Youngest on Top - Chapter 88

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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 88

* * *

The Priests were not in their normal state.
Kaiser furrowed his brow as he walked through the corridor.

Here and there, the Priests drifted about the Temple like ghosts, their souls absent.
Occasionally, slow, mournful murmurs of “Sae… Sae…” escaped their lips.

‘Is this a Temple or a house of spirits?’

Kaiser clicked his tongue lightly as he headed toward the corridor before his room.
The more he walked, the more wandering ghosts—no, Priests—appeared.

Currently, Saelika was staying in the room next to Kaiser’s.
In other words, this path also led to Saelika’s room.

In fact, just as during the fire, the High Priest had tried to take Saelika to his adjacent room.
But Kaiser had quickly intercepted the child.
By asserting a father’s rights.

“Who was it that exposed that demon as a fake? And who helped when that demon was mistreating the child?”
“…”
“I’m that child’s father.”
“…!”

Even thinking back on it, it had been the right move.
It was as Kaiser turned the corner connecting to the corridor where his room was located.

He stopped abruptly.
Kaiser came to a halt mid-turn at the corner.

Originally, the corridor where his room was situated had been arranged in a solemn and restrained manner to suit his preference for avoiding crowds.
But now.

‘What is that pink yarn? That glittering thing? Why are dolls scattered in front of my room?’

Colorful yarn in various hues adorned the corridor.
Pale pink, pale yellow, pale blue, pale purple.
Sweet-looking colors that made one’s mouth taste sugary decorated the originally pitch-black corridor here and there.
Between them, cute patches of rabbits, bears, and sheep peeked out their faces.

The animal friends who made eye contact with Kaiser greeted him.

Hello, I’m a rabbit. Squeak!
Hello, I’m a bear. Squeak squeak!

‘…I must have entered the wrong place.’

Kaiser quietly turned back.

‘…That can’t be right!’

This was indeed the corridor where my room was located.
More than anything, why would something like this exist in the Temple?

Kaiser turned the corner again.
Mogen was crumpled among those balls of yarn.

“Mogen, what exactly are you doing right now?”
“I’m knitting rabbit mittens.”

His gaze and voice seemed hollow.
Meanwhile, Mogen’s hands moved brilliantly as he threaded pink yarn onto the needle.

“Why are you doing that in front of my room?”
“This is in front of Sae’s room, not yours, Kaiser.”

Kaiser surveyed the area around Mogen.
Already completed rabbit hats, rabbit socks, and rabbit bags were piled high.
Each one was at the level of a masterpiece.

“How many of these are you planning to knit?”
“Until Sae recovers.”

His firm voice carried unwavering resolve.
Kaiser turned his head.

In truth, there was someone far more troubling than Mogen in that place.

“Have you lost your mind? What in the world are you doing here?”

It was the High Priest himself.
What High Priest of any temple would squat in a corridor like a vagrant?
Even a temple with only a single worshipper wouldn’t resort to such behavior.

Yet the High Priest had settled into this corridor as though he intended to live here.
And moreover—

“He’s sewing.”

Stitching away at a rabbit doll.

“….”

Kaiser found himself at a loss for words.

The High Priest was mending the rabbit doll with a solemn expression.
He was patching up the side that had torn open from Diana pulling at it.

He worked with such grave concentration that it seemed less like simple needlework and more like he was inscribing a sacred magical circle to save humanity from crisis.

“No, High Priest, that’s not it. If you do it that way, the thread will show on the outside!”
“…I made an error.”
“Sigh, you need to turn it inside out like this.”

Mogen was actually scolding the High Priest.
It was unthinkable given the High Priest’s exalted station and authority.
Mogen was in no position to speak so casually to the High Priest.

Yet the High Priest listened to Mogen’s reproach without complaint.
He even nodded along.

“For your first attempt at sewing, you’re doing remarkably well. You’ve made tremendous progress.”

Beside the High Priest lay scraps of fabric, as if he’d been practicing his stitching.

“But surely you have a goal in mind, High Priest.”
“I will give that child a doll so perfectly restored she’ll mistake it for brand new.”
“Yes! We must continually refine and discipline ourselves toward this noble and magnificent goal! We can do this!”

The two men gazed at each other with trembling expressions, then nodded in agreement.

“Everything is for the youngest.”
“…Damn it.”

Kaiser finally cursed under his breath, unable to hold back any longer.
He spoke harshly toward the High Priest.

