The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 225

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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 225
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I squeezed my eyes shut.
‘What do I do? I’ve reached my limit.’
Screech, clang! Crash!
The relentless barrage of attacks caused the blue barrier to fracture and repair itself in endless cycles.
I assessed the mana I had left.
Should I call for Kalid?
‘No.’
I gripped Father’s hand more tightly in my palm.
‘Father is right beside me!’
I poured more strength into the mana flowing into Father.
It was meant to drive back the phantoms, but even I didn’t know what effect it was having within them.
I clenched my teeth as I stared at the writhing mass of dark beasts.
“Father, why won’t you come….”
After such a grueling journey, we’d finally reunited.
“If this continues….”
I forced back the heat rising in my eyes. My vision kept blurring white, but I couldn’t afford to lose consciousness or break down here.
Screeeech!
Sensing my mana depleting in real time, the monsters pressed their assault with renewed ferocity. The repairs to the blue barrier began to lag further and further behind.
I’d reached my limit.
Just as the beast’s razor-sharp claws tore through the shield to pierce me—
The hand I was holding seemed to twitch and move.
The reason I thought it “seemed” was—
“Ah….”
The hand I’d been clinging to like salvation had vanished.
Screeeech!
A chilling shriek erupted as fountains of crimson blood sprayed from all directions. The sword energy that cut through the air mercilessly cleaved through the monsters that sought to harm me.
“Haah….”
I felt the hand gripping my shoulder trembling violently. In my peripheral vision, I saw a dark silhouette standing before me, shielding me.
I couldn’t even bring myself to lift my head and see his face. The tension that had gripped me from head to toe suddenly shattered.
“How dare you lay a hand on her.”
A firm hand drew me behind him, protecting me. Deep within his shadow, where no beast’s darkness could reach.
“Father….”
I wiped away tears with my forearm.
My entire vision was now filled with Father’s towering back—the largest, most formidable shield in the world.
A blue flame of rage pressed down upon the air with crushing weight.
The Father before me, unlike any I’d seen before, with his power unrestrained, seemed almost inhuman. My skin prickled and stung. Chills ran down the back of my neck.
“…I’ve been waiting, Rubian.”
Father called my name in a slightly hoarse voice—the only gentleness amid the suffocating pressure.
“Close your eyes and count to ten.”
My throat tightened, and I could only nod. Father smiled weakly, his eyes reddened.
“Good.”
I remained crouched on the ground and lowered the barrier. In that instant, dozens of magical beasts that had lost their target surged forward all at once.
A horrific sound erupted.
The noise of something splitting, bursting, shattering.
I obediently covered both ears and kept my eyes shut as I counted.
‘I’m not even a child anymore… I could help Father like I used to.’
But I simply did as he asked.
Because it seemed like that’s what Father wanted.
Wandering the Battlefield as I had, I’d always yearned for moments like this—a strong adult’s broad back protecting me on exhausted, weary days, powerful arms, a reassuring voice.
So perhaps Father too…
…wanted to protect me in this way.
‘Eight, nine…’
Gradually, the surroundings fell silent.
I was about to voice the final ‘ten’.
But at that very moment, I was forcefully pulled into someone’s embrace, and I couldn’t finish.
Without hesitation, my eyes snapped open.
“Father…!”
Ragged breathing and trembling vibrations coursed through his body. My shoulder grew hot and wet.
“Rubian… Rubian.”
Father called my name over and over, his voice thick with suppressed emotion.
“Are you hurt? Are you alright? I… I…”
This was the first time I’d ever seen him so flustered and at a loss for words.
I barely held back the sobs threatening to spill over and asked with as much composure as I could muster.
“Father, you… found out?”
Instead of answering, Father clenched his jaw.
That silence was his answer.
I deliberately stretched my lips into a smile. I wasn’t sure if it looked right, but I desperately didn’t want Father to grieve so deeply.
I wanted to show him somehow that I was alright.
“You know, it’s hard to believe, but I’m actually… really, your daughter…”
But then.
Even though I’d tried to remain composed.
The moment our eyes met, all the sorrow I’d been holding back came pouring out with my tears.
“Why…?”
My face reflected in his violet eyes was utterly distorted.
“Why did you let me go…?”
Father let out a pained groan and pulled me close again.
