The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 195

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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 195
* * *
“Biological father?!”
Bang! Ballock couldn’t contain himself.
“Please, calm down.”
“How can I stay calm about this?!”
Leviathan gazed at the jagged crack running across the wall and clicked his tongue lightly.
“Getting upset won’t change anything.”
The spacious Reception Room had gathered three adults from the Duchy for the first time in ages.
A small bundle sat on the table. Partially unwrapped, its contents revealed an old portrait and similarly aged baby items—a pillow, tiny clothes.
Rosetta swallowed a short sigh and moved her hands awkwardly to pick up the small portrait.
A laugh escaped her.
“Look at this. Despite everything, she’s absolutely adorable. Our three-year-old Rubian.”
Ballock’s eyebrows twitched as he huffed through his nostrils.
“Let me see… Oh my. How precious.”
Peering inside revealed the face of a young Rubian wearing a startled expression.
Her lips slightly pursed, her round eyes wide. The expression she made when caught off-guard was identical to her current one.
“I should have it enlarged and painted! First, I need to call a painter…”
“Father, what if we hired several master craftsmen to weave it into a tapestry instead?”
“Hmm. My daughter-in-law really is remarkably clever.”
“Hehehehe.”
The two of them, as always, were perfectly matched, sharing a dark laugh.
“So what are you going to do?”
“Hm?”
“This. The owner.”
Rosetta asked.
Leviathan, who had been absorbed in wondering how to cram the portrait of baby Rubian into his pocket, cleared his throat.
“First, we need to verify whether he’s truly her biological father. Besides, we’re not even certain these items are genuine.”
The portrait and objects could easily be fabricated. Though… the portrait did seem remarkably Rubian-like.
“Where is that Mage?”
“Leon is currently arranging lodging outside the Zebert Mansion and keeping watch.”
“Hmph. At least you had the sense to send that boy Leon to the Southern Region.”
Leviathan nodded at Ballock’s words.
Leon, who had been inspecting the Southern Region under Leviathan’s orders, came rushing without sleep for days and nights the moment he discovered these items, his face drained of color.
‘So what now…’
He fell into contemplation.
These items might have been fabricated.
‘But if there’s even the slightest possibility they’re genuine…’
He couldn’t carelessly discard them or definitively deny their authenticity.
‘What if this person really is connected to Rubian somehow.’
I suppose I should meet him first.
As I was thinking this, Rosetta, who had been fiddling with baby items, carefully lifted her head.
“You haven’t told Rubian yet, have you? I’m a bit worried about how she’ll react if she hears that someone who might be her biological father has appeared.”
“….”
A brief silence fell.
It was, in fact, a shared concern among all three of us.
“She might be shocked, or she might not want to meet him. Either way, we should probably bring it up carefully….”
That was when it happened.
“Knock, knock, knock! Everyone!”
A familiar knocking sound echoed through the room.
The door swung open, and Rubian appeared with her hair tied up tightly, her expression as carefree as always.
“I heard the news! My biological father has appeared, hasn’t he?”
At her remarkably lighthearted tone, Leviathan let out a hollow breath.
“Does she ever exercise caution?”
“My goodness.”
“I want to meet him right now!”
The words burst forth with spirited enthusiasm.
Leviathan watched Rubian settle into the seat beside him, and the tension that had unconsciously gripped his shoulders melted away. He swallowed a sigh.
“No, Father will meet him first, and only if he determines it’s safe will you meet him.”
“Why?”
“Because that’s….”
“I’ll just meet him myself. I want to meet him quickly.”
A brief silence hung over those words.
“…You little brat. You….”
Ballock buried his face in his fist to hide his disappointment. Rubian, who had been staring at him blankly, waved her hands frantically.
“No! That’s not it! I’m not getting all sentimental because my biological father has appeared!”
“Huh?”
“Looking at it clearly, the Mage King is obviously sending a pawn to lure me in by exploiting my weakness. So I need to meet him quickly, figure out his true intentions, and come up with a counter-strategy!”
“Oh?”
“Princess Sebelena said so. That the Mage Kingdom would soon start making moves targeting my weakness.”
Her blue eyes sparkled with conviction.
Leviathan gazed into those confident eyes and felt a sudden worry wash over him.
“But Rubian.”
“Yes?”
“…What if he really is your biological father who’s come looking for you?”
At those words, Rubian fell silent for a moment before tilting her head slightly. A faint wrinkle formed on her smooth forehead.
“Well then…. I suppose I should express appropriate gratitude for giving birth to me…? And express appropriate resentment for abandoning me? Ah, can I just say thank you verbally? I don’t have to express it materially, right? It would be wasteful.”
