Youngest on Top - Chapter 62

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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 62

“…Well then, I’ll have to bring a better gift next time.”

The Admiral’s violet eyes assessed the child carefully.
The child stared at him blankly, then shook her head.

“No. The more you give, the more it hurts.”
“…?”

I couldn’t comprehend it.
The more gifts given, the more it hurts?

“What do you—”
“Now then, it seems the Admiral’s gifts aren’t particularly desired.”
“This child is quite shy around strangers, you see. She dislikes things given by unfamiliar people.”
“Of course, since it came from the Admiral, we couldn’t possibly sell it or donate it, so we’ll gratefully accept it.”

The implication was clear—if they could, they’d sell or donate it elsewhere.

The priests who had handed the box to the Admiral’s servant rose from their seats briskly.

“Then we bid you farewell.”
“The Artemisia Temple is always open to the Admiral.”
“Though the Trainee Priest Quarters are not.”
“We look forward to seeing you again.”

Really? They didn’t seem to be looking forward to it at all.
The carriage they’d arrived in was waiting at the front of the Main Building.
It seemed they’d never even taken it to the carriage house.

“Ha…”

As I was practically shoved into the carriage, a hollow laugh escaped me.
Everything had been unexpected.

The Adjutant, who had remained silent beside the Admiral until now, finally spoke.

“The Artemisia Temple seems rather peculiar.”
“That brat’s predictions were all wrong.”
“Until now, they’ve all been textbook responses.”

That was true.
Everyone who approached with the blonde girl had behaved exactly as predicted.

But that child was nothing but wrong answers.

I thought she would approach without hesitation, yet instead she faltered.
Upon seeing the gift, her large eyes filled with wariness rather than delight.
Then in an instant, as if she understood everything, her expression softened with compassion, and she gazed at me with pity.
And she even said she preferred that shabby doll to the expensive one I had given her.

‘…What is that child?’

Admiral Ekellan rolled the apple in his palm.
It still gleamed with a lustrous sheen, bright red.
Now that I thought about it, that child’s cheeks had been that same rosy hue.

“My lord.”

The way she held out the apple with her cheeks flushed, her eyes full of expectation.
But that wasn’t the hope of wanting to become a daughter of the Ekellan family.
Rather.

‘You didn’t believe me, did you? Just wait. Let’s see what happens.’

—It was closer to that.

“—which is why the Imperial Palace contacted…. Admiral?”

The Adjutant called out to the Admiral.

Only then did the Admiral realize he hadn’t heard a single word the Adjutant had said.
The carriage was nearly at the Hotel, and for quite some time, he had been thinking of nothing but that child.

Admiral Ekellan let out a hollow laugh.

“…Is this some new form of manipulation?”
“Pardon?”

Admiral Ekellan tossed the apple up and caught it in one hand.
The satisfying weight in his palm felt oddly irritating.

“It’s nothing. You said there was contact from the Imperial Palace?”

There was no need to fall for such tricks. He simply wouldn’t think about it anymore.
The Admiral focused on his Adjutant’s words.

Soon the carriage arrived at the Hotel.
The Admiral went to the top-floor suite where he was staying and continued his work.

While he was deeply absorbed in documents.
His aide, who had brought dinner, pointed to a corner of the desk.

“Ah, shall I clear this away?”
“Clear what? Oh.”

It was the bright red apple that child had given him.
Since he had carried it in himself, he had simply left it lying on his study desk.

“You won’t eat it, will you? It’ll rot anyway, so I’ll remove it now.”

The apple was so perfectly ripe that it looked as though it would overripen and rot within just a day or two.
The Adjutant reached toward the apple.

“No.”

The words escaped before he could even think.

“You know how much you despise such bothersome things.”
“…Leave it.”

The Adjutant withdrew his hand from the apple but looked at the Admiral with a puzzled expression.
Admiral Ekellan lifted his chin.

“Since he spoke with such confidence, I should observe it. Will it rot, or won’t it?”

Yes, that’s the reason.
If not for that reason, why would he bother placing an apple about to rot on his desk?

“Good heavens, you’re going to show a rotten apple to a child? That’s truly despicable.”
“One must pay the price. No matter how young, she must take responsibility for her own words.”

Admiral Ekellan spoke with firm conviction, then turned his gaze from the apple to his documents.

After concentrating for some time, when he finally lifted his head.
The bright red apple caught his eye.

‘Hmph, it hasn’t rotted yet.’

