My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 68

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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 68
[The Laberose House draws gold from the earth itself—but what did they pull from the Rift?]
[The mill moves by night, utterly alone?! A devil’s curse with a tail?]
[The young mistress of Laberose and her dangerous tastes! Who makes those suspicious sounds in the mansion each night?]
‘Good heavens.’
Edmund couldn’t bring himself to read the last headline. He crumpled the gossip magazine between his fingertips and crushed it savagely.
‘Impossible! Elder Sister would never do such a thing!’
The content was far too sensational for a boy of fourteen. Edmund balled the magazine into a tight sphere and hurled it across the room into a distant waste bin.
Capella Publishing House.
Edmund, the third child of House Laberose, had now worked here for a month.
Though modest in scale, it was a reasonably prestigious establishment—he’d heard the Capella Merchant Guild’s proprietor ran it as a hobby.
Still, it had to turn a profit, so the main work was producing gossip magazines and newspapers that captured public interest. Yet occasionally they published worthwhile books as well.
The distinctive titles they produced here had gained renown among serious readers, or so he’d been told.
Edmund himself had read one of their books before.
When he’d first arrived, he’d been given only menial tasks, but as the publishing house ran lean, he’d recently been entrusted with proper work.
He organized incoming reports from field correspondents and conducted first-pass corrections on shorter pieces.
All of it was possible because Edmund was a nobleman’s son with a genuine passion for books.
A life buried beneath countless words, stealing glimpses of books whenever he could.
It was demanding, but Edmund found himself quite content.
More than anything, it gave him a way to learn what was happening back home.
As he was sorting through fresh materials that afternoon, deciding which to pass along to his senior colleague,
Edmund’s eyes narrowed when he spotted the usual stories about Laberose.
The fabricated tales were predictable enough, but lately the wild rumors about the House had grown absurd.
“A tailed devil? A mill that moves on its own?”
The illustration showed a horned demon grinning menacingly behind a darkened mill.
“What could possibly happen in a single month.”
Judging by the gossip circulating through Calburn City, people nearly rushed the Laberose Mansion with torches and pitchforks.
‘They probably don’t go through with it because they’re terrified of the guests staying there.’
Yet when he’d seen the villagers at the market buying provisions, they seemed to be going about their lives quite normally.
Of course, Edmund always hid himself away in corners so they wouldn’t recognize him.
“When can I go home…?”
The mansion’s finances did seem to have improved—apparently Amy had brought back an extraordinary sum—but Edmund didn’t want to stay.
Whenever he thought of home, his only memory was of that desolate ruin of a place, where he’d spent his days confined.
When the family’s fortunes had declined and the tutors stopped coming,
he’d at least been able to read the few books he’d cared for, but there were so few that he’d read them until they fell apart, ultimately memorizing them entirely.
He hadn’t had money for new ones, of course.
So he’d begun to feel abandoned, as though cast adrift in an empty field.
There was nothing to do but stare at blank walls all day long.
‘First Marquess Celesta, then a Giant, and now a Dark Elf too?’
The thought of living among these mysterious guests made him deeply uneasy.
‘The elf who visited before seemed kind enough, though.’
Even if he couldn’t trust everything the gossip magazines printed, rumors persisted for a reason.
“What on earth is Elder Sister doing?”
Outside the window, dusk had begun to fall.
Edmund gathered the materials he’d prepared for Holden, his senior, and stood to return to the inn where he and Elizabeth were lodging.
He tidied the empty office, locked every door carefully, and felt almost proud as he took one of the books the publishing house had produced under his arm.
Tomorrow was his first payday, besides.
He was in excellent spirits as he stepped toward the exit,
when a crooked floorboard creaked beneath his heel.
A warped board cracked under his foot from behind him.
‘Who—!’
Had a thief broken in?
Edmund frantically searched for a weapon to defend himself, but all he could find was a pen.
He turned around, struggling to hide the tremor in his arms,
when he gasped.
“It’s been a while, Edmund.”
“Good evening, young master.”
“Ru… Rupert?!”
Standing before him was not only his elder sister but also the butler’s son—the one he’d believed had died in the Rift—very much alive.
And his frame had grown fearfully, enormously larger.
