Home/My Youngest Keeps Bringing Me Male Leads/ch 3

Chapter 3

At first, when she entered the drawing room, Cesenor had let out an inaudible scoff.

'This woman is the 'Other Half of the World Tree'?'

Her light brown hair, resembling caramel, and her light green eyes looked exceedingly frail.

Her appearance was passable, but her unusually small and round face, combined with a gaunt body and a pallid complexion, gave her a somewhat melancholic impression.

He thought she didn't live up to such a grand title.

But if she was indeed his other half, he had no room to be picky.

'If I tell her I'll take her to her younger sister, she'll probably follow me.'

Struggling not to reveal his unsavory impulses, Cesenor gazed at the flustered Agnes.

'If I keep her from meeting the other Seeds, and make it so she has no choice but to choose me in the end...'

But.

'This time, you have to be good to her. You can't hurt her, and you can't make her sad.'

Amy's words weighed on his mind.

'Does 'this time' mean... that in the future, he didn't?'

Unaware that the man before her was suppressing a longing that rose to his throat, Agnes's small face was flushed bright red.

Despite hearing the incredible tales of ancient documents and even dragons, she seemed to have only her younger sibling on her mind.

"I simply don't understand. Why wouldn't she come back to me... she must have been suffering all this time..."

Muttering to herself, she suddenly looked up and clung to Cesenor with her gaze.

"Do you have any idea where Amy might have gone?"

If only I knew that myself.

Hiding his impatience, Cesenor leaned back languidly on the sofa and shook his head.

"The only thing I know is this: Lady Amy has gone to find another of your prospective husbands."

Cesenor smiled crookedly, watching Agnes's reaction.

"Whether you want that or not, my lady."

---

Northern continent, Celesta territory.

A mana stone mining site.

Agnes was sorting stones at the place, famous for its rich deposits of mana stones.

Her face was gaunter and more haggard than he remembered.

The hands sorting the stones were knobby and bony, and her face was smudged with dirt and dust.

Her once-pretty caramel-colored hair was hidden under a hood, tied tightly to keep it from falling out.

Seeing Agnes's exhausted expression, Amy realized this was her dream.

'Sister...'

It was a scene she didn't want to see. She was trying so hard to avoid exactly this kind of storyline, so why did it have to show her this?

Just then, a group of people approached from afar.

They seemed to be people of considerable status, and the supervisors, spotting them, made a fuss to clear the way ahead.

"Leave them be. Don't interrupt their work."

A tall, lanky man with black hair flowing down past his waist strode forward and spoke.

'Cesenor.'

Amy had already met him. She had even told him where her sister was.

She had done so because she thought he would be the most useful among the 'male leads' early on.

'Still, he's a Marquis, a person of high rank, and he's good at magic, so he'll protect my sister if something happens.'

But Amy's feelings toward him were not favorable.

Because, despite possessing such great abilities, he had never once genuinely helped her sister.

He had always treated her like a convenient tool to be used and discarded.

'She was just a means to conquer the world.'

As Cesenor's steps came to a halt in front of Agnes, she flusteredly fumbled and accidentally knocked over her basket of stacked stones.

"You there!"

The supervisor, his face turning pale, shouted at Agnes.

Startled, Agnes hurriedly knelt down and began picking up the stones.

"I-I'm sorry. I'll clean it up right away..."

"Never mind. That's not necessary."

As soon as he said that, the stones scattered on the ground floated into the air. They even docilely returned to the basket by themselves.

It happened in the blink of an eye.

"Wow...!"

"That's the Lord's magic!"

It was the first time Agnes had seen magic either. She stared blankly, forgetting to cover her face.

"You."

Startled, Agnes quickly lowered her head.

But Cesenor's interest wasn't in her—it was in the mana stones.

The mana stones in Agnes's basket were all of superior quality compared to the others'.

"You have a good eye."

"Ah, yes! Though she made a mistake, she's the most skilled worker in our workshop. She selects high-quality mana stones better than anyone."

"She looks quite young."

"It hasn't been long since she came here."

"And her identity is clear?"

"Supposedly a relative of an old woman from the village."

That was all.

Cesenor passed right by Agnes. Agnes's gaze lingered on his back for a moment, but not for long.

'Idiot, you fool.'

