Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 183

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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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When she opened her eyes and looked at me, it was endearing, but this sight—her lush lashes lowered, her eyes gently closed—was equally beautiful.
Unaware of the restraint I was exercising, she brazenly demanded a kiss with those bewitching lips, and the adorableness was almost unbearable.
She seemed oblivious to it, but Lia undoubtedly possessed the power to drive a man to madness.
Merely hearing her call my name summoned that strange, all-consuming satisfaction that had enveloped me entirely. Lucio quietly shook his head and rose from his seat.
It was at that very moment his gaze shifted to the table beside the bedroom.
“Ugh!”
A searing pain crashed through me as though someone had struck the crown of my head with a hammer.
Lucio grimaced and buckled his knees.
* * *
I blinked slowly, and upon seeing the familiar surroundings and a face I never wished to see again, I realized I was dreaming of the past once more.
“Are your ears clogged? Come to my room right now.”
Jade, standing before me, seized my arm and forcibly dragged me along.
I wanted nothing more than to throw a punch at his insufferable attitude and behavior.
Instead, I merely wrenched my arm free with an exasperated expression and asked, “Why would I?”
In dreams, my body refused to obey my will.
In the meantime, Jade let out an unpleasant laugh and spoke.
“Hmph, playing innocent, are you? Show me the same skill with your tongue that you do with Master. Then maybe I’ll acknowledge your abilities too.”
This bastard?
Even knowing it was a dream, hearing such mockery after so long stirred something bitter within me.
But once again, I merely glared at Jade with a face hardened by contempt.
I understood all too well what he meant by my “abilities” that he would supposedly acknowledge.
Jade and his fellow first-class operatives, along with the informants beneath them.
They all believed I received special favor from Master, and they spread ridiculous rumors—that I curried favor with him, that I visited Master’s room every night, nonsense of that sort.
When I first heard such gossip, I was more outraged by the insult to Master than by my own shame, and I fought back fiercely.
But unlike me, trembling with barely contained fury, Master neither stopped them nor corrected the rumors.
And I wondered if his indifference wasn’t proof that he didn’t care for me in the slightest.
Yet Jade and the others seemed to think differently, for their covert whispers gradually became more brazen, until they reached this point of openly insulting me to my face.
The me in the dream let out a heavy sigh.
“If you’re drunk, stop spouting nonsense and go to bed quietly.”
Though my pronunciation was clear, the reek of alcohol radiated from Jade.
As I tried to brush past him, Jade grabbed my collar roughly, demanding, “So you’re saying Master favors you? And you’re looking down on me?”
In that instant, I moved swiftly, twisted his arm behind his back to subdue him, and slammed him against the wall with a resounding thud.
Both he and I knew that if I applied just a little more pressure, his arm would break.
With his forehead pressed against the wall, Jade gasped in pain and glanced back at me with startled eyes.
We had traded barbs and argued with words many times before, but this was the first time I had responded so aggressively, and he was clearly shocked.
But on this occasion, I could not simply let his words pass.
This was because I had just discovered the Splecia antidote I had gifted to Master in a trash bin on my way back to the Dormitory.
“Will you let go? Let go right now!”
“Apologize first. Apologize for all of it—the ridiculous suggestion that I come to your room at this hour, the nonsense about Master showing me favoritism, all of it. Apologize for speaking of things you don’t even understand.”
At my words, Jade, trembling, let out a derisive snort.
“You wouldn’t understand. I said nothing wrong, so why should I apologize? What rotten luck. Master keeps you around, so I thought maybe you were good at nighttime work, and I figured I’d take you out for fun. Did you actually think you had any charm as a woman?”
“You really are… something else.”
“Don’t get the wrong idea. Master doesn’t keep you around because you’re useful as a woman—he just plays with you because there’s no risk of consequences. It’s not because he likes you.”
In that moment, my body went rigid as stone.
Jade, sensing the strength drain from me with uncanny precision, broke free from my grip and rubbed his wrist, a corner of his mouth curling upward. That bitter smile made everything clear.
‘He knows. He knows I can never bear children.’
I had always developed slowly. From childhood, I’d gone without proper nutrition for years, and after entering Terenthium, I endured training so grueling it bordered on abuse.
My second puberty came extraordinarily late, and with no one to guide me through these bodily changes, I struggled alone until I finally sought help from Rope, one of the executives.
Then one day, Ted—the Guild’s physician and an executive—approached me while researching herbal combinations to improve mana circulation.
He said my mana reserves were far below those of other agents, so there would be no real risk, and since the herbs were precious, they’d be good for my body. I believed him without question.
