Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 14

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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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I say this, but…
‘Perhaps I really am a coward.’
The thought that I was scheming to leave before being abandoned first made my spirits sink without reason.
Yet my resolve remained unchanged—I would stay at House Elrad only until I restored Jack’s position and completed my preparations to stand alone.
‘By then, Diana won’t need me anymore.’
Perhaps she’ll forget my existence the moment we arrive at the Duke’s Castle.
Still, watching Diana sleep peacefully on my lap, snoring softly, my heart felt warm and tender.
Whether out of consideration for our comfort during the journey, Duke Elrad rode outside, leaving only Diana and me in the carriage.
Diana didn’t stop crying easily even after realizing I was coming with her.
Eventually, exhausted from weeping, the child fell asleep, and I found her pitiful and endearing—gently wiping away the tear stains lingering on her cheeks with my fingertips. At that, Diana whimpered softly and nestled closer against me.
The warmth of her small body seemed to ease the heaviness in my heart considerably.
Especially her soft, plump cheeks were dangerously addictive—once I touched them, I couldn’t stop.
‘Once we enter the Duke’s Castle, I won’t know when I’ll get to touch them again.’
Thinking this was my last opportunity, I pinched Diana’s cheeks for quite some time.
As I did, a thought I’d been suppressing resumed its course.
〈If you ever wish to see me, come to Belus Duchy. I spend most of my time at the Grand Duke’s Castle, so you’ll be able to meet me if you mention my name.〉
It was what Bianca had told me as we parted before leaving the Inn.
“Belus Duchy, huh…”
I’d only heard of it by name, and I wasn’t sure if I’d ever have reason to go there.
Still, if I grew stronger in the future and found more courage, I wanted to visit Bianca.
“Come to think of it, they must have known each other from before.”
I knew little about Grand Duke Bellus, but I was aware that he would later become Diana’s godfather.
In the past, he was called the Empire’s shield as the one and only Grand Archmage, and before I was even born, he had established his duchy’s independence and maintained little contact with the Empire.
So the news that he’d become Diana’s godfather struck me as somewhat unexpected.
The fact that Bianca had come to the Empire searching for Diana, combined with the conversation I’d overheard between her and the Duke before departure, made it clear that Duke Elrad and Grand Duke Bellus had maintained their relationship for a very long time.
“I wonder if I’ll get to see him at some point.”
In fact, by the time I was old enough to remember, the person famous under the name Bellus wasn’t the Grand Duke himself, but his son, Crown Prince Bellus.
“They say he’s a beautiful man with incomparable looks.”
So when he stood beside the Duke’s son, people said it was as if the sun and moon had risen simultaneously.
“…”
As my thoughts reached that point, a reality I’d been deliberately avoiding surfaced. My mouth suddenly went dry.
Since I’d decided to stay at House Elrad, even if only briefly, I would likely meet him.
That man I’d seen last in the moment of my death.
* * *
The carriage, which had been running ceaselessly through the night, came to a brief halt before moving again.
Startled awake from my doze, I peered out the window.
Beneath the dawn sky, I saw a vast plain blanketed in snow that stretched endlessly, walls without end, and a massive castle built neatly with blue-tinted bricks.
The Duke’s residence in the Capital City that I’d seen in the past was certainly no small manor, but the castle in the Territory was far more enormous in scale.
I gazed at it with a somewhat weary expression before gently shaking Diana awake from her deep sleep.
“Dana. Dana?”
“Mmm.”
“Wake up, Dana. We’ve arrived at your home.”
“Home…?”
Diana, who had been drowsy and half-asleep, snapped her eyes open at the word ‘home’.
Could she be that happy?
I smiled, trying to grasp that elusive, indefinable emotion.
Moments later, the carriage fully entered the castle grounds, and the moment the wheels stopped, the door burst open.
“Diana!”
I was startled by the sight that unfolded before my eyes.
The young Crown Prince who suddenly rushed into the carriage and scooped up Diana was surprising enough, but that wasn’t all.
Behind him came servants and attendants, gardeners and stable hands, and even cooks from the kitchens.
It seemed every servant working in the Duke’s Castle had come out, forming an enormous crowd surrounding the carriage.
Seeing some of them dabbing their eyes with handkerchiefs, I could tell how deeply they had worried about their small, precious young mistress.
“Diana!”
Then a woman with warm, sunshine-golden hair approached Diana.
“Do you know how worried your mother has been? Your brothers too, really….”
Diana, who had been held in the arms of a silver-haired boy who looked exactly like me, pouted at the woman’s words while reaching out to be held by her.
At that sight, the woman’s expression, which had been rigid with worry and anxiety, gradually softened.
She smiled helplessly and hugged Diana, rubbing her cheek against hers.
