Youngest on Top - Chapter 69

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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 69

‘So he’s saying he won’t imprison me for now.’

It was somewhat unexpected.
I had thought that if I encountered Shuri again, he would seize me and lock me away by any means necessary.

‘As this child, he wouldn’t want to lose the only thread that could break the curse.’

That’s why I had rushed out before Shuri woke up last time.

Of course, I was also worried whether Derrick’s soul, which had been captivated by the punch machine, had returned to its proper place.
Contrary to my worries, Derrick was showing off his dancing skills while receiving applause.

‘Even now, if he wanted to, he could imprison me.’

Frustratingly, Shuri’s power is far greater than mine.
Moreover, his messengers’ abilities are formidable as well.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“It’s nothing.”

I hesitated for a moment before speaking again.
I felt a little sorry for misunderstanding Shuri.

“…I thought if I saw Shuri again, I’d be locked up.”
“Would you want that?”

Of course not.
I shook my head vigorously.

Shuri looked at me quietly, then turned his head away abruptly.
Not long after, a low voice emerged.

“…That’s what I was planning to do.”

He was planning to do that?
So my suspicion wasn’t wrong?

‘What a terrifying fellow…!’

Shuri looked at my face and smiled slightly.
His lips barely relaxed, so it was ambiguous whether it could even be called a smile.
That awkward smile faded away immediately.

“….”
“….”

Shuri didn’t explain why he had changed his mind.
He simply gazed at me in silence.

There was no reason for me to avert my eyes.
I too stared intently at him.

‘Hmm, looking at his soul, his condition has definitely improved compared to before.’

Though it was only better than before.

‘His self-restraint is remarkable.’

Human desire knows no end.
Once one improves, one yearns more intensely than before.
It wasn’t merely hope that improvement was possible—he now knew the method of healing, and he grasped at it all the more fiercely.

Shuri had even felt the actual improvement with his own body.
A situation where desire was inevitable.

Yet this child seemed to have no intention of clinging to me at all.
Why?

“…How is your body?”

At the sudden question, I blinked.
Shuri asked again.

“I’m asking how your body feels.”

Wasn’t this a question I should be asking?
Though bewildered, I informed them of my current state.

“I’m hungry.”

Growwwwl!
My stomach rumbled loudly at the perfect moment, and I wrapped both hands around it.

Shuri glanced swiftly at his men.

“I-I’ll bring cookies at once!”
“You ate the chocolate cookies well last time!”
“It’s because you haven’t tasted the peanut cookies! This time, it’s peanut cookies!”
“Strawberry jam cookies are the best, aren’t they?”

The large men began moving with thunderous, unified efficiency.
Soon, a wooden tray arrived laden with chocolate cookies, peanut cookies, and strawberry jam cookies.

“Go on! You choose, Ricardo! Which cookie!!!”

I was seized by tremendous conflict.
Which of the three should I pick?
Which would taste the best?

Growwwwl!
My stomach rumbled loudly once more at just the right moment.
The men exchanged glances with each other before asking me.

“Should we just give you all of them?”
“Yes!”

Since all three looked delicious, I answered without hesitation.
I picked up two cookies in each hand and began munching away eagerly.

Crunch, crunch.
One bite of chocolate cookie, one bite of peanut cookie.

While chewing the cookies in my mouth diligently, I glanced at Shuri.
A creeping black aura was coiling around that man’s soul.

No matter how many times I looked at it, the aura was ominous and suffocating.
To think he was enduring such a curse.

‘How is he even alive and functioning?’

No, functioning wasn’t quite right.
It must be incredibly agonizing and painful.
Even now, the curse was gnawing away at the child’s soul.

‘Yet he shows no sign of it….’

A hardened one.
A foolish one.
A stubborn one.

Or perhaps circumstances had driven this child to such extremes.
Hardened, foolish, stubborn.

‘…This child has never once gone out to play with friends.’

I recalled the memory of going out with Ilay, Dmitri, Edmund, and Roana.

It was joyful.
Before regression, those were times I could only dream of in my imagination.
Just remembering them made my mouth feel sweet, and my hands and feet felt warm.

