Youngest on Top - Chapter 21

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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 21

Roana’s face flushed crimson.
Beyond her embarrassment, seeing the child looking down at her with mockery ignited a fury that surged within her chest.

“That’s not true! When did I ever get angry with you? You’re the one who’s been tormenting me!”
“Eek….”

Saelika whimpered in fear and clung to Randel’s embrace.

“This is ridiculous! You’re putting on an act right now, aren’t you?”
“Roana.”
“Randel, she’s truly a wicked child! She’s faking it right now!”
“Didn’t you say you were worried about Sae?”
“I’m saying this because I’m worried! She’s already so corrupted at such a young age—!”
“If you truly were worried, you wouldn’t be intimidating a child who just experienced violence.”
“That, that’s…!”
“Don’t be angry with Roana! You can’t be angry with her!”

Saelika tugged at Randel’s collar as she cried out.

“Roana’s right. Sae did something wrong.”
“Sae?”
“…If you take Sae’s side, Sae will get in trouble later.”

At her hesitant words spoken in a small voice, Randel’s expression darkened.
He pulled Saelika closer into his arms.

“R-Randel….”

Roana reached out toward Randel before flinching back.
The gaze he fixed upon her was as sharp and cutting as a blade.

“I think it would be best if you returned to the Trainee Priest Quarters, Roana.”

Roana nodded silently without a word.

She stepped out of the room and gripped her skirt hem tightly.
Sorrow, indignation, and resentment churned within her.

‘How could she do this to me! How could she!’

That wretched girl and she were worlds apart from birth!
It was all because of that lowborn creature.
How cunning and deceitful she was!

‘Just wait. I’ll make sure to repay what happened today!’

She had no desire to return to the Training Room.
Besides, Edmund wasn’t even there.
Roana turned her steps toward the dormitory instead of the Training Room.

* * *

Evening time.
Edmund finished dinner with the adults in the Main Building and headed toward the Trainee Priest Quarters.

‘How tedious.’

Writing reports and briefing the Temple Priest about volunteer work was an exceedingly bothersome task.
Though he would leave this place in a few years anyway, it was better to stay in the adults’ good graces until then.
Acting properly and maturely like this was exhausting.

‘If I were in the Trainee Priest Quarters, I could do whatever I wanted.’

It would have been self-study anyway, obviously.

When he arrived at the Trainee Priest Quarters, children were scattered about everywhere.

‘What’s going on here?’

It was natural for children to be playing during meal time, but something felt off.
It didn’t seem like they were simply playing—.

“Ugh… I can’t move a single finger.”
“But you still need to eat! You have to eat to survive tomorrow!”
“Tomorrow… will it come? Must tomorrow come…?”

Somehow, it felt like I was dying.

Edmund found it odd but passed by without concern.
It had nothing to do with him anyway.

What bothered him was something else entirely.

‘Why are those two together?’

Dmitri and Ilay were together.

Dmitri was undoubtedly the leader of the trainee priests.
Ilay had a reputation as a quiet but commanding presence.
But in reality, it was he who shaped the atmosphere.
Edmund wondered how such a young child possessed such cunning.

The important thing was that those two never mixed, like oil and water.
Edmund found that quite satisfactory.

‘If they teamed up, it would become troublesome.’

Even among children, there existed a balance of power.
Edmund didn’t particularly involve himself in that.
He had no desire to associate with inferior beings.
Even without his involvement, there were those who naturally followed him.

But if those two became a team, things would be different.
It would be a problem if his influence diminished any further.

Edmund approached Ilay and Dmitri.
Ilay was carefully pulling something from his pocket.

‘What is he taking out? A note?’

Based on the attitudes of the two of them, it seemed something quite important was written on the note.
Dmitri was peering at it with an unusually serious expression.

‘What on earth could be written there?’

Edmund approached from behind the two of them.
Fortunately, there was a large tree nearby, so he hid behind it and secretly examined the note.
And what was written there was—.

‘…Scribbles?’

It looked like a drawing carelessly scrawled by a child.
Dmitri might do such a thing, but there was no way Ilay would handle mere scribbles with such care.
Then.

‘A cipher?’

Edmund’s eyes gleamed sharply.
He listened intently to the two of them conversing.

Dmitri let out a scoff and spoke.

“Hmph, making such a fuss over something this trivial.”
“If you’re jealous, just say so.”
“Ha! Why would I be jealous of you? Besides, he drew one for me too.”

Dmitri pulled out a drawing from his pocket.

