The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 310

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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 36
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Rosetta was running.
“Teacher… No, the Commander escaped through the side gate.”
At Hazel’s words, a hollow laugh burst from her lips.
I should have killed him.
“I should have killed us first with the curse.”
The Mercenary Company had been attacked.
The women who had been the “Teacher’s” limbs had not protected him. The signs of betrayal were unmistakable.
But he had not activated the curse. There was no punishment.
The reason was probably…
“So there really was no curse after all.”
“Good heavens. What have I… what have we been afraid of all this time?”
“How foolish. So incredibly foolish…!”
Her comrades erupted in fury.
Rosetta pulled Hazel, who was biting her lip until blood flowed, into a tight embrace.
“Don’t mistake who to blame.”
“…Squad Leader.”
“There’s only one person here we should direct our anger toward. And it doesn’t have to be ourselves.”
In the darkness, their eyes gleamed with an eerie light.
Cold flames burning within, hot ice crystallizing.
They moved swiftly, yet with absolute clarity.
“Listen up. This is our final hunt.”
Rosetta spoke.
Whoosh! The masked women vanished in an instant.
Boom! Crash!
The Mercenary Unit Building was old but quite expansive. As if intent on destroying it all, explosions erupted without pause.
Rosetta sprinted frantically through the Corridor.
Before she could kill the Commander, she needed to meet Leviathan.
‘There’s something I need to tell him.’
There was also something she needed to entrust to him.
“Gah!”
Rosetta cut down one of the Commander’s lackeys who had blocked her path.
One of those who had dragged her to the Punishment Room back then.
‘Is Leviathan still outside…?’
That was the moment.
She sensed someone’s presence.
Rosetta held her breath.
Thud, thud.
She pressed herself against the wall and peered around the corner to sense who was coming.
‘Who is that?’
The Corridor was shrouded in darkness, lit only by the flames mounted on the walls—no windows to break the gloom.
A tall shadow stretched long across the stone.
Thud, thud.
The footsteps were far too measured to belong to any of the Commander’s lackeys.
I gripped my short blade tightly, steadying my breathing.
This 220mm bone-spine blade was exceptional at severing arteries cleanly—if I timed it right.
Thud, thud.
Just a little closer.
Thud.
Now!
“…!”
I burst forward in a blur of motion.
“…Leviathan?!”
The blade shrieked through empty air before grinding to a halt mere inches away.
I stumbled backward, my instincts screaming danger.
His violet eyes widened in shock, pupils dilating.
“…You startled me.”
“How did you get here? Weren’t you supposed to be breaching from outside?”
Boom! Boom! Artillery fire continued to thunder in the distance.
The barrage was so ferocious that I realized they must have broken through ahead of schedule.
The man wore a dark robe pulled low over his head.
Between the dim surroundings and the shadow cast by his hood, his face remained obscured.
Yet I could feel the intensity of his gaze piercing through the darkness with crystalline clarity.
“Ah… yes, here.”
His voice was low and measured.
I blinked.
There was something oddly mature about his presence.
‘No, he’s always been mature, but…’
There was an ineffable composure and refinement emanating from him now.
Those glimpses of violet eyes were unmistakably Leviathan’s.
Yet his gaze had grown impossibly deeper, more resolute.
‘Has he grown so much since turning twenty?’
As I tilted my head in confusion, he slowly closed the distance between us.
An enigmatic smile played across his features.
“It’s been a while, Rose.”
Well, we’d seen each other just days ago, but I supposed that could count as a while.
‘But why does he sound so… moved?’
Like someone who hadn’t spoken to her in weeks and was overjoyed to do so now.
“What’s the situation outside?”
“Things are… going well enough, aren’t they?”
“What kind of answer is that? There’s no problem, right?”
“Of course not.”
He chuckled softly.
“It’s your matter—how could I be negligent?”
“….”
“Perhaps… this is when I’ll fight most desperately in my entire life. Don’t worry.”
His languid words were brimming with composure.
“But then.”
A firm hand reached out. He brushed Rosetta’s hair behind her ear, gazing down at her quietly.
“So this was your expression. Back then.”
His words were cryptic.
But suddenly faced with this young master’s flirtation, Rosetta had no time to decipher his meaning.
He moved with the ease of someone she’d been with for years. Strangely, her ears burned.
Then, a sharp whistle—*whiiiii*—reached Rosetta’s ear.
One of her comrades was signaling her.
‘We’ve caught the Commander’s tail.’
