Youngest 062
by CristaeEpisode 62
“Our youngest really has quite the nerve.”
Dad rested his chin on his hand and placed it on my head.
I gazed at the cake boxes stacked neatly in the dining room. One of every kind, a total of eight.
“They were just so delicious.”
“Right. Who would have thought you’d go so far as to reserve and buy the entire tea salon menu for a whole month.”
I said I’d be staying here all month… I bought them thinking of everyone.
‘Maybe buying a whole month’s worth at once was a bit much?’
Should I have split it up and bought them every two weeks?
“Did I do something wrong?”
When I asked carefully, Dad made a face like he’d never heard such nonsense.
“Out of everything you’ve done since you came here, this is the very best.”
“Hehe.”
See? I knew he’d love it the most.
Satisfied, I turned my head.
In one corner of the table, Grandpa and Void had just returned from training and were devouring the cakes.
As expected, Liam had holed up in the library and hadn’t shown his face.
“Oh, so sweet! Oh, so delicious!”
“It must be because someone was thinking of me when they bought it—tastes three hundred times better!”
Their forks barely paused.
They both seemed thoroughly touched when I mentioned I’d bought them myself.
“You know, those two don’t even like sweets all that much.”
Despite my protest, the cakes were vanishing rapidly.
“That’s not true. I like them.”
“Right! Today, somehow they taste so good it’s making me dizzy!”
“Ah! Grandpa, that’s the—!”
No! Not that one!
That’s the flavor I was saving to eat after dinner!
As I shrieked, Khalid, who had been quietly standing by my side, clicked his tongue.
“Like a marketplace, even today.”
Looking closely, I noticed that he was hiding my favorite cake box behind his back.
Oh, he squirreled it away ahead of time.
Of course—so clever, my friend!
“But what are you working on so hard over there?”
Dad, setting his teacup down, asked. Only then did I resume writing with my paused pen.
“A letter. I’m going to send one to the parents of those troublemakers, telling them to forbid their kids from going out.”
I was, quite simply, writing a tattletale letter.
Going out to gather herbs when crimes are rampant—unbelievable.
I felt bad for the mischievous young ladies, but for now it was safest for them to stay indoors.
“I’d rather not be the next victim of a kidnapping… What are you talking about?”
“Don’t peek.”
I slyly covered my writing with my arm, muttering some excuse.
After a moment of thought, Dad added,
“But the kidnapping incident is over.”
“Huh?”
“Oberon caught the perpetrators this afternoon. There were no further crimes.”
“Wow. That’s my senior!”
I exclaimed in genuine admiration. How long had it even been since the investigation started?
‘As expected of the Zevert Order!’
When my seniors got involved, even a city’s security that had hit rock bottom could be restored in the blink of an eye!
I quickly folded up the letter I was writing. Grandpa let out a hearty laugh.
“Oberon did some real work for once! No matter how many guards I assign, I’ve still been anxious about my little ones wandering the streets.”
“Hmm.”
But Mister crossed his arms, looking distinctly unsettled.
“What’s wrong? Mister—uh, um—Father, Dad.”
My words tumbled awkwardly together, and Mister tapped me on the forehead.
“I wonder when that address will finally slide smoothly off your tongue.”
“I’m trying…”
It’s a habit, after all… The ever-understanding Duke, as always, didn’t rush me and simply waited.
“It’s just, something about this sits wrong.”
“Like what?”
“It felt like we caught the tail end of it too easily.”
He seemed dissatisfied with how anticlimactically the incident had finished.
“It was as if someone had helped out from the inside…”
When they raided what they thought was the hideout, the whole gang had been there together as if by prior arrangement.
Catching them was as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
“Maybe the criminals were just incredibly dull-witted.”
I replied lightly.
I sneaked a glance at Khalid just in case, but he only shrugged as if this was the first he’d heard of it.
‘Still, I’m glad none of the kidnappings succeeded.’
From Dad and Grandpa’s conversation, I gathered the gist of the case.
