Youngest on Top - Chapter 161

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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 161

“If he merely upends the board, we should count ourselves fortunate. He could shatter it entirely.”

The Emperor spoke through gritted teeth.

Mikhail is an unpredictable force.
Yet simultaneously, he possessed formidable power.

Of course, there were plenty stronger than the still-young Mikhail.
One need look no further than his own blood—Grand Duke Neustein and Admiral Ekellan.

But they possessed something called common sense.
Common sense that Mikhail lacked.

“Yet surely with Admiral Ekellan and Prince Neustein in the current system, those two could restrain Prince Ekkelan—”
“No.”

The Emperor shook his head at the Attendant’s words.

“Mikhail Ekkelan is an uncontrollable time bomb.”

A bomb whose detonation conditions remain unknown, whose timing remains unknowable.
What could be more unsettling than that?

“Still, Your Majesty need not worry excessively, it seems.”

The Attendant sought to reassure the Emperor.

“Prince Ekkelan has apparently been quite affectionate toward the Sacred Maiden.”
“What?!”
“He appeared to cherish her greatly. According to those who observed them, they resembled siblings.”

Siblings.
Could any word be more unnatural when applied to Mikhail Ekkelan?
The Emperor fell into contemplation.

“…Could it be that Prince Ekkelan sought her out precisely because of the Sacred Maiden?”

I naturally assumed there had to be another purpose behind it.
The Attendant smiled and nodded.

“Yes, it appears he has taken an interest in the Sacred Maiden. So you can rest assured—.”
“That monster… taking an interest in a person…?”

It was unprecedented.
The Emperor’s complexion drained to an ashen white.

“This is catastrophic!”
“This is truly a grave matter.”

Duke Makandor also nodded with a grave expression.

“As Your Majesty says, this could overturn the entire board.”
“What do you mean by—.”

The Attendant looked at the Emperor and the Duke with a bewildered expression.
Wasn’t it fortunate that Prince Ekkelan had taken an interest in Saelika?
At the very least, he would treat someone he was interested in well, wouldn’t he?

‘In fact, Prince Ekkelan was said to have been kind to Saelika.’

But only the Attendant thought that way.

“This time, that Sacred Maiden will be in danger as well.”
“Abduction. Imprisonment. Coercion. Which of the three do you think will happen?”
“Well, all three could occur.”
“Wait, just a moment… Why would Prince Ekkelan abduct the Sacred Maiden?”

The Emperor answered the Attendant’s question definitively.

“That monster can do it without any particular thought—simply because he wants to.”
“….”

While the Attendant deliberated on how to respond, Duke Makandor added his thoughts.

“And one only shows such dedication to abduction if they’re interested. Why would he bother abducting someone he has no interest in?”
“….”

The Attendant was bewildered.
Why would he kidnap someone he was interested in?

“He will definitely kidnap her. Without question.”

The Emperor spoke with absolute certainty.

And at that same moment.
Maxina was saying something remarkably similar.

“He’ll kidnap her and lock her away. If Prince Ekkelan has taken an interest in someone, it’s certain.”

She was not alone in this assessment.
Empress Adelin nodded in agreement.

“He’ll confine her and threaten her. He’ll never let her go. Saelika will have no choice but to escape on her own.”

The Emperor and the two Empresses spoke simultaneously from different locations.

“At minimum, kidnapping, confinement, and threats. He will absolutely do all three.”

* * *

The Emperor and Empresses’ judgment was correct.
However, there was one thing they had overlooked….

Upon seeing Mikhail, Saelika froze.

‘Why is the kidnapper here?!’

—Mikhail had already committed the kidnapping, confinement, and threats.

Mikhail grinned widely at the sight of Saelika’s wary expression.
Her flustered reactions were amusing to him.

“What a coincidence. I never dreamed I’d see an apple here.”

It was clearly no coincidence—he had obviously come searching for her.
Dmitri immediately stepped forward to block Saelika’s path.

“Who the hell is this guy? Do you know him?”
“I don’t know him either.”
“Ah, what a shame. Not knowing him.”

Mikhail approached Saelika with a light, dancing step.

“Has my apple already forgotten me? That won’t do. I need to leave a deeper memory.”

His violet eyes gazed persistently at Saelika’s, as if trying to unravel them.
Just as his hand reached toward her cheek.

“That’s far enough, Prince Ekkelan.”

Edmund warned coldly.
Mikhail raised one eyebrow.

There was a very thin line near his neck.
A line created from sacred power.

‘Sacred magic.’

He instinctively understood that the moment he touched that line, he would be cut.
Mikhail’s eyes turned toward Ilay.

‘Very clean and quick technique. But.’

Crack—!
With a sharp bursting sound, Ilay’s sacred magic shattered.

“If you thought this cheap trick would work on me, I’m disappointed.”
“It was a warning. If I’d really wanted to kill you, I wouldn’t have used magic this weak.”

Mikhail laughed.

“Ah, is this it? Villains interfering with the protagonists’ happy reunion?”
“More precisely, stopping a villain kidnapper’s abduction.”

At Ilay’s words, Dmitri furrowed his brow.

“A kidnapper? What are you talking about?”

Only Ilay, Randel, and Kaiser—those who had been in the Kingdom of Bennayser at the time—knew about the kidnapping incident.
Saelika had kept it quiet because she feared the matter would spiral out of control if word spread.

Before Ilay could respond, a voice came from across the way.

“Mikhail.”

Admiral Ekellan approached from the opposite end of the corridor, his face rigid and stern.
Demian was at his side.

“Ah, how tedious.”

Mikhail grumbled.
As Demian drew near, he regarded his younger brother with a cold expression, whom he hadn’t seen in some time.