Of course it hadn’t.
It couldn’t possibly rot in just a few hours.
But Admiral Ekellan didn’t even consider that to be obvious.

He buried his head back into his documents and concentrated once more.
Yet the moment his mind wandered, he found himself staring at that bright red apple again.

‘…Hmm, it still hasn’t rotted.’

It certainly wasn’t bothering him.
He wasn’t looking at it without reason.
Since he’d made a wager, he was simply verifying it.
To thrust the rotten apple before that child’s eyes.

‘…It does bear some resemblance, I suppose.’

That glossy apple somehow reminded him of those soft, rosy cheeks.

And so he found himself repeatedly checking whether it had rotted.

* * *

Several days after Admiral Ekellan departed.
Saelika thought the adults around her had been acting strangely lately.

“Sae, the apples have ripened beautifully. Have you seen them?”
“Ah, after eating, I’m craving something sweet and tart. I wish the skin were a bit redder.”
“They say eating one apple a day is so good for your health.”

Glance, glance.
The passing adults kept muttering incomprehensible things for no apparent reason!
Saelika tilted her head and pointed toward the Garden.

“There’s an apple tree over there. (There’s an apple tree over there.)”
“….”
“You can go pick and eat them! (You can go pick and eat them!)”
“….”

For some reason, the adults seemed even more dejected than before.

And among them, there was one person who had become the most dejected.

High Priest Anatullio returned to his Study and turned on his Manashell.
And as always, he entered the anonymous question forum.
It was a parenting website he had discovered while searching for things like “How to Get Close to a Child” and “How to Approach a Child Without Scaring Them.”

He composed and posted a message.

Title: How to Receive an Apology from a Child.
How can I get a child to apologize to me?

Comments (49)
Are you insane? Why are you trying to get an apology from a child???
I’ve seen it all, but a grown adult asking how to get an apology from a kid;; The end times are upon us…;;;
A child is not a small adult—they are a ‘child.’ Their physical and emotional development is still incomplete, making it difficult for them to judge what they did right or wrong. Rather than seeking an apology, you should first adopt an attitude of teaching them….
At this rate, she’ll be asking me to pay her damages later hahahaha
(omitted)
Surely you don’t mean the kind of apple you eat, right? lol
Even if it’s an apple to eat, isn’t that weird? Why are you trying to get food from a child??? Did you buy it for them in the first place?
If you are truly an adult…you should apologize to the child first…! Isn’t that the mark of a true adult? You should display such maturity, unlike these ill-mannered children these days,,!

The High Priest stared blankly at the screen.
He had no idea his post would cause such an uproar.

He quietly read the comments for a moment, then closed Manashell.

“High Priest? What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing.”

The High Priest’s broad shoulders sagged heavily.

He was hurt.

* * *

Class time.
Beckman was teaching about sacred magic from the podium.
In truth, it was knowledge I didn’t need.

So instead of listening to the lesson, I devoted myself wholeheartedly to artistic pursuits.
I colored over the pencil sketch with generous strokes of crayon across the large canvas.

‘Done!’

My masterpiece depicting Parmanace as a bloody pulp was complete.
It wasn’t perfect, but…

‘…the artistic intent is excellent.’

The vision was to completely obliterate Parmanace and expand Artemia’s temple with their blood.
That alone made it a masterpiece, a classic, a sacred work.

I nodded in satisfaction and carefully organized my crayons.
They were precious crayons that Randel had given me.

As I reached into my pocket for a handkerchief to wipe my hands, something hard caught between my fingers.

It was the Kailum Crystal.
I’d made it smaller and carried it with me because I was anxious about leaving it in my room.

‘But what if I lose it this way?’

I pulled out the Kailum Crystal and fiddled with it in my hands.
Ilay, sitting beside me, extended his hand.

“Let me see it.”

Ilay threaded a long leather cord through the gaps in the crystal’s decorative sections and tied it securely with a knot.
In an instant, a necklace was complete.
No matter how I looked at it, it appeared to be nothing more than a necklace adorned with a stone fragment.

“This way you can feel at ease, right? Just to be safe, keep it hidden inside your clothes.”
“Mm! Thanks, Ilay.”

Ilay smiled gently.

After class ended, the children approached me and Ilay.

“Admiral Ekellan came by, didn’t he?”

Edmund broached the subject.
Even if he came from a high noble family, he was still just a child.
He seemed eager to hear stories about the King of the Southern Seas, who crushed pirates wherever he went.
Dmitri was already swinging his arms excitedly.