‘…Shuri wouldn’t know about that. He’s never experienced it.’

Never laughed while picking out items for each other.
Never taken photos together.
Never gone to an incredibly sweet and delicious dessert shop when we grew tired, and spent hours chatting away.

‘Like me before regression.’

I had experienced it in this life.
Playing with friends—for some, it might be trivial and unremarkable.
In truth, I had also dismissed it as unremarkable.

In this life, I vowed to seek revenge.
So I ran toward that goal alone, never deviating.
Making friends and going out to play had no place in my plans.

Yet those things I had never cared about—those experiences I tried for the first time—brought me such joy.

‘I would have regretted it my whole life if I’d never done it.’

When would this child ever get to experience something like that?
The thought consumed me, and I couldn’t sit still.

‘Damn it.’

I shot up from my seat.
He hadn’t even asked me to seal away more of his curse.

“Shuri.”

Shuri looked up at me.
Those tri-colored eyes—a blend of pink, yellow, and blue—seemed more beautiful than any rare gemstone, even to someone like me who knew nothing of jewels.

A hint of wariness flickered in those eyes.
The eyes of a wild kitten that would hiss the moment you drew near.

I spoke to the wild kitten.

“Come on.”

* * *

Shuri’s expression grew complicated.

*Sniff sniff*

Tears burst from the men standing behind the child.
They rubbed their eyes roughly with calloused hands, deeply moved.

“Our master has made quite the friend without us noticing….”
“Did it suddenly start raining? Ha, these aren’t my tears but the h.e.a.v.e.n.’s t.e.a.r.s.”
“Boys are supposed to get close like that—stripping down and splashing into streams together. Kids these days are too prudish, you know. Back in my day! Huh?”

I gazed at them with bewildered eyes.

‘…Is this really something to cry over?’

“Ricardo, listen to me, will you? Back in my day, we’d dive into streams and, huh? We’d recognize each other’s courage and become friends that way.”

The drunkard launched into a lengthy speech.
The smell of alcohol wafted strongly.

I pressed myself close to Shuri to avoid the drunkard.

“You….”

Shuri tried to say something to me but stopped.

“Follow me.”

He grabbed my arm and pulled me along.

As we entered the tent entrance covered with cloth, I could see the interior was quite well-appointed.
Shuri tossed me onto a bed piled thick with wool.

Thump!
I landed hard on my rear, but the wool cushioned my tailbone.

I lifted my head to scold Shuri for it.

“Wow….”

An exclamation escaped me unbidden.
A beautiful night sky flowed across the tent’s ceiling.

To think I could watch shooting stars fall like this while lying down.
It was likely a magical projection of the sky beyond the ceiling for security purposes, but it was magnificent.
Even romantic.

“You’re so beautiful….”

Regardless of my admiration, Shuri bit at me fiercely.

“What are you thinking?”
“I’ll seal away the curse. Just a little bit this time too.”

Cold eyes glared down at me.

“Are you insane wanting to die?”

Huh?
Why is he reacting like this when I’m saying he’ll seal the curse for me?

Shuri ran his hand roughly through his hair as if my reaction was utterly ridiculous.

“You nearly died back then.”

‘What?’

Click. Shuri gritted his teeth.
For some reason, he seemed extremely angry.

I still couldn’t understand him.

‘Whether I die or not, shouldn’t I be pushing him to seal away as much as he can?’

Of course, since he said he could do it once I grew up, it would be troublesome if I actually died….

“Just a little bit.”

I grabbed Shuri’s sleeve and shook it gently.

“Just a little.”

Even as I wheedled, something felt off.
Shouldn’t this be the other way around?

The child stubbornly kept their mouth shut and refused to look at me.
Even when I gently waved my sleeves, they simply turned their head away to the opposite side of the bed.

“It’s fine, Shuri. Let’s go get dessert with Ricardo.”

Even if we went now, this child wouldn’t be able to properly taste anything anyway.

The curse afflicting Shuri was terribly severe.
Sight, hearing, taste, smell—senses so natural to ordinary people.
Even savoring those sensations would be a luxury for this child.

