The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 187

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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 187
What?! You said your back hurts!
“It seems you’ve sustained some injury. Allow me to escort you to the Physician.”
I felt sturdy arms wrapped around my body like vines. The slight trembling I sensed was because… he was trying so hard not to cause me pain?
“Pardon? Sir Kalid? Why would…? And you’re speaking quite a lot today, aren’t you? This is the first time I’ve heard you say more than three words!”
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
He was actually quite the chatterbox.
I thought this to myself while gripping Kalid’s cloak tightly. His large frame shuddered slightly.
“Then… I’ll take my leave.”
Kalid turned away, his voice slightly hoarse.
Thud, thud. The sound of his footsteps echoed as he walked toward the opposite end of the Dark Alley.
How much time had passed like that?
I felt the touch of his hand pressing firmly against the back of my head and slowly lifted my gaze.
“…”
His jawline had become sharper and more defined than when we were younger.
His thick, straight neck with that protruding Adam’s apple… something I didn’t possess. My gaze was captivated by it when suddenly that Adam’s apple bobbed prominently.
“Oh!”
I startled and looked away. But then I met his grayish-blue eyes staring intently at me, and I was startled once more.
“P-put me down!”
My body flailed like a fish gasping on land. But Kalid wouldn’t relent.
“Rubian… my back hurts. Don’t move.”
What? It hurts?
“Oh, okay. Right, we can’t have you in pain.”
I stiffened my body like a wooden plank once more.
In truth, I couldn’t even remember what I’d said.
My mind was filled only with his eyes that had been gazing at me so intently.
“It’s been a while.”
Kalid murmured.
“Two years.”
“Yeah, it has…”
“Have you been well?”
“Me? Well… yes.”
As I nodded evasively, a brief vibration rippled through our connected bodies. He seemed to be laughing.
‘Back then…’
Back then, he didn’t laugh so calmly. He would either smirk arrogantly or sneer coldly…
‘And he certainly never lifted me up so effortlessly like this!’
Had he developed the habit from carrying monster corpses too frequently?
Spinning, spinning—a whirlwind of confusion.
The end of the Dark Alley gradually came into view. Kalid suddenly tilted his head.
“Rubian, is it alright if I walk slowly? It’s difficult to maintain speed.”
“Huh? Aren’t you still moving slowly?”
“My back hurts….”
“Oh, oh, then you should walk slowly!”
“Okay.”
Thump-thump.
“Just bear with the discomfort a little longer, Rubian.”
The muscles of his arms, firmly supporting my body, felt distinctly defined.
Thump-thump-thump-thump.
What is this?
We’ve been fine for two years, haven’t we?
‘Heart of mine.’
Why are you making a fuss and drawing attention again!
* * *
Kalid set me down only after we’d spent a very long time navigating through the Dark Alley.
Back in the Dark Alley, I’d made such a fuss about my back hurting that he’d wanted to fetch a Physician immediately, but the moment we emerged from the alley, I claimed it had mysteriously healed completely. He’d cast a gentle healing spell on me just to be safe, though.
In any case, we pushed through the crowds of people brimming with Festival excitement and entered the first Cafe we spotted.
There was simply too much we needed to discuss.
“Welcome.”
“Huh?”
What is this place?
It felt like stepping into a small greenhouse.
“Our Cafe operates on a private greenhouse Garden concept with individual spaces available. There is an hourly usage fee—would you like to use it?”
Looking more carefully, every person entering was a couple with linked arms. So it was somewhat of a dating hotspot…?
‘I feel like we’ve walked into somewhere we shouldn’t be.’
I laughed awkwardly and quickly dragged Kalid away.
“Hey, hey. Let’s just go somewhere else…. Ugh.”
But it was I who ended up fluttering helplessly along.
“This would be perfect for discussing secrets. Let’s go.”
Kalid strode in with long steps.
When he told the staff he’d be using the entire greenhouse Garden, including the surrounding seating, until closing time, the employee beamed and guided us in.
‘What is this.’
Maybe I was overthinking things.
I scratched the back of my head and headed toward the innermost seating area.
Thanks to the straight trees and well-maintained shrubs surrounding us, it was a place free from outside eyes.
