The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 300

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Side Story, Chapter 26
The Emperor, Dietrian, shrugged his shoulders.
“Ah. I’ve been quite idle lately.”
“….”
That was true.
Ever since Licht became Crown Prince, the Emperor’s workload had plummeted dramatically. Thanks to establishing a capable successor, he was tasting leisure for the first time in his life.
The problem was that, as a former supreme authority accustomed to a stimulating existence filled with blood, intrigue, schemes, and political machinations, he found his current life rather tedious.
So these days, his ears perked up at any sensational news. In fact, he was currently subscribed to about three gossip publications.
“But when I arrived, the atmosphere at the Duke’s Residence seemed unusual. Did you perhaps quarrel with your wife, Duke?”
The Emperor asked with gleaming eyes.
“Such stimulating and fascinating—ahem!—grave news. Why hasn’t anyone reported this to me?”
Did he just say fascinating?
“So tell me in detail exactly when, where, why, and what you fought about….”
“My Lord!”
What now?
“The mages… an elder from Arcadia has arrived!”
Ah.
Leviathan pressed his throbbing temples.
“They said they were staying in the Capital for a visit to the Mage Tower….”
“Is it true that our great Arch-Mage has eloped for love!”
An elder mage of the Mage Kingdom.
Idelaine appeared with sparkling eyes.
“It’s quite bold and admirable! But there must be some dissatisfaction for you to elope, yes? I think we must bring you back to the Mage Kingdom…!”
The influence of my daughter was truly continental in scope.
“Won’t you all… just leave?”
Their eagerness to poke their noses into others’ family affairs was blatant.
“Haha. Idelaine, please calm yourself. Rubian is clearly a citizen of our Babylon Empire. What kind of inflammatory words are those, speaking of taking her to the Mage Kingdom?”
“Hmm, Your Majesty. Rubian is also a great Arch-Mage of our Mage Kingdom! It would be troublesome to forget her origins….”
Bustle, chatter.
The Reception Room had become noisier than a marketplace.
Leviathan was about to click his tongue and issue an eviction order to these uninvited guests.
“Father, Grandfather!”
“Void? Liam?”
“We’ve apprehended them.”
Void and Liam appeared with quick strides.
“The accomplice who aided the youngest fairy and Kalid’s elopement.”
“What!”
Ballock shot to his feet.
“Where, where is that bastard’s face! I’ll snap his neck right off…!”
The Crown Prince has arrived!
“….”
I whistled cheerfully, the melody spilling from my lips without hesitation.
“Grandfather…?”
Void seemed momentarily taken aback by the revelation of his grandfather’s social life.
“…Mm.”
The Crown Prince entered the Reception Room, his beautiful smile radiant.
“I heard you were showing a portrait card of Rubian, so I followed along with Liam….”
His lovely mint-colored eyes turned toward the Emperor seated in the place of honor.
“Father Emperor, I believe I’ve been kidnapped by the heir of Zebert.”
“My. That’s quite the sensational news.”
The Emperor chuckled as he sipped his tea.
In any case, Licht found himself bound to a plush and comfortable chair.
“Immediately.”
Liam adjusted his glasses with his middle finger as he spoke.
“Tell us where the runaway fairy has gone.”
“Not before you keep your promise, Count.”
“Hmph.”
Liam smoothly revealed Rubian’s miniature portrait card from between his jacket panels. The Crown Prince’s eyes sparkled as never before.
“…How adorable.”
The ‘Hero Card Collection’ that Empire children were passionate about.
These days, the collection included the Mage Tower Master.
It was being released in limited quantities at the Mage Tower, and was particularly popular among young girls.
“So. Where have the children gone?”
Leviathan asked anxiously.
Licht carefully placed the Rubian card into his collection album as he answered.
“The Western Continent. The land of heathens.”
They immediately set off toward the Ancient Ruins to capture the runaway brats.
At roughly the same time.
