Youngest 197
by CristaeEpisode 197
The mage, somewhat flustered, spoke with a face full of emotion.
“Th-thank you, Your Excellency.”
“I told you to come at once.”
“Pardon?”
Just like that?
Leaving the bewildered mage behind, Leviathan turned to Leon as scripted.
“Leon.”
And just as planned, Leon vanished from sight.
Only a moment passed.
“Oh, goddess!”
Rubian entered the cabin, following the script. Her hair thoroughly disheveled, her clothes in disarray—she looked, by anyone’s reckoning, like someone who had rushed over in a state of shock.
Of course, her appearance had been meticulously crafted by Rosetta, and reaching this point had been an easy task for Khalid.
“You’re…”
Rubian staggered forward, covering her mouth.
Her eyes, opened wide in feigned surprise, completed the picture.
Leviathan stifled a chuckle as he watched her performance.
‘She said she was doing a play at the academy symposium.’
Her acting was impressive.
But wasn’t “Oh, goddess!” a bit excessive?
“Um, well…”
The mage wore a slightly anxious look before quickly settling back into character. Leviathan did not miss the brief flicker of agitation on his face.
He seemed genuinely unprepared to meet Rubian in this way.
Hesitating, caught off guard, but only for a moment. Nonetheless, recognizing an opportunity in finally meeting Rubian, he forced himself to rise.
“A-ah, my child…”
Child, really? My daughter was raised beautifully and gently.
Leviathan could only mock inwardly.
Now, it was Rubian’s turn to say, “Are you really my father?” as written. However—
“You’re my fa…”
Rubian froze in place.
No way.
Leviathan’s eyes narrowed.
“A…”
“Yes! I am your father!”
“A… a… Ah—how cold! Isn’t it chilly here!”
The mage, prepared to shed tears of joy, froze in mid-sob at Rubian’s incongruous outburst.
At the same time, her blue eyes rolled to Leviathan, as if pleading for help in salvaging the botched line.
What do I do? I missed my cue!
Rubian’s gaze made her thoughts perfectly clear.
At last, for the first time, a satisfied smile crept across Leviathan’s lips.
“What nonsense—are you… really cold?” the mage asked tremulously, his voice exquisite in its uncertainty.
Well, look at that, you pitiful wretch. My daughter refuses to call you father.
Leviathan admitted to himself his petty sense of victory. Even for the sake of a performance, he detested using the word “father.”
Feeling cleansed of his earlier irritation, he lifted his chin.
Damn, I tripped over my words.
‘But when it came down to it, I just couldn’t say “father!”’
I stared at the man in front of me.
‘Do I resemble him? Are we at all alike?’
Silvery, unruly hair, blue eyes, and a round, soft look to his face. Comparing us side by side, we did share some outward similarities.
‘No, not really.’
The Mage King must have picked someone with such features on purpose.
‘He can’t be a royal court member.’
Because I know the faces of most people in the palace.
“My child…”
He reached out a trembling hand to me, unable to hide his quivering lips.
“You’ve grown so much, but I would know you anywhere. You—you really are alive.”
The air rippled and wavered around us. Glancing over, I saw black energy seething violently from Father’s shoulders.
‘What the hell! Where did the kindly character act go?’
Clearly, our father-daughter duo was not cut out for acting.
After his initial confusion, the man laid on the melodrama thick and fast.
“Come to your father. Hm? Just let me hold your hand once.”
He staggered forward.
Sheesh.
With no choice, I held out only the tip of my finger. Father’s dark aura increased by about twenty percent.
He tried to grasp my hand fully, but the instant our fingers brushed, I snatched mine away. Father’s black energy receded to its original level. What, is this remote-controlled?
“My regrets are over. This is enough… You have no idea how much I blamed myself for losing you. I haven’t slept soundly, not a single night.”
He dabbed at his eyes with a handkerchief. I replied blandly.
“Ah, really.”
“I’m so relieved. Just knowing you’re alive and well is all I could hope for. When I thought you might be in Babylon… how happy I was. I searched everywhere but never found a trace…”
In my mind, I simulated scenarios in which this man could be one of the Mage King’s agents.
“Ah, really.”
“I missed you so much.”
“Ah, really.”
“You even came to me in my dreams…”
“Ah, really.”
“Achoo!”
“Ah—really.”
Oops. I missed my cue.
“……”
A short silence fell. The man cleared his throat. Then he asked cautiously,
“My child… why do you only say ‘Ah, really’?”
Because I have nothing else to say.
