Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 220

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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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When I found myself at a loss for words, Lucio lowered his gaze as though he had anticipated this very reaction.
His drooping ears and tail quivered, and my lips moved of their own accord at the sight of his forlorn expression.
“You just said it yourself, and you’ve already forgotten my words? Or do you not believe me? It’s truly fine if you can’t remember. I will tell you everything from beginning to end….”
“You remember it all without leaving out a single detail?”
As Lucio countered my words, I smiled and nodded.
To be honest, it felt somewhat strange that Lucio didn’t remember me, and I worried whether he would love me as he once did.
Yet despite this, I had no intention of leaving him.
Besides.
“We cannot avoid the Imperial Princess forever anyway. I have no desire to watch you flirt with her in front of me again.”
At my words, Lucio flinched, and eventually nodded.
It was just as I hastily grasped his hand, thinking I wouldn’t say anything strange to Raezl now.
“Um, Your Highness.”
Jane called to me in a cautious voice.
When I looked at her questioningly, she spoke with a tense expression.
“It’s just that Raezl asked for Your Highness to come alone.”
“What?”
In that moment, Lucio’s eyes turned cold.
I had barely managed to soothe him, and now this!
“Is that really true?”
I had certainly sent an additional message informing him that the Imperial Princess had become a Demon Worshipper, along with Lucio’s condition.
So I had expected him to perform the purification immediately.
In the end, I hesitantly told Lucio.
“Then, I’ll be going.”
“…I understand.”
Lucio did not insist, knowing that I would go regardless of whether he held me back.
“Since you’ve said so, you must return without fail.”
Of course, he added that much.
I nodded and left the study with hurried steps.
My scalp burned intensely until the door closed behind me.
* * *
“Raezl! It’s me, Lia. I’m coming in!”
At the voice coming from beyond the reception room, Raezl, who had been rubbing his temples, opened his eyes.
And he examined Lia carefully as she opened the door and entered.
Given that everything she had experienced in the Empire seemed extraordinary, I had worried whether her face would appear haggard.
Yet Lia’s face was brighter than I had expected.
“Why did you take so long!”
She was so bright that she even scolded me the moment she arrived.
With a hollow laugh, Raezl sat on the sofa and, watching Lia about to pour out complaints, did not offer a single rebuttal and simply let her be.
Shortly after, because the matters I needed to discuss with the child were far too heavy, I wanted to indulge her whims for now.
“Do you have any idea how long I waited? There’s so much I want to ask you…. Huh?”
At her words, Lia’s eyes widened as if she had much more to say.
Only then did she seem to notice that he was in the form of an old man, not the youthful body he usually insisted upon.
“There’s nothing much to see. My divine power has run dry, and I barely managed to arrive here.”
In fact, whenever Raezl traveled across the Continent and visited the Belus Duchy for purification, he always appeared as if he’d been rolling in the dirt, his clothes grimy and worn.
But this time, he looked no different from a street vagrant.
Because of this, he had nearly been turned away at the gate by the Diapel Family’s guards, but fortunately, the maidservants of the Bellus Grand Duchy recognized him, allowing him to barely cross the threshold of the Marquis’s Residence.
Unaware of these amusing circumstances, Lia simply nodded in understanding, as if to say he must have endured much hardship.
“So that’s why you didn’t set up a barrier.”
“You sensed it?”
Lia nodded.
During her time in the Duchy, she had received purification in rooms where Raezl had set divine power barriers for nearly ten years, so she could faintly feel the warm aura of divine power.
“Just to be safe, I sent all the servants on the second floor away. I’ve also cast a soundproofing spell, so feel free to speak freely.”
Though her quick-witted consideration was admirable, Raezl deliberately hardened his expression and asked.
“Well then, let me ask you something. You seemed so eager to go to the Empire—was it really not because of the Priestess, but because of your betrothed?”
“…My betrothed?”
“You’re playing innocent after coming all this way? I’ve heard that you’re engaged soon. How long have you been in the Empire? There’s no way you’d make such a hasty decision.”
Raezl clicked his tongue and leaned back against the sofa.
On his way to the Empire, Raezl had been shocked to hear news of Lia’s engagement.
It was as shocking as when he first heard that Demon Beasts had reappeared in this world.
Lia was a cautious person with a thoughtful nature, and while she was aware of her precarious situation, she wouldn’t have easily decided on a life partner.
So naturally, he assumed she must have been in a long relationship with someone.
“Why didn’t you tell me you had a betrothed?”
After all, they were close enough to share secrets she hadn’t even told her family.
When Raezl expressed his disappointment, Lia scratched her cheek and replied.
“Well, I didn’t know either… but it seems I did have one.”
“What? What do you mean by that?”
Seeing Lia laugh vaguely in response to his questioning, Raezl grew concerned that this innocent girl had been completely taken in by some scoundrel.
