Youngest 147
by CristaeChapter 147
The first thing to catch the eye was her jet-black hair.
“Ugh, the one who looked exactly like me has gone and turned just like Leviathan…”
How indignant I was the first time I saw it!
“What is this! Get out of my way! I’m going to dye my hair too! I took a certain pride in having the same color as my youngest one!”
“Waaah, Grandpa, you have white hair! I have silver!”
“What’s the difference?”
“It’s different! It’s definitely different!”
With a shout, Rubian darted away into the distance. The memory made him chuckle.
“Adorable thing.”
So precious.
And yet, to think such a child belonged on a battlefield?
It was true she’d grown up a bit rough in Eosia, but no matter how you looked at it, this made no sense.
With a satisfied expression, he gazed upon the granddaughter he hadn’t seen in ten days.
‘If only we’d met sooner.’
Then this old man would’ve taken care of all the tough and troublesome things for her.
Well, there’s nothing stopping me from doing so now!
There will be more time to spend with this little sweetheart from now on.
‘Has she grown a bit?’
Balok gently brushed Rubian’s round forehead. The child’s brow creased at his touch.
“Mmm. That tickles… Beard attack… Not allowed…”
“Whoops, almost woke her.”
He quickly withdrew his hand and rose to his feet.
It was enough just to see her looking well.
Somehow, all the tangled thoughts that had been clouding his mind seemed to clear away.
Yes, what is there to worry about?
‘Well, when Leviathan comes tomorrow, I’ll just ask.’
It probably won’t be anything out of the ordinary.
Surely.
As Balok stealthily padded down the hallway, returning to the manor, his footsteps came to an abrupt halt.
“…Huh?”
In the wide corridor of the sprawling townhouse,
he spotted a figure standing in the middle of it like a ghost.
“When did you get here? What are you doing?”
He hadn’t even changed out of his traveling clothes.
Leviathan slowly turned his head.
“Ah. You haven’t gone to bed, sir.”
In the dark night, half his face was lost in shadow, making his expression unreadable.
“Yeah. So what are you doing out here?”
“I was just about to head in.”
“Oh, I see. Well, as it happens, I’m glad I ran into you. Let’s have a talk, you and I.”
Balok gestured for Leviathan to come over. But Leviathan barely shook his head.
“Sorry, but I’m a little tired. Maybe next time…”
“…?”
Did I just hear what I think I did?
Balok dug into his ear with a thick finger.
“Tiiiired?”
His mouth twisted in disbelief.
Was this not the most unexpected and creative thing he’d heard all year?
“…You seem to forget sometimes, but I am human.”
Leviathan replied gruffly.
“Oh, really? I just found out.”
“So, if you’ll excuse me…”
Step, step.
The sound of footsteps faded away.
Balok stared after him, then roughly scratched the back of his own head.
Damn, do I bring it up or not.
“So, about Ruby…”
In the end, though, the face of the granddaughter he’d just seen won out.
And besides, it was only right to speak with Leviathan about this too. He was Rubian’s father, after all.
His steady stride halted as if in a lie.
“So, uh, did you happen to find any new signs in Eosia… Anything like that?”
“…Why are you suddenly asking that?”
A slow turn. The shadow went pitch black.
In an instant, the entire atmosphere changed as if by magic.
“Are you asking me?”
Only then did Balok realize it.
Leviathan was in a deeply unsettled state.
He’d missed it only because the man appeared calm, but it was no different from just before an explosion.
“Father.”
Leviathan took a step closer.
“I asked why you want to know.”
There it was.
His manners were excessively correct.
‘This is bad.’
Balok hesitated once more, but decided to just tell the truth. Subtle wordplay was not his skill, anyway.
“Well, Liam said something odd!”
“Something odd?”
“The youngest brat asked if the little one had ever experienced war alongside Khalid, and so on!”
“…”
A suffocating silence fell over his son-in-law.
“Liam… said that?”
Leviathan was the one to break it, muttering the words.
“That’s right.”
“…”
“It’s nothing, isn’t it? Right?”
Balok pressed, seeking reassurance.
Leviathan, who had been staring at the air for a long while, finally raised his head.
“Yes.”
The answer was precise.
He gave Balok a faint smile.
