My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 52
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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 52
The soft form in her arms stirred.
Agnes looked down in alarm.
Was this a dream?
When she’d woken, Amy’s return had felt like a dream itself.
She couldn’t believe Amy was in her arms.
“Can’t breathe…….”
Amy squirmed against her chest.
Had she been holding too tight?
But Agnes didn’t loosen her grip.
Instead, she tightened her arms and pulled Amy closer.
“Sister……!”
Amy thrashed about, but Agnes rubbed her cheek against the girl’s soft hair with abandon.
The warm, sweet scent was intoxicating.
And in that moment, she knew this was real.
Agnes cried out like a petulant child, squeezing tighter.
“I’m not letting go!”
“Seriously, I can’t breathe! Let me go……!”
Only then did Agnes relax her hold.
It was late May, and the sun hung high outside.
From holding each other under the blanket, beads of sweat had formed on Amy’s forehead.
Agnes wiped them away with the back of her hand and smiled brightly.
“Amy.”
“Mm?”
“Amy!”
“Uh-huh?”
“Why did you take so long to come back!”
With that cry, Agnes cupped Amy’s cheeks in both hands.
“Ow, sister!”
“Once you came back, you should have come straight home. How could you wander around like that! And then you got sick on top of it all! Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been!”
“I’m sorry…….”
Her words came out garbled, her cheeks compressed.
She’d tried to apologize earnestly, but Agnes’s brow suddenly furrowed.
Her playful expression turned sorrowful.
As Amy looked at her questioningly, Agnes pressed her lips firmly to the girl’s forehead.
“I don’t want to hear you apologize like that!”
“Like what?”
“Promise me you won’t do it again — that you won’t wander off alone!”
“Okay…….”
Amy nodded.
Of course she would.
They say leaving home is misery — even with Rupert’s help, it had been truly hard.
She’d slept rough, ridden horses, sailed on boats…….
She was sick of traveling.
Amy buried her face in Agnes’s arms again, having just escaped them moments before.
“Hehe, I love you, sister…….”
“Sigh.”
She exhaled, but Agnes held Amy close.
She whispered the words she used to say without thinking.
“I love you too, Amy! That’s why I was so worried. Don’t go anywhere ever again.”
“Okay!”
Then came a light knock at the door from outside.
“It is I, Rupert. Are you awake?”
“Yeah, I’m up. Come in.”
Rupert opened the door and stepped inside.
He’d washed and changed into fresh clothes — he looked noticeably cleaner than before.
Something about it felt unfamiliar and warm, and Agnes smiled without thinking. Rupert smiled back and bowed his head.
“Breakfast is prepared and waiting downstairs.”
“Okay, thanks. I’ll head down.”
As soon as Rupert left, Agnes turned to Amy and asked her something.
“When exactly did Rupert become like this?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know? You two were together the whole time, weren’t you?”
“Yeah, well. I don’t remember. I just woke up here.”
“You’re telling me you don’t remember what happened when you fell into that terrible place?”
“That? I know what it was! It was a Rift!”
“That’s a difficult word—how do you know it?”
“Of course I know it.”
Agnes ruffled Amy’s hair as the girl beamed with pride, then fell into thought.
If Amy was right, then Rupert had no memory of what happened in the Rift.
In that case, how had the two of them managed?
How had Rupert cared for an unconscious child all this time?
‘Did Rupert regain consciousness after he came back too?’
But that didn’t explain it—Rupert looked so different from Amy. He’d changed far too much.
As though time had flowed only for him.
Still, there would be time to ask about that later. For now, she needed to feed Amy, who’d been away for so long.
“You’re hungry, aren’t you? Come on, let’s go.”
“Yes!”
“You’ll be so surprised when we get there—I’ve bought all sorts of delicious things with the money you sent me.”
As Agnes took the small hand and turned toward the door, Amy suddenly stopped in her tracks.
“Amy?”
Amy stood in the doorway looking startled, her gaze darting between the corridor and the room, back and forth.
Agnes, who understood why, simply smiled and waited in silence.
Amy asked, her eyes wide with wonder.
“Is this my room?”
“Of course it’s your room.”
“I thought it was your room!”
Agnes played along. “What made you think that?”
“Because the room is so pretty!”
“It’s pretty because it’s your room.”
“Really? It’s really mine?”
“Yes.”
Joy bloomed across Amy’s entire face.
She gazed at the gracefully draped canopy and the toy box tucked in the corner with her mouth hanging open in delight, and she nearly pulled her hand free to rush inside.
But Agnes didn’t let go.
“Not now.”
“Why? I want to look!”
“After we eat.”
“Just a quick look… just the toys!”
“No. After we eat.”
