The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 3

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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 3
“It’s because of the victory festival. Bear with it.”
“Ugh… it’s so chaotic!”
Honestly, I despised loud environments even in my previous life.
Moreover, Arcadia, the Mage Kingdom where I was born and raised, was a place with fewer than 3,000 citizens—essentially a monastery, if you will.
So this commotion in the Imperial Capital is far too overstimulating for me!
I felt more drained than when I encountered that dark magic creature.
“You should build up your stamina first.”
Wait! I quickly looked up at Leviathan.
“Does that mean you’ll help me build it?”
“…Not worth answering.”
“Hmph.”
He wasn’t taking the bait.
“What should we do now?”
I really hoped I could at least wash up soon!
In response to my question, he suddenly jerked the reins and changed direction. Before long, the horse came to a stop.
“…”
In front of a building where a gleaming sign caught my eye particularly prominently.
【Imperial Shelter Rosetta】
“…Huh?”
He was going to abandon me first?
While I was still processing, Leviathan unceremoniously set me down in front of it. Then, through the gatekeeper, he sent word.
And with a most charming smile, he waved his hand.
“It’s been fun, you little ragamuffin.”
* * *
“Sigh.”
I exhaled heavily.
A bowl of vegetable soup and a chunk of brown bread studded with sesame seeds sat before me.
“Ha!”
I couldn’t believe it.
How could he really do this?
Didn’t we grow at least a little—just a tiny bit—closer in that forest?
And yet the moment we arrived in the capital, he discarded me like old baggage…
I set down the child-sized spoon. My appetite had completely vanished.
“Sigh…”
“Um…”
Just then, a very cautious voice reached my ears.
I turned around to find a boy with brilliant golden hair sitting beside me.
He seemed to be a child who had entered the shelter before me.
“I think you’re the third one.”
“Huh? What is?”
“Well, you know, that grandfatherly sigh of yours?”
“….”
I closed my mouth.
You try being crushed under the weight of existence. Sighs like this just escape on their own.
“You seem troubled. Want to talk to me about it?”
When I offered no real response, the blonde child’s curiosity only deepened. They even dragged their chair right up beside me and started speaking.
I gazed blankly at the blonde.
‘The Imperial Shelter….’
They’re not bad-looking, apparently.
What kind of war refugee has such delicate features?
Their clothes were shabby, but their milk-white skin was utterly flawless.
Eyes that drooped slightly like a puppy’s, with jewel-like teal irises set within them. The wispy blonde hair resembled fluffy clouds kissed by sunlight.
‘How can a boy be this beautiful?’
The observing girl’s lament.
“I have plenty of worries.”
“What? Tell me.”
Curiosity gleamed in the blonde’s large eyes.
“Well….”
I have to prevent the apocalypse.
Keep the second arc of the original story from beginning.
“To do that.”
I need to save the male lead who’s supposed to die soon.
His name is Leviathan Zebert. In other words, the continent’s hero.
“So.”
I was planning to hide my identity as a fugitive mage and somehow stay by the male lead’s side, so he wouldn’t suddenly drop dead!
“But.”
That man abandoned me. Coldly and completely.
“Therefore.”
I need to meet that man again….
“But there’s no way….”
Ugh. I pushed aside the mangled bread and slumped face-down onto the table.
“Hmm.”
An incomprehensible laugh escaped from beside me.
“So, to do that, well, so, but, therefore—there’s no way. That’s quite the predicament.”
“….”
“What could you possibly be worried about?”
I turned my head to look at the blonde.
Their doll-like face tilting in confusion looked so innocent.
“Sigh. This child.”
Without thinking, I found myself stroking the golden-haired head as gently as one would pet a doll.
Such blissful ignorance of the world’s troubles. How I envied that carefree innocence.
“…You really are shameless, aren’t you.”
The blonde smoothed down their tousled hair with a soft chuckle. That radiant smile seemed to brighten everything around them.
* * *
Leviathan fixed his gaze upon the Emperor before him, a familiar cigarette held loosely in his grasp.
Yet somehow, he felt no inclination to light it. Come to think of it, he hadn’t smoked once in the forest. Perhaps it was time to quit.
“You’ve done well, Marquis.”
The Emperor spoke as he pushed aside a stack of complex documents.
“Welcome back.”
Delicate features. Long golden hair tied to one side. Beneath lengthy lashes lay eyes of crystalline teal.
Truly, he possessed the appearance befitting Babylon’s most celebrated young Emperor.
“Spare me the pleasantries. State your true purpose.”
“Always so prickly. Well, fine. The Mage Kingdom has requested our cooperation in tracking down a deserter mage.”
Emperor Dietrian Babylon spoke these words.
Leviathan’s eyebrows rose sharply from his reclined posture. He set down the cigarette, and the ice in his glass crackled with a sharp clink.
“A deserter mage?”
“A Mage Corps unit passing through Canalan Gorge was ambushed and annihilated, or so I’m told.”
“I’ve heard as much.”
“One body appears to be missing.”
“….”
Leviathan’s lips curled upward.
His piercing violet eyes held not a shred of warmth. The very air grew heavy and oppressive.
On this entire continent, only this man possessed the power to overwhelm others with mere presence alone.
