My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 40
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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 40
The three of them gathered in Edmund’s room.
Elizabeth’s gaze remained fixed on Silmare.
She was remarkably, almost impossibly beautiful.
Edmund stood beside her, equally entranced—his expression just as vacant as hers.
The sight of Edmund’s vacant stare snapped Elizabeth back to herself.
‘Am I really wearing that same foolish look?’
The moment she composed herself, her annoyance turned toward Agnes.
‘Did she send Silmare to spy on us? Does she think we’ll cause trouble?’
But Silmare’s explanation was different.
“I have some investigating to do in this area, but I’m afraid I attract rather too much attention.”
Well, that’s because you’re so impossibly beautiful that you don’t seem quite real.
Edmund spoke up, breaking the silence that had fallen over Elizabeth.
“So you’re thinking of using us to divert attention, then?”
Silmare smiled faintly.
She was grateful that Agnes and her brother were sharp enough that she didn’t need to explain further.
“In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“The truth is, we’re passing ourselves off as commoners here, without revealing our station.”
“Would it cause problems if your identities were exposed?”
“That’s not quite it……”
Frustrated by Edmund’s weak response, Elizabeth pressed for clarity.
“So we just acknowledge knowing you if something goes wrong, right?”
“Precisely.”
“And if we’re discovered, we say you were here because of us?”
“That’s correct.”
“We don’t mind at all! Do whatever you need to do!”
This was the first time Silmare had properly met Agnes’s younger siblings.
Elizabeth had a pretty face, though her eyes held a sharp, slightly upturned intensity.
Edmund, by contrast, resembled Agnes more closely.
His gentle, wide-set eyes and green irises naturally called Agnes to mind, but his habitual avoidance of direct eye contact made him seem somewhat timid.
Silmare inclined her head briefly toward them both.
“Thank you.”
“It’s nothing, really.”
“But what exactly is it you’re investigating?”
Silmare hesitated upon hearing Edmund’s question.
‘Should I tell them something like this?’
Would they be shocked if they learned the Mansion had been attacked?
Beyond that, the man was the Security Chief of Kalburn City.
‘But if he learns that his siblings are here, he might try to use them as hostages.’
With that calculation in mind, Silmare spoke gently.
“There was actually a robbery at the Mansion.”
“What?”
“Fortunately, no one was hurt, but since the thieves fled this direction, I’ve come to track them.”
“What about Agnes?”
“Robbers came to Kalburn City?”
“Agnes and everyone else are safe. It was resolved well, but I wanted to investigate in case there’s any further danger.”
“I see.”
“Really, is there truly nothing to worry about?”
Silmare nodded at Elizabeth’s hesitant question.
“No, it’s nothing to be concerned about. However, it would be best if you both continue to keep your connection to the Laberose family secret.”
Silmare glanced at their clothing as if to confirm something.
“You are keeping it hidden from the people around you, correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Elizabeth tugged at the hem of her dress, as if suddenly aware of what she was wearing.
Silmare let the question pass and gently asked after their welfare.
“Now that I think of it, Agnes was quite worried about you both. How have you been getting along?”
Both their expressions clouded over in an instant.
In truth, it was easy enough to guess from appearances alone.
Even without understanding human ways of living, the lodging they occupied looked quite shabby, as did the clothes they wore.
Silmare had been told it was just a pleasure trip to the city.
Why had she come to look like this?
“Has something happened? Were you robbed of all your money?”
“Well, a little…”
“But not all of it! There’s still plenty left!”
“You weren’t in any danger, were you?”
“Of course not! They just ransacked the room, that’s all!”
“If living here becomes too difficult, it might be better to return home.”
“I can’t!”
At that, Elizabeth cried out in a sharp, piercing voice.
“I won’t go back until I’ve earned the money!”
“N-sister!”
The truth had spilled out before she could stop it.
By the time she covered her mouth, it was far too late to take back what she’d already said.
Silmare’s fine brows drew together slightly as she asked, “Are you in debt? If so, shouldn’t you tell Agnes all the more?”
How could she possibly explain that there was nothing worse than that?
Elizabeth’s eyes had begun to redden at the rims.
She was exhausted from the repeated rejections.
No one had listened to what the two of them had to say, and no one had bothered to look into their feelings.
That was only natural.
To outsiders, they were just unremarkable children.
The mere appearance of someone willing to hear their story had softened their hearts.
And since it wasn’t in front of their sister, there was no need to maintain pride.
In the end, both Elizabeth and Edmund found themselves pouring out their grievances with tears glistening in their eyes.
