Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 200

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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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Grandfather could not have failed to anticipate this outcome.
I could keenly feel how agonizing a decision he had made to correct the Countess’s wrongs and his own oversights in that process, and how deeply he regretted it toward me.
Then Lucio quietly took my hand.
“You don’t need to pity him. He’s simply bearing responsibility for his own actions.”
Hearing those words, I found myself laughing.
Of course, I wasn’t taking satisfaction in the Countess’s impending misery, nor was I gloating over her fate—but neither did I pity her.
I was about to correct him, saying I wasn’t that virtuous.
“I’ve sometimes wondered. If you hadn’t been kidnapped back then… if we had met from the beginning as the Grand Duchess Bellus and the Young Duke Elrad, what would it have been like?”
My eyes widened at Lucio’s words.
It was a hypothetical I had never once considered.
Ever since hearing from Raezl about the past-life karma binding me and the demon together, I had never imagined a scenario where I wasn’t kidnapped.
I hesitated for a moment before speaking.
“I can’t imagine it at all.”
At that, Lucio chuckled softly.
“Actually, neither can I. I’m not particularly imaginative. But while we were apart, I thought about you so much that I became a little curious. Well… wouldn’t our relationship have ended up exactly the same? Perhaps we would have gotten engaged even earlier.”
Watching Lucio speak so naturally despite claiming he wasn’t imaginative, I felt slightly exasperated.
‘Just how often has he been thinking about this?’
While my heart swelled with emotion, I coolly reflected that his imagination seemed to flow only in directions favorable to himself.
No matter how close the two houses were, or how frequently our families used to visit the Grand Duchy and the Duke’s Mansion before my kidnapping…
I couldn’t believe my family, who still insisted I only date Lucio, would have accepted an engagement.
‘We hadn’t even made a promise to betroth our children to each other from the start.’
Still, hearing him speak made me curious.
Would Diana have followed me so devotedly even if we hadn’t first met at the Orphanage, and would I have come to love Lucio as he so confidently imagined?
Though I knew it was all meaningless speculation, somehow my heart ached.
‘If I had truly been given the chance to live such a life…’
As Lucio said, I and my family would have been nothing but happy, without ever suffering wounds.
Gently soothing my sinking heart, I smiled and asked.
“Have you told Duke Elrad about this?”
Even as I suffered through the night, I had been endlessly curious about how Duke Elrad would react upon learning that the subordination contract with the Emperor had been severed and the demon’s relic had been destroyed.
As I looked up at him with bright, eager eyes like a child seeking praise, Lucio chuckled.
“I told Father right away yesterday.”
“What did he say? Was he pleased?”
“Of course. I’ve never seen Father like that before.”
“How was he?”
“At first, he didn’t quite believe me. It seemed he thought it was impossible. But when he heard that you had stepped forward, only then did he nod.”
Lucio, having said so, gazed intently at me.
“Truth be told, neither Father nor I know exactly how you resolved this matter. But it’s you. Because you’re the one who has saved us countless times before—we can only trust you.”
Faced with such unwavering trust in his eyes, I felt slightly embarrassed.
“Thank you for believing in me.”
“I should be the one thanking you. But… are you really sure you’re alright?”
“What do you mean?”
“You said it wasn’t dangerous, but fainting at the Imperial Palace yesterday… could it be…?”
At Lucio’s suspicious gaze as his words trailed off, I couldn’t help but wear an exasperated expression.
He’d just said he trusted me moments ago—so why couldn’t he trust that I was fine?
Of course, his suspicion was entirely justified, but I brushed past last night’s agony and changed the subject.
“By the way, have you told Duke Elrad about all the effort you’ve put in?”
Joining hands with him to make Prince Nicholas the next Emperor, establishing the Information Guild, and even searching for information about the demon’s relic as desperately as finding a needle in a desert—along with all the hidden heartache that came with it.
I wished Duke Elrad would recognize Lucio’s dedication.
But as I’d already anticipated.
“There’s no need to mention such meaningless matters.”
Lucio apparently hadn’t revealed everything he’d done.
I clicked my tongue in frustration and spoke.
“It’s not meaningless at all. If you hadn’t made such efforts, I wouldn’t have been able to resolve this situation so easily either.”
It wasn’t merely flattery.
Truly, if Lucio hadn’t established Darel, I couldn’t have entered the Emperor’s Treasury so easily under the pretext of the mana stones sold long ago.
But Lucio shook his head.
“It’s enough that you’re saying this to me.”
Sensing it was futile to break his stubbornness, I sighed and asked.
“Then what will you do with Darel and Prince Nicholas going forward?”
“Since we’ve already begun, we must see it through to the end.”
Lucio briefly explained that if Nicholas became Emperor, at least there wouldn’t be bloodshed within the Imperial Family.
