Youngest on Top - Chapter 99

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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 99

It seemed to be genuine after all.

‘…So the effect didn’t completely wear off.’

Demian was in a state that had to be sensitive and depleted because of the Demon Sword.
That’s why I infused the flower with sacred power and gave it to him.

The Sacred Maiden’s sacred power could purify the Demon Sword’s murky essence.

The sacred power I had infused was no small amount, yet it seemed to have already dissipated.

‘That must mean the Demon Sword’s murky essence is that strong.’

And this child was enduring it.
Because he needed to be saved by Amelia.

‘Why do I only surround myself with children like this.’

I eventually extended my hand toward Demian.

“Let’s go meet Sae’s friend.”
“…”
“You should come too.”
“Sae.”

Ilay called out to me.

“Since it’s Iray’s place, if Iray doesn’t want to go, we won’t go.”
“…Sigh, let’s just go together.”

Ilay added, “If we leave him here, I think you’ll worry about him even more.”

“Okay! Thanks!”
“…I never said I was coming along.”

I ignored Demian’s words and took the child’s hand.
The child’s body stiffened with a start.

Seizing the moment, I quickly moved forward.
Fortunately, Demian didn’t pull his hand away from mine.

Ilay, witnessing this, grasped my other hand.
When I glanced back, Ilay was smiling sweetly.

The three of us walked side by side down the moonlit path.

* * *

“Teodor!”
“Angel!”

Teodor was waiting for us again, still awake.

“You don’t even notice your older brother?”
“Hehe.”

Ilay patted Teodor’s head as if finding his laughter endearing.

Demian remained standing at the doorway without stepping inside.
Strangely, I found myself thinking he looked like a lost child.
Yet Demian’s expression remained as cold as always.

“This is Teodor. Ilay’s younger brother!”

I pulled Demian inside.
His gaze shifted from me to Teodor.
Teodor shrank back slightly under Demian’s oppressive presence.

“Is he a patient?”
“He will be better soon.”

Enrik: Is that child the one who’s ill?

‘Yes.’

Enrik: Your condition is worse than I thought. You’ve been managing it remarkably well.
Enrik: Without you, he would have died.

Before my regression, that’s exactly what would have happened.
And that would have been the catalyst for Ilay’s corruption.

‘But now I’ll fix it!’

Enrik: I don’t think you should heal him right now.

‘Why? I think I can manage it.’

Enrik: You could heal him, sure.
Enrik: But the burden on you would be too great.
Enrik: It would be better to wait until after we escape the Weakling’s Nest before healing him.

I looked at Teodor.
He was smiling brightly, delighted to see Ilay and me after so long.
Even though I could hear his ragged breathing, he had never once complained of pain.

Even after I awakened as the Sacred Maiden, Ilay never once asked me to heal Teodor.
He never even hinted at it.
But day by day, his insides must have been burning away.

‘I’m going to do it.’

Enrik: Saelika!

‘When I decide to do something, I do it. You know that, Enrik.’

Enrik: I’m against it. I made that clear.

Whether Enrik opposed it or not didn’t matter to me.
I never listened to my brothers even when I was in the Heavenly Realm.

I took Teodor’s hand.

“Angel…?”
“Just a moment, Teodor. You won’t need to suffer anymore.”
“Can you… really heal me?”
“Do you trust me?”
“Yes!”

Teodor nodded vigorously, as if questioning why he’d ever doubted me.
I smiled widely and closed my eyes.

Lines of light wove around me, flowers bloomed, and wings unfurled.
A sacred magic circle of immense scale.

I felt my power draining rapidly.

Enrik: You crazy…!
Enrik: I told you not to do this!

As I’d mentioned before, Rubab’s disease only improves when the sacred power and the patient’s wavelength align.
Synchronizing my wavelength with the patient for the first time proved far more difficult than I’d anticipated.

I still hadn’t fully mastered the immense power I’d gained from my awakening.
Attempting such delicate control felt like trying to pour seawater into a cup—an impossible task.
A cup with a narrow spout, like one a crane would use.

But if I gave up here, I wouldn’t be myself.

‘Then I’ll just pour in more, and in more varied ways!’

Most of the sacred power would overflow and be wasted, but surely some of it would have the right wavelength.
That portion would make it into the cup, wouldn’t it?

