The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 271

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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 271
‘What?’
I turned around to see men seated at a table by the window chattering away animatedly.
There seemed to be someone dining alone nearby as well.
On this spring day, the figure sat draped in a robe with their face buried in a newspaper—something about it struck me as oddly gloomy, so I quickly averted my gaze.
I couldn’t let our eyes meet.
Sebelena pinched my cheek and stretched it.
“I don’t know, Princess. How are people who embrace, kiss, and fuss over how pretty and handsome each other are supposed to be friends? If that’s what friendship is, then I have no friends.”
“You don’t understand how much of a business transaction that was, Sebelena!”
I found myself raising my voice again. The table behind us shifted once more, so I quickly lowered my volume.
“…And besides, every time I tried to confess, he ran away.”
“No, that can’t be…. Hmm?”
In that moment, the Princess behind me, who had been watching intently, narrowed her eyes. Then she broke into a mischievous smile.
“Oh?”
“What? What is it?”
“Nothing. But rather, there are quite a lot of young people here, aren’t there?”
“Ah. I heard that many students from Southern Mariad Academy came to visit to see the graduation ceremony and academic festival.”
At Titi’s explanation, she rose to her feet with a rustling sound.
Immediately, the young men beside her who had been eager to strike up a conversation with her flinched in surprise.
“Then shall we expand our connections a bit?”
* * *
What is this, what are they doing.
Kalid bounced his leg anxiously.
Watching Sebelena excitedly push two tables together made his nerves fray even more.
Sturdy young men with bronze skin sat down shyly across from them.
They appeared to be students from Southern Mariad Academy.
‘Why are they joining tables.’
They were having a fine time on their own, so why suddenly!
‘Why on earth!’
He had frantically completed battles in just four days and returned ahead of schedule.
Of course, the other soldiers were probably still crossing places like the Gorge, but what did he care. He was a Mage.
‘I burned through my mana to get back quickly.’
When he arrived at the Mansion, all he saw was Leviathan’s indifferent face.
“Rubian? You went out to play?”
“Ha, where….”
“More importantly, Kalid, you’re becoming a Marquis? Land, territory, a Capital residence…. Why did you suddenly get promoted.”
“There’s something I need to do.”
“….”
Leviathan looked at him intently, then spoke.
“You’re a thief.”
Catch the thief.
Kalid swiftly evaded the Duke and his family as they lunged toward me, darting away with practiced speed.
After slipping out of the Zebert Mansion and attending to a few necessary matters, I set out in earnest to find Rubian. It was then that I encountered Leon, who had come as her escort.
Of course, he ended up following Rubian instead of Leon.
‘I was planning to wait for the right moment to step in.’
Watching Rubian laugh and play with her friends after so long, I didn’t want to interrupt.
Besides.
“No, it’s all because of magical power!”
“Sebelena doesn’t understand how business-like this exchange is!”
‘That is… what on earth does that mean?’
I lost my chance to step in while pondering the meaning of those words.
“Ah, excuse me, guest. Your table has been shaking so much since earlier that you keep dropping the dishes…”
The proprietor approached and grumbled. Kalid quietly offered a gold coin. The owner told him to drop as many as he liked and even brought over an entire utensil holder.
‘Sigh.’
What is this now?
Kalid clenched his teeth again.
Before long, Rubian’s table had placed additional orders and was combining bills, transforming into a proper social gathering of young men and women. Unfortunately, from where Kalid sat, he could only see the back of Rubian’s head.
“Excuse me, guest. We’ve received complaints from other tables. They say the atmosphere is too intimidating and frightening…”
The proprietor approached again, and Kalid threw an entire pouch of gold coins at him.
“The scary person should be the one to leave. Yes, indeed. Enjoy your meal!”
The tables surrounding Kalid emptied completely. Thanks to this, the sounds from the other table came through clearly.
“Hahaha! Then shall we introduce ourselves first? Since revealing personal information on a first meeting would be rude to the ladies, let’s communicate using aliases!”
A man with deeply tanned skin laughed heartily as he spoke.
While objectively handsome, Kalid, blinded by jealousy, mentally dismissed him as no different from a squid.
“That sounds great!”
As Sortie clapped her hands, the mackerel sitting across from her spoke.
“Ah, in our Mariad, there’s a custom at gatherings like this where people introduce their aliases in a cute and charming way when saying them for the first time! It’s a way to appeal to one’s charm! What do you think?”
