Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 130

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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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Meanwhile, at that very moment, Lia and Raezl were engaged in conversation.
In Duke Elrad’s study, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, the Duchess Elrad, and the Duke himself—who had returned to his mansion early upon hearing of Lia’s arrival—sat facing one another.
“So it’s been decided that once the Academy graduation ceremony concludes, she’ll return to the Grand Duchy without delay.”
“…I see.”
The Duke nodded at the Grand Duke’s words with a melancholic expression, then awkwardly smoothed his lips, realizing he’d revealed too much of his true feelings.
The Grand Duchess, who hadn’t missed this, asked pointedly.
“Dominic, what exactly is your grievance?”
“I don’t have one.”
“You’ve been gloomy since earlier. It’s as if you’re not pleased that I’ve found my daughter.”
“That’s not it at all. I’m delighted too! Absolutely delighted to have found the Grand Duchess!”
The Duke protested loudly in exasperation, but the Grand Duchess remained unconvinced.
“Then why are you acting this way?”
“….”
At the Grand Duchess’s pressing question, the Duke’s mouth sealed shut.
As the Grand Duchess’s eyebrows shot up simultaneously, the Duchess Elrad, unable to bear it any longer, quickly interjected.
“He’s grown quite fond of Lia. He’s simply feeling lonely at the thought of her leaving the Duke’s Mansion.”
“Hmm?”
At those words, the Grand Duchess’s eyes widened in surprise. The Grand Duke’s reaction was much the same.
“Him, who cares for no one but his own family?”
“Lia is such a lovable child—how could anyone not adore her?”
“Well… I suppose my daughter does have that quality.”
The Grand Duchess’s expression softened instantly upon hearing Lia’s praises, and in that moment when she spoke of her as “my daughter,” she failed to notice the Duke’s slight flinch.
“But if you care for her so much, why did you have her work as a maidservant?”
“How was I to know? She refused the back garden, insisted on maidservant work, so I even quietly looked into finding her adoptive parents….”
“What?!”
In that instant, the Grand Duchess’s eyes flashed with fury as she demanded an answer.
“Adoption, when her parents are alive and well?!”
“That was something I didn’t know at the time….”
Caught off guard at having his secret plans exposed, the Duke swallowed hard at the sight of the Grand Duchess’s expression, twisted like that of a demon.
As Lia’s adoptive parent, he had nearly settled on Baron Bardo, who had neither married nor had children.
This was because she had demonstrated a strong resolve to make Lia, who possessed not only knowledge of Splecia but also profound expertise in medicinal herbs, her successor.
‘I absolutely cannot let it slip that it’s Baron Bardo.’
The Duke, inwardly shaking his head at the thought of suspicion falling on the excellent physician, found himself in a quandary.
He was uncertain how to explain to the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess what Lia had endured and what she had been doing all this time.
While he was concerned about their anger and surprise, his greatest worry was whether Lia would wish to keep these matters secret.
At that moment, the Grand Duke opened his mouth with a cautious tone.
“By the way, regarding the matter we discussed last time about making the Elrad Young Lady a lady-in-waiting….”
“Let’s just forget it ever happened.”
The Duke spoke with a casual shrug of his shoulders.
“Now that we’ve found the Grand Duchess, there’s no need to maintain the magical artifact or deceive others’ eyes, is there? I myself find unnecessary attention bothersome and prefer to avoid it.”
“…Still, I won’t forget the kindness you showed in agreeing to this.”
The Grand Duke expressed his gratitude sincerely.
His face was refreshingly clear, as though he harbored no regrets whatsoever about the years of arduous research—including mana discrimination—being rendered null and void.
“These aren’t mere words. From now on, should anything concern House Elrad, the Bellus Grand Duchy will aid you without hesitation. Had it not been for you, I cannot fathom when we would have been reunited with Adriana, so this debt of gratitude….”
“That’s not right.”
Duke Elrad hastily waved his hand, cutting off the Grand Duke’s words.
“I understand what you’re saying, but a debt of gratitude? That’s not how I see it.”
“But….”
“Your Highness, you don’t realize how great a debt our family owes to Lia, nor how profound the kindness she has shown us.”
Duke Elrad, his expression troubled, reluctantly began to recount the events of the past.
From bringing Lia here—who had carefully looked after Diana in that wretched Orphanage—to everything that had transpired since arriving at the Duke’s Castle and the Capital City.
Midway through, the Grand Duke and Duchess were momentarily startled to hear of Lia fearlessly confronting the Vice-Captain bare-handed or becoming the target of a noble child’s torment.
When they learned that Lia had nearly died—driven to mana runaway by the persecution of the Maidservants—the Grand Duke and Duchess’s faces turned deathly pale.
They realized that the image of their daughter suffering in her dreams was not merely a phantom of their imagination.
Yet there was no time to grieve over this.
Upon hearing that Lia had saved the Duchess Elrad’s life from poison, they could only gape in astonishment.
