Youngest 267
by CristaeEpisode 267
“You heard about Ruby and Kal, didn’t you?”
“I did.”
“It just… it breaks my heart for those kids. I can hardly stand it.”
Rosetta spoke in a trembling voice. She had not witnessed it herself, but she had heard the general outline.
How could such burdensome stories ever befit those precious children?
“And from what I hear, Rubian wasn’t happy in that ‘other world’ either. She talks so nonchalantly about being passed from shelter to shelter and being disowned twice…”
At last, tears streamed down Rosetta’s face, and Leviathan gritted his teeth fiercely.
“I thought I’d lose my mind.”
Inevitably, she found herself blaming herself.
Because she was weak.
Because she was lacking.
Was it not her own failing that she had failed to protect that child and left her to misery?
But Rosetta knew well that wounding herself in this way would not bring happiness to anyone.
So, she simply embraced her husband, seeking solace for her aching heart in his arms. As always, they comforted each other with gentle affection and, in that, found comfort themselves.
“But there’s something I’ve been wondering.”
A moment later, wiping her tears, she asked in a hoarse voice.
“When Rubian was young and said she wanted to go to the academy.”
“Yes.”
“They say it was because of something you said in your prior life. What exactly happened?”
Leviathan spoke, his voice low.
“Rose. The truth is, in my previous life… I saw her. Only for a moment, on the battlefield.”
“…Ruby?”
“Yes. I saw a little girl washing alone by the lakeshore, and the Mage’s Crest I glimpsed on her back left a striking impression.”
“Ah…”
“She was walking like a ghost, utterly devoid of vitality. Suddenly, I wanted to save her.”
Leviathan gently led Rosetta to sit on the bed. Night had grown deep before they knew it.
“So, as soon as the war ended, I began researching the Mage’s Crest. After a long search, I came upon word that there might be a clue in the academy’s old library… but she came to kill me first. I was too late.”
“Strike for the heart. Don’t miss. Everything you seek is at the center.”
“That was the most I could hint at, in that life.”
He softly stroked Rosetta’s hair.
“I didn’t realize that little Rubian in this life decided to go to the academy because she recalled that memory.”
And now, what had so often tormented Leviathan in his dreams—the woman resembling Rubian who came to kill him—he finally understood its true nature.
‘Strictly speaking, I suppose it wasn’t a dream.’
Perhaps the memory was so powerful that it branded itself on his soul, and as Rubian grew, it manifested in him as if in a dream.
But Leviathan chose not to speak of the dream, neither to Rosetta nor to Rubian. He didn’t wish to burden them any further.
Rosetta said,
“In the end, thanks to your actions in the past, Rubian discovered the spell to halt the passage of Crests, and was able to slay the Mage King.”
With a sigh like a moan, she buried her face in his chest.
“Thank you, Leviathan.”
“Rose.”
“For protecting Rubian… For letting me hold that child in my arms again…”
Her voice was thick with emotion. Leviathan drew his wife into a tight embrace.
“It’s me who should thank you. For letting me meet her.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“No. You made it all possible.”
Leviathan kissed every inch of Rosetta’s body as he whispered. Before long, the two of them were entwined as one atop the bed.
“If you hadn’t loved me, nothing would have ever begun.”
“…”
Words rich with a love too deep to fully fathom. Rosetta, feeling her nose prickle again, pressed her strong arms around his sturdy neck and answered his shower of kisses in kind.
“By the way, what about your body, now?”
Seeing the blush spreading across his wife’s face, Leviathan could no longer maintain his patience.
“Sigh. Why do you always have to ask that right before we start?”
Rosetta retorted, her expression thoroughly disheveled, and Leviathan silenced her with a kiss and a grin.
“Because…”
“…Nnh…”
“So I can decide just how much I’ll make you cry.”
Now, the man, his smooth aristocratic veneer stripped away, enticed her with a gaze bubbling over with desire.
“Hmm? Tell me quickly.”
“Your eyes are glazed over again, my lord.”