“I won’t let go… I was so alone. So lonely. Why did you let me go…? Why…?”
The truth was, that’s how it had been.
From the moment I learned the truth.
I just wanted to cry like this, openly and without restraint.
The heart of Father, who discovered that the child buried in the Grave was actually alive and wandering the Battlefield. And Mother’s heart.
The hearts of the family watching over them.
Because I had to hold back my own heart while comprehending and grieving over all of it.
I was sad too.
I felt a little sorry for myself as well.
I resented this world that had abandoned me, and I thought it was cruel.
“I hate it, I hate it all… waaahhhhh.”
All those emotions erupted like an explosion. I sobbed with my whole body, spouting nonsense like a small child.
Father soothed me with a trembling voice, his large hands ceaselessly stroking my head and back.
“I’m sorry, Rubian.”
“Fatherrrr…”
“I’m sorry for being late.”
We had taken a long, winding path to reach this point.
Wounded, broken, fallen.
Yet perhaps what mattered was that we had somehow managed to arrive here, at this place.
Like streams flowing in many directions finally converging into one at the end.
Like tangled roots that were actually forming a single, lush tree.
A family reunited after surviving each other’s time in harshness.
That was the conclusion.
Ch. 23
“Ow, ow, ow.”
At my pained whimper, Father startled and withdrew his hand. Blood stained the handkerchief.
“Damn it…”
My calf was scraped by the beast’s claws, exposing raw flesh beneath.
It was a wound I’d sustained when the barrier suddenly broke as the beasts appeared all at once.
The wound was deep, but not fatal. Though it didn’t seem that way to Father…
“Does it hurt? Still, show me. If there’s poison, I need to extract it. Why isn’t the bleeding stopping?”
“I already removed the poison with magic before it could seep in…”
I answered with a goldfish-like expression on my face.
“And I made a hemostatic salve from the herbs over there and applied it, so the bleeding will slow down gradually. But do my eyes look weird?”
“Is the state of your eyes really the problem right now?”
Father’s face twisted with self-reproach as he furrowed his brow. Looking closely, Father’s eyes were a bit goldfish-like too.
His handsome face examining my wound was terribly serious and darkly shadowed.
His thick hand reached out again.
“Ow, ow, ow.”
“…?”
“Ow… ow…?”
“I haven’t even touched you yet.”
With a soft flick, Father pushed my forehead lightly.
“Ow! That one was real.”
“Yeah, it looked like it.”
A long sigh escaped him as Father collapsed onto the floor beside me.
Only then did he seem to realize how deeply he’d fallen into panic.
Watching his furrowed brow smooth out, I couldn’t help but smile.
“You big baby. My cowardly father.”
“You’re right. I’m actually quite fearful. I really hate pain.”
I added it playfully, but Father’s expression grew serious again.
“…I’m sorry, Rubian.”
“Wait, that’s not it! No more crying! Why the gloomy face? I was just teasing you!”
Father let out a soft laugh.
“What do you know of a father’s heart? Even if I apologized a thousand times, this feeling wouldn’t fade.”
“Father… Ah, but it’s starting to sting.”
“Come here. Let me blow on it.”
A gentle breath settled over my wound.
Feeling that warmth, I told Father everything that had happened.
How I tested the potion at the Lake, returned to Zelocks, and confirmed the empty Grave—realizing I had been Father’s dead daughter.
Father listened to my entire story in silence.
“So the Grave was empty. Rosetta also… confirmed it.”
“Yes… I originally planned to discuss this with Mother too, but things turned out this way. I’ll need to figure out how this body came back to life from now on…”
Another deep sigh followed. Father fanned my wound with his hand, seeming lost in thought.
Watching him like that, a sudden thought crossed my mind.
‘…Is this place really inside a novel?’
Startled by the thought, I shook my head vigorously.
‘Then what about my memories from modern times?’
Growing up in an Orphanage, being returned twice. Those days when I endured with a sorrowful heart, finding solace in a novel I read.
But…
‘Just as I didn’t know I was Zebert’s real daughter until now.’
There might be other hidden truths.
I decided not to be certain of anything anymore.
“Going to the Mage Kingdom must be the answer then.”
Father ground his teeth as he spoke, and I nodded. Our next destination was decided.

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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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