‘Wow…….’
Edmund had been startled by his eldest sister’s arrival, but he found himself staring at Rupert in a daze for a moment.
Had Rupert always been this handsome?
Unlike his lanky frame from before, he’d grown broad-shouldered and muscular, his physique evident even through his clothes—truly the kind of figure any man would envy.
“Elizabeth didn’t mention anything?”
“What?”
“Has there been anything unusual lately?”
Edmund tried to recall what his younger sister had said.
She always seemed eager to tell him something whenever they dined together, but Edmund had been quietly avoiding her.
He’d learned from years of experience that getting tangled up in his younger sister’s affairs never ended well.
But was that why Rupert had come back?
‘Then what about Amy?!’
The moment Edmund thought of his youngest sibling, who had gone missing, Rupert asked with an uncomfortable expression.
It seemed Rupert had misinterpreted Edmund’s admiring gaze as something else.
“Do I appear strange to you, sir? Have I become frightening……?”
“Oh, no!”
Edmund’s voice rose without thinking.
What on earth was he saying?
He wanted to tell him he looked impressive now, that he’d become this handsome, but he hesitated whether it was appropriate to say such things even to a servant.
So Edmund fumbled for words before finally falling silent.
His sister seemed to regard him with pity.
Edmund instinctively hunched his shoulders.
“In any case, talk to Elizabeth and come home. You should see Amy too.”
“Sure.”
“From the look of you, you’ve been doing well.”
Edmund nodded. Though it was nothing to boast about, he did want to show off what he’d managed to accomplish.
If only he’d received his wages today, he would have pulled them out to show her.
‘What a shame…….’
Even though he had nothing worth showing, the way his eldest sister looked at him seemed somehow different from before.
Whereas her expression used to carry a burdened reluctance, as if looking at a troublesome weight.
‘Do I look impressive to her now?’
Even in the dim lamplight, Agnes’s gaze seemed warmth itself.
Edmund felt an odd warmth bloom in his chest.
“Anyway, Ed, I didn’t come here for that reason today.”
“What is it?”
“Actually, I was hoping you could help me. I heard this publishing house has a long history—they’ve been printing newspapers consistently for the past fifteen years.”
“Yes, that’s right. Why?”
“So I need you to secretly open the Archive Room for me. I’m looking for something that happened around ten years ago.”
“What? That’s not possible……!”
He waved his hands in shock, but Agnes remained utterly composed despite proposing something so audacious.
“Don’t worry. We won’t be caught. I’m not confident, but Rupert is.”
Edmund squeezed his eyes shut.
“No, I can’t. I’m just a junior employee. I can’t give you the key…….”
“Don’t worry. Just tell us where it is. We’ll simply make it look like we stole it.”
“What exactly are you trying to find?”
“Something I know I shouldn’t do, but must do anyway.”
Edmund already knew that with a sister as scrupulous and inflexible as Agnes, there was no arguing once she’d decided on something like this.
Edmund clenched his eyes shut and pointed toward the Archive Room with the tip of his finger.
“I don’t know anything about this…….”
“Of course.”
Agnes hurried toward the direction Edmund had indicated, fearing his resolve might waver.
Unable to watch her enter the Archive Room, Edmund heard the door slam shut firmly behind her.
It seemed he’d fled in a panic.
Then Rupert let out a low, muffled chuckle.
Agnes turned back to look at him in confusion.
“What is it?”
“Nothing, ma’am. I was just remembering the young master’s expression.”
“Edmund?”
“Yes. That look of his—as if he couldn’t possibly stop you. It was just like when he was small.”
“What did I do?”
“I’m not sure. What could he have done?”
She paused to sift through old memories, but found nothing—she’d simply lived an ordinary life.
Was there some dark chapter that would make Edmund blanch?
Rupert added a brief remark.
“The young master used to find himself caught between the two young ladies, rather awkwardly, from time to time.”
“Edmund?”
“Yes.”
“Good grief.”
She let out an exasperated sigh, and Rupert’s gaze softened as he looked at Agnes.
“It’s just that now, I find myself thinking—you’ve finally become a proper young lady.”
“Is that a compliment or a slight?”

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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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