“Have you really lost your mind? If you have time for this nonsense, you should go—.”
“Nonsense?”

The High Priest’s eyes flashed.

“This is about Saelika. This is her most beloved doll. And you call it mere nonsense?”
“….”
“Do you have any idea how adorable that child looked in that rabbit hat!”
“….”
“And how precious she’d be with rabbit gloves on those tiny hands!”
“….”
“Have you ever imagined how lovely she’d look in rabbit socks on those plump little ankles!”
“….”
“Even if I prick my fingers on the needle countless times, if it’s for her sake, it doesn’t hurt at all.”

Kaiser hesitated.
It was nonsense.
Clearly utter nonsense.

‘…Why do I feel convinced?’

It was strange.
Yet Saelika’s image kept surfacing in Kaiser’s mind.

Saelika tilted her head, her rabbit ears flopping about adorably.
Saelika rolled a snowball nearly as large as herself, her paws clad in rabbit mittens.
Saelika pulled on her socks by herself and giggled, declaring herself a rabbit.

‘Perhaps it’s not quite so bad after all.’

I was thinking precisely that.

“Impressive work, Devon.”
“Sirius, I never expected to see such passion from someone who always maintains such composure.”

From the opposite corridor, the Elders approached, leading the Priests with them.
And in their hands—.

“These cookies are a complete triumph.”
“Yes, Elder! They’re perfectly suited to our youngest’s palate.”
“Sigh, how many attempts did it take to get here….”
“We can finally stop making burnt cookies!”

Freshly baked cookies were piled high in their arms.
In various varieties, no less.

“A complete mess.”

At Kaiser’s words, the two Elders bristled.

“Hmph, you poor fool—you have no idea how adorably that little bean eats her cookies.”
“When I hear her crunching away with that tiny mouth, I’m so full I couldn’t eat another bite!”
“You’ve never even seen it, have you?”

Kaiser stiffened, his body going rigid.
Now that he thought about it, he had never given her anything like that.

He had never given it a moment’s thought, yet somehow it bothered him far more than it should.

But sitting idle like this irritated him deeply.

“No matter what, that child won’t even show her face.”
“…!”
“…!!”

A sudden area-wide attack struck everyone in the corridor, leaving them all with internal injuries as they collapsed.

“S-Sae…!”
“Our youngest!”
“I was wrong, I was wrong.”
“Please, just show us your face, just your face!”

Watching the people crumble and wail in an instant, Kaiser’s lips curved into an arrogant smirk.

But something felt off.
The one person who should have been pressed against Saelika’s door was nowhere to be seen.

‘Where is that bastard Randel.’

* * *

Randel stood motionless in Saelika’s room in the Trainee Priest Quarters.
The room was in such disarray that there was barely a place to set foot.

Randel stood dazed, clutching Saelika’s dress against his chest.
It was the first garment he had ever given to that child.
A dress now completely ruined.

Saelika was a child with an oddly complete lack of greed.

She possessed a strong drive for improvement and desire for growth.
But she never knew how to keep anything for herself.
With an indifferent expression, she gave everything to the Temple, to the adults, to the children.

It pained him so much that even when he deliberately pressed things into her hands, she could never truly hold onto anything.

He knew this.
After all, he was the one who understood that child better than anyone else.

Yet I was unaware that Diana coveted what belonged to that child and took it from her.
I should have observed more carefully, but no—that’s not it.

The truth is, I knew all along.
Whenever the adults’ attention turned toward Saelika, Diana would whine and clamor for notice.

There were times when Saelika’s words were cut short by Diana.
Times when an outstretched hand meant for Saelika redirected itself toward Diana.
Times when Saelika quietly yielded her place to Diana.
It happened more than once or twice.

Yet despite witnessing it all, I failed to properly scold her—fearing something might go wrong with the Sacred Maiden who had only appeared in the third generation.

Because Saelika smiled brightly, because she acted as though nothing was amiss.
I turned away, relying on that child’s affection and gentleness.

“Randel…”

The Priests standing uncertainly in the doorway called to him cautiously.

“We can clean this room, so please…”
“Leave it.”

Randel spoke with finality.

“I’ll handle it myself, so all of you may go.”
“But…”

Randel said nothing more.
The Priests examined his gaunt complexion several times over before finally turning to leave.

“Then, we shall see you later.”

Click.
After the door closed, Randel collapsed to the floor as though his legs had given way.

