TYHL 147

~Chapter 147~

The first thing that caught his eye was the jet-black hair.

“Ugh, my little copycat ended up looking just like Leviathan…”

He’d been so annoyed the first time he saw it!

“What is this! Move aside! I’m going to dye my hair too! I always felt proud that my youngest and I had the same color!”

“Ew, Grandpa, you’re white-haired! I’m silver!”

“How is that different?”

“It’s different! It just is!”

Rubian shouted and ran far away. Thinking about it now, he couldn’t help but chuckle.

“She’s such a precious thing.”

A rare treasure.

But the battlefield, for a child like this?

Sure, she’d grown up a bit rough in Eosia, but still—sending her to war was unthinkable.

Balok watched his granddaughter, whom he hadn’t seen in ten days, with a fond face.

‘If only we’d met sooner…’

Then this old man could’ve shouldered all the hard and painful things for her.

But—it’s not too late! There would be plenty of time to spend with this sweetheart from now on.

‘Did she grow a little?’

Balok gently brushed Rubian’s round forehead. The girl’s brows furrowed in her sleep.

“Mmm… tickles… no beard attack…”

“Oh, almost woke her.”

He quickly pulled his hand away and straightened up.

It was enough just to see her healthy face.

Somehow, all the tangled thoughts in his head seemed to settle.

Right, there was nothing to worry about.

‘Well, I’ll just ask Leviathan tomorrow when he comes.’

It probably wasn’t a big deal.

Surely.

Back at the mansion, Balok’s stealthy steps through the hallway suddenly stopped.

“…Huh?”

There, in the middle of the wide townhouse corridor, he found someone standing like a ghost.

“You, when did you get here? What are you doing?”

He hadn’t even changed out of his travel clothes.

Leviathan slowly turned his head.

“Ah. You’re still awake.”

His face was half in shadow in the dark night, making it impossible to read his expression.

“Yeah. What are you doing here?”

“I was just about to go in.”

“Oh, good timing. Let’s talk a bit.”

Balok beckoned to Leviathan. But Leviathan shook his head slightly.

“Sorry, but I’m tired. Maybe next time…”

“…?”

Did I really hear that?

Balok dug a thick finger into his ear.

“Tired?”

His lips pulled into an exaggerated frown.

This was the most novel and creative thing he’d heard all year!

“…Sometimes you seem to forget, but I am human too.”

Leviathan replied in his usual blunt tone.

“Oh, really? Just finding out.”

“So if you’ll excuse me.”

Step, step.

The sound of his footsteps receded.

Balok stared after him, then roughly scratched his head.

Should I bring it up or not?

“About Ruby…”

But in the end, his granddaughter’s face won out.

And after all, it was something he ought to discuss with Leviathan—he was her father.

Leviathan’s brisk steps came to an abrupt halt.

“Did you, uh, find any new traces in Eosia? Anything like that?”

“…Why are you asking that all of a sudden?”

Slowly, the black shadow turned around.

The air in the hallway seemed to change completely, as if by magic.

“Are you asking me?”

Only then did Balok realize—

Leviathan was in a seriously bad mood.

He seemed calm, but it was like the calm before a storm—ready to explode at any moment.

“Father.”

Leviathan stepped closer.

“Why are you asking me that?”

See? He’s being extra polite.

‘This is bad.’

Balok hesitated, but decided just to say it straight. He never was any good at talking in circles.

“It’s because Liam said something weird!”

“Something weird?”

“He asked if the youngest had ever been on a battlefield with Khalid, or something like that!”

“…”

A heavy silence fell.

“Liam… said that.”

Leviathan’s murmur broke the stillness.

“Yeah.”

“…”

“It’s nothing, right? Right?”

Balok pressed.

Leviathan stared off into space for a long moment before raising his head.

“Yes.”

The answer was crisp.

He looked at Balok and gave a faint smile.

“So don’t worry about useless things. Please, just go to bed.”

