Youngest on Top - Chapter 299

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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 299

* * *

The moment I returned to the surface, I was taken aback by the sight before me.

‘What is this?’

A woman I didn’t recognize was clinging to Kaishurit’s side.
And that woman was….

“She’s a fake!”

A woman who looked exactly like me shouted.

“Father, she’s the fake!”

Amelia hurried over to Perardin Noishurael Duke and Admiral Ekellan.
Strike first, win first!
I had to move quickly before Saelika could grasp the situation.

‘So there’s another owner of the ring?’

Kaishurit had definitely figured something out.
In that case, it was safer to be near the Duke and Admiral than near Kaishurit.
They were men who would do anything for their daughter.

“I didn’t tell Father because I didn’t want him to worry, but the reason I disappeared today was actually because of that fake.”

Amelia lowered the corners of her eyes pitifully and clung to Perardin Noishurael Duke’s arm.

“I barely escaped from among the kidnappers, and she disguised herself as me to do something like this! I was so scared, Father!”

Amelia buried her face in Perardin Noishurael Duke’s embrace.
Behind her, she heard gasps of shock from the people around them.

“Kidnapped? Surely not…!”
“So you weren’t just late preparing for the ball?”
“Not only did you kidnap her, but you impersonated Saelika…!”

Saelika’s disappearance was naturally classified information.
The guests who first heard the news of her disappearance were bewildered.

‘Hehehehe, how is it?’

In Perardin Noishurael Duke’s arms, Amelia wore a triumphant smile.
In the end, people chose her.

‘Now if that man just changes Saelika’s appearance…’

Perfect.
People would think Saelika’s transformation magic had worn off.
Saelika would become a fake in an instant!

‘Of course, that clueless worm was always a fake to begin with.’

Glancing at Saelika, her mood improved even more.

‘Oh my, she’s quite flustered, isn’t she?’

Saelika’s face had frozen colder than ever before.
This was the first time I’d seen Saelika so enraged.

‘You understand now, don’t you? Your defeat!’

That expression was proof of Amelia’s victory.
Sure enough, the crowd erupted.

“How dare you disrupt the Sacred Maiden’s betrothal ceremony with such filthy tactics!”
“I didn’t fight through the competition to attend this ceremony just to see this!”
“I spent a fortune buying professional-grade magical recording equipment for today!!”

Hearing the voices condemning Saelika, Amelia smiled.
But something felt off.

“Reveal your true identity, you filthy fake!”
“Only Amelia would pull off something this petty!”
“You’re Amelia, aren’t you?!”

The crowd’s accusations were not directed at Saelika.
They were directed at me.

‘Why me…?’

Saelika hadn’t even offered a single excuse.
Yet all the angry glares and pointed fingers were aimed at me.

‘Why…’

Thud!
A sudden, violent shove sent me stumbling to the ground.

“F-Father…?”

I couldn’t believe it.
Did Perardin Noishurael Duke just push me?

‘Perardin Noishurael Duke is supposed to be wrapped around my finger now.’

But Perardin Noishurael Duke paid no attention to my shocked expression or my fallen form.
He simply removed his jacket coldly.

Whoosh!
Aura bloomed from Perardin Noishurael Duke’s hand, burning the jacket to ash.

“I cannot allow my daughter’s engagement ceremony to be tainted by something so filthy.”

The way he burned the jacket where I had touched it, as though it were contaminated.
His blue eyes looking down at me were colder than eternal snow.

‘Why…?’

I was the one who first spoke of the fake.
Saelika hasn’t said a word this entire time!

* * *

After Amelia, wearing Sae’s appearance, arrived at the venue.
The guests felt something was off.
They applauded and cheered when Sae finally appeared, but something seemed strange.

‘Did Sae ever smile so brazenly before?’

The way she smiled at Kaishurit was oddly cloying—unfamiliar.

‘Well, she might act differently in front of her lover, the Emperor.’

They rationalized it that way, but there were far too many strange things happening.

