The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 213

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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 213
How much time had passed?
My feet moved slowly forward.
Toward the distant light of the Cottage.
My measured steps gradually quickened, and before I knew it, I was sprinting at full speed.
‘The coffin is empty.’
I didn’t need to dig it up to know.
My mana doesn’t lie. And…
Perhaps I had foreseen this outcome long ago.
“Gasp, gasp.”
My breath came in ragged gasps. My head throbbed as if someone were squeezing my brain. My nose burned, and my heart hammered wildly against my ribs.
“Why…”
I muttered frantically as I ran through the Memorial Garden.
Suddenly, my legs gave out and I tumbled across the ground.
‘Why…!’
I didn’t feel the pain as I scrambled back up and ran. Blood trickled down my calves, but I felt nothing.
The Gravedigger’s Cottage door burst open—she must have heard me.
The one who emerged in shock was Aina, Rosetta’s maidservant.
“Miss? How did you get here!”
“Aina!”
I stumbled toward her and seized both her arms tightly. Aina’s face went pale as she saw the trail of blood dotting the ground.
“Why…”
When you spend a long time with someone, you come to understand things you never wanted to know.
And this was one of them.
That Mother was actually an incredibly strong person… and that Mother’s maidservant and all the maids of the Duke’s Mansion were all incredibly strong former mercenaries.
“Why are you all guarding this place?”
I asked desperately, my voice cracking and ragged.
“Miss? What do you suddenly mean…”
“Why are Mother’s mercenaries taking turns guarding this place!”
“That’s because…”
Aina furrowed her brow, searching her memory.
“This place was attacked in the past.”
Thud.
Something fell.
“Attacked?”
“A long time ago… it was a magical beast. After that, we established this as our base and have been taking turns guarding it. But what on earth is going on…! Miss!”
I frantically removed my cloak.
I stripped off my outer garment and my indoor dress as well.
“What are you doing, exactly!”
Aina gasped in shock and tried to cover my body. With urgent hands, I pulled up my thin chemise to check my side.
“….”
There was a familiar scar there, so old that I often forgot about it.
‘The scar I hid when I concealed that I was a girl, covering it with the emblem of the Mage Kingdom.’
It had been there since I was very young, so I couldn’t even remember where I’d gotten it.
‘This…. Now that I look at it.’
My fingers slowly traced the scar that ran across my ribs.
‘It’s a wound from a magical beast’s claws or fangs.’
I shut my eyes tightly.
I had completed every verification I could make.
All the evidence pointed to one possibility.
‘I….’
Perhaps….
Perhaps.
* * *
“Sigh.”
Ballock set down his glass.
“I can’t even taste it!”
He let out a rough sigh and turned toward the window.
At the sight of the white moonlight, Rubian came to mind unbidden.
‘I don’t know what’s driving her.’
But I have no regrets about hurrying back here.
I only half-believed Rubian’s words about wanting to return to Zelocks because of the Northern Region’s barrier. The rest came from my desire to support the child’s choice.
The Rubian who spoke of wanting to return to Zelocks didn’t seem like someone with worries—she seemed like a general standing before war, someone who needed time to steel her resolve before a great undertaking. Her eyes were clear, her voice resolute. It was proof that she was engaged in a fierce struggle with something.
“Patience!”
Ballock scolded himself aloud.
I would watch and wait with patience.
Because I trust my granddaughter.
“You know! Do you know when I smile the brightest in the whole world~?”
“Huh? When?”
“When I call you Grandfather~!”
“…?”
“-like that!”
My precious little one, worth more than my own eyes.
“….”
“Hmm, not amusing? When I say ‘Grand~’ my mouth stretches so wide like this when I smile. It’s kind of ugly…. Ow!”
“You little rascal! You tiny thing!”
“Help, help…. Grandfather~!”
Rascal, tiny, fluffy, chick, puppy—even if I gathered every small and insignificant word in the world, it wouldn’t be enough to express this ticklish feeling in my heart, my adorable, precious granddaughter.
‘No matter what conclusion you reach. No matter what words you speak.’
From the moment Rubian stubbornly nestled against my side.
‘This old man is on your side.’
Ballock had resolved to become Rubian’s eternal ally.
“…Hmm?”
At that moment, the Old Master’s eyes narrowed.
He caught sight of a familiar silver-haired figure making her way toward the distant castle.
“Patience….”
-I just swore I’d have it.
And that pea-sized granddaughter of mine….
“Walking around in this freezing cold without even a coat!”
This I cannot abide!
Ballock bellowed and sprang into motion.
* * *
The bitter wind lashed against my cheeks.
Aina’s voice came from beside me asking what on earth was happening, but I didn’t stop. I was running toward the Duke’s Mansion once more.