‘Phew, let me calm down. I’m the only one being so dramatic right now.’
I shook my head to clear it.
Then, whoosh, my hat came off. As my carefully pinned silver hair was revealed, Kalid, who had been pulling out my chair, clicked his tongue.
“You’re going to expose your identity that way.”
“Oh no. That won’t do.”
If that happened, I’d have no choice but to go meet Father and the King of Casalia.
After a moment of deliberation, he pulled the hood over my head, then unfastened the clasp of his own cloak and wound it snugly beneath my chin.
Every time those long fingers brushed against the underside of my jaw, I had to fight the urge to swallow hard.
“There’s no way anyone will see through this now.”
His satisfied smile.
Well, I suppose that’s true, but…
“…”
I tilted my head this way and that, catching my reflection in the candlestick on the table.
‘…A bean sprout?’
Is this really what I look like?
“So why are you here anyway? You didn’t come alone, did you?”
Something felt off, but I answered his question faithfully regardless.
“No, I came with Father.”
“The Duke as well? I heard the Support Unit was coming, but I didn’t expect him to show up in person. What’s the reason…”
“Ah, Allen…”
Said something about you and the Princess falling in love?
So Father came rushing here with fire in his eyes?
But I couldn’t say that outright, so I pressed my lips together. Kalid, sitting across from me, seemed to read something in that silence and furrowed his brow slightly.
“What nonsense did that bastard Allen spout this time.”
“Allen didn’t say anything! …But seriously, don’t I look a bit ridiculous right now? Like a matchstick?”
“It’s cute, so it’s fine.”
“Huh?”
Kalid’s hand, which had been pouring tea, froze mid-motion. He tapped his own ear lightly.
“…I’m asking if you’d be okay with your ears exposed. Isn’t it stuffy with them covered too?”
“Oh, right. I can’t hear very well.”
I was fairly certain I’d heard something else just now.
I carefully pulled just my ears free and refocused.
“Oh, that’s right. This.”
Kalid withdrew a thick piece of paper from inside his cloak. I didn’t need to unfold it completely to know what it was.
“A gravestone inscription…”
“It took two years. I’m sorry.”
Looking at his expressionless face, something swelled up in my chest. He really hadn’t changed one bit from when we were children.
‘Stupid mutt…’
My nose tingled and I sniffled involuntarily.
“By the way, you had a nosebleed, didn’t you.”
At his next words, I let out an involuntary laugh.
“News of my nosebleed reached all the way there? Was it posted on some social media or something?”
“You’re saying strange things again. Anyway, let me see.”
I blinked quietly.
“I’m looking at you right now.”
“No, your mana. Your condition isn’t poor because you’re depleted, is it?”
“Ah….”
So that was it.
Kalid pushed the documents aside and extended his hand toward me.
I hesitated for a moment before moving my hand from where it rested on my thigh.
We were the only ones who could exchange mana with each other. That’s why we’d been in such frequent contact since childhood. But….
The hand now extended toward me felt strangely unfamiliar.
‘His hand…. When did it get this big?’
The unfamiliarity struck me anew.
I swallowed hard, my throat suddenly dry.
* * *
‘So small….’
Kalid gazed down at the small, pale hand resting upon his own.
Had it always been this delicate?
Rubian, whom I hadn’t seen in two years, was smaller than I remembered.
Or perhaps I had grown larger.
My Knight Order uniform had been refitted so many times I’d lost count—not just in height, but my entire frame had become more muscular and defined with each battle I’d endured.
‘I can’t grip it the way I used to.’
Though I’d never been rough with her before, I found myself thinking that Rubian might blow away if I held her too firmly.
Perhaps it was the tightly wound black cloak, but every detail of her face was strikingly vivid.
Her round, fair forehead, her large, deep eyes, and her small lips that moved ceaselessly—her voice still flowed from them, as pleasant as ever.
‘Nothing has changed.’
I suppressed a smile that kept threatening to surface and gently squeezed Rubian’s hand.
The warmth and fragrance of her body from when I’d embraced her moments ago came rushing back. My stomach churned, but I concealed it.
That was when it happened.
“Ow. Kalid, Kalid. It hurts!”
Kalid startled and quickly withdrew his hand.

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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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