They hadn’t targeted the children of the very highest nobility; most of the targets were from baron or viscount families.
Yet strangely, they only denied the charge of trying to hand over a fugitive mage.
‘Maybe they didn’t want to get tangled up with the Mage Kingdom.’
Or maybe…
“I heard one of them even tried to disguise himself as a servant in a baron’s house.”
“In baron families, it’s common to temporarily hire servants without recommendations. Hah, just tell the count to tear them limb from limb!”
Grandpa clicked his tongue loudly and stuffed the last of the cake into his mouth.
“To think they tried sneaking in like rats, hiding their identities!”
Hearing this, I quietly set down my strawberry milk.
Hiding one’s identity, like a rat…
“That really is the worst kind of crime, Father! Using someone’s trust against them!”
“Exactly.”
Mister nodded, sticking a straw in my mug.
“Still, it’s a relief it was all wrapped up before anything serious happened… Ruby, stop blowing into your straw, or it’ll overflow.”
Oops. Startled, I parted my lips as the milk froth rose to the rim.
I mean, I know they weren’t talking about me…
But since I’d been hiding my own identity, the conversation stung a little.
“My lung capacity’s not bad, right?”
“Very. But don’t play with your food.”
I answered innocently, “Okay.”
As I shifted my gaze, my eyes met Khalid’s. His lips moved with silent words.
‘You’re no rat.’
Does he really read my mind or something?
At that very time, in Zelox Manor.
Physician Borvel read and reread the letter attached to the courier bird that had arrived.
“What is this…?”
It was a letter from Eosia.
Borvel, I looked into the church records of the village you mentioned. But there was no boy there of a similar age. I think you may be mistaken. If you need anything further, write back.
Was there a missing record?
But Rubian wasn’t a newborn. Could there really have been a gap for so long?
“I’ll have to look into this more closely.”
If Rubian wasn’t from Eosia…
Then where was Rubian from?
Masking his unease, Borvel set about preparing a courier for the Zevert manor in Ipsen.
“…Somehow, I have a bad feeling.”
A brown hawk tore a crack in the tranquil sky as it soared.
Ch.7
The evening after my trip to the dessert shop.
Ignoring my suggestion to stay for dinner, Khalid made a beeline for the training grounds.
Does he really love sword practice that much? He’s working so hard.
“Go get Liam. He even skipped lunch today.”
Adolf, the nearby butler, looked a little troubled.
“Once he holes himself up, he never comes out…”
His embarrassed gaze drifted to me, sitting quietly at the table.
“Miss Rubian, would you be so kind as to help?”
“Me?”
“Yes. Perhaps if you call, he’ll come out…”
I doubted it…
But it was hard to ignore the butler’s pleading eyes.
Reluctantly, I followed Adolf up to the study on the third floor. The butler knocked firmly on the tightly closed door.
“Young Master Liam. Please come eat.”
No answer.
The butler smiled awkwardly at me, at a loss.
“Sigh.”
As if I’d have better luck?
I knocked—thump—then quickly grabbed my hand.
“Ow, that hurts. I hit the decorative molding…”
At that moment, the door suddenly swung open.
“That was an impeccable knock.”
“…”
Liam Zevert appeared in the crack of the door.
“Just one knock. Keep your footsteps silent. I told you, Adolf.”
“My apologies…”
Good grief, he’s a handful.
Liam adjusted his glasses austerely, looking down at me.
“So what is it, youngest fairy? If you want to join me in studying magical beastology, come in now.”
“No, no… I just want you to eat…”
“How impossibly dull. Rejected.”
If you don’t eat, you’ll die!
But to a teenage boy, everything but his own interests seemed trivial.
“Then do you at least want to try some of the cake I brought?”
Unconsciously, the words slipped out. Behind me, Adolf the butler flinched a little.
Ah, right.
‘Doesn’t Liam Zevert detest cream cakes above all else?’
With Dad, Void, and Grandpa wolfing them down so enthusiastically, I’d forgotten that Liam had an unyielding aversion to things that didn’t fit his standards.
“You bought them?”