Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 135

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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 the Amber Count’s Residence.
“…The Marquis has come?”
Clara, who had been brushing her hair in front of the mirror, was startled to hear that Marquis Diapel had visited the Amber Count’s estate.
“It’s not the Marquis, but your grandfather, Young Lady.”
The Nanny, who had raised Clara since infancy, smiled warmly.
“It seems he must have missed you, since you rarely visit the Marquis’s Residence.”
“…That can’t be.”
“Then what reason would the Marquis have to visit here? Even if the Grand Duke is at the Marquis’s Residence, surely a granddaughter is different.”
“That’s….”
Askart wasn’t particularly warm-natured either, so he probably felt just as awkward as I did.
The Nanny, noticing Clara’s hesitation, quickly added more.
“Not long ago, you received word that the Grand Duchess visited, yet you didn’t go. He must have felt hurt.”
“He’s not angry, is he?”
“Of course not. Well, what shall we do about this? It’s almost time for afternoon tea, and I’m not sure how long the Marquis will stay. He might even ask you to come to the Marquis’s Residence with him….”
“Then we’ll just cancel the tea time. The young ladies will understand.”
“Indeed, Marquis Diapel is someone even His Majesty the Emperor respects. There are also guests who have come from far away in the Belus Duchy.”
“…Let me go see him. Where is he?”
“He’s in the Reception Room on the first floor. He’s speaking with your mother.”
Clara nodded and rose from her seat.
She didn’t respond to the Nanny calling out from behind, “Today, please be sure to call him grandfather!”
‘If it were that easy, I would have done it long ago.’
Whenever I faced the scar that cut across his face or the oppressive atmosphere he emanated, the word grandfather wouldn’t come out—my lips would tremble so badly I could barely speak.
Still, since I had been preparing to attend the tea time, my clothes and hair were neatly arranged, which was fortunate.
After all, no adult dislikes a well-groomed child.
And truthfully, despite his stern appearance, Marquis Diapel had never given Clara a cold look or spoken harshly to her.
‘Rather….’
Clara recalled the Grand Duchess with her doll-like, sweet pink hair.
Unlike her lovely appearance, she had a very cold and irritable temperament.
Whenever Clara faced the Grand Duchess, she felt unsettled, as if her very thoughts were being seen through.
In contrast, the Grand Duke, who was kind and gentle, was very much to her liking.
Unlike her father, Count Amber, who frequently quarreled with her mother and easily raised his voice, the Grand Duke of Bellus had never raised his voice or shown anger.
Recalling how he had rented out the entire famous Clothing Store of the Grand Duchy so she could wear beautiful dresses and shoes to her heart’s content every year, Clara naturally smiled, thinking she would be able to spend another enjoyable time in the Grand Duchy this year.
Then, before she knew it, she had arrived at the Reception Room.
Just as Clara raised her hand to knock, her mother’s sharp voice reached her ears.
“What do you mean? You’re saying my sister already returned to the Grand Duchy a few days ago?”
“Didn’t you hear properly? She went back after finding Adriana.”
“That’s what I’m asking! Are you saying she’s running around again, finding some pink-haired child somewhere? She never gets tired of this. No matter what, if you go to the Temple, you’ll only be disappointed….”
“That won’t happen. It’s really Adriana.”
At the decisive tone of his voice, Clara’s pupils trembled faintly as she listened from outside.
A sharp ringing sound echoed persistently in my ears.
* * *
“You’ve already confirmed the Temple…”
Countess Amber, Regina, let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
“Why on earth are you only telling me this now, Father! It would have been nice if you’d mentioned it beforehand.”
“Regina, if you had simply visited your sister at the Marquis’s Residence earlier, you wouldn’t have found out so late.”
Marquis Diapel’s voice was low and subdued as he sighed.
At this, the Countess cried out in agitation.
“So it’s my fault then? Fine, never mind. But how on earth did you find her? Where has she been all this time and what has she been doing? No, wait—since we’re going to the Grand Duchy after graduation anyway, I can just go see her directly then.”
“About that…”
The Marquis hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“Your sister asked me not to come to the Grand Duchy for a while.”
“What, what did you say?”
“A child who has spent her entire life separated from her parents is busy enough just adapting to meeting her family now. How startled would she be if she met new people? So don’t go until things settle down.”
“Do you realize how forced that excuse sounds, Father?”
When the Countess glared at him with sharp eyes, the Marquis quietly averted his gaze.
He knew it too. But Lia’s appearance still had brown hair and brown eyes.
He had said that time was needed to dispel the illusion magic.
Of course, the Marquis felt uncomfortable hiding this truth—which even Duke Elrad knew—from his youngest daughter, who was family.