On the ground lay a cracked picture frame.
Through the fractured glass, Saelika’s radiant smile was visible.
It was a photograph taken during an outing with the other Trainee Priests.

“Ha….”

Saelika held my hand and chattered away about everything that had happened that day.
How many items were in the shop, how magnificent the strawberries piled up like a mountain were.
And she showed me the photos she’d taken with her friends.

“This is amazing. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”

After staring at the photos for a long while, the child asked carefully.

“Um, is this really what you’re like?”
“Why?”
“A little….”
“A little?”

The child glanced around as if sharing a secret, then brought both hands to her mouth.

“A little pretty.”

At the unexpected words, Randel’s eyes widened in surprise.
The child furrowed her brow and tilted her head, then shook it side to side.

“Pretty? No. That’s not it. You’re usually not like this. Something about your smile is different from how you usually smile.”
“….”
“You’re smiling like someone else.”
“Someone else?”

At those words, the child gazed into the distance.
As if recalling something.
At times like these, the child’s eyes would sink into a profound emptiness.

“Yes. Like someone who received a lot of love.”

Thud.
How much my heart sank when I heard those words.

A child raised in an orphanage where the residents were abused.
A child who had never had her hair gently stroked, so she would roughly tousle her own hair.
A child saying that this radiant, carefree happiness wasn’t her own.

Randel embraced the child and whispered to her ear several times over.

“You are the most precious thing in this world to me, my Sae.”
“….”
“And you smile far more beautifully than in any photograph.”
“Not when I look in the mirror.”
“But when you look at me, you smile with such tenderness that anyone would have no choice but to love you.”
“….”

Feeling the warmth radiating from the child in his arms, he made a vow.

He would make this child happy.
He would shower her with love always, so that being cherished would no longer feel strange or unfamiliar to her.
He would never again allow this child to sink into melancholy, gazing at someone else with those lonely eyes.

‘And yet.’

Crunch.
Randel’s palm tore open as he clenched the shattered glass fragments.
But he did not open his hand, nor did he heal the wound.

Instead, he gripped the glass shards even tighter.
As if punishing himself.

* * *

“Kazamin?”

I tilted my head in confusion as Kaiser entered the room.
For some reason, his expression was even more rigid than usual.

“Eat.”

He pulled out a heap of cookies from his pocket and set them down.
Soon the table was piled high with cookies like a mountain.

‘Why so many…? It looks like he bought every cookie from the Commercial District….’

Puzzled, I noticed Kaiser staring at me intently.
It would be rude to look strangely at someone who had given me a gift.
I quickly lowered my head in apology.

“Wow, thank you so much!”

I bowed and immediately bit into the cookie.
Crunch, crunch.

‘This is delicious!’

…Though Kaiser’s gaze was somewhat uncomfortable.

He watched me eat the cookie without blinking once, as if lost in thought.
It felt less like mere observation and more like he was studying me.

Had I done something wrong?
Or was there something unusual in this cookie?
While I stood there sweating, wondering what on earth was going on.

“…It seems the Elders didn’t do anything pointless after all.”
“…?”

He merely muttered those words before leaving the room again.
What was that all about?

Enrik: Is it tasty?
Enrik: I asked if it’s tasty.
Enrik: You’re eating it so deliciously. What does it taste like exactly?

‘The taste of the secular world.’

I answered briefly and rose from my seat.
By now I had adapted enough that even when Enrik spoke to me, I didn’t lose my sense of reality.

“Enrik.”

Enrik: What?

“Diaena, judging by your attitude from the start, you were targeting Sae.”

Not only had she marked me as a target from the moment we left, but even after arriving at the Temple, she’d been watching me with intense vigilance.
The reason for that—.
Huh?

Enrique: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

The chat window was completely flooded with laughter.

‘What the—?’

Enrik: Did you just call yourself Sae?
Enrik: Oh, this is hilarious!
Enrik: Over a thousand years old and you’re calling yourself Sae, Sae!!
Enrik: Puhahahaha!!!!!
Enrik: Oh man, I gotta tell the others about this!!!!!
Enrik: This is too funny!!

‘…Should I hit him.’

I clenched my fists so hard my knuckles turned white.

Enrik continued teasing me for quite a while before finally calming down.
Only then could I bring up what I really wanted to discuss.

‘Could it be that she was targeting me from the beginning because of that insane psychopath deviant stalker?’

—————
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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