Youngest on Top - Chapter 236

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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 236

A room where time had frozen in place.
The child had grown tall and returned.
Spanning a vast expanse of years, the family had finally become one.

The night was deep, yet no one slept.
Soft, gentle voices filled the moonlit room with warmth.

“So I saw the past. Or experienced it, rather. …Mother saw it too.”

The word “mother” sounded unfamiliar on her tongue, and Saelika’s cheeks flushed slightly.
Perardin Noishurael Duke brushed aside the strand of hair that had fallen across her cheek.

“There’s no one else in this world quite like your mother.”
“Yes, truly…”

Saelika trembled as she recalled the Duchess, radiant with blood splattered across her, laughing brightly.
She had no choice but to laugh nervously, genuinely terrified just thinking about it.
The Duke nodded.

“Yes, she was truly a perfect woman.”

What?

“Even before I knew you were my daughter, seeing you reminded me of your mother. You resembled her so much.”
“…R-really?”

Admiral Ekellan added from beside him.

“Your kindness, your considerate habits, the way you always look out for those around you before yourself. You inherited all of it from your mother.”
“…”

Saelika regarded the Duke and the Admiral with an ambiguous expression.
Both of them gazed at her with tender, wistful faces.
Demian and Mikhail wore the same expression.

‘…No matter how I look at it, their memories seem less embellished than outright distorted.’

The Duchess’s vivid image flashed before me—how she had scolded me like a dog for being careless with the child.

‘…Well, even so.’

It wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.
No, truthfully, I felt quite good about it.

‘I see. I take after Mother.’

Saelika giggled softly.
The Duke, watching her, reached out and gently stroked her hair.

“Thank you for coming back to me.”
“…”
“Thank you for being healthy and safe.”
“…”
“I will never lose you again.”

His hand moved from her hair to pat her back with utmost care.

“It’s late now. You should sleep.”

He intended to watch over her until she fell asleep, and even after. To continue gazing upon this precious child—it was nothing short of a miracle.
A treasure so dear that even placing her in one’s eye would cause no pain.

Saelika looked up at the Duke with a bewildered expression.

“Sleep here?”
“…If the room is uncomfortable, I can prepare another—”
“No, I need to go back.”
“…!”
“Everyone is waiting for me.”

Saelika sat up.

“Randel said I should sleep at home. He worries when I stay out.”

Thump!
It was a thunderbolt from a clear sky.
While Perardin Noishurael Duke and the four men froze in place, Saelika had already finished preparing to leave.

“S-Sae, this is your home after all….”
“I’m really late. I should go now. See you next time!”
“W-Wait!”

The four men reached out their hands belatedly.
But the door had already closed.

Perardin Noishurael Duke rose from his seat.

“Follow her.”
“But if she’s going to her ‘home,’ how can we….”

In other words, Saelika did not consider this place her home.
It was an obvious yet painful truth.
Perardin Noishurael Duke clenched his empty fist tightly.
Admiral Ekellan stopped him.

“If you force her back, she’ll only resent you more.”
“I have no such intention. I simply want to ensure she arrives safely… that’s all.”

Admiral Ekellan sighed as he saw the Duke’s eyes burning with anguish.
How could one possibly stop him?

That was when it happened.

“Seeing how sluggish your movements are, perhaps it’s time to relinquish your ducal title?”

Mikhail, who had finished preparing to leave, stood at the doorway and made a treacherous remark.
Demian spoke from beside him.

“If you’re not going now, we’ll head out first.”

Thus began the stalking of the four men, who were said to be the empire’s greatest military force… or rather, their covert escort.

* * *

The next day.
After finishing my morning prayers, I spoke with Ilay.

“The highest-tier magic was layered five times over? Is that even possible?”
“Perardin Noishurael Duke said it, so it’s certain.”
“Wow, so that was actually possible.”
“If the caster isn’t human, it’s entirely feasible.”
“…!”

A flicker of realization crossed Ilay’s eyes.

“It seems Misa cast the spell directly after moving me to the orphanage.”
“If he used demonic power, the priests would sense the corruption, so he deliberately used magic instead.”
“That orphanage was regularly visited by Parmanase priests.”
“It’s highly likely that Misa’s contractor isn’t the Parmanase Temple.”

It made sense.

‘Then who on earth could it be?’

Ilay continued.

