Youngest on Top - Chapter 14

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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 14

Of course, trainee priests are forbidden from sneaking about at night.
But not just wandering within the temple—slipping outside entirely?
The most likely explanation is—.

‘A secret meeting.’

Meeting someone in hiding.

‘I thought Ilay wouldn’t betray us and leave in the future.’

I can’t jump to conclusions just yet.

‘I need to catch them in the act myself.’

Having reached my decision, I rose onto my tiptoes and patted Dmitri’s back enthusiastically.

“Well done! Dmitri!”
“What, what is it. All of a sudden.”

Dmitri’s face flushed awkwardly.
Yet the corners of his mouth curled upward ever so slightly.

When someone accomplishes something, you have to praise them properly.
That way, they’ll perform well next time too.

“Dmitri is amazing!”

As my eyes sparkled with admiration, Dmitri’s shoulders puffed up with pride.

“Now you understand. My greatness!”
“Yes!”
“I’m far greater than that fool, after all!”
“That fool?”

Suddenly unsure who he meant, I stared at Dmitri with wide eyes.

“That… *cough*, *cough*!”

Watching him clear his throat so unnecessarily, I could guess the answer.

‘Ah, Ilay?’

Dmitri was really conscious of Ilay too.
Was this some kind of rivalry between children?
Watching the children grow, I felt oddly moved.

‘Youth, indeed!’

Answering him wasn’t difficult.

“Of course! Dmitri is the best! You’re so cool!”
“Hmph, don’t like me too much.”

Dmitri lifted his chin arrogantly.
What was he saying?

* * *

A late night when even the moon hadn’t risen.
Ilay quietly rose from his bed.
He slipped out of the Trainee Priest Quarters silently and skillfully, heading away from the Temple.

Upon arriving at the small village near the Temple, Ilay opened the door to a dilapidated hut.
The interior, thick with the smell of dust, held almost no furnishings to speak of.
On a bed made roughly from bundled straw lay a thin blanket, bulging slightly.
The blanket stirred, and a child’s face peeked out.

“Who…”

The pallid face bore clear signs of illness.
Yet even so, the child’s innate loveliness could not be hidden.
The child’s face bore a striking resemblance to Ilay.

“Stay lying down.”

Ilay approached the child and pulled the blanket back over them.
The child looked up at Ilay and offered a faint smile.
Ilay gently patted the child, his touch tender and careful.
He moved as though handling broken glass, with utmost delicacy.

“How’s your body feeling?”
“I’m fine.”

A lie.
The child’s face and body were drenched in cold sweat.
Fever-hazed eyes wandered past Ilay, drifting into empty space.

“You know, an angel came to visit.”
“Don’t say such things.”
“But the angel—”
“What angel!”

Ilay flared up with uncharacteristic anger.
Seeing the child freeze in shock, he exhaled a deep sigh.
His voice softened as he spoke.

“You won’t meet an angel for another hundred years. You said you wanted to see me become High Priest first.”
“No, that’s not it—there, over there…”

The child’s trembling finger pointed toward the corner.
Ilay’s gaze followed the direction.

“There really is an angel there…”

It was as though moonlight poured down for one person alone.
Golden hair that gleamed brilliantly even in the darkened room.
Eyes as clear and blue as a cloudless sky.
Plump, porcelain cheeks.
A face I had grown familiar with by now.

“…Sae?”
“Hi.”
“Why are you here…”
“I followed Ilay.”

Ilay’s brow furrowed.

‘Followed me? How on earth?’

The Artemisia Temple’s security was rather lax.
They were perpetually understaffed, and the temple’s chapel was open to anyone.
Of course, there were sacred barriers set up against intrusion, but any trainee priest could pass through without issue.
Even so, Saelika was far too young.

‘I don’t know how she got here, but…’

Ilay’s eyes turned glacial.
The secret he most wanted hidden had been exposed.

“Go back.”
“But…”

Saelika’s gaze shifted toward something behind Ilay.
Ilay furrowed his brow and blocked her view with his body, shielding his younger sibling from sight.
His low voice cut through the air sharp and cold as a serpent’s hiss.

“If you breathe a word about me or my sister to anyone, you’d better pray that being cast out of the temple now feels like paradise compared to what comes next—”
“Don’t be angry with the angel!”

The child grabbed Ilay’s arm and cried out.

“…I’m not angry.”

