The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 170

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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 170
I’m sorry for showing that I don’t want to be Father’s successor. But it’s not that I don’t want to—it’s that I really, really don’t want to!
If that’s causing trouble for the Emperor, I can do it instead. I’m not sure if I’d be good at it though. (But it’s cancellable, right?)
Anyway, here’s my conclusion.
If you need my help, just say the word anytime!
I’m part of Zebert too!
The last sentence was written in very small letters, as if out of embarrassment.
“What are you doing? Standing in front of the door.”
Just then, a gentle voice reached me from behind.
Rosetta stared at Leviathan, who stood with his hand covering his mouth, her expression puzzled.
“What is that?”
“Read it. I’m going crazy.”
After reading the letter, Rosetta burst into hearty laughter.
“Oh my. She was worried, wasn’t she? Worried about troubling Father. You were just asking to confirm if there were any children who wanted to continue the family line!”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“She’s really adorable… Huh? What’s this?”
Rosetta tilted her head as she stepped into the Bedroom.
Looking closer, there wasn’t just one letter wedged in the gap of the door.
Liam’s letter, roughly torn from a practice notebook.
And Void’s pink letter, clearly borrowed from Rubian’s stationery.
The contents were… almost identical to the letter Rubian had sent.
“What?! Why are the children so cute?”
Leviathan let out a small groan. This was a different kind of happiness than when he loved Rosetta.
“Duke, you needn’t worry about a successor. You have such dependable daughters and sons.”
“Indeed.”
He stifled his laughter and buried his face in Rosetta’s shoulder.
“I’m a blessed man.”
* * *
N Year, N Month, N Day / Weather: Snow / Mood: Good
Hello, this is Rubian.
I turned thirteen the day before yesterday!
We had a birthday party and it was so much fun.
“Hmm, and what else should I write?”
I pondered while munching on a large cookie. I was writing in my diary after finishing my meal, eating dessert alone.
My recent assignment happened to be ‘writing a diary,’ so I had settled down to work on it.
Void had also given me a diary as a birthday gift.
“Hmm… next is…”
The pen in my hand moved slowly.
For breakfast, I had mushroom cream stew, for lunch, a Southern Region shrimp dish, and for dinner, seasoned roasted chicken. It was delicious.
“That’s pretty good.”
Hmm.
I set down my pen with a satisfied smile.
“Now I should go visit the Mana Stone Shop!”
Thirteen-year-old me is so busy, so busy!
But then, the next day.
“Gasp!”
I froze solid when I saw the rainbow-colored handwriting that had invaded my diary.
Anyone could tell that this was…
“You read it without permission!”
“What?! Why are you reading someone else’s diary!”
And what’s with confidently adding your own opinions on top of it?
It was absolutely ridiculous!
I fumed while spooning pudding into my mouth.
‘Tsk, if I see this again, we’re done being friends.’
Anyway, it’s homework, so I have to write today’s entry. Scribble scribble.
Day N, Month N, Year N / Weather: Clear / Mood: Exasperated
I was thinking of writing smaller because my family keeps sneaking peeks at my diary… that’s the thought.
Today I rode the sled Father bought me, and Mother taught me archery. When will I be able to shoot arrows freely? I’ve been worrying about this a lot lately…
In the evening I read books and played at home!
It was about 80% enjoyable!
Day N, Month N, Year N / Weather: / Mood:
Excuse me!
Why do you keep sneaking peeks at other people’s diaries!
“I’m so annoyed!”
I exploded. In my frustration, I shoved a handful of apple jelly into my mouth.
“Ahem. Miss.”
“Huh?”
I turned around at the cautious voice to find it was Adolf the Butler.
“Forgive me for saying this, but…”
The Butler’s eyes swept across my diary, the carelessly scattered dessert plate, and the spacious Dining Room in turn.
“If you write your diary at the dining table and leave it wide open as you move about…”
“…”
“One’s eyes can’t help but wander, wouldn’t you say?”
“Oh.”
That’s true.
I’ve gotten into the habit of snacking alone in the evenings while doing math and writing my diary…
I gathered my diary with an embarrassed face and stood up. How mortifying.
“Where are you going?”
“T-to meet Kalid!”
My two legs fled the Dining Room as if escaping.
“Even so, that’s no excuse for reading someone else’s diary like that!”