The light of the magic circle intensified further.

Enrik: Hey! Are you insane?
Enrik: You can’t just dump it all in like that!
Enrik: You’re going to collapse at this rate!

Enrik protested in alarm, but I paid him no mind.

Enrik: You ignorant fool…!
Enrik: What good is a clear mind when your body is suffering like this!
Enrik: Damn it!

Through the connected passage, I felt Enrik’s power flowing into me.
Drawing on Enrik’s strength would place greater strain on my body, but it seemed he believed it was better to join forces and finish this quickly.

‘If you were going to help, you should have done it from the start.’

Enrik: Be quiet!
Enrik: You’re making me age a thousand years more, you hear me!

Golden light bloomed around us, painting everything in its radiance.
Intense yet gentle, the luminescence swirled across all directions before seeping into Teodor.

As the light took hold, the child’s body lifted into the air.
A sight as miraculous as any miracle could be.
Soon the light faded, and Teodor’s body descended slowly back to the ground.

“Teo!”

Ilay caught his brother’s collapsing form in his arms.

“Haa…”

I exhaled deeply.
My insides felt hollowed out and ravaged with pain.
I forced down the rising nausea.

Enrik: Why are you holding that in again!
Enrik: Ugh, I’m going insane!

I had never seen Enrik this angry before.

But that wasn’t what mattered now.
Teodor’s closed eyelids trembled slightly, and soon his eyes opened, pupils visible once more.

“Brother?”

The child’s cheeks were flushed with healthy color.
That unpleasant wheezing sound was gone.
The mottled fever rash had completely vanished.

“Teodor…!”

Ilay pulled his younger brother into a tight embrace.

Teodor blinked several times, as if trying to comprehend what had happened.
He gazed at his own hands with wonder, flexing them experimentally.
Like someone experiencing hands for the very first time.

The child’s face, which had been gripping his throat and breathing heavily, gradually began to contort.
Tears welled up in his eyes and spilled down his cheeks.

“Hic, uh, sob, sniff, Brother!”
“Yes, Teodor.”
“I, sob, I really don’t hurt anymore…!”

The child lifted his tear-filled eyes to gaze at his brother.

“I can… I can live longer?”

In truth, Teodor must have been more terrified than anyone.
How could he not have known the shadow of death creeping closer with each passing moment?
Rather, he understood it better than anyone, yet always smiled to hide it.

Ilay’s eyes trembled.
He smiled and nodded.
His eyes glistened with moisture, his jaw clenched tight, his voice wavering—yet it was a smile more radiant with joy than ever before.

“Yes.”
“Huff…”
“Yes, Teodor. You’ll live a very long, healthy life.”

Watching the brothers together filled me with satisfaction as well.
I rose quietly from my seat.

Teodor’s gaze turned toward me.

“Thank you, Angel.”
“Thanks, Sae. Words alone aren’t enough, but I’ll never—.”
“Right, never forget!”

I beat him to it with a cheerful declaration, and Ilay chuckled softly.

“Don’t worry.”

I gently pulled Demian along and headed toward the door.

“Sae.”
“I won’t go into the forest. I’ll be right out front.”
“But—.”

Ilay’s gaze shifted toward Demian.
Before he could say anything, Teodor interjected.

“Why are you taking… him with you?”
“Huh?”
“Angel, you’re closest with our brother, right? Not… him.”
“Yeah, well.”

Of course I’m closer to Ilay than to Demian.
Teodor’s face brightened instantly.

“Ilay, come with me.”
“I’m fine. I’m healthy thanks to you, Angel! I’ll stay with my brother and you.”
“No. Teodor and Ilay have things they want to talk about.”
“But—.”
“Ilay and I talked a lot in Sindun.”
“…!”

Teodor’s face lit up with understanding, and he nodded.
Then he looked at Demian…

‘Why does he look like he won?’

Regardless, I stepped outside with Demian.

“What was that just now? Don’t tell me you have Rubav disease….”

I couldn’t hear what Demian was saying clearly.
I couldn’t hold back any longer.

The moment I thought that.
A rush of crimson blood spilled from the corner of my mouth.

“…!”

* * *

Demian caught the child’s collapsing body in surprise.
An impossibly light frame.
When I had pushed this child on the day we first met, I was startled by how light she was.

