Youngest 195
by CristaeEpisode 195
“My biological father?!”
Bang! Balok didn’t hold back.
“Please calm down.”
“Is this something to calm down about?!”
Leviathan clicked his tongue lightly as he stared at the wall, now cracked open.
“Getting worked up won’t solve anything.”
For the first time in a long while, the three elders of the ducal house were gathered in the large parlor.
A small bundle lay on the table. Partially unwrapped, it revealed an old portrait, an equally worn baby pillow, and some baby clothes.
Hmm. With a short sigh, Rosetta’s hand fidgeted as she reached out and picked up the small portrait.
A laugh escaped her lips.
“Look at this. Even then, she was so cute. Our three-year-old Ruby.”
Balok, still only puffing out air from his nose, twitched an eyebrow.
“Let me see… Oh dear. How trivial.”
Peering in, he saw the face of a young Rubian with a surprised expression.
Slightly pursed lips, those large round eyes. The very same face she made whenever startled—even now.
“We should have this enlarged! We need to hire a portraitist…”
“Father, why not just employ several craftsmen and have it woven into a tapestry?”
“Hm. My daughter-in-law—why on earth are you so clever?”
“Hehehe.”
As always, the two shared a secretive, mischievous laugh.
“So, what will you do?”
“Huh?”
“This. The owner.”
Rosetta asked.
Leviathan, lost in thought over how to fit baby Rubian’s portrait into a locket, cleared his throat.
“First, we have to confirm whether he’s truly the biological father. For that matter, we can’t even be sure these things are real.”
Portraits and objects could easily be forged. Although… the portrait looked very much like Rubian herself.
“Where is the mage?”
“For now, Leon has set up quarters for him outside the manor and is keeping watch.”
“Hmph. Sending that greenhorn Leon to the south was, at least, the right call.”
Leviathan nodded at Balok’s words.
On Leviathan’s orders, Leon, who had been inspecting the south, discovered these items—and, white as a sheet, rushed home day and night without sleep.
‘So, now what…?’
He was lost in thought.
They could have easily been tampered with.
‘But if there’s even the slightest chance they’re genuine…’
Neither carelessly disposing of them or declaring them fakes was an option.
‘He might—just might—really be someone connected to Ruby.’
Perhaps they should at least meet him.
As these thoughts circled, Rosetta, still fiddling with the baby things, cautiously raised her head.
“You haven’t told Ruby yet, have you? I’m worried about how she’ll react if she hears someone who might be her father has appeared.”
“…”
A brief silence ensued.
It was, in truth, a shared concern among all three.
“She could be shocked, or simply not want to meet him, so it’s probably best to bring it up gently…”
Just then—
“Knock, knock, knock! Everyone!”
A familiar knocking came.
The door burst open, and Rubian, her hair tied up as always, entered with her usual untroubled expression.
“I heard the news! My biological father has shown up, hasn’t he?”
At Rubian’s completely nonchalant tone, Leviathan let out an exasperated sigh.
“She’s the one who needs caution, apparently.”
“Oh my.”
“I’ll meet him right away!”
Her boisterous declaration burst forth.
Leviathan, watching Rubian seat herself beside him, sighed inwardly. The tension he hadn’t realized had coiled his own shoulders, now eased away.
“No—let your father meet him first, and only if he decides it’s safe will you meet him.”
“Why?”
“Why? Well, it’s just…”
“I’ll just go meet him. I really want to meet him quickly.”
A pause settled after her words.
“…You little brat. You…”
Balok buried his face in his fist, hiding his disappointment. Rubian, staring blankly at the sight, waved her hands.
“No! That’s not it! I’m not all sentimental just because my father showed up!”
“Eh?”
“It’s obvious—the Mage King is trying to bait me by sending someone after my weak point. So I need to meet him quickly, figure out his game, and come up with a counter-plan!”
“Ohho?”
“Princess Sevelena warned me. The Mage Kingdom is going to start targeting my weaknesses soon.”
Her blue eyes sparkled.
Staring into her confident gaze, Leviathan suddenly felt anxious.
“But Ruby.”
“Yeah?”
“…What will you do if your real father has come to find you?”
Rubian lapsed into brief silence at that. She tilted her head, a gentle furrow forming on her smooth brow.
“Well… I suppose I should express an adequate amount of gratitude for bringing me into this world…? And an adequate amount of resentment for abandoning me? Oh. Would saying thanks out loud be enough? I don’t have to show it in any material way, do I? That would be such a waste.”