Ilay’s fierce demeanor melted away in an instant as he gently stroked the child’s head.
A tender touch that belied his previous menace.
His face bore a warm smile I had never seen within the temple walls.

‘So that’s Ilay’s true smile.’

Saelika gazed at that face intently.

“Excuse me, you are an angel, aren’t you?”

The child peeked out from behind Ilay’s back and asked.
Saelika startled and questioned in return.

“How did you know? (How did you find out?)”
“Pardon?”
“How did you know I’m an angel? (How did you know I’m an angel?)”

Ilay regarded the two children with an incredulous expression.
Yet both children appeared more serious than ever before.

“It’s obvious you’re an angel, sir.”
“This can’t be! (This can’t be!)”

As if struck by a thunderbolt from a clear sky, Saelika clutched her small head in both hands.

‘An angel, my foot.’

Ilay let out a quiet laugh internally.

Yes, his appearance resembled a cherub painted in the temple murals.
He admitted it.
But beneath that angelic face, wasn’t he harboring all manner of thoughts?
The other trainee priests might not see it, but Ilay saw through everything.

“Can a baby’s eyes see? (Can a baby’s eyes see?)”

Saelika tilted her head with a serious expression.

“I’m not a baby.”
“You’re a baby.”
“If I’m a baby, what are you then! You’re the baby angel!”

Sigh.
Ilay watched the children bicker with each other about who was a baby with a dumbfounded expression.
It was utterly absurd.

“What are you saying! I’ve lived much longer than you! (What are you saying! I’ve lived much longer than you!)”
“That’s not true! I’m your older brother! Right, hyung!”

My younger sibling grabbed Ilay’s arm and shook it back and forth playfully.

“No! Ilay, you know how dignified I am, right?!”

Saelika also grabbed Ilay’s arm and shook it back and forth.
To both children, it seemed like a monumental matter of pride.

Ilay looked down at the two children dangling from both his arms with an indifferent gaze.
The children’s eyes were earnest.

“You’re both babies.”
“How could you…!”
“How could you…!”

Both children looked up at Ilay with shocked expressions in unison.
Betrayal filled both my younger sibling’s eyes and Saelika’s eyes.

‘I can understand Teodor, but why is Sae looking at me like I’m a traitor too?’

Anyway, just looking at that made my anger fade away.

“I brought food for you, so let’s eat first. Sae, I need to talk to you separately later.”

Ilay focused on caring for his younger sibling.
After eating, the child soon fell into a deep sleep, exhausted.
Saelika watched quietly before asking.

“Is the child very sick?”
“…Yes. But he’ll recover soon.”

The latter part sounded like a vow he was making to himself.

Saelika looked around the surroundings.
No trace of parents was visible.
She discovered a few bottles rolling about in the dark corners.
It was easy to predict that the child was not receiving proper care.

‘The child’s condition looks too severe for him to overcome it alone…’

I could barely manage to halt the progression with medicine.

“Why won’t you tell the Temple Priests?”

The sacred power of a Temple Priest was precious.
Given the child’s condition, it would be difficult to cure him completely in a single treatment.
However, for a trainee priest of the Main Temple, they would immediately bring the child to the Temple and care for him.

“…I can heal him.”

His tone was quite stubborn.
A side of Ilay I had never seen before in all this time.

‘What circumstances could there be.’

Now that I thought about it, Ilay’s documents listed him as nobility.
But looking at everything, this was clearly not a noble’s home.

Saelika didn’t ask further.
Instead, she approached closer to the bed.
Ilay flinched, but when he saw Saelika examining the child earnestly, he relaxed his guard.

“What’s the child’s name?”
“…Teodor.”
“Teo, get better soon. Okay?”

Saelika spoke while gently rubbing the child’s forehead.

For some reason, it seemed as though his younger brother’s breathing became easier just from that.
Ilay mocked himself for the thought.
That couldn’t be right.
Perhaps he had grown sentimental because this was the first time someone other than himself had worried over Teodor like this.

But having someone other than himself look after his brother’s health and wish for his recovery didn’t feel so bad.
With her gentle touch, Teodor soon fell asleep.
Ilay quietly watched what Saelika was doing.

Despite being smaller than Teodor, Saelika somehow appeared skilled at caring for the sick.
The way she brushed back Teodor’s sweat-dampened hair and stroked his forehead seemed almost sacred, beyond her years.

‘What was I even thinking?’

