Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 125

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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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At my question, both their faces hardened with a frightening intensity.
As I suspected.
A scene from an old memory suddenly surfaced in my mind.
It was the image of Jack returning triumphantly from the Border Territory, leading his forces to victory while the crowds cheered his name.
Jack, one of the Empire’s Three Great Knights and a Sword Master, was the hope of the common people.
Watching him from afar, basking confidently in the sunlight, I had suddenly realized that unlike him, I had already become a person of another world—one that dwelled in shadow.
That’s right. I, who once moved in darkness, could never truly belong as a Grand Duchess.
“Our dear child asks such foolish questions.”
It was at that moment.
A large, warm hand descended upon mine as I gripped the blanket.
“You are precious simply by existing.”
As I hesitated and looked toward the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess gazed at me with sorrowful eyes and asked.
“My dear, you haven’t been disappointed in me, have you?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Your mother is such a fool that she didn’t even recognize her own daughter.”
“No!”
I was startled and vehemently denied it with a loud voice.
“Disappointed? That could never happen.”
My voice trembled with unshed tears as I spoke, and the Grand Duchess’s eyes glistened as well.
“I feel the same way. I cannot express how grateful I am simply that you are alive like this. So please, don’t say such things.”
“…Yes.”
As I obediently nodded, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess smiled.
It was truly strange. Despite their deep sorrow and sadness…
What was this thing called family, that a wound which seemed it would never heal could mend so quickly with just a single smile?
“Then won’t you call me now? Mother.”
“And call me Father as well!”
“Um…”
At their sudden request, I opened my mouth in confusion.
I had once impulsively called the Grand Duchess “Mother” while she slept, but now, trying to say it again, the words wouldn’t come easily.
The Grand Duke, sensing my hesitation, stroked my head and spoke gently.
“It’s alright. Take your time.”
Though he said this, both their expressions betrayed their disappointment, and I felt a twinge of guilt.
Then, as if to change the subject, the Grand Duchess asked.
“Have you ever thought about what kind of parents you’d like to have?”
“Pardon?”
“Well, what sort of people they should be, or what things you’d like them to do for you—that sort of thing.”
“Oh! Yes, I have!”
I eagerly nodded at this much easier question than before.
“Really?”
Seeing the Grand Duchess’s brightening face, I found myself becoming excited once more.
My excited voice flowed out without touching my head.
“I just hoped that even if I made mistakes, you wouldn’t get angry or hit me!”
“….”
“I won’t eat much, so if you could just give me food, and praise me sometimes, even occasionally….”
And as I foolishly rambled on, I caught sight of both their faces and suddenly realized my mistake. I had clearly lost my mind.
‘No matter how hazy the medicine made me, how could I say the same things I thought back when I was little at the Orphanage!’
As I panicked and tried to read the room, the Grand Duchess quickly softened her rigid expression and smiled.
“That’s… not what I meant. Is there anything else?”
“…Fairy tales.”
Hearing the desperate note in her voice, I confessed in a small whisper.
The truth was, I had always envied Diana, who fell asleep listening to the Duke and Duchess read fairy tales to her every night.
After a long silence, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess linked their pinky fingers with mine and made a promise.
“Once you’re fully recovered, I’ll read fairy tales to you every day.”
“…Yes.”
And that night.
I fell asleep holding my brother’s hand, listening to my parents’ gentle voices reading fairy tales, lost in a blissfully happy dream.
* * *
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess quietly closed the door, holding their breath so as not to wake the child, unable to speak a word.
Their hearts ached too much, yet they were overjoyed and grateful to have found their daughter.
After standing before the door for some time, the couple confirmed that Askart was asleep in the adjacent room before making their way to the Reception Room of the Marquis’s Residence.
As if waiting for them, a man sat on the sofa with his legs crossed.
“High Priestess.”
The moment those words left his lips, Raezl’s expression darkened considerably.
The Grand Duke quickly corrected himself.
“My apologies, Great Sage.”
“Do I really have to tell you myself how to address me? The Temple people are already hunting me down, and I’m anxious enough as it is. If I get dragged away, at least that would be refreshing!”
The grumbling man glanced at the Grand Duchess, whose expression remained stern.
“It seems the Grand Duchess is still upset.”
“…I understand that Your Majesty had no choice. I also know the decision was made for my sake.”
All my husband and I knew about our daughter was that her hair was pink.
With only that single clue, we searched the entire Continent desperately for children with pink hair, yet we failed to find her even after years.
If we had learned that her hair was not pink, she truly would not have endured it.
