Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 217

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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, the man’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Do you remember that girl?”
Serphin instinctively shook her head, assuming he was referring to Crown Princess Bellus.
“It didn’t seem like it.”
“I see.”
As the man’s demeanor grew indifferent again, Serphin, who had been about to respond with indignation, found herself hesitating without realizing it.
Even she couldn’t understand what felt strange or how to explain it.
After her lips moved silently for quite some time, Serphin finally managed a soft murmur.
“It’s different.”
Something about him was different.
Serphin closed her eyes tightly and recalled this morning.
Back then, when Lucio visited the Princess Palace, I felt a distinct change in him.
Whenever he saw me before, he would observe only the most basic courtesies toward the Imperial Family, revealing not a shred of personal emotion.
But today’s Lucio smiled faintly when he saw me, and with polite yet careful words, he asked if he could spend time with me.
My heart swelled with joy.
And seeing how Lucio had changed, I believed my decision had been right.
“Young Duke, surely you must have much work to attend to. Is it truly all right for you to be here?”
“Of course. Time spent with Your Highness is far more important.”
“But…”
“I wish to be with you, even if only for a moment. Please do not deprive me of this joy.”
Serphin was naturally proud and vain by temperament.
Having been wounded and hurt in her pride by Lucio, who had always used the excuse of being busy with work to deny her even a moment to share tea, she deliberately pushed him away with words she didn’t mean.
Then Lucio said he wanted to abandon everything and be with her.
That fact was devastatingly satisfying.
And once her wounded pride had healed, she now wished to indulge her vanity.
She wanted to leave the Imperial Palace and show many people how affectionate Lucio was toward her.
In particular, Serphin wanted certain people to witness firsthand just how tenderly he treated her.
Diana and Lia, specifically.
“Young Duke, I hear the Maze Garden at the Duke’s Mansion is quite extraordinary?”
Since the Elrad Duke’s Mansion and the Diapel Marquis Estate faced each other, Serphin asked this, anticipating that the Crown Princess might visit upon hearing the news.
And unexpectedly, she encountered both of them at the Duke’s Mansion at once.
Delighted by this stroke of fortune, Serphin examined Lucio with expectant eyes tinged with slight nervousness.
At his indifferent, almost cold demeanor, not only the usually headstrong Lia but also the Crown Princess, who had tried so hard to appear composed, could not hide her jealousy and sense of betrayal.
Serphin gazed upon Lia’s face, stained with the desolate emotions she felt, with eyes of pure delight.
The happy moments continued afterward.
Especially during the stroll through the back garden, when they drew so close their breaths mingled…
I had known Lucio for a very long time, yet I had never seen him this intimately before.
Not wanting to miss a single detail about him, I scrutinized his straight forehead, sharp nose, and delicate eyelashes, down to the transparent blue eyes beneath them, clear as a lake.
And the moment I saw his full lips, an impulse to kiss him surged through me.
But now I was no longer in a position to cling to him.
There was no need for any special incantation—merely closing my eyes would suffice.
‘If only the Crown Princess hadn’t interfered along the way!’
Serphin’s eyes snapped open, her fists clenched with fury at the memory.
It felt as though lightning had struck her.
“Ah… haha.”
The executives all stared at her as though she were mad when she suddenly burst into laughter.
Yet now that Serphin had finally grasped the discord she’d been feeling, tears welled in her eyes as she continued her hollow, breathless laugh.
Why had it taken until now to realize?
I had already witnessed it.
The tender gaze and smile Lucio bestowed upon the Crown Princess. The way he whispered intimately in her ear with an expression overflowing with affection. And even those passionate kisses.
I had mistaken his gentle voice and serene smile—shown to me for the first time—for something more, but what Serphin truly desired was not that.
I wanted Lucio to look at me the way he looked at the Crown Princess, his eyes brimming with excitement and devotion, his pale cheeks flushed crimson.
Yes, I craved that intimate, fervent affection.
“Something is definitely wrong!”
Serphin’s laughter ceased abruptly, and her glistening eyes were filled with grievance and rage.
“Why doesn’t he love me more?”
I had believed he was now mine.
I had thought he would whisper such love to me instead of the Crown Princess.
Yet Lucio, though courteous to her, never whispered with the corner of his eye curved and his voice as sweet as whipped cream.
“Why?”
Shouldn’t he gaze upon me as though I were his only one, more blindly devoted to me?
“Clearly, the incantation must be flawed.”
At her words, the man who had been silent with his chin resting on his palm twisted his lips into a sneer.
“Perhaps your desire simply wasn’t fervent enough.”
Serphin, whose lips had been trembling under his clearly contemptuous gaze, froze.
Yet she could say nothing.
The moment her eyes met his directly, the focus in her pupils vanished.
“Take the Imperial Princess back to the palace.”
At the man’s words, the informant standing at the doorway bowed. Then he spoke.