“How can you be so late? Are you deliberately making His Majesty anxious? Is this what you call playing hard to get?”
“Playing hard to get? How vulgar. That’s something only someone unpopular with men like you would need.”
“…What?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but Helene, you really need to learn some manners.”
“S-Sae?”
“It’s not Sae—it’s the Grand Priestess. A mere priestess of Reyatan who couldn’t even join the Octagon shouldn’t address me so casually.”
“….”

Helene was taken aback.
Eyrene and Zabelina, standing beside her, opened their mouths to smooth over the atmosphere.

“Um, Sae, Helene was just joking—.”
“Eyrene, Zabelina. The same goes for you. Address me as the Grand Priestess.”

Everyone was bewildered by Sae’s behavior.

“The Grand Priestess would say such things….”
“Was she always like this?”
“The Sae I’ve known all this time….”
“Perhaps the betrothal ceremony has given her much to think about?”

Just as a bride before marriage could become melancholic, the same could happen during a betrothal ceremony.
The guests tried to think charitably of her.

Saelika was undoubtedly the hero who saved this world and the Great Sacred Maiden.
Beyond that, she possessed the noble bloodline of two great houses—Noishurael and Ekellan.
And now she was even the Emperor’s fiancée.

I had no desire to speak ill of Saelika at her own betrothal ceremony.
Everyone deliberately held their tongues, choosing to think kindly of the situation.
But then.

‘I knew my suspicions were right!’

The excited crowd pointed their fingers at Amelia.

“Did you really think we’d be fooled just by copying her appearance?”
“I knew something was off! It was never Saelika’s style!”
“You’re Amelia, aren’t you? Only you would pull off something this despicable!”

Helene, Eyrene, and Zabelina’s voices rang out particularly loud.

“Hey, what did you say to me earlier? Huh?”
“I knew it! You didn’t call me Elele!”
“Our Saelika calls us Zabele, Elele, and Helele!”

…These three had somehow grown attached to the very nicknames they once despised.

‘That man…. The master…?’

Amelia’s gaze swept anxiously across her surroundings.
Soon she spotted the man’s figure among the crowd.

‘What are you doing?! Change Saelika’s appearance right now!’

Amelia glared at the man desperately.
He was the only key that could turn this situation around.
But.

‘Kaishurit…?’

Instead of changing Saelika’s appearance, the man approached Kaishurit.
Even bowing his head in the most respectful manner.

‘Could my master really have been Emperor Kaishurit?!’

“Without even repenting for your crimes, you escaped prison and dared deceive people by pretending to be the Sacred Maiden and daughter of God!”

The solemn voice of the Emperor resonated through the hall.
At the same time, I felt a force enveloping Amelia.
Her brilliant golden hair faded to a dull color, and her eyes, once clear as the sky, lost their light.

Returning to her true form, Amelia quickly grasped the situation.
Crack—her teeth ground together.

“You deceived me!”
“Deceived? I’ve always spoken only the truth.”

The man spoke with a smile.

“There are still many experiences ahead for someone like you, Amelia.”
“….”
“My master grieves deeply knowing that someone like you, Amelia, remains confined in that spire.”

The words of the man whose truthfulness I had verified myself.
Only now did I grasp their true meaning.

‘Did he mean I would have to endure something far more terrible than being trapped in the spire…?’

He had extended his hand to the trembling me only to plunge me into greater despair!
Now that I thought about it, it was strange from the moment Beatrix died and the escape succeeded.

Beyond misery, my blood boiled within.
How much had he mocked me while watching my elated self all this time!
And I never even realized it….

But that wasn’t the end.

“Ah, Amelia!”

Familiar faces hurried into the hall.
They were the Parmanase Priests.

“Is it true?!”
“That Amelia killed Beatrix?!”
“That’s not possible, is it? Amelia would never do such a thing.”
“We only thought of the two of you suffering humiliation and worked in secret for the church’s revival. It’s a lie, isn’t it? Right?”

Amelia was flustered by their unexpected appearance.

‘How on earth did they…?’

Amelia soon realized what had happened.
Remnants of Parmanase scattered across the continent.
Kaishurit had devised a strategy to capture them all at once.
Once the Parmanase remnants heard that Amelia had escaped, they would surely gather.

