The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 211

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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 211
“Father!”
I bolted upright.
That silhouette approaching rapidly on horseback was unmistakably my father.
The boat was drawing closer to shore, and our eyes met across the distance for a fleeting moment. In my father’s hand, gripping the reins, was a single purple box.
[ I failed to give you something precious… ]
Rubian? What on earth are you…?
That’s what my father seemed to be saying, his eyes narrowed in confusion.
Then it happened.
“What exactly are you doing?”
Licht drew his sword and pointed it at the Boatman.
“You deliberately fell earlier… and now you’re merely pretending to row.”
“I… I didn’t… I didn’t do anything…”
“Truly.”
Licht smiled softly. The floating magical lights around us cast sharp shadows across his refined features. He seemed to have grasped the situation instantly.
“I wonder why my brother always plays such a losing hand…”
The First Prince advanced without hesitation and swung his blade toward the Boatman. A piercing scream erupted.
‘Of all times for this!’
I bit my lip hard and channeled my mana, moving to nullify the magical device the Boatman had planted on the floor.
Just as Licht said, the Boatman’s slip had been intentional.
I’d realized he possessed a magical device only after the boat departed. I’d assumed he was merely a light-fingered servant who’d stolen a valuable artifact.
‘So he was working for the First Prince all along.’
“Spare me, please spare me!”
The Boatman cowered in feigned terror, his pleas pathetic as his fingers fumbled across the floor.
‘You’re going to detonate a magical device right in front of me?’
I pressed my palm against the boat’s wall and cast a nullification spell. Blue mana raced along the hull with lightning speed, reaching the device embedded in the floor in an instant.
Simultaneously, the man stomped down hard on the magical device.
“That should be the end of… huh?”
Of course, the explosion never came.
“What? Why won’t it detonate!”
Licht glanced in my direction, exhaled a short sigh, and was about to restrain the Boatman when—
“Damn it!”
Moving with lightning reflexes, the man yanked a sharp needle from beneath a nearby silk cushion.
“Licht, watch out!”
Licht dodged nimbly, but the Boatman’s mouth twisted into a grin.
Sharp needles were embedded among the decorative objects Licht had brushed against while evading.
“Cheap tricks…”
Licht’s body lurched violently as he pulled the needle from his palm. The Boatman seized the opening, wrenched the sword from his grasp, and lunged at the First Prince.
‘Could it be poison?’
“Rubian, stay back!”
Licht screamed. He held me back, saying he didn’t know where the poison needle was hidden, and even as the venom spread through his body, he kept checking with bloodshot eyes whether I was unharmed.
The struggle between the two men caused the boat to rock violently beyond control.
My shoulder suddenly slammed hard against the hull as I tried to cast magic again.
With a splash, the potion I’d been holding slipped from my grasp and fell into the lake.
“No!”
“Rubian!”
I heard Father’s voice from far away.
Reading the ominous disturbance on the boat, Father leaped from his horse and waded into the Lakeside, splashing through the water.
Get the boat moving now!
Father’s rare shout rang out.
“The potion….”
I had to retrieve it.
But Licht first…!
“Ugh, let go! I said let go!”
“Shut up!”
Even as the poison made him gasp, Licht refused to release his grip on the man. But I could feel his strength draining away. The moment I tried to regain my footing and move my mana to help him—
“Damn Imperial Family bastards!”
The man, consumed by madness, struck Licht hard and knocked over a nearby lamp.
Fire caught on the wooden boat with a whoosh.
“Since it’s come to this, you all die!”
The Boatman smashed the spare oil container as well. The dry winter wind blew fiercely, and the flames spread in an instant.
“Rubian, run…! Ugh.”
Licht reflexively tried to reach me but stumbled and collapsed. He had reached his limit long ago.
Licht gasped heavily, shouted for me to escape, and then lost consciousness.
One side of the boat cracked with a groan and began to crumble. The hull lost its balance and started sinking rapidly.
‘Licht will die at this rate!’
I cast a gravity spell on Licht as he slid down the boat. His limp body floated upward.
The gauge on the clock that indicated my mana consumption decreased, and I felt warmth beneath my nose again.
‘My mana….’
The blood I had barely stopped was flowing again.
“Ha, haha! Let’s see if any of you can survive this…!”
The Boatman, laughing with madness, tried to jump into the lake. As I moved to cast magic desperately to stop him—
An arrow whistled through the air and pierced his chest.
It came from Mother, standing on the opposite shore.
At the same moment, the boat tilted further and could no longer hold.
With a crack.
Splash!
I was pulled into the black lake, leaving behind the sight of Mother screaming toward the surroundings with a demonic expression. The cold, irresistible current invaded my entire body.
‘Father.’
Father.
Before I sank, I saw Father without hesitation diving into the water within my field of vision.
But I couldn’t return to Father’s side now.
Even as dizziness overwhelmed me from mana depletion, I pushed my mana to its absolute limit.
Using the power of the floating lantern mage tool on the water’s surface to illuminate the depths, I found the potion spinning as it sank. A circular magic circle materialized at my fingertips. The water current, gently reversed by my will, swiftly brought the potion to my hand.
I clenched my teeth. This was my limit.
If I used any more magic, it might affect the spell stopping the stigma.
Rubian!
As my tension released, strength drained from my body.
From somewhere distant, I heard a voice calling my name.
Endlessly, endlessly, my body sank deeper.
Like someone whose ankles had been claimed by sticky mud, I was being pulled rapidly toward the lake’s bottom.
But I knew.
The person with the most powerful attraction in this world was here.
‘Father….’
Rubian!
I felt hands gripping my body firmly. Father held me in his embrace and surged rapidly toward the surface.
Suddenly, I noticed the bandage wrapped around one of Father’s fingers as he held my shoulder. The bandage was disheveled and half-unwound. A wound like one from broken glass was exposed.
A thin trickle of blood seeping through the gap….
Could such a coincidence be called fate?
Click.
The stopper came off the potion bottle in my hand.
Even in my hazy state of mind, I felt grateful the cap was loose.
A liquid gleaming with brilliant five-fold light poured out as if it had been waiting. It looked like the Milky Way embroidering a black cosmos.
My long hair danced and swayed beneath the lake’s surface.
But what reached first was still flowing—my blood.
And Father’s blood.
Come to your senses, Rubian.
Strong arms pulled me close and leaped rapidly toward the surface.
Bubbles burst from my mouth. My breath was running short. Father seemed to be saying please, desperately.
But did Father know?
That it was I who wanted to say those words.
“Rubian!”
The empty potion bottle receded swiftly behind Father’s back.
My chin resting on Father’s shoulder lost its strength and tilted. Even as my consciousness faded, I clearly held both eyes open until the very end.
Father’s blood and mine, swirling together in the glimmering light.
‘A lie….’
Beneath the Sapphire-lit Lake Shore.
The moment my truth was beginning to bloom.

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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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