‘Well, if not Nicholas, then Serphin would ascend to the throne…’
Everyone knew how much she despised Nicholas and the Imperial Princesses confined to the Separate Palace.
Though the Imperial Princesses lived without want thanks to the Empress’s provisions, if Serphin became Emperor, even that would end.
“Nicholas has a somewhat frivolous side, but his methods aren’t bad. His character leans more toward good than evil. If properly guided from beside him, he could become a fine Emperor.”
At that moment, Lucio added his assessment of Nicholas.
I looked at him with slightly widened eyes.
“Why?”
“It seems you trust him more than expected. Then again, you wouldn’t have chosen just anyone as the next Emperor.”
“You’re right. If I hadn’t seen any potential in Nicholas whatsoever, I would have considered other options.”
Nodding in understanding, I decided not to dwell further on Nicholas and the matter of imperial succession.
“But is that really all Duke Elrad’s reaction?”
Surely breaking such a long-standing subordinate relationship would have stirred deeper feelings!
Though I had no desire to boast, I still wanted to hear in more detail just how pleased he was.
As my eyes sparkled, Lucio paused before speaking.
“Well, when he heard that you’d resolved it, he nodded…”
“He nodded?”
“And then rushed off to see Mother.”
“To see the Duchess Elrad?”
Could it be that the Duchess Elrad knew about this matter as well?
Or are you going to come clean now that everything’s been resolved?
“Apparently, the Duke said we need to consult about it since construction on the bridal chamber would have to begin immediately to furnish it properly.”
“…A bridal chamber?”
I froze momentarily in confusion, then awkwardly curved my lips into a smile.
“Who’s getting married? Oh! Don’t tell me Allen finally had an accident…Wait! Don’t look at me like that. I’m not oblivious—I’m just pretending not to know!”
Fearing that Lucio thought me hopelessly dense, I quickly cried out and glared at him.
“Tell me honestly. What did you say to the Duke to make him say something like that?”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Then why….”
“Other than being caught kissing you.”
“…?!”
My soul nearly left my body as I blinked rapidly.
“What did you just say?”
“…When I brought you to the Marquis’s Residence, it wasn’t just your family there. My father was present as well.”
“Gasp!”
I nearly cried out again before hastily covering my mouth.
I was already mortified that my family knew, but there was more to it than that!
“What do I do! The Duke definitely told the Duchess. And maybe Diana too…!”
Fortunately, Allen and Jack were away training now, but they might find out when they return!
“Oh no, I’m probably the only person whose first kiss has become neighborhood gossip.”
As I wrapped my head in my hands in distress, Lucio murmured softly, “I’m in the same boat.”
Flabbergasted, I lifted my head to glare at him, and he brushed my fallen hair back behind my shoulder, apologizing.
“I’m sorry. I should have been more careful.”
“It’s fine. What’s done is done—there’s no undoing it now.”
I sighed and spoke self-deprecatingly, and he murmured “Then…” as he drew closer to me.
Thinking he meant to comfort me, I looked up and hesitated.
Lucio’s eyes met mine as he smiled languidly and whispered.
“Since we’re already caught, should we do it once more?”
“…What did you say?”
Taken aback, I asked again, and Lucio gently caressed my earlobe, coaxing me as he spoke.
“This time, I’ll try not to make you faint.”
“My goodness, he’s lost his mind!”
Briefly doubting my ears, I was startled and pulled my body back.
But Lucio leaned in further as I retreated.
Up close, his eyes looked strange.
It was as if he’d awakened to something new, or perhaps his eyes had completely rolled back….
‘Is he seriously insane?’
* * *
To put it bluntly, Lucio had lost his mind.
And I…was undoubtedly just as mad.
“W-wait, just a moment!”
I couldn’t bear it any longer and turned my head, barely managing to separate my lips from his.
I heard breathless gasps near my ear—whether they were mine or his, I couldn’t tell.
“Mm, ah!”
But Lucio couldn’t resist that brief reprieve and pressed his lips against mine once more.
Rather, as if unsatisfied, he delved deeper than before, his lips savoring the tender flesh with such fervor that I could only gaze at him resentfully before finally closing my eyes.
I had no right to blame him, after all.
〈If you hate it, I won’t do it. Though I did steal that first kiss….〉
Lucio, who had been approaching with such reckless urgency as if he would kiss me at any moment, withdrew cleanly when I hesitated.
And the moment he pulled away like that, it was I who felt the ache of longing.
〈Then… just a little more.〉
Without thinking, I gently grasped the fabric of his clothing and spoke, and Lucio’s face bloomed with a radiant smile.
Seeing that smile, my heart raced faster still.
I even thought I’d made the right choice in holding onto him.
But had I known that our definitions of “a little” differed so greatly, I would never have done it!

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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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