Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 145

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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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“Your Highness the Grand Duchess, did you have a pleasant outing?”
“You’re not tired, are you?”
“Oh, and the Great Sage visited earlier!”
After enjoying delicious desserts and tea at a scenic spot overlooking the sea, I returned to the castle, where the maidservants rushed out to greet me.
“The Great Sage? When did he arrive?”
“Shortly after Your Highness departed.”
I nodded at the maidservant’s cheerful response.
He must have arrived, eaten a hearty meal, bathed thoroughly, and settled in to rest by now.
Raezl was one of the few people in this castle who received treatment as generous as my own.
Yet it was only natural that Raezl received such distinguished hospitality.
He had been consistently performing “purification” on me using sacred power, and years ago, he had perfectly dispelled the illusion magic that had been cast upon my appearance.
‘Now that I think about it, those old memories come back.’
About a year after arriving at the Grand Duke’s Castle, the effects of continuous purification caused my hair to gradually turn pink from the tips.
As time passed and my hair color changed, my eyes finally became completely tinged with pink.
〈Y-Your Highness the Grand Duchess!〉
I had simply woken up as usual, yet I was so startled by the maidservants frozen like ice.
Seeing them suddenly overcome with tears, I wept along with them in confusion.
My family, who rushed to the commotion, embraced me as I cried and wept for a long time.
Only then did I understand.
So many people, afraid I might lose confidence, had shown no outward sign—yet their hearts ached seeing my hair and eyes stripped of their original color.
There was no reason not to welcome Raezl.
Of course, I also trusted Raezl deeply and felt profound gratitude toward him for solving the most mysterious puzzle that had haunted me across two lifetimes.
‘What’s shocking now is that the illusion magic was nothing at all.’
Suppressing my growing unease, I stood before Raezl’s door.
“Come in.”
I heard Raezl’s voice before I could even knock.
This room contained ancient artifacts and old books that Raezl had collected over time.
Moreover, a powerful sacred barrier was erected around it—without his permission, one could neither enter freely nor remove anything, and conversations within were safe from being overheard.
As I opened the door and stepped inside, I saw Raezl sprawled on the sofa, sipping a drink eagerly.
He must have arrived looking like a beggar, yet he had already been groomed and shaved, appearing immaculate.
“Great Sage.”
“You’re here already? But why is your hair like that? I went through all that trouble to restore it to its original color.”
Raezl clicked his tongue in disapproval, regarding my hair with displeasure.
“You’ve already completed your debutante ball, so you could just go out as you are.”
“But this is more convenient when moving about outside.”
A grand duchess with a status akin to a princess of a nation walking through the streets would exhaust not only the duchy’s citizens but also those tasked with her protection.
As I sat down, releasing the magic I had cast on my hair, I immediately asked.
“So, where’s my gift?”
“…Huh?”
“In the letter you sent saying you couldn’t attend my coming-of-age ceremony, you wrote that you had a good feeling about it. You said you’d definitely come for my birthday gift this time, so I should wait for you.”
I glanced at the thick, dusty old tomes piled on the desk, covered in grime and soil, and what appeared to be artifacts before restoration—their forms barely discernible.
“Did you find something this time?”
I looked back at Raezl with anticipation, but he kept his mouth firmly shut and avoided my gaze, looking sheepish.
‘Another dead end, then.’
A sigh nearly escaped me in disappointment.
But I couldn’t let it show before Raezl, who traveled the entire Continent more desperately than anyone else.
“I was just joking.”
I deliberately brightened my voice and changed the subject.
“By the way, did you stop by Duke Elrad’s Mansion this time as well?”
“Yes.”
“How is Diana doing?”
“The Priestess is doing wonderfully, so don’t worry. She’s so robust that I nearly had all my hair pulled out this time.”
“I see. She’s doing well.”
I spoke wistfully.
Though we exchanged letters regularly, I always missed Diana and longed to see her, perhaps because I couldn’t visit in person.
“What are you listening to? I said I nearly had all my hair pulled out!”
“It sounds like she’s still healthy and spirited. That’s a relief.”
Raezl shook his head as he watched me smile contentedly.
“In any case, you and the Priestess both seem like troublemakers…” he murmured, then suddenly fell silent.
His expression hardened, and my face darkened as well.
“It seems the situation there hasn’t changed much either.”
“No, she still hasn’t awakened.”
“…I see.”
I’d expected as much.
If Diana had awakened, she would have informed me somehow, no matter what.
‘So I already knew…’
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Raezl gazed at Lia with a contemplative expression, her eyes cast downward.
When they first met, she had been a child, but seeing her now shed that childish demeanor and take on the bearing of a young lady brought old memories flooding back, tinged with regret.
Nine years ago, Raezl had not gone to the Grand Duchy with the Grand Duke.
After urging them to begin the purification work immediately, when the time came to depart, Raezl mentioned he would stop by the Temple first, and the Grand Duke regarded him with puzzlement.
It was all the more surprising since he typically avoided the Temple.
