Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 187

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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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At her words, Lucio’s lips slowly curved downward.
The moment he settled onto the sofa, Lia fired her questions at him.
“How do you know about the demon’s relic? Why do you want to know how to break the contract? Is that why you established the Guild and concealed your power?”
The barrage of questions left Lucio speechless.
She’d struck at the heart of the matter, leaving no room for evasion.
Why was her intuition so sharp in matters like this?
As I mentally cursed, Lia pressed on, as if urging a response.
“You asked if I knew about the demon’s relic. Well, I do. Raezl told me about it. I even saw it myself recently in the Emperor’s Treasury.”
At that, cracks finally appeared in Lucio’s carefully maintained composure.
Lia’s heart sank.
* * *
Seeing the wavering in Lucio’s eyes, I clenched my fists in that instant.
I’d realized my ominous premonition hadn’t been wrong.
“I can….”
I bit my trembling lips and forced the words out.
“I can help you. You can trust me.”
And I looked at Lucio with unwavering resolve.
In that moment, Lucio suddenly covered his mouth with his hand and began to laugh.
“Why are you laughing now?”
Here I’d been anxious all day, imagining the worst!
As I stared at him in bewilderment, Lucio, still unable to suppress his amusement, spoke.
“I think I can finally understand the feelings of those kings who brought their nations to ruin over women.”
“What?”
“Is this what they call a honey trap? I never thought something like that would work on me.”
Lucio stroked his chin and leaned forward.
“Try a little more. I’m on the verge of spilling all my plans—the ones I haven’t told anyone yet.”
He was joking at a time like this!
I shot him a look of exasperation, but Lucio tilted his head to the side.
“What? Does it sound like a joke? It’s the truth.”
“….”
“You said I can trust you—words I’ve never heard from anyone else. Of course I’d be shaken.”
At Lucio’s suddenly serious gaze, I found myself momentarily at a loss for words.
But I quickly gathered myself and spoke.
“Then tell me honestly.”
“Before that, answer me first. Is it true you saw the demon’s relic in the Emperor’s Treasury?”
“Yes. It looked like a compass, but….”
“With a concave center?”
Just as I was about to elaborate from memory, Lucio cut me off with the question.
My eyes widened, and he nodded.
“So you do know for certain. Then do you also know how to destroy it? If it’s destroyed… would an already-established contract be nullified as well?”
Lucio’s voice trembled slightly as he posed his final question—uncharacteristic of him.
He seemed to notice his own agitation and quickly closed his mouth, but I sensed instinctively that this was the moment I could finally extract the truth from him.
As I stared at him in silence, he slowly opened his mouth.
“House Elrad basks in the Emperor’s brilliant favor, enjoying unparalleled power and wealth.”
Lucio’s words dripped with cynicism, as though he were discussing something entirely unrelated to himself.
“But the Emperor’s favor isn’t born from affection for a loyal servant—it’s merely the fondness one shows a dog kept on a leash.”
“!”
I asked, my voice trembling.
“Did the Emperor… make a contract with Duke Elrad? Did the Duke offer his blood to a demonic artifact?”
Lucio’s silence was his affirmation.
The world tilted beneath me in that instant.
The demonic artifact I’d discovered in the Emperor’s Treasury was what Raezl called “blood servitude.”
When blood was dripped into its concave surface, a contract formed immediately, binding the blood-bearer to absolute obedience to the artifact’s owner according to the oath inscribed within it—and if one refused to comply…
‘He said he could stop my heart whenever he wished.’
The words burst from me as my fists clenched.
“How did this happen? Was it for the title?”
The only reason I could immediately conceive for Duke Elrad to enter into such a servitude contract with the Emperor was the succession of his rank.
The Empire had two primary methods of title succession.
The first was when the previous head of house directly transferred the title to his heir; the second was when the heir received the Emperor’s permission before inheriting.
The latter method typically occurred only in unavoidable circumstances—when the head of house died suddenly or when the heir was too young to assume the role.
Even the Emperor, by principle, did not interfere in matters that should be resolved within a family.
Yet Duke Elrad had deposed the Previous Duke Elrad and gone to war at barely the age of majority to claim his title.
Though he bore the fearsome epithet of the Empire’s cold-blooded aristocrat, he had returned a war hero, having accomplished deeds that earned universal recognition.
He had gathered evidence proving the Previous Duke Elrad lacked the capability to manage the house, submitted it to the Imperial Palace, and requested the Emperor’s approval for the succession—all while fiercely contending with the Council of Elders, who had controlled House Elrad at the time.
Since it involved replacing the head of one of only two ducal houses in the Empire, the consent of the nobility was necessary, and I understood that my Grandfather and Father had lent their support to Duke Elrad.
I had thought he had barely wrested the title from the Previous Duke Elrad, but to think the Emperor had resorted to such foul machinations with a demonic artifact!
At my indignation, Lucio shook his head with an enigmatic expression.