“Perhaps they’re buried beneath some rock, or fell off a cliff into the gorge below.”
“….”
“Must we truly concern ourselves with such tedious cleanup work?”
“Do restrain that ominous aura. Are you attempting to render all my attendants unconscious?”
The Emperor smiled gently and closed the documents.
“You know well that the Mage Kingdom has been perpetually occupied with controlling their own mages. Yet you seem particularly sharp-tongued today.”
“Is it not amusing? Those great mages, unable to locate a single deserter, floundering about in desperation.”
“Your disdain for mages remains unchanged.”
“Black mages were mages nonetheless.”
The sound of grinding teeth echoed through the chamber.
Leviathan despised magic above all else. His hatred extended to the very category of mages themselves.
“How fares the Marquis’s wife in her health?”
The Emperor smoothly redirected the conversation.
Deep creases formed across his brow as something came to mind.
“That the deserter from the Mage Kingdom attacked Rosetta’s carriage was a tragedy that should never have occurred. And to lose the child she carried as a result….”
Crack! A chilling sound of shattering glass. The glass Leviathan had been holding.
Drip, drip. Crimson blood embroidered itself across the ornate carpet.
“Y-Your Majesty!”
The attendant’s face paled in shock, and he reflexively moved forward, but the Emperor raised his hand sharply to stop him.
Touching Zebert in that state would mean death.
‘I misspoke.’
The Emperor swallowed his tension inwardly and laughed with composure.
“My, our hero seems displeased.”
Is this what a dragon looks like when its reverse scale has been touched?
“Very well, very well. I shall handle the matter of the escaped mage myself. I won’t ask you to lift a finger against the Duke.”
“I am grateful, Your Majesty.”
“Now, go rest. You look exhausted.”
Leviathan casually removed the glass shards embedded in his hand and cast them to the floor.
As the Duke rose from his seat, the Emperor suddenly asked a question.
Knowing full well he shouldn’t press further.
“Evrich Marquis saw you on the road to the Imperial Palace in his carriage, or so I heard.”
This insatiable curiosity of mine is always the problem.
“Indeed, Your Majesty.”
“He mentioned you had a child with you.”
The man’s movements halted abruptly.
“You’re not thinking of adopting again, are you?”
The Emperor sank back into his chair.
“Unless you plan to open a foundling home, stop it. Void and Liam are exceptionally gifted children. You know as well as I do that few children take to the harsh Northern Region.”
“I understand.”
It was well-known that the Duchess had become infertile due to a carriage accident.
He had consulted with Rosetta and adopted two boys from a cadet branch. Though he rarely saw them due to his long stretches on the battlefield, they were impressive and admirable children.
‘That one…’
The shabby child suddenly came to mind.
‘I wonder if he’s doing well.’
He had made it abundantly clear he didn’t want to go to the Shelter.
The unusually small frame and those transparent blue eyes kept catching my attention.
Leviathan shook his head as if to dispel his thoughts.
The Emperor was right.
If I wasn’t going to open a foundling home, I needed to forget.
For the child’s sake.
“Then, will you attend the banquet?”
“No. I intend to return immediately.”
“A victory celebration without our hero—that’s quite disloyal of you, Duke.”
“So be it.”
A cold wind swept through as he departed the office, followed by a disapproving click of the tongue.
“Rigid as ever.”
* * *
Leviathan stepped out of the Imperial Palace and walked through the streets.
The Imperial Capital was bustling with life.
Vibrant and brimming with energy.
It was a sight I hadn’t witnessed in nearly a decade.
People poured out everywhere, savoring the joy of peace. Scars still lingered here and there, but time would gradually heal them all.
‘Now that I think about it, I hated this.’
Leviathan let out a quiet chuckle.
The boy had immediately covered his ears the moment he entered the bustling capital. His expression was even more terrified than when he’d encountered the black magic water.
Yet his round eyes rolled about curiously as he took in the sights of the capital here and there.
‘I almost gave him a full tour of the capital.’
The bouncing, thin silver-like hair. The round head that moved busily came to mind.
‘There was something dignified about him.’
Even in that forest.
“You must have had a difficult time. Thanks to you, we have peace.”
When I heard those words, my heart clenched as if being squeezed.
Leviathan had been raised as a knight from birth. Rolling through battlefields felt more natural than eating.
I had simply done what was expected.
That’s what I’d always believed.
So receiving praise for my deeds felt strangely awkward and unfamiliar.
Especially from such a young child.
‘But on the other hand.’
Did I want to hear such words?
That I had suffered.
That it was thanks to me.
“….”
Leviathan languidly ran his hand through his hair.
“I should at least say goodbye properly.”
Now that I thought about it, we hadn’t even exchanged a proper farewell.
My hesitant pace quickened of its own accord.
Raindrops began to fall from the darkening sky.
By the time I turned onto the road leading to the Imperial Shelter, caught in the light drizzle.
A group of people had gathered, whispering among themselves.
“Why are so many Security Force members gathering here?”
“You haven’t heard yet?”
“Heard what?”
“There was a robbery at the Imperial Shelter, apparently.”
“Good heavens!”
“I heard some children were injured.”
“How terrible—oh my!”
A gust of wind swept past.
Leviathan’s face, as he cut through the throng and ran, was paler than it had ever been.

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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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