But after gathering the tools for the purification work and hearing that the Priestess’s birth needed to be announced, the Grand Duke soon nodded in agreement.
Of course, it wasn’t entirely a lie.
However, the true reason Raezl headed to the Temple was for a far more crucial “verification.”
Before the child who had anxiously fidgeted with her hands and confessed that she had lived an entire life before, he had maintained an air of composure, but in truth, time reverting was no trivial matter.
He needed to properly investigate whether such a bizarre occurrence had happened again.
Moreover, he had to confirm whether the mana-sealed necklace—or more precisely, that crimson bead—was indeed the object he suspected it to be.
Raezl had rushed to the Grand Temple in such haste, leaving the astonished Priestesses and Holy Knights behind, and turned the archives upside down.
Upon gathering everything I needed and stepping into the Grand Duke’s Castle, a brown-haired child wearing a crimson necklace rushed out as if they’d been waiting for my arrival.
In that moment, unease surged through me.
〈Great Sage, you said this necklace seals my mana. But no matter how much I think about it, something doesn’t add up. If they could seal my mana separately like this, they could have taken it directly. So why did they keep me alive instead….〉
I wished the child could simply rest and bask in love like any ordinary child who’d just found their parents.
It seemed the child had been turning over and over in their mind everything I’d told them during their stay at the Grand Duke’s Castle.
〈Come along for now. Let’s begin with purification.〉
Raezl raised his hand to stem the flood of questions pouring out and headed toward the room the Grand Duke had prepared for him.
The fourth finest room in the Grand Duke’s Castle was a spacious and magnificent chamber complete with an adjoining reception room.
After removing the carpet from the floor, Raezl seated Lia in the center, placed a basin in the designated position, and filled it with holy water.
The holy water infused with sacred power emanating from his hands began to glow golden, rising into the air before transforming into a spherical barrier that enveloped Lia.
Unlike before, when the sacred power had bounced away the moment it touched her body, this time it penetrated deep within, flowing through her entire being.
〈How do you feel?〉
At Raezl’s question, Lia placed her small hand near her heart.
〈The amount of mana has increased.〉
At her response, Raezl squeezed his eyes shut.
A human’s mana quantity is determined from birth, and it all gathers in the heart. Therefore, when sealing mana, one naturally seals it at the heart.
Indeed, there were traces of mana sealing in Lia’s heart as well—it was merely unsealed, likely due to the distortion of the time axis.
Having heard Lia’s account of how sparse her mana had been in her previous life, I had already anticipated that her heart’s mana would have been sealed.
The problem was the red bead that emanated demonic energy.
The moment purification began, an enormous amount of mana seeped through the cracks and accumulated in Lia’s heart.
Witnessing this, Raezl exhaled a low sigh and told Lia to remove the necklace.
〈I can’t.〉
Lia shook her head, her expression growing pained as she held the necklace in her hand.
〈So it’s brainwashing after all….〉
〈That’s not it.〉
Raezl cut off the child’s words.
〈There’s an illusion spell cast to hide your appearance and make the necklace invisible to others, but there’s no binding curse preventing you from removing it.〉
〈What do you mean? Then why am I unable to take off this necklace….〉
〈Because of your soul.〉
Raezl spoke with a troubled tone.
〈To be precise, your soul is bound to this bead.〉
〈…My soul is bound? But I’m right here, perfectly fine.〉
〈That’s merely how it feels.〉
Since humans cannot survive with their bodies separated from their souls, the child had unconsciously refrained from even thinking of removing the necklace, as if driven by survival instinct.
With the soul bound to the medium, the power of the illusion spell hiding her appearance would have grown even stronger.
Above all else.
〈You’ve truly suffered so much all this time.〉
Lia faltered and looked up at Raezl.
Raezl struggled to find the words.
〈The binding of your soul to the necklace is the work of demonic power, but that alone couldn’t bind your soul so powerfully. Over a very long time, your soul developed cracks, and those fragments have been clinging to the necklace.〉
〈….〉
〈That also means you’ve suffered and endured so much pain. Your negative thoughts and emotional voids have wounded your soul again and again, until finally, it fractured. Through all those countless moments, you must have clung to this necklace.〉
Lia stared down at the necklace adorning my neck, her expression rendered speechless.
Though I didn’t want to admit it, Raezl’s words were true.
Whenever things grew difficult and painful, I had relied on this necklace.
Yet it turned out that very thing had only strengthened my illusion magic.
〈No, that can’t be right….〉
Raezl couldn’t bear to watch Lia, who couldn’t even cry out loud but instead wept silently with sorrowful tears streaming down her face, so he turned away.
In truth, during the purification, Raezl had glimpsed fragmented memories from Lia’s past life in order to examine her soul.
Having lived to his current age, he had grown largely indifferent to the affairs of the world.
Over the long years, serving as High Priestess, he had witnessed countless souls floundering in despair and agony.
But as Raezl glimpsed Lia’s life, he was seized by a terrible feeling.

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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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