I slipped out of the Castle and kicked at the ground.
‘Well, I did sneak a peek at Void’s diary when I was younger, so…’
How fitting. Was this karma?
‘Anyway, I should get myself a locked diary too.’
I was already thirteen years old.
Privacy was becoming important to me now.
‘Hmm? But… do I actually have any secrets worth keeping?’
I had no secrets left from my family.
“Hmm.”
Maybe I wouldn’t bother buying a locked diary after all.
I wandered near the Training Ground, clutching the small notebook in my hand as I pondered briefly.
“By the way, where is Kalid?”
The notebook contained a list of candidate locations for the magical monuments I’d discovered with Licht’s help.
‘But the last remaining one is proving troublesome…’
The ancient language had been confusing from the start, and even the Imperial Archive hadn’t yielded any useful clues.
Of course, Kalid didn’t know ancient languages well, but I figured asking him would be better than struggling alone.
After walking for some time, I spotted a distinctive deep blue head of hair swaying near a large tree in the distance.
“Ah, found him…!”
My steps came to an abrupt halt.
“What? He’s asleep.”
He was leaning against the tree with his eyes closed.
‘I’ve never seen him sleep like that before.’
Quietly, carefully.
I crept forward and crouched down in front of the sleeping Kalid. Tree shadows danced across his angular face.
“He said his legs hurt… are they better now?”
My gaze naturally drifted to his outstretched legs. They were covered in dust and dirt from intense training.
Kalid had been suffering from severe growing pains lately.
Complaining that his entire body ached, he insisted that moving was better, and trained relentlessly day and night.
‘…Is that why? He seems to be changing more and more.’
His eyes were growing longer, his nose more defined, his lips…
“Hup!”
What? What am I doing?! What am I looking at?!
I stumbled backward and landed hard on my rear.
At that same moment, his eyelids—which had been closed like a painting—slowly lifted.
“S-sorry, did I wake you?”
“…”
His grayish-blue eyes regarded me blankly before looking away with indifference.
“Maybe?”
What kind of vague answer was that?
“Why? Is something wrong?”
Kalid stretched languidly and asked.
“No, I just… there’s something I wanted to ask…”
For some reason, I couldn’t seem to finish my sentence.
“…”
“Go on…”
Kalid was staring at me intently again.
So the fifteen-year-old Kalid was…
“…getting stranger.”
Really strange.
‘Isn’t that supposed to be the ugliest age?’
Everyone said so!
Yet he only seemed to emanate an increasingly mysterious aura. That awkward phase between boyhood and adulthood.
His voice had grown deeper, and his shoulders were becoming broader…
“You’re mumbling incomprehensibly again.”
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s because mana is overflowing from you?”
I glanced down at Kalid’s arm.
Of the six bracelets, only three remained.
Kalid was keeping his promise very well. One bracelet per year, steadily.
He was growing stronger by the day, now able to withstand his vast mana even without the bracelets.
‘At this rate, won’t he remove them all before he even becomes an adult?’
These days, Father was teaching Kalid swordsmanship. Perhaps because of that, his sword skills and physical abilities were developing remarkably.
“By the way, don’t you need mana these days?”
Kalid asked as he always did, sitting cross-legged with his arms folded.
For some reason, I found it difficult to meet his gaze and abruptly stood up.
“Yeah, well. I guess I’ve definitely gotten healthier. I’m not gasping for breath from mana depletion like I used to?”
“…I see.”
After a brief pause, Kalid looked up at me and smirked.
“Rubian.”
“What.”
“Help me up.”
“Huh?”
His arm stretched out shamelessly.
He squinted one eye as the sunlight streaming down behind me seemed to bother him.
“Hurry.”
“No, what…”
“You said my legs hurt. I haven’t been sleeping well lately.”
Now that he mentioned it, Father had said growth pains would be quite painful.
‘I suppose… he’s been collapsing from exhaustion anywhere and everywhere.’
I felt a pang of sympathy.
“Sigh, what else can I do…”
The moment I carefully extended my hand.
As if he’d been waiting, his index finger snatched mine in a firm grip.
Simultaneously, a wave of azure mana surged through me. My senses bloomed open, flooded with a refreshing vitality that made my eyes widen involuntarily.
“Are you really sure you don’t need this?”
Kalid’s eyes narrowed slightly.

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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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