Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 207

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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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“Hello, Jack!”
I greeted him warmly and approached.
“Did training go well? You’re here earlier than I expected.”
Allen was clearly wearing casual clothes, but Jack hadn’t stopped by the Dormitory to change—he was still in his training attire.
The way he was slightly out of breath suggested he’d rushed back from somewhere.
“…Jack?”
I called out to him several times, but Jack didn’t answer me. Instead, he stared intently at something.
That was when I realized he was looking at the ring on my finger.
“Is it true?”
“Hm?”
“I heard there were marriage negotiations between the Grand Ducal House and House Elrad.”
“Ah.”
It was news I’d planned to tell him anyway, but having Jack ask first made heat rush to my face.
Embarrassed, I tapped the ground with my toes and nodded.
“…Yes, it’s true.”
Suddenly, Jack’s body swayed as if he might collapse.
Worried he might fall down the Staircase, I quickly grabbed his arm, and Jack looked up at me.
His dark eyes wavered with an intensity that was almost frightening.
“Jack, what’s wrong? Are you alright?”
“I….”
His voice sounded slightly hoarse as his lips moved, then he bowed his head deeply.
And a moment later.
“Lia, could we talk for a moment?”
“Hm? Of course.”
He’d looked like he’d received a terrible shock just moments before, but his voice had already steadied.
I nodded and followed Jack down the Staircase.
Jack led me to the Training Grounds of the Duke’s Mansion.
* * *
Jack barely suppressed a pain as if someone had seized his heart and torn it from his chest as he walked.
Having spent the night before almost entirely awake, he’d headed straight to the Marquis’s Residence upon returning to the Capital City.
But the person who greeted Jack was not Lia, but her maternal grandfather, the Late Marquis Diapel.
Jack knew that the Late Marquis held him in good regard.
It seemed Lia had spoken well of him, for Jack had received gruff thanks for taking good care of him at the Orphanage. The Late Marquis highly valued his sincere and upright character and exceptional swordsmanship over his origins, and had shown particular concern for him when he volunteered for the war that broke out in the Diapel Marquisate, a Border Territory.
The Late Marquis, who had treated him with such familiarity, was today displaying an awkward and uncomfortable demeanor toward Jack.
From that, Jack immediately sensed it. That what Allen had said was true.
But he hadn’t wanted to believe it until he heard it directly from Lia’s own lips.
The moment Jack heard that Lia was at the Duke’s Mansion, he turned on his heel.
And finally, when he met Lia.
The moment Jack saw the ring that fit her so perfectly, as if it had been made for her, he felt his mind grow distant.
Since it hadn’t been long since their reunion, he’d thought there was still plenty of time.
My own complacency felt so utterly foolish and stupid that curses rose to my lips.
My heart had thundered wildly at Lia’s touch when she steadied me moments ago, yet I was about to lose her without even managing a proper confession….
‘Lose her?’
In that instant, my heart plummeted and my mind snapped into focus.
It wasn’t too late. There was still a chance.
Though I had never intended to confess so urgently, Jack resolved to do so right now.
If anything, it should be in the Training Grounds where I had strived all this time to become the greatest knight, all for Lia’s sake.
And as he made his way toward the Training Grounds, Jack realized without anyone telling him that it was Lucio who had placed the ring on Lia’s finger.
Allen had been training alongside him for several days, so the only person who could have seized that opportunity to advance matters was the Grand Duke.
Upon realizing this, a strange feeling washed over him.
He had thought the marriage talks between Allen and Lia were absurd, but when the other party changed to Lucio, it oddly made sense.
The Grand Duke was strong and virtuous.
So he would certainly protect Lia far better than Jack could….
‘How foolish! What am I thinking right now?’
Jack quickly shook his head and reproached himself for already cowering and retreating like a defeated man.
And he reminded himself of the age difference between the two and the Grand Duke’s cold, aloof nature.
Lia might not know, but Jack had made the Duke’s Mansion his home since childhood, so he knew the Grand Duke’s temperament better than anyone.
Indifferent and frigid as he was, he would never treat Lia with tenderness and would surely wound her.
“Jack, how much further are you going?”
Just then, Lia, who had been following behind, grabbed his sleeve and asked.
Only then did Jack, who had been lost in thought, startle and look around.
He had almost wandered into the Dormitory out of habit.
Jack stopped in his tracks and exhaled deeply to relax his body, which had grown rigid with tension.
“What do I need to talk about? Is something wrong?”
But when he saw Lia regarding him with worried eyes, his heart felt as though it would burst from his throat.
Overwhelmed by impatience and intense nervousness, Jack blurted out the words that had been circling in his mind.
“Lia, I want to swear a knight’s oath to you.”
Lia’s eyes widened as though greatly startled.
After a moment of stillness, Lia asked carefully.
“You want to swear a knight’s oath? To me…?”