“It’s quite noisy outside.”
Rosetta closed her book with a snap.
“Ah, it seems Ballock has returned.”
“Is that so?”
“Shall I go and find out what’s happened?”
“Never mind. I don’t want to cause Father unnecessary worry.”
This was the Separate Building where Ballock primarily stayed.
It was thoroughly separated from the main residence, and the distance between them made it difficult to immediately learn of matters occurring in the main house.
Rosetta was gazing out the window when Hazel stepped forward.
“My lady. If you’re so concerned about Biltain, perhaps we could slip out together….”
“That’s absolutely not an option.”
“….”
“Leviathan doesn’t confine me either. That’s the bare minimum unspoken rule between us.”
Though Leviathan yearned to bind his wife’s feet to keep her close, he would never lock the doors of the Duke’s Residence.
It was understandable.
Rosetta had spent long years trapped behind the Wall. So Leviathan could never do anything that would remind her of that.
Thus, Rosetta too, knowing the doors remained unlocked, never snuck away in secret.
“Besides, I promised not to leave his side in the first place.”
There had been a time when Rosetta left Leviathan’s side.
It was when she realized he was the “young master” she’d met in childhood, during that ridiculous fake romance.
“Ugh, really. How foolish of me. What was I doing?”
Suddenly, I ran my fingers through my hair in frustration.
Then I sprang to my feet.
“I need to make up with Leviathan.”
“Truly, my lady?”
“Yes. There’s no reason for us to have a cold war over a box of keepsakes.”
“….”
“I suppose I needed proof that Mother loved me so dearly.”
I had always wanted to confirm Mother’s affection contained within that box.
But it had been far too long ago.
The key—given all those years that had passed, it was reasonable that it had been lost.
Of course, I had been angry because Leviathan blocked my path to Biltain, but that was the real reason.
“I need to talk to him properly. It wasn’t worth clinging to this while upsetting my husband.”
“My lady…”
“I’m going to give Leviathan a proper kiss.”
I hurried out of the Separate Building.
My footsteps were brisk along the narrow path leading to the main residence.
My heart raced. In truth, every journey to meet Leviathan set my heart racing.
‘I’m remembering the old days.’
For some reason, the past came flooding back.
When I first met him at the Summer Palace.
When an assassination attempt failed, and I resorted to a fake romance as a last resort.
The time that followed at the Zebert Duchy, where I stayed under the pretense of finger treatment.
Leviathan remained at that Summer Palace throughout the summer after the banquet ended, citing a need for rest. I did the same.
‘That summer was the first—so brief yet so intense.’
After that, I met Ballock.
I met Adolf, and I met Leviathan’s knights.
They were rough but tender and warm.
It was then I first discovered I could smile like this.
We dined together, ate fruit, and strolled through the summer forest. We rode horses across the meadows and splashed in the streams.
Those days were filled with such unremarkable things.
Of course, I never neglected to report the situation regularly to the Commander.
But when I returned to Leviathan standing beneath the summer sun, something bloomed softly within my chest.
Looking back now, I realized it had always been love.
‘I’d grown fond of Leviathan long ago, yet I endured it all this time.’
Rosetta let out a quiet laugh.
‘I never truly intended to kill him—I just needed an excuse to stay by his side….’
The injury to my finger took an extraordinarily long time to heal.
Leviathan always held my finger with a sorrowful expression, and somehow, that brought me a subtle joy.
Time passed in this way.
On the day rain fell to herald the end of summer.
Leviathan confessed his feelings. He asked me to stay by his side.
In that moment, Rosetta realized that the ‘young master’ she had met in childhood was Leviathan.
‘That’s when I understood my own heart. And I knew that even if I were reborn, I could never kill this man.’
Yet as an assassin for hire, I could not continue to remain at his side.
The harsh reality struck me like a torrential downpour.
And so, on the day when black rain fell.
Rosetta vanished like smoke.
We met again a year later.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————