The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 13

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 13
“Sir?”
“No, never mind.”
He scratched the back of his head roughly with calloused fingers.
‘Surely not.’
The child had simply been born and raised in the Borderland Village. It was merely that he hadn’t been exposed to many Empire-style timepieces.
‘It seems I’m still wandering the battlefield in my mind.’
A self-deprecating smile flickered across his loosened expression—so fleeting that no one could have noticed it.
* * *
I was flustered.
“What, what is this?”
Brawny maids had suddenly appeared with blades in hand. There was no way I could remain calm.
“What do you mean? We’re just going to tidy up your messy hair a bit.”
Hazel said with a gentle smile.
Each time the scissors clicked, her muscular arms rippled beneath the surface.
Wow, a face as soft as silken tofu paired with a body anything but delicate…
“You’re going to cut my hair?”
The words tumbled out before I could stop them. As I pulled my hair taut as if to hide it, the maids’ eyebrows drooped.
“Oh my, Miss Rubian. Your scalp is wounded.”
Hazel treated me as if I were a wisp of straw that would blow away at the slightest breath.
“Your back hair is uneven, and your bangs are long enough to be inconvenient, aren’t they? I noticed during dinner that they kept falling in your face.”
“Hmm…”
My back hair had ended up this way because I’d been caught by a black magic beast that wielded flames. It had burned black and matted together, so I’d cut it roughly, resulting in this mess.
“Do you dislike it?”
“It’s not that I dislike it…”
For some reason, I wasn’t inclined to agree.
‘That’s strange. I’ve never cared about my hair before.’
I sat on the edge of the bed and hesitated for a moment before answering reluctantly. Hazel waited patiently while maintaining eye contact with me.
It felt somehow wrong to keep her waiting any longer.
“Um… okay.”
Hazel’s face brightened instantly.
“Then shall we move over here?”
“Yes!”
A large, plush chair had been prepared at some point.
Bright sunlight streamed through the window. I sat with my hands folded neatly in my lap, and a soft cloth was draped over my shoulders.
“Hm? Miss Rubian, are you feeling hot?”
Hazel asked as she tied a knot at the nape of my neck.
“No?”
“Then why are you sweating so much?”
Her voice carried a note of puzzlement.
‘Huh, is that so?’
I wiped the back of my neck with my hand. Cold sweat came away on my fingers.
‘Am I hot?’
It felt rather cold, if anything.
I tilted my head with a puzzled expression. The maidservants debated briefly among themselves whether they should open the windows for me.
“Rubian! Come to my room to play cards… What?”
In that instant, Void appeared through the open doorway.
His eyes swept rapidly across the room. When our gazes met, Void’s expression tightened ever so slightly.
“What are you doing right now?”
“Ah, Young Master.”
“Hazel!”
The boy who came rushing over glared at Hazel menacingly.
“Why are you tormenting my sister!”
“Pardon? Tormenting, Young Master? I was merely trimming Rubian’s hair…”
“Liar!”
What? Why is he acting like this? I stared blankly at Void standing before me.
At the same moment, there came a knock at the door—tap, tap. Dozens of gazes shifted.
“There was such a commotion, I wondered what was happening…”
“Master of the house.”
“A cramped room packed with people. It’s like the marketplace floor.”
The master of this household stood leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed.
“Father!”
Void quickly rushed toward the man. The man looked down at his son with a slight furrow of his brow.
“Void, why are you here at this hour…”
“Rubian is scared!”
“What?”
Gazes collided in the empty air.
I simply blinked, bewildered.
The man’s eyes swept slowly but thoroughly across the room.
Void spun around and pointed at me.
More precisely, at Hazel standing behind me.
“Scissors, you see.”
“…”
Oh… was that it?
An awkward silence filled the room.
The most flustered was naturally Hazel, who stood behind me.
“R-Rubian. Were you frightened of scissors? Is that why you broke out in a cold sweat?”
Hazel quickly put the scissors away from her hands.
Then she approached me and lowered herself. Her face looking up at me was stricken with remorse.
“What should I do? Not realizing…”
“No, I didn’t know either….”
I shook my head and replied reluctantly.
‘Now that I think about it, I was nervous.’
A stranger holding something sharp was standing behind me.
Hazel wasn’t a bad person, but she seemed a little frightened.
Perhaps that’s why I didn’t feel like getting my hair cut.
“Put it away.”
The man who approached in one stride commanded with a terrifying expression. His voice and face were cold as ice.
“Y-yes.”
