My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 60

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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 60
Fortunately, Agnes’s instincts proved correct—hope began to bloom in the faces around her.
One look at the Mill and Water Pump, and the way Parban and Brik rushed forward, said everything.
“We’ll handle all the production here in the Village!”
“Just give us the word!”
Because of their eagerness, they would soon learn Rapitor’s craft.
Watching them, Agnes felt a quickening in her chest.
‘I should gather the most eager ones and try planting an herb garden.’
The Laberose Territory had a pastoral beauty to it.
Below the Hill, a river glimmered in the distance, and along the path down to the Village, the green plains rippled whenever the wind swept across them.
‘Lavender and rosemary thrive in well-drained soil, or so I’ve heard.’
Planting them along the hillside would be lovely.
‘And if travelers heading to Karben pass through our Territory, they could easily have their grain milled here.’
Surely, anyone who saw such beauty would want to linger.
But a nagging worry gnawed at her: what if visitors came and tried to steal Rapitor’s techniques?
When she brought it up, Rapitor laughed—a short, sharp sound.
“No one’s even come yet, have they?”
“Even so.”
“Someone who can’t even make a proper Gear thinks they’ll steal my work? Technically possible, maybe, but it’d take them forever to manage it.”
“Still, I think you should file for a Patent.”
“File for what?”
“If the day comes when Dark Fairies can enter the Empire, a Patent will protect your Intellectual Property Rights.”
“Wow…….”
Rapitor gazed in wonder, then suddenly grasped both of Agnes’s hands.
“Could a day like that really come?”
She wanted to assure him it would, but thinking of all the years they’d lived on the island, it felt presumptuous.
Yet because she genuinely wished to encourage him, Agnes simply squeezed his hands in return without speaking.
By late afternoon, Agnes returned home.
Amy had gone into the forest to play with Lilia and Rupert, she was told.
These days, Agnes rarely saw Amy during daylight hours.
It was because Agnes was always so busy.
Between managing the Village and maintaining the Mansion, her days were endlessly full.
But ever since returning in the afternoon, she made it a point to devote time to Amy without fail.
As evening began to fall,
Rupert returned and knocked on Agnes’s door.
“It’s Rupert.”
“Come in. Where’s Amy?”
“She’s gone to have a snack.”
“Is that so? Did Amy have a good time playing?”
“Very much. She’s been saying she’d like to go with you tomorrow.”
“Really? Then we’ll have to go!”
Nothing mattered more than Amy.
Rupert entered the room and sat at the table as naturally as he always did, helping Agnes with her work.
It was the same spot where he had always been, ever since Agnes had taken charge of the Mansion.
Today, too, the desk where Rupert sat was piled high with invoices.
All of them were bills for materials he’d ordered while replacing the forge and Water Pump.
As Rupert methodically checked each one for errors in itemization and price, Agnes found herself studying him anew.
The evening sky had turned a deep crimson.
The cooled earth allowed a chill breeze to slip through the open window.
His forehead was smooth, his nose clean-lined, his jaw firm and masculine.
As her gaze traced the familiar contours of his face, she thought how strange he seemed to her lately—this boy she had grown up beside from birth.
The closer he was, the more pronounced it became.
Not merely because his outward appearance had changed, but also because of the shadow that sometimes flickered in the depths of his deep blue eyes.
Today, she found herself wondering about that shadow.
If he had suffered terribly in the Rift, wouldn’t it be better to share some of that burden?
Looking back, Rupert had never once spoken of his hardships, not even before he fell into the Rift.
‘Rupert must have suffered too.’
As the household’s fortunes declined, he had shouldered role after role alone.
The reason he had grown so gaunt was likely because his work was endless and grueling, while his food was scarce.
Any decent meals would have gone first to Agnes’s siblings, after all.
‘And yet here I am, complaining anyway…….’
With only one person I could truly lean on, I found myself remembering those days when I would sigh in front of him for no real reason.
‘Is that why he doesn’t trust me?’
Because unlike Rupert, I was simply too weak.
The thought stung more than it should have.
“Rupert.”
