Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 109

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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‘Wait, did our eyes actually meet…?’
For a moment, I thought our gazes had crossed and instinctively looked away in surprise, but I couldn’t be certain it had actually happened.
Perhaps he had merely glanced in that direction without intention, or maybe he was looking up at the adjacent room….
I regretted drawing attention by closing the curtain when I could have simply remained still.
Cursing my quick reflexes, I carefully peered out through the gap in the curtains.
Lucio had already mounted his horse, having completed his preparations for departure.
Watching his figure recede into the distance alongside the carriage with no one to see him off, I realized it had been an eternity since I last saw Lucio.
Since he returned to the Duke’s Mansion from the Academy, I hadn’t properly encountered him except when I visited to return the library key.
I saw him occasionally at breakfast, but otherwise he was always in the Study, making it difficult to catch even a glimpse of him.
And such days would continue into the future.
Lucio would grow even busier, and I would depart from House Elrad once I completed my preparations to some degree.
Of course, because of Diana, I wouldn’t avoid seeing his face forever, but this distance felt more comfortable nonetheless.
“Somehow this reminds me of the old days.”
In the past too, I would observe Lucio from afar like this, under the pretense of monitoring the movements of the nobility.
Yet emotionally, I felt far more affinity toward him now than I did back then.
‘Perhaps it’s because I’ve come to know one more of his hidden secrets.’
To be honest, I didn’t care who became Emperor, but I trusted Lucio’s judgment.
Moreover, the Imperial Princess Serphin, whom I met recently, left a poor impression, making me think Nicholas would be better.
He would likely manage well on his own, but if we sufficiently leveraged Darel’s influence, couldn’t we smoothly place Nicholas on the throne?
“Now that I think about it….”
Before, I was so confident that Terenthium was supreme that I hadn’t considered it, but it seemed unlikely that Marquis Diapel would entrust his requests only to Terenthium.
‘He must have gone to Darel as well.’
Perhaps, considering his friendship with Askart, Lucio had already made the first move. Yet the fact that he couldn’t find her….
“It seems the Master’s words were indeed correct.”
A sigh escaped unbidden.
It would be wonderful if I could help the Grand Duchess, whom Askart and the Marquis so desperately wished to meet, find them.
Even knowing there was no answer, I seriously pondered whether there might be some way.
I didn’t know then.
That I would soon find the answer to what I believed lay beyond my capabilities.
* * *
“Yay, snow!”
Quite a bit of snow had accumulated overnight.
Delighted at the sight of it, Diana threw both arms up and dashed outside.
“Don’t run, Young Lady! You’ll fall.”
“It’s fine!”
“Young Lady, aren’t you cold?”
“Not at all! Compared to Duke’s Castle, this is nothing!”
I couldn’t help but laugh at Diana’s defiant expression, chin raised proudly.
But it was certainly true that for Diana, who had lived her entire life in the Elrad Duchy, this degree of cold was trivial.
“And besides, I have what my brother bought for me!”
When Diana added her words with such pride, I found myself scanning the child from head to toe without thinking.
During an outing with Lucio not long ago, Diana had received a gift of a cute hat that covered her ears, a scarf, gloves, and fluffy boots.
And ever since that day, she wore all of these items whenever she stepped outside, as if to show off what her older brother had bought for her.
“Aren’t you cold, sister?”
“I’m warm too.”
I smiled shyly and touched my ear with my gloved hand.
Though Lucio had paid for them, Diana’s gifts—the fur ear muffs, scarf, gloves, and boots—all warmed my heart nonetheless.
Diana seemed satisfied with my answer and broke into a bright smile before returning her focus to crunching through the snow.
As I watched her with contentment, a cold snowflake landed on my cheek.
I brushed my cheek and lifted my gaze to the sky, where snow was falling heavily.
‘I used to be so afraid of snow falling.’
Now, dressed in such warm clothes, the pristine white snow held no fear for me, but in the past, I had truly despised winter.
Without even a fur coat, wearing only thin, worn garments year-round, my exposed hands were always red and frozen from a cold that seemed to pierce my very organs, and even standing briefly made my toes ache so I had to keep moving constantly.
Suddenly gripped by the terror of those days, I shivered briefly and spoke to Diana.
“Young Lady, let’s head back now.”
Once we reached the Marquis’s Residence, I would ask for hot chocolate with generous whipped cream and marshmallows to warm my body.
I chuckled to myself, imagining the Marquis pretending to be helpless while indulging my requests for food, even though I had come here to care for him.
“Oh! Grand Duke Askart!”
