My Youngest Keeps Bringing Home Male Leads - Chapter 96

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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 96
In the meantime, Agnes gathered her thoughts.
‘Did Rupert fall into the moment he dropped into the Rift?’
Even now, Rupert’s emotions flooded through her with vivid clarity.
Rough, anxious breathing.
His chest felt as though it might burst from tension.
Though nothing surrounded him, he kept glancing over his shoulder.
It was nothing like the composed Rupert she’d seen just moments before.
This world was clearly foreign to him.
She wanted to tell him to be careful, but it seemed impossible to do so.
They finally reached the Wasteland, and still no village appeared despite walking for some time afterward.
It couldn’t be helped.
Agnes didn’t know the exact direction. Rupert, of course, would be no better off.
Exhausted at last, Rupert collapsed onto the ground, breathing hard.
Then he drew out the Orb from his pocket.
“Ah…….”
Cradling it in both hands and pressing it to his forehead, the Orb glimmered brilliantly.
As if responding to Rupert’s helpless heart.
“Am I going mad? This can’t possibly be our youngest miss.”
Then, strangely, it flashed again, as if saying ‘No, it’s me!’
“You’re right, in a world like this anything is possible. Miss has vanished and this Orb appeared, so……somehow it feels like I must protect it.”
With that, Rupert smiled faintly.
“I will make sure to return you safely to Miss Agnes. So please don’t be frightened.”
In a voice gentle as a caress, Rupert whispered as if soothing a child.
The same way he always did with petulant Amy—coaxing something he didn’t even understand, a mere Orb.
And then he held it briefly against his cheek.
Strangely, it radiated warmth like a living thing.
Watching him interact with the Orb as if tending to Amy, her heart ached.
‘So this is how he’s spent the time while I’ve been away……’
When she took work as a tutor, she’d had to leave for Valdemar, abandoning her four-year-old sister who’d only just begun to speak in halting sentences.
In Agnes’s absence, Martha, Elena, and Rupert above all had become parents to Amy.
Seeing her sister grow up so lovingly, she felt the tender hearts of those people hidden behind it all, and her eyes grew warm.
She missed them.
She wanted to go home.
‘But monsters will appear soon.’
Sensing her anxiety, Rupert tucked the Orb deep into his pocket once more and began to walk.
Yet far in the distance, light began to stain the sky.
Though clouded and dim in color, it utterly dispelled the crimson darkness that had covered the heavens.
Agnes stared anxiously across the Wasteland through Rupert’s eyes.
Far away, she saw a shadow.
Where the light touched, a slow black surge rose across the Wasteland.
At first, Rupert couldn’t comprehend what it was.
But as it drew steadily nearer, its true form became clear.
A black shadow shaped like a man.
It engulfed the space around him and lunged at Rupert.
He turned to flee at once, but it was already too late.
A hand raised sharp and cruel.
The moment its dark maw filled his vision, Agnes squeezed her eyes shut.
In that instant, terrible pain and despair crashed over her.
Just as she was about to lose consciousness, a soft sensation brushed against her ear.
She recognized the supple body of a small animal, its fur rustling beneath her fingers.
A cat?
Opening her eyes, she saw a black cat running through her darkened vision.
‘Rupert……?’
Her perspective had lowered.
Agnes was fleeing past the Monsters.
She had left Rupert’s body and returned to her own.
She tried to look back, but her vision crumbled away.
‘Rupert……!’
The horrible sensation of being torn apart still lingered, yet it receded into the distance as though telling her it was not permitted for her to bear it.
‘Rupert!’
The cry died in her throat before it could leave her lips.
When she opened her eyes, the familiar landscape unfolded before her again.
The Black Sea.
A sky smothered in crimson darkness.
“Haah… hah… haah…”
She gasped for breath, ragged and desperate. Looking down at her hands, she saw they were far smaller than Rupert’s.
No one was near her.
Agnes stood alone.
Despair made her breathing shallow and quick.
“Aah…”
What had become of Rupert?
Was he dead?
‘But he’s alive.’
That was why she’d made it home with Amy.
‘Could it really be that the Orb was Amy? Is that why she doesn’t remember what happened in the Rift?’
It was a thought that made no sense.
Agnes buried her face in her hands for a moment, then recalled the Monster she’d seen just before.
She had to hurry.
Right now, she was alone.
The pain Rupert had felt clung to her skin like something viscous, and Agnes walked forward desperately as if to shake it off.
First, she had to find the Village.
Only then could she survive.
After walking for some time, the Wasteland appeared again beyond the sea.
‘Will the cat show itself again this time?’
She was tense, but fortunately it didn’t appear.