Rosetta gave a playful push to the shoulder of her husband as his hand traveled her thigh.
“I don’t think I’m in the best condition today. Maybe… Eek!”
Of course, it only took her husband a moment to see through the pretense and claim her lips and everything else.
As always, in bed, Rosetta lost to Leviathan.
In exactly the way she liked best, completely.
At last, the day to return home!
“Well, then, I’ll be off!”
I called out my farewell before the brilliant swirling portal at the royal palace.
Ideline, along with the palace elders and mages, came to see me off.
“Your mana still hasn’t fully recovered…”
Ideline looked at me in concern, but I just raised high the hand that Khalid clung to so firmly.
“It’s fine, because I have this.”
Having adjusted to my diminished magic core, Kal was supplying me with mana, bit by precious bit. Ideline frowned at Khalid.
“So, just who, exactly, is this mage—?”
“I’m not a mage. I’m a knight,” Khalid answered blandly, caressing his sword with the other hand.
‘He’s a mage; he’s a knight; he just does as he pleases.’
Well, I saw no reason to reveal Khalid’s story everywhere, and he didn’t seem to want me to. Best to leave his identity buried.
“Ahem! Why must children grasp hands like that so carelessly! Ahem!”
“Grandfather, you’re going to burst my eardrums.”
Void grumbled, clamping his hands over his ears.
“Since our little snot’s recovery depends on him, we can’t separate those two, ahh-hem!”
“That’s right. You could say he’s like my vitalizing nutrient solution, so I simply can’t let go of him…”
I squeezed Khalid’s hand tighter, and the tips of his ears turned faintly red. Father muttered grimly to his aide, “Find out at once what this ‘nutrient solution’ is.”
‘Even after learning Khalid regressed for my sake, nothing’s really changed.’
Which, in the end, was just like our family. Whatever feelings they privately harbored, they kept them inside.
‘If my family suddenly started acting different to Kal, he’d be so creeped out he’d run away for sure.’
No way. My precious nutrient solution.
I can never let go!
The moment I gripped his hand tighter—
A group of people ran up from afar.
“Archmageeeee!”
“Oh my.”
They were mages I’d met in the temple’s prayer room and those granted access to the royal palace. Freed from their Crests, they now smiled with open relief.
“Thank you for saving us!”
“We’ll never forget this favor!”
“Sis!”
Children mages who’d been sheltered in the southern Babylon region also returned safely home.
One of them draped a lavish garland of flowers around my neck.
“Come visit again, Ruby King Archmage Crest Master Sis!”
What in the world was that atrocious hybrid?
Regardless of my appalled expression, everyone bowed deeply before me with the highest respect.
“Lady Rubian. Wherever you may be, however you may live, all the mages of Arcadia will drop everything at your call! We will support you, always! Just say the word for whatever you desire!”
They looked ready to offer up the world itself. Liam whispered with immense pride, “You’ve got a whole army of followers now.”
“All of you…”
My nose began to sting.
“I plan to live ever mindful that I am the youngest daughter of a noble family blessed with wealth and power by my father’s design, so I suppose there isn’t much I couldn’t have if I wanted… but thank you for saying so anyway.”
Father looked as if he thought I was taking things a bit far, but I only laughed through teary eyes.
“Most of all, the greatest joy is having you here to see me off like this!”
Everyone waved with all their might. With radiant faces, and an air of exhilarating freedom!
I felt so proud!
“Safe travels!”
“Come visit anytime!”
“I’m going to start the immigration process to Babylon!”
“Promise to let us know when you’re holding any wedding or engagement!”
At this, Father, just about to enter the portal, spun on his heel.
“Who just mentioned a wedding to my little girl? Step forward.”
“I’ve got my eye on you all. Let’s just go for now.”
Mother shook her head and gave him a shove into the portal.
“Byeeeeeee!”
I, too, cried out a huge farewell and vanished through the portal.
The mages’ paradise, the Mage Kingdom Arcadia. May it now truly become a paradise in every sense.
“See you again!”