The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 215

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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 215
* * *
Several days prior, in the Capital Outskirts.
“What is this nonsense? Father suddenly taking Rubian to Zelocks?”
Rosetta’s brow furrowed.
It was around the time Rubian had just awakened at the Duke’s Residence.
She had confined a Mage in a secret Cottage in the Capital Outskirts and was currently interrogating him.
One of the Mercenary Servants who brought the news spoke.
“According to the Mansion’s Maids, the young lady said she needed to immediately verify the Zelocks barrier and left in great haste.”
“And Father believed that?”
“Well, Lord Ballock is rather lenient with the young lady….”
Still, he wasn’t the type to recklessly allow Rubian to undertake something dangerous. So it should be fine, but….
Did Rubian have some pressing reason?
‘Her body still isn’t fully recovered.’
Since the Lake incident, Rubian had been plagued by fever for days, unable to regain consciousness.
Leviathan, Rosetta, and Kalid had kept vigil at her bedside all night, their faces etched with anxiety.
Though her condition had certainly improved since last night.
‘Honestly, I expected her to say she’d chase after Leviathan to the Southern Region because of the Demonic Beast. But the Northern Region? And the fact that she left without even waiting for me means something incredibly urgent has come up.’
Rosetta recalled what had happened at the Lakeside.
When she encountered the limp Rubian that Leviathan had rescued, her heart nearly stopped.
The culprit—the Boatman—was quickly apprehended. Since he had deliberately avoided vital points when firing his arrows, his testimony soon revealed the mastermind.
The Boatman and his associates had their heads severed, and the First Prince was imprisoned.
“I-I never intended to harm the young lady! That foolish Boatman!”
His attempt to reduce his sentence only further inflamed the Emperor’s wrath.
Coincidentally, his own misconduct was exposed, making it seem impossible to escape severe punishment.
‘He’ll likely be stripped of his title as prince and exiled to his territory for life.’
Rosetta thought coldly.
Of course, neither she nor Leviathan had any intention of allowing the First Prince to reach his place of exile safely.
‘…Or perhaps Kalid will handle it first.’
The ones who rage quietly are always the most terrifying. Perhaps the prince would suffer a sudden death in prison—such was her thought. Merely a thought.
“I should deal with this matter first.”
Rosetta turned to face the man bound to the chair.
The Mage who had lived comfortably at the Mansion had been dragged here by the Mercenary Servants, seized by the hair.
She stomped her foot down between his legs with a sharp crack.
“Eeek!”
“So when will we be able to have a proper conversation? Speak quickly—what was your plan after approaching Rubian while posing as her biological father? Were you planning to kidnap her?”
Rubian’s coming-of-age ceremony had concluded and the King of Casalia had been captured, so now was the time for interrogation.
She had initially intended to use a potion from the Mansion to verify paternity first, but Hazel had stopped her.
“Ah, that potion has problems. It seems some of the ingredients didn’t mix properly. I was planning to ask the young lady about it when she returned, but…with her being so ill….”
Ironically, she discovered through the Mage’s confession that he was not Rubian’s biological father.
Something had happened at the Duke’s Residence that left him utterly dispirited, and the moment he realized his cover as the Mage King’s spy had been blown from the start, he spilled everything without resistance.
“And what about this mutated beast that appeared in the Southern Region? Spit it out already. I don’t have time for this.”
“That, that is….”
“I said no stammering. I’m giving you ten seconds to collect your thoughts. Ten.”
Rosetta’s palm cracked across the Mage’s cheek.
“Not talking?”
“You said you’d give me ten, ten seconds!”
“Changed my mind. Time’s precious.”
Blood dribbled from his lips.
“The mutated beast that appeared in the Southern Region—it really was created with dark magic, wasn’t it?”
“I, I don’t know. My orders were only to approach by posing as her biological father and to divert attention….”
Rosetta clicked her tongue in disgust.
“The Zebert Knight Order patrolling the Southern Region would return to the Capital fastest that way….”
“So you exploited the loosened defenses in the Southern Region to slip mages back in? They’re the ones who summoned the mutated beast?”
“Y, yes. That way, the Zebert Duke would be separated from the young lady’s side, and that’s when I planned to lure her away…. ‘Seventh’ can’t resist family….”
Rosetta seized the Mage’s throat, her knuckles white with pressure as her fingertips pressed precisely against his vital point.
“Has your brain completely atrophied? Why work so hard at something you’ll inevitably get caught doing? If you lured away my daughter, what—did you think I’d just sit and watch for entertainment?”
“Ugh, ugh….”
“And thinking you could keep my husband occupied in the Southern Region with some beast tainted by dark magic scraps? The Mage King really does have the cleanest mind of all.”
“Gack, that’s because….”
The man choked out his words.
“The, the Zebert Duke will… definitely be defeated… in the Southern Region….”
“Defeated?”
Rosetta laughed with genuine amusement.
“Your read on people is still incomplete. There’s nothing in this world that can overpower Leviathan through force.”
“That’s…!”
The man was about to blurt something out without thinking.
A strangled gasp erupted from the Mage’s mouth, and black blood gushed forth in a torrent.
“…!”
