Youngest 215

Episode 215

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A few days ago, on the outskirts of the capital.

“What is this? Father suddenly taking Ruby to Zelox?”

Rosetta furrowed her brow.

It was around the time Rubian had just opened her eyes in the ducal estate.

At that moment, she was interrogating a mage locked away in a secret hut on the outskirts of the capital.

One of the mercenary maids who had brought the news spoke up.

“The maids at the mansion said the young lady insisted she had to check the barrier at Zelox immediately, so she left in a rush.”

“And Father believed that?”

“Well, Lady Balok is rather soft on the young miss…”

Even so, it wasn’t as if Balok was the sort to let Rubian carelessly walk into danger. She supposed it would be fine…

But did Ruby have some reason for her urgency?

‘Her body still hasn’t recovered.’

Ever since the incident at the lake, Rubian had been feverish for days, unable to regain consciousness.

Leviathan, Rosetta, and Khalid had all spent sleepless nights at her bedside, their faces etched with worry.

At least as of last night, her condition had markedly improved.

‘Honestly, I thought she’d insist on chasing after Leviathan south to fight the magical beasts. But the north? And to leave without waiting for me—something urgent must have happened.’

Rosetta recalled the lakeside.

When Leviathan brought the limp Rubian back, her heart had nearly stopped.

The culprit, the ferryman, was apprehended quickly. He had intentionally avoided any fatal areas with his arrow, and thanks to his testimony, the mastermind behind it was soon revealed.

The ferryman and his accomplices were beheaded, and the First Prince was thrown in prison.

“I—I never intended harm to the princess! That damned ferryman alone was at fault!”

It seemed an attempt to lessen his punishment, but it only stoked the emperor’s rage further.

His misdeeds were exposed at just the right moment, ensuring there would be no leniency.

‘He’ll likely be made a dethroned prince, exiled to his lands for life.’

Rosetta thought coldly.

Of course, neither she nor Leviathan had any intention of allowing the First Prince to reach his exile unharmed.

‘…Or perhaps not. Khalid might be first.’

Those who swallow their rage in silence are always the most terrifying. She even wondered if the prince might suddenly die in his cell. She only wondered.

“For now, this matter comes first.”

Rosetta turned to the man tied to the chair.

The mage, who had been living comfortably in the mansion, had been dragged here by the mercenary maids, yanked by the hair.

She slammed her foot down between his legs.

“Heek!”

“So, when are we finally going to have a proper conversation? Tell me what you’re up to—fast. After pretending to be Rubian’s biological father, what was your plan? Kidnapping her?”

Rubian’s coming-of-age ceremony was over, and the King of Kasalia had been captured. It was time for answers.

She had thought of using a potion from the mansion to check the blood relationship, but Hazel had stopped her.

“Ah, that potion has issues. I don’t think it mixes properly. I was going to ask the young miss when she returned, but… She’s so ill…”

Ironically, it was through the mage’s confession that they learned he wasn’t Rubian’s biological father.

He had been thoroughly deflated by whatever had happened in the mansion, and once he realized his cover as the Mage King’s spy was blown, he confessed everything.

“And what’s all this about magical beasts in the south? Out with it, quickly. I don’t have time.”

“Th-that’s…”

“I said there’s no time to stammer. I’ll give you ten seconds to gather your thoughts. Ten.”

Rosetta slapped the mage’s cheek with a sharp sound.

“Not talking?”

“Y-You said ten seconds!”

“You’ve wasted enough.”

Blood trickled down from his mouth.

“Those mutated beasts in the south—were they really created by dark magic?”

“I—I don’t know. My only order was to impersonate her biological father and divert attention…”

Rosetta clicked her tongue in annoyance.

“The fastest way for the Zevert knights in the south to return to the capital was just that…”

“And during the lowered defenses in the south, you snuck other mages in? They’re the ones who summoned the mutated beasts?”

“T-then the Duke Zevert would be drawn away from the princess’s side, and I could lure her… The ‘seventh’ is powerless against family…”

Rosetta grabbed the mage by the throat. Her white-knuckled grip pressed precisely on his vital point.

“Are your brain folds all smoothed out? Why work so hard only to get caught? If you lured away my daughter, did you think I’d just watch and do nothing?”

“Urgh…”

“And you seriously thought a magical beast with tinges of dark magic would keep my husband occupied in the south? The Mage King’s brain is truly pristine.”

“Guh, well…”

The man choked and continued.

“The… the Duke Zevert… will surely lose… in the south…”

“Lose?”

Rosetta let out a genuine laugh.

“You haven’t got the measure of the man yet. There’s nothing in this world that can overpower Leviathan.”

“That—!”

Just as the man inadvertently started to speak—

With a sickening groan, black blood gushed from the mage’s mouth.

“…!”