At Rubian’s surprisingly serious tone, Leviathan blinked slowly.
“That’s all…?”
“What else…should I do for him…?”
Rubian’s face showed genuine confusion.
“No, it’s not like that.”
Leviathan said this, then suddenly laughed.
He’d realized that it was he who’d been tense all along, not Rubian.
“Oh, right. Father, look at this. I blended this herbal jelly this time—it’s good for insomnia….”
Rubian fumbled to unwrap something she’d been cradling in her arms, and Leon’s old bundle tumbled out.
‘Well.’
There was no reason to be serious about it.
‘No matter what anyone says, Rubian is my daughter.’
Rubian was right.
If it was fake, I could use it as bait to draw out the Mage Kingdom, and if it was real, I could simply send it back with some mixture of gratitude and curses.
“Our Rubian.”
Perhaps thinking the same thing, Rosetta casually tidied the bundle and stretched out both arms.
“Come here. Our Rubian will always be Mother’s.”
“Wow. It’s been so long.”
With a soft sound, she pulled Rubian into a tight embrace.
“Grandfather’s too.”
Ballock was the same.
Leviathan, whose awareness had been delayed by his thoughts, finally rose to his feet as well.
“Father….”
“Sproing, it’s full.”
Whoosh, whoosh.
“….”
Look at that.
Sometimes a biological father is more annoying than anyone else?
Leviathan glared at his father with all his might, who was putting all his effort into rejecting him.
“So, everyone.”
Buried between Rosetta and Ballock, Rubian poked her head out and smiled mischievously.
Her gentle eyes crinkled, and one corner of her small lips twitched, drawing a thin arc.
They all knew.
Whenever the youngest smiled like a little troublemaker, she often came up with very unexpected plans.
* * *
“What if we pretend to be fooled by that mage for now?”
I told my family.
“What do you mean?”
“To be honest, this spy can be dealt with very easily. Because….”
“Princess Sebelena’s potion.”
Father finished my sentence for me. I nodded and continued.
“If we use that potion to determine true parentage, the truth would be revealed simply. But the ‘real potion’ takes some time to prepare, she said.”
Before coming to the Reception Room, I’d already exchanged notes with Sebelena through Kalid’s squirrel.
“So you’re saying we should keep the fake potion close and monitor it while the real one is being prepared.”
“Yes. We could forcibly confine them to the Underground Prison or somewhere similar, but…”
The faces of Fourth, Second, and the Mage King passed through my mind in succession.
The more I resisted and tried to evade, the more my enemies approached through unexpected methods.
So this time, I’d likely grasped their schemes well enough… and I thought it might be better to turn their plan to my advantage.
“And besides, even if we defeat this spy, another will simply come next.”
Unless we capture the mastermind.
‘Right now, it’s as if the Mage King has cast his fishing line toward me.’
I knew the bait dangling before me was fake. So I intended to use that bait with all my might and chase after the hidden fisherman.
“Hmm, our little runt has become quite clever and brave! I roughly understand! But so, exactly how will you act?”
“Heh. Everyone, prepare to receive a guest!”
I laughed playfully toward my family.
After finishing my recollection, I smiled lightly, feeling the breeze brush across both my cheeks.
A biological father, no less.
‘Even if I jumped off a cliff, he’d still be a spy sent by the Mage King.’
Perhaps he was targeting my weakness?
It seemed the barrier to approach the other family members was too high, and he was chosen as bait capable of drawing me out in his own way.
‘You’ve got the wrong address, old man.’
What I loved was only this family. Not some stranger connected by blood alone, whose name and face I didn’t know.
‘Of course, if it weren’t for Sebelena, I might have wavered a bit.’
It wasn’t that I had no curiosity about my biological parents—I might have been somewhat shaken. But thanks to the Princess, that curiosity vanished entirely.
Moreover, if the Princess hadn’t conveyed the Mage Kingdom’s movements to me, I wouldn’t have been able to confirm so immediately that he was a spy.
‘Well, I can’t entirely rule out the possibility that he’s really my biological father.’
The items the man brought were indeed mine.
Long-used objects retain magical energy like a scent. Especially those used during infancy when magical control was impossible.
Perhaps the Mage King gave me something I used in the Royal Palace when I was young, or perhaps the Mage King actually recruited my real biological father.
Of course, since I have no memories of my childhood, I don’t recognize those items.
Either way, I could find out starting now.
“Hmm…”
Whether he was my biological father or not.
To be perfectly honest, I wasn’t entirely uninterested.
I felt the cold air touching both my cheeks and flipped my head around sharply.
“What do you think?”
Deep blue-gray eyes looked down at me with a glance.
A thick arm extending from behind me swung once in a wide arc.

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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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