Youngest 086

Episode 86

“……”

“Khalid? What’s wrong? What’s the problem?”

Rubian tilted her head quizzically.

“Hey, are you okay?”

The girl rushed over and waved her palm in front of the boy’s eyes.

Khalid stood frozen for so long, he seemed on the verge of crumbling to dust. Only when Rubian shook his shoulders did his steel-blue eyes stir at last, flickering to find her face.

“Oh.”

Seeing her own reflection in Khalid’s eyes, Rubian finally realized why he was so stiff.

‘He must think I’m weird! See? He’s totally frozen too!’

Pressing her lips tightly together, the girl took a step back. Her cheeks puffed up in a tiny pout.

“You… you can laugh if you want.”

“What about crying…?”

“Why would you cry?”

“I don’t know, I just feel like crying…”

Khalid buried his face in his hands. Hearing someone admit they wanted to cry was a first for Rubian. Her eyes flew open wide.

“What is this! Who’s bullying you? Who is it?!”

“I think… it’s you.”

“Huh?”

“My heart feels all twisted up whenever I look at you…”

Unable to finish his sentence, Khalid clutched at his left chest and collapsed onto the floor.

“Khal!”

Rubian, alarmed, quickly sat down facing him.

“Are you breathing right now?”

“Yes! You’re breathing just fine! So all you need to do is pull yourself together!”

“Impossible…”

“Mom! My friend’s broken!”

At last, a plea for help.

When Rubian turned around, she saw Rosetta suppressing her laughter in the background. Clearing her throat, Rosetta finally spoke.

“Ahem. Seems the case is worse than I thought.”

As she drew near, Khalid lifted trembling eyes to her. With a mischievous glint, Rosetta leaned down and whispered in his ear.

“Rubian is truly adorable, isn’t she, Khal?”

Khalid’s entire head flushed scarlet to the crown.

“Lo…ve…”

A lethal dose. Total knockdown.

“Khaaaal! Did you just say you died? You just said ‘died’, didn’t you?”

Rubian began spinning wildly around the slumped Khalid, waving her arms overhead as if she were a startled foal with her tail on fire.

“My friend is on the brink of death! What do I dooo?!”

At that moment, the doors burst open.

“You’re late! Why is everyone taking so long to come down—”

Leviathan and the rest of the household’s dark-clad men swarmed in.

Rubian spun around as if she’d been waiting for them.

“Dad! Grandpa! Brothers! My friend isn’t moving!”

“Ruby, you…”

“……”

“……”

“What! Again! What now?!”

“Ah, my heart…”

Was it from that moment?

That members of the ducal family began to complain of mysterious chest pains…?

---

The Ipsen Church was as large and grand as any great cathedral in the capital, fitting since every major event in the North was held there.

That morning, a parade of ornate carriages lined up at the church—nobles from every corner of the Empire had arrived.

The great sanctuary was packed to the brim.

And their attention was fixed on one thing alone.

“I heard the Zevert Ducal House is attending today’s Festival of Greenery prayer?”

A noblewoman whispered behind her fan.

The very front row of the pews lay empty. They had traveled all the way to the far North just to see who would take those seats of honor.

“It’s been years, truly…”

A nobleman stroked his mustache in reply.

“They say not only the Duke himself but the Old Duke as well are coming.”

“Is that so? What could this mean?”

“I hear they’ve recently adopted a new child.”

Another curious lady interjected.

“Really?”

“Yes. The rumor is the child is from the South, but the bloodline is unconfirmed.”

Oh dear, oh dear.

Low sighs rose from all corners.

“Perhaps they wished to show how magnanimous the house is? Still, it seems a bit greedy…”

“Indeed. At least Prince Liam and Prince Void have the proper collateral blood. What about this child? What’s so special?”

The murmurs grew louder.

Then, a marquis’s wife, who had been quietly sitting in the second row with her eyes closed, turned with a gentle smile.

“Everyone, it doesn’t do to chatter so in the sanctuary.”

“Ah, forgive us, Lady Eibreich…”

The marquis’s wife smiled alluringly, and was about to turn away, then added as if on a passing thought,

“What I’ve heard is that child…”

Her ornate fan partly hid her lips.

“…is said to be terribly small and fragile. I do wonder if such a waif could possibly survive within the rigorous house of the Duke.”

Ah. Now it made sense.

Understanding dawned on the faces around her.

Surviving in the harsh North is no easy feat. Most would run at the mere sound of a magical beast’s cry. And then there’s ‘that’ Old Duke, and ‘that’ Duke himself.