“To be precise, we can’t know whether it was a demonic beast or a starving wild animal that attacked the Memorial Garden back then.”
“….”
“All we know is that the Gravedigger who was there at the time died, and the Memorial Garden fell into disarray. Though the graves themselves weren’t severely desecrated.”
‘But So Jeong-won’s baby grave was so recently made that the soil wouldn’t have been fully compacted.’
Even if someone had dug it up and restored it afterward, it wouldn’t have been particularly noticeable.
‘Especially not if magic was used.’
If they’d diverted attention by making it look like a demonic beast attack, then dug up So Jeong-won’s grave and stolen the baby’s corpse….
‘And if that baby were….’
If I were in their position.
I was running at full speed again. My knees throbbed with pain, but that wasn’t what mattered now.
“Hazel was the first to start guarding the grave after the shock, and later we took turns watching it. It became like a hideout of sorts. We even spread dark rumors to keep people away.”
“How did Father and the senior knights fail to notice the demonic beast attack? They couldn’t possibly have overlooked it.”
“Back then….”
Aina fell silent as if recalling something utterly horrific.
“Everyone was out of their minds back then…. It was also the time when demonic beasts were appearing most frequently throughout the Northern Region.”
“….”
“Above all, it was only days after Rosetta passed away. The Commander was literally….”
“….”
“Not human.”
Father had been consumed with slaughtering demonic beasts back then, as if nothing else existed in the world. Even Leon and the adjutants couldn’t stop him.
Their pleas fell on deaf ears.
Aina added that he’d become so drenched in blood and flesh that eventually no one could distinguish between beast and man—his appearance was utterly grotesque.
“Back then, truly…. The blood of demonic beasts formed rivers flowing through the Northern Region. In the end, it was Ballock who retrieved the Commander from the very center of that sea of blood.”
Father had collapsed after uttering only a single word, completely soaked in blood.
“…Father.”
“Leviathan!”
“I can’t wake up from this dream.”
“Damn….”
I stopped in my tracks and roughly rubbed my eyes dry. Yet hot tears continued to well up relentlessly.
I suppressed the surging tears as though pressing them down, then lifted my head sharply once more.
‘Get a grip on yourself.’
I needed to get a grip on myself.
I had confirmed everything I could possibly verify.
‘And given how quiet Wizeria has been all this time….’
It seemed the conclusion I had reached was not entirely wrong.
‘Wizeria, you knew all along, didn’t you.’
My feet began moving again.
The hidden power within me, as though possessed of its own consciousness, provided me with only the information I needed at precisely the moment I needed it.
‘Were you waiting for me to come of age?’
I had been far too young then, burdened with far too many problems to solve, far too fragile and helpless to face all these truths.
A voice echoed from beyond the buried memories. The Mage King would stroke my head and tap my cheek, speaking with pride.
My jewel, stolen away.
This was before I recalled that this world existed within a novel, so it must have been a memory etched into my very body.
All the puzzle pieces were beginning to fall into place. Though some gaps still remained.
‘Yes, so that’s how it is….’
The shape had been revealed. So I had to accept it. And I had to move forward.
Before I knew it, I was in the Duke’s Mansion lobby.
“You!”
I collided directly with Grandfather, who was hurrying down the stairs. It seemed Grandfather had been too worried about me to return to the Annex.
“Rubian? I knew it! You weren’t in your bedroom!”
Void appeared moments later.
“What on earth are you doing in the middle of the night! What’s this blood on your leg!”
Grandfather’s hands were laden with a thick blanket, an overcoat, a scarf, gloves, and various other items.
“Why is this child like this!”
At his sharp, frosty voice, Aina seemed to shake her head from behind.
The servants were all asleep.
I strode across the lobby and stood before Grandfather.
“Grandfather, I need to go to the Southern Region.”
His thick brows furrowed deeply.
“I need to go to the Southern Region to meet Father, and then go to Arcadia.”
“What are you saying in the middle of the night like this…. Come here first. I’m calling the Physician right now…!”
“A potion reacted at the Lake.”
“What?”
Grandfather’s movements froze solid—he who had been draping not only his blanket but even his own gown over me.
Void, who had been fidgeting beside him, was equally stunned.
With trembling hands clenched tight, I spoke each word with deliberate force.
“It’s Princess Sebelena’s potion. When I fell into the lake, Father’s blood and mine reacted… I saw them mixing. And just now, when I checked the Memorial Garden.”
“….”
“…The coffin in the Small Garden was empty.”
Despite my efforts to prevent it, my voice trembled slightly.
“What are you saying right now, exactly….”
“Grandfather. I think perhaps.”
I tried my best to maintain composure.
This was something that had to be done. This was no time for tears or hysteria.
“I think I might be the child who was buried in the Small Garden….”

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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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