The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 296

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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 Episode 22
Adolf’s expression grew grave as he observed the swollen fingers, and he hurried off to summon the Physician.
Of course, true to his capable nature as a Butler, he didn’t forget to tuck the little Rubian and Kalid under his arms.
“Wait—!”
The girl seemed to let out a faint protest.
With a soft click, the door closed, and her pale, bread-like face vanished along with it.
‘How did he know?’
Rosetta gazed up at the man’s face, his brow deeply furrowed.
She had kept quiet, thinking it wouldn’t be useful anyway.
In truth, the moment she switched to Plan B.
Rosetta had pushed Leviathan, then deliberately fell to the ground from the recoil and broke her own fingers.
‘I was planning to stay nearby under the pretense of treating my fingers.’
In short, it was an operation that said: ‘I got hurt saving you, so take responsibility.’
But because Leviathan had brought her to the Villa so readily, there was no need to use it.
So she had simply kept it hidden.
His eyes were uncannily sharp.
He gripped her wrist, his brow furrowing with genuine concern.
“…It seems to be swelling more. Listen. Say something. Did the pain make you lose consciousness?”
Rosetta tilted her head.
Just a broken finger or two—why was he making such a serious fuss?
Yet a peculiar warmth crept up from her fingertips.
No one had ever looked at her wounds with such genuine concern before.
Since injury was commonplace, her comrades had grown numb to wounds, and her birth parents had never even given her a single bandage.
Rosetta pulled her arm away sharply.
“I’m fine.”
“You have a reckless streak.”
“Honestly, there wasn’t time to think deeply in that situation. The men were attacking you, so I just threw myself in without hesitation.”
Those unprincipled bastards…
Daring to intercept someone else’s target.
Rosetta ground her teeth. But Leviathan seemed to interpret it differently.
“Without hesitation.”
“…”
“You saved me?”
No, that wasn’t it.
Leviathan’s eyes narrowed to slits. He took a step closer.
The scent of his damp body mixed with faint soap wafted toward her.
“Now that I think about it, that is strange. Would you normally take a walk so deep into the grounds without even bringing a servant?”
“…”
“Could it be… you were following me?”
“…?”
“…Me?”
How did you… find out?
‘Could it be that my identity as another assassin has been exposed?’
Rosetta licked her parched lips. His violet gaze clung to her with relentless persistence.
I should have deflected with a casual denial.
But why couldn’t I?
The moment I met his piercing eyes, my lips refused to move.
‘Why does he look at me like that, as if seeing right through me?’
The dim lamplight cast his sharp features into deeper shadow, accentuating every contour of his face.
“Did you know about me from before?”
That would be… right?
‘I received the information beforehand, after all.’
Rosetta found herself confused about how to respond.
Yet strangely, the longer her silence stretched, the more his eyes seemed to gleam with anticipation.
Rosetta felt somewhat bewildered.
‘Is he strange?’
Could it be that being attacked is his preference?
“Ha. No, there’s no need to dance around it. Young Lady.”
“…Yes.”
“Have you ever been to Biltain?”
In that instant, Rosetta’s eyes went dark as coal.
Biltain was the region where she had spent her childhood near the Garbage Dump, and where the Mercenary Company’s headquarters was located.
‘The fact that he’s asking that… does he really suspect my identity?’
“Biltain….”
She bit her lip firmly and smiled brightly. It was a smile so captivating it could steal one’s gaze.
“No.”
In that moment, Leviathan’s footsteps—which had been closing the distance between them—came to an abrupt halt.
“I’ve never been there.”
“….”
Rosetta regarded Leviathan with a cool smile.
“Why would you ask such a thing? Isn’t that a filthy place full of criminals?”
“Ah.”
A filthy place….
For the first time, Leviathan appeared somewhat flustered. He added as if making an excuse.
“…I just suddenly remembered that Baron Braum’s estate was in that vicinity. If I’ve offended you… I apologize.”
“It’s fine.”
I had let my guard down.
Rosetta swallowed dryly.
No matter how strangely at ease the man before me made me feel, he was the heir to the Zebert Duchy and my target.
‘I need to be more careful.’
Fortunately, my identity didn’t seem to have been exposed.