After gathering my thoughts, I shifted back into a wistful mode and slumped into the chair Sir Leon had provided.
“Um… Are you truly my father?”
“I am!”
“Where’s the proof?”
“Over there, your childhood belongings…! Try sensing their magic. Isn’t it yours?”
I nodded.
“Sure, but—if anyone who possessed my belongings claimed to be my father, what would that make me?”
“A reasonable doubt. In that case, let’s pause here for today. I will strive to provide concrete proof, and then return—”
“No, no! How about we verify it right now?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Paternity testing seems to be all the rage these days.”
I withdrew a small vial from my pocket.
“I’m especially up-to-date on trends, you know—right, Father?”
“It’s a struggle to keep up.”
“You heard him, didn’t you? That’s why I always keep the popular items handy. I was well prepared for this. So, shall we begin?”
The man stared at me blankly.
Why do you have that vial… here?
“May I pluck some of your hair?”
“Uh…what…?”
“I’ll do it.”
Father, who had been silent, stood up.
Cracking his knuckles ominously, he looked more like a grim reaper poised to rip off his head than simply to pull a few hairs.
‘What? Why is this…’
The man was bewildered.
‘Why is it… mixing?’
He stared down at the dish into which the potion had been poured.
In the center of the shimmering, multicolored liquid, one long strand of hair and a clump of his own floated and spiraled together.
‘It really is a paternity potion.’
Even the stinging sensation on his scalp was forgotten in his confusion.
He hadn’t expected the princess to produce it on the spot.
‘I was supposed to get the potion from the King of Kasalia!’
So had been the Mage King’s instructions.
And why?
Why would the duke allow the princess a meeting so easily?
‘And how did she prepare that?’
He’d heard the “Seventh” possessed exceptional magical talent—had she crafted it herself? But what of the ingredients? How had she secured everything so quickly?
It was as if she’d known he was coming!
His mind reeled in confusion.
This hadn’t been the scenario he anticipated.
Once out of the duke’s sight, his plan had been to make secret contact with the King of Kasalia, who was rumored to be staying in the Babylon imperial palace. He’d heard the king had secretly brought a single potion from Kasalia.
With the fake paternity potion in hand, he intended to sabotage the princess Rubian’s coming-of-age ceremony the following day by causing a scandal.
But why…
“Look, it’s mixing!”
Why is it working… now?
‘I’m not the real father!’
The potion’s surface twisted briefly. The two silver hairs spiraled, then coiled tightly together—as if shaking hands.
“It’s real…”
Rubian raised eyes that shimmered with tears.
“You really… are my—yes! Definitely my father!”
“What? Pardon? Uh…”
What…? Was that potion tampered with?
But why would the princess tamper with it?
‘Surely she’d want to do a real paternity test for proof, right?’
If so, there’s no way the potion would react!
He was genuinely at a loss. He tried to stealthily check whether the dish had a suspicious magic circle engraved under it, but with his ability, he couldn’t tell.
“Father! I found my—cough, cough—my real parent!”
“That’s good, then.”
The duke’s mouth and face moved as if at odds, as though still regretting not having had the chance to strangle the man.
“Oh my! How wonderful! But…why did you abandon me? No, no—you said you lost me, didn’t you? And you risked your life to find me! Truly my—hmph! My throat’s dry…”
“Drink some water. Put on this scarf.”
The princess took a sip from her canteen and wrapped the scarf the duke had offered snugly around her neck.
And then she smiled gently at him.
What is happening here?
“It reassures me to confirm it with my own eyes.”
The duke stood and patted the man on the shoulder. Or rather, “pat” was an understatement—he was nearly driven into the floor like a stake.
“Let’s go to the mansion together.”
Really? But I’m an impostor! And he wants to bring me to the mansion?
“Let’s go together! My real father-hyaaawn.”
“You’re sleepy.”
“Very.”
Can this be right?
He couldn’t gather his thoughts. Surrounded by this relentless father and daughter, he felt caught in a trap, unable to think straight.
He came to himself only to find he was being—no, had been—bundled into a carriage headed to the duke’s mansion.
‘Could it be I have an adorable daughter I don’t know about?’
Of course, that was out of the question.
‘But… if I think about it, isn’t everything going according to plan?’
It did feel as if some important steps had been omitted, but, in the end, he had succeeded in approaching Rubian pretending to be her real father.
And, incredibly, he was even infiltrating the duke’s mansion, allowing him to get closer to Rubian?
‘This must be right…’
The mage rolled his eyes, then fell silent. Rubian and Leviathan exchanged glances silently, barely suppressing their laughter.