Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 206

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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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To Allen, Lucio had always been a source of pride—an older brother he admired more than anyone for his intelligence and rationality.
Though I knew he wasn’t the cold, detached figure others portrayed, the perpetual blankness of his expression had always made it difficult to discern what truly occupied his thoughts.
But what I had just witnessed was….
It was so starkly different from the image of my older brother I had cultivated that I found myself bewildered.
“What on earth….”
Allen ran his fingers through his hair in agitation, squeezing his eyes shut.
The scene from the library came flooding back.
In truth, when Allen saw Lucio with Lia, he had wanted to ask, “What are you two doing right now?”
But the words that actually tumbled from his lips were, “I’m sorry.”
It was an instinctive apology, though he didn’t even know what he was apologizing for.
Only now did Allen understand the reason behind his apology.
He had sensed it instinctively.
Just moments before, he had intruded upon an intimate moment between the two of them.
The instant this realization struck him, a sharp, piercing pain flooded through his chest as if something were tearing him apart from within.
“Damn it.”
Allen muttered a quiet curse, raising his arm to shield his eyes.
Tears were already streaming down his cheeks and along his jaw.
He wanted to deny it, but he could no longer resist the truth.
On the day he first became aware of his first love, that love had come to an end.
* * *
“…Huh?”
I blinked, my mind reeling.
“Did Sir Allen really just leave?”
He had vanished so quickly that despite our eyes meeting, the firmly closed library door made the moment feel like nothing more than a dream.
I turned from staring bewilderedly at the door to look at Lucio.
His gaze seemed to have grown distant and shadowed.
“What’s wrong?”
“…It’s nothing. Really.”
He shook his head and picked up a macaron.
“Here, try this too.”
“I don’t want to. I’m done eating.”
Suddenly irritable, I set down the sandwich I’d been holding onto the plate.
My lunch hadn’t even settled, and now with all these snacks, I felt as though I might burst.
I had only meant to revisit old memories and explore the Main Library, but somehow it had come to this!
I frowned, surveying the table laden with food so abundantly that one could scarcely tell whether this was a library or a reception room.
When Lucio, unwilling to yield, offered yet another dessert with “How about this one?”, I shot him a petulant glare.
But Lucio simply chuckled at my adorableness and took my hand, interlacing our fingers.
As his long, firm fingers completely enveloped mine, my face flushed crimson like a ripe tomato in an instant.
“W-what are you doing?”
Embarrassed, I tried urgently to pull my hand away, but Lucio only gripped it more firmly.
Finally, I raised the white flag and relaxed my grip. Lucio tickled my finger with his thumb and spoke.
“You’re too thin, that’s why.”
“…Do I really look that unattractive?”
“Unattractive, you say?”
Lucio, turning my words over in his mind, whispered against my earlobe with an exasperated expression.
“If that were true, I wouldn’t be this desperate for you.”
Flustered, I quickly pulled my hand away and hit his shoulder.
“What if someone sees us!”
“There’s no one around, so it’s fine.”
At his shameless retort, I momentarily lost for words and sighed softly before speaking.
“Then why do you keep trying to feed me? Wasn’t it because you find me too thin to look at?”
“It’s because I’m worried about you. Your bones are so delicate that I’m afraid they’ll break with the slightest pressure.”
“I’m not some bare winter branch.”
“To my eyes, you are. Especially your fingers—why are they so thin?”
At his tsk of disapproval, I unconsciously gazed at my left hand.
The ring on my fourth finger, which I’d stared at blankly countless times throughout the day, caught my eye.
〈I love Lia with all my heart. For the rest of my life, I will cherish and treasure her more than myself. I will make her happy, free from any wounds or tears because of me. I humbly ask for your blessing.〉
This morning, Lucio had visited the Marquis’s Residence with a handwritten proposal letter, flowers, and a ring.
Diana, who had clearly come to watch, was with him.
Unlike usual, a somewhat nervous Lucio respectfully asked my parents and Grandfather for their blessing to marry.
And Mother, who had been furious ever since returning from the Imperial Palace the day before…
〈Hmph! Your father already presented a covenant yesterday and demanded you keep your promise. What reason could you possibly have to propose separately?〉
She had lashed out at Lucio coldly, as if venting her anger on him.
Unexpectedly, the trump card Lucio had mentioned was the covenant written by Duke Elrad and Mother when I was young.
Since even the Emperor had learned of it, it seemed inevitable that I would have to accept the marriage proposal. I was troubled about how to react before my apologetic parents.
〈That was merely a formality, and it was ultimately a matter between you and my future wife’s parents. I naturally believed I should seek separate permission.〉
As Lucio bowed his head and calmly asked for forgiveness, Mother’s heart seemed to soften a little.
When Mother finally nodded as if she couldn’t help herself, Lucio immediately knelt before me and offered the ring.
