Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 23

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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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“I won’t ask for details about what happened.”
I looked up at the Duchess Elrad, whose hand gripped mine tightly.
Unlike her usual demeanor, her expression seemed terribly angry, yet somehow sorrowful—leaving me unable to speak.
“But I do want to scold you for acting so recklessly.”
“….”
“You won’t do this again, will you?”
At her gentle yet resolute tone, I had no choice but to nod.
However, this was the best method I had learned throughout my life thus far.
So while I felt apologetic toward the Duchess Elrad, part of me felt lighter.
Truthfully, I still harbored ambivalent feelings toward House Elrad.
In my past life, because of Duke Elrad, I wandered the streets and eventually infiltrated his mansion, only to die there.
But in this life, having received his grace, my heart had remained uncomfortable all along.
‘Besides, it involved Jack and Diana—I couldn’t simply ignore it.’
Above all, I knew the fate of the Valery Count Family.
In the past, picked up by the Master at age ten, I learned everything without discrimination—from letters and numbers to stealth techniques, martial arts, and even miscellaneous magic—all to avoid being abandoned.
Especially during my studies of letters, I read indiscriminately through newspapers and reports in the Guild, consuming everything I could find.
It was then that I learned something by chance.
About the Valery Count Family deceiving the great noble House Elrad.
More precisely, the Valery Count Family, who had been long-standing servants of the Duke’s Estate, was exposed for embezzling the Lexion Knights’ budget through Sid Valery, the Vice-Captain of the Lexion Knight Order, to increase their wealth—a case that went to trial.
Since Sid Valery had always enjoyed the Duke’s trust, and Count Valery was the head of the Council of Elders, this incident became widely known.
When diamonds were discovered in the Perion Mine purchased with the embezzled budget, bribes and favors exchanged hands, forcing House Elrad to conduct an extremely difficult trial.
I had fumed while reading the Guild’s reports, calling them truly vicious for making money with others’ funds.
Though this would normally be revealed two years later, discovering it this early meant they could find evidence of embezzlement quickly and avoid the difficult situation of going to trial.
‘Yes, I did the right thing.’
Though I had resolved in this life to live freely without forming deep bonds with anyone, this was something I could repay my debt with, and above all, it was the right thing to do.
Just as I had done my best for the Master who took me in at the Guild, I had to repay the kindness of Diana and House Elrad, who treated me with such excessive generosity every day.
Not knowing when I might leave, I resolved to give my all until that time came.
“My lady? How did you come this far?”
I naturally assumed the Duchess Elrad was taking me to a physician.
But unexpectedly, the place she arrived at while holding my hand was the Mage Tower, where the Duke’s Estate’s mages gathered to conduct research.
The mages, flustered by the sudden appearance of the noblewoman, hurriedly prepared a place for her to sit.
I rolled my eyes around, surveying the interior of the tower.
Since mages themselves were rare, this was my first time visiting a place where they dwelled.
The thick books piled on the floor and desks were fascinating, as were the strangely shaped glass bottles emitting smoke, but what truly captured my attention most were the mages themselves.
Though I could perform simple magic, seeing a formal mage made my heart race unexpectedly.
“I’ve come because of this child. She needs immediate treatment—could you call Tellin for me?”
“Treatment?”
“The Chief Mage?”
As the Duchess Elrad spoke while looking at me, the flustered mages wore expressions of bewilderment.
Just as I had been, she seemed to wonder why they were summoning a mage rather than a physician.
‘A wound of this caliber hardly warrants healing magic—a simple treatment would suffice.’
Yet seeing the Duchess Elrad regard my injury with more concern than I felt myself, I clamped my lips shut.
Deliberately averting my gaze, I noticed the mages ascending the staircase, calling out for someone named Tellin.
‘Hmm… I thought they’d teleport with a whoosh or contact him through an artifact.’
Somehow, their methods differed from my expectations, and my initial awe at meeting mages deflated somewhat.
Then, moments later, a man appeared with long violet-hued hair streaming behind him.
“Ah, you’ve finally come! My apprentice!”
Apprentice? Who else had arrived besides me?
The excited man approached me directly, seemingly oblivious to the Duchess Elrad’s presence.
“I knew you’d eventually seek me out! Even when the Duke said you’d rejected the chance to become my apprentice, I never believed it!”
