Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 194

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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 Lucio’s confession, Lia remained rigid and silent.
Lucio had secretly hoped for an answer of “I love you too,” and though he felt a slight pang of disappointment, he quickly composed himself.
The mere fact that Lia didn’t push him away was something to be grateful for.
Then Lia reached out and gently brushed away the tears from Lucio’s eyes.
Wondering at the inexplicable gesture, I blinked—and felt a tear drop onto my cheek.
Only then did Lucio realize he had been crying.
The shock was brief; noticing that Lia’s eyes had grown moist in response to his own tears, he smiled softly.
Lia smiled back gently, then slowly closed her eyes.
“….”
That was answer enough to his confession.
Lucio felt his chest swell with emotion as he carefully brought his lips to hers, far more tenderly than before.
Lia wrapped her arms around his neck, holding him close.
Their lips met without the slightest gap between them, and the thundering heartbeat—whose, neither could tell—echoed between them.
Lucio felt a moment of dizziness from the surreal happiness.
It felt as though this moment were nothing but a dream.
He continued the sweet kiss, thinking he wouldn’t mind dying right here and now.
“…?”
Lucio hesitated and pulled his lips away.
The arms holding him had gone limp and slack.
When he lifted his head to look, it wasn’t just her arms.
Lia had collapsed entirely, unable to support her own weight.
“Lia…?”
When she didn’t respond despite his calling her name again, her eyes remaining peacefully closed, his heart sank.
Lucio urgently checked whether she was breathing properly and whether her heart was still beating, when sudden realization struck him.
Lia had fainted during the kiss.
* * *
“My dear!”
“Adriana!”
“Lia!”
Grand Duke Bellus, the Grand Duchess, and the Late Marquis Diapel rushed out calling for Lia, quickly surrounding Lucio as he stepped down from the carriage.
It was only natural—Lia lay unconscious in his arms.
“What on earth has happened?”
The Grand Duchess demanded sharply of Lucio.
Lucio, who rarely found himself nervous, unconsciously swallowed hard.
He had anticipated encountering Lia’s family while making his way from the Imperial Palace to the Marquis’s Residence as inconspicuously as possible, but he hadn’t expected to meet them directly at the entrance of the estate.
“She was perfectly fine just hours ago. I need an explanation for why she’s in this condition and why you’ve brought her back with you.”
As the Grand Duchess pressed him again with a chilling tone, Duke Elrad, who had been watching his son’s lips move soundlessly, stepped in to mediate.
“Lucio, we’ve only just returned from the Imperial Palace ourselves. We were surprised to hear during lunch that Lia had gone there, so we went to check. We ran into the Second Prince and heard the general situation…. Did Lia come to find you after everything was settled?”
As the Duke spoke, Lucio—from whom the Grand Duke had taken Lia—finally tore his gaze from her and nodded.
“Yes. She came looking for me.”
“But why does the child look like this?”
“It seems she was pushed too hard….”
Lucio answered, recalling what Lia had casually said, but then realized his words could be misunderstood and quickly bit his lip.
However, that only made the situation worse.
Seeing Lucio wince at the pain in his lip and bring his hand to his mouth, the Grand Duchess’s eyes widened.
And at that moment, the Late Marquis Diapel, who had been observing his granddaughter’s complexion, muttered.
“Wait, why are our Lia’s lips so swollen like this?”
“….”
In that instant, an awkward silence descended.
I had been too shocked by Lia’s return to consciousness to notice, but now I wondered how I could have missed it—both their lips were flushed and swollen.
To anyone’s eyes, it was clearly the mark left by two inexperienced lovers who had never kissed before.
And the Grand Duke, who was usually known for his remarkably poor sense of perception, slowly looked back and forth between Lia and Lucio.
Lucio unconsciously tensed and clenched his fists.
“Surely….”
And I swallowed hard at the Grand Duke’s face gradually tinged with shock.
I had long since abandoned the plan to slowly gain favor with the Grand Ducal House through my parents sending the heirlooms of House Elrad.
‘But I never intended to make such a bad impression….’
Of course, if I were disliked by Lia’s family, her tender heart would make her pay even more attention to me, but at the same time, she would be equally uncomfortable, which was far from welcome.
Just as Lucio was about to open his mouth to make an excuse with a sigh.
“Adriana! Your older brother is here!”
Suddenly a great wind blew and smoke billowed forth as Askart burst through.
“Huh? Why are you all out here? I didn’t expect… Gasp, Lia!”
Askart, who had just teleported from the Empire’s Dock to the Marquis’s Residence using a teleportation scroll, approached with a bright smile but was startled upon seeing Lia cradled in the Grand Duke’s arms.
“Father, what is this? Lia, come to your senses! No, why is her face so pale? And why are her lips so swollen!”
At that, the Grand Duke closed his eyes with a sorrowful expression, and the Late Marquis Diapel, who had been holding the back of his neck, extended his hand and pointed at Lucio.