“So don’t bother worrying about useless things, and get some sleep.”
“What’s this, now… did you just smile at me?”
Is something actually wrong with this guy?
Even as Balok eyed him with suspicion, Leviathan offered no further response, turning away.
And at that instant—thud. As if in a dream, his sword slipped from his hand.
“…Leviathan? You…”
“Ah.”
The large man picked up the fallen sword from the floor as if it were nothing. Then, unconcerned, he turned his back again.
“Rest well.”
“That brat, honestly…”
Balok’s brow furrowed deeply.
He had taught Leviathan the sword for decades.
The man was his own son, but he was a monster.
He could swear that after Leviathan had received a true sword, not once had he ever seen him drop it—not even by accident.
Letting go of one’s sword was, for a knight, a shameful act.
“What in the world happened out there…”
He muttered with a bitter taste.
He’d just seen Rubian and finally started to feel a little alive.
It seemed like this sleepless night would never end.
Delcan Ruins, Mage King. Currently in seclusion. No notable movement expected for the time being.
Allen’s letter was terse.
A standard situation report. The end.
If only it weren’t for the tiny, cramped handwriting stuffed into the corner of the scrap of paper.
Hey, you little punk. I almost got killed by the Duke Zevert after getting caught.
The moment he read it, Leviathan sensed that something was wrong.
Why didn’t you tell me the Duke was coming? Eh, whatever. At least I got to see the princess’s face~
True to his looks, it was a lazy, insolent tone.
Leviathan, sitting alone in his chamber, clenched the letter in his fist.
‘The only mercenary brat who could report my whereabouts…’
He couldn’t even recall how that one managed to return to the capital.
‘Only Khalid.’
“The youngest brat asked if the little one had ever experienced war alongside Khalid!”
‘That mercenary was acting on Khalid’s orders.’
Then, the “princess” mentioned here—who could that be?
Anyone bold enough to keep tabs on the Mage King’s movements would have to be his enemy… or fleeing from him.
His hand gripped the armrest so hard blue veins bulged beneath his skin.
‘If that’s the case…’
He closed his eyes, devastated.
‘A fugitive Mage…’
Please. Someone stop these thoughts.
“Dad, Dad! Hide me!”
A memory, from some time ago.
When he’d be wrestling with documents in his study, the child would often burst in, slamming the door.
“What is it?”
“My brothers are chasing me!”
She would then crawl under his legs.
He could hardly bear how endearing her cheeks flushed like rubies under the desk.
Those tiny hands, tapping at his legs, offering to give him a massage in thanks for hiding her.
‘Hide-and-seek…’
Now, those words carried a weight utterly unlike before.
Disjointed memories flipped by like pages in a rough book.
Where the story paused was in Ipson.
“Oh, that was it.”
Rosetta, who had been lazing in the bedroom, suddenly sat up.
Her gaze rested, of all places, on an ornamental tapestry on the wall.
A map of the continent was embroidered there.
“It was something like this…”
“Like what?”
“The mark I found on Rubian’s back at the bath yesterday. It looked just like that branch.”
Rosetta laughed coldly.
“But to think it’s the crest of the Mage Kingdom—ugh. I feel sorry for our Ruby.”
“…Do you ever see things wrongly?”
“Oh, please. I’m not infallible, you know?”
“…I see.”
Words they had once thought nothing of.
Scattered bits of the puzzle, finally coming together, taking on meaning, forming a picture.
‘Why did Rubian hide her gender?’
It started again with that question.
‘What if it wasn’t simply a fear of abandonment…’
What if there was a deeper, more complicated reason?
“Your Excellency, once again, we found no trace in Eosia.”
That’s why no records of Rubian could be found anywhere in Eosia…
“Dad, Dad! Hide me!”
The child had hidden in his shadow to escape someone’s grasp… And in the end, she—
‘Rubian…’
If she was a royal Mage…
“Ah…”
Leviathan let out a short groan, bending forward.
How she looked up to judge time by the sun.
The words she’d mutter while having nightmares.
The face of the child running toward him during the ‘fourth’ explosion accident.
“Mister.”
What Rubian was hiding…
“Is the war over?”
Was it really just her gender?
That’s when he realized.
He could no longer be certain of anything concerning that question.