After hearing everything, Silmare smiled bitterly.
“Is there truly such a necessity to earn money to that extent?”
For Silmare, it was a story she could not comprehend.
If it had been when there was no money as before, perhaps, but now funds were plentiful.
More than that, the Fairy Folk were precious in terms of labor precisely because of their long lifespans.
Children born to them were raised treasured until they reached adulthood.
Naturally, they were never entrusted with harsh work, so the very thought of such determination struck her as pitiful.
“You shouldn’t need to do this anymore.”
The two children said nothing, their heads bowed.
Silmare gazed at them with a rueful smile.
‘To think it’s come to this simply because they’ve lost their parents.’
Among the Fairy Folk, everyone around children would look after them.
But this wasn’t a problem unique to these two.
In a world where no one protects you if they aren’t your parents—it felt terribly cold.
“Is it that you don’t wish to depend on Agnes?”
“That’s—isn’t it obvious?! She’s not our mother! What’s different between her and us? There’s only a four-year difference!”
As if touching a raw nerve, Elizabeth’s face flushed crimson as she poured out her words.
“She’s not stupid, and when our mother died, even though she was just a child herself, she said she’d take responsibility for us. Isn’t that ridiculous? No matter how useless we were, that’s too much…”
Finally, tears fell, and Elizabeth wiped her eyes with the back of her hand.
It was truly a pitiful sight.
If her heart hadn’t grown weak like this, it wouldn’t have happened.
At that moment, there came a laugh like a whisper on the wind.
When she lifted her head, Silmare was smiling warmly at her.
“Why not say it plainly? That you want to help your sister.”
“I did say it! I asked her over and over if there was anything I could do! But she wouldn’t even listen, just kept saying she was fine, that it didn’t matter!”
“Then Agnes was in the wrong.”
“Exactly! I’ve been so frustrated with her—she’s so rigid, so incredibly stubborn! And you know what she says? That she must protect the Mansion, that she can’t lose her title! As if the Mansion matters, as if we couldn’t just sell it and make do however we could—I really don’t understand why she has to live like that…!”
With her chin resting in her hand, Silmare listened attentively to Elizabeth’s story.
In that much, at least, Silmare agreed.
She had long since recognized Agnes’s flaw.
She insists on bearing everything alone, and finds it difficult to ask others for help.
As family members living together, Elizabeth surely felt that all the more keenly.
‘I want to help my sister too!’
‘I don’t want to see her struggle alone!’
They needed someone to lean on, or they hoped someone would let them lean on them.
Children always wanted to act like adults, yet they still wanted to pout and be comforted.
Contradictory, ambivalent feelings.
‘It’s a pity, somehow.’
The two children who used to lock themselves in their room and refuse to come out even when guests arrived, Amy who wandered the world searching for ways to help her sister in any way she could — all of them.
‘And Agnes, who endured it all alone.’
Silmare recalled the words she had whispered to Agnes.
That she wanted to be her good fortune.
That she would help with anything.
Because Agnes’s joy would become her own happiness.
And so she found herself eager to help Elizabeth and Edmund.
“Then shall we think about it together?”
“W-what do you mean?”
“You said you wanted to find work, did you not? When we Fairy Folk come of age and are assigned our role, we first explore what we do well.”
“But we don’t have anything we’re good at.”
“Surely there’s something you enjoyed doing. Had you done nothing but sit idle in your room for all those years, you wouldn’t have stayed confined to the house.”
“That is…….”
Silmare was right — the past five years had been a long stretch of time.
There had been no one to learn from, nowhere to go to meet anyone, and nothing that had to be done.
“Edmund only read books, and I…….”
Books were tedious and she couldn’t bear to read them. So she did whatever came to hand.
At first she drew pictures, but since she couldn’t afford paper or paint, Elizabeth sometimes helped Martha with her work.
Everything of value had been sold, so all that remained in the Mansion were scraps of cloth.
Martha used them to sew clothes for Elizabeth and Edmund and their father, while Elizabeth unwound thread beside her and worked at Knitting.
She was clumsy at first, but eventually grew quite skilled.
There had been nothing but time, after all.
As Elizabeth fell silent in thought, Silmare’s smile deepened.
“As I suspected. Why not look for work in that direction?”
“But I did it alone at home — would it be of any use?”
“That would be for the employer to decide. If it seems it truly won’t work out, you can simply give up and return home.”
“Yes? What did you say?!”
Elizabeth, startled, quickly continued.
“Oh, no! I’ll try!”
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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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