Fortunately, Lia seemed to understand that a ‘knight’s oath’ meant a confession of affection, for her pupils trembled violently.
Jack nodded as though driving a stake home.
“Yes. I have cared for you for a long time.”
“Wait, hold on!”
At that moment, Lia cut off Jack’s words in a flustered voice and asked.
“You care for me? Not Diana?”
“What?”
At Lia’s words, Jack’s brow furrowed sharply.
“I have never once thought of the Young Lady as anything more than someone I must serve!”
Lia wore a bewildered expression at Jack’s response, which seemed not merely firm but genuinely displeased by such a misunderstanding.
She had no desire to dwell on the past either.
‘But surely, back then, I felt something for Diana…’
“I don’t know why I ever thought that way, but what I love is you.”
“I… I had no idea.”
“But it’s true. I’ve been trying all this time because I want to protect you. Though I’m lacking in many ways, I want to be your strength. And…”
Jack parted his lips heavily, desperately hoping his feelings would reach her.
“I want to tell you that I love you.”
Lia froze entirely at his unexpected confession.
After pouring out everything he’d held back, Jack’s Adam’s apple bobbed visibly with tension.
Seeing this, she could be certain that Jack was sincere.
“Is this because of some promise between the Grand Duke and His Excellency…?”
“It’s not like that.”
So Lia quickly cut off Jack’s words.
Even before she knew about her parents’ promise regarding Lucio, she had already decided to become engaged to him.
But saying such things felt far too cruel, so Lia swallowed her words.
Yet Jack was persistent.
“Do you like the Grand Duke?”
“…”
How could he ask so directly?
Lia hesitated, but realizing that silence would only be cruel hope, she bit her lip and spoke.
“Yes, I do.”
In that moment, Jack’s movements ceased.
Jack, who hadn’t even blinked, swallowed slowly.
If Lia said she liked him, there was nothing more Jack could say.
Yet his lips, unable to let go of lingering attachment, moved of their own accord.
“Am I not enough?”
Even to him, it sounded pathetically desperate.
He regretted it immediately, but the words had already escaped, and Jack’s gaze fell downward.
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”
“Jack, it’s not because you’re lacking. I just…”
“You don’t need to say more. I’m fine. You don’t need to apologize to me.”
Jack spoke hurriedly and turned away.
He didn’t want her to see his hardened expression.
He feared she might notice his pettiness—that he couldn’t even bring himself to offer congratulations.
But before he could take a single step, Jack noticed a slender, handsome man standing at the entrance of the Training Grounds.
The Grand Duke, watching from who knows how long, was staring at them intently.
Seeing his cold, steely blue eyes, Lia flinched slightly, then said, “Jack, I should go,” and quickly passed by him.
As Lia approached, the Grand Duke wrapped his arm around her shoulder as if it were the most natural thing, and turned away.
In that fleeting exchange of glances, Jack felt an unexpected relief wash over him.
He had worried the Grand Duke might mock him, but that wasn’t the case at all.
‘So even that aloof man knows how to worry.’
Watching him eye me warily with that sharp gaze, I found my wounded pride oddly soothed.
Long after Lia and Lucio disappeared, Jack remained standing in that spot before slowly leaving the Training Grounds.
It felt as though I had lost my life’s purpose in a single morning.
Unable to contain the hollow ache, I wandered aimlessly without direction.
That was when someone entered Jack’s field of vision—a figure who looked as though their very soul had been stripped away, utterly vacant.
“…What are you doing here?”
Yesterday he had been so animated, but today Allen was completely deflated.
Though I wanted to pretend not to notice, seeing Allen leaning so miserably against the Duke’s Mansion wall with his head bowed low, I couldn’t simply pass by.
Jack sat quietly beside him and sighed upon noticing Allen’s lower lashes were wet with tears.
It seemed he had only come to realize his own feelings after hearing the news about Lia and the Grand Duke.
Unlike me, Allen hadn’t even confessed and would inevitably become Lia’s family—thinking of him made my own situation feel slightly more bearable.
Jack found some comfort in knowing he wasn’t alone in experiencing this heart-wrenching pain, but then felt disgust at himself for finding solace at Allen’s expense.
Allen and I had been rivals, colleagues, and friends for a very long time.
And whenever the two of us were together, it was usually Allen who broke the silence rather than the taciturn Jack.
But this time, Jack spoke first, his words laden with sincere apology.
“Would you like a drink?”
At those words, Allen slowly lifted his head.
Seeing the emptiness in his eyes, Jack felt even more guilty as he continued.
“I’ll buy. Get as drunk as you like—I won’t lecture you about it.”
Such words were so unlike the usual Jack that Allen couldn’t help but let out a small laugh despite himself.
Moments later, the two of them rose to their feet as one.
Whether they had long been aware of it or not, they hoped to forget this aching pain, even if only for a while.

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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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