The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 217

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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 217
We huddled together like people assembling a puzzle, absorbed in our conversation.
“Mother was on her way to her family home in the Western Region. She and Leviathan had a minor quarrel that morning.”
“Wait, hold on. A question.”
Void raised a hand.
“Your parents fought?”
“Yes. Why?”
Mother tilted her head, wondering what was strange about that.
“Your mother and father… they fight sometimes?”
When I asked, Grandfather’s lips twitched and he let out a dry laugh.
“Don’t even mention it. How terrible things were between those two! I was so stressed watching from the sidelines that my beard turned white!”
Such a secret hidden in Grandfather’s beard?
“Well, people fight, grow closer, love each other, and get married… that’s how it goes.”
Mother cleared her throat awkwardly and continued.
“Anyway… I’d also heard that my adoptive father was unwell, so I was heading west. I encountered an injured mage while passing through a valley.”
That much was already known.
“But halfway through the valley, the mage complained of feeling unwell and stopped the carriage. In that moment, he attacked me with offensive magic.”
Mother added that it happened so suddenly there was nothing she could do.
“When I came to my senses, I was inside an overturned carriage. It had tumbled down a cliff. All my escorts were dead.”
“But… how did you end up traveling with a fugitive mage? Injured or not.”
At Void’s question, Mother spoke with lowered eyes.
“She was pregnant.”
“…”
“Of course, I later realized that was likely fake too. Void, could you have turned away?”
“…Absolutely not.”
A brief silence fell.
Everyone had their vulnerabilities. The Mage King was an expert at exploiting them.
“It must have been the Mage King’s plan from the start.”
I spoke.
“Killing the escorts and overturning the carriage… there’s no way a single fugitive mage could have done that alone.”
“Right. That’s why Leviathan said there must have been an accomplice, but we had no evidence. And war broke out almost immediately after, so there was no time to investigate further.”
The fireplace logs crackled and split. Mother clenched her teeth as she felt the warm heat from the roaring flames.
“Honestly, I didn’t suspect the Mage King was behind it back then.”
“…”
“But now I understand perfectly.”
I sat quietly, turning over the conversation in my mind.
I had shared the truth I’d uncovered, speculated on how the graves in the Memorial Garden had been desecrated, and heard directly from Mother about the carriage accident eighteen years ago.
“Now I have only one question left.”
“What is it?”
“The body of me… that died back then.”
Void, standing beside me, gripped my hand firmly with his large palm. My brother’s eyes glistened with unshed tears.
“How did you come back to life?”
I patted his hand, thinking carefully.
‘If I was already dead when I was born, then some mechanism must have been set up. The accident itself seems most likely.’
When the Mage’s mana ran rampant, the carriage overturned, and chaos erupted.
Could something else entirely have happened in that moment—something I couldn’t even imagine?
‘If that were the case…’
Then someone else must have been present at that location.
“Hah.”
I sprang to my feet.
“I need to take matters into my own hands.”
“What are you saying, Rubian?”
“Sitting still and thinking won’t make answers appear on their own, will it? Since we’re only guessing anyway, let’s just go straight to the source and find out!”
“That’s my clever daughter.”
Mother pulled me into a tight embrace. My Grandfather, who had quietly approached and begun stroking my hair, clenched both fists.
“What exactly are you proposing?”
“We capture the Mage King and interrogate him. Besides, there’s an exploration fleet in the Southern Region, and Father’s forces are stationed there too.”
I smiled.
“There’s no harm in launching an assault, is there?”
I had never been alone. Around me were strong people willing to fight alongside me.
‘So that means…’
A direct assault. Rather than cowering in fear, I would advance with my own two feet, unearth the buried truth, and willingly face the Mage King in battle.
“A preemptive strike followed by chaos…”
My Grandfather bared his teeth and let out a low growl.
“Now that’s my style!”
The two of them, eyes blazing, quickly rose to their feet. Just as I was about to move my mana to question Kalid about the situation in the Southern Region—
Void’s reluctant voice reached the back of my head as I turned.
“But… everyone…”
“Hm?”
“Aren’t you forgetting someone in the family?”
Ah, now that he mentioned it.
My eyes met Mother’s. My Grandfather tilted his head in confusion.
“…? Hazel?”
-That would be the case.
* * *
“Something feels…”
Liam lifted his head.
“Like I’m being left out.”
What is this premonition?
At that moment, a man beside him with an eye patch over one eye spoke.
