The Youngest Member Filming a Parenting Show is Adorable - Chapter 209
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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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Part 2, Chapter 16 (209)
I was just about to say something, my mouth opening as I hesitated.
“Ah, I’m dying here.”
The door burst open and Maximilian appeared in shirtsleeves.
And he reeked of alcohol.
“Laximon Household Master Deputy. Thanks for handling things today.”
Thump.
Maximilian, striding across the room with long steps, chose to sit right beside me.
And he even draped his arm across my shoulder.
As if putting on a show for Rasifer.
“…It was nothing, really. I should have just let you swallow your pride instead.”
Rasifer, who had been quietly observing Maximilian, let out a meaningful laugh.
It was obviously a forced smile that anyone could see through, but Maximilian just shrugged as if unbothered.
“If Laximon isn’t going to become an independent magical nation, then I had to be kept alive. Once my religion-obsessed older brother becomes Emperor, the persecution of mages will begin.”
“I’ve actually been thinking about attempting independence lately.”
“Oh, look at your words getting shorter.”
A tense current flowed through the air.
I swallowed hard at their sharp exchange, like a dam on the verge of bursting.
‘Are they… not on good terms?’
But watching them bicker like that, it didn’t seem like they were on truly bad terms.
If Rasifer truly disliked Maximilian, he would have sent him away long ago.
‘Still, I’m grateful. Maximilian’s arrival gave me something to say.’
I took a breath and deliberately interjected with a light tone.
“Are you two friends?”
“What?”
“Absolutely not!”
A firm denial that burst out from both of them almost simultaneously.
But from what I could see, they were only denying the label of ‘friends’—nothing else.
“Come on, you seem like friends. Did you two meet often while I was away from the Capital?”
“We’re definitely not friends, Shu.”
“Honestly, what would I lack that I’d need to befriend the Laximon Household Master Deputy?”
Hmm, their rejection was stronger than I expected.
So they’re not friends, but something friend-like, I suppose.
“Anyway, I came here because I have something to discuss with Superti.”
Maximilian leaned his body closer toward me as he spoke.
Rasifer’s gaze, watching this, moved slowly and very subtly.
“It’s something you can’t say in front of me, then?”
“Why ask when you already know?”
Maximilian raised an eyebrow.
Without responding, Rasifer slowly tapped the armrest of the sofa before turning to look at me, his expression darkening with deep shadows.
“Shu, would you mind stepping away for a moment?”
His voice had dropped slightly lower.
His tone was gentle.
Yet it carried an unmistakable firmness.
How to describe it—far more composed than Maximilian, utterly unruffled, and yet sharp as a blade.
‘Like the very presence of a true Household Master.’
For a moment, words escaped me, and I found myself gazing at Rasifer as though entranced.
‘He seems so mature.’
Now that I thought about it, during our correspondence, I had mostly talked about myself.
My days, my worries, my feelings.
He had always listened quietly, but as for how he had been faring… I knew almost nothing.
‘What kind of time has he been spending all this while?’
The Rasifer in my memories was playful, sometimes even whiny.
But.
The Rasifer standing before me now—
…seemed like an entirely different person.
It felt as though the familiar image had shattered into pieces.
I bit my lip for a moment, then finally nodded.
“Hmm… Maxxi must have a reason for this.”
“Understood. I’ll come find you later then. Would an hour from now in the Garden work? The Bedroom feels a bit awkward.”
“Yes! I’ll wait for you.”
After Rasifer stepped away, about five minutes had passed.
Maximilian opened his mouth as though to say something, then closed it again.
I quietly observed his profile.
Despite the lingering effects of alcohol, his expression was strangely grave.
‘What on earth is he thinking about that he has something to say, yet remains so silent?’
I considered pressing him, but decided instead to finish my tea while I waited.
Some words simply take time to emerge.
“Superti.”
“Mm?”
“What do you think of the Laximon Household Master Deputy?”