But that scoundrel happened to be the Priestess’s older brother.
‘And those stubborn fools actually gave their approval….’
‘We will not marry off our daughter and keep her with us for life!’
‘That’s right. What man in this world could possibly be worthy of standing beside my perfect younger brother?’
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, who made a fuss every time they visited the Duchy, and even the Grand Duchess, who subtly agreed with them and seemed to have no intention of letting her go even if she married—
If he had obtained the approval of all of them, he must be a decent man.
Though Raezl felt uneasy, unaware of the Bellus Grand Duchy’s true reluctance in accepting the engagement, he nodded.
Just then, Lia brought up the subject of her prospective betrothed.
“Um, Raezl. Did you see the message I sent? The Imperial Princess made a pact with a demon to have Duke Elrad.”
“…Yes, I saw it. Since I realized demons began moving from the time Demon Beasts appeared, I expected the Demon Worshippers would soon resurface in this world as well.”
“Knowing that, you still told me to come alone? I thought you’d purify me right away….”
Raezl stared intently at Lia at her petulant tone.
Seeing her small face tinged with worry and concern for her betrothed, and a faint resentment directed at himself, he let out a hollow laugh.
Having spent her entire life surrounded by a close-knit family, it was amusing to see this girl already tending so carefully to her own person.
Meanwhile.
‘How on earth am I supposed to tell her something like this?’
The heavy conversation that had weighed on my heart throughout the journey to the Empire refused to leave my mind.
Though I had hurried back, now that Lia stood before me, the words simply wouldn’t come.
‘Just a little longer… just a little longer.’
Raezl postponed it thus, speaking curtly.
“There’s an order to these things. We have so much to discuss right now. Besides, if she were under a charm spell, she’d be at the Imperial Palace, wouldn’t she?”
“What? No, she’s at the Duke’s Mansion. I just came from being with her.”
“What? She wasn’t with the Priestess? No, surely the Imperial Princess wouldn’t want to be separated from her….”
At those words, Lia realized that Raezl had assumed she was with Diana, yet still asked her to come alone.
It was strange, but she continued nonetheless.
“Fortunately, Duke Elrad (Minor) has a way to be with the Imperial Princess without issue. Diana mentioned he has magical resistance, so that must be why.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Raezl murmured, “So it’s the Priestess’s bloodline after all?” and nodded.
“Then we needn’t worry too much. Once the purification work begins, she should be freed from the spell soon.”
At Raezl’s words, Lia felt relief wash over her.
“That’s truly fortunate. I’ve been troubled by it too, but Diana especially suffered greatly. She even went to the Temple to obtain holy water and tried to perform a purification on her own.”
“…The Priestess did?”
“Yes. Though… it had no effect.”
Lia spoke despondently, recalling Diana’s anguish.
“I did manage to obtain a sacred relic, but I’m not sure if it was genuine. Diana never awakened.”
“The sacred relic is likely authentic.”
At those words, Lia’s head snapped up.
Raezl spoke calmly.
“I have my suspicions about why the Priestess didn’t awaken. So you shouldn’t worry….”
“You found it, didn’t you?”
It was then.
Lia cut off Raezl’s words and asked.
“The ancient text you were searching for so eagerly—you found it. Didn’t you?”
….
Faced with such firm conviction, Raezl’s words caught in his throat, and he swallowed.
The girl who yearned for the Priestess’s awakening as much as any Temple priestess or Holy Knight had already grasped the truth from the mere nuance in his tone.
Before eyes that blazed like dancing flames, Raezl finally nodded.
“Yes. I discovered what curse the Priestess placed when she sealed the demon.”
…!
“The reason you lived two lives as well.”
In that moment, Lia’s breath stopped.
She had always wondered.
Why the demon hadn’t killed her, and instead bound her soul to its own soul stone, hanging it around her neck.
And why had I been given a second chance at life?
I had vaguely hoped that understanding the curse’s nature might provide answers, but….
It was merely a wish, nothing more.
Yet now, so many doubts and suspicions I had harbored in my heart were finally being resolved.
My heart raced wildly.
Then suddenly, a fear I had buried deep within surfaced.
“H-how is it… Is the reason Diana couldn’t awaken because of me? Because I didn’t die?”
Raezl immediately denied the terrified question from Lia.
“Never. You not dying… You must never die.”
Lia, who had been releasing a breath of relief at those words, froze.
Something felt strangely unsettling, and my chest grew uneasy.
But Lia shook her head, clenched her fists tightly, and spoke.
“Then tell me.”
What curse did the Priestess cast that forced me to live so helplessly at the demon’s mercy? The reason why.
Raezl’s lips finally moved as he faced Lia’s resolute expression.
“It’s… because the demon loves you.”

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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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