Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 132

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

Askart tilted his head as if asking what else there could be besides that.
Until now, I had thought the young princes of House Elrad were devoted brothers, but it seemed there was one more person here who was equally smitten.
“Lia, I know how close you and Diana are.”
Then, suddenly, Askart’s expression grew serious.
He whispered softly.
“A sudden parting will be difficult, but you’ll be able to see each other again… so don’t be too sad.”
At Askart’s words, which seemed to understand my heart better than I did myself, I pressed my lips shut.
Honestly, since I began my second life, I had spent every single day with Diana, so the thought of parting didn’t feel quite real.
‘There was a time when I was the one who first thought about and prepared for this parting…’
Now that distant memory was becoming reality.
I sighed, thinking that human affairs were truly unknowable.
And so the day of parting arrived unexpectedly and in an instant.
* * *
The next day.
While my family made arrangements to return to the Grand Duchy after notifying them in advance, I decided to go with Askart to the Duke’s Mansion to pay my final respects.
‘I thought we’d arrive quickly since it’s a place we could easily walk to.’
Today, the path to the Duke’s Mansion felt unusually arduous.
Father had layered protective magic and tracking magic on me several times, as if I were a bomb about to explode at any moment.
Mother was already consumed by magi, so Father persuaded Raezl—who said it might not be very effective—to bestow his divine protection and blessings upon me.
But even those were relatively manageable.
Within the Marquis’s Residence, especially in the spaces where my parents stayed, there were only people who knew my true identity, so everyone acted without restraint, though their treatment was somewhat excessive.
‘Of course, my body is indeed that of a child right now…’
My family’s attitude was almost as if I were a baby who had just taken my first steps.
Grandfather carried me the entire time, worried I might bump into something and suffer a serious injury, while Father fed me all my meals, saying my wrists looked fragile enough to snap at the slightest touch.
‘At least Mother drying my hair was nice.’
My heart warmed and fluttered as if I had become an infinitely precious child.
Of course, I couldn’t hold my head high when the maidservants looked at Mother touching my hair with envious gazes, at a loss for words.
It was only after enduring everyone’s overprotection that we finally arrived at the Duke’s Mansion.
As soon as I stepped down from the carriage, Askart asked carefully.
“Lia, would it be alright if I carried you inside?”
“No! There are people watching, and it’s embarrassing!”
At my immediate refusal, the corners of his eyes drooped downward.
Seeing Askart suddenly become as dejected as a dog caught in the rain, I sighed.
“You can carry me at the Grand Duke’s Castle.”
“…Really!”
At my words, Askart broke into a radiant smile as if he had obtained precious treasures, and I shook my head slightly.
‘Is it because of his face? I shouldn’t keep softening my resolve like this… what’s the reason again?’
It’s better than disappointing a family I’ve only just reunited with!
Perhaps influenced by my family, I seemed to have become a bit more shameless.
Then Askart asked.
“Lia, you said you’d stop by the Training Grounds before meeting Diana, right?”
“Yes.”
To be precise, our destination was the Dormitory where the knights lodged near the Training Grounds.
As I carefully entered the Training Grounds while holding Askart’s hand—he worried about all the weapons—I spotted figures absorbed in their training despite the bitter winter cold.
And I couldn’t believe my eyes.
“Perfect timing, Lia! …No, Your Highness the Grand Duchess.”
Taize, who had rushed over upon seeing me, scratched his head as if the changed form of address felt awkward.
“Please, just call me comfortably for today.”
“Hmm, is that alright?”
Taize glanced at Askart’s expression and gave a subtle bow.
“Lia, please do something about Jack. I keep telling him to rest, but he won’t listen at all. It seems like yesterday when Allen showed his aura….”
I nodded as I heard the quiet murmur near my ear.
I had roughly anticipated as much.
In the future, Jack and Allen would become rivals so inseparable they couldn’t even be discussed separately, so Jack must have been shocked by Allen’s aura manifestation.
From watching their sparring matches, I could clearly feel Jack’s anxiety as he desperately chased after Allen’s superior skills.
‘Just like me back then.’
Even now, the sword Jack wielded was filled with force driven purely by eagerness.
“Should I tell Jack that you’ve come….”
“He probably already knows.”
The moment Taize rushed toward me, Jack’s breathing became slightly uneven. It was only an instant, but the tip of his blade wavered.
“Jack.”
I approached Jack, leaving Taize and Askart behind, and called to him softly.
Up close, I could see his forehead and hair were damp with sweat, defying the winter wind.
“I heard you were sick. How can you be doing this? If your cold gets worse, what then?”
“….”
