Youngest 214
by Cristae214
The more overwhelming the truth, the more I needed to remain calm and rational. I wanted to explain the situation concisely, without embellishment, and ask for help.
But…
“I’m going to try to uncover the truth step by step. I think the Mage King, to me… with me… I…”
Contrary to my intent, my voice cracked, and I couldn’t manage to string the words together clearly.
“Ha.”
It was because I had just then noticed the blue necklace hanging at my neck—something Void had given me on the way north, in Father’s stead.
The birthday present Father had wanted to give me.
As I stared at the gem, shining with its blue radiance, the image of Father turning his horse and dashing toward me came to mind.
Imagining him agonizing in secret over what to choose for me, my heart felt as though it was being squeezed tight.
“Grandfather…”
My body wavered. The resolve I’d tried to muster gave way. I grabbed hold of Grandfather’s coat and clung to him.
“What am I, really?”
“Ru…bia…”
Looking up, I saw all the life drained from the old man’s face.
His large hands gripped me firmly, but, unlike usual, they trembled helplessly.
“If I really am…”
“How could this be…”
“What if I truly am that child?”
In his violet eyes, my reflection was contorted in anguish.
“What about my mother and father… what will happen to them?”
Balok staggered as he walked.
“What in the world is happening…”
He ran his thick palm over his gaunt face again and again. His breathing was unsteady. His eyes burned as if they would burst, and his blood ran even hotter throughout his body.
Rubian, having poured everything out as if vomiting it up, was helped by Void back to her room. Her face was bright red, as though a fever had come upon her again. Dr. Borvel, summoned in haste, hurried after.
In truth, he could barely remember how that moment had ended.
He braced himself against the window frame and drew ragged breaths.
“What in the world is going on…”
His lips trembled violently. He clenched his fist so hard it seemed it would burst.
“I think I may have been the child buried in the little garden…”
Could such a thing be possible?
“Rubian is really…”
Could she truly be the child believed to have died long ago—Rosetta and Leviathan’s daughter?
The mere thought of it made his flesh crawl.
He wanted nothing more than to deny such a cruel reality. Yet Rubian, with a voice trembling and strained, had managed to speak.
She’d explained how she had tested it, not once but twice, with the potion unintentionally.
There was no child who shared blood with Leviathan in this world, other than the baby laid in the little garden.
Yet, now, that grave was found empty…
“Ha…”
No, it was not easy to accept. But
all the circumstances pointed to one thing.
Balok slammed his hand on the window frame.
“Impossible!”
A child thought to be dead was, in fact, stolen? Not once had he dared even to imagine it.
‘But how…’
He was sure Rosetta had given birth to a dead child.
He himself had witnessed, up close, Rosetta and Leviathan’s utter despair as Leviathan laid that cold, tiny form into the earth.
“I… don’t know exactly how it all happened, Grandfather. That’s why I say ‘maybe.’”
Balok recalled Ruby’s voice, thin and trembling.
‘If this is true…’
With a hollow heart, he collapsed into his seat.
‘There can be nothing more cruel than this.’
“I’ll be the one to tell Mother and Father. That’s best. Please, don’t worry, Grandfather.”
As Rubian said this, the corners of her mouth twitched, as if she were forcing a smile only to reassure him.
Realizing this, Balok felt as if the sky itself had collapsed upon him.
Words like ‘devastated’ did not suffice.
“Who is comforting whom…”
When the shock passed, anger took its place.
The old man, once hunched, slowly raised his head, and an animal glint appeared in his eyes.
‘Just who—’
Just who could have done such a thing!
Grinding his teeth, he slowly got to his feet.
His head boiled, as if blazing lava was being poured into it.
Vengeance.
That was all that filled his body.
Dawn was breaking before he realized it.
“Your Excellency? Where are you going with your sword?!”
Morris, approaching to check on Balok, ran over in alarm.
The old man’s eyes were unfocused. Sword in hand, he swept down the stairs like the wind.
“Your Excellency!”
Not since the day the ducal couple lost their baby had anyone seen him like this.
Morris frantically called the knights, and though they raced after and clung to Balok, it was no use.
“What’s come over you?! Suddenly?!”
“Let go, let go! I’ll kill them all! I’ll lay down my life if need be—but I’ll kill them now!”
“Who are you talking about?!”
“The Mage King…!”
Balok spat the words through gritted teeth. Red veins swelled in his eyes.
He had failed to protect that small child.
He who had now condemned her to wander the battlefields, who’d turned a bright and warm childhood into one of suffering.
“Come any closer, I’ll cut you all down!”
No one could restrain the raging old man.
Balok ran through the manor, knights hanging from him as if they weighed nothing.
He felt as though his head would burst if he didn’t immediately travel south to inform Leviathan and sever the Mage King’s head.
He had just reached the stables when—
“…Father?”
A woman had just finished tethering her horse and was coming out.
Balok’s momentum halted as if struck.
“So, you ran right back and left me alone.”
Rosetta, casting back her robe’s hood, swept her gaze around. She saw the ashen-faced Morris and the knights in turn.
“So, where are you off to in such a hurry at this hour?”
“…Rose.”
“Is something…?”
Balok could bear it no longer; he rushed to embrace Rosetta.
“My Rose, my beautiful Rose…”
His large hand gently stroked the back of her head, over and over—
As if to soothe, to comfort, to beg forgiveness.
Balok thought he might go mad with pity for Rosetta, whom he cherished like a daughter. Of course, it was the same for Leviathan.
They had lost one child in a carriage accident, and now once again lost another child laid in a grave.
“Father… why are you doing this?”
Rosetta asked quietly.
Balok could not bring himself to speak.
He had thought, with his fiery temper, that he would dash straight to Leviathan and reveal the truth.
But now, faced with his daughter-in-law, he didn’t know where—or how—to begin.
“Why—what’s wrong with you? You’re acting as if something’s happened…”
It was only then that Balok noticed how wildly Rosetta’s voice was trembling.
And that his own shoulder was wetting with her tears.
“…Rose?”
“Please, Father.”
And then, why had Rosetta come alone, riding her horse so desperately north?
As though, as though…
“You, could it be… you know something?”
“Please don’t do this. Please don’t act this way, as if something has happened…”
In a panic, Balok pushed her gently away.
Looking more closely, her face was deathly pale, and her lips were raw and torn from being bitten.
“Please…”
She clutched her stomach suddenly.
“Please don’t tell me it was I who lost her.”
Balok’s grip loosened.
How… For a moment, he could only murmur in disbelief.
Then Rosetta’s eyes changed.
Rose!
She stepped away from Balok and strode purposefully toward the memorial ground.