“Yes, miss?”
“Don’t you have anything to tell me?”
“I beg your pardon?”
Rupert blinked blankly, unable to grasp her meaning, then let out a soft, hollow laugh.
“Are you perhaps referring to what happened in the Rift?”
“Yes, among other things.”
“It’s in the past now. There’s no going back to it. I didn’t tell you because I had no wish to dwell on what’s already done.”
“But it’s your story. I’ve been wondering how you managed all that time, after I lost you.”
“……Why would that concern you?”
His eyes, slightly widened, seemed genuinely unable to comprehend her intention—or perhaps he understood but could not bring himself to believe it.
As Agnes met the subtle tremor in those deep blue eyes, she spoke quietly.
“Because you’re family, Rupert.”
He was a year her senior, and he had been at her side since the day she was born.
Because of that, she had spent more time with him than with her own family.
“It’s only natural to wonder how someone like family managed to survive all those years apart.”
At that, Rupert’s eyes fluttered blankly before he lowered them once, then met her gaze with a composed expression.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I assure you I’m quite well.”
“Why? Don’t you trust me?”
She thought it strange, the way she clung to his answer like this.
He might not have wanted to speak of it.
Why, then, was she so ungracefully pressing him?
Then Rupert, who had been watching her quietly, suddenly rose from his seat.
“I’ll be back momentarily.”
He returned shortly, carrying a tray.
On it sat a teacup and a slice of cake.
Agnes’s eyes widened.
An old memory.
Back then, she had been sprawled face-down on her bed in a fit of upset.
She had been scolded for tormenting Elizabeth.
She hadn’t meant to do it.
But seeing her younger siblings contentedly with their mother had filled her with jealousy.
Agnes had been nine years old at the time.
Her siblings were only five and three, old enough perhaps to warrant it.
But she was studying with a demanding governess while her siblings spent their days warmly with their mother—and that was what she envied.
She truly regretted pulling Elizabeth’s hair, yet it hurt to think no one understood the feelings that had driven her to it.
Rupert had stood beside her for a long while, uncertain what to do.
‘Go away, you’re in the way!’
Because he was always there, her childish mind had taken him for granted, and she had spoken harshly.
Yet even then, he did not leave; after a long hesitation, he whispered.
‘Agnes, are you upset? You like cake, don’t you? Would it help if you ate some?’
That afternoon.
On the table sat the cake Agnes loved most.
It was from the most famous shop in Karben, the kind you had to wait in line to buy.
She had wanted to stay sullen and refuse to eat, to be more petulant, but she could not manage it before that cake.
For she thought that if she left it alone, it might become Elizabeth’s or Edmund’s portion instead.
‘No. I’m eating it.’
So Agnes stuffed the cake into her mouth while crying.
The cake Rupert had brought was sweet yet slightly bitter, and utterly delicious.
Whenever she recalled that day, Agnes found herself thinking about Rupert’s heart.
Her ability to indulge in such petulance had been possible because she had a mother.
Unlike Rupert, who had grown up motherless after his own mother abandoned him at birth.
She had been too young then to consider such feelings.
After that day, several more times, Rupert would bring cake when he sensed Agnes was troubled.
As if to express, in the only way he knew, his desire to comfort her.
When she lost her mother. When the creditors first came to the door. When all the servants were sent away and the Mansion emptied out.
There was always a slice of Cake waiting on the table.
‘He couldn’t even pay proper wages. Where did he get the money to buy it?’
The thought hit her, and tears threatened to spill over.
“Agnes.”
Then Rupert spoke her name softly.
It felt strange.
Though he had called her by her name before.
But it couldn’t have been otherwise.
The last time Rupert had called her by her name was when she was very young, back when they visited the Village.
In those early days, before status or station mattered at all.
And now, inclining his head, he whispered in a low voice.
“Was it difficult… because I was not there?”
That’s what I wanted to say to you.
The very words Agnes had meant to speak came back to her.
“……If you say it like that.”
Agnes, who had been standing dazed and murmuring, finally broke. She buried her face in her hands.
“What am I supposed to say…….”

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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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