“Look at this!”

Edmund’s brow furrowed.
The note Dmitri had just pulled out also looked like scribbles no matter how he looked at it.

“The drawing he gave me is much bigger! That means he likes me more!”
“Your eyes must be off. He used more colors in my drawing. That means he put more effort into it.”
“That’s not true! Bigger is the best! Honeybun respects me more!”
“Size means nothing without substance. It’s me that Sae is relying on.”
“….”

Edmund was at a loss for words.
So it wasn’t some important cipher or anything like that—.

‘…A drawing that commoner sketched?’

I was flabbergasted.
They were actually arguing over whose drawing looked better.

‘Have they lost their minds.’

That was when Edmund began to doubt the intellectual capacity of the two boys.

“Hey, stop sneaking peeks, would you?”

Dmitri turned around and spoke.
Edmund revealed himself without resistance.
Dmitri saw him and puffed up with pride.

“I get that you’re envious, but you shouldn’t peek. Of course! Even if you try not to look, you’d end up glancing because you’re so jealous!”

Dmitri pretended indifference while subtly showing off the drawing.
It was absurd.

“Why would I envy something like that?”
“Something like that?!”

Dmitri bristled.
Ilay chuckled and asked.

“Then why did you peek?”
“….”

I couldn’t answer.
To admit I suspected it might be some cipher was far too embarrassing.

“Looks like you really were envious after all.”

Having reached his conclusion, Ilay looked Edmund up and down.
His gaze was filled with superiority—utterly insufferable.
It was inevitable that the boy Edmund would bristle.

“Why would I envy scribbles that lack any artistic merit whatsoever? I could probably draw better with my feet.”
“Well, who created the artwork matters too.”
“Ha! The fact that some rude commoner girl drew it only diminishes its value further.”
“What…?”

Dmitri growled.
Edmund spoke with arrogance.

“That commoner hasn’t even learned proper dining etiquette.”
“But she eats so adorably!”
“Just this morning alone, she failed to properly grab cherry tomatoes and flung them off her plate four times.”
“So what!”
“And she hid seven mushrooms between her plate and bowl.”
“Good for her! I hate mushrooms!”
“She held her fork and spoon in both hands and alternated eating nine times.”
“….”

Something felt off the more I listened.
Wasn’t he being unnecessarily detailed?
As if he’d been watching her continuously….
Meticulously counting every single occurrence.

Ilay and Dmitri’s expressions grew subtle, but Edmund remained absorbed in his own words.

“That’s not all. During meals, there’s an 87.3 percent probability she gets food around her mouth.”
“….”
“Moreover, 70 percent of the time when she uses formal speech, she fails to properly end her sentences. Basic language etiquette is fundamental.”
“….”
“A girl with no dignity whatsoever—why would I ever—.”
“Wow….”

Edmund stopped speaking at the exclamation from behind him.
He turned around to find Saelika standing there with a look of disgust.

“Eddie, that’s creepy.”

The child who spoke stepped back one pace.
Like someone who’d just encountered a stalker.

“I only like Sae.”

Edmund was at a loss for words.
As if treating him like a stalker wasn’t enough, what was this?

“Like me? You like me? How did you even hear what I said?”
“Strong denial is strong affirmation, they say.”
“I would never—.”
“Why are you so interested in Sae? Sae has no interest in Edmund.”
At the cheeky remark, Edmund’s jaw went slack.

What?
This feeling of being rejected when he hadn’t even liked her?

Before he could properly process this unfamiliar sensation, Saelika declared firmly.

“Sae hates ugly things.”
“…What?”

Edmund stared at Saelika with a dumbfounded expression, his usual composure completely shattered.
It was that shocking.
He must have heard wrong.
Because that statement essentially meant he was… ugly.

“That’s right! Honey-bread really only looks at faces!”

Dmitri shouted loudly.
Like a finishing blow.

“She follows Ilay around because of his face! She doesn’t care about personality at all! Not one bit! No matter how terrible someone’s character is, as long as their face is handsome, that’s all that matters!”

Ilay’s expression became subtle.
Whether this was an insult or praise.

Saelika also looked at Dmitri with an expression that said, “What on earth is he talking about?”
When had she ever followed Ilay around because he was handsome?

“And I hate weak men too! Right?”
“Yeah, well…. Since I’m Artemia’s trainee priest, if they’re weak I do want to beat them….”
“See? You get it? Honey-bread really, truly, absolutely hates weak and ugly men! Despises them!”