Duke Elrad believed that parents should know everything about their children’s affairs, yet he still worried whether Lia had revealed things she wished to keep hidden.
He had no idea how the Grand Duke and Duchess would react to this….
“She’s truly our daughter!”
The Grand Duchess, her expression completely unguarded, covered her mouth. Then she turned to the Grand Duke.
“Isn’t that so, Your Highness?”
“Indeed, my dear. To cultivate medicinal herbs by infusing them with mana—I’ve been called a genius since childhood, but compared to Adriana, I’m not even mediocre.”
The Grand Duke’s face was split wide with an ear-to-ear grin.
Duke Elrad shook his head inwardly, thinking, ‘What truly doting parents they are.’
Perhaps it was a blessing for Lia, who harbored so many secrets, that her parents were the sort to overlook such things and simply love their child.
“But Duke Elrad, what Adriana accomplished is her own achievement. What you did—retrieving my child from the Orphanage and bringing her here—is a debt I must repay.”
At that moment, the Grand Duke composed his expression and spoke with gravity.
“You don’t understand, Dominic. When the Grand Duchess disappeared, you came to me for aid. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for that now. At the time, I thought I was the one offering assistance, but in truth, you were helping me save my daughter.”
“…That’s…”
“Don’t refuse. I’ve heard from Bianca what that Orphanage was like….”
The Grand Duchess added her voice as well.
“You freed her from that hellish place, and though it was at Bianca’s request, you even healed the scars upon her body. I’m truly grateful for that.”
With the Grand Duchess offering such sincere thanks, Duke Elrad found himself unable to adjust and his face flushed with embarrassment.
The Grand Duchess, too, found such praise awkward, so she added curtly:
“That said, we’re not suggesting it was fortunate that your daughter was kidnapped.”
There was no room for such a misunderstanding, but her voice carried a note of precaution just in case.
The Duchess Elrad quickly grasped her husband, who looked ready to cry out, “Who doesn’t know that?!” and spoke instead:
“We understand, Your Highness. And….”
“…?”
“I’ve been thinking that perhaps this is all fate.”
“Fate?”
“Yes. Though Diana’s accident was misfortune, in the end, the people who were meant to meet have met.”
The Duchess Elrad traced back nearly a year of memories, recalling the day a small, gaunt child first arrived at the Duke’s Castle.
She had observed carefully without seeming to expect anything, keeping her lips tightly pressed at small gestures of kindness and praise, yet her trembling pupils betrayed her true feelings—that child whose depths far exceeded her years.
She had already embedded herself in the Duchess Elrad’s heart. The Duchess Elrad earnestly wished for Lia to find happiness.
“I’m aware of how presumptuous it is for me to say such things, but still… I ask for your kindness.”
Perhaps because her sincerity was palpable.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess responded to the Duchess Elrad’s quiet words with smiles.
It was just as the conversation was concluding warmly.
“Waaaah!”
Suddenly the study door burst open and two figures rushed in.
“Father! That man is trying to take my sister away from Dana! Chase him out!”
Sensing danger, Diana had immediately sought out the most powerful person in the household—the Duke.
“Oh my! Your Holiness! That’s not what I meant at all!”
And the great sage was prostrating himself before the small child, sliding across the floor on his belly.
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‘How did things come to this?’
I pressed my forehead and shook my head in disbelief.
‘I had originally planned to explain things to Diana more carefully….’
When Raezl heard that Diana had recognized my true form, he suddenly lost his composure, and everything went awry.
“So you’re saying the Lady of House Elrad is the Saint… is that correct?”
At Father’s words, Raezl nodded vigorously and exclaimed.
“Yes! She’s the one I’ve been waiting for my entire life!”
And with tears hanging from his eyes, he gazed at Diana, who was nestled in the Duke’s arms and glaring at him fiercely.
His eyes were overflowing with endless emotion.
“Though you haven’t yet awakened your abilities, your eye for discerning the purity of souls remains intact, so you recognized the Grand Lady’s true form. Surely such exceptional qualities of the Saint must have caught your attention all this time.”
He turned his gaze toward the Duchess Elrad as if asking, wasn’t that so?
But to the Duchess Elrad, Diana was merely a spoiled and stubborn youngest daughter, so she only shook her head saying, “I’m not sure.”
However, sensing something was amiss, I carefully opened my mouth.
“Until now, everyone Diana has feared or disliked has always been a bad person. The Orphanage Director, Sid Valery, the former Head Maidservant….”
And even Kenneth Petite, who had accused young me of theft and brought me shame.
At my words, the Duchess Elrad wore a skeptical expression as if she found it hard to believe, but Raezl let out a cry of emotion, saying, “I knew it!”
It was then.
“Whether my daughter is a Saint or not, I don’t care as long as it’s not dangerous. However, I would appreciate it if you could clearly explain why you’re trying to separate Lia from Diana.”
Duke Elrad asked in a menacing voice.

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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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