“Hey, did you… just smile at me?”

Is something really up with this guy?

Even with Balok’s suspicious look, Leviathan didn’t say anything else and turned away.

At that moment—thunk—a sword dropped from Leviathan’s hand.

“…Leviathan? You…”

“Ah.”

He casually bent his large frame to pick up the sword, then turned away again as if nothing had happened.

“Rest well.”

“That brat…”

Balok’s brow furrowed deeply.

He’d taught Leviathan swordsmanship for decades.

His son, but a monster all the same.

He swore—ever since Leviathan received a real sword from him, he had never, ever seen him drop it by accident.

Dropping a sword was as shameful for a knight as anything.

“What on earth happened out there?”

He muttered bitterly.

He’d just started to feel better after seeing Rubian.

But it looked like his sleepless night would not end.

Delkan ruins. Magic King. Currently in hiding. Not expected to make any moves for the time being.

Allen’s letter was concise.

Just an ordinary report. That is, except for the scrawled writing stuffed in the corner of the little scrap of paper:

“Hey, kid, I nearly died because the Duke of Zebert caught me.”

The instant he read that, Leviathan sensed something was wrong.

“Why didn’t you tell me the Duke was coming? Well, whatever, I got to see the princess’s face so I’m good~”

The cocky, lazy tone matched Allen’s looks perfectly.

Leviathan sat alone in his room, clutching the letter tightly.

‘The only mercenary brat who could report my movements…’

He couldn’t even remember how Allen had managed to get back to the capital.

‘Is Khalid the only one?’

“Did the youngest ever experience a battlefield with Khalid?!”

‘That mercenary is working for Khalid.’

So who was this “princess” mentioned in the letter?

Anyone bold enough to monitor the Magic King was either his enemy—or someone fleeing from him.

Veins stood out on the back of Leviathan’s hand as he gripped the armrest.

‘If that’s the case…’

He closed his eyes in despair.

‘The runaway wizard…’

Someone, please—stop these thoughts.

“Dad, Dad! Hide me!”

A memory.

Whenever he was busy with paperwork in his office, the child would often burst through the door.

“What is it?”

“My brothers are chasing me!”

She’d wriggle under his desk, cheeks flushed like rubies.

He could never resist her when she was like that.

And as thanks for hiding her, she’d tap his legs with her little hands, promising to give him a massage.

‘Hide and seek…’

That word now weighed completely differently than before.

Random memories flipped through his mind like rough pages.

The page stopped on a memory from Ipsen.

“Ah, that’s what it was.”

Rosetta, rolling around in bed, suddenly sat up.

She looked, for no particular reason, at a tapestry hanging on the wall—a map of the continent embroidered there.

“It looked like that…”

“What did?”

“The shadow I saw on Rubian’s back at the hot springs yesterday. It looked just like those tree branches.”

Rosetta laughed coldly.

“But to think it was the Magic Kingdom’s emblem—ugh. Poor Ruby, I feel bad for her.”

“…Are you ever wrong about these things?”

“Come on, I’m not perfect.”

“…I see.”

Things they’d brushed off before—now, the scattered pieces finally formed a clear picture.

‘Why did Rubian hide her gender?’

It all started with that question.

‘What if it wasn’t just because she was afraid of being abandoned…’

What if there was another, more complicated reason?

“Your Excellency, again, there were no traces found in Eosia.”

That’s why there had never been any record of Rubian in Eosia.

“Dad, Dad! Hide me!”

The child had run to hide in his shadow, fleeing someone’s grasp… and so, in the end—

‘Rubian…’

If she was a wizard of the kingdom.

“Ah…”

Leviathan groaned softly, his back bending over.

How she looked up at the sun to tell the time.

The way she muttered during nightmares.

The face of the child running toward him during the explosion at the “Fourth’s” accident.

“Mister.”

The thing Rubian had really hidden…

“Is the war over?”

…was it really just her gender?

He realized:

He could no longer be certain of anything.