“Lucio?”
Askart looked at Lucio with a puzzled gaze, then turned his eyes back to Lia.
Like the Grand Duke, he too seemed to have realized something despite his lifelong lack of perception, and cracks began to form in his previously bright face.
The moment Lucio, trying to maintain composure, called out “Askart,” the Grand Duke muttered in a sorrowful voice.
“How much did you push the child to make her lose consciousness….”
In that instant, Askart’s eyes widened greatly.
“Lucio, you, you, cunning! You wolf!”
Askart, who couldn’t even curse properly, bounced and rushed toward Lucio.
“I considered you my dearest friend! And yet I kept hoping it wouldn’t be true all the way here!”
With nothing to say, Lucio relaxed his body to accept Askart’s collar grab.
That was when.
“Askart.”
The Grand Duchess placed her hand on Askart’s shoulder and stopped him.
“You’ve worked hard coming here. Let’s go inside now.”
“But Mother, that bastard touched our Adriana…!”
“If Adriana had truly been despised,”
the Grand Duchess, who had been soothing her restless son, spoke while gazing at Lucio, who bore an uncanny resemblance to her dear friend.
“Do you think that wretch could be standing here so intact? He’d have a blade lodged in some limb, or he’d have been reduced to charred human skewers long ago.”
“!”
In that moment, Askart trembled at the chilling image that had suddenly crystallized in his mind.
No matter what, he couldn’t bear the thought of Lucio meeting such a fate.
Yet because his younger sister’s situation remained so shocking, Askart spoke with a pained expression.
“I thought our Lia was still so young….”
“Indeed.”
The Grand Duchess cast a cold glance at Lucio before leading Askart inside, followed by the Grand Duke and the Late Marquis Diapel.
The space that had been tumultuous moments before fell silent in an instant.
Duke Elrad approached Lucio, who stood with a vacant expression.
“Even so, wasn’t knocking her unconscious a bit much?”
“….”
“As a father with a daughter myself, this is rather….”
Lucio stared at the Duke, who shook his head, before speaking bluntly.
“Father, there is something urgent I must tell you.”
His voice was lower and more serious than usual.
The Duke regarded Lucio with slightly widened eyes before nodding.
“Yes. We should set the betrothal date without further delay.”
“Betrothal?”
At the unexpected words, I furrowed my brow in confusion, and Duke Elrad let out a hollow laugh while shaking his head at how he’d interpreted it.
“The boy’s always been impatient. Are we holding the wedding immediately? Though I doubt the Grand Duchess would easily consent to that. Still, it’s been years since you’ve been apart—the child must be worn out.”
“….”
Lucio simply watched his father, who had already begun wedding preparations in his mind.
Then the Duke paused and asked,
“You didn’t cause some accident, did you?”
At the thought that if he had, it wouldn’t be a matter of permission but rather getting beaten to death by the Grand Duchess, the Duke leaped up.
Yet even as he did, there was a subtle excitement in his voice about becoming a grandfather, and finally Lucio burst into laughter.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d laughed so freely and lightly, without a care in the world.
Thus, as they made their way to the Duke’s Mansion to report that all matters concerning the demon’s relic had been resolved, Lucio continued to indulge his father’s excited banter.
* * *
Meanwhile, at Amber County.
“Sob, sob.”
“Our poor Young Lady….”
“Can’t you all be quiet?”
Clara, her hands wrapped in bandages, shrieked as she paced about the room.
The Nanny and Maidservants, who had been packing while weeping, flinched at her shoulders and stifled their sobs.
Yet Clara’s frayed nerves would not settle.
Imperial Knights stood guard outside the estate as if watching a criminal, in accordance with the Emperor’s decree to leave for Amber County by tomorrow afternoon, and such circumstances were only natural.
My father, Count Amber, flew into a rage upon hearing this news and stormed out of the estate.
I understood his anger well enough—his entire life had been devoted to finding a suitable son-in-law who would lead the Amber County Family to greater glory, and I had been the means to that end.
No man would willingly take a wife confined to a small territory, unable to even set foot in the Capital City, and one punished by the Emperor himself.
All the tears I had held back finally broke free.
I couldn’t fathom how I had fallen into such a wretched state.
“This is all because of Adriana….”
Clara wiped away her tears roughly, recalling the moment when she had been forcibly placed into a carriage by the Emperor’s knights at the Imperial Palace.
Another carriage suddenly pulled up in front of her, and from it descended the Late Marquis Diapel, the Grand Duke, the Grand Duchess, and Duke Elrad.
Relief and joy surged through her as she cried out urgently, and only then did they notice her, their eyes widening in shock.
She felt the knights gripping her arms tense and loosen their hold as they caught sight of the Late Marquis Diapel’s ominous expression.
In that moment, Clara had believed with absolute certainty that they would rescue her.
She had thought they would rebuke Adriana for her callousness toward her only cousin and persuade the Emperor to rescind the punishment he had imposed upon her.

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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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