Home/My Youngest Keeps Bringing Me Male Leads/ch 55

Chapter 55

But Rapitor bowed his head, and Ignitan shook his head.

"I have an idea, but I can't mention it."

"Is there a reason?"

"Yes, but I can't speak of it."

With those words, Ignitan and Rapitor's gazes simultaneously shot toward Cesenor.

"Why are you looking at me?"

"Don't trust him, Agnes."

Rapitor's eyes blazed.

As if saying he couldn't speak because of Cesenor.

"If Amy said that, then he is definitely the hum—"

Before Rapitor could finish, he let out a short cry and clutched his throat.

"Rapitor!"

Just as Agnes startled and tried to rush over, Rapitor removed his hand from his neck.

A wound that looked like a thorn had pierced him.

As if someone had strangled him with brambles.

Blood flowed, as if to prove it wasn't an illusion.

Rapitor wiped the blood on his clothes and grimaced.

"It was real."

"Good heavens..."

As Agnes took out a handkerchief to stop the bleeding, Rupert, standing beside her, moved.

"I'll do it."

While Rupert took the handkerchief and pressed it against Rapitor's neck, he added further explanation.

"I'd only heard about it, but I never thought it would actually happen like this. This doesn't work in our territory."

"What do you mean?"

"To be precise, if you blab carelessly outside our territory, you're punished. If I'd finished that sentence, I might have died."

He then glared at Cesenor.

"You know what it is, don't you, mage?"

Cesenor swallowed and nodded.

"Yes. The Noose Curse."

Cesenor seemed troubled as he stroked his chin.

"But that's impossible. How could anyone monitor what anyone in the empire might say? And if it's a curse that existed before the separation, then it's been maintained for a thousand years."

At least Cesenor, and any mage in the empire, couldn't do it.

'Could it be the power of the World Tree? Or else...'

Cesenor recalled what Silmare had once said.

'Which Celesta are you?'

'Aren't you a Celesta? Can't you use magic that well?'

If the Celesta clan had possessed such power before the separation from the other races.

'No way...'

In fact, Cesenor had experienced something similar.

'They' said their abilities were connected by blood, but Cesenor had inwardly scoffed.

He'd thought they must have special magical tools.

If what happened to them and what happened to Rapitor were both related to 'magic'—

Just how far did the Celesta's power reach?

His fingertips trembled with an emotion he couldn't name—whether joy or fear.

Cesenor calmly pretended as Rapitor glared at him with cold eyes.

'If my ancestors cast such magic, no wonder they'd hate us.'

Thinking that, Cesenor rose and approached Rapitor.

After signaling Rupert to move aside with a glance, Cesenor placed his hand on Rapitor's neck.

A brilliant golden light burst forth, and the wound on his neck vanished as if melting away.

"Are you alright, Rapitor?"

Rapitor shrugged at Agnes, who looked at him worriedly.

"Anyway, that's why I can't say anything! It's not that I don't want to protect you!"

"Yes, I understand. That must be the case."

"What I can say is—damn, it's really nothing—but anyway, trust no one."

Agnes smiled wryly and asked.

"Even the Marquis?"

"Of course!"

"Actually, I asked you all here today to make a request. Knowing that background, I hope it's not too much to ask."

Ignitan, Rapitor, and even Silmare.

She could guess why they might have harbored such long-standing resentment.

'But I have to protect myself.'

So Agnes brought out the words she'd prepared.

"From now on, I will no longer tolerate you three fighting."

"Wait a moment, Lady Agnes. I don't enjoy conflict. But that doesn't mean I'm going to sit back and let someone pick a fight with me over something that happened a thousand years ago."

"But Marquis, I heard you had a quarrel with Ignitan."

For a moment, Ignitan and Cesenor's gazes clashed, but neither showed any change in expression.

Ignitan stayed silent, and only Cesenor responded.

"When was that?"

"I heard it was before I left for the Waldemar estate. And the wounds were deep enough that they still haven't healed."

"It was the maids."

"Yes. They must have seen it while passing by. What happened, Marquis?"

Cesenor explained calmly.

"It was unavoidable. He tried to grab me by the collar and threaten me."

"Is that true?"

This time it was Ignitan's turn to confirm.

Ignitan didn't defend himself, merely averted his gaze in silence.

Assuming he wouldn't have done it without reason, Agnes spoke soothingly.

"I'm not interrogating you, Ignitan. I'm just asking you not to do it again in the future."

Reluctantly, Ignitan replied.

"He picked a fight too."

"Yes, I'm sure he did."

Hearing that, Cesenor scoffed.

"Surely you haven't forgotten who I am, Lady Agnes. I trust you're not saying I should endure unfair treatment."

He was right.

Cesenor was the head of the Celestial Tower, and at the same time, the lord of the Celesta territory.

He was one of the few marquises in the empire.

Even if he acted friendly while staying by Agnes's side, he was someone who could wield immense power and status that a mere viscount's daughter could never touch.

But...

"At the same time, you're also my guest. Isn't that right?"

Agnes strode over to Ignitan, grabbed his pants, and pulled them up.

From his ankle to his calf, the red, raw wounds were exposed.

They were healing, but they still looked very painful.

Ignitan could have easily avoided her, but he hadn't expected her to lift his clothes.

Looking up at him with rare surprise, Agnes bowed her head.

It wasn't an apology.

It was a warning of the rudeness she was about to commit.

This time, too, Agnes unhesitatingly rolled up Ignitan's sleeve.

Wounds that even gloves couldn't fully cover were revealed.

Agnes's brow shot up.

The wounds were deeper than she'd thought, and in an instant, her head grew hot.

"With wounds this deep, are you going to say Ignitan started it and there was nothing you could do? Is that really justifiable? Or do you think it's alright to seriously injure others?"

"I only... tried to grab his collar."

Feeling as if he was defending himself, Ignitan quietly added an excuse.

It was the worst choice.

Because the next arrow flew at Ignitan.

"If the Marquis hadn't stopped you, wouldn't you have actually grabbed him?"

Unable to deny it, Ignitan fell silent.

Agnes looked around at the people in the room and spoke.

"I will no longer tolerate guests fighting in my house. If such an incident occurs in the future, I will regard it as a sign of disrespect toward me and have you expelled."

Watching this, Rapitor's eyes darted around.

'Huff... sniff. Can't laugh...'

Full-grown men—people who could demolish the mansion and turn the earth upside down if they truly wanted to fight—being scolded by the powerless Agnes.

Only Rupert stood expressionless, looking straight ahead.

'Was this a common occurrence?'

Just as he covered his mouth to keep any strange sounds from escaping—

Perhaps his movement was too exaggerated, because this time Agnes began to scold Rapitor.

"The same goes for you, Rapitor. I understand you have old grudges, but that's something you can't resolve in my house. Please settle them privately in the future, and I ask you to observe proper manners in my home."

"Wait, that's..."

She didn't even give him time to explain.

Agnes returned to her seat with a firm demeanor and said.

"All three of you, promise me here."

"Promise... what?"

"Not to fight?"

"......"

Agnes sighed.

"Do you really need to promise something like that to keep it? Isn't it only natural not to fight when you're a guest in someone else's home?"

"Well..."

"I don't want to be taken to some unknown place, and I don't want to die."

The conversation had returned to what Amy had said.

Thinking of her terrified younger sister, her heart sank.

With a grim feeling, Agnes spoke heavily, as if pressing each word into the ground.

"So from now on, even if it's only to protect me, please help each other."

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