“In any case, it’s now clear why we couldn’t uncover this until now. Even a highly skilled mage or tracker would have difficulty penetrating five layers of highest-tier magic.”
“Detecting it in the first place would have been nearly impossible. There’s even concealment magic cast by the Demon King layered on top. I knew Mikhail was remarkable, but this exceeds my imagination.”
“Thanks to that, the Duke discovered you were his biological daughter.”
“Mm….”

I nodded quietly at Ilay’s words.
Being called the Duke’s biological daughter still felt somehow embarrassing.

“By the way, how did Shuellina come to possess that bracelet?”
“Nothing has come out of the interrogation yet, it seems.”

Shuellina was imprisoned for her deceptive acts.
It was unprecedented for a Sacred Maiden, who possessed immunity as a living saint, to be locked away in prison.

“Did you find any other clues from the past?”
“The perpetrators’ descriptions weren’t particularly helpful… Oh.”

When I was kidnapped, I lost far more than just a bracelet.

‘The lace scarf I was wearing that day.’

“The scarf came loose and fell when I resisted the kidnappers.”
“A scarf? Surely not…!”
“Yes, it was the scarf Zaphrez had been holding.”

Zaphrez was once Demian’s aide.
The very man who placed a cursed blade in young Demian’s hands and pushed him into an endless abyss.

Zaphrez had reported to Demian that he’d discovered my scarf in the Besradon Forest.
It was, of course, a lie.
Uncovering that deception brought Demian and me closer together.

“The same person must have taken it.”
“Right, there’s no way they’d leave the scarf behind while taking the bracelet.”
“And Zaphrez was—.”

My gaze and Ilay’s collided in the empty air.
We spoke simultaneously.

“—a puppet of the Parmanase Temple.”

Puzzle pieces that had been gathering, bit by bit, over the years.
They were finally fitting together.

“After Misa took you away, the Parmanase Priest arrived at that location.”
“The Duke’s knights said there were only traces left when they arrived. Parmanase collected the things I’d dropped and even cleaned up the kidnappers.”
“Arriving faster than the knights and deliberately disposing of the kidnappers… This is—.”

I swallowed hard.

“Parmanase orchestrated my kidnapping.”
“….”
“….”

All those long years.
All those countless people who suffered.
The root cause was entirely the Parmanase Temple.

“Did the kidnapping fail because of that bastard Misa?”
“Then why did the Parmanase Temple take you to an orphanage they sponsored?”

Unanswered questions still lingered.
But one thing was certain.

“The Parmanase Temple kidnapped me, used my belongings to shake the Perardin household, and even fabricated a fake daughter.”

All of it was for one purpose—

“To make Amelia the High Priestess!”

The air in the room rippled.
Ilay’s honey-colored eyes gleamed with sharp intent.
He smiled.

“We can’t let that happen.”
“Right, I’m naturally good at taking people down anyway.”
“Exceptionally good.”

We faced each other and grinned wickedly.

“What about the mission results?”
“Here.”

Ilay handed over the Manashell as if he’d been waiting for this moment.
The previous mission results were displayed there.
My eyes widened in surprise.

“Oh, Nelije passed? That’s unexpected.”
“You deserve the credit. After ‘that incident’ happened and Nelije appeared, naturally the votes would concentrate on her side. Nelije is a priestess under you, after all.”

The Valotel Temple had been subordinate to the Artemia Temple long ago.
Naturally, Nelije was a priestess under my authority.

“As expected, I passed too.”
“The mission criteria wasn’t about sealing the monster in a barrier. It was about who received the most votes.”

I nodded.
I’d anticipated that once it was revealed Shuellina had injected monster blood, the votes would naturally swing heavily in my favor.

‘The destruction of the recording artifact I’d prepared was unexpected, though…’

When I returned to the stadium, the fact that so many votes had already accumulated on my side was also unexpected.

‘I never imagined the Duke would have attached a surveillance artifact to Shuellina.’

Ilay spoke.

“He must have put considerable effort into making Shuellina the Duke’s daughter, but it completely backfired. Parmanase must be seething right now.”
“Right, they won’t just sit idle.”
“We should prepare ourselves too.”
“No, preparation alone won’t be enough.”

I clenched my fist tightly.

“I’m going to strike first.”

Of course, it would be foolish to accuse a massive temple like Parmanase without clear evidence.
Especially now, while I’m competing with Amelia for the position of High Priestess, one wrong move could backfire on me.