“So what? What kind of person is he? Is he really that impressive?”
“Pretty impressive.”
“Wow! Truly an admiral commanding an invincible fleet!”
“…But I once heard Mother say he was a womanizer.”
“A womanizer? What’s that? Does he command the wind? Truly an invincible fleet!”
“That’s not what it means… Never mind.”

Edmund quickly gave up and merely sighed.
Then another child began rattling off what they knew about the Admiral.

“I heard the reason he doesn’t marry is because he doesn’t want to settle down with just one woman?”
“Right. His son’s personality is so similar to the Admiral’s too, it’s no joke. He doesn’t seem like a person of good character.”
“But I heard he’s incredibly handsome. Edmund, you’ve seen the Admiral’s son before, haven’t you? What was he like?”

Roana asked with eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Edmund glanced sideways at me.

‘Why are you staring at me?’

As I tilted my head in confusion, Edmund let out a snort.

“He’s handsome enough. Though rumors always tend to be exaggerated.”
“Ah, true enough. I once heard that Marquis Namwendelk was incredibly handsome and got my hopes up, only to be disappointed.”

Roana immediately lost interest in the Admiral.
After a moment of hesitation, she grabbed my hand.

“Um, there’s no class on Saturday, right? O-of course I’ll still practice diligently.”
“Practice hard.”
“Yes, I will! S-so, if you’re free in the afternoon, would you like to go get dessert?”

When I didn’t respond, Roana quickly added more.

“A new dessert café opened. They have this parfait with strawberries piled up like a mountain. Aren’t you curious? Huh? Huh?”

Strawberries piled like a mountain…
Just imagining it made my eyes glaze over.

Just then, Dmitri ruffled my hair vigorously.

“Great! Let’s go! I’m going to eat lots of bread. I’ll eat mountains of it!”
“Hmph, I despise crowded places, but experiencing it once in a while wouldn’t be so bad.”
“We should need about three hours for the outing permit.”

At Dmitri’s, Edmund’s, and Ilay’s words, Roana looked at the boys in disbelief.

“You’re all going too? I was planning to go just with Sae… I wanted to shop together and pick out headbands for each other, and match friendship bracelets…”

Dmitri immediately protested.

“What? Why are you leaving me out?”
“Roana, you know my taste is better than yours. Give me the honor of choosing for you myself.”
“We’ll need to extend the outing permit to five hours.”

Wait, I never said I was going.

But looking at the children’s faces, they all seemed incredibly excited.

‘Well, I won at the gathering and it should be fine to go out.’

“Alright then. Let’s go!”

The children cheered at my words.
Seeing how happy they were made me happy too.

Even a wheel needs oil to roll smoothly, doesn’t it?

‘I’ll have to roll three times as much when I get back.’

As I giggled, Ilay narrowed his eyes and stared at me.

“What?”
“Why are you smiling like that?”
“I’m just happy, that’s all.”
“That was the kind of smile you get when you’re thinking about rolling something.”
“…!”

Ilay really did have remarkable intuition.
When I couldn’t say anything, the other children gasped.

“You, you were planning to roll us?”
“That’s what I do sometimes.”
“Well, that’s true, but….”

Roana swallowed hard and spoke.

“But something unexpected could happen on the way back from going out.”
“Like what?”
“A meteor could suddenly fall, or a tidal wave could strike!”
“This place is by the sea.”
“Then, then an earthquake!”

For some reason, Roana seemed desperate.
Seeing her like that, Ilay nodded in agreement.

“Come to think of it, I used to wish for a traffic accident whenever I had to go back to work after the weekend.”

Huh?
Why such a morbid thought?

“Anyway, if something like that happened, we couldn’t train! Right!”
“Roana.”
“Yes!”

Roana gazed at me with desperate eyes.

“Nothing bad will happen.”
“….”
“Nothing will happen at all.”
“….”
“So why not? Let’s train early for as long as we’d be out.”

The children trembled, muttering, “This… this demon….” “A true psychopath….”
Yet I felt proud watching them shuffle into the Training Room on their own.

I chuckled as I followed the children.
Roana certainly had her quirky side.
We were just going shopping and getting dessert—what could possibly happen?

— Perhaps it was a mistake to think such things.

“If there are no parents, doesn’t that mean new parents can appear?”

How on earth had things come to this?

“For example, me.”

I had no intention of acquiring a new father.

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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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