Youngest on Top - Chapter 270

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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 270

The young demon stared at Behemoth with an astonished expression.
An attendant emerging from Behemoth’s shadow spoke, gazing at Kaishurit.

“This is quite unexpected. That child entrusting the Kailum Crystal to another…”

The young demon’s tail poked at Kaishurit repeatedly.

“Hehe, is this what humans call the sleeping princess in the forest?”
“….”
“Come to think of it, they say the curse is broken by the hero’s kiss. Already received the kiss, and the curse—.”
“Cesare.”
“Haha, hahaha! That’s just what ignorant humans who know nothing think.”

The young demon, Cesare, quickly rubbed both hands together.
Behemoth looked at Kaishurit with clear displeasure.

“…I thought this was a deal where I had nothing to lose. But since I’ve already made the contract, I can’t back out.”

Behemoth sighed as he gazed at his own body, where the mark of the contract was visible.

“First, I need to fulfill the contract.”

* * *

The force that had been crackling and rejecting my hand suddenly vanished.

‘What’s going on?’

Whatever it was, it worked out well.
I moved into the gate without delay.
I could see Shuri collapsed on the far side within.

“Shuri?”

I quickly approached him.
I cradled his head on my knee and infused sacred power into him.

In that instant, a peculiar repulsive force erupted from my surroundings, blocking the sacred power.
When I intensified the force, the sacred power finally began to seep into Shuri’s body.

‘This repulsive force is exactly like….’

“Saelika?”

At that moment, Shuri opened his eyes.

“Are you alright?! What happened!”

Shuri, lying there and gazing at me quietly, smiled.

“…Nothing happened.”
“Nothing happened?! Then why are you collapsed! What is this energy flowing around you!”

The energy lingering around Shuri like an echo felt familiar.
And the traces as well.

“Don’t tell me… you made a contract with the Demon King?!”

Shuri didn’t answer.
Still just smiling.
My insides burned with anxiety.

“Why on earth!”

A contract with Behemoth always comes with a price.
I had a feeling I knew what he demanded from Shuri, and that made me even more anxious.

“…Tell me.”
“It’s nothing serious.”
“If you don’t tell me, I’ll ask him myself.”
“….”

After a long silence, Shuri sighed and opened his mouth.

“He asked me to bring you—the one who was kidnapped before—to the temple belonging to Parmanase.”

What…?
My head throbbed as if I’d been struck a heavy blow.

“Why would you…?”

The conversation we’d had inside the Gate flashed through my mind.

“If— I hadn’t been kidnapped from the start. Even if I had been kidnapped, if I’d returned to my family’s arms immediately.”
“Then— I would have been so very happy.”
“…Then.”
“But I had to experience all of it. It hurt terribly— hurt enough to kill— but.”
“…”
“Because I went through all of it, I am who I am now.”

Had I really said that?

“If you had defeated the kidnappers and lost consciousness, and Behemoth hadn’t intervened.”
“…”
“The Parmanase Priests would have arrived first.”

The Parmanase Priests had arrived at the scene first and taken my scarf and bracelet. If Behemoth hadn’t taken me away, they would have taken me instead.
If Behemoth hadn’t taken me, they would have taken me.

“…”
“Knowing you were the Perardin Noishurael Duke’s daughter, they would have monitored you thoroughly from the beginning. In this life, it would have been difficult for you to find the chance to escape to the Artemia Temple like you did.”
“…”
“Actually, I wanted to send you back to the Duke’s household. But you said no.”
“So— you made a contract with that monster to smuggle me out before the Parmanase Priests arrived? This curse is the price? You wagered your entire life for something so trivial?!”
“It’s not trivial.”
“That’s not all there is to it.”

Shuri spoke firmly.

“It was to protect you.”
“….”
“I’m glad I came here with you and witnessed your past.”
“….”
“Because of that, I learned that the Demon King could take you away from me. And I realized that’s what I can do for you.”
“….”
“I never understood why. Why I was cursed from the moment I was born.”
“That’s how—.”
“But the moment I saw your past, I understood the reason.”
“Don’t smile like that….”

