Youngest 111
by CristaeEpisode 111
Leviathan sat alone in his office.
Rubian had been taken away by Rosetta, who said she would put her to bed, and all the servants had been dismissed.
He leaned back in his chair and tilted his head. A sigh escaped him.
‘Was it really just my imagination…?’
Earlier, in that garden, Leviathan thought he’d sensed a strange trace of power from Rubian… or so he believed.
Of course, for a non-mage to sense magic was impossible.
But he, too, had surpassed the limits of the human body. Besides, Rubian’s energy had become something he now noticed as naturally as breathing.
The gale had been fierce, and right before, the magical outburst and Asha Drukan’s spell had painted the air…
‘Perhaps it’s only natural I was mistaken.’
He repeated to himself the words he’d left unsaid just moments ago.
“Ruby, were you the one who saved me in the garden earlier?”
If Adolf hadn’t knocked at that moment… he might actually have blurted out that absurd question.
“Honestly.”
The fugitive mage had been caught, and the kingdom had ceased its pursuit.
The red-haired mage, oblivious to this, seemed to have continued to suspect only poor Rubian.
‘I hadn’t intended to kill him.’
Well, since he’d planned to approach Rubian again, who knows what would’ve happened after the interrogation.
In the end, it was for the best.
Just then, the door to the office opened and Rosetta entered.
“She’s asleep now, Rubian. Soundly, completely.”
With a calm face, she approached and checked Leviathan’s wounds.
“Today… I’m sorry I frightened you.”
Rosetta shook her head, her expression somewhat tense.
“It’s not that I was scared—it’s fine—but next time, please tell me in advance if anything concerns our daughter. Otherwise, I’ll really be angry.”
The chill in her blue eyes made Leviathan’s throat tighten.
“I will.”
“But what was with that mage? Why was he so desperate to get at Rubian?”
“Her hair.”
“What?”
“The fugitive mage also had silver hair, apparently. Above all… it seemed he was even more desperate because he couldn’t get a proper look at Ruby’s face.”
“How absurd.”
Rosetta slammed her hand on the desk, bristling with indignation.
“What? He sneaks into the mansion? Looking for whom?”
“…”
“He should be grateful there’s no corpse.”
If there had been a body… what would his wife have done?
For some reason, Leviathan swallowed nervously.
“But that thing you almost said to Rubian earlier—what was it?”
Rosetta asked.
“Ah… It was nothing, really. Just…”
“Just?”
Leviathan pulled her hand to him and pressed his lips to the back of it.
“I was simply going to say that, no matter how worried she gets about me, she shouldn’t act so recklessly in the future.”
He felt a dull ache in his chest, sensing he’d just lied.
But even on reflection, it was such a wildly improbable notion. He didn’t want to trouble Rosetta with any more nonsense.
“Truly. That’s something our daughter needs to hear.”
Rosetta nodded firmly, resolving to make sure Rubian heard it.
She retied the bandage on Leviathan’s arm, making it more secure. Then she let out a weary sigh.
“There. The bleeding’s stopped. I’ll go check on Void and Liam and come back up. Head to the bedroom first.”
“I can—”
“Excuse me, Mister Patient? Want to see our daughter cry again over you bleeding everywhere?”
Leviathan shook his head hastily, his face gone pale. Rosetta gave a brief, gentle laugh, kissed him quickly, and walked away.
Click—the door shut, and Leviathan tidied the chaotic desk.
Just as he was about to rise, he paused. It was because of the glass vial set on one side of the desk.
“…”
Why was it?
He stood there, frozen, as if possessed.
That little glass vial had helped him, time and again.
The battered ribbon, stained with blood from the battlefield, caught his eye. Vivid blue… a beautiful shade, like Rubian’s eyes.
“Dad, look out!”
The voice that had called to him.
Leviathan slowly tilted his head.
But that voice…
‘Before the mage shattered the orb.’
Had he heard it…?
He grasped the glass vial tightly.
The tracking mage was dead, and the Mage Kingdom had succeeded in capturing the fugitive mage.
Everything was clearly over. Without a doubt.
‘And yet…’
What is this?
Something should have been easily shaken off—yet, oddly, something kept piling up inside him.
He wondered what kind of picture all these collected puzzle pieces would finally create…
For the first time, Leviathan felt afraid.
Brilliant sunlight. Birds chirping.
