Youngest 012
by CristaeEpisode 12
“Wow, look—even Father’s here!”
Void lifted the card with the golden border, cradling it as if it were priceless.
The look on Mister’s face as he watched was truly something to see…
“If you wanted it so much, why didn’t you just buy it yourself?”
At my offhand question, Void turned his head away.
“This is only sold in the capital for a limited period. You can’t get it in the North.”
“You could’ve written to the Duke and asked him to get it for you.”
“There’s no way I could say something like that…”
His pale cheeks turned a little pink.
“I said I wanted to become a great knight, but if I asked for something like this… it’d make me seem like a child… he’d be disappointed…”
His mumbled words were barely audible.
“Huh?”
“Nothing!”
Void quickly finished sorting the cards and stood up.
“Anyway, thanks. I’m not really that into games like this, but.”
Liar.
“But since my little brother gave it to me, I have no choice but to accept!”
Void puffed out his chest and stood in front of me.
“In exchange, is there anything you want? Tell me.”
“Hmm, right now I’d like a bit of time alone.”
“Time alone? Of course, you can have that.”
Void put on a mock-mature face and affectionately patted my head.
“Then play this card game with me tomorrow.”
“And if I say no…?”
Suddenly, a sharp look flickered my way.
Of course, I didn’t feel threatened at all, so I just laughed it off.
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it.”
At that moment, Void fixed me with a long, searching look.
“By the way, when you smile like that…”
“Hm?”
“It’s really kind of…”
A strange light flickered through those guileless violet eyes.
“Like a girl…?”
I froze in place.
“Well, obviously you’re not.”
What is this kid’s intuition?
So flustered, I ended up kicking Void out of my room.
The next morning.
I woke up feeling light as air, as if I’d slept on a cloud.
“Heuuuh. I slept so well.”
“So it seems.”
“Ah, you startled me.”
Leviathan was sprawled on the sofa of my lavish room like old laundry.
“What are you doing there? First thing in the morning?”
“It’s not morning. It’s afternoon.”
“Huh?”
Afternoon? Did I really sleep that long!
Panicked, I rushed to the window to check the sun.
“……”
The sun was just rising in the east.
“Hey, what was that! Why’d you lie to me!”
Mister laughed to himself like some village layabout.
He was dressed in a loose tunic. They say all you need to complete a look is a good face, and even dressed so carelessly, he seemed to shine.
‘Looks really do make all the difference.’
I tugged self-consciously at my own unkempt silver hair in the mirror.
“What are you doing?”
“Nothing.”
“Put on your slippers. Your feet’ll get cold.”
“Okay.”
I slid my feet into the little slippers he pushed toward me.
He was idly tossing an apple up and catching it with his hand.
“Aren’t you busy? When a duke comes home after a long time, isn’t he supposed to be swamped with work?”
“Well… I am busy.”
Swiftly, his hand caught the apple and set it on the table. His piercing violet eyes bored into me.
“You look well.”
“…?”
I tilted my head, not understanding.
With a quiet grunt, Mister got to his feet and turned away. Sensing he might disappear at any moment, I hastily called out.
“Where are you going?”
“To work.”
“What about breakfast?”
“…? The cook will bring it to you, right?”
“No, I mean your breakfast…”
He cocked an eyebrow, his expression flickering into slight discomfort.
“Ah, I’ve got a lot to do for a while, so it’ll be hard to eat together.”
The dark circles under his eyes made it clear he wasn’t lying about being busy.
“You can just eat with Void. Unless you don’t want to?”
“No, it’s not that.”
“When things settle down, we’ll eat together.”
“Alright.”
“If anyone bothers you, write down their name.”
He grinned into the morning sun.
It was a smile closer to a villain’s than a hero’s.
“I’ll make them cry for mercy.”
“Master.”
As the butler approached, Leviathan, who was wandering leisurely down the hall, lifted his eyes.
“Would you like to begin by inspecting the castle, or visit the Rezilrus Mountain outpost first? There’s also the knights’ business, and the treasury documents require your review as well.”
All the affairs of the fief that he’d neglected were piling up at once.
“I’ll start with the documents.”
After a moment’s thought, Leviathan chose to hole up in the study.
The butler raised his brows, a little surprised.
“You always leave reading the documents to me.”
“……”
He didn’t answer.
He couldn’t bring himself to say that he didn’t want to leave the place while Rubian was here. Somehow, it felt like words that didn’t suit him.
‘Was he alright last night?’