It was just as Diana and I were walking hand in hand through the snow toward the entrance of the Marquis’s Residence, having indulged her wish to crunch through it together.
Askart, who had rushed out, looked troubled when he saw us.
“You’re here already? I just sent word to the Duke’s Mansion telling you not to come today.”
“Why is that?”
I tilted my head in confusion.
When we parted yesterday, the Marquis had told me to come right after lunch so he could show me the taste of the Marquis’s Residence’s cake.
“Has the Marquis’s condition worsened?”
Now that I thought about it, the atmosphere of the Marquis’s Residence seemed a bit unsettled.
Askart rushing out like this, not even to greet us, was unusual.
As my expression darkened, Askart spoke urgently.
“It’s not that… Our parents are arriving soon.”
“Ah.”
Now that I thought about it, it had been quite some time since I heard that Bianca had departed.
The Duke had mentioned at mealtime that the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess would arrive in a day or two.
I had been so delighted to see Marquis Diapel that I had forgotten about it for a moment, but hearing Askart’s words now, my heart began to race.
The thought of seeing Bianca again seemed to overwhelm me with excitement.
‘And I was curious about Grand Duke Bellus too!’
Though I knew little about him, he was still the only Archmage on the entire continent, wasn’t he?
I barely managed to calm my racing heart and nodded.
It was a shame that I wouldn’t be able to confirm the Marquis’s treatment and enjoy tea time together, but that was something we could do later.
Since Grand Duke Bellus and his wife were acquainted with Duke Elrad, the Duke’s Mansion would surely extend an invitation.
Even if we couldn’t share a meal together, I would have plenty of opportunity to see them.
I was turning around to hurry back and share this news with the Duchess Elrad when I heard it.
A large white carriage entered the Marquis’s Residence with the rhythmic clatter of hoofbeats.
Among them, Bianca, riding at the front, immediately caught my eye.
Bianca seemed to notice me as well, her eyes widening.
As I caught a faint glimmer of joy in her gaze, my lips curved upward of their own accord.
“Grand Duke, it has been a long time since we last met.”
Dismounting from her horse, Bianca turned her attention from me and offered a respectful greeting to Askart.
“Thank you for taking the trouble to come, Knight Maretta.”
Askart nodded with a somewhat stiff expression, then immediately shifted his gaze toward the carriage behind.
I could feel the tension radiating from Askart beside me so keenly that my body seemed to stiffen involuntarily.
And then the carriage door opened.
‘Wow….’
I barely managed to swallow the exclamation threatening to burst forth.
‘I have heard that even wandering poets once sang of Grand Duke Bellus’s beauty in his youth….’
As golden hair with a striking presence and luminous green eyes emerged through the sunlight gleaming white from the snow that had fallen overnight, my mind seemed to go blank for a moment.
Lucio bore a striking resemblance to Duke Elrad, but Grand Duke Bellus and Askart looked as though they had been cast from the same mold.
I could easily imagine that this was exactly what Askart would look like when he aged.
“Askart.”
The moment the Grand Duke stepped out of the carriage, he immediately spotted his son and called to him in a soft, affectionate voice.
Everything about him—his overall bearing, his attire, his movements—exuded an air of nobility.
Feeling oddly embarrassed before him, I fidgeted with my fingers, and Diana tilted her head curiously as she looked up at me.
In my embarrassment, I offered Diana a subtle smile, while the Grand Duke turned his gaze toward the carriage and extended his hand.
“My lady.”
At the gentle sound of his voice, I turned my head.
I had been just as eager to see the Grand Duchess as I had been to see Grand Duke Bellus.
She was Askart’s mother, but more than that, she was supposedly childhood friends with Duke Elrad, so I was curious about what kind of person she was.
“…!”
And in that moment, I could not think at all.
Time seemed to have stopped.
The woman who descended from the carriage was beautiful—so much so that one could hardly believe a person could look this way.
Though she appeared quite pale, her skin was pure white, making her look even more like a doll.
Her small, delicate features, hair cascading like a waterfall, and especially her beautifully radiant eyes were like jewels.
Her beauty was so breathtaking that it left one spellbound, yet at the same time, her slender frame appeared so fragile and precarious, as though it might shatter at any moment.
However, her cold expression cast a restrained atmosphere around her.
“Hm….”
But the reason my mind was thrown into chaos and I could not breathe properly was not solely because of the Grand Duchess’s beauty.
In a world of white, only the face of the woman with softly pink hair and deep pink eyes seemed to fill my vision.
She was as if….
my own reflection from the mirror in my past, after I had come of age.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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