Rosetta hastily withdrew her hand, but the man convulsed silently, clutching at his heart before going limp.
“Tsk.”
Rosetta stared down at the corpse with wide eyes, her expression hollow.
‘A silencing curse. How predictable.’
Simultaneously, a tool that had outlived its usefulness had been disposed of.
‘I was planning to squeeze out everything he knew to the bitter end.’
She wiped the blood from her hands with an icy expression.
‘Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ve figured out enough about how they planned to shake my Rubian.’
“Clean it up.”
The masked Maidservants nodded heavily and began pouring oil throughout the cottage.
Rosetta stepped outside the cottage and pulled a black hood over her head. One of the Maidservants approached and asked.
“Where will you be heading? The Northern Region? The Southern Region?”
Should I pursue Rubian?
Should I pursue Leviathan?
For a moment, the Mage’s voice echoing talk of defeat flickered through my mind, but Rosetta shook her head.
My hero could never fall to something as trivial as a magical beast.
She herself knew Leviathan’s strength better than anyone. Still, thinking she should send word urging caution, she turned away coldly.
“The Imperial Palace.”
“Pardon?”
“Send a messenger to Sebelena at once. She should have returned by now. If she refuses, bring her by force if necessary.”
Rubian had said that the moment she opened her eyes, she rushed urgently toward the Northern Region.
Above all, Leviathan’s words before departing weighed heavily on her mind.
“At the lake, it looked like Rubian was holding a potion in her hand.”
“A potion?”
“I only caught a glimpse of an empty bottle sinking, so I’m not entirely certain.”
He had summoned Sebelena before heading south just in case, but was unable to meet her. The princess had left the Banquet Hall and immediately departed to meet with Casalia nobility.
“I have a bad feeling. She seemed strange throughout the entire banquet after meeting the princess. So….”
“You’re saying Rubian didn’t tell you everything?”
Leviathan nodded gravely.
“I need to hear what exactly Rubian discussed with you.”
Rosetta pressed down on her anxiously racing heart as she headed toward the Imperial Palace.
And now, it was this moment.
* * *
“I merely told the duchess that the potion in the Duke’s Residence has the opposite effect.”
Sebelena’s voice echoed.
If it was a potion in the Duke’s Residence, it would be the paternity potion that Rubian had playfully used with Leviathan.
When she first heard the princess’s words, honestly, she didn’t quite understand their meaning.
“Rose!”
Rosetta vaulted over the fence of the Memorial Garden without hesitation.
Leviathan had clearly said at the banquet that the potion hadn’t been mixed in.
But that was… a potion with the opposite effect?
‘If it’s a child with Leviathan’s blood…’
Then they share blood with me too.
What does that mean?
…Please, no.
Please, anything but that.
Denying that impossible possibility, Rosetta repeated those words to herself the entire way she ran toward the Northern Region.
But all her hopes crumbled the moment she saw Ballock approaching like a beast in the distance.
Rosetta rushed forward frantically and clawed at the frozen ground with her bare hands.
“Mother!”
Void appeared at the commotion and moved to stop her with a startled expression, but she did not pause.
Unable to bear it any longer, the Maidservants stepped forward, but she shrieked savagely at them.
“Don’t touch it!”
Her eyes gleamed with madness.
Ballock trembled violently, clenching his teeth, while Void bit his lips until they bled before bolting toward the Castle, muttering something about fetching a shovel.
“No one is to touch it.”
Rosetta resumed clawing at the grave.
Her fingernails shattered against the hard gravel, drawing blood. On the frozen, parched earth, sweat and tears mingled and fell—patter, patter.
‘Leviathan….’
Rosetta wept silently as she scooped away the soil, again and again.
The memory of childbirth overlapped with the present.
A labor so difficult she had lost consciousness countless times. And what was born…. No, could it even be said that she was born?
She had delivered a dead child.
When she regained consciousness, the child was already gone, and only a cold, black tombstone remained before her eyes, stark and solitary.
“It was a girl….”
That ruthless man had buried his own child with his own hands.
What must have been in Leviathan’s heart as he dug, handful after handful, at the grave of the daughter he had waited for so long?
Rosetta could not fathom it.
Though it should not be so, she sometimes feared that Leviathan might, in truth, blame her somewhat for losing the child….
‘That is why I vowed to protect this grave and live on.’
Drip. Drip.
Tears of blood fell from her burst blood vessels. They left dark traces as they seeped into the earth, only to be excavated by Rosetta’s hands the moment they touched the ground.
And finally.
Thud.
“Ah….”
A cold, thick stone coffin touched her fingertips. A large hand wrapped around her trembling fingers.
“…Let me help. You cannot lift this alone.”
Old Master’s face had flushed completely as he suppressed something. The two adults pushed the coffin lid together. And then.
Thump.
Ballock collapsed to the ground.
“Good heavens. The coffin really….”
“This cannot be….”
Shock spread across the faces of the Maidservants, including Butler Morris who had been watching, and Void who had rushed over with a shovel.
‘Leviathan.’
Rosetta stood with her arms hanging at her sides, eyes closed as she gazed upward. Hot tears streamed down her frozen cheeks.
We are.
‘I….’
What have I been protecting all this time?

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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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