Ilay, who understood this well, looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“You’re not going to report them immediately, then. How would you—ah.”

He nodded as if he’d figured it out.

“Right. You’re now the Duke’s daughter of Noishurael. The noblest bloodline aside from the direct imperial family.”
“Ah, that’s right. Everyone will be fawning all over me then?”
“…Wasn’t that what you were planning to use? All sorts of nobles will want to form connections with you.”
“Well, but it hasn’t been announced yet.”
“You’ve been unconscious this whole time. If we push for an announcement, the Duke’s household would be thrilled.”
“That method could work too.”

I pulled out a piece of stationery from the drawer.

“First, I need to make good use of the connections I have.”

I smiled wickedly.

* * *

Perardin Noishurael Duke’s residence.
The grand and solemn mansion was shrouded in an even heavier atmosphere than usual.

“This is a serious matter.”

At Perardin Noishurael Duke’s words, Admiral Ekellan, Mikhail, and Demian nodded with hardened expressions.

“Ever since she returned to the temple, I haven’t been able to see that child at all…!”

That day, after Saelika returned to the temple like that.
Until now, I haven’t properly seen even a single strand of her hair.

Well, I did catch a glimpse of her from a distance.
But how could I claim to have seen her when we never even made eye contact?

“It’s difficult to infiltrate inside the temple branch.”
“If only that Kaiser fellow weren’t there, we could manage something.”
“With the High Priest holding the line too, there’s simply no opening.”
“Why are they deploying anti-demon holy magic circles? Are we demons?!”

The butler, listening to the four men’s outcries, chuckled softly and calmed them down.

“It’s only been two days. Let’s wait a bit longer.”
“Only?”
“Just two days?!”
“Did he just say only?!”
“And he’s telling us to wait here?”

At their frantic rush toward him, the butler closed his mouth glumly.
This time, the Aide stepped forward.

“Haha, you must have quite a lot to attend to after being bedridden for so long. After all, you are the Sacred Maiden.”
“…That girl is certainly an exceptional Sacred Maiden.”
“She’s truly worthy of being a great Sacred Maiden.”
“But how much longer must we wait?”

Mikhail cried out irritably.
His tone was uncharacteristically anxious.

“…I’ve told Protagonist countless times that I don’t need a younger sibling.”
“…”
“What if she’s not coming because I said I didn’t need her…”

A heavy silence fell over the room.
The Aide who had spoken bit his tongue in the suffocating air.

That was when it happened.
The door burst open without a knock.

“Your, Your Grace!”
“What is it?”
“The, the Young Lady!”

At the mention of the Young Lady, Perardin Noishurael Duke shot to his feet.

“Why is she—!”
“Did she collapse again?”
“We must go to the temple at once—”
“She’s throwing a party!”
“…!”

In that moment, the eyes of the four men changed.
They didn’t even ask for clarification.
Perardin Noishurael Duke immediately questioned the butler.

“The costume department?”
“I’ll contact them right away!”
“The jeweler?”
“We’ll prepare it!”
“Buy up all the blue gems that match that girl’s eyes.”
“Yes!”
“And find out what she’ll be wearing. Make it as similar as possible, so it looks like we’re family— oh, wait.”

Perardin Noishurael Duke raised his hand.

“I think it would be better if I gift her the dress.”
“Understood, Your Highness.”

What kind of man was Perardin Noishurael Duke?
He was someone utterly indifferent to propriety—a man who had never once concerned himself with dress codes even at the Emperor’s own galas.

Yet no one found his actions strange.
After all, it was his youngest daughter’s party.

Meanwhile, the footman who had delivered the message stood fidgeting nervously.

“What’s wrong?”
“Y-Your H-Highness….”
“Where is my invitation?”
“Ah, well, you see, that is….”
“…?”

Perardin Noishurael Duke regarded the footman with a puzzled expression.

“I-I apologize, but no invitation has arrived.”
“What…?”
“The, the young lady… did not invite the four of you.”

Thud!
It was news that shattered the world.
Saelika, his own daughter, was throwing a party without inviting him.

In place of Perardin Noishurael Duke, who had turned to stone, Admiral Ekellan spoke up.

“Then who on earth did you invite?”
“Well, from what I’ve gathered… it seems many young men around the Young Lady’s age will be attending…”
“…!”
“…!!”

The four of us froze in place.

—————
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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