes had difficulty rising on her own, they had temporarily switched her to a lighter blanket so she wouldn’t overheat.
“Oh my……”
Through the window lay the back garden, overflowing with flowers of every kind.
The flowers that Silmare and Oliver had planted were just now blooming as spring ripened into its fullness.
“My goodness, Miss! You’re awake?”
Martha pushed open the door and stopped short in surprise.
“Martha!”
Greeting the familiar face, Agnes broke into a bright smile.
At that, Martha’s expression became ambiguous—whether she was frowning or smiling was hard to tell—and she heaved a deep sigh.
“I’ve heard the general details. I gave you a rough cleaning, but you must be uncomfortable, yes? Let me prepare the bath water right away.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Though her clothes had been changed and the soot-stained skin had been wiped clean, having slept without washing left her feeling terribly grimy.
As she sank into the warm water infused with herbs, her entire body melted into lassitude.
After washing and changing into fresh clothes, Agnes came downstairs.
Martha and Alfred greeted her warmly.
“Alfred! All well?”
“Of course. I returned safely. I arrived around lunch, but you were sleeping so soundly I couldn’t bring myself to wake you.”
“But you left yesterday. You finished everything and came back in one day?”
“No, Miss. It was a journey of two nights and three days in total.”
Seeing Agnes’s bewildered expression, Martha sighed deeply.
“You came back yesterday, Miss.”
“What?”
“You slept straight through the entire day, and couldn’t get up this morning either. How exhausted must you have been, not eating and sleeping like that? Do you know how heartbroken I was?”
Now that Martha mentioned it, Agnes realized she was quite hungry.
She’d thought it was because she hadn’t eaten properly in the village, but it seemed she’d actually gone a full day without food.
“And yesterday you came back being carried on Ignitan’s back! My heart simply broke……!”
“I’m fine now! I feel perfectly light!”
“Don’t you ever do that again! You must take care of yourself while working—if anything happened to you, what would we do, and what about Amy?”
Whether Martha was scolding her, lecturing her, or simply worried, Agnes could only laugh in response.
Fearing she’d be subjected to a long scolding if she stayed, Agnes went out to the garden with Alfred, saying they had matters to discuss.
“Please speak, Miss.”
“What of the debt?”
“The Promissory Note and accounting documents have been submitted to the bank for notarization. I’ve also deposited the funds to repay the debt. Once the review is complete, the principal and interest are to be paid in full, so there should be no problems now.”
“So it’s truly finished then!”
“Yes. Now we need only repay the debt owed to Valdemar House.”
“I’ll have to go find him myself. It’s only proper.”
Her chest swelled with emotion, as if a balloon expanding inside her, and Agnes exhaled deeply.
Even the visit to the Valdemar Mansion, which had always felt so uncomfortable, now seemed something she could manage with joy.
Once she repaid that debt, she would need to rely less on the money Amy had brought.
“Speaking of which, Alfred.”
“Yes, miss.”
“Did you hear what happened in the village? What was the trouble?”
“I heard from Ignitan and Martha. Concerned there might be problems with order, I sent Pavel and Ben to the village as soon as we arrived.”
“That’s exactly what I was thinking!”
“Anticipating the master’s thoughts and acting accordingly—that is the hallmark of a proper steward.”
“You really are something, Alfred. Anyway, after going down there this time, I felt that the village has been relying on our house far too much all these years.”
Alfred drew in a breath, as if taken aback.
“Quite so. Properly speaking, the mansion should be maintained from the taxes gathered in the territory alone, but since the village’s circumstances have been unstable, the young lord has had to assist them considerably.”
“So that’s why Father was always going out. Right?”
Agnes remembered how her father, for all his careful attentiveness to their household, would go out occasionally and stay away for long stretches.
Alfred nodded in confirmation.
“Indeed. He was kept busy—helping both the Valdemar Count and the Laenheim Count, traveling back and forth between their two territories, lending his hand to all manner of affairs.”
In other words, the Laberose Territory had been sustained entirely by the capacity of the ruling house itself.
Once, that had been acceptable.
Though small, the Laberose Territory had always produced clever people who could lead the house forward.
But if the Laberose House ever faced a crisis, the people of the Laberose Territory would suffer equally.
They lacked the cushion of surplus to weather any emergency.
“So—could we perhaps increase the territory’s self-sufficiency?”

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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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