Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 226

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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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* * *
Dawn broke.
I opened my eyes quietly in Lucio’s Bedroom.
The rhythmic sound of his breathing washed over the nape of my neck, warm and languid.
Turning my head slowly, I could see Lucio sleeping beside me.
‘Oh my….’
Heat crept across my face even as I lay still.
Embarrassed beyond measure, I was curling my fingertips when I discovered our hands intertwined, and I quickly relaxed my grip.
“Let’s just hold hands while we sleep.”
“…I don’t think I can manage that.”
He’d said such things before, yet here he was, sleeping so demurely with only our hands clasped together.
Laughter bubbled up from within me unbidden.
Hours earlier, the moment my irresistible seduction had ended, Lucio swept me into his arms as though he’d been waiting for nothing else, his hand slipping beneath my knee.
He sat me on the bed, removed even my shoes with tender care, then kissed me playfully—biting and nibbling at my lips before deepening the kiss, drawing my breath into himself.
I grew tense beneath the weight of his yearning, evident in every touch of his lips.
This wasn’t our first kiss, but tonight my resolve was different.
Before I left, I wanted to spend an unforgettable night with Lucio.
But then.
“I’ll do this once your memories return.”
As I lost myself in his deep kiss, Lucio spoke those words.
‘When we meet again next time… will your memories have returned?’
I swallowed the words I wanted to say.
Truthfully, relief outweighed disappointment.
I’d thought myself prepared, but clearly I wasn’t.
After that, as if rewarding himself for postponing what came next, Lucio kissed me once more before suddenly murmuring something to himself and pulling cleanly away.
He reminded me I’d said I was tired, tucked the blanket around me, and went to wash up.
With my tension dissolved and exhaustion overwhelming me, I fell asleep quickly.
It seemed Lucio had done the same.
Watching him sleep deeply, breathing softly, I carefully stroked his hair.
The resentment and indignation I’d once felt toward Lucio for losing his memories had long since faded.
‘In fact….’
Now I was grateful he’d lost them.
Lucio was perceptive and sharp—often seeming to understand me better than I understood myself.
Had he been in his normal state, he would have keenly noticed that something was different about me today and relentlessly pursued the reason.
‘Then he never would have let me go.’
That would have been terribly difficult.
And though Lucio might be angry to hear it, I was genuinely grateful to Serphin.
Without our contract, the Demon Realm might have already claimed his life.
The thought sent a chill through me.
So I pressed a gentle kiss to his forehead, hoping he wouldn’t blame me too harshly for thinking such things.
And I whispered softly.
“I love you.”
I hadn’t wanted to say these words for the first time while his memories remained fragmented.
But still… perhaps this might be our last moment together.
Unwilling to leave even the smallest regret behind, I remained motionless for a long while.
Trying to etch this quiet, peaceful moment into my memory for as long as possible.
‘If only this instant could last forever….’
I wished desperately, yet slowly rose from the bed and descended.
Without looking back, lest I cling to foolish attachment, I left Lucio’s Bedroom as I was.
As if hundreds of needles pierced my chest, I thought in anguish.
‘Master, what do you think of me.’
Me, who lay in another man’s embrace before coming to see you….
Perhaps I would learn the answer soon enough.
For now I would go to meet him.
* * *
Unlike yesterday’s overcast weather, this morning dawned bright and clear from early on.
Setikaael, the man sitting by the window gazing out at the street, suddenly turned his head and spoke to the staff cleaning the Cafe interior and Rope, the executive reviewing the ledgers.
“Everyone finish up and return. Wait for my orders.”
“…Pardon?”
Rope asked carefully, bewildered at the command to close when they had just finished opening preparations.
“Master, weren’t we supposed to open the Cafe today?”
I expected him to regard me with cold eyes or ignore me entirely.
Surprisingly, Setikaael answered with unexpected kindness.
“True. But does closing one day early change anything?”
“We haven’t yet prepared the… Never mind.”
“Oh, don’t lock the door.”
We must welcome an honored guest, after all.
With that addition, Setikaael smiled in a manner most uncharacteristic, one corner of his mouth lifting in evident pleasure.
Setikaael turned his gaze back toward the window.
His eyes brimmed with anticipation as he murmured softly.
“At last….”
In truth, lately Lia had been having fewer nightmares, making it difficult to monitor her condition.
He had begun to wonder if the spiritual knot binding Lia’s soul to his soul stone had loosened.
‘But I was mistaken.’
Yesterday, the power sealing his soul had surged violently.
Sensing Lia’s rampage symptoms, Setikaael smiled.
He intuited it.
That Lia had learned of the curse.