It was before the entire family—Grandfather and Father with sorrowful expressions, Askart, and Diana with sparkling eyes.
Though I felt apologetic toward my parents, I extended my hand with joy, and Lucio smiled brightly as he slipped the ring onto my finger.
The platinum ring he had prepared, densely set with pink diamonds, was thin and light enough to wear at all times.
But now I could see that Lucio was still worried the ring might strain my delicate finger.
Even as I shook my head, I gazed contentedly at the perfectly fitted ring that was neither too loose nor too tight, and suddenly asked.
“Did my Older Brother not tell you my ring size?”
I gently reproached him for having received information about me through Askart all this time, and Lucio burst into laughter.
“If Askart had been asked that, wouldn’t he have caught on long ago?”
Indeed, Father and Askart were usually oblivious, but when it came to me, they were so perceptive that they often surprised Mother.
As I giggled without realizing it, Lucio bumped his forehead against mine with a soft tap and asked.
“So, you really won’t eat anymore?”
“I’m really full now…”
“Chocolate too?”
As Lucio spoke with that suggestive gleam in his eyes, I stared at him in disbelief.
Did he think I wouldn’t notice his intention to feed me chocolate and then kiss me under the pretense of tasting it himself?
Remembering the surprise attack from moments ago, I firmly refused, determined not to fall for the same trick twice. He then asked me a question.
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“W-what did you say?”
“The chocolate. You’re being sneaky.”
My mouth fell open.
‘Wait, who’s calling whom sneaky here?’
He clung to my side at every opportunity, constantly pestering me—didn’t he realize how exhausting this was?
I had no idea Lucio was such a cheerful man.
I never knew he was so playful, always trying to tease me at the most unexpected moments!
Feeling an inexplicable sense of betrayal, I glared at him fiercely, but Lucio didn’t flinch at all. Instead, he smiled and drew closer.
Just as he wrapped his arm around my waist and tilted his head to kiss my cheek—
“Stop right there!”
The door suddenly burst open, and Askart shouted.
“Get away from her this instant, you scoundrel!”
Lucio and I hastily released each other like people caught doing something wrong.
Askart rushed in with a thunderous cry and shoved Lucio aside, separating us.
“Adriana! Are you alright? Did anything happen? I told you to have lunch with Diana—why are you with Lucio?”
“W-well, we finished eating and stopped by the library on a whim, and we happened to run into each other!”
Of course, considering how Lucio had deliberately brought up the library to stir my nostalgia, claimed he’d chat with Jane while telling me to look around alone, and then had already laid out refreshments on the table as if he’d known Diana and I would come—it seemed like a carefully orchestrated plan.
Regardless, since I was innocent, I spoke confidently.
At that, Askart’s eyes flickered toward Lucio.
Like a kitten baring its teeth in warning, Askart asked sharply.
“Lucio! Have you already forgotten my warning?”
“You said not to knock her unconscious, not that I couldn’t approach her.”
“That’s the same thing!”
“Askart, I’ve already received her consent. Lia is my fiancée now.”
“T-that’s—!”
At Lucio’s words, Askart’s face flushed with indignation.
But that was brief. Askart suddenly smiled, as if remembering something.
It was a smile different from his usual gentle one—somehow wickedly villainous.
“Lucio, did you know? Even though the engagement will proceed, I’m going to delay the wedding as long as possible! Let’s see how long you can actually wait!”
In that moment, Lucio’s previously relaxed expression hardened.
His gaze immediately turned to me, and I quickly shook my head, signaling that I knew nothing about this.
Now that I thought about it, my family had been in a gloomy mood even after accepting the marriage proposal this morning, and suddenly they’d told me to go to the Duke’s Mansion and have lunch with Diana.
Though bewildered, I’d gone along with it, and it seemed they’d held some kind of emergency strategy meeting in the meantime.
“Askart, are you serious about this?”
Since Lucio had considered the oath as his trump card, he asked in a serious voice, unable to believe Askart’s words.
Askart laughed like a villain as he answered.
“Exactly! So don’t go getting cocky!”
* * *
Watching the dejected Lucio and the triumphant Askart, I quietly slipped out of the Library.
Seeing Lucio so thoroughly disappointed, my resolve wavered, and I feared I might comfort him right in front of Askart without thinking.
‘Fool. If I insisted on marrying him, my family wouldn’t have a choice either.’
It was a truth I would normally have grasped instantly, but Lucio seemed too disheartened to even consider such a thing.
Or perhaps he simply didn’t trust my feelings that deeply.
I began climbing the Staircase, uncertain whether to laugh or cry.
Though we’d crossed paths only briefly moments ago, I’d definitely seen Allen.
Since the Lexion Knights had apparently returned from their training, I’d planned to go meet Allen and Jack with Diana.
“Lia.”
Just then, a familiar voice called from below the Staircase.
It was Jack.

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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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