Leviathan had spent the night in Rubian’s room.
After arriving at the castle and dealing with the most urgent tasks, it was already dawn. He’d quietly gone to check and found the child sleeping, breathing softly.
‘He always was good at adapting.’
Leviathan stifled a laugh.
The child could sleep anywhere, ate anything, rarely complained.
He seemed to like bathing… but even then, if conditions weren’t right, he wouldn’t fuss.
Rubian had slept soundly through the night.
That fact gave Leviathan a sense of peace.
All throughout the journey from the capital to the duchy, the child had hardly slept at all.
“Don’t go… that way…”
“Not there… please…”
He’d tossed and turned, drenched in cold sweat, as though battling some unknown nightmare.
It was enough to leave even stoic knights like Leon wracked with worry through the night.
‘What kind of nightmares are you wandering in?’
Leviathan’s violet eyes flickered black.
It seemed Rubian didn’t even realize he was having nightmares.
Each morning, he’d wake cheerfully and bustle around like nothing was wrong.
Whether that was good or bad, Leviathan couldn’t tell.
But watching Rubian always left his heart weighed down.
‘Is he still dreaming about when the village was attacked?’
Yet the muttered words he’d let slip in his sleep were oddly off.
“I… I should have…”
“I’ll go… Let me…”
What sort of child had a role to play in that village?
Leviathan’s brow furrowed deeply.
‘He is the healer’s child, after all.’
Rubian never spoke of his past. Fearing he might touch on some hidden pain, Leviathan was careful.
‘Maybe I should wait until Rosetta returns…’
He’d always been rough and clumsy by nature.
He couldn’t begin to fathom why Rubian, of all people, chose to follow him.
‘And even with Void, still…’
He sighed.
It hadn’t been long since he’d even managed to meet Void’s gaze and talk. If anything, it was Void’s own friendly spirit that drew Leviathan in.
But it was still awkward. Even more so with his eldest, down south.
‘This is hard.’
He didn’t know where to start.
“Oh, sir. A letter has arrived from Lady Rosetta.”
“From Rose?”
Leviathan took the letter.
This was the reply to the note he’d sent from the capital, asking if it was alright to bring Rubian in.
The answer, so simple it made him smile, was yes.
After the loss of her unborn child in a carriage accident, Rose had begun caring for lost children with renewed purpose.
She couldn’t take them all in, so she’d started by sponsoring a few.
That was how she met Liam and Void. Both were children Rose had herself brought to the family.
Leviathan had neither strongly objected nor supported her—he simply watched in silence.
But now, suddenly, he’d brought up the idea of taking in Rubian.
She’d have every right to press him on it.
‘She’ll just ask when she gets back.’
Catching his wife’s intent, he gave a faint smile.
“Hm?”
There was a postscript hidden under a finger.
The handwriting exuded a careful restraint. Leviathan’s eyes grew heavy.
He’d buried their lost child with his own hands.
It had rained so hard that day, and the little body in his hands had been so cold. He remembered it all as if it were yesterday.
“…Ah.”
His mood plummeted. The air around him seemed to darken and tremble.
This isn’t good.
With effort, he forced himself to calm down.
He shook his head roughly, banishing the thought by will.
“When will Rose return?”
“She said she will arrive in about a month.”
“I see.”
He started walking again.
Sunlight poured through the grand windows as he paced the corridor.
He recalled Rubian’s freshly woken, smooth little face.
And the way he’d tugged irritably at his own silver hair, as if dissatisfied with it, made Leviathan smile.
‘What a temper.’
All day, the castle staff chattered about Rubian’s bright, shining hair.
How charming and mysterious it was—they buzzed in whispers.
Leviathan, for his part, thought the child’s blue eyes were his most beautiful feature, though he had to admit, the hair was rather lovely, too.
‘Beautiful, pretty… words I’d never thought to use for a boy.’
But thinking of Rubian, such phrases slipped out before he knew it. Again, he found himself laughing…
Abruptly, he stopped.
“Is something the matter, sir?” the butler asked, seeing Leviathan halt suddenly.
He was gripped by an odd sense of disquiet.
“It’s not morning, it’s afternoon.”
“Hm?”
He’d made the joke without a thought.
“Hey, what was that! Why’d you lie to me!”
Rubian hadn’t looked at a clock—he’d rushed straight to the window.
As if it were second nature.
So used to reading the sun or the moon to tell the time.
‘Like a soldier on a battlefield…’
For a moment, an indescribable wave swept over him.