The Youngest Hides a Lot of Things [Novel] Chapter 72

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 72

Chapter Title: The Youngest's Hidden Secrets

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Days had passed.

Right after returning to the mansion, I fell mildly ill. In the end, at the duke's strict command, Zelox's chief physician was dragged straight to Ipson.

I learned the aftermath of the kidnapping incident from overhearing the adults' conversation in my half-asleep state.

Licht, Titi, and Olivia had all safely returned home, and all the culprits had been caught and thrown in prison.

Asha had nearly been implicated as another suspect for approaching the girls, but thanks to testimonies from Licht and the other children, she barely escaped the false accusation.

Like trying to replenish the energy that had drained away, I slept continuously in bed.

"It seems you've caught a cold. Rest deeply for a few days..."

After thoroughly examining me, Borvel concluded it was because I'd gotten caught in the rain.

A cold.

Letting go of the tightly held thread of tension can bring something like this.

In a daze, feeling the cool sensation on my forehead, I thought vaguely.

Why won't the fever go down?

Why do I keep crying?

Someone's anxious voice buzzed in my ears.

It was strange. While ill, I kept crying. It felt like the fever had gathered in my eyes, making tears well up...

Honestly speaking... tears came every time Dad's hand touched me.

"Suddenly calling me Dad? It feels a bit weird."

"Why? You liked it when we adopted you."

"True, but the kid doesn't act like a kid."

"Yeah, that's true."

"Always glancing around slyly—it feels cunning somehow... different from what I expected."

Memories of my past life swirled like a whirlwind.

Hearing voices leaking through the gap in the master bedroom door, I wanted to retort.

You were the ones who fed me scraps. If that's the case, why not just buy a doll?

But not wanting to return to the orphanage, I just stared down at my toes and turned away. It was ultimately a meaningless gesture.

"Children with adoption experience need to be enveloped in love."

When those words from my second set of parents leaked out through an internet broadcast, I was wandering dark alleys clutching my hungry stomach.

Still, they were kind parents who never openly despised me.

"I'm sorry. Life got tough, and we can't take care of you anymore."

"You... didn't really like our house, did you? Among the kids, you were the only one who never called us Mom and Dad. It even caused issues with the broadcast..."

I'm not some item you borrow when you need me and return when you don't.

Even then, I wanted to shout it out, but I held back. Holding back was just daily life.

After those two adoptions, around the time I got absorbed in a novel I stumbled upon at the orphanage.

The protagonist who rose again, planting his sword in the barren land after losing everything. Seeing that, I felt an inexplicable affection and comfort.

Could I stand up again someday too?

But I had no sword, nothing.

To endure the harsh winds blowing across that land, I was too weak and insignificant...

To my own surprise, I read and reread Part 1 featuring Leviathan. So when Leviathan died, I sobbed uncontrollably under the covers.

If I were you, I'd feel so wronged.

The end of a life of struggling was such a vain death.

That's why I want to protect you...

Maybe that's why I reincarnated into this world.

Honestly... I was a little happy.

Though becoming a character in this harsh world was tough. It felt like I'd been given a chance to change something.

So from that battlefield onward, bit by bit...

Very bit by bit, I decided to help you...

...

...

'Huh?'

In that moment, as I wandered in a haze, a question intruded.

'When I returned to the orphanage...'

I'd turned in my phone, and the public computer's password had been changed—I couldn't use it.

'Then how did I read that novel?'

Where exactly...

That was when it happened.

No.

With a familiar voice, the illusion flipped in an instant.

Endless darkness spread before my eyes.

Not yet.

A single bright light floated in the center of the darkness.

'Who are you? Why are you talking in my head?'

I realized as I asked.

I knew that existence. It was the power of magical knowledge residing in my mind, the being called Wijeria's wisdom.

'What do you mean "not yet"?'

Because the time hasn't come. But... yes. It feels like it's time to return this memory.

The light flared brightly. Amid the spreading halo, I squeezed my eyes shut.

The surroundings spun wildly before suddenly stopping.

Back to a moment in my past life.

I was sobbing under the orphanage blanket. The phone screen glowed brightly next to my pillow.

Why was I sobbing?

Because the protagonist I loved had suddenly died.

Why did he die so suddenly?

That was...

The hazy fog finally cleared.

Now I could answer that question.

'Because he was killed.'

"The price for opposing our king is harsh."

Wearing white priestly robes, with a stigma engraved on his right forearm...

By the kingdom's mage.

Khalid slowly opened the bedroom door.

He approached the sleeping Rubian as quietly as possible.

In the moonlight streaming through the window, beads of cold sweat were visible on her round forehead.

"..."

Glancing around, he spotted a damp cloth and wiped her forehead tenderly. Whether caught in a nightmare, Rubian was groaning softly.

"Don't hurt."

Khalid bit his lip hard and gently grasped her fingertip.

"...I wouldn't know what to do if you got hurt."

He infused mana softly, but Rubian's furrowed brow showed no sign of relaxing.

"Sorry. Because of me..."

He'd promised to protect her.

Yet he'd let her go through hardships she never should have.

Khalid let out a low sigh of self-reproach. And then.

"...Ruby?"

Rubian's eyelids opened silently.

"Feeling a bit better...? Your eyes..."

A fierce red energy churned violently within Rubian's pupils.

Cal's brows furrowed instinctively.

When Rubian drew on Wijeria's power, her eyes would turn that red. She pulled magic beyond her limits from the sea of wisdom brimming with magical knowledge.

Thanks to it, she grasped even the most complex magic arrays with ease and casually implemented formulas that made no sense.

In the kingdom and on the battlefield, her power was always pushed to its extremes.

Because of that, most people thought her eyes were a deep ruby color.

For a fugitive, it might be a stroke of luck...

"Damn."

Khalid's stomach twisted again.

'They never let her rest, not even for a moment.'

It was tantamount to saying they'd always exploited her power. That might be why Rubian's growth had stalled.

Just recalling it filled him with rage that could kill.

"...Cal."

A deeply sunken voice emerged.

"Don't strain yourself. Nightmare?"

He gripped her fingers. Rubian lifted her gaze, heavy with sleep.

"Go back to sleep. I'll stay right here. Or should I fetch Duke Jebert?"

At his words, her small shoulders twitched. Her eyes, quickly regaining their blue hue, now brimmed with transparent tears.

"Why are you crying? Does it hurt?"

Rubian shook her head.

"In the dream... he died."

"Who?"

"Leviathan..."

Cal froze.

"A mage killed him... but I don't know who... don't know, but..."

Rubian mumbled incoherently in a faint voice.

"Ruby, calm down."

"I have to find out..."

Khalid assumed Rubian was still feverish, lost in dreamlike delirium.

He hurriedly infused more mana.

Rubian, murmuring unintelligibly, lost her strength again and her eyes fluttered shut.

"Must save Leviathan..."

Touching her forehead, he felt the heat burning hot once more.

Her head drooped. It had been ages since he'd felt such utter helplessness.

"I really want to hurt in your place."

Self-reproach and fury surged together.

If he could, he'd hang himself upside down.

He shouldn't have let her slip away at that hot spring...

For the boy, it was a long, long night.