Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 126

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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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“Darling, please stop.”
Unable to bear it any longer, the Duchess Elrad shook her head and grasped her husband’s arm, only to start in alarm.
Duke Elrad was trembling violently, as though seized by convulsions.
“What, is the fact that Lia is the Grand Duchess’s daughter really such a shock? I was surprised too, but….”
There was no reason to react with such visceral rejection.
Rather, wasn’t this something moving and joyful? After all, parents who had longed for their daughter for so long and a child bearing emotional wounds had miraculously reunited.
“I know. I do know….”
Duke Elrad pressed his forehead and furrowed his brow.
Though he had improved greatly with age and the birth of his daughter, there was a time when he harbored such trauma that he despised the color pink.
Yet today, seeing Lia bearing an uncanny resemblance to young Stella, goosebumps had erupted across his entire body.
“Sigh, it truly is joyful…. I genuinely wished for Stella to find her daughter.”
Duke Elrad exhaled a deep breath, his voice tinged with melancholy.
“But it’s Lia, you see. That kind and gentle child, how could she possibly….”
He could not bring himself to finish the sentence.
And naturally, his thoughts drifted to the day he first met Stella, who was now the Grand Duchess and once the Young Lady of House Diapel.
His father, the previous Grand Duke, had despised Dominic for the reason that he had consumed his mother in the womb at birth.
Though Dominic was his sole direct heir, he was confined to the separate quarters and ignored entirely. Due to his incompetence, every venture he undertook crumbled to ruin, and eventually he surrendered himself to indulgence, leaving all management of the house to the Council of Elders.
The Elders treated Dominic, who would one day inherit House Elrad, with cruelty—all to mold him into someone they could manipulate as they pleased, just as they had the previous Grand Duke.
Because of this, despite being the precious young heir of House Elrad, Dominic had no one at his side.
Then one day, Stella appeared.
The reckless Young Lady from the neighboring estate had lost a ball while playing with her younger brother and brazenly stormed into the Duke’s Mansion. From that day forward, she began visiting Dominic every single day.
The Elders grew wary, but they dared not speak a word, so terrified were they of Marquis Diapel.
At the time, Dominic believed Stella came out of pity for him.
It was not long before he realized what an enormous misunderstanding that had been.
“She threw a dagger at my face under the guise of training for surprise attacks—just thinking about it now makes my hair stand on end!”
Duke Elrad touched his forehead, feeling an inexplicable throb between his brows, and vented his frustration.
“And those absurd wagers on top of it all!”
As a result of sparring matches where he was no match for her, Dominic was forced daily to write his name with his buttocks, eat spicy foods, and cross-dress. It had been relentless torment.
In comparison, signing his name to a scrawled agreement promising the marriage of their future children was a trivial matter.
Becoming in-laws with Stella was certainly awkward, but the young Dominic of that time had already resolved never to marry, never to bear children, and to let House Elrad perish with him.
Of course, he had no idea that a few years later, he would fall head over heels for Edel at first sight.
“Until the day before the wedding, I can still hear Stella teasing me: ‘My goodness, weren’t you supposed to live alone forever?'”
Watching her husband’s face grow downcast, the Duchess Elrad barely suppressed a smile.
“Still, she is your one and only friend. Without the Grand Duchess, you would never have taken up a sword, nor would you have ever thought to go to war.”
Otherwise, you might still be living a meaningless existence, swayed by the Elders with no hope whatsoever.
Moreover, even now you possess a coldness and cruelty toward others that is unparalleled, and I cannot imagine what you would have become had the Grand Duchess not filled those childhood years for you.
‘…Though it seems those memories remain quite painful for him.’
The Duchess Elrad pondered how to comfort her husband before speaking.
“Perhaps Lia resembles the Grand Duke, don’t you think? The Grand Duke’s son is also possessed of a very gentle and tender nature, just like His Highness.”
“Mm, I suppose….”
Duke Elrad began nodding slowly, as though his wife’s words rang true.
Duchess Elrad felt uncomfortable, as if her husband were speaking ill of the Grand Duchess, but she made no outward sign of it.
She recalled how she had once praised the Grand Duchess, only to have her husband jump back in alarm.
At the memory, Duchess Elrad’s expression darkened considerably.
“But darling, the real problem right now isn’t actually that.”
Duke Elrad stared at his wife in horror, as if to say there could be nothing more serious than this.
Duchess Elrad spoke with a bitter expression.
“Lia will be leaving House Elrad now.”
“What? Why?”
“Because she’s the Grand Duchess Bellus. It’s only natural she returns to the Grand Duchy.”
“Ah….”
Only then did Duke Elrad seem to grasp this obvious truth, and his words faltered.
* * *
After taking medicine and sleeping deeply in a warm place, my body felt lighter than the day before, and a refreshing sensation washed over me.