Rosetta quickly withdrew her hand, but the man clutched his chest, writhing silently before going limp.

“Tch.”

Rosetta looked down at the dead man in bitter disappointment, eyes wide.

‘They silenced him.’

At the same time, he had become a spent tool to be disposed of.

‘I’d planned to squeeze every last bit of information from him.’

With a cold face, she wiped the blood from her hand.

‘No matter. I’ve gathered enough to know what they planned to do to my Ruby.’

“Dispose of him.”

The masked maids nodded stolidly, pouring oil throughout the hut.

Rosetta stepped outside and pulled her black hood low. One maid approached her.

“Where will you go? North? Or south?”

Would she chase after Rubian?

Or follow Leviathan?

For a moment, the mage’s voice whispering of defeat flickered through her mind, but Rosetta shook her head.

My hero would never fall to mere magical beasts.

No one understood Leviathan’s strength better than she did. Even so, she decided to send a warning just in case, turning away with cold determination.

“The Imperial Palace.”

“Pardon?”

“Send a messenger to Princess Sevelena, tell her we must meet immediately. She should be back by now. If she refuses, bring her by force if you must.”

She’d heard that Rubian had left for the north in a hurry as soon as she awoke.

More than that, the words Leviathan had spoken before his departure weighed heavily on her mind.

“At the lake, I think Ruby was holding a potion in her hand.”

“A potion?”

“I only caught a glimpse of the empty bottle sinking, so I’m not certain.”

He had summoned Princess Sevelena before heading south, but was unable to meet her. The princess had left the ballroom right after the banquet, off to meet the Kasalia nobles.

“I have a bad feeling. She was acting strangely throughout the whole banquet… So…”

“You think Ruby didn’t tell us everything?”

Leviathan nodded heavily.

“I need to hear what she and the princess discussed.”

With her heart pounding uneasily, Rosetta made her way to the imperial palace.

And now, here she was.

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“I just told the princess… that the potion at the ducal estate works in reverse.”

Sevelena’s voice echoed.

If it was a potion at the ducal estate, it must have been the paternity potion Rubian claimed to have tested as a prank with Leviathan.

At first, Rosetta hadn’t truly grasped the meaning of the princess’s words.

“Rose!”

Rosetta vaulted over the fence of the memorial garden without hesitation.

At the banquet, Leviathan had said the potion didn’t mix.

But it turned out… it was a potion with reversed effects?

‘If the child’s blood was compatible with Leviathan…’

Then so was mine.

What did that mean?

…No.

Please, no.

Rosetta denied that impossibility with every step northward, repeating it like a mantra.

But all such hope crumbled the instant she saw Balok stalking forward, wild as a beast.

Rosetta rushed over, digging at the frozen earth with her bare hands.

“Mother!”

Void, startled by the commotion, tried to stop her, but she didn’t cease.

When the maids tried to intervene, she snarled fiercely.

“Don’t touch it!”

Madness flashed in her eyes.

Balok stood there trembling, grinding his teeth, while Void bit his lip until it nearly burst, then ran to the manor for a spade.

“No one touch it.”

Rosetta began digging up the grave again.

Her fingernails snapped on the hard gravel, blood seeping from her hands. Sweat and tears darkened the dry, frozen soil, pattering down.

‘Leviathan…’

Silently crying, Rosetta dug, clawing away earth.

The memory of giving birth returned to her.

The agony had made her faint again and again; a dreadful, protracted labor. And what was born… Or could it even be called “born” in the first place?

She carried out her dead child.

When she regained her senses later, the baby was gone, only a cold, black gravestone left behind.

“It was a girl…”

That iron-hearted man had buried his own child with his own hands.

How must Leviathan have felt, digging a grave for the daughter he had waited for so long?

Rosetta could not even begin to imagine.

Of course it was absurd, but sometimes she feared Leviathan might secretly blame her for losing their child.

‘That’s why I vowed at least to protect this grave…’

Drip. Drip.

Blood seeped from burst veins in her eyes—bloody tears leaving dark stains in the earth, which Rosetta’s hands dug up even as they formed.

And then, at last—

Thunk.

“Ah…”

Her trembling fingers brushed against a cold, heavy stone coffin. A great hand covered hers, clasping tightly.

“…Let me help. This isn’t something you can lift alone.”

The old lord was visibly struggling to restrain his emotions. The two adults pushed the lid together. And then—

Thud.

Balok collapsed to his knees.

“My God. There’s really… a coffin…”

“This can’t be…”

Morris the butler, the maids watching in horror, and even Void, who had belatedly run back with a spade, all had looks of shock on their faces.

‘Leviathan.’

Rosetta let her arms fall and gazed up at the sky, closing her eyes. Hot tears ran down her frozen cheeks.

We…

‘I…’

What exactly have we been protecting all this time?