Youngest 107
by CristaeEpisode 107
“How dare you break into a noble’s residence and approach my daughter.”
“Gah!”
A hand shot out with tremendous force, clamping down on his throat. The mage’s feet thrashed helplessly in the air.
“This is so brazen, I could execute you on the spot and no one would protest… What do you think?”
A low voice, grating like nails on a chalkboard.
The oppressive, chilling aura made the ‘Fourth’s’ eyes shake uncontrollably.
“Answer me, mage.”
Leviathan laughed quietly.
Leviathan had sworn he didn’t intend to draw his sword from the start.
His plan was to sound things out first, then, only if the mage posed even the slightest threat to the child, draw his blade.
That was roughly his thinking.
Of course, sneaking in at night like this… wasn’t as if he had completely dismissed the chance of overhearing such a conversation as this.
‘It seems the base mage is being threatened.’
Leviathan listened in on their conversation, carefully reigning in his emotions. But, in the end—
“I’ll have to infiltrate the mansion. If I can catch the princess while she’s alone…”
It was at that moment that something inside him snapped.
When he came back to his senses, somehow there was a cold, blue sword in his hand.
Yet, perhaps clinging to the remnants of his reason, he hadn’t instantly struck at the mage’s throat.
“Urgh. What is the meaning… of this!”
The mage squirmed desperately.
He seemed on the verge of suffocating, but each time it came to that, Leviathan adjusted the pressure of his grip.
With his mind flickering in and out of consciousness, he could no longer properly wield his mana. Unable to use his magic, the mage was utterly helpless.
“I’m the one who wants to ask the questions.”
Leviathan smiled coldly.
“Why on earth do you care about my daughter?”
His grip tightened, the veins bulging more pronouncedly across his hand.
“Urgh… let me…! Drukan!”
The mage, eyes bloodshot and bulging, shouted at Asha. But she simply edged further behind a tree.
“Y-you know I can’t cast offensive spells…”
“You damned worthless—!”
“Yes, yes. I’m just trash, scum…”
The ‘Fourth’ cursed inwardly, biting down bitter resentment. When at last he could no longer stay conscious, a rush of air flooded his starved lungs.
“Hah… haah,” he gasped.
“If you realized you were wrong, you could have tried to flee, but no—you targeted my daughter again. Why?”
“The brat… isn’t even your real daughter…”
The ‘Fourth’ gave up and grinned feverishly.
“Where did you find her? Was it Eosia? That’s the nation closest to Canalran Gorge… hah, did you know?”
“Who do you think you’re lecturing?”
Unwavering, Leviathan tightened his hold.
“You even rifled through the clerk’s things to steal a look at the adoption papers. Your Imperial tongue seems lacking.”
“How did you…”
The mage’s face turned pale.
Before coming here, Leviathan had verified that the mage had infiltrated the clerk’s quarters and secretly examined Rubian’s adoption file.
Of course… it was Leviathan who had persuaded the Emperor to conveniently leave it there.
But even so, this proved the mage was still keeping watch on Rubian. For Leviathan, there was no reason left for restraint.
“Ha. From southern Babylon Empire, were you? Those papers… if I dig deeper…”
“You’ll be the one getting dug up.”
Leviathan gave Asha Drukan a brief glance.
“Go fetch the guards.”
“Yes, y-yes.”
“My face!”
The mage cried out desperately.
“What?”
“If… if you just let me see her face once…! Everything will become clear.”
A thin trickle of blood ran from the mage’s lips.
“I—I am a mage, and I only want to… assist you, Your Excellency.”
Leviathan’s expression hardened dangerously.
“Assist me?”
“Just imagine…”
“…”
“That child, being a mage, the very thing you so despise… Isn’t that horrifying?”
A faint, derisive laugh.
“What nonsense.”
“Ugh!”
“Utterly stupid. The mage I detest above all others—”
“…”
“He’s standing right in front of me.”
The ‘Fourth’s’ eyes bulged as if they might burst. At this rate, he’d die!
“If… if you dare mistreat me, you’ll regret it. This is… a hostile act against the kingdom—!”
He flailed desperately, but then clamped his lips shut.
A strange glimmer flickered in the mage’s eyes, as though he’d suddenly recalled something.
“Yes… yes… I can seek my father’s aid…”
At that moment, as he muttered, the mage suddenly coughed up blood.
‘What—?’
Between his teeth, a small bead coated in blood was visible.
A blue-glowing sphere… a magical device?
“There will be… a steep price… for defying our king…”
Scowling, sensing danger, Leviathan instinctively slashed with his sword.
But the mage, grinning madly, was quicker to bite down.
As the bead cracked with a sharp snap—
“…!”
BOOM!
The explosive artifact blew.
‘Please, please!’
I was riding Khalid’s wolfhound at a full gallop.
‘Dad’s in danger!’
The wind whipped painfully against my cheeks. The world blurred by so quickly my eyes could scarcely take it in.
“Ruby, hold on tight!”
I bit my lip and clung fiercely to Khalid’s cloak. The wolfhound tore down abandoned, pitch-black alleys at breakneck speed.
“There will be a steep price for defying our king.”
That voice echoed in my head.
“Khalid, faster!”
The wolfhound picked up even greater speed.
By now, I was nearly certain—the circumstances all pointed to the ‘Fourth’ being the mage from the original story.
‘I shouldn’t have gone back to the mansion yesterday!’
Why do regrets only come after disaster has struck?
I should have sought out the ‘Fourth’ straight away instead of returning home!
‘How could I be so careless, thinking he and Dad would never cross paths!’
Cursing myself for my own complacency, I seethed inside.
We rounded the back road behind the imperial villa, and the garden fence came into view.
The wolfhound, without hesitation, leaped clear over the fence.
We dashed through a side path toward the isolated annex. The shadowy garden loomed just ahead.
“There they are!”
I squinted against the rushing wind.
Far ahead, between the eerie trees, two silhouettes flickered.
“Dad!”
I shouted with all my might, but it seemed they couldn’t hear me. The figures were drawing dangerously close to each other.
Dad had one hand wrapped around the mage’s throat, the other raised with a sword.
It was at that instant—
The mage suddenly retched up something.
“What…?”
The dark night. The faint moonlight.
But even from afar, I instantly recognized the blue glow.
My vision turned red. The structure of the magical device imprinted itself in my mind in an instant.
This was…
“No!”
A powerful sense of déjà vu seized me.
A dark night. A mage in priestly robes. Leviathan standing against him.
“There will be… a steep price… for defying our king…”
The moment I heard those words—though they differed slightly from what I’d dreamed—I had no time left to worry about details.
I rolled from the wolfhound’s back, heedless of Khalid’s shouting behind me.
“Rubian!”
Far ahead, Asha spotted me, her face drained of blood. I shouted a single word her way.
“Asha, shield!”
The man rolled the bead around in his mouth and bit down. I had no chance to stop it—as the orb shattered,
“Dad, get down!”
BOOM!
My magic raced straight ahead.