Finally reaching the Wasteland, Agnes broke into a run.
Even as her breath caught in her throat, she couldn’t stop.
A terror that something was pursuing her.
A fear that a Monster might emerge at any moment.
According to Rupert’s words, the Village had to be reachable on foot.
After running until her legs gave out, she had no choice but to walk.
She walked on for a long while after that.
And still, no Village appeared.
“Haah…”
Agnes let out a low sigh.
She saw light beginning to seep in from the far edge of the sky.
Her vision was growing dark.
‘Is this where I die?’
Like Rupert?
No—Rupert didn’t die. He came back to me alive.
There has to be some way.
But there was no time to think. The Wasteland began to unfold the very same sight she’d witnessed before.
Where the light touched, black waves began to rise.
Overwhelmed by a distant, hollow feeling, she finally surrendered and stopped walking.
“Found you.”
A familiar voice reached her ears.
She turned with a gasp of relief, and strong arms wrapped around her waist.
“That’s something we ought to avoid, wouldn’t you say?”
In the same instant, they lifted into the air.
The Monster’s sharp claws, raised high, grazed the edge of Agnes’s dress and fell away.
Tension released from her body all at once.
“You!”
“Surprised?”
His gently smiling face was such a welcome sight that Agnes found her arms reaching out, and she pulled him close without thinking.
“You’re safe! How did you get here?”
“To receive such a welcome—all my searching was worth it.”
His voice scattered softly against her ear.
His gleaming eyes and bright face were unchanged.
Only then did Agnes realize how close they were, and she tried to pull back—
“No, that won’t do, Agnes. The ground below is teeming with things that mean us harm.”
“Ah…….”
Agnes tightened her grip around Kesenor’s neck.
Embarrassing as it was, there was no helping it in a situation like this.
Below, she could see countless shadows surging toward them, jaws gaping wide, all fixed on their prey.
They were even trampling over one another, clawing and climbing up the pile.
Agnes shuddered as she gazed down at the grotesque sight.
Kesenor, who held her close beside him, looked down as if he found it rather interesting.
“I’ve never seen anything like that before. I wonder what they are.”
“Rupert said they’re monsters that appear when it’s daylight.”
“Come to think of it, where did he go? Are you here alone?”
“I don’t know. He was with me, and then he just disappeared…….”
As the memory of Rupert being swallowed by one of those monsters surfaced and she let her words trail off, Kesenor exhaled a slow, measured sigh.
“It seems something happened to him. In any case, I’m grateful we’ve found each other like this.”
With that, Kesenor’s gaze turned toward the distance.
“For now, I’d like to move somewhere safer…….”
“Is there any chance you could find Rupert too?”
“Hmm, I’m afraid that’s difficult.”
Kesenor looked down once more as he spoke.
Fortunately, they were high enough that the creatures below couldn’t reach them while they remained airborne.
“Each person has a distinct aura, so I’ve committed yours to memory, but I never got Rupert’s.”
“Rupert said there’s a village nearby.”
“Then let’s head toward the village first.”
With that, Kesenor waved his hand through the air, tracing a Magic Circle.
He seemed to be checking what lay in the surrounding area.
“There appear to be two places that look like villages not far from here. But something seems odd. Are you certain there are people in these villages?”
The way he phrased it suggested he meant monsters rather than people, so Agnes urgently conveyed what Rupert had explained to her.
“Could it be that they’re dead people?”
“Dead people?”
As she elaborated further, Kesenor’s expression flickered briefly with shock.
Of course, he quickly recovered, releasing a low murmur of understanding before his face returned to its usual composure.
“Since we’re inside a Rift, anything is possible. In any case, which of the two villages should we head toward?”
“According to Rupert, it’s in the direction of Kalrun City. That would make it westward.”
“Without a sun, there’s no way to determine direction. Very well, I understand. Hold on tight.”
She wondered if he was about to Teleport, but instead Kesenor began to move while remaining suspended in the air.
Agnes gripped him firmly, frightened by the vertiginous height, and his laughter scattered above her head.
“One must never Teleport rashly in a place of unknown terrain.”
He whispered as if he’d read her mind.
Then, having held his silence for a moment, he released a low, hesitant cough, as though wrestling with something.
“For now, I think I should begin by offering my apologies.”
His lips, seen from below, curved slightly with a twisted smile.
An expression where self-recrimination mingled with profound sorrow.
Understanding something of the reason why, Agnes lowered her head.
“No, you’ve suffered as well.”
“You’ve been through so much, Agnes. Everything proceeded as I anticipated until the middle stages, but……it appears the dangerous person Amy spoke of is the Crown Prince.”

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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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