This man, shouting to himself with violet eyes gleaming erratically, appeared somewhat mentally unbalanced.
As I flinched and retreated in fear, the Duchess Elrad hastily grabbed his arm.
“Tellin! Come to your senses. That’s not it—the child is injured and needs treatment.”
“Eh? Treatment? They didn’t come to become my apprentice?”
Only then did the man pause, fixing his gaze upon me.
“My, you’re injured every time I see you.”
He clicked his tongue and guided me into a chair.
Tracing something in the empty air while murmuring, he gathered his mana.
Soon a luminous spherical orb materialized from the void, enveloping my wound and commencing the healing.
“Ah, as I thought. My intuition wasn’t wrong.”
Tellin exclaimed excitedly upon witnessing my wound mending rapidly with a peculiar tingling sensation.
This must have been the mage who had erased all my scars before.
The process differed entirely from how I cast healing magic, prompting me to tilt my head in confusion.
‘…That looks like a magic circle? Why would a mage cast magic so intricately?’
Unlike the previous time when I’d lost consciousness, I observed the healing magic intently, when I suddenly froze.
‘Now that I think about it, my holy power didn’t work…’
I’d forgotten about it since the Duchess Elrad never mentioned it afterward, but concern gnawed at me—was something amiss?
Yet that thought couldn’t linger.
Before I knew it, mages had encircled me, their eyes gleaming in unison.
“The mana quantity is impressive, but the affinity is extraordinary.”
“How is this possible? It’s truly remarkable.”
The mages’ incessant chatter, oblivious to my discomfort, set my ears ablaze.
Their gazes upon me all sparkled strangely.
So when the treatment neared completion, I unconsciously grasped the Duchess Elrad’s sleeve.
My curiosity about the mages and their dwelling had long since evaporated.
All that remained was the desire to escape these peculiar mages who seemed poised to conduct suspicious experiments on me.
Noticing my fear, the mages hastily softened their expressions and began pressing various items into my hands.
“Child, this is a mana-measuring orb. Interesting-looking, isn’t it? Would you like to touch it?”
“Oh, don’t be frightened. It’s merely a plaything. It absolutely won’t shatter!”
“See? That’s exactly why you’re even more frightened.”
“Oh! Would you like to try this? It’s a meal candy I spent three months and ten days making! If you eat this, you won’t need to eat anything for about two days!”
“What are you giving to a child in their growth period who needs to eat plenty of delicious food! You should eat that yourself when you’re working!”
“Don’t you watch your tongue? Don’t listen to that fool.”
Just as I was reaching my absolute limit with the mages bickering away in complete chaos, Tellin’s voice reached my ears.
“Do you happen to like dolls?”
The child’s body, helpless as it was, perked up immediately at those words.
My pride stung, yet I made excuses that I was merely curious about the doll the mages had created, and looked up at Tellin.
“A doll?”
“I made it to serve as an assistant. Would you like to see it? Well, my laboratory is at the very top, so it takes time to go up and come back down. Want to go together?”
“….”
His voice somehow sounded like he was coaxing the child, so I asked reluctantly.
“Why don’t you use teleportation magic instead? Or you could just use summoning magic.”
In that moment, I worried I’d spoken too maturely for a child, so I hastily said “Poof!” and raised both hands to mime something being summoned.
At that sight, the mages burst out laughing with “Pfft!”, and even the Duchess Elrad smiled.
Tellin also chuckled lightly and spoke.
“What a childlike imagination. But magic is quite difficult, you see. Even when using attribute magic suited to each person, one must use the mana within one’s body efficiently, which requires intense concentration. You must accurately understand the formulas, draw the magic circles, and memorize the incantations.”
“Attributes? Formulas? Magic circles?”
I asked back in bewilderment.
Weren’t those things unnecessary for mages?
When I learned magic from the Master, I only learned how to control mana efficiently and the incantations.
“…Um, isn’t magic something you can just do by memorizing the incantations?”
“Haha. That can’t be! Magic isn’t something instinctive. You must study the theory systematically and learn the formulas. Just memorizing incantations? Even the Imperial Palace mages couldn’t do such a thing. Ah, perhaps the Grand Mage breathes magic as naturally as breathing itself.”
Tellin laughed, saying that such a genius appears once every thousand years!
I froze.

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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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