If he’d thought I was an assassin, I would have been thrown into the Underground Prison long ago, or my head would already be rolling.
‘It’s true that the Braum Barony was located in a village near Biltain.’
A series of coincidences had simply shifted the conversation in that direction.
For some reason, the air froze over.
Just as Rosetta was wondering what to do next, there came a knock at the door.
“Young Master, the Physician has arrived.”
“…Let’s start with treating my fingers.”
“…Yes.”
Rosetta received treatment for her fingers in the Side Room adjoining the Reception Room.
After the Physician left, she remained seated in the chair, continuing her thoughts.
‘What do I do now?’
Plan B.
Somehow stay by the man’s side and seize any opening.
I’d even broken my fingers for that, but now I wasn’t sure how to naturally say I’d stay by his side.
‘I was going to say something like, you’re responsible because I got hurt because of you… but thinking about it, he might just give me money and call it even.’
And besides…
Having just thought my identity was exposed and panicked, I became even more careful in choosing my words.
‘…No, this is too difficult.’
It felt like I’d hit a dead end.
Above all, she didn’t know well how ordinary people outside ‘The Wall’ formed relationships.
‘How do normal people handle this sort of thing…?’
How exactly does one cling so perfectly to that man’s side?
Meanwhile, Leviathan, who remained in the Reception Room, was equally confused.
He gazed at the firmly closed Side Room door and released a long sigh.
It seemed… right.
‘Why did she deny it?’
The pink-haired girl he’d met when he was young.
Twelve years had passed, but he recognized her at a glance.
Her distinctive sweet pink hair and sapphire-like blue eyes were not common traits.
Of course, his observational skills were practically nonexistent.
But when one reached the point of yearning for someone every night in dreams, instinct allowed recognition regardless of how much time had elapsed.
However…
‘Am I the one who’s wrong?’
His heart had nearly burst, thinking she recognized him and had come to meet him.
“Biltain? I’ve never been there.”
With that single sentence from her, all the warmth drained from his body.
‘Could it be that she doesn’t recognize me?’
It was possible.
Back then had been his peak of adorableness, after all.
That era had burned bright and fierce like a flash of light, ending in an instant, so my appearance had changed drastically from childhood to now.
So I couldn’t blame her for not recognizing me.
‘I should observe her a bit longer.’
It would be rude to bluntly ask if she hadn’t lived at the Garbage Dump back then.
And, well.
The woman seemed to be hiding something.
If I pried into it carelessly… I had a premonition she would vanish before my eyes.
‘On the way here, I noticed her dark adaptation was quick, and the muscles on her arms were firm. The calluses on her fingers were also distinctive.’
I would need to examine her more carefully to understand.
She claimed it was from doing all sorts of work to make a living, but it resembled the hands of a warrior who had wielded weapons for a very long time.
‘It doesn’t matter anyway.’
His eyes, which had always been lifeless, now gleamed with newfound interest.
He wanted to unravel this enigmatic woman properly.
To do that… he first needed to ask her to stay by his side.
He furrowed his brow seriously.
‘How do I keep the woman by my side?’
He too had hit a wall.
Because, surprisingly, Leviathan was currently only nineteen years old.
Sophistication and skill were not yet his to command.
‘How do ordinary men handle this sort of thing?’
Perhaps because he had never taken much interest in women themselves, surrounded as he was by those repulsive Knights, he had no idea how to establish a relationship.
The Reception Room and the Side Room.
In each location, the two were grappling with the same dilemma.
‘At this rate… I’ll gain nothing.’
‘We’ll have to part ways.’
It was then, as they both anxiously stared down at their own feet.
“Ugh. What do I do, seriously….”
A whimpering sound drifted in from somewhere.
“…?”
It came from the window.
Since it was summer, the window was slightly ajar, and as luck would have it, this was the first floor, so the whispered voices carried in unobstructed.
“We’re done for. It’s completely ruined!”
“Shh. Don’t let anyone hear we snuck out.”
…Those brats again.
It seemed the troublemakers had escaped from the Barracks.
“No, no, no. How is this supposed to be love?”
A flinch.
“Those two don’t seem to have any chance of being together…!”
“….”
“….”
Rosetta and Leviathan’s steps halted simultaneously as they moved toward the window to drive the children away.

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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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