Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 176

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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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As if drawn by an invisible force, my head turned.
In one corner, I spotted a worn object no larger than the palm of my hand.
Its center was deeply hollowed, and its rounded shape resembled a compass at first glance, but the absence of a needle made its true purpose unclear.
Yet an enormous magical aura emanated from it.
The moment I sensed it, a sharp, metallic stench of blood pierced through the air.
Only then did I grasp the object’s true identity.
‘A demon’s relic!’
My breath caught abruptly at this unexpected discovery.
I already knew the Emperor possessed a demon’s relic.
But that I would recognize it myself….
“Adriana…?”
At that moment, Clara, who had been following the Emperor, called out to me.
The Emperor, who had been leading the way, also noticed me standing still and tilted his head in confusion. Then, seeing where my gaze had landed, he started in alarm and spoke.
“I think it would be best if we left this place now.”
It was a stark contrast to the Emperor’s leisurely demeanor toward me until now.
Sensing something being concealed beneath his sudden urgency, I moved forward slowly.
* * *
Meanwhile, at that very moment.
News that Grand Duchess Bellus was having an audience with the Emperor reached the Princess Palace, and chaos erupted once more.
Scarcely had the turmoil that began the night the Founding Festival’s first ball ended subsided when, without a moment’s respite, the Imperial Princess began another hysterical outburst, leaving the maidservants in a state of anxious unease as they stared at the bedroom door where she remained.
Crash!
The sound of something shattering into fragments echoed from within.
“W-who should go in and stop her….”
A maidservant, recently assigned to the Princess Palace, spoke in a terrified voice.
At the same time, the other maidservants regarded her with cold eyes.
It was clear they meant: who would willingly enter that chaos, risking becoming the next thing shattered to pieces?
And the maidservants’ judgment was sound.
“Aaahhh!”
Serphin, breathing heavily, looked around the ruined room for something else to throw, then, unable to contain her fury any longer, let out a scream.
She felt as though she were losing her mind.
No matter how much she drank, the image of Lucio’s face as he gazed at the Grand Duchess would not leave her thoughts.
A beautiful man, yet infinitely parched and cold.
The Lucio she knew seemed like someone who would never accept another into his heart.
But the Lucio she had seen that day was not that cold, inscrutable, indifferent man.
The affection gleaming in those azure eyes, the tender smile playing at the corners of his lips—how intoxicatingly sweet it had been!
The moment Serphin witnessed that expression, which she had never seen before, an uncontrollable rage boiled up within her.
She wanted nothing more than to strike the cheek of that Grand Duchess with her sickening pink hair, a sight that made her skin crawl.
Yet Serphin concealed her twisted fury and faced the Grand Duchess with composure.
She was well aware that the Grand Duchess was not someone she could easily touch.
However….
“I wish to bestow the honor of the opening dance upon Nicholas this year. He has worked exceptionally hard.”
“May I request the honor of dancing with the Grand Duchess?”
The moment the Emperor granted Nicholas the “honor of the opening dance,” I sensed that something was going terribly wrong.
And when I finally heard that the Emperor had gifted a tiara to the Grand Duchess, Serphin immediately grasped his true intentions.
“I said he was mad, but I never imagined he’d be this mad.”
Serphin cursed her own father, the Emperor of the Empire, without hesitation, her teeth grinding together.
Her mother, who harbored neither affection nor expectations for her husband, cared not whether the Emperor embraced the pink-haired woman or fathered bastards, but Serphin was different.
“He shows no interest in his own daughter, yet he gifts a tiara to whom?”
It was beyond absurd and ridiculous.
“Is he trying to elevate that girl to the Empress’s throne in place of the Grand Duchess?”
She had already been displeased with Nicholas being employed in various recent matters of state, but to be stabbed in the back like this was unforgivable.
At the thought that the throne she had naturally assumed was hers might be stolen from her, Serphin’s eyes filled with blood.
But…
“Lucio. Lucio Elrad.”
Serphin’s body trembled violently.
The fact that he loved the Grand Duchess—that was what truly drove Serphin to madness.
She despised the thought of the Grand Duchess being united with Nicholas and losing the throne, yet she could not abandon Lucio either.
She wanted to possess them both, desperately.
“Aaaahhh!”
Unable to resolve this impossible dilemma, unable to calm the raging tempest within, Serphin’s scream erupted once more.
* * *
Nicholas appeared at the luncheon at the appointed time, just as the Emperor had hinted beforehand.
And throughout the meal, he kept stealing glances at the Grand Duchess seated across from him.
Nicholas had known Lucio for a long time, but he had never once seen Lucio reveal his true feelings.
Yet just moments ago, having unexpectedly heard Lucio’s honest words, his lips involuntarily curved upward and his chest fluttered strangely.
But on the other hand, he felt confused.
He could not discern whether Lucio’s “my person” referred to the Grand Duchess or to Lady Elrad.