“All we can hope for today is that… Lord Zevert does not suffer unbearable disgrace.”

So spake the lady, her voice refined as she laced her fingers in prayer.

Even if the child had somehow adjusted to the North, there was no doubt she would be unfamiliar with the world of nobility.

‘If she can avoid bursting into tears in the face of all this attention, it will be a miracle.’

Oh, goddess. Hear our prayer.

A subtle smile curled the marquis’s wife’s red lips.

At that moment, a commotion stirred at the church’s main entrance.

After a moment, the doorman’s voice rang out, loud and clear.

“The Duke of Zevert approaches!”

As if on cue, all heads twisted swiftly toward the doors, which eased open with a solemn weight.

“……”

A gust of fresh air swept through the church.

With the glowing sunlight at his back, the Duke seemed but a vast silhouette for a moment.

Step. Step.

His deliberate, unhurried tread echoed off the marble floor, and at last his figure caught the chandelier’s glow.

“……”

“Is that…”

The Duke, with a snow-white bundle nestled in his arms.

No, not a bundle.

It was—

“Oh, there are so many people… Are we late?”

A small child.

The girl hesitated, then pressed herself shyly into the Duke’s arm. The Duke, feigning a shake to his arm, was met with a fiercely determined glare as she clung tighter.

“Don’t drop me.”

“I won’t, so long as you don’t try to hide.”

“Is it always this crowded?”

“It’s been so long, I wouldn’t know.”

His reply was all indifference.

The more he spoke with the child, the more his sharp gaze softened.

Who was this? What had made him so gentle?

Everyone wondered as they watched the Duke of Zevert.

“The Duke can’t just do whatever he likes, you know.”

“And you shouldn’t keep picking out the vegetables you don’t like. You did it just this morning.”

“I’m a child, so it’s fine for me.”

“No, it’s precisely because you’re a child that it isn’t.”

“Grmph! You’re being mean again!”

Their quiet voices carried, echoing softly through the great sanctuary.

With a stern face, the Duke poked the child’s cheek.

“I said no making bratty noises at your father.”

“Sniff.”

“That’s so cute, I’ll let it pass.”

His face broke into a contented smile.

Who is this man?

Mesmerized, the congregation stared at the pair making their way to the front.

‘But… why is the young lady covering her face?’

With her nose and mouth hidden beneath a veil of sky-blue cloth, the young lady seemed even more mysterious, drawing every gaze.

Was there a political reason for such attire? Was it a deliberate ploy to stir curiosity and attention?

Bang.

Suddenly, half of the sanctuary door was blown away. The idle musings that had floated above the crowd were scattered like leaves in a storm.

“My, father. Your punch has grown stronger.”

“It’s nothing.”

Balok strode in, vigorous as ever despite the graying hair that testified to years of enforced seclusion after his injury.

“What are you staring at? As if none of you have ever smashed a door.”

And that infernal temper remained the same…

“Oops. Sorry to startle you, Mr. Doorman.”

The Duchess, cheerfully matching the shattered door, flashed a bright smile. The doorman, jaw slack with shock, only blinked.

“Oh? Thank you for the help? No need to thank me.”

The socialite flower, whose sweetness hid poisonous thorns, whispered silkily and walked on with dainty steps.

“Darling, Grandfather’s here! The carriage was so slow, I about lost my lunch! Come now, be quick. Haven’t I missed braiding half my beard?”

Having rushed to the front in one breath, Balok stretched out his hand to Rubian. Leviathan, swift as lightning, moved Rubian to the opposite side.

And of course, they didn’t come alone.

“Ruby! Why won’t you read my diary? I gave you the key!”

The second son burst in, splendidly dressed.

“The youngest fairy—there’s no lock on my magical beast compendium. Just as the presence of God is always open to you…”

And in came the eldest, dressed to the nines as well.

“Whoa, Liam, what did you mean by that? Sounds kind of cool.”

“I know. They said it’s some kind of illness…”

“Doesn’t it feel like something’s missing in the middle?”

People gave up trying to understand.

The once-quiet sanctuary exploded into chaos.

Were the Zevert family’s fearsome reputation and overwhelming authority due to their formidable power or merely to their earthshaking volume? Confusion reigned.

“Everyone…”

A faint voice trailed off, nearly lost in the tumult.

It was the youngest, who’d been hiding behind her hands all this while.

The little girl, trembling, could hold back no longer and shouted out,

“This is a public place! We have to be quiet! Hup!”

Clap.

As if by magic, the noise fell instantly, utterly silent.