Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 146

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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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Nothing but painful and sorrowful memories flooded into Raezl—misery and shame overwhelming his senses.
A life where joy and beauty were nearly impossible to find.
Always doubting his own existence, denying himself, trembling with anxiety as he searched for somewhere to belong, yet never finding a place to settle.
It felt as though every misfortune in the world had descended like darkness, deliberately shattering this child into pieces.
How could someone with the most beautiful soul in the world have lived such a life?
Conversely, how had she endured such suffering and still maintained such a luminous spirit?
All this time, Lia’s parents had desperately hoped for their daughter to simply survive, but learning that she had lived a life of nothing but agony—it was so horrific that they might have wished for her death instead.
And all of it felt like a meticulously crafted script, executed with deliberate intent.
Raezl exhaled deeply and spoke.
〈What I’m about to tell you is classified information known only to the highest priests in the Temple. It must never be revealed to the world. Of course, you must keep it secret from your family as well.〉
It was agonizing to have to say such things before she could even process the shock, but there was no choice.
Lia wiped her tears away roughly with the back of her hand and prepared herself to listen.
〈Please, tell me.〉
〈…In ancient times, a demon dwelling in the Demon Realm ascended to this land, seeking to become a god himself. He distributed his power to those who worshipped him, instilled them with endless desire, and drove them to commit endless slaughter. Humans suffering in anguish prayed to God, and a Saint who manifested divine power appeared and ultimately achieved victory.〉
Though Lia had only learned this story in her second life, it was an ancient myth that any citizen of the Empire knew well.
At first, she had thought it merely legend, but since she herself had been a victim of the Demon Worshippers, and more importantly, since Diana was said to be the Saint’s reincarnation, it was now a story she could not help but believe.
Then, unexpected words came from Raezl’s lips.
〈The demon still lives.〉
〈What? But surely the Saint sealed away the demon…〉
〈Yes, she did seal it. To be precise, not the demon itself, but the soul that is the source of its power. And demons are different from humans. Even with their soul separated, they can maintain their form and continue to exist.〉
〈You mean to say…〉
〈Yes. The demon, stripped of its power, still remains in this world in human form. Waiting for the day when the seal on its soul will be broken.〉
Soul. It was a word that had become familiar to my ears.
Why, of all moments, did the conversation shift from discussing my own soul to that of the demon’s?
Raezl continued speaking even as he watched Lia’s pupils tremble with unease.
〈You asked why they didn’t take your mana, didn’t you?〉
〈…Yes.〉
〈That’s because what the orb sealed away wasn’t your mana, but the demon’s power. That crimson orb is none other than the sealed demon’s soul stone.〉
〈!〉
Lia’s eyes widened in shock.
〈W-why do I have this? Why is the power emanating from it in my heart… Why is my soul bound here…〉
Lia’s face drained of all color as she spoke in confused fragments, overwhelmed by the revelation.
〈What are you thinking right now?〉
At Raezl’s question, Lia’s eyes glistened with tears once more as she clasped her trembling hands together.
〈Could I possibly be the demon…〉
Unable to finish her sentence, Lia asked if perhaps her memories had been erased when her soul was sealed away.
Raezl shook his head in exasperation, watching the child’s imagination spiral into impossible scenarios in that brief moment.
〈No. There is not even a 1% chance that you are the demon. If that were the case, how could the Saint have kept you by her side?〉
〈But… my soul is bound to the demon’s soul stone, as you said. The demon’s power flowing from here… into my heart…〉
Despite Raezl’s certainty, Lia could not hold back her tears, her voice breaking into quiet sobs.
Though Raezl understood how confused she must be, he couldn’t bring himself to speak easily.
After a moment of silence.
Raezl wiped his face with his hand and sighed before speaking.
〈There is one person who does not appear in the mythology. Someone who was killed by incurring the demon’s wrath. I suspect that you….〉
After that, a long story unfolded once more.
Why only the highest priests within the Temple knew of this.
The content was shocking enough to understand why it had to remain secret even from family.
Raezl explained that the ancient texts and sacred relics containing the curse the Saint had placed upon the demon when sealing it had been destroyed and lost long ago by Demon Worshippers.
He also spoke of receiving an oracle that the demon’s seal would soon break, and how he had relinquished his position as High Priest to wander the Continent in preparation.
〈Do you understand everything I’ve said?〉
〈…To some extent.〉
Lia, her complexion pale from the shock, spoke in a trembling voice.
〈First, I need to know what curse was placed upon the demon. And the conditions for breaking the seal. Only then can I understand why you kept me alive, why you bound my soul here. Perhaps… it’s also connected to why I’ve lived two lives.〉
〈Yes. That’s why….〉
Though Raezl thought he was burdening Lia with too much, he spoke nonetheless.