“By the atmosphere, the Grand Duchess seems more natural… but he did say I should choose my companion myself.”
Unable to dismiss the possibility that Lucio had seen through his intentions, Nicholas, plagued by uncertainty, could not bring himself to ask again whom he meant, and found himself nodding awkwardly instead.
“Haha, Nicholas. No matter how beautiful the Grand Duchess is, if you stare at her so intently without looking away, how can she eat her meal properly?”
At that moment, the Emperor seated at the head of the table laughed heartily.
Nicholas startled and quickly turned his head away.
Lost in thought, he had momentarily forgotten himself and stared far too intently at the Grand Duchess.
As his face flushed with embarrassment, the Emperor laughed even louder.
“Youth is wonderful, truly wonderful!”
Nicholas, his expression turning somewhat bitter despite himself, glanced across the table as if gauging the situation.
‘Her name was Adriana, wasn’t it?’
Thinking that the Grand Duchess might be Lucio’s special person, Nicholas found himself seeing Lia in a different light than before.
‘Previously, she seemed merely docile.’
But now, he perceived a cold, distant aura flowing beneath her gentle exterior that made her difficult to approach.
Seeing Lia, who wouldn’t even meet his eyes, Nicholas suddenly regretted asking her to dance five times at the ball.
‘Tsk, tsk.’
The Emperor, observing Nicholas in this state, clicked his tongue inwardly with sympathy.
He assumed Nicholas’s dejection stemmed from failing to capture Lia’s attention.
It was a shame that the boy didn’t take the initiative to engage her in conversation, instead standing there entranced and burning with frustration.
But contrary to his anxious thoughts, the luncheon was soon drawing to a close.
The Emperor, reading the atmosphere, opened his mouth naturally.
“Are you all planning to attend the finals of the Sword Tournament?”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“Excellent! I was planning to head to the Tournament Grounds as well, and since you’ve all come by Imperial carriage, perhaps we could all go together….”
“Your Majesty, forgive my interruption, but I’ve already arranged for carriages to be prepared in advance, so please don’t trouble yourself further.”
The Emperor’s face stiffened awkwardly at Lia’s refusal.
“Adriana, I wasn’t informed of any such arrangement….”
As Clara hastily claimed ignorance, Lia nodded and spoke.
“There should be two carriages from House Diapel waiting at the Imperial Palace. I’ll take one and depart ahead.”
“What? Alone?”
Lia turned her head away, leaving the bewildered Clara behind.
“Your Majesty. If it’s not presumptuous, might I request a private audience before leaving the Palace?”
“A private audience?”
The Emperor’s eyes widened in surprise, then he nodded.
As the Emperor and Lia headed toward the Audience Chamber, Nicholas, having received orders to escort the Grand Duchess, slowly slipped out of the luncheon hall.
I felt the presence of the Young Lady following behind me.
‘Clara Amber, wasn’t it?’
According to the information Lucio had provided, she was a Young Lady with a reasonably good reputation in society.
As the only daughter of Count Amber, who owned vast grain-producing lands, she was generally known to be modest, and since she apparently had no desire to inherit the family, Count Amber was seeking a son-in-law.
Though House Amber itself held little power, many young nobles coveted a match with them because they were relatives of both House Diapel and the Bellus Grand Duchy….
“Um, Your Highness.”
Surprised that she would address him, Nicholas, who had been lost in thought, reacted a beat too slowly and stopped walking.
Looking at her questioningly, Clara gripped the hem of her dress tightly and gazed up at him with an expression as though she might cry at any moment.
“Your Highness may not remember meeting me, but I’ve been watching over you for a long time.”
“…Hmm?”
Nicholas’s face showed surprise at her unexpected words.
Seeing this, Clara broke into a triumphant smile.
In truth, last night she had been troubled by the anxiety that Adriana might become the Imperial Princess and eventually the Empress. And she had made a decision.
Since Adriana had rejected the tiara bestowed by the Emperor, she herself would become the tiara’s rightful owner.
The Imperial Princess had often prompted other Young Ladies to speak ill of Nicholas, and fortunately, Clara had always stepped back from such conversations.
As she recalled those thoughtless Young Ladies whose words might have entangled her, she smiled inwardly with contempt.
“…How flattering.”
Seemingly flustered by her words, Nicholas struggled to respond for a moment, his answer coming out awkwardly.
The smile he wore appeared quite bashful.
After all, she had been treated like a ghost by the noble young ladies all this time, so she had never heard such words before.
Though it seemed effortless to feign such emotions and I nearly laughed, Clara arranged her face into the pitiful expression she had practiced all night.
“As you already know, Adriana has no interest in the Imperial Prince. She was dragged here by force today as well. That girl’s origins are… Oh!”
Clara, who had been speaking with a devastated expression, suddenly covered her mouth urgently as if swept away by emotion and making a slip of the tongue. Then, observing Nicholas’s hardened expression, she spoke carefully.
“Please don’t mention that I said such a thing.”

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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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