‘This cunning bastard…!’

Amelia glared at Kaishurit.
In the midst of ascending to the throne as Emperor and holding an engagement ceremony, he had devised such a scheme.
He was a man who was meticulous to the point of being terrifying.
Most of all—

“—I was nothing but bait…?”

And she had been completely played without even knowing it!
Kaishurit nodded slightly.

“Even filthy insects should be used if there’s a way to utilize them.”
“What?!”
“No matter how insignificant these vermin are, they can still bother my bride, so they need to be cleaned up thoroughly.”
“….”
“I want my bride to focus her attention only on me.”

Kaishurit’s eyes narrowed beautifully.
He was utterly insane.

While Amelia was at a loss for words, the Parmanase Priests cried out.

“Amelia, why won’t you answer me!”
“Even as apostates flooded in, we believed only in you, refused to yield to persecution, and remained devoted to the faith…!”
“How could you do this to Beatrix, who was like a mother to you!”

Even the Parmanase Priests began condemning Amelia.
Amelia’s body trembled as she clenched her fists.

‘Why does everyone hate only me?’

I was just trying to live earnestly.
And yet.

“Isn’t Beatrix your mother through sacred blood?”
“You killed your own mother!”
“You despicable, filthy murderer!”

Amelia covered her ears.
But the voices kept reaching her.
The voices that had followed her from within the spire.
She could vividly see the people gathered outside the hall spitting at her and cursing her.

“Stop, stop!!!”

Amelia, who had been thrashing about in convulsions, lifted her head.
In the midst of this, Saelika was surrounded by people.

Not only the Artemia Priests and Perardin Noishurael Duke and his son, Admiral Ekellan and his son, but also elves, dragon-kin, and beastfolk.
They all stood firm, protecting Saelika.
Seeing that sight, I couldn’t bear it.

‘Until just moments ago, that was my position!’

“Why, why! Only you…!”

Amelia’s body froze as she tried to rush toward Saelika in a fit of rage.
A powerful force constricted her breathing.

“Something filthy shouldn’t approach my bride.”

Kaishurit smiled softly.

* * *

Amelia and all of Parmanase’s remnant forces were dragged away.
Not only the guests gathered in the hall, but the countless crowds outside and even the people watching through the mana network were in absolute chaos.

Kill that despicable Amelia right now!
No, instead of killing her, she should live in agony until death!
She must pay for her sins even in death!
And so on.

Well, in conclusion, everyone’s wishes were fulfilled.
Being dragged alive into the Demon Realm was as good as death.
Moreover, even breathing in the Demon Realm would be torment for a human like Amelia.
And there was no way Misa would leave her alone there…

‘No, that’s not the important part.’

I crossed my arms and stared at Shuri.

“What just happened?”
“I didn’t plan to do it like this. I was going to handle it quietly, but you disappeared, and then Amelia wanted to impersonate you, so…”
“No, that’s not what I mean.”

I wasn’t complaining about an unexpected event happening at the engagement ceremony.
I scanned Kaishurit’s chest and arms with sharp eyes.

“Why were you holding Amelia?”
“…I wasn’t holding—”
“You two looked awfully friendly. Holding hands so tenderly?”
“No, that was restraint—”
“I thought you were getting engaged to Amelia instead.”
“…”

Kaishurit fell silent.
My family members beside me were clapping, saying he did well.

I stared at Kaishurit’s shoulders and chest as if trying to bore holes through them.
The moment I returned to the surface, the first thing I saw was Amelia touching Shuri’s shoulders and chest with sticky hands.

I was genuinely furious.
I wondered if this was what it meant to see red.

‘I haven’t even properly explored it myself yet!’

I was so heartbroken, wronged, and frustrated that nothing else crossed my mind.

“Why aren’t you answering? Did you want to be engaged to Amelia? If I hadn’t shown up then, would you have even let her put a ring on you? Even knowing I’m the one, why did you just proceed with the engagement ceremony?”

