The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 216

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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 216
* * *
Rustle, rustle.
Someone was brushing my hair aside.
I slowly lifted my eyelids.
At dawn, after confessing the truth to Grandfather and insisting I had to go to the Southern Region, the tension had drained from me, and my physical condition had deteriorated rapidly.
In the end, it seemed I had taken the potent medicine Borbel had prepared and fallen asleep.
Sleep comes even in circumstances like this.
I found it somewhat absurd as I gazed at In-young sitting beside my bed in the darkness.
“…Mother?”
The gentle touch froze.
“Oh my. You’re awake? What do I do? Borbel made me promise not to wake you.”
As I tried to sit up, Mother pulled the blanket higher, as if urging me to stay down.
“When did you arrive?”
“A while ago. This morning.”
Bandages were wrapped around the fingertips that touched my forehead. I fidgeted with them.
“Did you hurt your hand? But…. Why is the room so dark? Is it afternoon already?”
Then something soft descended upon my forehead.
“Yes. I was told not to open the curtains. My Rubian needs plenty of rest. Otherwise, I think Borbel might actually kill me?”
“Huh. That bluffing Borbel….”
“Exactly.”
Mother seemed to smile slightly. A tender hand patted, patted the thick blanket.
“Go back to sleep soon.”
“Mother…. But I have something to tell you.”
I swallowed dryly and tried to sit up a little. But I was stopped again.
“No, no. Not now. Later.”
“No, this is really important….”
“Ugh, this won’t do. I need to put you to sleep. My daughter’s eyes are wide awake.”
I couldn’t see Mother’s face at all, yet she spoke as if she could see mine perfectly.
As Mother swept aside the blanket and nestled against me, a peculiar scent of earth emanated from her body.
“They say you’ve grown up, but there’s no one quite like a child.”
Her hands patted my entire body.
“Well. To Mother, Rubian will always be a little one.”
“….”
“What’s this? Look how thin you’ve become. If your body wasn’t well, you shouldn’t have rushed. There’s nothing but bones left.”
“Mother….”
I lay buried in her warm, soft embrace, my eyes rolling about. Mother’s heart, pressed against my cheek, was pounding wildly, thump-thump.
“Could it be….”
My voice cracked slightly. Because something strange had felt off since earlier.
Why was Mother here?
How had my hand gotten injured, and what was this smell of earth?
“Did you happen to meet Sebelena in the Capital? Did the Princess say something to you?”
In that moment, Mother’s hand stilled, and a heavy silence descended.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
“So she did tell you….”
Mother had always been perceptive. She must have checked the Grave and come looking for me….
“For now, let me explain what I know….”
“Yes. But let’s talk about it later.”
Mother pulled me into a tight embrace.
“For now, let’s just rest a little.”
Her weary voice continued as her hand resumed its gentle patting—a motion like soothing a baby in one’s arms….
I tried to say something more, but instead I simply gripped Mother’s sleeve tightly and buried my face in her embrace.
Mother drew in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.
“Rubian, my child….”
“….”
“I’m sorry.”
Her voice trembled with tears.
“I’m sorry for losing you….”
A familiar fragrance enveloped me—that longed-for scent I had always yearned to return to, the comforting aroma of her embrace.
I called out to her, my voice breaking.
A muffled response came back, and as I realized Mother was truly there, the tears finally came.
* * *
That evening.
I….
Perhaps I truly did have a heart of steel.
“Wow.”
As darkness fell outside, a hollow sigh escaped me.
‘I slept again.’
And when I woke, I was so hungry that I finished an entire bowl of soup.
‘Even with something like this happening, I still eat well.’
Or perhaps accepting it had cleared my mind somewhat.
“That’s right. No matter what happens, eating well and sleeping well is important. It helps your thoughts become clear.”
“Oh, did I… say that out loud?”
“We’re completely connected now, daughter.”
Mother lightly tapped my nose.
“It shows all over your face.”
Mother’s eyes, smiling gently, were bloodshot and rimmed with red.
The storm of truth had left tremendous marks in its wake.
But inevitably, calm followed the storm. There was no pain that lasted forever—what remained was only how to address these lingering traces.
Mother, as if she understood this truth better than anyone, brushed herself off and stood up with determination.
‘Good.’
I steeled myself with determination, following Mother’s lead.