“But understanding something intellectually isn’t the same as accepting it in your heart. It seems you’ve caused the child considerable pain.”
As Raezl spoke with a wry, spinning smile, the Grand Duke, caught between him and the Grand Duchess’s glare, cleared his throat and changed the subject.
“But you’ve already recovered enough to change your appearance?”
Though his hair remained snow-white, Raezl now bore the appearance of a healthy young man tanned by the sun.
It was puzzling why he was here at all, considering he had originally said his holy power recovery was slow because of the demonic energy emanating from Lia, and had asked for a room at House Elrad rather than following them to the Marquis’s Residence.
“The Elrad Duke’s Mansion, you see. The energy felt good from the moment I arrived, and after just a brief rest, my holy power recharged quickly. So I thought I’d hurry here to discuss what needs to be discussed anyway.”
Raezl shrugged his shoulders, then immediately changed his expression and spoke cynically.
“So, to the main point. Now we’re certain those are the ones who kidnapped the Grand Princess. That illusion magic reeking of filthy demonic energy—it’s impossible without the power of demons.”
“Wasn’t that already expected? It wasn’t a kidnapping motivated by ransom, after all.”
“Exactly. That’s why I was nearly certain the Grand Duchess was dead.”
When Raezl casually mentioned Lia’s death, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess widened their eyes and stared at him.
But he paid them no mind.
“Why are you looking at me like that? Isn’t it obvious? They harbored resentment toward the Grand Duke and were merely waiting for an opportunity to exact revenge. Moreover, she’s the daughter of the Archmage and an infant brimming with vast mana. Isn’t she the perfect sacrifice?”
“Please, let’s not discuss that…”
“Why didn’t they kill her?”
Raezl rested his chin on his hand, his brow furrowing.
“I don’t understand. If they weren’t going to kill her, they could have used the child as leverage to manipulate you, the Archmage. So why bother casting an illusion and abandoning her?”
“Abandoning her—that phrasing is rather distressing to hear…”
“You must have seen the child before I arrived. Didn’t you sense any traces of transmutation magic or brainwashing?”
Though Raezl’s words teetered dangerously on the edge of propriety, leaving the Grand Duke’s mind in disarray, he exhaled deeply and shook his head.
“I sensed nothing. Mental magic is extraordinarily difficult, and traces are typically left behind…”
That even the one called the Archmage couldn’t detect any traces meant the caster’s magical power far exceeded his own.
“To be honest, until now I’ve been blaming myself for losing the child because I was away from the castle. But today I’ve come to understand something. Had I been present, I would have fought to the death to protect her.”
Yet even so, the Grand Duke couldn’t be certain he could have protected the child.
The Grand Duchess’s complexion turned ashen upon hearing her husband’s words.
“What if they learn we’ve found Adriana and target her again?”
It was a concern the Grand Duke himself had already been wrestling with.
That’s why, internally, he had spared no effort or method in searching for the child, while externally moving in secret beneath the surface to avoid drawing attention.
But now, if he were to announce to the world that the Grand Duchess had been found, he couldn’t easily predict how those who had targeted the child would respond.
“If we lose our child again… I cannot go on living.”
“Neither can I.”
The Grand Duke grasped his trembling wife’s hand firmly, his expression bearing an icy coldness that didn’t suit him.
“This time, I will protect her. And I will have my revenge on those who hurt my daughter.”
As the couple resolved to inflict the most gruesome and agonizing deaths upon those who had kidnapped Lia, Raezl, reclining almost horizontally on the sofa, spoke.
“Bring the child to me tomorrow. I need to examine her properly and verify things myself.”
“…So you’re certain there’s a reason they kept Lia alive.”
“Yes. And besides, she can’t spend her entire life wearing that illusion, can she? I’ll need to perform a purification. It’s so powerful that it might take years, though.”
The Grand Duke paused at those words, rose from his seat, and bowed deeply.
“Thank you, Sage… When you visit the Grand Duke’s Castle, I shall prepare the fourth finest room for you.”
“Isn’t it customary to offer the finest room on such occasions? How pitiful for a man without wife and children. And if you’re going to address me, do it properly in one go—why do you keep hesitating!”
“It’s become a habit…”
Raezl shook his head watching the Grand Duke laugh awkwardly, though he refrained from further scolding.
Today was the day the bright-eyed boy who had followed me since long ago calling out “Sage!” had finally emerged from profound sorrow.
* * *
And at that very moment, at the Duke’s Mansion.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
Duke Elrad clutched his head and let out a anguished cry.
“How… How could that kind Lia be Stella’s daughter!”
…The Duke remained unable to shake off his shock.

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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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