Youngest 080
by CristaeEpisode 80
But I was promptly caught before I could even get out of the greenhouse.
Naturally, by Grandpa’s hand.
“You don’t smell. It’s not because you didn’t wash that he avoided you.”
“It’s too late.”
“It’s true. He says he always gets nervous when you come around…”
“What?”
“…He says you make him nervous. I think he came to try to comfort you, Mister.”
With just those words, Khalid hurried away. After skipping his training for days, the price he paid was to be immediately dragged off to the training grounds.
I sat back down with Grandpa at the tea table.
My clothes were a mess, covered in dirt from crouching on the ground. But Grandpa insisted on pulling me onto his lap.
“Will you really forgive this old man?”
He looked at me with more tension in his eyes than I had ever seen before. I shook my head vigorously.
“But I’m the one who did wrong.”
I was the one who lied, yet somehow, the Zevert family always ended up apologizing to me. Grandpa was no exception.
“To have carelessly rolled my granddaughter, precious as gold, on the training grounds… I deserve punishment from the heavens! Let the lightning of atonement strike me down!”
“Waaah! There’s no lightning in the greenhouse!”
Grandpa beat the ground in all-consuming regret. The image made me laugh for some reason.
“Uuung. Leviathan did all of it. Our Ruby did absolutely nothing wrong.”
“Heh. So Grandpa, it’s all fine. You didn’t roll me around on the training ground.”
It was just a fun little gym class, after all.
I stretched my arms up high over my head.
“Thanks to it, I’ve grown this tall, see?”
“Hrk…”
“…”
Crying out of nowhere, just like that.
“Where did this precious little snot stick itself to me from?”
Grandpa pulled me into a tight hug. I could feel him doing his best not to squeeze too hard, as if afraid his rock-solid body might crush me.
“How much my heart has been troubled all this time, you can’t imagine…”
His sigh-like mutter seeped into my ear.
I broke away and grinned shyly.
“Sounds like Grandpa’s the crybaby now. That used to be me.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
Sniffling, Mister pulled out a handkerchief from his breast pocket and blew his nose.
By now, the sun was high overhead. I’d nibbled a few snacks, but we hadn’t had lunch yet.
When my stomach growled, Grandpa rose without hesitation.
“I brought a chef from the palace. I told him to make all your favorites, so let’s hurry along!”
“Wow, the chef!”
How exciting!
I clung to Grandpa’s arm as he strode away. Every now and then, he’d glance down at me and noisily inhale through his nose.
“So, where did Dad go?”
I tossed out the question lightly to change the subject. Grandpa let out a low, drawn-out response.
“He went to see the young emperor.”
“Huh? Why?”
Weren’t all the abductors dealt with already?
“The Green Festival starts the day after tomorrow, after all.”
“Ah.”
“He dashed off in such a hurry. Good thing I already retired as head of the house.”
Grandpa chuckled, delighting in his son’s troubles.
That’s when I realized the manor was a bit chaotic. Carriages coming and going without pause, people bustling everywhere.
‘The real festival must be starting.’
I watched the scene absentmindedly.
‘Even if I end up telling them I’m a mage… let’s wait until I’m back in Zelox.’
It was such an important conversation, I wanted to have it calmly, somewhere I could speak at leisure.
With all the expected questions and answers, I might need quite some time…
‘To be honest, I’m still a little nervous…’
I fidgeted with my hands clasped together.
‘They wouldn’t throw me out, shouting, “So you carry the blood of an enemy!”… right?’
No, no. My family would never do that.
I reassured myself and tried to calm my trembling heart.
At most, only a week.
During the upcoming days of the Green Festival, I planned to think carefully about it all.
Cough, cough. Little coughs kept escaping me.
Balok gazed at Rubian’s round forehead.
He couldn’t help but recall the conversation he’d had with Leviathan while the child was asleep.
“Why on earth did Ruby hide her gender?”
“…It seems losing her own child—who was a girl—made her fear her gender would become a weakness.”
“I see. She was afraid she wouldn’t be accepted, so she kept silent.”
Balok gave a small, pained groan.
‘How deep must those wounds run in someone so young?’
Thanks to her pathetic parents, the child seemed to have grown up in such hardship she could scarcely even recall her past.
Even so, Leviathan was investigating Eosia to find out more about Rubian.
‘Well, those are the necessary steps for formal adoption anyway.’
But damn those bastards all the same!
‘What on earth did they do to the child to make her so withdrawn?!’
This precious little snot, who deserves only love!
Balok held back curses too vile to speak.
“Ruby, never forget. Now you are a Zevert in full, our family’s cherished youngest. Just remember that. Alright?”
Ruby-blue eyes glittered at the soft words, turning toward him. After a brief hesitation, Rubian answered quietly.
“…Okay.”
The beloved weight in his arms. That, to Balok, was the dearest thing of all.
The child coughed again in the gentle breeze.
It seemed the lingering cough from her cold would take time to go away. Balok’s face crumpled as he strode briskly back into the manor.
“Let’s eat and get your medicine right away. Grandpa will feed it to you.”
“…But Dr. Borbel’s medicine is really bitter.”
“What? I’ll have him make it sweet, even if I have to kick him in the backside!”
“Gasp—! I didn’t mean it like that. Please don’t! I’ll just have a candy after taking the medicine!”
“Hmmm, really? Then I’ll have them bring lots of candy. Grandpa will do anything our Rubian asks. There, there.”
“Ahh! Your beard! Your beard!”
Wriggling in anguish, Rubian suddenly sat up.
Her little fingers moved deftly, snip snip.
“Heehee.”
Under his chin, a strangely refreshed sensation.
“Hm? What’s this?”
His gaze landed on the mirror hanging on the wall. In it stood an old man whose beard had been braided into three parts.
Balok blinked, then suddenly burst into hearty laughter.
“Kahaha! I’ve become handsome!”
Rubian clamped her hands over her ears, but he simply couldn’t help himself. The servants gathered in curiosity at the commotion.
“Morris! Look at me! I’m handsome now!”
“…Congratulations, sir.”
“Kahahaha!”
His booming laughter rang through the whole manor.
The precious, adorable child who had come to him one day.
No matter what happened, he would protect her with his own hands.
Rubbing his cheek against Rubian’s, Balok felt it more than ever.
“Our youngest, so clever and handy!”
This is Balok Zevert.
In his twilight years, he had gained the dearest and most lovable granddaughter!
“It’s been a while, Duke.”
The emperor greeted him with a bright smile.
He’s doing it on purpose.
Leviathan snorted.
“Didn’t we see each other just a few days ago?”
“That was when you had the look of a fiend. I meant it’s been a while since I’ve seen the Duke looking sane.”
The emperor, dressed in casual attire, sat at the head of the table.
After rushing to Ipsen and sorting out the abduction, he was staying at the imperial villa, together with the princes.
“Why don’t you sit?”
The maids bustled about, preparing tea.
Leviathan placed a document beside the steaming teacup.
“Mmm. You’re here to drop off the adoption papers, I see.”
“Handle it.”
Whether it was a request or a threat—impossible to tell.
“I’m busy. I have to salvage this year’s Green Festival, which nearly went to ruin.”
The emperor shot the duke a sidelong glance. But he snatched up the document without further complaint.
“Well, fine. This time it’s my foolish son who owes you, after all.”
No one had anticipated Licht would get caught up in the abduction.
According to Licht, a child named Rubian had handled the situation with surprising composure.
‘Indeed—an apt candidate to be the Zevert heiress.’
For the first time, the emperor felt genuine interest in the child.