At last, his voice came, low and measured as though locked away.
Maximilian’s gaze fixed upon me with an intensity that made clear this was no casual question.
“…?”
But the question was so unexpected for something that had taken so long to ask that my eyes widened in surprise.
“What do you mean, what do I think?”
When I asked again, confused, Maximilian averted his gaze and tapped his foot rhythmically. Then, as though it were nothing, he dropped another question abruptly.
“What do you think of him as a husband?”
“…??”
In other words, in other words…
No, I mean, I just don’t understand what you’re getting at.
“Why are you suddenly asking me that? There has to be a reason.”
I was bewildered, but Maximilian still wouldn’t look my way.
Hmm, his ears seemed to be turning a bit red too.
“You two aren’t Viju’s Companion. Are you still going to choose him?”
“Can’t you just be direct instead of dancing around it? What are you trying to say?”
Now I was starting to get frustrated.
High Society speech patterns sometimes go right over my head.
At that, Maximilian took a deep breath and looked directly at me.
“I sent you a marriage proposal. You never gave me an answer. Given your nature, I took that to mean a rejection.”
“….”
“I didn’t know how you’d turn out, so it was a gamble on my part, but after what happened today, I know for certain. I need you.”
Not “I love you” or “I like you,” but “I need you.”
So that’s Maximilian’s position.
[The Emotion Spirit King ‘■■■’ says that might actually be a plea for help.]
‘That’s probably what it really means.’
Because Maximilian needs Fasayen.
‘What do I do? I probably shouldn’t have asked him to be so direct.’
My mouth went dry.
The proposal I’d pushed to the back of my mind had suddenly become reality.
Just a little longer.
Honestly, I wanted to pretend not to understand, just a little bit longer like a child.
“There’s no one more suited to the position of Empress than you.”
Maximilian’s voice grew quieter.
It wasn’t mere flattery—it was spoken with conviction.
“With you, I think I could trust you to help me govern the realm.”
Those words felt burdensome, as expected.
The position of Empress, governing the realm—
I had no interest in such things whatsoever.
“And above all else….”
Maximilian paused for just a moment.
“I want to protect you.”
In that instant, his gaze shifted.
The slightly anxious look in his eyes had now become sharp and resolute, like someone who’d made a firm decision, and I couldn’t help but be taken aback.
“Protect me? Does that mean there’s something threatening me?”
For a moment, Maximilian’s brow furrowed slightly.
“…You didn’t know?”
I looked at him with a bewildered expression.
“Know what?”
Maximilian’s mouth opened slightly, then closed. And there was a flicker of something like regret across his face.
[The Luck Spirit King ‘■■■■■■’ says this is suspicious.]
[The Emotion Spirit King ‘■■■’ rages that such a thing cannot simply be overlooked.]
“…Maxxi.”
I called out to him urgently, and Maximilian’s eyes wavered subtly.
But he quickly composed himself and smiled with a sly grin.
“Ah, my mistake. If the household elders haven’t broached the subject yet, there’s no need for me to speak out of turn.”
“Are the elders hiding something from me?”
“It would be better to hear it directly from the Admiral. And then, you decide for yourself. Whether to marry me or not. A choice made by you alone, not by anyone else.”
For a proposal, it was remarkably unromantic.
There was no man on bended knee, no lover consumed by passion, no roses.
All that remained was a friend carrying the faint scent of whiskey.
Though, I suppose that’s how political marriages always are.
[The Water Spirit King ‘Aurora’ insists on going to find Diagon at once.]
‘I understand, Mother.’
After Maximilian left, I went straight to find Father.
But Father was occupied with other nobles and wasn’t in his room, and Aunt was nowhere to be found either!
In the end, I had no choice but to trudge listlessly toward the Garden.
‘Wait, wouldn’t Rasifer know something about this?’
Now I just needed to find where Rasifer was….
[The Emotion Spirit King ‘■■■’ bounces up and down!]
[Look up at the sky!]
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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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