My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 54

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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 54
Agnes fell into thought for a moment.
She didn’t know exactly what Amy had seen.
‘Did she witness some terribly dangerous event in the past? Something that made everyone—even the Duke—feel necessary.’
Agnes recalled the fissure.
It might develop into a calamity that threatened the world itself.
‘Just what could be so dreadful….’
With just Kesenor and Ruppert working together, they could even slay a Dragon, a monster of legend.
If everyone else was needed too.
If the danger was that great, Agnes understood why Amy was afraid.
‘But why does she worry for me, and not the world?’
If four people were necessary, it had to be something stronger than a Dragon.
She found it hard to believe, but Agnes sighed and asked softly.
“You wanted to protect me at all costs, didn’t you?”
At that, Amy pressed her lips firmly together and bowed her head.
Watching her, Agnes pressed her lips to Amy’s forehead.
“Thank you, Amy.”
“Huh?”
At words she hadn’t expected, Amy’s eyes widened in surprise.
Agnes gave her a gentle smile.
As if the reason she’d started this conversation wasn’t to interrogate why Amy had sent those people, but to thank her.
“It’s all because of you. Everything. The clothes you wear, how beautifully we decorated your room, how my sister got better, and how our home became peaceful—it’s all thanks to you.”
“No, I….”
“That’s why I wanted to do anything for you when you came. Be by your side, eat delicious things with you, buy you wonderful toys and pretty clothes.”
Agnes pulled Amy close into a tight embrace.
She could feel how, just by holding her like this, Amy’s anxious, ragged breathing gradually grew steady.
It was as tender as it was heartbreaking—Amy’s anxiety made perfect sense.
‘For Amy, I must have been like a mother and father combined.’
To a child, a parent was the world itself.
More than the abstract, uncertain concept of ‘the world,’ they were an absolute being one could hold concretely in one’s hands.
Burying her face in the crown of Amy’s head, Agnes whispered gently.
“You were scared, weren’t you, my Amy. Scared of falling, and scared of seeing your sister in danger. So you went looking for people. Because you wanted to protect me.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“It’s true. The Duke helped me so much. And bad people tried to attack our home. Silmare is out there dealing with that, and Ignitan protected the Village. That’s what they’re all doing.”
“Really?”
“And you sent us so much money that we paid off all our debts. Since you’ve helped us so much, I’m going to work with everyone else to stop it. You’re still much younger than me, remember? So don’t worry about anything.”
Agnes drew Amy up from her snug position and looked her in the eye.
“I’m going to be all right now.”
Amy’s face went blank.
As if Agnes’s words of gratitude hadn’t reached her at all.
‘No….’
Things might have improved in some ways, but her sister was not safe. Not truly.
Because….
In the moment Agnes looked at her in confusion, Amy cried out in a sudden fit.
“No!”
“Amy…?”
“It’s not all right! Sister’s in danger! You’re wrong!”
“It’s not all right?”
Agnes looked toward Ruppert in alarm. He shook his head.
He seemed to have no idea what she meant either, so Agnes turned back to Amy in confusion.
Her blue eyes were drowning in fear.
It was as if she’d witnessed some terribly enormous, dreadful creature.
Amy whispered, her voice trembling.
“It’s coming….”
“Who?”
“Someone bad… to take Sister away….”
Just as Agnes was about to ask who on earth she meant, Amy began to hiccup violently.
Hic. Hic.
She even trembled all over.
Ruppert slowly shook his head and placed a hand on Agnes’s shoulder.
As if it were the most natural thing in the world.
Agnes endured the sensation of her heart sinking, and pulled Amy close once more.
“It’s all right, Amy. I’m fine.”
Who was she afraid of, really?
The terror of losing her sister.
Perhaps that was why this small child had been forced to cross the entire Continent.
A six-year-old ought not to be struggling to protect someone, but rather growing up sheltered by the gentle care of the adults around her.
Her chest felt as though it might tear open. Agnes pressed her forehead against Amy’s delicate shoulder.
‘I have to protect them.’
This Mansion, my siblings, myself above all.
* * *
That night.
After putting Amy to sleep, Agnes called the three men to her.