After taking the medicine consistently, I felt my mana reserves increasing beyond what they’d been before, perhaps because my mana circulation had become smoother.
‘Though human mana reserves are fixed, so that shouldn’t be possible.’
And I only discovered the medicine’s side effect—infertility—after my already irregular cycle stopped completely.
I was honestly flustered, but I quickly moved past it.
I’d never believed I could marry anyone anyway, and becoming an executive with the Guild’s recognition, like Rope, was the only future I could dream of.
Besides, my body didn’t hurt, and I no longer had the monthly inconvenience, which made it easier to carry out missions.
I’d even told a remorseful Ted multiple times that it was fine.
But it seemed all of that was just pretense.
“How… did you know about that?”
“What good does it do you to know? Wait, are you crying? How pathetic, sniffling like that…”
“Why won’t you just say it straight?!”
My vision blurred, and I thought it was the dream, but I was weeping.
As I wiped my tears roughly and growled menacingly, Jade spat out, “I overheard it by accident when I went to report to Master, so what?!” and walked past me.
Left alone, I began to sob, my shoulders trembling.
From what I remember, I cried for quite a long time.
At the time, I didn’t fully understand why I was weeping so bitterly, but now I could see it clearly.
Perhaps deep in my heart, I harbored a secret despair and resignation—that I, as a person, could never find a family, nor could I ever create one—and my pride was wounded because Jade of all people had discovered it.
The next day, Jade, his face a mess from who knows what scuffle, drunkenly apologized for his mistake, but I pretended not to hear and ignored him.
And I treated him exactly as I always did, as though nothing had happened.
Because the dream was so vivid that I remembered it clearly even the next day, sorrow flooded into my chest like a tidal wave.
I tried to remain composed and waited to wake from the dream.
Then, suddenly, doubt crept in.
Whenever I’d dreamed of my time as an informant, Master had always appeared.
There had been dreams with other colleagues and executives, but never once had Master been absent.
‘So why not today…?’
In that moment, an uncanny premonition flashed through my mind.
* * *
“…hic.”
“Lia?”
“Hnngh….”
“Lia, wake up!”
I stirred at the gentle touch shaking my body, my sorrowful sobs still echoing in my chest.
Then my eyes suddenly flew open.
I bolted upright and turned my head left and right, but the scenery had already shifted—I’d awakened from the dream.
I wanted to find some trace of Master, in case he’d been watching over me….
I was exhaling a deep sigh of regret when—
“Are you alright?”
“…?!”
I thought I’d misheard in my drowsiness!
I was startled to see Lucio sitting at my bedside with a worried expression.
As I blinked blankly, tears streamed down my cheeks.
Lucio gently wiped beneath my eyes.
“What kind of dream did you have to cry so sorrowfully?”
Overwhelmed by his tender words and touch, I threw myself into his arms.
“I had a nightmare. An incredibly frightening one.”
The moment I spoke, tears spilled forth again.
Startled by my distress, Lucio hesitated briefly before beginning to pat my back gently, just as he had before I fell asleep.
I nestled deeper into his embrace, my sobs gradually subsiding.
“Nothing happened. You’re safe.”
At his soothing voice, I nodded and murmured my relief.
I meant it sincerely.
Though I couldn’t fathom how I’d returned from death, or what connection Master had to it all, I was genuinely grateful for this second chance at life.
‘Even when Diana mentioned her niece being born… honestly, I was happy.’
But still feeling embarrassed, I buried my face in Lucio’s chest—then suddenly lifted my head.
“But why are you still here?”
I didn’t want to believe it, but it seemed I’d fallen asleep in Lucio’s arms. If he’d even carried me to bed, why hadn’t he left? Why did he wake me?
Staring at him in confusion, he spoke.
“You need to change your clothes, and I can’t do that for you.”
I glanced down in alarm and realized I was still wearing what I’d had on last night when I went to retrieve the sacred relic.
I exhaled in relief that I’d narrowly avoided disaster—but then noticed Lucio was dressed impeccably, as if ready for work.
Noticing my surprised gaze, Lucio chuckled softly.
“Did you think I’d been here all night? It’s just the neighboring house, so I went back and returned quickly.”
At his explanation, my face flushed uncontrollably.
As I hurriedly looked away, I suddenly noticed that Lucio’s complexion was still pale.
Looking out the window, dawn seemed near, yet his condition hadn’t improved?
Worried, I was about to ask if he was feeling alright when—
“Do you often wake up crying like this?”
Lucio asked in a deeply serious tone.
“…Do you remember what the dream was about?”

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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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