“It wasn’t because of the title succession.”
“What? Then…?”
He stared at me, hesitating.
It was clear he had something to say but couldn’t bring himself to speak it.
“You’ve come this far—what are you hesitating about now?”
When I demanded answers with wide eyes, Lucio finally spoke.
“Father did it… in someone else’s place.”
“Someone else’s place?”
Lucio nodded slowly and asked quietly.
“Do you know who the Emperor’s first love was?”
“Gasp.”
And I covered my mouth.
“Wait… Did the Emperor intend to use the demonic artifact on Mother?”
“To be precise, to the Previous Marquis. Though the Emperor’s true target was the Grand Duchess, so it amounts to much the same… Lia?”
A wave of dizziness suddenly swept over me, and as I pressed my hand to my forehead, Lucio’s eyes widied with alarm as he studied my complexion.
I quickly shook my head to assure him I was fine and spoke.
“Tell me in detail. If the Emperor’s goal was my mother, why did he target Grandfather? Was he trying to blackmail him?”
Even as I spoke, I felt my breath catch.
How could he attempt such a thing if he truly cared for her?
“According to Father’s account, Princess Bi has a fiery temperament, so had she discovered the trap, she would have immediately drawn her sword and taken her own life. The Emperor understood this well enough, which is why he targeted the Previous Marquis instead.”
Hearing Lucio’s explanation, everything suddenly made sense.
Grandfather and Mother, despite their outwardly cold demeanor, possess deep affection and cherish their family above all else.
They would sooner die themselves than see their loved ones ensnared…
“Certainly, had Mother known Grandfather’s life hung in the balance, she would have complied with whatever the Emperor demanded.”
She would never have married Father, and knowing she would suffer a lifetime of unhappiness, she would have willingly confined herself within the Imperial Palace.
“But Duke Elrad…”
The question of how he learned of this plan and came to fall into the trap in Grandfather’s stead remained trapped in my throat.
Though the Emperor orchestrated this cruelty, I felt the weight of guilt upon my own shoulders.
Perhaps sensing my turmoil, Lucio gently took my hand in comfort.
“Father said he has never once regretted what happened that day.”
And then he slowly began to unburden himself of the past.
* * *
Eighteen years ago.
Lucio, who had been residing in the Duchy, received a summons from Duke Elrad and traveled to the Capital City after a long absence.
Upon entering the Duke’s Study, he found documents stacked as high as snow.
Imperial duties, the persistent machinations of the Council of Elders, and matters the Previous Duke Elrad had set in motion kept surfacing whenever one thought them forgotten.
Amid such relentless busyness, Duke Elrad, who had summoned his eldest son to the Capital, hesitated long before finally uttering his first words.
〈Lucio, His Majesty the Emperor wishes to see you.〉
Lucio’s eyebrows rose ever so slightly.
Others spoke of Duke Elrad as a cold-blooded man from whom not a drop of blood would flow even if pierced, but Lucio believed this was merely a facade.
After all, he had often witnessed his father display a more relaxed demeanor in the presence of family.
Yet the expression his father wore now was entirely different from what he showed before his family, or even before others.
It was as though he feigned composure while desperately suppressing his anxiety.
〈I believe you will conduct yourself well, but when you enter the Imperial Palace, you must be even more careful with your bearing. You must not reveal even the slightest opening.〉
On the surface, it seemed like ordinary counsel a father might offer his son visiting the Imperial Palace for the first time, yet to Lucio’s ears, it carried the weight of a warning before entering enemy territory.
Certainly, wherever people gathered, there were always those with sharp edges eager to trample others, and Duke Elrad, enjoying the Emperor’s infinite trust, had many who both feared and coveted his power.
The Imperial Palace was filled with ravenous creatures desperate to find any flaw and drag him down—it was no different from a battlefield.
But.
〈Especially before the Emperor, reveal no emotion whatsoever. Do you understand?〉
His father’s final words struck Lucio as profoundly strange.
Seeing the confusion on Lucio’s face, Duke Elrad dismissed him without further explanation.
It was that day Lucio first realized his father’s attitude toward the Emperor and the Imperial Family was peculiar.
And the next day, when Lucio came face to face with the Emperor, his bewilderment only deepened.
“Oh, so you’re the eldest son of Duke Elrad. You look so much alike—I would have recognized you at a glance even without hearing about you!”
The Emperor’s demeanor was warm, his eyes brimming with genuine delight.
“Your father is the person I trust most in this world. You must grow strong and true, dedicating yourself to my service as your father does. Though of course you will—hahahaha!”
Yet something felt wrong.
Though his words spoke of faith and loyalty, the Emperor’s expression as he gazed upon my father resembled that of a hunter who had successfully cornered his prey—regarding his quarry with cold, predatory satisfaction.
Lucio, ever perceptive, soon managed to extract details of the Emperor’s visit from Father.

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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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