‘Mother is absolutely right.’
After sleeping and waking, I felt considerably better.
As my mind cleared, I realized just how deeply I had been drowning in panic.
Of course, a heavy weight still pressed upon my heart.
‘Father….’
I had to tell him this truth as well.
As I hesitated, my hand hovering near my ear to contact him, Mother gently took my hand.
She was clearly thinking the same thing I was.
“Rubian, let’s take this one step at a time. For Leviathan…. It would be better if your mother and I told him directly, after we’ve sorted through the situation.”
I nodded in agreement.
I understood the hidden meaning behind her words about meeting in person.
‘If Father hears this, there’s no telling what he might do alone….’
He might rage and cross the sea single-handedly. Father was closest to the Mage Kingdom right now. No matter how capable he was, that would be far too dangerous.
Besides, it was more important to discuss this situation with the family members here first.
‘Right. One step at a time.’
I washed up quickly and descended to the Reception Room.
In the warmly lit Reception Room stood Grandfather with a stern expression and Void.
I embraced them in turn before taking my seat.
Then I slowly explained everything from my meeting with Sebelena to what had happened at the Lake.
Of course, I also heard about what had transpired in the Imperial Palace while I slept.
‘Licht….’
The Fourth Prince had apparently become a completely different person.
Even as he coughed up blood from the poison’s aftereffects, he had been obsessed with sending the First Prince not to exile but to the guillotine, prowling the entire Imperial Palace.
The nobles who had supported the First Prince fell silent before the Fourth Prince’s overwhelming momentum, and even the Emperor was rendered speechless.
‘Unless it’s treason, executing a member of the Imperial Family isn’t easy.’
I felt somewhat concerned for Licht.
But there was nothing I could do right now…. In any case, I needed to focus on the matter at hand.
“Rubian, would you share your theory?”
Mother spoke, pulling me from my thoughts.
“How was the Mage King able to desecrate that Grave….”
I set down the warm mug.
“Until now, I didn’t know what the wound on my side was.”
“….”
“But if the Mage King deliberately released the Demonic Beasts like in this Southern Region incident, and this wound was inflicted while he stole my body under the cover of chaos….”
“Huu. Wounds from Demonic Beasts…. don’t heal easily, it’s true….”
Grandfather, trembling, ground out the words.
Then Void, wiping his eyes roughly, carefully interjected.
“But, Rubian. You know as well as I do.”
“Yes.”
“Demonic beasts cannot be commanded by human will. Unless they’re dark creatures controlled through dark magic….”
I nodded, thinking this was something Liam would have said.
“I know. But there is a magic that summons servant beasts.”
“Servant magic?”
“Yes. Of course, it’s typical to temporarily bind an animal’s soul.”
“You’re saying that magic can be used on demonic beasts too?”
It was Mother who asked back.
I nodded while picking at my fingertips.
“Yes. But if you do that, your mana becomes corrupted. I’ve heard you suffer eternal torment as if cursed…. If done wrong, you might gain the demonic beast’s mana and end up being devoured by it instead.”
“I’ve heard that story before.”
Void spoke.
Having inadvertently raised two young mages, our household members were unusually knowledgeable about magic for people of the Empire.
“Isn’t that the magic Kalid uses? If Kalid was involved in that incident….”
“It wasn’t Kalid.”
I spoke firmly.
“Kalid was barely more than a child back then. It doesn’t make sense logically.”
Unless Kalid had another secret I didn’t know about.
“Ah…. You’re right.”
I took a sip of the warm milk in my mug and opened my mouth again.
“There are missing numbers among the Mage King’s children.”
“Missing… numbers?”
“First, Second, Fourth, and me. Seventh.”
My fingers folded one by one.
At the point where I said “Seventh,” Mother and Grandfather both squeezed their eyes shut.
“I don’t know about the others, but the positions of Third and Fifth were vacant.”
“…Which means.”
“It’s highly likely that eighteen years ago, they were made to use magic to summon demonic beasts, and those with corrupted mana were killed.”
Back then, the Mage King was still pretending to be good.
‘When he was rubbing his palms together like a sycophant across the entire Continent, acting like a gentle human….’
He wouldn’t have left evidence of illicit magic.
This time, I turned my body toward Mother.
“Mother, please tell me about the carriage accident again. In detail.”
Mother nodded and opened her mouth.

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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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