Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 234

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

* * *
I had been confined to this luxurious room for a full day already.
During that time, neither Master nor Rope showed any particular signs of movement.
Or perhaps they were bustling about outside, preparing sacrifices for the altar and making final preparations to open the gateway to the Demon Realm.
But trapped as I was within these four walls, I could only fret alone and try to gauge the passage of time between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm.
How much longer would I have to endure this?
‘Surely it won’t take several days…?’
Or perhaps even longer than that?
Whether from spending so much time alone or from my body’s poor condition, my thoughts kept drifting toward ominous possibilities.
I told myself that in moments like these, I needed to steel my resolve all the more, and quickly shook my head.
“It can’t possibly take that long.”
The Demon intends to take me to the Demon Realm.
So I won’t be spending an extended period in this place.
Yet no matter how hard I tried to think positively, I couldn’t shake the suffocating unease in my chest.
Last evening, when Rope came to bring me my meal, I tried to ask him about the difference in time flow between the Demon Realm and the Human Realm so I could gauge how much time had passed outside.
But Rope only offered an awkward smile and refused to answer.
I grew desperately anxious, fearing I might miss my window of opportunity.
‘I’ve made some preparations just in case….’
Yet that too filled me with unease.
I exhaled a deep sigh and gazed out the window.
The scenery visible through the glass seemed impossibly distant, and the fact that I could see tall trees below me indicated that my current location was at considerable height.
After examining the window closely, I noticed that the exterior of the building was barely visible from inside, which suggested the structure was more like a Mage Tower than an ordinary mansion….
The problem was that I couldn’t find any other useful information.
After wiping my face with a sigh, I gazed once more at the lake that shimmered impossibly bright for something in the Black Forest, and at the leaves that glinted with verdant light.
Yesterday, I had genuinely marveled at this view, but now I couldn’t bear to look at it.
It was because, in trying to extract information by chatting with Rope, I had learned something I never wanted to know.
〈The scenery outside is an illusion spell that Master cast with his own hands. Perhaps… he wanted to bring you joy?〉
The moment I heard those words, I recalled Master’s face—how his lips had curved upward when he heard me say the view was beautiful.
From this luxurious room to the landscape beyond.
That Master, who despised me to his very core and harbored nauseating fantasies of my death… had supposedly done all this because he wanted to make me happy. I couldn’t believe it.
No—was it even possible for a Demon to develop the desire to make someone happy?
If so, the Saint’s curse to love humanity wouldn’t have produced such a cruel outcome.
Whoosh!
Just then, I watched as pink flower petals—the same shade as my hair—scattered in the wind, and I roughly drew the curtains shut.
With my vision blocked, my mind seemed to settle somewhat.
But even so, I remained trapped in this luxurious prison where the Demon’s affection and hatred were hopelessly intertwined.
“Sigh….”
I exhaled another long breath and returned to the bed.
Looking out at the illusory landscape beyond accomplished nothing but cluttering my mind; it yielded no information that could help me discern my location.
With nothing else to do, I simply lay upon the bed, remaining there in listless silence.
‘My physical condition still isn’t good.’
When I asked if it was because the Black Forest was influenced by the Demon Realm, Rope said it was due to the golden shackle around my ankle and the magic circle drawn to forbid the use of mana.
He also said not to worry, since I possessed the Master’s mana and would quickly adapt once I crossed into the Demon Realm.
‘That’s something I didn’t really want to know, though….’
In any case, I confirmed that at least once I left this room, my movements would become unrestricted.
Raezl had said that the more affinity one had with mana in the Black Forest, the less they could endure it and would lose consciousness, which worried me somewhat, but it was a blessing in disguise.
Lying in bed, my eyelids gradually grew heavy.
‘Once the full moon rises in the Human Realm and all preparations are complete….’
The Master would guide me to the entrance of the Demon Realm—to the Altar itself.
‘I don’t know exactly where the Altar is, but once I leave this room, I’ll be able to use my mana, so I’ll watch for an opportunity….’
Knock, knock.
It was then, as I blinked my drowsy eyes and recalled the plan I had drawn out in my mind countless times.
The sound of someone knocking on the door reached my ears.
I felt the drowsiness instantly fade away.
My sense of perceiving presence had dulled, but I had a premonition.
And sure enough.
“It’s me. I’m coming in.”
The Master’s voice rang out.
* * *
As Setikaael opened the door and entered, he found Lia lying with her back turned, as if she had no desire to converse with him today.
His gaze shifted to the trolley beside the bed.
“You haven’t eaten again?”
In the past, she didn’t seem to be picky about food.
Perhaps because she had lived in hunger for so long, her stomach wasn’t in good condition and she didn’t eat much, but she had never refused food outright.
Setikaael, who had been leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed, moved forward with heavy footsteps.
