The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 294

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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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Side Story, Chapter 20
“Rubian. Don’t move too much.”
Since I’d cast a concealment spell, we should be safe even if he got close, but my opponent was Leviathan, after all.
By now, Leviathan had walked near the bushes where Kalid and I were hiding, his gaze fixed on the dark lake.
“Wow.”
I stared blankly up at the tall man.
“How is it that he looks barely any different from twenty-two years ago? Was he just aging poorly back then, or is he just youthful now?”
“Well, he’s a Sword Master, after all.”
I nodded as if that explained everything.
“True. Masters do have different physical flows. I’m also a Stigma Mast—”
“But his personality is a completely different person, so be prepared.”
“Kalid…? Did you just cut me off?”
“…Tsk. What is he doing standing still by the lakeside anyway? The banquet doesn’t seem to be over yet.”
“Kalid…? Why won’t you look at me?”
“…”
“Kalid…?”
Please.
Someone erase the words “Stigma Master” from existence.
Kalid broke into an awkward sweat, and I was about to narrow my eyes when—
“Wait, wait, wait!”
“It’s not that, Rubian. I absolutely wasn’t saying your naming sense was bad—”
“Look over there!”
At her urgent voice, Kalid’s gaze shifted.
My fingertip pointed diagonally behind Kalid, toward something in the distance.
“Isn’t that… Mother? In the tree!”
“Where…?”
Kalid pulled me close protectively and crouched lower, his eyes quickly scanning the figure in the branches.
His smooth brow furrowed.
“Ah. I think you’re right.”
“Wait, why is Mother aiming an arrow at—”
My blue eyes darted frantically.
“Why is Mother targeting Father’s back of the head?!”
How had I not thought of this?
The possibility that Rosetta had been given the mission to kill Leviathan!
‘This can’t be happening, no no no no no!’
Rosetta was skilled at concealing her presence. She was an excellent assassin, after all.
‘Father, dodge!’
In contrast, Leviathan stood motionless by the lakeside, his gaze fixed downward the entire time.
“Kalid, what do I do! Shouldn’t I do something?!”
“…But the rule is we can’t interfere too much with the past.”
“If, if I don’t get born because of this!”
Kalid, who had been silent for a moment, let out a chilling laugh.
“Should I blow this place up? I’m confident I can.”
“That would be an event that goes down in history!”
That was when it happened.
Kalid suddenly snatched Rubian’s hand.
“Rubian, your hand…”
“What? Why… huh?”
Rubian blinked blankly.
The tips of her fingers were slowly becoming transparent.
As if her very existence was vanishing.
“What.”
I, I’m really not going to be born?!
‘I didn’t do anything! System! Status window! Hello?!’
There was no time to hesitate.
Rubian gritted her teeth as she watched herself become transparent up to her palms.
Passing by Kalid, who was in a mild panic and couldn’t even breathe, she suddenly bolted out of the bushes.
“Uncle, your pants button is undone!”
“…What is this now?”
Whoosh, thunk!
The misdirected arrow lodged itself in the distance.
* * *
Rubian’s body dangled limply in the air.
“What are you.”
Violet eyes fixed on her with indifference.
“My pants!”
Flap flap.
Despite her short limbs, her movements were frantic.
“My pants button is undone! Go fix it! Why aren’t you even flustered…! What confidence… ugh!”
What was he saying.
Leviathan, who had suddenly lifted the child like a doll, let out a hollow laugh.
It wasn’t just the silver-haired little one who had appeared abruptly.
That small beast-like creature quietly glaring at Leviathan from beside him… was the one who used to run errands at the Duke’s Mansion.
‘Did they become friends because they’re around the same age.’
He tilted his head languidly.
But it seemed he hadn’t sensed the presence of the little ones—where had they come from?
‘Well… I might have missed the presence of such tiny creatures.’
In truth, he had been focused on sensing something else entirely.
“Why don’t you come out now. I’m bored to death.”
Leviathan murmured slowly toward the darkness.
I felt the small child with two cotton balls perched on their head holding their breath.
That was when it happened.
“Damn it, I’ve, I’ve been spotted!”
Rustle, rustle! The bushes on the opposite side trembled.
And dark-clad men suddenly burst forth.
“Ah, forget it. Die, Zebert!”