Tears blurred my vision.
Yet despite that, Shuri’s smile was strangely vivid.

The curse that Behemoth himself carved into the soul transcends time and space.
Even if the curse were placed now, Shuri would have suffered from the moment of his birth—from his first breath.

The curse of Shuri that I had been sealing all this time.
That curse which had plunged his entire life into ruin was actually—.

‘It was all because of me….’

Yet this man smiles as if delighted.

“You fool. A curse born from a contract cannot be undone! No matter how hard I try….”

It was the moment I infused my holy power into Shuri’s body, knowing it would be futile.

“…?!”

I felt a force within Shuri’s body.
A power responding to my holy energy.
A power that pierced into the curse binding Shuri’s soul and created a gap—

‘It’s Artemia’s power.’

Why?

I saw the Kailum Crystal glimmering on Shuri’s chest.

‘Ah….’

A curse born from a contract cannot be undone.
That’s why no temple could ever break Shuri’s curse.
All the Sacred Maidens of previous generations had tried, but nothing worked.

‘But why was I able to seal it?’

When Shuri was young, why did he find the Kailum Crystal among all those sacred relics?
Without even knowing it was the Kailum Crystal.
As if he instinctively knew the power dwelling within it would save him.

Until now, I thought I could seal it simply because I was an angel.
I didn’t know it was a curse born from a contract.

‘But that wasn’t it.’

The Kailum Crystal I gave to Shuri.
And my blessing dwelling within Shuri.
These two things interacted and were inscribed upon Shuri’s soul along with the curse.

‘That’s why I was able to seal the curse.’

It was the same when Shuri found that shabby stone of unknown identity in the black market.
He was drawn to the power dwelling within his soul.

‘And that’s how we came to meet.’

If this present moment didn’t exist, then our past wouldn’t have existed either.
If we hadn’t made our choices for each other in the present, we would never have met in the past.

Time isn’t inherently linear.
Past, present, and future constantly interact and change one another.
Just as I, in the present, traveled to the past through the power of the bracelet my mother left behind and defeated the kidnappers.

“I don’t need to break the curse. I was fine with it as it was.”

Shuri in the present sacrificed his entire life to save me and allowed me to live the life I chose.
And I, having lived that life, sealed Shuri’s curse.

“No.”

So now.

“This time, I’m going to save you.”

* * *

Ilay regarded Saelika with a skeptical expression.

“So you’re saying the Crown Prince made a contract with the Demon King and pulled you from the past?”
“That’s why when I asked Misa who sent him back then, I didn’t know.”
“Because the Crown Prince made the contract with me in a future even further ahead?”
“Yes.”

Saelika nodded.
Ilay exhaled a long breath.

“The Demon King’s curse is terrifying indeed. Even receiving it now still affects the past, transcending time and space.”
“…Shuri experienced that entire curse and still chose to save me without hesitation.”

It was a statement laden with complex emotion.
Ilay paused and looked at Saelika.

“Because Shuri saved the past me, the present me was able to give him the Kailum Crystal and bestow my blessing.”
“…”
“Because I did that, the past me was able to meet Shuri in the black market. I could even seal the curse.”

My chest tingled, so I pressed my lips firmly together.
It felt like more than just destiny.
Because it wasn’t something someone else had decided—it was a past and future I had created myself.

That was when.

“What are you talking about?”

Ilay laughed.

“You met the Crown Prince in the black market? You mean when we were kids, right? I was wondering what you did while I was buying time, and you met that bastard?”

More sweetly than ever.

‘Hiii—!’

It was the moment Saelika hunched her shoulders.
With a knock, knock, the door opened.

“Angel.”
“Angel? That reckless one is an angel?”

The ones who entered were none other than Teodor and Hephastos.

“Perfect timing!”

Saelika rose with delight.
Even Ilay tempered her personality in front of her cute younger sister.

“The investigation results you mentioned that day have come back.”