“You haven’t been formally training with a sword for that long. There’s no need to be so impatient.”
Of course, the mind might understand, but the heart struggles to accept it easily.
And I knew that Jack’s competitive spirit would accelerate his growth in skill even further down the road.
But I didn’t want to see Jack pushing himself to exhaustion out of anxiety and impatience.
That’s when it happened.
“You’re leaving today.”
Jack slowly lowered his sword and spoke, his gaze fixed on the ground.
“I don’t know how someone of such noble standing came to grow up as a lowly orphan like me. But I’m grateful you’ve found your rightful place at last.”
“…Jack?”
“I will never speak of Your Highness the Grand Duchess’s origins or past. Even if we meet again, I won’t acknowledge you. So please…don’t erase your memories of me.”
“…What are you saying? Why are you speaking formally to me?”
I barely managed to speak, my voice thick with emotion.
Whether from anger or something else, my body trembled.
“We’re family…we’re friends. Surely you don’t mean that you’d be my friend when I was a commoner, but not now that I’m nobility…right?”
Jack lifted his head at my words and exhaled a clouded breath before speaking.
“I asked what would happen to the Grand Duchess going forward, and Father explained that someone has decided to erase the memories of all the servants in House Elrad for the Grand Duchess’s safety. So I would be included as well….”
“Don’t erase it!”
I burst out shouting.
I could see Taize and Askart flinch from where they stood watching in the distance, but I didn’t care.
“Yes, it’s true that we decided to erase the memories of others.”
Given recent events, the servants of both House Elrad and the Marquis’s household would surely have noticed that something had transpired between the two families concerning me. Of course, they couldn’t possibly imagine the exact details of what had occurred.
And once the Grand Duchy announces that they’ve found the lost Grand Duchess, there might be people who would suspect my true identity despite themselves.
Simply because I was the lost Grand Duchess, people would endlessly speculate about how I had lived all this time. If it were somehow revealed that I was an orphan from the Orphanage and a maidservant of House Elrad, how would they truly react?
Besides, such matters of origin and past weren’t really that important anyway.
‘The illusion magic that kidnapped me and even changed my appearance was all the work of the Demon Worshippers.’
Long ago, Father had purged the Demon Worshippers, and their name had faded from the world.
But if the kidnapping of the Grand Duchess were revealed to be their doing, their name would be on everyone’s lips again, and countless malicious rumors about me might pour forth without any basis.
To prevent that chaos, erasing memories was absolutely necessary.
“But not you, Jack.”
You’re my friend. Despite my earnest addition, Jack remained silent with his lips firmly pressed together.
I could see in his eyes that he was thinking of the memories that would be erased anyway.
* * *
“Sigh….”
Upon entering Diana’s Room, I exhaled a deep breath.
In truth, I had thought that meeting Diana would be the most difficult part of coming to the Duke’s Mansion today.
Perhaps that’s why I had sought out the Training Grounds with a somewhat lighter heart.
‘Jack is taciturn, but unexpectedly tender-hearted….’
I had genuinely expected him to congratulate me on finding my family, and even if he felt a bit of regret, to bid me farewell cheerfully.
But because Jack had turned into an unexpected obstacle I hadn’t foreseen, I found myself standing before Diana—the person I had most dreaded meeting today—and could only exhale a melancholy sigh.
At the same time, the eyelids of the child lying properly on the bed with her eyes tightly shut trembled slightly.
“Young Lady, I’m here.”
“….”
“I know you’re pretending to sleep.”
“….”
“Dana, won’t you really look at me?”
Calling her by the familiar name from those distant days at the Orphanage, I sat in the chair beside the bed, and Diana’s shoulders flinched.
Yet the child still refused to open her eyes.
Though Diana had always been as docile as a lamb toward me, I had witnessed firsthand just how stubborn she could be, and suddenly I felt at a loss.
‘I have no choice but to use my last resort.’
I hadn’t wanted to do this to Diana, who was already struggling, but it was unavoidable if I was to say a proper goodbye.
“Alright then. Farewell, Diana.”
I spoke in a sorrowful voice, pouring all my melancholy into the words, and rose from my seat.
And then, step by step, I deliberately made my footsteps audible as I grasped the door handle.
“Waaaaah!”
Suddenly, a cry burst forth from behind me.
When I turned around, I saw Diana sliding down from the bed.
The child with eyes red and swollen from crying all night stopped short, unable to come any closer to me.
“Dana…”
My heart ached painfully.
I didn’t know all the details of what had happened, but it was clear that she had come to understand she shouldn’t approach me.
Diana spoke through her sobs.
“Mother said so. When you and Mother and Father were separated, you missed them so much… Sister is the same way. Family should be together, and… *sobs*”

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