“At least I’ll live.”

The child spoke as if she felt relieved now that she had coughed up blood.
But she lacked the strength to support her own body properly, and it seemed she would collapse immediately if Demian let go of her.

“…Why would you go so far?”
“…?”
“You gain nothing from it.”

Demian realized what illness that boy had.

Rubav disease.
It was a sickness only the Sacred Maiden could heal.
A Priest with matching resonance could heal it, but finding such a Priest was practically impossible.

The Temple gained tremendous profit each time they displayed such miracles.
And they promoted it extensively.

But Saelika had slipped out of the Temple like a thief and healed the child.
She gained nothing, and no one would ever know of it.

She even hid her deteriorating condition from that fellow Ilay.
Normally wouldn’t one boast about it more?

“Theo likes Sae too.”

Just for that reason?
I found it even more incomprehensible.

Yet those large blue eyes were perfectly clear, unmarred by a single shadow.
Despite her pallid, exhausted complexion, only those eyes sparkled with radiance.
Brimming with pride and joy.

Demian could not fathom why eyes of the same color as his own could shine so differently.

“Father feels the same way too.”
“….”
“Father loves Sae.”
“….”
“Sae is precious to Mother and Father.”

Her tone was strangely filled with conviction.
Rather than growing angry as before, Demian turned his head away.

“…What would you know.”

Saelika smiled faintly.

‘Of course I know.’

Because I saw it before the regression.
The back of the Duke of Noishurael, regretting too late.

But there was no point in saying such things—he would only dismiss them.

Saelika recalled Demian standing motionless in Ilay’s home earlier.

Ilay’s home had transformed into something entirely different from the desolate place it once was.
A house filled with warmth.
Every corner overflowed with items and toys for the child.

Demian stood as though seeing toys for the first time, his expression unfamiliar.
His face was filled with wariness rather than affection.

‘Playing with toys must have felt like committing a sin to Demian.’

Was it only toys?
Running wildly through the fields.
Watching ants march in formation.
Splashing through muddy water on rainy days.

All those trivial, delightful things must have felt sinful to this child.

“Gurum tae soe eon iya.”

Saelika brought her hands together in front of her.
Her posture looked quite reverent.

“Atte mim, gonza mim ang a pumen joke sseo yo. Aya haji an ke hae ju se yo.”

Demian quietly looked down at the child praying in his arms.
The child was quite serious.

“…I’ve thought this for a while, but you overstep your bounds.”
“Gonza mim, ham bo ka ge hae ju se yo— ha men ang tae?”
“What are you saying.”

Demian let out a scoff.
Even so, he adjusted his posture to let Saelika lean more comfortably.

Saelika’s eyes half-closed as she blinked slowly.

‘So sleepy…’

Enrik: You’re exhausted because you poured out power so recklessly!

‘Don’t talk. My condition is so bad right now that I keep… losing my sense of reality…’

Enrik: That’s something to boast about!

It was truly difficult to maintain my train of thought.
Fortunately, Enrik said nothing more, but I felt myself becoming increasingly childlike.

At that moment, Demian placed his hand on Saelika’s head.

“I’m running a fever too.”

His large, cool hand felt wonderful.
Saelika instinctively nuzzled her face against it.

“Hehe, feels nice….”

His hand stiffened slightly.
The child didn’t notice and even squeezed his hand tighter.

Had anyone ever approached him so openly and without reservation?

“…You seem quite accustomed to this.”
“Hehe.”
“You must have been raised with love and care.”

Indeed, the reactions of the Artemia Priests made it clear.
They couldn’t stop fussing over this child.

Other temples had desperately tried to recruit Demian, but the Artemia Priests treated him like a pest clinging to their precious Sacred Maiden.

‘Is that why she believes parents naturally love their children?’

Even though a child could be cast out forever if they made an irreversible mistake.

“Hmm? No. He’s Demian.”

The child shook her head firmly.

“I’m not a precious child loved by Father.”
“….”
“I’m a child Father abandoned.”

Thud.
Demian’s body went rigid.
This time, stiff enough that even Saelika could sense it.

Saelika lifted her head and looked at Demian.

“What…?”

Huh?
Why did Demian’s expression change like that?

—————
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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