‘So that’s the Duchess Elrad.’
She seemed far more robust and cheerful than I had imagined.
‘But what if the Duke forgets about me and doesn’t hand me over to the head maid?’
I carefully descended from the carriage, avoiding the crowd, harboring a slight worry.
“Sister!”
Then, contrary to my concern, a ringing voice echoed out.
Surrounded by people, Diana parted the crowd like cutting through the sea and rushed toward me.
People looked startled at my sudden appearance, which they hadn’t even known about.
“Diana! You shouldn’t run like that so suddenly.”
“But sister is here!”
“What?”
The boy who had hurried after Diana narrowed his eyes and looked me up and down.
“Who are you? What are you doing clinging to my sister?”
“….”
Strictly speaking, it wasn’t me clinging to Diana—she was clinging tightly to me.
But instead of answering, I offered an awkward smile.
And I gazed at the boy before me with unfamiliarity.
‘Could this be the Guardian of Justice…?’
Indeed, the silver-haired boy who had burst into the carriage and taken Diana was truly Allen, Duke Elrad’s second son.
Another genius who would one day lead the Lexion Knights alongside Jack, and a future Sword Master.
And the man who would be called the Guardian of Justice.
I remembered seeing him once before in passing—he was incredibly tall and had a massive build back then.
The boy before me was larger than someone my age, yet he still appeared small and young.
“Don’t talk to me like that!”
Diana suddenly cried out sharply, and Allen’s expression shifted to one of bewilderment.
Watching his golden eyes, which had been filled with wariness, glisten with tears so quickly, I could already see why his other nickname was “sister fool” living up to its name.
I bit the inside of my cheek slightly to suppress a laugh that was threatening to escape, when suddenly Allen glared at me with a frightening intensity.
Uncomfortable under his blatant stare, I lowered my head to avoid his gaze.
Then Diana suddenly shielded my face and shouted.
“Stop looking, you bastard! She’s my princess!”
Whoosh.
“…”
“…”
A cold wind swept through the area, and the warm atmosphere instantly froze.
Diana’s words must have been that shocking.
Most of the servants stood rigid with wide eyes at the word “bastard” coming from the small, angelic Diana’s mouth, and some even scratched their ears, doubting whether they’d heard correctly.
That much was fortunate.
The elderly servants and the younger maids who appeared fragile even staggered as if they might faint.
“Dana! I told you that’s a bad word. You can’t use it.”
I spoke urgently.
I should have properly disciplined Diana when she showed curiosity about the Director’s words.
“Only my word?”
“Yes. All the words the Director used are bad. So you can’t use them. Understood?”
Fortunately, the clever and kind Diana nodded at my words.
The problem was what Duke Elrad, who had moved to my side, said while emitting an unpleasant aura and rubbing his jaw.
“That bastard again. I’ll have to extract his tongue after getting his confession.”
The atmosphere turned murderous in an instant.
As I flinched and looked, the Duchess Elrad walked over with a smile and spoke.
“Dear. Are you really saying such things carelessly in front of the children, even after seeing Diana?”
“…Ahem.”
The Duchess Elrad, who resolved the situation with just one word, smiled faintly and turned her gaze to me.
“But this child is…”
“Ah, I brought her from the Orphanage. She’s been taking good care of Diana all this time. She was quite helpful when we were searching for her too.”
“Yes! Lia is my princess!”
The moment the Duke finished his introduction, Diana, who had been clinging tightly to my waist, cried out cheerfully.
The Duchess Elrad looked at Diana and me alternately with slightly surprised eyes.
My face flushed red all at once.
Diana was clearly the princess, but I wondered how strange and ridiculous our current appearance must look.
“Impossible!”
Allen, who had been looking at Diana and me with disbelief, exclaimed.
“Diana, come here. Your brother…”
“Your Grace! She’s my princess! I’ll be the one to protect her!”
But Diana’s sharp retort came swiftly, freezing him in place like ice.
As if that weren’t enough, Diana even waved her hand dismissively at her second brother, shooing him away like an insect.
Allen, stunned into silence by the shock, paid no mind as the Duchess Elrad clapped her hands together and spoke.
“Wonderful! We’ve found our Diana, and we have an unexpected little guest as well. I must make preparations!”
She gently caressed Diana’s cheek, who clung tightly to me, then bustled about issuing orders to the butler and head maid.
When she instructed them to prepare a meal and a room, I wanted to protest that I hadn’t come here to receive such treatment.
But I was rendered speechless when the Duchess Elrad stroked my head, saying, “Your name is Lia? How lovely you are.”
Diana’s cheerful chatter beside me—”That’s right, that’s right!”—didn’t help matters.
Though I could still feel Allen’s icy gaze upon me…
And so I found myself stepping into Duke Elrad’s Castle.

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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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