All their senses were being consumed by pain, leaving them unable to feel anything properly.

Yet they were concerned about my condition rather than breaking their own curse.

“Don’t worry about me. Don’t be sad.”

The crisp air of this forest.
The slightly sweet scent of autumn leaves.
This beautiful night sky visible through the ceiling right now.

This child couldn’t feel any of it.

“Ricardo, go with Shuri. You’re friends.”
“…Who said anything about being friends with a brat like you.”

Shuri looked down at me with cold eyes as he spoke.
Yet even so, he closed the distance and sat down on the bed.

Such a contradiction in words and actions!
I’ll let it slide since he’s just a kitten.

This time, I didn’t need to undress him.
As I watched Shuri remove his upper garment on his own, I pulled out the Kailum crystal hanging around my neck.

‘…But does he really not want to be friends with me?’

Hearing him say he didn’t want to be friends naturally sparked the question.

‘Should I speak more casually, like those boys his age who are popular among their peers?’

Among the boys I knew, there was one child who possessed tremendous popularity with his same-age friends.

‘Dmitri.’

If I spoke the way Dmitri did with his friends, would he want to be my friend?
All the boys wanted to be friends with Dmitri, after all.

“Son Jo.”
“…”

The fact that he didn’t even answer suggested I was indeed less attractive as a friend.
Fine.
Then I have a method.

“Son Jo, you bastard!”
“…What?”
“You damn punk! What the hell? You little shit? Asshole! Screw it all!”
“Hah. Where the hell did you pick up talk like that?”

Shuri shook his head with a wry smile and extended his hand toward me.

‘Heh. It works as expected.’

And so we clasped our hands together over the crystal.
A shooting star was falling through the night sky filled with stars.

* * *

“Sae!”

Ilay came running toward me, breathing heavily.
He had been searching for me.

“I was worried.”

From how much he had been searching, I could feel the warmth radiating from his body.
Ilay checked me over first, not even catching his breath.

“Where’s Teodor?”
“He’s asleep.”
“Ilay needs to sleep too. Ugh, this sweat is killing me.”

As I wiped the sweat from my forehead with my sleeve, Ilay grabbed my wrist and pulled my hand away, pressing me for answers.

“Don’t change the subject. What were you doing out there?”
“I saw the most amazing things!”
“Really?”
“Yeah! Like this! So bright and dazzling!”
“…You’re acting half like a child right now. Are you hungry?”
“No…”
“Then are you tired?”
“Mmm…”

I was tired, but I’d also exerted myself quite a bit.
Healing Teodor had been manageable enough.

But sealing Shuri’s curse seemed to have taken a real toll on my body.
Still, it wasn’t as exhausting as last time.

“If you exhaust yourself like last time, you’ll die in my hands.”
“If I’m going to die anyway, what does it matter?”
“…”

Shuri looked at me as if asking, “Should I kill you now then?”
His eyes gleamed with such madness that it terrified me.

‘…As a priest of Artemia, I absolutely must not show fear.’

W-well, I wasn’t actually scared.
Scared of a child like that?
That would never happen.

‘It was just… just a slight chill down my spine, that’s all…’

Then, suddenly, Ilay’s back drew close to my face.
Ilay turned his head and gave me a chin gesture.

“What are you doing? Let me carry you.”

I didn’t miss the opportunity and quickly climbed onto his back.
Despite having run all that way, Ilay showed no signs of strain as he effortlessly carried me and headed home.

“If you grew any more here, it would be hard on me, so I’m carrying you.”
“I know. You pretend to be fine, but you’re actually tired.”
“Yeah.”

Through our contact, I felt Ilay chuckle softly.
Somehow, my heart grew at ease.

I rested my head heavily against Ilay’s back.

‘He said he wasn’t pushing himself, but it seems he’s gotten a bit tired.’

The steady rhythm of his footsteps soon brought drowsiness washing over me.
A familiar, comforting scent.
With each step Ilay took, I felt a gentle vibration.

“Sae, are you asleep?”
“…Mm… yeah…”

Ilay’s back trembled slightly again—he was laughing.

“Sleep well.”

Just as he said, I soon drifted into slumber.

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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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