The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 311

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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 37
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Boom! Crash!
Fireworks flickered across the night sky.
Rubian hurried out of the building alongside Kalid.
“Rubian, this way!”
….
Kalid glanced back at Rubian, whose hand he held firmly.
Despite her ragged breathing as her stamina drained rapidly, her eyes remained cold and distant.
It was as if her very soul had departed.
‘Damn it.’
Kalid bit his lip hard.
The two children crawled desperately through The Wall, which had begun to crack, and escaped outside.
Biltain’s streets were in chaos.
The Crown Prince’s soldiers were systematically eradicating the criminal organizations operating in the city.
The two children left the exploding buildings behind and slipped into a Dark Alley where the damage was comparatively lighter.
“Rubian, are you hurt anywhere?”
Kalid brought over a wooden crate and sat Rubian down on it.
“…I think I’m actually going to throw up. I’m so angry.”
Rubian fumed.
“How could her final letter to her own child be like that?”
….
“Cursing me. Wishing for my misery.”
….
“And she left it as a letter.”
Rubian barely swallowed the rising emotions threatening to overwhelm her.
“Mother endured all this time just to read the letter inside that keepsake box.”
Just moments ago.
Rubian had accidentally discovered what was inside the keepsake box.
Within it lay a single letter, pressed down with force.
The contents were lengthy.
And they were horrifying.
…It’s all because of you.
If you had never been born, the Marquis would not have abandoned me, and
even though I was merely a maid, he said I was beautiful and kept me close, and surely
the Marquis said he would give me gifts, those dresses and jewels were all mine, but if only Rosetta had never existed, I would have enjoyed them all and lived happily, but a wretched child appeared and brought shame upon the Marquis’s face…
I curse you.
I curse you.
There has never been a moment I did not curse you.
May you be as eternally miserable as you have made me. When you read this letter, may you be even more wretched than I am, please please please please please please please my mistake, my disgrace, how horrible how horrible…
I suspected that the shock of being abandoned by the Marquis had caused her to lose her mind.
The handwriting was so chaotic that the letters were barely legible.
“But in that situation, the one to blame isn’t the Marquis or anyone else—it’s that garbage bastard.”
Rubian wiped away her tears roughly.
“Why blame the child? Why?”
“It was easier to redirect their anger at the most defenseless target.”
Kalid ground his teeth, muttering under his breath.
“I disgust myself just saying it.”
The reason I wept silently upon seeing young Rosetta was because I despised my own child.
I hated her so much, loathed her so deeply.
Seeing her only reminded me of my own abandonment.
It was thinking beneath human dignity.
Of course, the vilest beast in all this was that Marquis.
Kalid clicked his tongue sharply.
“So that’s why. Why Duke Zebert lost the key.”
“…Yes. It was intentional.”
“Rather than have the Duchess suffer upon reading the letter, he decided it was better to be despised himself.”
Rubian lifted her head.
Leviathan was probably right now…
…examining the keepsake box in much the same way Rubian had.
“This is… I need to hear the engagement date from Father. I was so flustered I just ran out.”
Rubian flailed her limbs about frantically.
Kalid glanced at the key Rubian was clutching tightly.
“So what will you do, Rubian? Are you going to take that key…?”
“…”
Rubian bit her lip firmly.
If I took this key, I would be able to open the keepsake box.
But Rosetta would be hurt.
And if I didn’t take the key, the rift between Rosetta and Leviathan would never be bridged.
‘Father will never tell the truth.’
Of course, both of them loved each other, so they would reconcile… but the lingering resentment would remain like sediment.
Rubian fell into deep contemplation.
Just for a moment.
“…Kalid. You know what?”
As if having made a decision, she lifted her head.
It was at that very moment.
Clang, clang, clang!
The sound of weapons clashing grew closer. Simultaneously, a dark shadow suddenly appeared at the entrance of the Dark Alley.
“Hey! Is there something in that alley?”
“I’ll go search it, sir.”
“Tsk, don’t go easy on criminals—arrest them!”
“Yes, sir.”
A figure who appeared to be the Crown Prince’s Knight approached with heavy footsteps.
He was armed with a helmet and a dark cloak draped over his shoulders.
Rubian and Kalid exchanged glances.
‘Kalid, let’s run.’
Then the man’s hand slid smoothly to his sword hilt. I felt Kalid hesitate.
‘Wait, is he really about to swing a blade at children?’
This Knight’s character was absolutely abysmal…!