“You said the Southern Region would be more entertaining, yet you abandoned home. So why are you here?”
“Well, Father said it would be fun if I went south with him, but it wasn’t fun at all. So I had to wander about.”

Demian’s eyes twitched.
He and his younger brother, who chased only amusement, were fundamentally incompatible.

“But it’s fine now. I’ve found something incredibly entertaining.”

Mikhail grinned and pulled Saelika into an embrace.
Demian’s face contorted.

“Let go of her.”
“Oh? So what Barensya said was true. He said you were utterly smitten with the apple.”
“….”
“Seeing it myself is even more curious. The apple certainly is entertaining, I’ll admit.”
“I said let go. That was your only warning.”

At those words, Mikhail held Saelika even tighter.

“Are you jealous? No matter how hard you try to drive a wedge between the apple and me, it’s pointless. We share something incredibly special.”
“Jealousy can freeze to death.”

Demian was at a loss for words.
He simply wanted to defuse the bomb that had attached itself to Saelika.

“I apologize, and I met her in the desert like it was fate itself. In a place where it was hard to encounter even a single living creature, let alone another person, we found each other.”

Mikhail spoke in a romantic tone.
But shock flickered across the eyes of both Demian and Admiral Ekellan.

“You didn’t—.”
“Did you kidnap Saelika from the desert?”

Admiral Ekellan and Demian had no idea about the kidnapping itself.
But the two of them knew Mikhail well.

‘That bastard is more than capable of it!’

Sure enough, Mikhail spoke with a wounded expression.

“Kidnap? We just lived together as family for a while.”
“Family…?”
“Yeah, she looks like me, doesn’t she? I’m going to make her my little sister.”

Perhaps it was because of their similar shade of blonde hair.
Mikhail and Saelika standing side by side certainly looked quite alike.
At that fact, both Admiral Ekellan and Demian momentarily froze.

That was when it happened.

“What are you talking about? The Protagonist is my family!”
“That’s right, our youngest.”
“At least a kidnapper shouldn’t insist on being family.”

At the sharp responses from Dmitri, Edmund, and Ilay, Mikhail shrugged.

“It wasn’t kidnapping, we just had fun together. It’s natural for an older brother to have fun with his younger sister, right? Isn’t it?”

Mikhail asked Saelika.
Saelika let out a deep sigh.

“Why on earth did you come here?”
“To catch our apple, of course.”
“Why me?”
“Because you ran away saying ‘Nyah nyah, catch me if you can!'”
“….”

She must have conveniently forgotten about destroying the building and fleeing.
Saelika was utterly exasperated.

“And I have a gift for apple too.”
“I won’t accept it.”
“You’re refusing without even checking what it is?”
“Randel Father said I shouldn’t accept gifts from criminals.”

Just as Saelika, pouting stubbornly, tried to pull her arm free from Mikhail’s grasp—

“I was wondering why I wanted to return so quickly. A little bug has crawled in.”

A voice emerged as if dredged from the depths of an abyss.

Kaiser.
He approached, radiating tremendous killing intent.
His crimson eyes, surveying the situation, came to rest on Mikhail’s arm wrapped around Saelika.

“I should have drilled a hole through that head back then.”

Anyone watching would have mistaken him for a demon from hell rather than a Holy Knight.
Mikhail retreated with an “Oops,” overwhelmed by the surging killing intent.

“I should be going. I’ve found something entertaining, and I’m not quite ready to die yet.”

Mikhail’s form began to fade.
Before vanishing entirely, he whispered into Saelika’s ear.

“See you again, apple.”
“I don’t want to.”

Mikhail smiled.
The next moment, he disappeared without a trace.

“What the hell is that guy doing?”
“Ilay, what do you mean by kidnapping?”

Amid the commotion, Saelika clenched her fist tightly.
A note rustled inside her palm, though she hadn’t unclenched her hand once.

Enrik: Aren’t you going to look?

‘If I read the note here, all hell will break loose.’

Just then, Demian approached her.
He gazed at Saelika quietly for a long moment before opening his mouth.

“…What exactly did you do with that guy in the desert?”
“Huh?”

Demian clenched his fists tightly.
This was absolutely not jealousy speaking.
He was simply concerned about what that troublemaker might have done.
What was so significant about meeting in the desert anyway?

“We ate something delicious together and I received clothes and jewelry as gifts. It wasn’t too bad.”

Saelika presented the situation in the most favorable light possible.
After all, Mikhail was Demian’s brother, wasn’t he?

‘I shouldn’t speak ill of family.’

Yet something felt off.
Demian’s expression grew even more rigid.

“…How did you two happen to meet?”
“We got lost in the desert and ran into each other while wandering.”
“…I see.”

Demian turned away.
So, piecing together what Saelika said…

‘That bastard Mikhail rescued Saelika, then clothed her, fed her, put her to bed, and showered her with gifts.’

Truly, he was her savior!
But what had been her first meeting with Demian like?

‘…It was the worst.’

Demian’s face was sculptural, perfect and cold.
Beneath that face, Demian sank into deep anguish.

‘So that’s why she’s never asked me to play catch with her?’

His shoulders drooped slightly.
Demian’s shoulders sagged a little.

‘What’s wrong with him?’

Saelika tilted her head, noticing Demian’s slightly sagging shoulders.
Then she realized with an ‘Ah!’

‘Mikhail is Demian’s biological younger brother, and he talked to me more than his older brother whom he hadn’t seen in so long!’

Saelika made a resolution.

‘Next time, I should make Mikhail leave and help Demian become closer to me.’

And so the suffering of Mikhail and Demian was set in motion.

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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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