Having spent the night dreaming such blissful dreams, laughter bubbled up unbidden.
As I lay there smiling with my eyes closed, I suddenly felt a chill run down my spine.
I had become aware of a gaze fixed upon my face.
‘There’s no malice in it, but….’
I raised my guard and slowly opened my eyes.
“Ahhh!”
“Oh! Are you alright? Did I startle you?”
Barely managing to steady my racing heart, I stared at a bewildered Askart.
His complexion was even paler than yesterday as he examined me.
“Did I frighten you terribly? I’m truly sorry.”
I couldn’t bring myself to say I hadn’t been startled.
I had never expected him to be kneeling beside my bed with his face thrust mere inches from mine.
As I sat speechless, my hand clutching my heart, Askart’s eyes quickly glistened with tears.
“I’m sorry. When I woke up, I wondered if yesterday was just a dream, and when they told me you were in Mother’s room…. But when I came here, you were sleeping, so I couldn’t bring myself to wake you…. I wasn’t trying to startle you. I’m still sorry.”
“I was a little surprised, but it’s fine. So please don’t cry.”
Moved by the tears that had begun to stream down his cheeks, I wiped his eyes, and Askart grasped my fingers while sobbing.
“That was the important thing you wanted to tell me yesterday, wasn’t it? That I’m your….”
Watching Askart struggle to continue, I nodded.
He spoke with a bitter tone.
“I have another apology. I’m sorry for shouting yesterday. I couldn’t believe that you would say such a thing.”
“….”
“The truth is, I couldn’t believe your words either, the way Mother couldn’t…”
“I think it’s unavoidable!”
I hastily stopped Askart before he could begin blaming himself.
“It was a difficult story to believe easily. So it’s fine.”
At my words, Askart pouted again and spoke.
“You’re too kind….”
Embarrassed by his words, I scrunched my nose and let out a nervous laugh, and Askart suddenly exhaled a deep sigh.
“If only I hadn’t gone with Father to search for the Snow Flower, I wouldn’t have lost you.”
“The Snow Flower?”
I tilted my head in confusion, and Askart spoke with a melancholy expression.
“It’s a mysterious flower that blooms only on the Snow Mountain at the edge of the Continent. There’s a rather unsettling legend that it first bloomed after someone died there from mana runaway long ago…. But its mana control effects are remarkable. Simply having it nearby is enough to help prevent mana runaway.”
“Mana runaway?”
Askart nodded and continued his explanation.
When the Grand Duchess was pregnant with me, my mana reserves were so vast that they made her movements difficult, and there was a risk that runaway would occur the moment I was born.
‘My mana was that extensive?’
I tilted my head inwardly, but Askart’s words continued.
“If only you hadn’t been so stubborn back then and had stayed at the Castle. Following Father like that….”
I could picture the young Askart wandering through the snow-covered mountains, wanting to give a gift that would help his soon-to-be-born sibling.
Unaware that I was looking at him with pity, Askart’s eyes grew misty once more.
“Fortunately, we found the Snow Flower right away, but when Father and I returned to the Castle….”
As if recalling the devastating state of the Grand Duke’s Castle in chaos after the newborn Grand Duchess was kidnapped, he bit his lip hard.
But it was only momentary—realizing I was watching, Askart quickly shook his head and spoke brightly.
“Right! I still have that Snow Flower! I’m sure you’ll love it too. The petals are transparent silver, and they shimmer with blue light toward the center—it’s absolutely beautiful.”
“Wow, really?”
Silver with blue light. The combination somehow reminded me of Diana.
“Yes! I’ll show you when we return to the Duchy.”
“…Oh.”
In that moment, I went blank at Askart’s words. In my joy at finding my family, I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“Wait, you’re not saying you won’t go home, are you?”
“Home…?”
That’s right. My home is Belus Duchy now.
As this sudden realization dawned on me, I could only blink.
“Why? Did I do something wrong? Or are you still angry because of Mother?”
Suddenly, Askart’s face crumpled like a child’s, and tears began streaming down his cheeks again.
“Come with me. I’ll really do better from now on. No, wait. If you want to stay in the Empire, then I won’t go either. I can just stay at the Marquis’s Residence….”
“Stop.”
“Huh…?”
“Please stop crying.”
I sighed deeply.
‘He must be the same age as Lucio.’
Unlike the mature Lucio, Askart felt like a child I needed to protect.
I gave him a sidelong glance and spoke mischievously.
“If you cry again, I’ll tease you for being a crybaby brother.”
“Gasp!”
At my words, Askart clapped his hand over his mouth.
“O… older brother? That’s wonderful!”
“Even with a crybaby attached to the front?”
“Yes! Idiot, fool… I think I’d be fine even with worse insults than that!”
Askart’s eyes still glistened with tears as he broke into the brightest, most radiant smile imaginable.

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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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