They were masked assassins.
“What a noisy assassination attempt.”
It seemed their plan had fallen apart, and they were prepared to attack recklessly.
Of course, Leviathan didn’t change his expression and drew his sword——
“…?”
“…?”
Drew it… couldn’t?
Because he was still holding nothing but a small flying squirrel child.
Our eyes met with those large, round blue eyes.
“Kid. Who said you could borrow my hand?”
“What are you talking about! You’re the one grabbing my side without permission!”
“That’s true.”
I’d never seen such a spirited little thing.
“Dieeeeeeee!”
Leviathan let out a deep sigh.
This was my first time holding a child, so my movements were a bit awkward.
“I’ll take care of this——”
“What are you saying.”
I hooked the boy’s legs just as he was about to leap away, sat him down in place, and slung the silver-haired child over my shoulder.
Then I faced the assassin rushing toward me head-on.
Only the necessary movements, only the necessary strength.
With the economical grace I always possessed, I drew my sword——.
“Be careful!”
“…?”
Drew it… couldn’t?
Because this time, a noblewoman suddenly burst forth from nowhere and shoved Leviathan back with a thud!
A beautiful face gleaming in moonlight brushed past my eyes.
Even as I stumbled backward, I quickly drew a dagger from my bosom and hurled it at the assassins.
The problem was….
“Kyaaaaaaagh! I, I’m falling backward——!”
The child clinging to my back.
“Ru…!”
‘Damn it. What is this,’
I realized my center of gravity had completely shifted. It was already too late to correct it.
‘At this rate, the little one will….’
fall into the lake first.
The moment I realized this fact, I swung my arm with all my might.
Splash—!
A massive spray of water erupted.
“Ah….”
What on earth was this?
The Mysterious Man floated atop the lake, lost in thought.
When I lifted my head slightly, I could see the silver-haired little one I’d thrown to shore at the last moment staring blankly at me from the water’s edge.
‘I nearly died.’
Not because of an assassin….
It seemed I’d nearly drowned because of that silver-haired little one and the pink-haired woman.
‘…But more than that.’
That woman from just now….
‘I don’t think I saw her at the Banquet Hall.’
Leviathan suddenly lifted his wet hand.
A single strand of the woman’s hair was caught between my extended fingers—it must have come loose when she lunged at me….
As I gazed at it intently, I exhaled a short breath.
With my other hand shielding my eyes, I drifted on the water’s surface for a moment.
Something like a firm Adam’s apple moved several times, as if swallowing something down.
Finally.
…I found it.
The violet eyes revealed between my fingers glimmered coldly in the pale moonlight.
* * *
‘Damn it.’
Rosetta swallowed a harsh curse.
‘I’m ruined.’
I hadn’t known there were other assassins targeting that man.
Their presence was so faint that I’d taken them for lovers sharing an intimate moment, or perhaps a lost passerby.
And who could have imagined that some small creature would suddenly burst out like that?
‘Why does that little one keep coming back no matter how many times I shake it off?’
Could it be something like the Chucky doll from the horror story Hazel once told me….
‘Though it looks more like a rabbit than Chucky.’
I’d been thinking about it for a while now, but regardless of other things, it seemed certain that the child’s parents were extraordinarily beautiful. Seeing how cute and lovely the child was in every single way.
In any case, Rosetta sensed the mission had failed.
‘I heard Leviathan Zebert stays holed up in the Northern Region and rarely ventures out. If not now, there won’t be another chance….’
Besides, with an assassin appearing, there wouldn’t be any more solitary walks for a while.
‘The opportunity to strike from behind has slipped away.’
But that was fine.
I could aim for the side instead.
She always had a Plan B.
Given the circumstances, I decided to leverage my disguised identity.
I resolved to linger near Leviathan and seize any opening that presented itself.
That’s why I deliberately stepped forward as if to rescue him.
“Young Master, are you alright?”
An inexplicable sense of pressure emanated from the man who sauntered through the water with languid steps.
His large frame, combined with the way the water clung to him, made everything appear dense and weighty.
He stripped off his soaked jacket and cast it aside, then roughly swept back his drenched hair. The wet shirt clinging to him revealed every defined contour of his muscular frame.
My eyes darted away from the sudden heat flooding through me, only to meet his gaze head-on.

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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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