Youngest on Top - Chapter 100

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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 100

* * *

Crash!
Zaphrez slammed his hand against the table.

‘Demian visited Artemisia Temple again?’

Apparently, it had happened several days ago.
Yet he hadn’t even hinted at it to me.
This was not something I could overlook.

‘…I suppose I have no choice but to use it.’

Zaphrez retrieved a small wooden box from the drawer.
He had prepared it just in case, having noticed Demian’s interest in the Sacred Maiden of Artemisia.

“Sigh, Demian. Why do you make me out to be the villain?”

Zaphrez shook his head and said, “No, that’s not it.”

“It’s not me who’s causing you pain. It’s you yourself. If you had simply obeyed me, none of this would have happened.”

Just then, commotion erupted outside.
Demian had returned.

‘The timing couldn’t be better.’

Zaphrez retrieved something from the wooden box and rushed outside with an urgent expression.

“Young Master, Young Master!”
“What is it?”

Demian furrowed his brow as he handed his coat to an attendant.

“I-I beg your pardon, but could this belong to the Young Lady?”

Demian’s eyes wavered upon seeing what Zaphrez held in his hand.

It was a delicate lace scarf that fluttered softly.
The scarf the child had been wearing on the day I lost my younger sister.

Though faded and damaged beyond use, I recognized it instantly.
Because that child’s final image remained vivid in my memory.

“Where… did you find this?”
“It was discovered in the Besladun Forest, sir.”
“…!”

The Besladun Forest was notorious even among the treacherous northern regions.
Dense coniferous trees blanketed the area so thickly that sunlight barely penetrated the forest’s interior.
Monsters that had fed on that darkness roamed freely—a cursed forest where survival was harder than death itself if one ventured inside.

Of all places, my youngest sister’s trace had been found there.

“For the young lady to have been in the cursed forest as a child… what could have become of her…?”

Zaphrez squeezed his eyes shut as if unwilling to imagine further.

“However, I believe the young lady is still alive, sir.”
“…”
“Alive and waiting for you, young master.”

Demian’s pupils trembled faintly.

“You must find your youngest sister, young master. For the sake of the young lady who waits for you, you must.”

I gripped the scarf with trembling hands.

The image of my youngest sister wearing this scarf around her neck became crystal clear.
She must have been smiling at me then.
Because my youngest was always such a cheerful child.

Whenever our eyes met, she would break into a bright smile, as if delighted by something.
It was remarkable that she recognized me as her older brother despite not even having all her teeth yet.

However—

‘…I can no longer recall that child’s smiling face.’

Everything else remained vivid in my memory, yet that child’s face eluded me entirely.
As if someone had scrawled carelessly across it, obscuring every feature.

No matter how desperately I tried to remember, such complete erasure could only be a punishment from that child.
A punishment inflicted upon an older brother who had failed to protect them.

“Prepare the baggage.”

Demian’s voice descended with crushing weight.

“I will venture into Besladun Forest myself.”
“Young Master…! Besladun Forest is far too perilous!”

Despite Zaphrez’s protests, Demian merely regarded him with cold eyes.

“The child’s traces were discovered there. What reason have I to hesitate?”

With only those words, Demian departed the hotel once more.
Zaphrez watched his retreating figure with eyes heavy with concern.

‘Ah, Young Master Demian. To venture into Besladun Forest at such a tender age….’

What torment awaited him.
Day after day, drenched in the blood of demons, never knowing when an attack might come, unable to close his eyes for even a moment’s rest.

The Demon Blade would be baptized in blood daily, growing ever more turbid, its hunger gnawing greedily at Demian’s very consciousness.
Endless suffering.
With each step deeper into that profound forest, only despair and desperation would bloom.

‘And yet he will never find his sibling’s traces.’

Because they were not there.

Zaphrez’s lips curled upward in a sinister smile.

After enduring years of suffering—it would have been better to die—once I emerged from the forest, I would have become a monster.
A monster that had lost everything of its humanity.

‘Yet it would be a happy life.’

Zaphrez genuinely believed this.

‘Because our Sacred Maiden will save me.’

* * *

Demian rode his horse directly to the hotel where Admiral Ekellan was staying.
Admiral Ekellan himself must have been waiting for news of the child more eagerly than anyone.

“Young Prince Demian?”

Admiral Ekellan’s Adjutant was startled by the sudden arrival and hurried after him.
Demian had neither the time nor the patience to explain everything to him.

Demian strode purposefully toward the inner room.
He pushed open the door without knocking and froze in place.