The sun and birdsong woke me from my sleep.
I sat up with a stretch and slowly opened my eyes…
‘Wait a minute.’
I opened my eyes…
“Awake? Ruby.”
“Kal.”
“…”
“My eyes won’t open. What’s going on?”
Khalid, who’d cracked the door open, now flung it wide and stepped inside.
Through narrow, puffy eyes, I could just make out his face—looking terribly serious.
“What happened? Have you been crying?”
“No. Not that much.”
“Did… the Duke die?”
“What are you talking about?!”
I yelped, and Kal flinched a little.
“Well, if not, why are you crying like that?”
His disapproving tone settled over the room. I groped around, grabbed something reflective, and peered at my face.
Wow, could eyes really get this swollen?
It was truly a sight to behold.
“I guess I was just really startled yesterday…”
I felt oddly drained.
I’d fallen asleep as if fainting and hadn’t had time to think it over, but now that I did, last night really had been something.
“Sigh. Help me.”
With limp arms dangling at my sides, I sat on the edge of the bed. Kal gave a short sigh.
“Does my magic have a soothing effect on swollen eyes?”
“I don’t know.”
“What?”
Even so, my kind friend willingly shared his cool magic energy with me.
It felt like my wobbly body suddenly straightened up!
Feeling a bit better, I began my morning stretches with vigorous gusto.
“Weren’t you interrogated? I thought you’d be caught for using magic.”
“Well, there was that incident with the Mage Kingdom.”
“Ah. So there was no need to explain.”
Kal frowned, as if it made sense to him.
I pressed my lower back and leaned backward. Kal’s upright face appeared upside down.
The spot where the Mage Kingdom’s sigil was hidden by magic. I pressed my hand against it more firmly.
‘The crest is growing.’
The thought sent a chill prickling across my scalp.
I’d thought I was just mistaking shadows back at the hot spring with Rosetta… but no. The crest truly was growing.
‘Get a grip. You cried plenty yesterday.’
I pulled myself together and recollected my priorities.
‘I need to investigate this crest seriously.’
That comes first.
Sword Planted on the Ruins.
That wretched original work had already been twisted beyond recognition because of me.
But there remained one thing that hadn’t changed.
That was this crest.
‘Of course, its impact on me is minimal for now. All it does is prevent me from attacking the Mage King directly.’
Stiffening my fingers, I reached toward my toes.
My thoughts extended just as far.
I remembered the slender arm of the ‘seventh’ from my dream—the world tree’s branches etched all over it.
‘When the crest crawls all over your body and down your arm like that… then you truly can’t disobey commands.’
Those glazed, crimson eyes…
I forced myself to ignore the goosebumps at the nape of my neck.
That fate, above all, I must avoid at any cost. And also…
“That crest looks painful. Is it because of the energy here?”
For some reason, those words stuck with me.
Leviathan in the original had spoken as if he knew about the crest.
More than that, he’d seemed to imply the growing crest was related to this place, the north, or Zevert itself…
‘There’s no benefit to Father knowing about this.’
And I didn’t know how much current Father understood about the ‘Mage’s Crest.’
So I decided to keep watching the situation a little longer.
“How long are you going to keep at that? We were having a conversation, you know.”
“Oh! Sorry. But wait a bit longer.”
I quickly lifted my head and stopped the stretches.
I dashed over to the mirror to check my eyes… Still as puffy as ever.
Ugh, why isn’t the swelling going down?
“Geez. I give up.”
I slumped onto the sofa.
I felt embarrassed to show Kal how awful I looked.
“Now that things are quiet in the kingdom, this is what I need to deal with.”
“This?”
I placed my hand on my side.
“My crest.”
Kal murmured an “ah,” recalling our earlier conversation.
“That’s what needs to disappear before you can be a true Zevert, right?”
“Yeah… That’s right.”
I glossed over the topic.
I couldn’t worry this already anxious boy any more by telling him the crest was spreading.
“True. With the kingdom’s pursuit over, it’s a good time to move.”
Khalid soaked a towel in cold water and handed it to me.
I looked questioningly at him (actually, it’s impossible to ask with my eyes in this state…), and he placed the cold towel directly over my swollen eyelids.
Oh, so that’s how you do it.
“But do you really think the Mage King has stopped searching for me?”
I asked, feeling the chill.