As he sat down on the bed with a thump, her already small frame seemed to shrink further.
Setikaael watched as she held her breath in tension, then let out a long sigh.
Yesterday, when Setikaael had prepared the meals Lia used to enjoy in her past life, he thought her taste had changed when he saw the untouched food.
Thinking that since she had regained her status in this life, it was certainly possible, today he had prepared everything from meat marinated and roasted in rare spices to seafood dishes favored in the Bellus Duchy.
“Are you planning to starve yourself to death?”
“….”
“How much longer do you think your threat of dying will remain valid?”
Flinch.
Lia involuntarily froze at Setikaael’s sharp tone.
Ever since arriving in the Black Forest, he had been acting unusually tender, and now he was finally revealing his cruel nature.
“Don’t think you’re the only one who can make threats.”
His emotionless voice sent chills down my spine.
In truth, I had insisted that my life was extremely precious to a demon, but if he were to make threats, Setikaael would have far more leverage.
He could threaten to harm my family or loved ones at any moment.
“I’m not doing it on purpose… It’s just that I really don’t have an appetite.”
I still thought that threatening with my own death was effective, but Lia spoke with a hint of fear creeping into her voice.
At that, Setikaael’s expression softened somewhat.
“Still, eat at least a little.”
“…Understood.”
Lia felt a brief pang of humiliation at the thought of surrendering, but she dutifully pushed herself upright.
She had no intention of stirring up trouble by letting foolish pride provoke the Demon.
The moment she sat down, Setikaael handed her a glass of water.
Lia accepted the glass without a word.
Watching Lia sip the water, Setikaael picked up a bowl of soup and spooned some into it, blowing on it gently before offering it to her.
“Eat.”
“…I can feed myself.”
Lia set down her glass and reached for the spoon, but Setikaael didn’t budge.
Lia glared at him before finally surrendering, accepting the soup he carefully cooled with his breath like a fledgling bird.
I couldn’t afford to provoke the Demon until we reached the entrance to the Demon Realm.
So I would be docile, yet show just enough hostility to avoid suspicion.
I couldn’t let him discover that I had something to rely on.
Walking that precarious tightrope in my mind, I swallowed a small piece of white bread down my parched throat.
That was when it happened.
“Good girl.”
Setikaael smiled languidly, pleased by her docile demeanor—neither fiercely defiant nor spiteful like when they reunited at Terenchium Headquarters—and gently tapped her cheek.
In that instant, Lia’s body went rigid.
Though she had tried to hide it, her anger, hatred, and disgust toward Setikaael hadn’t diminished in the slightest.
“…”
Only then did Setikaael realize that Lia had forced herself to match his mood, and his expression hardened.
He found himself ridiculous for having deluded himself into thinking her heart might have softened even slightly.
Of course, he already knew.
That Lia resented and despised him in the depths of her heart.
Yet the image of her eyes gazing at him with blind devotion—even after he subjected her to training so brutal it could kill, teaching her servitude and obedience—remained vivid in his mind.
So he believed that even if she grew angry for a moment, if he treated her kindly in luxurious surroundings and fed her fine food, she would eventually show him a crack in her resolve.
But instead, Lia watched his expression with the anxious look of someone awaiting punishment.
“Ha.”
Understanding the meaning behind that expression, Setikaael let out a bitter laugh.
The reason Lia had submitted so readily was her fear that he might harm her family and friends.
“Why can’t you forgive me when you can’t let go of your attachment to humans?”
And Setikaael believed it was precisely because of them that Lia no longer clung to him as she once did.
“I admit it. I took your family from you, hurt you, and ruined everything you could have enjoyed. But didn’t those other humans sadden you just the same?”
Setikaael twisted his lips as he looked at the bewildered Lia.
“Your family didn’t even recognize you just because your appearance was different, and they wounded you.”
“…!”
Because he had bound his soul stone with Lia’s soul, Setikaael could gauge her state through the fluctuations of mana, and sometimes through the nightmares born of her fear.
That’s why I knew exactly how wounded and tormented Lia was when she searched for her family.
“What about those other humans who looked down on you and ignored you simply because of your low status, because you were an orphan?”
Setikaael spoke with genuine fury in his voice.
“Those nobles who prided themselves as superior humans for possessing mana—you know now that they only gained such power through the grace you bestowed upon them, don’t you?”
Without Lia breathing mana into Spleshia, they would have been nothing at all.
Setikaael had witnessed far too many times how those clueless humans heaped humiliation upon Lia.
“The Temple fools who claim to follow the will of the divine are no different. If there exists a human in this world who deserves to be called a Saint, it is you alone—yet they erased your very name from existence. So why do you direct your anger only at me?”
In that moment, Lia’s eyes, which had been vacant, widened.
“Surely not….”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————