Ruppert stood beside Agnes as naturally as if he belonged there.
The sight of it caught Kesenor’s eye in a way he couldn’t quite ignore, and as he passed, he gave Ruppert’s shoulder a light tap.
But Ruppert did not respond.
He had only glanced at Kesenor for the briefest moment.
He had not offered even the courtesy expected of a servant when meeting a Marquis who was a guest in the household.
‘I’ve heard he occupies a unique position.’
The household staff were not servile in manner, but whenever they encountered the Marquis, they invariably showed proper respect.
Ruppert, though, had been different from the first meeting.
He did not defer to rank, but rather stood at some unknowable height and gazed down with an almost aloof dignity.
The reason Kesenor did not take offense was that he had once witnessed Ruppert sever a Dragon’s neck.
‘Not even the Empire’s finest knights would find it easy to stand against him.’
Kesenor himself could never have defeated the Dragon alone, not without Ruppert at his side.
Seated in her chair beside a man who might well rank among the Empire’s most formidable swordsmen, Agnes sipped her tea quietly.
She waited while the three men savored their own cups.
In the end, Lapitor could not bear the silence and asked hesitantly.
“You called us here because of a fight earlier?”
“I’ll explain the details shortly. But first, I imagine you’d like to confirm that I’m genuine?”
With that, Agnes extended her hand to Lapitor.
“Of course!”
Lapitor answered at once and grasped the hand she offered.
A clear golden light pooled in their joined hands.
And with it, the familiar Mark rose into view upon her skin.
A seed and a leaf.
Lapitor’s eyes shone with recognition and joy.
“You really are genuine!”
“If I weren’t, why would we all be here?”
Kesenor’s sardonic remark was immediately caught and turned by Agnes.
“That’s right. It’s precisely because of this Mark—whose meaning I still don’t understand—that you all came searching for me.”
She spoke with a bitter edge and exhaled slowly.
“And because of it, my youngest sister is trembling with fear.”
“What happened?”
“She was told that some bad person would come and take me away.”
“Who told her that?”
“She wouldn’t say who, so I don’t know. But it seems someone covets me—and that must be because I am the World Tree’s Companion. So that person must have gone looking for you to prevent whoever is after me from taking me.”
At those words, both Ignitan and Lapitor’s faces went pale at once.
Kesenor, who knew nothing of this, showed a markedly different reaction.
Agnes watched their expressions in silence.
Ignitan and Lapitor knew something.
“So I’d be grateful if you’d tell me anything you suspect might matter—if you consider what I am to be significant.”
But the two said nothing, only letting their eyes drift away.
Agnes sighed.
“If this has nothing to do with you, then there’s no need for you to remain here. I’ll find a way to protect myself.”
“That’s… you’re telling us to leave?”
But Agnes did not answer; she merely turned her gaze back to Lapitor.
Lapitor’s voice trembled, thick with confusion.
“We’ve only just arrived? We found you after a thousand years, and now…?”
“Then tell me what you do know. As you can see, I’m just an ordinary person, and I need to know however I can protect myself.”
Far from ordinary—she was desperately fragile and helpless.
But she didn’t want to define herself that way.
‘I’m not being protected because I lack ability.’
If Amy and the others were right, Agnes was the one and only being in all the world.
‘They wouldn’t have chosen someone like me without reason.’
Why had they chosen her? Why would they show such a future to a child like Amy?
She decided not to dwell on those questions.
‘It’s not something I could ever understand anyway.’
Worrying over what was already determined would accomplish nothing.
‘So if you’ve come all this way for me, then decide: will you protect me from here on, or will you stand aside?’
The answer was already made, though.
If she truly was the being who determined the world’s fate, then they had no choice.
Not merely to grow from seed into World Tree, but to guard this very world beneath our feet.
“Of course, I believe you won’t leave me. Because you truly do think I’m important.”
Those eyes, once delicate as a tender shoot, now held a firmer light.
Kesenor, who knew almost nothing and could observe the situation with relative detachment because of it, found the whole affair rather amusing.
‘I wonder what they’ll say.’
Perhaps through their response, he might finally find answers to things he’d only half-understood before.
With anticipation, Kesenor fixed his gaze on the two men.

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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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