The maids hurried to move.
“Oh, it’s fine though…. It’s only for a moment anyway.”
“I’m sorry, Rubian. I should have been more careful…. I startled you.”
Hazel apologized again. I sat in the large chair, fidgeting with my fingertips.
For some reason, I felt like a fussy child.
“It’s really fine. Truly. I’m not even sweating anymore.”
“Rubian.”
Then, a large hand dropped onto the crown of my head. When I turned my head, deep violet eyes were gazing at me steadily.
“You don’t need to force yourself to do something you dislike.”
“B-but….”
“No one can compel you. Not even me.”
I didn’t know how to respond. I simply nodded with a bewildered expression.
“We’ll cut your hair later. Is there anything uncomfortable?”
“It keeps poking my eyes.”
“Don’t pull it then.”
Someone who had been listening quietly murmured.
“A hairpin or something like that would be nice….”
Then Hazel quickly stepped forward.
“I’ll go buy one right away!”
“Wait.”
The man opened his mouth toward her hurrying figure.
“…In the Eastern Room.”
“Pardon?”
“There should be something usable there. Look and bring it.”
“…Master.”
It was Adolf, the butler standing quietly behind, who called out to Leviathan.
But the man seemed unconcerned.
“Adolf, give me the key.”
“…Yes.”
In the subtle atmosphere, Hazel and Adolf, their lips pressed firmly shut, disappeared.
‘What could be in the Eastern Room?’
I racked my brain, trying to recall if there was any setting from the original work that I’d overlooked. Nothing came to mind, though.
Just then, Void, who had been standing quietly, approached and pressed his fingers against my cheek. Concern gleamed in his sparkling violet eyes.
“Are you okay? Your face looks like dough.”
Now that he mentioned it, Void had noticed first—my condition, even before I was aware of it myself.
“Oh… I’m fine.”
Did he have an unexpectedly sharp side to him?
Either way, I was grateful.
“Thank you.”
Void snorted dismissively, as if to say it was nothing.
The man, who had been watching Void and me intently, suddenly seemed to remember something and opened his mouth.
“By the way, Void.”
“Yes, Father!”
“How’s your sword training going?”
“Huh?”
“Your training.”
A brief silence. Void began backing away slowly.
“Right… now…”
“Now?”
“I’m going!”
Like a child caught playing hooky, Void kicked up a whirlwind as he bolted away—moving at a speed reminiscent of lightning.
“”
The man’s eyes followed the spot where Void had vanished, and he scratched his brow.
“I was just asking… why did he run away?”
“Didn’t you intimidate him with your eyes?”
When someone with such a menacing expression lowers their voice to ask a question, of course he’d be frightened.
“Ah, I forgot to relax my expression.”
The man scratched one eyebrow awkwardly.
“This is difficult.”
His voice carried a note of genuine distress.
* * *
“Sigh…”
Hazel, a maid of the Zebert Duchy, was melancholy.
‘I didn’t realize because her expression was so composed.’
Her face, as she replayed what had just happened, was clouded with gloom. Her footsteps echoed down the corridor with no energy whatsoever.
‘What a fool I am.’
Despite having examined everything so carefully, this was the result.
Suddenly, she recalled what her mistress had told the servants.
“Don’t touch her body without permission, and don’t bring up her past carelessly. She dislikes it.”
Hazel’s brow drooped even further.
‘Did something terrible happen to her?’
I heard the child was rescued from a village that had been reduced to ruins by a black plague.
So small and frail. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it must have been for him.
‘I need to do better.’
Hazel sniffled, her nose growing tender.
“I was honestly surprised when His Excellency mentioned this room.”
The maid walking beside her spoke then.
In her hand was a single key—old but untarnished.
“His Excellency must treasure Rubian greatly.”
“And for good reason. She’s absolutely precious. The way she greets him with eye contact each morning—it’s utterly enchanting!”
“Leon mentioned that on the journey to the Northern Region, she even gave handmade salves as gifts to each of the knights. One by one.”
“Goodness. Such thoughtfulness.”
“Right?”
Hazel recalled Rubian’s sparkling eyes and mysterious silver hair.
Her soft cream-colored skin, her delicate and adorable features, her small hands and feet moving busily without pause….
“She’ll certainly be beautiful when she grows….”
Hmm? Hazel caught herself mid-sentence without realizing it.
“Magnificent…? She’ll become a striking…man…?”
Something about it just didn’t sit right on her tongue.
Yet she couldn’t quite pinpoint what felt wrong.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————