“However, Master, someone was with the Imperial Princess. We didn’t prevent them from entering the first floor, but….”
The informant trailed off, asking whether he should execute memory manipulation.
The man, who had been pressing his temples, replied.
“Just let them go.”
“Pardon? But….”
“This place will be cleaned up soon anyway, so it doesn’t matter if they know.”
At the man’s words, all the executives turned their heads at once.
The moment the informant left with the Imperial Princess, Rope asked.
“Master, what do you mean by that? Cleaned up….”
These men had only the obligation to obey his commands; they possessed no right to question or object.
Yet the organization they had built over long years inevitably carried with it a sense of responsibility and affection.
She asked carefully, thinking he surely wouldn’t attempt to settle everything without a single word of explanation.
“Are you perhaps relocating the headquarters?”
Years ago, Master had suddenly ordered the headquarters moved to this location.
Though she had followed the command without complaint, no matter how the saying went about darkness beneath the lamp, it was problematic for the Information Guild’s headquarters—which should remain covert—to be situated on the busiest street in the Capital City.
While it proved effective for information gathering and external camouflage, the guild members found it inconvenient to move in and out consistently.
At that time, the man spoke coldly.
“I don’t believe you’re so foolish as to fail to understand what ‘settling the headquarters’ means.”
“!”
Rope and the executives’ eyes widened as they realized he intended to dismantle Terenthium itself.
But the man turned his head, showing not the slightest interest in them.
“Originally, I intended to wait a bit longer, but it seems you haven’t grasped the warning to leave the Empire, so there’s no helping it.”
Now I’ll have to bring her here.
Rope flinched and stiffened as she watched the man murmur incomprehensible words, then break into a soft laugh brimming with anticipation.
She had never seen him smile in such a manner before.
Suddenly, a primal fear sent a chill racing down her spine.
Though she had no idea who could evoke such emotion in her master—a man from whom no trace of feeling could be found—compassion stirred within her.
That person would surely never escape from the man, not until their final breath.
“Yet something troubles me.”
At that moment, the man’s head snapped around sharply.
“Has the Great Sage perhaps returned to the Empire?”
The other executive overseeing Raezl’s pursuit shook his head.
“The most recent traces were found in the Southern Continent, so he likely hasn’t arrived in the Empire yet.”
Normally, such a response would have included a specific location rather than vague information, but tracking him had become dramatically more difficult over the past several years.
Of course, that didn’t mean he could evade the dense intelligence network spanning the entire Continent.
“We’ve confirmed his return toward the Empire, so he should arrive within two or three days, I believe.”
“He’s later than expected. I thought he’d depart immediately once the Demon Beast appeared.”
The man nodded thoughtfully at the executive’s report.
If that were the case, the Temple currently had no one with such sacred power, so why was the Imperial Princess struggling so desperately?
“Is the resistance that fierce?”
To possess such excellent mana affinity, yet harbor such hatred for mana in the depths of one’s heart.
The man chuckled and sneered.
“How amusing.”
Indeed, even in the distant ancient past and in the immediately previous life, that one had been irritating.
Particularly in this lifetime, he had certainly overstepped.
Perhaps I should settle this after all—such a thought suddenly occurred to him, but the man shook his head.
‘The sight of losing what one treasured as dearly as life itself, yet failing to remember it, would prove quite entertaining.’
Merely imagining it brought joy, and a cruel smile bloomed at the man’s lips.
But the laughter lingering at his mouth soon vanished.
He spoke as though making a declaration.
“On the night the full moon rises this month, I must open the door.”
* * *
A few days later, at Elrad Duke’s Mansion.
“Oh! Your Highness, Crown Princess Bellus has arrived. Please, come this way.”
As I stepped into Lucio’s study—a place I’d been visiting daily like clockwork lately—Nix sprang to his feet and greeted me warmly.
He immediately moved to call for a maidservant, but I quickly stopped him.
“There’s no need for refreshments. I’ve already eaten.”
At my words, Lucio, who had been rising from his seat, turned to me with a puzzled expression.
I pretended not to notice and spoke to Nix instead.
“The desserts at Obli Restaurant are absolutely exquisite. Thank you so much for helping with the reservation—I had a wonderful meal.”
“Obli Restaurant…?”
Lucio murmured softly, but I ignored that as well.
Then Nix asked, his face flustered.
“W-well, I mean… you were supposed to go with the Master…”
Gulp.
At that moment, Nix glanced nervously at Lucio as though he’d glimpsed something terrifying.
When I turned my head, Lucio was already seated again, his eyes devoid of warmth while a serene smile played at the corners of his mouth as he gazed at me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing at all. But you mentioned having a lunch appointment… did you go there?”
“Yes.”
As I nodded, I noticed his fists, resting on the desk, tightening with barely restrained force.
He asked quietly.
“…With whom?”

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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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