Amy silently hurled abuse at Cesenor's indifferent back.

'You should have looked into her more back then! What ordinary person would be that good at identifying mana stones!'

Even though she was merely in a state of consciousness, Amy trembled with indignation.

'Do you know how much hardship my sister went through after that?'

But it couldn't be helped.

The novel Amy had been reincarnated into was a 'reverse harem angsty story'—one so cruel that comments even asked if the author wrote it just to torment the heroine, pushing her to the very end.

'I wonder why it had to be this kind of novel, but maybe that's why I was born?'

After being sucked into the Crack.

Amy realized that this world was the one from the novel she had read in her previous life.

However, in the original work, Agnes, the heroine, didn't have a youngest sister named 'Amy.'

In other words, unlike the original, Amy was reincarnated as the late-born child of the Laverose family, causing Agnes to lose her mother early and the Viscount Laverose household to fall into ruin prematurely.

'Which means I have to try even harder.'

When Amy was born, Agnes was only fifteen years old.

Yet she had pitied Amy, who had lost her mother, and slept with her every day, ate with her, and taught her.

'Sister, do you like Amy?'

'Yes. I like you very much.'

'Why?'

'Amy is just adorable and lovable, and she's my little sister.'

'Amy likes you too, Sister!'

After regaining her memories of her past life, she understood just how difficult that must have been.

'From now on, I'm going to make you happy, Sister!'

She would eliminate all hardships and prevent every bad future!

Perhaps concerned that a six-year-old brain would have trouble accepting it, or maybe the system or the world itself had deliberately censored it, she couldn't remember much, but that was enough.

'Anyway, I don't trust you, Cesenor! There are plenty of other male leads besides you!'

Now was the real deal. Seeing the other male leads' pure and devoted love would surely twist that stiff face of his.

'Just you wait! I'm going to make you a truly regretful male lead this time!'

---

Giggling to herself, Amy woke up from her dream.

As she opened her eyes, a voice, as if it had been waiting, pierced her ears.

"You're awake, young lady."

"Rupert."

Amy sat up groggily.

Looking at the mirror placed across from the bed, she saw a cute little girl with shimmering blonde hair and fair skin.

After tidying her tousled blonde hair, Amy stretched her arms wide.

"Did you have a pleasant dream?"

"Whyyy?"

"You kept smiling in your sleep."

Looking beside her, she saw a man kneeling on the floor, meeting her gaze.

He had folded his tall frame to lower himself to her level.

He had a handsome face, with light brown hair falling across his neat forehead, and his deep blue eyes resembled the lake in a deep forest.

She had kept smiling in her sleep, he said.

And Rupert had seen it.

She must have been so eager to get back at Cesenor. Amy smiled sheepishly, a little embarrassed.

"I dunno, I don't remember well."

"It was just a dream. Good morning, young lady."

His friendly greeting came in a pleasant, deep voice.

Amy let out a sigh involuntarily.

"That's a shame."

"Did you want to travel further in dreamland?"

"No. It's a waste for Rupert!"

It would have been so much nicer if Rupert were one of the male leads.

He smiled off Amy's incomprehensible words and brought her washbasin. Amy sighed as she watched him.

Tall stature.

Handsome face.

His body had originally been skinny and unremarkable, but whatever had happened inside the Crack, he'd gained solid muscle, and as you can see, he had a good personality.

But he was a butler's son, and above all, his very existence was vague in the original story.

No matter how you looked at it, if it's not a Crown Prince, a Northern Grand Duke, or a Southern Count, a butler's son is just too shabby, isn't it?

At best, he'd be an extra cheering for the heroine from afar.

"He's so capable, too!"

"Is that a compliment? Thank you, young lady."

After roughly washing her face, drying it with a towel, and brushing her teeth, Amy got up from her spot.

She had a busy day ahead of her.

"Now, time to find the next male lead!"

"Yes, just a little further now. It's the Naofa Forest soon."

After parting ways with Cesenor, Amy and Rupert had come to the eastern edge of the continent. This was the last human village.

Amy looked out the window.

At the edge of her vision, far in the distance, trees that seemed to reach the end of the sky spread out magnificently.

The Naofa Forest, the dwelling place of the elves, located in the east of the continent.

It was Amy's next destination.

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