Though he had not yet received word that the Great Sage had returned, it was certain that he had finally found the ancient text and succeeded in its interpretation.
Fortunately, keeping her alive all this time had proven worthwhile.
Although mana and holy power were fundamentally opposed, making it difficult to kill him, had Setikaael truly committed to it, Raezl would have long since ceased to exist in this world.
‘He had done so in the past.’
But in this life, he had let him live.
For this very day.
“I thought you’d be late, but you’ve timed it perfectly.”
Setikaael hoped that Lia would understand the feelings he could not bring himself to voice aloud.
That despite the curse leaving him no choice, he… loved a mere human.
“Ah.”
She was no longer a mere human.
After all the effort he had invested in absorbing his mana into her, she had become the only human capable of surviving in the Demon Realm.
Setikaael’s heart swelled at the thought of welcoming Lia, who had grown into his magnificent companion.
* * *
“Sigh, how exhausting.”
As I climbed into the carriage, I let out a groan while tying my hair up high for the first time in ages.
This early morning, I had left Lucio’s Bedroom as though I were about to meet Master immediately, but in reality, I could not.
I had to meet with Raezl and Diana to share our plan, and above all, I needed to convince my family of my resolve.
And as expected, that process was far from smooth.
Diana and my family alike had lost all reason when it came to my matters, so it took considerable time to make them understand my plan.
But in the end, they had no choice but to accept it.
Faced with the undeniable truth that a demon was targeting me, meeting him directly to settle things offered far more advantages than simply waiting passively.
Moreover, I had a strong intuition that my confrontation with Master was merely a matter of time.
I could not recreate the scene of disappearing with Master again before my family, who carried wounds from my abduction.
Unable to break my firm resolve, my family immediately moved to stop me as I tried to leave the Marquis’s Residence.
They insisted that even if I must go, I should eat a hearty meal and sleep soundly first.
So despite my solemn determination to face this final battle, I found myself eating until my stomach was full and lying in a plush bed.
Of course, I could not sleep peacefully surrounded by my family sitting in a circle around the bed, their eyes brimming with worry…
In any case, after spending such a peaceful afternoon.
By the time I boarded the carriage, the day had already passed and evening was beginning to fall with the sunset.
‘I wonder if the purification process has started well?’
I gazed out at the landscape beyond the window as the sun set, my thoughts turning to Lucio.
I had not returned to the Duke’s Mansion since this early morning.
I had given Lucio a hint beforehand, and besides, he would not properly remember me for some time anyway, so I thought there was no need to see his face.
The same applied to Duke Elrad, Duchess Elrad, and Allen.
They might feel hurt later when they learned I had acted without warning, but for now, I could not explain the details, and knowing would only cause them more worry, so it was better they remained ignorant.
‘And Diana…’
As I recalled Diana weeping sorrowfully before me at dawn, my heart clenched with pain.
It was just as I unknowingly clenched my fists and bit my lips.
The carriage came to a stop.
“….”
I descended from the carriage slowly, swallowed hard, and lifted my head.
Unlike my previous life, where I commuted daily, this was my first visit in this lifetime—and yet it felt strangely familiar rather than foreign.
The three-story building situated on the Capital City’s most bustling street stood before me in perfect alignment with my memories, unchanged in every detail.
The only difference was that at this hour, the lights should have been blazing and customers should have filled the space, yet the windows remained dark as if the establishment had closed permanently, and I sensed not a single soul within the shadowed interior.
‘Has he already shut down for the night?’
When I first heard from Lucio that the Cafe had opened, I couldn’t fathom the reason at all.
I even suspected Master had acted on a whim.
But now I understood just how deliberately Master had orchestrated everything.
And seeing that he’d emptied the space as if he knew I would come today…
‘If I hadn’t come, he would have come to fetch me tonight instead.’
Even as my premonition proved correct, a chill crept through my chest.
Yet I couldn’t afford to linger in sentiment.
I exhaled deeply and pushed open the Cafe door.
The moment I stepped inside.
“…Ugh.”
A presence darker and far more oppressive than the shadowed interior pressed down upon my entire body.
I quickly realized the space was saturated with demonic energy.
Though not beyond my capacity to endure, the sudden onslaught left my throat constricted and my breath shallow.
I felt my legs threatening to buckle under the overwhelming pressure, but I clenched my fists and barely held firm.
Then, in that instant.
“Lia.”
A weighty voice descended from above, the demonic energy crushing me dissipated, and light flooded the space.
At the sound I instantly recognized, my heart plummeted.
I lifted my gaze to find Master standing at the top of the Staircase.
He smiled at me with radiant warmth.

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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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