〈Don’t tell your family that you died once and returned. When the curse’s contents are revealed in the future and everything is deemed safe, then….〉
〈I understand. I’ll keep it secret.〉
Raezl could faintly sense her feelings in the child’s eyes as she readily nodded.
Even he wouldn’t be able to tell his family about such a past.
〈But this orb…. Why is the demon’s soul stone cracked? The seal hasn’t broken already, has it?〉
〈Well, I’m not entirely sure about that either. I suspect that too will only be understood once we know the contents of the curse.〉
Lia, lost in thought with a grave expression, asked.
〈Is there no way to free my soul from its binding?〉
It seemed she was uncomfortable with her soul being bound to the demon’s soul stone.
Understanding her feelings well, Raezl spoke while concealing his unease.
〈First, let’s begin the purification and break your illusion magic. If my prediction is correct, the illusion should break soon.〉
〈Really?〉
〈Yes. And your soul… first, we need to help it recover. It will likely take considerable time. It would be faster if the Saint awakens.〉
〈Ah…!〉
At that moment, as if newly impressed by the power of holy energy, Lia spoke with an animated face.
〈I’m already looking forward to the day Diana awakens. Just as she recognized my true self, someday she’ll surely heal my soul completely, won’t she?〉
Was this the same child who had been crying just moments ago after hearing such shocking news that her spirit could have been devastated?
Raezl let out a hollow laugh watching Lia, who was delighted saying “Diana is truly the best!”
He thought that perhaps it was because the child possessed such a nature that she had maintained a clear soul even when shattered into pieces.
But such fleeting thoughts soon vanished.
Though he couldn’t tell Lia, even with holy energy to restore her soul, it didn’t mean the binding could be immediately undone.
‘Perhaps it could lead to the worst outcome….’
“Great Sage!”
At that moment, along with Lia’s voice, Raezl awakened from his long reverie.
Before him stood not the nine-year-old child who had wept sorrowfully or laughed brightly, but Adriana, now a young woman.
* * *
“My apologies. My mind wandered for a moment….”
Watching Raezl smile awkwardly, I couldn’t help but return an equally strained smile.
The moment I saw his face—as though he’d just awakened from a long reverie—I understood what he’d been thinking about.
‘He must have been recalling my past.’
Raezl had once confessed to me that he’d glimpsed memories from my previous life.
Seeing his contorted face as he apologized for prying without permission, his eyes brimming with sympathy, shame suddenly washed over me at the thought that my death had been exposed.
Yet he hadn’t actually glimpsed my memories with perfect clarity.
Rather, it was closer to sharing my emotions and sensations.
So I briefly explained that I’d spent time at the Orphanage before meeting Diana, lived as a street beggar afterward, and eventually joined the Information Guild, where I died during a mission.
Condensed so briefly, my life suddenly felt all the more wretched and pathetic.
Back then, I’d struggled harder than anyone, desperately clinging to life with all my might.
‘If only I’d lost the will to live back then….’
Perhaps I wouldn’t have clung so desperately to that necklace and would have discarded it long ago.
Whether he sensed this thought of mine or felt my emotions so vividly because of our connection—
Raezl praised me for becoming a first-class operative of the Information Guild even with my mana sealed, and cursed Duke Elrad as a cold-blooded monster for driving me to beggary.
Embarrassed, I pointed out that I’d turned my back on Diana, but he comforted me, saying that was only natural since I’d been young and powerless then.
Yet I understood the meaning of the silence that followed.
Perhaps my entire life had been filled with misfortune precisely because it was the demon’s scheme from beginning to end.
‘…If brainwashing and manipulating hearts are their specialty, then Duke Elrad may have fallen victim to it as well.’
I didn’t want to think that they’d gone so far as to kidnap me, cast an illusion, abandon me at the Orphanage, and then continued watching and tormenting me….
But denying it wasn’t easy.
Because Raezl and I had already come to suspect the demon’s true identity to some degree, and we roughly understood how deeply they’d been involved with me in my previous life.
‘Really, it would be strange not to know.’
If I didn’t suspect Master—who wielded mana even better than my Father, who was called the Grand Mage, and cast magic with perfect freedom—then I’d truly be blind.
Perhaps because I knew how much I’d trusted and followed Master.
Raezl looked at me with such pity whenever our conversation faltered like this or progress stalled, leaving us at an impasse.
‘I’m fine, though.’
It would be a lie to say it hadn’t been difficult, but even though my past self had suffered enough to want death, I’d lived on with a certain resilience.
‘Of course, I had no idea my soul was so deeply fractured….’
“Sigh, should I really tell that greedy Emperor about this?”
Then Raezl rubbed his temples and spoke in an irritated 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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