Home/My Youngest Keeps Bringing Me Male Leads/ch 61

Chapter 61

At that, Rupert laughed silently and handed her a handkerchief.

Covering her reddened eyes with it, Agnes muttered like a child.

"I'm hurt. And upset. I don't even know how hard it was for you, and yet you're always the one helping me."

"Thank you for worrying about me."

"Yes. That's what hurts. Am I a stranger to you? You don't show any sign of struggling, you don't say anything. You only ever try to comfort me."

Rupert then rose from his seat abruptly.

Startled, Agnes soon realized he was lighting the lamp.

The room had grown dark.

As the light came on, light and shadow divided clearly over his figure.

Agnes's gaze suddenly fell on his arm, revealed beneath his rolled-up sleeve.

It was strange.

Unlike his hands, which bore small scars, his muscular arm had no visible scars.

That couldn't be right.

After they let go of the gardener, Rupert had taken over that role too.

His arms had been scratched several times while cutting grass, and Agnes had applied medicine to them many times.

'Can even healed scars be erased by magic?'

Just as she thought that, Rupert turned around.

His expressionless gaze at her felt especially sharp.

An overwhelming pressure, as sharp as a blade honed a thousand times, yet heavy enough to press down on her entire body.

Beneath his linen shirt, his toned physique and broad shoulders caught her eye, and the hem of his shirt was securely fastened with a thick belt.

The long sword hanging beside it, too.

Agnes unconsciously imagined him drawing and swinging it.

When tension ran through his firm thighs as he stepped forward, and blue veins stood out on his arm as he drew the sword in an instant.

She also recalled that he had likely cut down a dragon with that same sword.

Whether from fear or some other feeling, her heart pounded loudly in her ears.

Just as she thought the shadow cast on his face from the light seemed especially deep—

He whispered softly.

"I was scared."

"Rupert."

As if, after roughly gathering the worn and crumbling emotions, she finally recognized their original form.

His lips, which had traced gentle lines, twisted and finally broke.

"I missed you."

"Rupert..."

Come to think of it, he was only a twenty-one-year-old young man.

Agnes hurriedly approached him.

Standing right before her, he was so large.

She wanted to hold him, but she couldn't, so she only grasped his hand.

Even on such a warm day, it was cold.

So cold it felt frozen.

Holding his large hand tightly, Agnes bowed her head and pressed her forehead to his.

"Me too. I'm glad you're alive. Thank you for coming back."

What had she wanted to know?

Just knowing he'd come back alive was enough.

Even though she already had more than enough, she'd been throwing a tantrum like a child trying to get more.

"Don't go anywhere anymore."

Lifting her head, she met his gaze.

Whispering as if pressing the words into his unfathomably deep eyes.

"No—you can leave whenever you want, but don't go to a hard place like the Crack. Anywhere you want to go is fine."

"I won't go."

In a heavy voice, as if making an oath, Rupert clasped both of Agnes's hands firmly.

"I'll take over my father's work here and stay by your side."

"That might not be easy. Because you defeated a dragon, right? The Marquis seems to have his eye on you."

"On me?"

"Yeah. He seemed to be paying attention to you. I wonder if he wants to take you to the Tower."

Rupert made a horrified face.

His handsome features twisted into a rather comical expression, and Agnes couldn't help but laugh.

"What, you hate it that much?"

"I think he absolutely won't."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"Really? I'll have to ask him."

Rupert's brow furrowed even more.

But thanks to that, the heavy atmosphere lightened.

Agnes, as if joking, remembered how Ignitan and Rapitor had shown their dislike for Cesenor and asked.

"Do you hate the Marquis too?"

"I'd like to ask you that, my lady. I've heard that the 'Other Half' must choose a Seed."

It was an awkward topic.

The idea that she had to choose one of them still felt unreal, so Agnes deflected with a joke.

"Are you going to say something crazy like 'future husband' or 'husband candidate' too?"

"Did someone say that?"

"Yeah."

Rupert's face turned very grim.

Feeling a little hot, Agnes thought she absolutely must not tell him that it was Cesenor who'd said that.

'Come to think of it, Silmare also said something like 'my soul's other half.'

She'd have to add Silmare to that list too.

At any rate, seeing Rupert get angry on her behalf made her feel good.

Because she'd found those words so burdensome and uncomfortable all this time.

"I'm glad I have you, Rupert. I don't have to worry if anyone treats me rudely."

"Has anyone done that?"

"No, that's not what I meant. I mean, I feel safe knowing you'll scold them for me. Saying it like this makes you sound like a father figure."

"...A father figure?"

"It's just an expression."

Shrugging, Agnes led Rupert to the table.

"Let's share the cake."

"It was brought for you, my lady."

"I want to eat it with you. We've all been through a lot."

The cake tasted familiar, as if Elena had made it, but that only made it more delicious.

After finishing it, Agnes let out a short sigh.

"I need to go see the Marquis again today."

It was something she checked around this time every day, so Rupert understood and nodded.

"Are you going to check on Sir Silmare?"

"Yes."

"Please don't ask him if he'd like to hire me."

"I won't. I don't want to send you away."

Smiling back, Rupert's eyes also crinkled with a gentle smile.

Her cheeks felt ticklish, as if his warmth had reached her.

"I'll trust you."

His appearance might have changed a little, but the playful glint in his eyes was just as it had been when they were children, and Agnes smiled back.

Somehow, she felt a little more at ease.

Agnes immediately knocked on Cesenor's door.

"Come in, Lady Agnes."

Without asking who it was, Cesenor opened the door.

He must have been in the middle of work, as parchment with magic circles and mana stones were scattered across the desk.

"What are you doing?"

"It's a request that came in for my territory. It's something only I can do, so I was working on it."

"If it's a request for you, it must be from someone very important."

"Even so, no one's as important as you, Lady Agnes."

He said that as if joking, and invited Agnes to sit.

Sitting on the sofa, Agnes pressed her lips together and brought up what she'd decided.

"I think I need to go find Sir Silmare."

"Yes, he hasn't moved from that spot for a week now."

Cesenor nodded as if he'd expected it.

It had already been a month since they'd last heard from Silmare.

His last letter had said he was tracking the captain of the guard.

When she was worried about the long silence, Cesenor told her how to track Silmare.

He said that when other races left their territories, their location could be confirmed by magic.

When he showed her the map, three red dots blinked on it.

Two were in the Laverose territory, but one was stuck in the southwestern kingdom of Asmarin, not moving.

That dot was Silmare.

'It's hard to even wander freely within the empire.'

She felt complicated every time she looked at the map, but at least it was good to know Silmare was safe.

But now, the red dot representing Silmare hadn't moved for a week.

Worried, she checked where Harold Miller had been sent, but he'd been exiled to a remote village west of the Waldemar territory.

In other words, there was no reason to go that far.

'What if Sir Silmare is in danger?'

Cesenor told the worried Agnes that he could take her there by teleportation.

She'd hesitated before because of the distance, but she was afraid something irreversible might happen if she waited any longer.

Having finally made up her mind, Cesenor nodded to Agnes.

"Did you get the results of the investigation you mentioned last time?"

It was something she'd discussed with Cesenor before.

After visiting the Waldemar estate, Agnes had asked Alfred to look into the servants who'd accompanied her father.

To confirm whether her father had really gone to Calben City and fallen into gambling.

Agnes pressed her lips together and nodded heavily.

"Yes. Alfred told me two days ago."

"And what were the results?"

"One of them died, and the other was left an invalid."

"What was the reason?"

"I heard they fell into gambling and drinking with my father."

After a short pause, Agnes continued.

"How convenient."

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