A glimmer of understanding flashed across her eyes.
“Leviathan, do me a favor.”
“One?”
He laughed through his nose.
“I could spend my whole life doing nothing but your favors.”
So why was he being so smooth about it?
Rosetta flushed slightly and cleared her throat.
“You’ll do it, then? I need you to keep my mother’s keepsake box safe for me.”
“…Ah, the keepsake box.”
“Because I’m about to go kill the Commander.”
And….
Rosetta trailed off ambiguously.
My heart pounded. It felt awkward and embarrassing, but I couldn’t put it off any longer.
‘It’s what I meant to say today anyway.’
The words lodged in my throat felt like they had to spill out now.
After a moment’s hesitation, I ended my doubts.
It happened in a single, breathless instant.
My pink hair, bound high, fluttered softly through the air.
Closing the distance in one swift motion, I pressed my lips against his.
I felt him stiffen momentarily. But his other hand instinctively wrapped around my waist.
“Rose, wait….”
“There’s something I absolutely had to tell you.”
I said.
“Date me. Not a fake relationship this time—for real.”
“…No, well.”
“I’m sorry my answer to your confession came so late. But I wanted to come to you only after I’d properly closed the chapter on my past. That would be today.”
Our lips met again with a soft sound.
“I love you. Truth is, I’ve liked you for a very long time.”
The Mysterious Man’s eyes, which had seemed somewhat flustered at the word “love,” shifted with new emotion.
As if moved, as if overwhelmed by something indefinable.
“…Ah.”
He bowed his head deeply.
It had been so long since I heard those words.
“I was terrified you’d say you didn’t love me anymore, that I….”
“…? What are you doing? Don’t tell me you’re crying…”
“I’m not.”
Yet when he lifted his head, his eyes were slightly red-rimmed.
‘What is this. He cries when someone confesses to him?’
Indeed, he had an endearing side to him.
“So is that a yes or a no.”
“Of course it’s a yes. I’m happy with anything you say.”
Leviathan murmured rapidly.
Rosetta laughed softly. Then she quickly checked her weapons and turned to leave.
“Then we’re engaged!”
Huh?
“You’re the one who has to propose, young master!”
Tap-tap-tap! Rosetta vanished swiftly into the darkness.
Left alone, Leviathan finally came to his senses.
“….”
His eyes narrowed to slits.
Right. I only came here to catch those runaway kids.
He was Leviathan (married)—the version who had time-warped here with Idelaine’s help.
Thinking that if Rubian had gone to retrieve the key, it would naturally be around this point in time, he had offered the scabbard he’d used back then as a sacrifice and made the jump….
And then he’d unexpectedly encountered his wife from the past.
“Then we’re engaged!”
More than that, he had the distinct feeling he’d just made something terribly complicated.
Surely not?
It couldn’t be….
* * *
“Oh, that’s right.”
Rosetta emerged from the building and ran, then stopped.
‘I almost forgot to give him this.’
She removed the key to the keepsake box from around her neck.
‘I wanted to give it to you as a token of our engagement.’
Rosetta hoped that Leviathan would safeguard something precious to her.
‘I can’t offer anything as grand as a magnificent gift.’
But I wanted to give him anything of value that I possessed.
“Leviathan!”
Rosetta rushed toward Leviathan, who appeared to have just emerged from the building.
She wondered for a moment when he had stepped outside, but her heart was racing—so she hastily pressed the key into his hand.
“Rosetta? Are you alright?”
“Take this. It’s yours!”
“…?”
Leviathan, draped in a dark cloak, blinked as he stared at the key that had fallen into his palm.
Beneath the luminous moonlight, his striking features were laid bare.
Beep beep beep—
Once again, a signal came from his comrades.
There was no time.
Rosetta spun around swiftly and spoke to him.
“The keepsake box—you must take it with you. Do you understand?”
“Rosetta….”
“I think Rose sounds better when you say it.”
Rosetta murmured with a smile, then leaped away, her hair streaming behind her.
“I’ll be waiting for your proposal.”
The abandoned Leviathan (unmarried) stood there….
‘…What did she just say?’
A proposal, out of nowhere?
Was she suggesting we skip past romance entirely…?
He stared menacingly at the golden key in his hand.
‘Why did she suddenly give me this key…?’
Was this a metaphor for her affection? Could I interpret it as her accepting my confession?
But that seems….
Like too much has been left unsaid…?
Rosetta…?
“Who gave her the nickname Rose?”
His eyes swirled with confusion.

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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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