Admiral Ekellan was not alone.
A small child was nestled in his arms.

The two of them were contentedly sharing cookies.
A warm and affectionate atmosphere enveloped them both.
Like… a family.

Demian’s jaw clenched.
He felt the soft, delicate texture of the scarf he gripped in his hand.

A scarf that would tear with just a little more pressure.
That child was even more fragile than this scarf.

“Gonzanim?”

Saelika, who had been sharing the cookies, tilted her head in confusion.
Admiral Ekellan, whose mouth had been hanging open, broke into a wide smile upon seeing Demian.

“Oh, Demian! You came looking for me first!”

The two of them nestled together naturally, welcoming me without hesitation.
Seeing them like that, something hot surged up from deep within my chest.

“What are you doing, nestled in his arms like that?”

Demian’s eyes gleamed with a cold, piercing light.
He approached the child with rough, hurried steps.

“Don’t act like a substitute!”

The child’s body shrank back at the loud voice.
Admiral Ekellan reflexively pulled the child closer into his embrace.

Sparks of fury ignited in Demian’s eyes.
The youngest, who should truly be held like this, and I don’t even know where she is now…!

Is she still in that terrifying forest?
Has she escaped the forest?
Or perhaps, in that forest…?

Demian clenched his teeth at the imagination he didn’t even want to entertain.

“Do you really think you can replace that child?”
“…”
“Know your place! You said it yourself—you’re the one who was abandoned—.”
“Demian! What are you—!”

Saelika gripped Admiral Ekellan’s collar tightly.
The Admiral, though displeased, fell silent.

Saelika looked up at Demian with a resolute expression.

“Demian, sit down!”

Demian, of course, paid no heed to her words.
Saelika sprang up from the Admiral’s embrace, grabbed the child by the collar, and yanked him down to sit.

“Eat it!”

Thump!
Saelika shoved a cookie into Demian’s mouth.

“Tired children must eat sweet things!”
“What, ugh—!”
“Eat!”

I couldn’t tell if she was feeding me or torturing me with cookies.
Thinking about it again, this child’s strength was extraordinary.

Even when Demian was younger, he had never been treated like a child.
Back at the estate, everyone had served him respectfully as the young master.
But now.

“Chew it well and eat. Drink milk too!”

Saelika brought her own milk to his lips.
It looked somewhat like milk torture, admittedly.

Demian frowned and pulled away from the child’s hands.

“What are you doing—.”

Demian stopped speaking.
Saelika was looking at him with an unusually serious expression.

“You’re not Gonzanim.”
“….”
“Gonzanim is precious and valuable.”

She spoke as if merely stating facts, her tone calm and matter-of-fact.

Saelika hopped down from the sofa.
Then she greeted the Admiral.

“I’ll go to Sae.”
“Wait, I’ll take you there—.”
“No. Gerald is here.”

Gerald was in another room, speaking with an official.
Since he had come with me anyway, we could simply return together.

Admiral Ekellan shook his head and rose from his seat.

“Still, I should—.”
“Demian will go with Gonzanim.”

Admiral Ekellan faltered.
Demian was certainly acting strangely now.
He was not a child who would normally lose his composure and become so agitated.
Rather, the problem had always been that he seemed excessively devoid of emotion.
‘But separate from that.’

“Demian, apologize to Sae.”
“….”
“You said something you shouldn’t have. Acknowledge your mistake and ask for forgiveness properly.”

Demian remained silent, his head bowed.
He only gripped the worn cloth tightly in his hand.

“What are you clutching so tightly?”

Admiral Ekellan, examining what lay in the child’s grasp, froze.
It was a child’s scarf.
An old one at that.

My heart sank before I could even think.

“…It’s the scarf that child was wearing.”

Admiral Ekellan heard those words while rigid and barely breathing.

“It was discovered in the Besladun Forest.”

Admiral Ekellan’s face drained of all color.

Besladun Forest.
If it was discovered there, the probability was overwhelmingly high that—.

‘That child… was d-dead….’

Admiral Ekellan couldn’t think further and staggered backward.
Desperate to deny the reality before him, he asked urgently.

“Are you certain? Is this really the scarf that child was wearing?”
“…It matches my recollection.”
“Who found it? Where? How?”
“I came before the full report arrived. I thought this was news you were waiting to hear, Admiral.”

Demian’s eyes were filled with resentment as he spoke.
Only then did Admiral Ekellan understand why Demian had said such things.

‘…It’s my fault.’