But knowing how often she had carelessly spoken in the past and caused her older sister trouble, he could fully understand why his eldest daughter wanted to keep this secret from her younger sister.
Though his heart was not at ease.
“How impressive! Already being so secretive about it.”
“Regina, if you could just understand…”
“Raising her so permissively, I wonder if the child will turn out properly.”
“What?”
As the Marquis frowned, the Countess shrugged her shoulders, then suddenly opened her eyes narrowly with an “Ah.”
“Could it be… she has some kind of defect? Is she too embarrassed to show it? Well, considering my sister is nothing but a corpse without her pride, that would certainly be…”
“Regina!”
At his youngest daughter’s harsh words, the Marquis raised his voice in anger.
“How could you say such a thing! Don’t you feel sorry for your niece? How could you speak like that about a child who has lived her entire life lonely without parents…”
“Fine, so when can I go then? Until when am I not allowed to go to the Grand Duchy?”
“Forever! Don’t you dare think of going forever!”
The Marquis shouted and, unable to control his anger, abruptly opened the reception room door.
“C, Clara…?”
Seeing Clara standing in front of the door, the Marquis made an awkward expression and hurriedly searched his robes.
“Askart asked me to give this to you.”
“…My brother asked you to?”
“Yes. By the way, since you apparently like the strawberry tart from the Marquis’s Residence, I had the head chef prepare some. Eat it.”
“…”
Since meeting Lia, the Marquis had become utterly smitten with his granddaughter’s charms, and whenever he saw Clara trembling before him, a corner of his heart felt uncomfortable.
So I made an attempt to approach her in my own way, but….
Seeing the child with a pallid face gripping her skirts tightly, I felt awkward, thinking I had made her uncomfortable.
Thinking it better to leave quickly, the Marquis hurried away, and it was then that Countess Amber, whose anger had subsided, noticed Clara.
“Clara, didn’t you say you weren’t going to the tea party?”
“….”
“Rather than that, come sit here. I’m at a loss for words… No, hey! Clara!”
Clara ignored Countess Amber’s call and rushed up the staircase toward her room.
“Everyone out!”
After chasing out even the Maidservant and Nanny who had been tidying the room, Clara collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily.
“…She was alive?”
A child with such a rare hair color—pink—whom she had never found until now.
She had searched the entire Empire and even the Continent thoroughly, so she had assumed the child had been dead for a long time.
“But she came back alive and well?”
Her fingertips began to tremble.
Clara shook her head, denying reality.
“No. It can’t be. It mustn’t be. This cannot happen!”
The Grand Duchess, daughter of the woman whom Marquis Diapel adored so dearly and who bore her striking resemblance.
The Grand Duke’s daughter of the Bellus Duchy, possessing the tremendous wealth and national power governed by the Archmage.
And Askart Bellus’s true younger sister—she must not appear now!
Clara felt that her entire world was threatened by Adriana’s very existence.
No, it was not merely a feeling.
Even at this very moment, the beautiful world that had been filled with favor was rapidly crumbling.
Had not the path to the Bellus Duchy, which she visited every year, been cut off immediately?
Moreover, the discovery of the Grand Duke’s daughter would soon be announced, and then the Empire would be in an uproar.
She was no longer the sole granddaughter of Marquis Diapel.
She was also the younger sister of Askart, whom as many noble ladies admired as they did the young Duke Elrad….
Then Clara, who had been covering her face with her hands, slowly gazed at the letter she had thrown onto the bed.
It was the first time Askart had sent her a letter. Her fingertips trembled.
Why had he sent her a letter when he had finally found the younger sister he had longed for so desperately?
‘Perhaps Mother was right after all.’
Perhaps, having found his younger sister, he was so ashamed and disappointed that he was apologizing to her.
Clara slowly tore open the envelope and carefully examined the letter inside.
And….
Crunch—the letter was crumpled mercilessly.
“Haha, hahaha!”
At the sudden sound of laughter, the Nanny who had been waiting at the door burst in.
“Young Lady…?”
“Don’t come.”
“Pardon?”
“Don’t come to the graduation ceremony.”
Clara, who had been laughing so hard her shoulders trembled, suddenly fell silent.
“Tell her I cannot attend the tea party. I’ve come down with a severe cold and cannot move. I’m too ill to attend the Academy graduation ceremony or return to Belus Duchy.”
* * *
It had been an extraordinarily long voyage.
Beyond the endless horizon that seemed to stretch into infinity, a magnificent castle perched atop towering cliffs came into view.
“Mother, is that….”
“Yes. That is our home.”
Mother smiled gently.

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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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