Edmund’s expression darkened.

‘…Why is he saying that while looking at me?’

There were countless things I wanted to question.

“So naturally, I who am strong and handsome!”

Dmitri thrust his chest out confidently.

“Must be the most liked!”
“….”
“….”
“….”

So this entire speech was for that.
The eyes of the three children, excluding Dmitri, turned cold and sharp.

Edmund turned his body away.
If I stayed any longer, I’d feel like an idiot myself.

“So the ugly and weak man admits defeat and disappears.”

Edmund ground his teeth.

“I’m only leaving because dealing with you lot makes me feel like I’m lowering my standards.”

The moment the words left my mouth, I regretted them.
There was no need to get heated over something so pointless.
It only diminished my own dignity.

I left without looking back.
I would pay them no further attention.
Never again.

* * *

“Edmund? What’s wrong?”

At Roana’s words, Edmund raised one eyebrow slightly.

“What do you mean?”
“Well, you were standing in front of the mirror for quite a while.”

Me, standing in front of the mirror for a while?
Of course, if I’m being honest, I am currently positioned in front of the mirror.
But this is purely coincidental—I’m simply standing here because I want to be in this spot.
I may have been looking at the mirror, but that’s unavoidable when one has eyes.
It’s only natural to visually perceive objects in front of me unless I close my eyes.

Just then, the boys standing nearby spoke to Edmund with obvious envy.

“The mirror’s definitely worth looking at. If I had Edmund’s face, I’d spend every moment staring at it except when eating and sleeping.”
“Yeah, you must love looking in the mirror every time.”
“Right. It must be thrilling every single time. How does it feel living with such a handsome face?”

Edmund dismissed the children’s words with a wave. “Pointless nonsense.”

Indeed, objectively speaking, I am undeniably handsome.
Incomparably so compared to that Dmitri or Ilay.
An aristocratic and elegant aura was something those commoners simply lacked.

‘Hmph, that commoner truly has no discernment whatsoever.’

It was a conclusion as obvious as it was inevitable.

“Edmund, listen. You won’t believe what that lowborn did to me today.”

Letting Roana’s words go in one ear and out the other, Edmund slowly traced his jawline.
The children around him gazed at him as though entranced by that single gesture.
It was as good as proven that the foolish brat’s words were wrong.

“….”

Yet somehow, my gloomy mood refused to lift.
It shouldn’t matter what that commoner thought of my appearance.
But it seemed to bother me precisely because a mere commoner had dared to judge my face.

* * *

At that same moment.
Dmitri was wielding his sword instead of returning to his quarters.

His subordinates, who had been following him with their own swords, were already exhausted and collapsing.
The training alone with Saelika during the day had been overwhelming.
The children gazed at Dmitri in admiration.

“The captain is truly amazing!”
“The strongest and most handsome in the world!”

Dmitri rested his sword across his shoulder and turned to regard his subordinates.

“You think so too, don’t you?”
“Think what?”
“That I’m strong—well, that’s obvious since even that blockhead acknowledged my strength. And I’m the most handsome, right?”

Dmitri’s followers nodded enthusiastically.

“Of course the captain is the most handsome!”
“Manly! Dignified! Magnificent!”
“And the tallest too!”

Dmitri let out a satisfied huff and lifted his chin proudly.
Ilay, who had been reading a book in the corner of the garden, looked up with an expression of utter disbelief.

“At least Sae followed me around. To see my face.”
“She became close to me before she followed you! Why do you think she became close to me first? Because I’m the most handsome and the strongest!”
“That’s right, that’s right!”

Dmitri’s subordinates nodded in unison.
Watching this spectacle, Ilay found the entire situation childish.

‘What am I even doing here with these children.’

But oddly, I couldn’t bring myself to yield.

“Did Sae say directly that he was handsome?”
“That, well…!”
“Sae said it to me directly.”
“Speak properly! He only came to see because Derrick said he was handsome!”
“If he wasn’t disappointed, then he agreed with Derrick’s words, didn’t he?”

Even as Ilay said this, he found himself troubled in the back of his mind.

‘…He wouldn’t have been disappointed, right?’

I had no idea why I was even concerned with such things.

Save for the three boys lost in contemplation, it was a remarkably peaceful evening.
The children, having exerted themselves thoroughly, caused no trouble as before and fell fast asleep the moment night fell.
So no one could have anticipated it.

“Fire!”

That this peace would shatter like a candle before the wind in an instant.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————