Ilay turned his head in confusion.
Then he felt a gaze and looked to find Saelika staring directly at him.

It was an unusual gaze.
Her sky-blue eyes gleamed with striking clarity.
A face he had never seen before.

Overwhelmed by something indefinable, Ilay swallowed hard.
Slowly, Saelika’s lips parted.

In that moment.

Crash—!

With a deafening sound as if the door would shatter, intruders burst in.

“Huh, huh…”

Teodor, jolted awake by the commotion, shrank back with a pale face.
Ilay positioned himself protectively in front of his younger brother and Saelika.

“See? I told you he was here, didn’t I?”
“Boy. You came home—you should have said something, huh?”
“Your father owes us money, so you’ll have to pay it back. If you don’t, we might do something to that precious little brother of yours, understand?”
“We showed mercy by stopping you from being sold off, so you should be grateful to us.”
“Huh? There’s another family member? You’ve hidden her well all this time.”

The men who entered the house spotted Saelika and laughed wickedly.

“Wow, this one’s worth quite a bit, isn’t she? And unlike that sickly one, she looks healthy.”
“Talk to me. These children have nothing to do with this.”

Ilay pulled Saelika close and hid her behind him as he spoke.

The men burst into raucous laughter.
And the moment that laughter abruptly ceased.

Rip—!

With a tearing screech, Ilay’s body crumpled to the ground.
The men spat on Ilay as he lay sprawled on the floor.
Then the beating began.

“B-big brother…!”
“Don’t come!”

Ilay shouted harshly.

“Teodor, what did your brother tell you to do in times like this?”
“C-close my eyes, cover my ears, and count to a hundred.”
“That’s right. You promised your brother, didn’t you?”

Teodor looked at Ilay with wavering eyes before covering his ears and squeezing his eyes shut.

“Wow, look at this bastard’s toughness. He’s got the nerve to worry about something else?”
“It’s touching. I’m actually getting teary-eyed at this brotherly love.”

The men snickered and kicked Ilay.
Ilay didn’t resist.
He took their blows without uttering a single groan.
He had decided it was better to absorb their violence.

That was when it happened.

“Don’t hit Ilay! You bad people!”

At the sharp, defiant voice, Ilay’s head snapped up in alarm.
A small child was rushing toward him without fear, moving at full speed.

“Sae, no—!”

Ilay’s body buckled as the child’s head struck him.
Even so, he cried out toward Saelika.

“Don’t come…!”

These men were not mere debt collectors.
They were loan sharks connected to an organization that ran casinos in the city.

They showed no mercy, even to children.
Rather, the more defenseless and weak their prey, the more vicious their torment—and the greater their sadistic pleasure.
I could vividly imagine Saelika’s small frame being violated before these predators.

Just as Ilay gritted his teeth and rose to shield Saelika.
Flash.
Holy light gathered in Saelika’s small fist, clenched with righteous fury.

‘What? Light?’

The moment doubt flickered across Ilay’s mind.

Crack!

Saelika’s luminous fist struck the man’s lower jaw with devastating force.
The man’s jaw shattered as his body flew through the air, crashing into the corner with a sickening thud.
It was a perfectly executed Holy Blow.

“W-what is this…?”
“Hey, don’t mess around.”

The men exchanged bewildered glances at the unbelievable sight.
But their companion remained crumpled in the corner, unable to rise—his body only trembling with convulsions.
The men scowled and raised their fists toward Saelika.

“What are you trying to pull, you—”
“I told you not to hit her!”

Smack! Crack-crack! Smack!

The sacred fists made direct contact, bestowing blessings upon the men.
Purple bruises bloomed like stigmata, while blood and teeth scattered as evidence of miracles.
It was extraordinary holy magic—in its most physical form.

“Violence is bad! (Violence is bad!)”
“Aaah! Argh!”
“Don’t touch children! (Don’t touch children!)”
“Ugh! Cough!”
“Love peace! (You must love peace!)”
“P-please… stop. I-I beg you… spare me… ack!”

Ilay stared blankly at the scene unfolding before him.
It was a massacre.
A massacre was happening right here.

“Angel…”

From somewhere, a faint, wistful voice could be heard.
When I turned around, Teodor was gazing at Saelika with glazed eyes.
His cheeks were even flushed red.

‘That’s an angel?’

Crack! Crunch!
Craaaaaack!

Amid the gruesome sound of bones shattering rather than flesh tearing, holy light flashed brilliantly.

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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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