“Oh, that’s interesting.”
What? Cute? Charming…?
They’re going to force that on Rubian right now?
‘These people have lost their minds.’
“Then~ the silver-haired lady first~”
“Ugh. What is this nonsense.”
From where Kalid sat, he couldn’t see Rubian’s expression at all.
Yet he could sense it. She was already cute just breathing, so if she deliberately tried to be cute, disaster would strike!
Following a simple rhythm, Rubian introduced herself. Thump-thump.
“Ruby King.”
“Hey, is something bothering you?”
“What? Why? What is it? Must I always be cute? Huh?”
“That’s scary… like a gangster…”
Of course, I heard none of that conversation. People were creatures who only heard what they wanted to hear and saw what they wanted to see.
‘Damn, she’s adorable. Like a little rabbit.’
Did she just make a V-sign with her fingers?
‘And she’s showing it to those fools?’
“Hah….”
My throat was parched. I gulped down water greedily, and Sebelena, who noticed me, stuck her tongue out playfully.
‘Will you really just sit there? Show me the typical sight of a man driven mad by jealousy! Swoop in dramatically, grab her wrist, whisk her away, and confess already!’
That’s what she meant, but of course, that idiot Kalid didn’t understand.
‘This is infuriating.’
He exhaled a long, heavy sigh. For some reason, exhaustion crashed over him all at once.
‘But really…. She can’t use magic at all, it seems. Can’t even sense mana.’
In truth, it should have been Rubian, not Sebelena, who noticed him first.
‘You used to sense me from far away, Rubian.’
Now, even in the same space, she doesn’t recognize him.
It suddenly struck him how real it was—that Rubian had become someone who couldn’t cast a single spell properly. So using communication magic like before was impossible.
In fact, every time Kalid witnessed Rubian weakened like this, his heart felt as though it were being torn to shreds. The anguish and regret were overwhelming.
So he sat there vacantly, resting his chin in his hand, watching the back of her head.
Thinking that if she was having a good time, that would be enough.
‘If I confess….’
What would she say?
When he first kissed her.
In truth, Kalid thought he could spend his entire life just pressing his lips against hers like this, and it would be enough.
It was that intoxicating.
But that was his arrogance.
After returning to the Northern Region and kissing her almost every day, his meager patience quickly reached its limit. Now he was tormented by a vicious hunger—not just for her lips, but for all of her.
Each time, he’d hastily flee to hide the desire rising within him, but….
Really, now. Even that had its limits.
‘To possess Rubian completely, I had to become a man worthy of her. That’s why I needed the title.’
Was I arrogant?
Perhaps what I needed wasn’t a title at all, but Rubian’s heart.
‘Yes. I thought maybe Rubian could come to like me, at least a little. But.’
“No. It was all because of my mana!”
“Sebelena doesn’t understand how transactional that exchange really is!”
Kalid drew a snail on the round table. A symbol of futility.
‘So all those times she pestered me for a kiss—it really was just because of my mana.’
Should I even make this confession?
‘What did Rubian want to do with me?’
As his thoughts spiraled endlessly, the tavern owner clearing a nearby table suddenly cried out.
“Ugh! Who tastes something this delicious and then throws it away!”
“….”
What was that? Why did those words pierce me like a dagger?
“If you’re just going to eat and discard me, don’t ask me to do this in the first place!”
“Damn it….”
In that moment, Kalid experienced a sudden, thunderous realization.
‘If I only take her magical power and my core becomes complete.’
Perhaps that was what I intended all along.
“Did I really have no…. taste?”
Not enough to make me want to keep consuming her?
But after our lips touched, the sight of Rubian’s expression melting into such a boneless, trembling softness—the kind that made onlookers’ skin prickle at the nape of their necks—I thought I was satisfied enough.
Apparently, I was wrong.
Perhaps it truly was only about the magical power, just as she said.
Kalid buried his face in both hands. His mood had become as wretched as discarded food scraps.
‘Ah, did I really need to order that ring before coming here?’
Kalid Liork.
A being who had lived for an extraordinarily long time as something other than human, yet possessed absolutely no romantic experience.
Rubian Zebert.
Across three lifetimes—her past life, her current life, and her modern existence—she too had absolutely no romantic experience.
The collaboration between these two was truly spectacular.
Was that all?
They were born as romance….
Further explanation is omitted.

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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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