The Youngest Hides a Lot - Chapter 62

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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 62
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“Our youngest certainly has quite the appetite.”
Father placed his hand atop my head with a gentle tap.
I gazed at the cake boxes neatly stacked throughout the Dining Room—eight in total, one of each variety.
“They were absolutely delicious.”
“Indeed. You even placed a month’s worth of advance orders for the entire Tea Salon menu.”
I’d mentioned staying here for the entire month, and I’d thought of everyone, so I brought back cakes from each place.
‘Was ordering a whole month’s supply at once too much?’
Should I have split it into two-week batches instead?
“Did I do something wrong?”
When I asked hesitantly, Father’s expression suggested he’d heard it all.
“It’s the best thing you’ve done since arriving here.”
“Hehe.”
See? I knew he’d love it most.
I turned my head with satisfaction.
At one corner of the table, Grandfather and Void had returned from their training and were contentedly devouring cake.
Liam, as expected, remained holed up in the Library with barely a trace of his presence.
“Oh my, so sweet! Oh my, so delicious!”
“Since she brought it thinking of us, it tastes three hundred times better!”
Two forks moved ceaselessly.
The two of them seemed deeply moved upon learning I’d brought the cakes myself.
“Those two don’t particularly enjoy sweets, you know.”
Despite my protests, the cakes were disappearing at an alarming rate.
“That’s not true? I enjoy them?”
“Right! Today it tastes so incredibly delicious my head’s spinning!”
“Oh, Grandfather! That’s just the sugar!”
This won’t do!
And I’d been saving that particular flavor for after dinner!
As I cried out in alarm, Kalid, who had been standing quietly beside me, clicked his tongue disapprovingly.
“It’s like a marketplace again today.”
Looking more closely, I noticed my favorite cake box tucked discreetly behind his back.
Oh, he’d already smuggled it away.
Smart as always, my friend!
“But what have you been writing so intently since earlier?”
Father asked, setting down his teacup. Only then did I resume moving my pen.
“A letter. I’m going to send it to those troublemakers’ parents telling them to forbid any outings.”
I was in the midst of composing a letter of pure tattling.
Crime runs rampant, yet they claim they’re going to gather medicinal herbs. Nonsense.
I apologize to the mischievous young ladies, but for the time being, it’s best they don’t leave the house.
“I’d rather not become a victim of kidnapping, so… what are you talking about?”
“Don’t peek.”
I hastily covered the contents with my arm and mumbled something vague about it being nothing special.
Father, who had been thinking for a moment, added casually.
“But the kidnapping case is already resolved.”
“Huh?”
“Obron caught the culprits this afternoon. There were no additional crimes.”
“Wow. As expected of my senior!”
I genuinely admired him. How much time had passed since the investigation began, and they’d already solved it so quickly?
‘The Zebert Knight Order truly is amazing!’
The city’s security, which would have been ruined if it fell into the hands of my seniors, was restored in the blink of an eye!
I quickly folded the letter I’d been writing. Grandfather burst into hearty, booming laughter.
“That brat Obron finally did some decent work! No matter how many guards I assign, I’ve been uneasy about my little ones wandering the streets.”
“Hmm.”
However, Uncle crossed his arms with an expression of lingering doubt.
“What’s wrong? Uncle… Grandfather, Father.”
At my jumbled words, Uncle flicked my forehead.
“When will you finally get the hang of that title?”
“I’m working on it…”
Habits are what they are… The understanding Duke, as always, waited patiently without pressing me.
“No, something just feels off about it.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s strange how quickly the culprits were caught.”
The Ipson incident had ended so anticlimactically that he seemed bothered by it.
“It’s as if someone stepped in to help halfway through…”
When they raided the suspected hideout, all the gang members were gathered there as if by prior arrangement.
Catching rats in a barrel was, quite literally, child’s play.
“The criminals must have been quite foolish, I suppose.”
I responded lightly.
I glanced at Kalid just in case, but he merely shrugged as if he knew nothing about it.
‘At least it all came to nothing. That’s a relief.’
From the conversation between Father and Grandfather, I gathered the full picture of the incident.
They hadn’t targeted very high-ranking nobility; most of the victims were children from baronial or viscount families.
However, they had apparently denied only the charge of attempting to capture and hand over a fugitive mage.
‘They didn’t want to get entangled with the Kingdom.’
Or perhaps…
“I heard there was even one who tried to disguise himself as a servant in a baronial household.”
“Baronial families often hire temporary servants without letters of recommendation. Tsk, tell the Count to have them drawn and quartered!”
Grandfather clicked his tongue loudly and shoved the remaining cake into his mouth.
“Hiding their identity and trying to infiltrate like vermin!”
At his continued words, I quietly set down my strawberry milk.
A rat in disguise….
“That seems like the worst offense, Father! You exploited our trust!”
“Indeed.”
Uncle nodded as he inserted a straw into my mug.
“Still, I’m relieved it was resolved before any serious damage occurred… Rubian, stop blowing through that straw. You’ll make it overflow.”
Ah. I quickly pulled away from my mouth at the sight of milk foam bubbling up.
Not that his words weren’t directed at me….
But it was a conversation that pricked at a certain disguised child.
“My lung capacity is decent, isn’t it?”
“Quite. But don’t play around with food.”
I answered with a composed expression, “Yes, yes.”
As I subtly shifted my gaze, my eyes met Kalid’s. His lips formed the words that followed.
‘You’re not a rat.’
Does he really see straight through my mind?
* * *
At that moment, in the Zelocks Duchy.
Physician Borbel read and reread the letter attached to the messenger hawk that had arrived.
“What is this….”
It was a letter from Iosia.
Borbel, I found the church records from the village you mentioned. However, there was no boy of similar age. I suspect there may be some misunderstanding. If you need any further information, please write back.
Could there have been a gap in the records?
But Rubian isn’t even a newborn. Could there really be such a long period of missing records?
“I’ll need to investigate this more carefully.”
If she wasn’t from Iosia….
Then where was Rubian from?
Borbel, unable to hide his bewilderment, prepared a messenger hawk to send to Ibsen’s Duchy.
“…Something feels unsettling.”
A brown hawk pierced the quiet sky with its flight and soared upward.

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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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