The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 178

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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 178
When I turned around, a beautiful face with lustrous golden hair stood before me, wearing a gentle smile.
“Licht…! Your Highness!”
Since we were in the Imperial Palace, I was careful with my honorifics as I spoke, and Licht laughed aloud before placing documents into my hands.
“Yes, my lady.”
After teasing me with that response, Licht leaned in close and whispered softly.
“There’s no one here right now.”
His cotton-candy-soft golden hair brushed lightly against my cheek.
“Oh.”
So that meant I didn’t have to keep up this awkward formal speech, did it?
Licht gazed down at me intently and naturally guided me to a seat.
“It’s been a while. Have you been well?”
“Yeah. But how did you know I came to the Imperial Palace Archives?”
When I asked genuinely curious, his beautiful eyes narrowed slightly.
“How could I not know you were here?”
Had he put a bell on me or something?
“I instructed the Gatekeepers to inform me.”
I see.
‘By the way, he’s gotten so tall.’
I secretly tried to rise onto my tiptoes to catch up with him, then gave up. No matter how much I stretched, I could barely reach his shoulders.
Why was that? Did the water in the Empire I drank lack nutrients?
‘It’s not that I’m small—he’s just too tall!’
Then I remembered a friend who, like me, had experienced a growth plateau. According to Father, let me think…
‘Kalid must be shorter than Licht too. He’s probably frustrated about it as well.’
Their relationship was already strained. It might get worse.
“Rubian, did you have breakfast?”
Just then, Licht touched the tip of my hand and asked.
“I already ate.”
“Ah, then this is perfect timing.”
He handed me a dessert packaged in an elegant box from inside his robes.
“It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“Macarons!”
“Try them and tell me how they taste. I want to know exactly what you think. Baking them was quite difficult…”
His last words were too quiet to hear clearly.
“A taste evaluation?”
I was confident about that.
I eagerly pulled out a strawberry macaron and took a bite.
“Hmm, the crispy texture that crumbles is satisfying, but the chewiness falls a bit short. Most importantly, the filling needs about twenty percent more to achieve better overall flavor harmony. It’s nice that the filling is homemade, but honestly, a store-bought jam would work better here…”
“No, stop. It’s fine.”
Licht cut me off with a dejected expression.
‘Gasp, could it be someone I know is running this place?’
Should I have deflected more carefully?
In any case, the food tasted decent overall, so I nibbled away while skimming through the documents.
“By the way, how are the searches of the Mage Kingdom going these days?”
I lowered my voice to ask.
Licht turned the macaron this way and that before answering in a flustered manner. It really did seem like someone I knew was running this shop.
“We still haven’t found anything, same as before. But this time we’re planning to launch a new exploration vessel.”
“A new exploration vessel?”
I turned the page of the book and asked casually.
“From the Magical Tool Crafting Tower. Ah, you know? The Father Emperor is persuading the Hub Mages who haven’t returned to the Mage Kingdom to manufacture magical tools.”
“Right, right. I know.”
And I’m the one supplying mana stones to that Magical Tool Crafting Tower…
‘Besides, I’m a mage too…’
But for now, I was a mage concealing my identity.
Since Licht knew this fact as well, even when we were alone, he didn’t carelessly bring up that topic.
“They’ve created a new exploration magical tool. We decided to deploy an exploration vessel equipped with it. So this time…”
Licht’s teal eyes sparkled brightly.
“We should get meaningful results.”
That’s faster than I expected.
‘It hasn’t been long since I sent the blueprints.’
I had drawn up the blueprints for the new exploration magical tool myself. Since I was also supplying magical tool blueprints through the Mana Stone Shop, I knew it would be completed soon enough, but I didn’t expect it to happen this quickly.
I paused to think, then made a subtle gesture to Licht. As if he’d been waiting, Licht leaned toward me.
“You see, according to recent reports, the fog surrounding the sea appears to be quite likely an illusory fog. So we need one more magical tool that can serve a disruption function…”
That’s when a group of maids passed by outside, chattering loudly. I, who had been whispering secrets, was startled.
“Ahem! There’s a passage in this book that goes ‘Perhaps if you bring it along…’? Ahem! Cough cough!”
I pointed vaguely at some random part of the book, and Licht laughed.
“Ah-ha.”
He placed his finger next to mine and smoothly traced along the passage. My finger was gently pushed aside, and Licht whispered playfully with a wink.
“It really is a good book.”
“You… don’t…”
“Hm?”
“Stop looking at me like that!”
I shook my head vigorously.
Ugh, I almost fell for it again.