“You need friends to be ostracized, but you don’t have any. You take after His Excellency, after all.”
“A capable aide indeed. One word from you just sent two people away.”
Liam resumed walking, ignoring Allen’s jab.
“For some reason, I feel like I’m being excluded from a very important narrative.”
“That must be your imagination. But… did you hear my report just now? What should we do? Should I write a letter to the Duke, or would you prefer to write it yourself? By the way, where are you going?”
Allen had transformed into a walking question mark and followed along.
He had just returned from investigating the atmosphere at the Imperial Palace and told Liam this.
“There are rumors quietly spreading that the Princess might be a Mage. It seems that Boatman fellow loosened his tongue about something, and I suspect the First Prince may have spread the rumor before being imprisoned…”
The moment Liam heard those words, he moved. Or rather, he looked like someone who was already planning to move regardless of Allen’s report.
‘When the Princess was in pain and whimpering, I withered away as if I were the one suffering.’
Color was returning to the young prince’s pale face.
‘Honestly, I thought he’d cling to Void like he always does and follow him north. Unexpected.’
After confirming his younger sister’s safety, he had decided to remain at the Duke’s Residence himself.
“Ah, where are you going!”
“The Magical Artifact Production Tower.”
“Huh? Why there?”
The Hub Mages settled in Babylon produced magical artifacts essential to the Empire.
Their performance surpassed those imported from the Mage Kingdom, earning high praise from the Empire’s people.
“Oh, now that I think about it… is that a new blueprint you’re holding? Another creation by Asha Drucan, I presume?”
“You know nothing.”
“Good heavens, it seems clear that Your Highness doesn’t know the way.”
Allen chuckled and turned Liam’s body in the opposite direction.
“Most of the magical artifacts being produced at the tower now were developed by our youngest fairy. Our master merely lent her name, essentially. Truly… she lives up to her fairy nature. Remarkably brilliant. Impressive. But surely I’m not the only one being left out of things, am I? I’m terrified.”
“If you ask me, Your Highness walking past the building right in front of you and going around the back is the most frightening thing here.”
Liam unfolded the magical artifact blueprint with a rustle. At the very end was a strange drawing.
^o^/
“See? The youngest fairy’s signature?”
“Wow. No sense of tension at all.”
“She insists on drawing this trivial, adorable thing on every blueprint. But then the artifact craftsmen mistook it for some master’s logo and ended up engraving it on all the magical artifacts…”
“Oh. So most magical artifacts have this mark on them. And? Why bring that up suddenly?”
Liam stopped walking.
Beneath the transparent lenses of his glasses, the young prince’s eyes gleamed with sharp intensity.
“This will protect our house and protect the youngest fairy.”
Liam knew what he had to do.
‘Rubian’s true identity will likely surface soon.’
Given that a full-scale war with the Mage Kingdom was scheduled, it was something he had already prepared for.
Merely for harboring an enemy nation’s Mage all this time, the nobles would rage, and they might even face condemnation from the Allied Kingdom.
The Emperor would wield his absolute power to protect Rubian, but who knew.
Liam preferred visible, certain methods over that.
‘Learn painfully who you have to thank for living without magical worries all this time, you foolish lot.’
The magical artifacts that nobles are still using and praising today.
‘All of them crafted by cutting into our youngest’s efforts.’
They only glare at him, when he deserves far more than their praise.
He pushed his glasses up as he gazed toward the distant Capital.
After gathering all the remaining blueprints from the Production Tower, he set out for the Imperial Palace. He wasn’t confident about much, but when it came to verbally thrashing nobles, he had absolute certainty.
* * *
Shhhhk—
Leviathan drew his sword in one long, sweeping motion.
The charging monsters scattered crimson blood as they fell dead instantly.
This was the last one.
“Tsk.”
He clicked his tongue harshly. He kicked at the filthy corpse with his foot and swept his blade across it, but found no trace of what he was looking for.
“This isn’t a dark monster at all.”
He dropped the beast he’d just killed into the dark, distant Gorge below.
Beside him, dead monsters piled high like a small mountain, forming the backdrop.
“What are those Southern Region bastards doing… exactly?”
He’d heard reports that the swarm of monsters appearing in the Gorge leading to the Southern Region was growing larger with each passing day.
When he learned it would soon spread to the surrounding villages, he couldn’t help but move.
‘Rubian should have opened his eyes by now.’
Had Rosetta managed to meet the Princess?
‘News should arrive soon.’
He swallowed dryly, gripped by an odd tension.

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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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