The day of the Grand Sacred Maiden’s coronation.
I had received the recorded footage from my fathers, the High Priest, and the Elders, among others.
And I had entrusted Teodor with investigating the circumstances of that time.

“Just as you suspected, angel. Most of the victims who were attacked rapidly at the beginning were devout believers of Artemia’s temple.”
“So there was a reason the public opinion turned strange at the time.”

Hephastos picked up the conversation.
Teodor handed over the documents and explained.

“However, the people who transformed into demons are quite scattered. There’s no common thread.”
“Really?”
“We investigated whether they had any connection to Parmanase Temple, but they don’t.”
“Hmm….”

I examined the documents and fell into thought.

“Let me see what you’ve investigated as well, Hephastos.”

When the beastfolk arrived.
Seeing the sudden shift in public opinion toward Amelia, Saelika had requested Hephastos to conduct a tracking analysis.

“…Unfortunately, there aren’t any particular commonalities on this end either. I thought the Parmanase Temple branches might have manipulated public opinion.”
“….”
“Of course, it’s not like they didn’t manipulate it at all. There are quite a few posts written by Parmanase Temple branches. They hid it in three layers, but that means nothing to me.”
“But compared to the total posts, it’s only a tiny fraction. On top of that, supportive responses for Amelia came from all across the continent, not just specific regions.”

Saelika let out a deep sigh as she looked at the marked map.
The results were different from what she had expected.

“But!”

Hephastos spoke with a sly grin.

“There’s something strange. I did one more tracking analysis as a bonus—.”

Hephastos pulled out another document.

“It’s the reaction after you achieved final victory in the High Priestess selection tournament.”
“Why would that matter? All the reactions were favorable toward Sae. Given what happened, it would have been difficult to take Amelia’s side anyway.”

Ilay’s words made Hephastos nod.

“Right! It was a situation where it would have been difficult to take Ameba’s side. You could have faced backlash! In fact, all the mana network opinions were favorable toward Saelika. But?”

Hephastos pointed to a section of the document.

“The buzz volume was smaller than expected.”
“…!”
“Why would that be? The long-awaited High Priestess! Moreover, your final rival was exposed for cheating. She was even arrested for allegedly colluding with demons.”
“This should have been a time with more reactions than ever….”
“Yet there were fewer than before.”
“Could it be…!”

A thought struck Saelika, and she hurriedly flipped through the documents.
The reactions to the final selection tournament were marked on the map.
In a region completely reversed from the ‘Amelia support reactions’ she had seen earlier!

“…!”
“That’s right. It’s not people of any particular class, characteristic, or religion.”
“It’s by region.”

The moment I realized this, I called out to Anakin.

‘Anakin.’

Anakin: Got it.

Anakin’s power, the Eye of Omniscience, manifested.
A map of the entire continent appeared, with regions tainted by murk highlighted.

‘Don’t mark the minor details. Only show me the serious ones. Focus on the places I tracked before.’

Anakin: You really know how to work me hard.

‘And overlay this map with those marked areas.’

Anakin: How would you even survive without me?

Colors began to layer onto the map.

“…!”

I drew in a sharp breath.

“What is it?”

At Ilay’s question, I shared the Eye of Omniscience with him.
It was possible because we were both priests of Artemia.

“This is…!”

Ilay’s eyes widened sharply.
I nodded.

“Yes. It’s similar to the path we traveled while tracking the cult.”

Hephastos asked.

“What are you saying? A cult?”
“I’ve heard from my brother before that he was tracking a cult, but surely….”
“Wait. Are you saying the region where Amelia was protected is the same as the region where the cult members are?”

Understanding through the reactions around him, Hephastos’s face hardened.

“A cult… When Misa showed up, I thought they were servants of the Demon King, but they weren’t.”
“That’s right.”

They were serving Amelia.
Amelia was behind the cult!

“A minion of the Demon God….”
“…!”
“The beastmen called me a minion of the Demon God. Could that Demon God possibly be—.”

Parmanase?
Amelia was not the Sacred Maiden of the gods, but—.

‘A representative of the Demon God…!’

—————
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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