Even knowing how childish I sounded, my mouth wouldn’t stop.
How could he just hand over this precious treasure to some other woman!

“Because I knew.”
“…?”
“Even if my bride suddenly disappeared on the day of the engagement ceremony, I knew you would come back to me.”

Shuri gently grasped my hand.
Then slowly lifted it and placed it against his chest.
As if asking me to understand his sincerity.

“And you came to me like this.”

His golden eyes, swirled with azure and crimson light, gazed at me with utmost seriousness.
Meeting those eyes, my petulant heart somehow melted away.

I could feel Shuri’s sincerity.
Firm and warm and solid yet slightly soft—the texture felt really good… wait, that’s not it!

“But I’m feeling a little pleased.”

Shuri whispered to me.
For a moment, I panicked thinking my true feelings had been exposed.

“Because you’re jealous like this.”
“Je, jealous? That’s not—”

I mumbled awkwardly, but my family members interjected.

“Alright, that’s enough.”
“Back off, back off.”
“You cunning vixen, already using your body!”

I looked at my family members with reluctance.
Still, Shuri was the Emperor.
Shuri didn’t seem to mind whatever my family said.

‘Is he treating my fathers with some respect?’

As I tilted my head in confusion, the foreign princes spoke up.

“If you ever tire of that fellow, feel free to commission me for an abduction!”
“There will come a time when you feel one man is not enough.”
“After all, more husbands are always better, so contact us anytime.”
“Engagements are easy to break, after all.”
“Being an Imperial Empress is troublesome, so if you crave freedom, come to the desert. I’ll come to meet you.”

Terese, the Dragon-kin Princess, spoke with tears streaming down her face.

“Sob, Sae! I only hoped to become family with you! But the opportunity hasn’t completely disappeared! I’ll do my best!”
“Terese, restrain yourself. …Well, if Saelika wishes, she’s welcome to visit Dragon-kin territory.”
“You suit the battlefield as we Beast-kin do, so I’ll be waiting.”
“What are you saying? Unlike those barbaric Beast-kin, we Elves have a long connection with Saelika.”

Following the princes came the Dragon-kin, Beast-kin, and Elves.

‘I appreciate the sentiment, but is this really the kind of blessing one should hear at an engagement ceremony?’

As I stood bewildered, someone took my hand.
It was a man I’d never seen before.

“Enjoy your engagement period.”

But I recognized this man instantly.
The man who pulled my hand whispered into my ear.

“I don’t mind if my darling plays around with other men as much as you want.”

The man’s pupils suddenly became elongated slits.

“Behemoth.”
“See you again then, darling.”

The man’s presence faded as he winked.

‘I thought he’d be upset for a while, but he’s already gotten over it.’

Well, Behemoth had always been quick to sulk and quick to forgive.

“I’m the one who should be jealous.”

Shuri whispered.
His pouty expression was truly adorable.
I smiled and took Shuri’s hand.
The engagement ring on my ring finger gleamed.

The Former Emperor presented a golden pedestal with a beaming smile.
Upon the pedestal lay a covenant promising marriage.

Once I signed this covenant, I would become formally betrothed to Shuri.
Shuri’s past life and my regression.
Across all that time, finally.

I slowly wrote my name.
Reyarsha Saelika Noishurael.
It contained all the names those who loved me had carefully chosen for me.

When I lifted my head, my eyes met Shuri’s immediately.
As if he had never once looked away from me.

“Now you have to truly take responsibility for me.”

A smile blossomed at my lips at his whispered words.
Our lips met without either of us moving first.

“Waaaaaaah!”
“Congratulations on your engagement!”
“May blessings fall upon the Sacred Maiden and His Majesty the Emperor!”

Cheers erupted all around.
Bathed in the blessings of countless people, I opened my eyes and gazed at Shuri.

Looking back, my life had never once unfolded according to my expectations.
But in this moment.
Seeing our hands clasped firmly together and the tenderness in Shuri’s eyes as he looked at me, I could be certain.

No matter how my life unfolds from this point forward, it will be nothing but happiness.
As long as I’m with this man.

【The Youngest on Top】, Complete

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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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