Admiral Ekellan squeezed his eyes shut.
He had wounded both Demian and Saelika.

That was when it happened.

“Even if I’m not good enough, can I help?”

Saelika tugged at Admiral Ekellan’s sleeve.

“I want to help find Gonzanim.”
“…Sae.”

There was no hesitation in the child’s eyes.
Despite what Demian had said, which should have hurt her feelings, there was no trace of such emotion.

“Of course. Naturally.”

With Admiral Ekellan’s permission, Saelika turned to the Admiral’s Adjutant and spoke.

“Please summon him. Gonzanim Mummerni.”

Mummerni.
At those words, Demian flinched and looked toward Saelika.

“Mummerni’s shadow—be careful.”

When our eyes met, the child’s gaze narrowed.

* * *

Zaphrez gathered the documents upon hearing that Admiral Ekellan had summoned him.
He had been waiting for this moment.

‘My preparations are flawless anyway.’

Zaphrez hadn’t earned the trust of a meticulous child like Demian for nothing.
In matters like this, he was thorough to the end.

And just as Zaphrez had anticipated.
After examining the documents, Admiral Ekellan released a despairing sigh.

This scarf hadn’t been discovered by chance.
The Duke of Noishurael, as well as Admiral Ekellan and Demian, were each operating their own investigation teams.
It had been found during Demian’s investigation team’s search of the Besladun Forest.

Moreover, the investigation process and discovery process were recorded in meticulous detail along with evidence.
To a degree that would be nearly impossible to forge.

“I’ve searched the Besladun Forest several times myself, and so have the northerners….”
“It’s such a vast and dark region. Finding any trace of the Young Lady at this point is nearly miraculous.”

Zaphrez’s words were true.
It was a place where one wouldn’t find a single thread even after searching for a hundred years.

“It seems that Young Master Demian personally searched the forest—.”
“How curious! You managed to find all this?”

A clear voice cut through Zaphrez’s words.
Saelika, who had been reviewing documents over the Admiral’s shoulder, tilted her head in confusion.

“We need to document each step so it will be helpful for the next investigation.”
“Do you always do it this way?”
“…Previously, it was somewhat less detailed than this.”
“But why are you leaving evidence behind only this time? And what about Gonzanim’s scarf?”
“It’s not just this time. I was planning to do the same going forward.”

Zaphrez furrowed his brow and pushed his glasses up.

“The search has taken considerable time. Is it a problem that we’ve evolved toward keeping clearer records?”
“I was just asking.”
“I see. I felt you were finding fault. Perhaps the Sacred Maiden of Artemisia does not wish for the Young Lady to be found.”

Zaphrez chuckled inwardly.

‘Hmph, foolish beyond measure.’

Children might fall for such words, but he was far too experienced to be shaken by mere rhetoric.

‘I’m not sure why she’s here, but this works out perfectly.’

He could pin the blame on the Sacred Maiden of Artemisia for obstructing the search.
Then he could finally remove that thorn in his side from Demian’s presence for good.

“This is precious evidence we’ve found after years. With it, we could get closer to the Young Lady, yet the Sacred Maiden of Artemisia only nitpicks.”
“…”
“I’m curious about your motives.”

It was then.

“There are no motives to speak of.”

Demian spoke slowly.

“It’s a reasonable question to raise.”

Zaphrez looked at Demian in surprise.

‘Taking the side of the Sacred Maiden of Artemisia in this situation?’

“Yes, if we’re going to investigate based on this scarf, we need to be even more thorough.”

Admiral Ekellan nodded in agreement as well.

“Ha, well said indeed.”

Zaphrez quickly smiled and nodded along.
Things were unfolding in an unexpected direction.

‘But it hardly matters.’

No matter how I looked at it, the circumstances and evidence were flawless.
If they grew suspicious simply because it was too perfect, Saelika would only be tightening the noose around her own neck.

‘And with that backlash, she’ll earn the wrath of not just Demian, but Admiral Ekellan as well.’

What would happen to that adorable face if Admiral Ekellan and Demian suddenly turned against her?
The mere thought of it was delightful.

Zaphrez asked Saelika with a gentle expression.

“Well then, please feel free to ask any other questions you might have. I’ll answer anything with utmost sincerity.”

Saelika blinked her large eyes and shook her head vigorously.

“No need, mister.”
“…No need?”
“Yes!”

Saelika answered loudly.

“Big brother, listen to what mister said!”

‘Right, Enrik?’

Enrik: Yeah.

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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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