Whoosh, slash!
“Rubian, duck.”
“Ugh!”
In that instant, Kalid forcefully pushed me down.
Simultaneously, the Knight drew his blade, tracing a silver arc.
Crack! A death cry echoed through the Dark Alley.
Turning around, a dark-skinned man lay collapsed. He was a criminal who had tried to flee using the children as hostages.
Clang! The Knight hurled his sword away.
“You reckless little runaways… playing so dangerously.”
Huh?
“When the sun sets, you come straight home, understood?”
W-what?
That voice…!
“Didn’t your Father teach you this? Hmm?”
“Ah, ah, ah…!”
Before Rubian could even run forward, the man rushed over first and tucked the children under his arms.
“Goodness, what am I going to do with you troublemakers.”
“Ah…!”
“Well? Aren’t you going to call me properly?”
“Faaaaaather?!”
The Knight roughly tore off his helmet.
Clouds parted, and moonlight spilled through.
Beneath the moon’s glow illuminating the Dark Alley, brilliant violet eyes shone vividly, filling my entire vision.
It was Father!
“You’re really going to make me age prematurely, you know that?”
“No, Father, you’re not aging at all!”
“Don’t talk back.”
“Eep.”
“…That’s what I meant. Phew, hearing that makes me feel a bit better.”
Leviathan, apparently quite anxious, held little Rubian and Kalid tightly in his embrace.
Then he hoisted Rubian onto his neck and carried Kalid in one arm.
Kalid seemed quite shocked at being handled like a doll, his body going rigid as he descended into self-reflection.
“In all my years, I never thought I’d come searching for children in the past.”
“Wait, but how did you even get here, Father? Don’t tell me… you found that Time Warp Cave? Did you use that magic to come here?”
“What, you think I came by carriage?”
“Wow…”
Rubian blinked her blue eyes and suddenly understood.
“Ah! That’s why!”
That explained why the Time Warp battery had suddenly malfunctioned!
‘Someone used it from the outside…’
No matter how differently time flowed here, considerable time must have passed in the outside world. It wouldn’t have been strange for Leviathan or anyone else to come searching.
“But how did you know we were in this Dark Alley!”
“I went around pretending to be an Imperial Palace Knight, poking my nose everywhere. Since the Mercenary Unit Building was collapsing, I knew you couldn’t be inside it.”
“I see…”
Rubian blinked.
‘But… doesn’t this mean Father and I are now all trapped together?’
I still hadn’t discovered the remaining lie.
That was when it happened.
A piece of the diary suddenly slipped out from Rubian’s arms.
“Huh?”
As if to fix things, light flashed brilliantly.
“No, I haven’t figured anything out yet…”
“What is this?”
Leviathan clicked his tongue and tried to swat away the diary fluttering before his eyes like a fly.
Rubian gazed down at him, blinking slowly.
Then she asked blankly.
“Father.”
“What.”
“I just want to ask you one thing.”
“Ask a hundred.”
“No, it’s fine. So… you know.”
“Yeah.”
“Before you came here… who did you meet?”
“…”
Leviathan’s body visibly stiffened.
Rubian pressed down on his crown and suddenly tilted his head forward.
“Oh, you startled me.”
“I met… who?”
“You keep surprising me like this, Father. Do you think everything’s fine as long as you’re cute with a dumpling on your head?”
“I did meet someone! I met them! Could it have been… Mother?!”
“…”
Swish—her purple eyes rolled to the side.
Rubian’s gaze met Kalid’s.
Blink, blink.
A moment of silence.
“WAAAAAAHHHHHHH!”
“There it is—he’s determined to shatter Father’s eardrums after all.”
Rubian hastily dismounted from Leviathan’s body.
Then, gathering mana at her fingertips, she corrected her diary.
Year N, Month N, Day N
At age twenty,
I held my engagement ceremony
with Leviathan from the future.
Whether it’s because I’ve aged another year,
or because he’s aged twenty-one more years,
or simply because he’s become my fiancé, I’m not sure—but somehow he feels so dependable, you know?
Whoooooosh—!
[Congratulations!] All lies have been corrected!
[Congratulations!] All errors have been fixed!
[Congratulations!] Everything returns to its proper place!
System recalibration in progress… 15% … 80% … 100% complete!
The Time Warp has been normalized!
Now, you may conclude the Time Warp whenever you wish!
I’ve lost it.
I’ve completely lost it!
This was it! Father was the key all along!

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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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