Licht chuckled softly and straightened his body, which had been leaning toward me.
“Oh, by the way, I heard Liam Zebert stopped by the Imperial Palace.”
“Huh? My brother? What brings him past the Academy gates?”
“Apparently he needs to meet someone related to his research topic. But Liam… when is he ever going to graduate from the Academy?”
That was exactly what I wanted to ask.
Liam, who had entered the Graduate Research Department…
It was settled.
‘It’s not that the Academy won’t let him go.’
“It’s because my brother won’t let the Academy go….”
Odeli Headmaster himself had personally pleaded for him to graduate.
“I have devoted my soul to the Graduate Research Department.”
“No one asked for that. Please just submit your thesis.”
“I already did.”
“You fool, submit the RIGHT one! I can’t pass you like this! If you love the Academy so much, just graduate and become a professor! Special recruitment! Approved! Salary at Uliophe Molton’s level!”
“Let’s meet again next year with an even more exciting research topic.”
“Arrrrrgh!”
And so….
he was gradually becoming a fossil of the Academy.
‘Anyway, I should see my brother’s face for once!’
Though truthfully, I’d run into him the day before yesterday at the bookstore buying self-help books.
“Oh! Now that I think about it, there’s supposed to be a triumphant banquet coming up soon!”
I suddenly remembered and spoke.
“Right. Kalid’s.”
Licht spoke briefly, then corrected himself.
“Knight Kalid will be returning.”
“Hmm…. Try to get along with him a bit.”
“I just deliberately kept my distance, Rubian. Notice that.”
Licht added gently.
“The King of Casalia will likely come with him.”
That was news to me.
“What? Why?”
“The Round Table Council is being held in Babylon this time. The King of Casalia apparently asked Knight Kalid to serve as his escort.”
Ugh, our poor pup’s already struggling. Why burden him with escort duties too?!
I narrowed my eyes and cursed the King of Casalia inwardly.
“But…. The Round Table is held in summer, isn’t it? Why is he here starting in winter?”
“It’s being held in spring this time. Father Emperor has specially invited them as well.”
“Why?”
“There are various reasons, but…. This is probably what’s worth noting.”
Licht pulled out several newsletters and handed them to me. They were from various nations, including ones from Casalia.
Oh, international affairs.
The Royal Palace’s precious jewel recovered after 14 years! Casalia’s First Princess finally takes her first steps!
Amid questions about the princess’s legitimacy, the Casalian Royal Family states, “There is no doubt.”
Princess Sebelena, “It turns out my family was royalty. Status doesn’t really matter.”
Ah…. So.
“They found a lost daughter? And she’s the princess?”
“That’s right.”
Licht nodded in agreement.
“Wow, that’s hot news?”
So I turned out to be a princess?
I’d always thought of it as a cliché, but hearing that it happened right nearby sparked my curiosity.
“Literally, the King of Casalia found the daughter he’d lost in the early days of the human-demon war. Apparently, she miraculously survived among the forest tribes of western Iosia.”
“Oh….”
I’d even lied before, claiming I was from Iosia myself….
Then my gaze suddenly shifted to the second knight.
“But what’s this legitimacy controversy about?”
“The King of Casalia was so desperate to find his daughter that many imposters came rushing in, hoping to claim the royal fortune. But….”
“But?”
Licht added with a knowing smile.
“Princess Sebelena obtained something from the forest tribes of Iosia that helped settle the matter.”
“What on earth was it?”
“I’m not entirely sure myself…. But they say it’s a secret technique unique to the Eastern Iosian Forest tribes?”
I blinked.
Iosia was a land formed by multiple tribes, renowned for its advanced pharmacology and medicine.
Each village had strong cohesion, and many possessed unique medicinal recipes and medical knowledge they kept hidden from the world.
‘I even used that to pretend to be Iosian back then….’
Though I actually knew it as a mage, I’d claimed it was knowledge from being the son of an Iosian pharmacist.
“So what exactly is this secret technique?”
“A potion that determines biological parentage.”
What, something like a twenty-first century genetic test?
“Well, other physical characteristics matched too, but that was the decisive factor.”
“I see.”
It was certainly an intriguing affair, but honestly, it was none of my business.
‘I should sneak a peek if she comes!’
Would I get a chance to speak with her?
‘Will she just show up wearing a crown?’
She’s a princess, after all.
“Hmm.”
I turned the pages of the book idly, lost in idle thoughts.
Of course, I had no way of knowing then.
What kind of butterfly effect that princess of Casalia would bring into my life.

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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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