Leviathan slowly blinked at Rubian’s unexpectedly grave tone.
“That’s all…?”
“Should I… do something more for him…?”
Rubian’s confusion was wholly sincere.
“Well, no. Not particularly, but…”
Leviathan, saying so, suddenly smiled.
It hit him that the one who’d been tense all along wasn’t Rubian—it was himself.
“Ah, right. Dad, look at this. I brought some new herbal jelly I made for insomnia…”
Rubian began unpacking the bundle she’d been holding since earlier, pushing aside the old belongings Leon had brought.
‘Really.’
There was no reason to be so serious.
‘No matter what, Rubian is my daughter.’
Rubian had it right.
If he was a fake, they could use him to draw out the Mage Kingdom. If he was the real thing, she could simply hand over an appropriate mix of gratitude and curses and send him on his way.
“My Ruby.”
Perhaps thinking the same, Rosetta carelessly gathered the bundle, then reached out her arms.
“Come here. My Ruby is mine forever.”
“Wow, it’s been so long.”
Squeeze. She hugged Rubian tight.
“She’s mine, too.”
Balok was no different.
Delayed by his thoughts, Leviathan was the last to rise to his feet.
“Dad…”
“No room left—full house here.”
Shoo, shoo.
“….”
There you have it.
Sometimes, your damn biological father is more annoying than anything.
Leviathan shot his father a glare, concentrating all his might on resenting him for excluding him.
“By the way, everyone…”
Buried in Rosetta and Balok’s embrace, Rubian popped her head out and flashed a mischievous grin.
Her gentle eyes crinkled, the corner of her small lips twitching, forming a delicate arc.
They all knew.
Whenever their youngest grinned like that, she often shared utterly unexpected plans.
“How about we pretend to be fooled by that mage for a while?”
I said to my family.
“What do you mean?”
“To be honest, this spy would be very easy to deal with. Because…”
“Princess Sevelena’s potion.”
Dad finished my thought for me. I nodded, continuing.
“If we use the potion that determines parentage, the truth will come out easily. But she said it would take some time to get the ‘real potion’ ready.”
Before coming to the parlor, I’d exchanged secret notes with Sevelena through Khalid’s squirrel.
“So you’re saying we should keep him close and watch him until the true potion is ready.”
“Yes. We could lock him up in a dungeon if we wanted to, but…”
In my mind, I pictured the Fourth, the Second, and the Mage King in turn.
The more you resist and avoid them, the more the enemy comes at you from unexpected directions.
So this time, having roughly figured out their schemes… it might be better to turn their plans to our own use.
“And anyway, if we deal with this spy, another one will just come.”
Unless we catch the mastermind.
‘Right now, it’s like the Mage King is dangling a fishing line my way.’
I knew the lure in front of me was a fake, so I intended to make full use of it to track back to the hidden fisherman.
“Hmmm. Our little troublemaker has gotten cleverer and bolder! I get the gist! So what’s the plan, exactly?”
“Heh. Just be ready to welcome our guest, everyone!”
With a playful grin, I spoke to my family.
As the memory faded, I felt the breeze brush my cheeks and let out a light laugh.
A biological father, huh.
‘Even leaping off a cliff, I’d recognize this as a spy sent by the Mage King.’
He’s clearly aiming for my weakness.
Targeting another family member would be too difficult, so he must have chosen me as the bait he thought most likely to lure me in.
‘Wrong house, Mister.’
The only ones I cared for were these people—my family. Not some stranger whose name and face I’d never known, connected only by blood.
‘Admittedly, if not for Sevelena, I might have wavered a bit.’
I wasn’t completely free of curiosity about my birth parents, so maybe I would have been a little shaken. Thanks to the princess, my curiosity vanished completely.
And if she hadn’t told me about the Mage Kingdom’s movements, I doubt I’d have been so certain this man was a spy.
‘Well, I can’t rule out the chance he’s really my father.’
The items the man brought were definitely mine.
Objects used for a long time retain traces of one’s mana, almost like a scent. Especially things used in early childhood, before one could control their mana.
It’s possible the Mage King obtained them from the palace and handed them over, or else maybe he really did recruit my biological father.
But I have no memories from those early years, so there’s nothing familiar about those things.
In any case, it’s something I can begin figuring out now.
“Hmmm…”
Whether he is my father, or not—
To be perfectly honest, I’m at least a little curious.
Feeling the cold air on my cheeks, I whipped my head around.
“What do you think?”
Deep, gray-blue eyes glanced down at me.
A thick forearm swung out from behind my back.