Rupert, standing beside them, couldn’t suppress a chuckle and coughed to cover it.
Both sisters turned their eyes on him at once.
Rupert shrugged, trying to look innocent.
Agnes and Amy’s eyes narrowed.
“Something’s definitely off about you.”
“Off?”
“You were with him the whole time—are you saying something’s wrong with him too?”
Seeing the two sisters regard him with mischief written all over their faces, Rupert made an awkward expression.
“What should I do about it?”
“It’s fine. You look healthier now.”
“That sounds like you’re saying I looked sickly before.”
Amy quickly shot back at Rupert’s mock wounded tone.
“That’s exactly right!”
Watching the two laugh together, Agnes felt tears threatening to spill, and she took a sharp breath.
Just last winter, she’d never imagined a day like this would come again.
As if sensing Agnes’s heart, Rupert’s gaze shifted toward her, and she smiled as though nothing were amiss.
Just then, Martha’s voice called down from below, loud enough for all three to hear.
“Stop your chattering and come down! The guests are waiting!”
At that, the three of them tumbled down the stairs together.
Amy bounced along happily while Agnes raised her voice in protest, telling her not to run.
Rupert followed in her wake.
The moment Amy darted into the restaurant, Agnes stepped back a pace and stood beside Rupert.
Glancing sideways up at him, Agnes gave Rupert’s arm a gentle tap.
“What happened to those stick-thin arms you used to have?”
“They were never quite that bad.”
The firmness she felt beneath her fingers was strange to her.
A surge of inexplicable warmth rose in her chest, and Agnes let it escape with a sigh, her eyes crinkling as she smiled.
“Welcome back, Rupert.”
“Yes, Miss.”
“I missed you just as much as I missed Amy.”
At that, Rupert, whose steps had faltered for a moment, bowed his head.
“I missed you too, Miss.”
The restaurant they entered was packed with people.
Amy had her hands on Ignitan’s thighs and was struggling to clamber up his legs.
Ignitan, without a word, simply hoisted her up effortlessly into his arms.
He claimed the highest seat in the restaurant, and Amy, perched there absurdly, cast a sidelong glance at Kesenor, who sat across from her.
“You kept your promise, didn’t you?”
“Isn’t this a bit discriminatory?”
As Kesenor’s eyes narrowed, Amy burst into giggles.
She’d need to ask her sister for the full story, but it seemed he hadn’t behaved as badly as she’d feared.
For Kesenor’s part, he grumbled at the little girl, feeling falsely accused.
“Not just you—everyone discriminates against me. Do you know why?”
“Because you might turn us all into frogs?”
“Well, I told you I can’t perform magic like that.”
And on he went, explaining magical principles that Amy couldn’t begin to understand, her face screwing up in distaste as she complained it was too difficult to listen to—a gesture that somehow seemed oddly familiar.
Watching her with curious interest, Rupert leaned close to Agnes and whispered.
“The mage and I traveled together for about two weeks.”
“Is that so? Ah, you said you defeated a dragon together.”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Now that she thought about it, she’d heard that Rupert had fought alongside them.
Yet she found it utterly impossible to picture him standing deferentially beside her, locked in combat with a dragon.
Just then, an unfamiliar voice emerged from beside Ignitan.
“Amy, sleep well?”
“Oh, that’s right!”
“You didn’t forget me, did you?”
The voice was as bright and youthful as a boy’s.
A man who had been hidden behind Ignitan’s massive frame leaned out and glanced sideways at Agnes.
His face was unfamiliar, and his appearance was striking.
‘A tail……?’
Agnes gasped with surprise, propriety forgotten, and scrutinized him thoroughly.
A long tail rose stiffly behind him as he craned his neck forward.
Between locks of tawny hair that fell to the nape of his neck were pointed ears jutting out, and his skin was somewhat darker than Ignitan’s.
Above his bronzed complexion, golden eyes gleamed like the sun itself.
“Sister, this person is, well…….”
Just as Amy began to explain, the man cut her off abruptly.
“So you’re the ‘bond-mate’?”
“Yeah, he’s my sister.”
At that, the man sprang up and bowed to Agnes.
His expression was candid, and he appeared to be about a head taller than her.
‘Could he be one of the dark fey Seeds.’
Kesenor’s muttering came back to her—something about one representative from each race.
“I am Rapitor, and I have come from an island to the south.”
“Welcome, Rapitor. I am Agnes Laberose.”
“Yes, Amy told me. So you are the ‘sole bond-mate.'”
Rapitor continued without hesitation.
“The rest of these dark-skinned men must all be ‘Seeds,’ then?”
At that, a subtle silence settled over the table, which had been warm with cheer just a moment before.
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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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