Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 250

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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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Askart was deeply frustrated, but he suppressed it and repeated the story he had already told once before.
“To be precise, it was Lady Elrad, Lucio’s sister, who saw her. A person with pink hair and pink eyes who resembled her mother greatly. But Father, please don’t get your hopes too high. It only appeared that way to the Lady’s eyes. Not to anyone else’s. So how could….”
“Did Lady Elrad also mention what color the hair and eyes of the person she saw appeared to be in other people’s eyes?”
The Grand Duke, gripping Askart’s shoulders firmly, asked without bothering to hide his excitement.
It was the first time Father had shown such agitation since Mother passed away.
The bewildered Askart searched his memory and answered.
“That was… I think she said they were brown….”
In that instant, the Grand Duke’s eyes squeezed shut as if he were collapsing.
A lightning-like realization pierced through him from the crown of his head to the soles of his feet.
There was no logical reason for it.
But he became certain that the girl he had just encountered was his daughter.
“Ah… Ah, Adriana!”
“Father?”
Askart was horrified as he watched his father suddenly burst into tears and begin running.
He ran so swiftly there was no chance to catch him.
“Father!”
“Adriana… Ugh!”
“Father! Are you alright?”
The Grand Duke, who had been rushing toward the boarding ship, twisted his ankle in his haste and collapsed to the ground.
Yet even so, he forced strength into his legs and struggled to rise, calling out his daughter’s name over and over.
“What on earth is wrong with you!”
Askart, examining his father’s sprained ankle, cried out as if he could no longer tolerate his father’s erratic behavior.
Then the Grand Duke, his face streaked with tears, raised his trembling hand and pointed at something.
“Ah, Askart. My boy, on that ship, Adriana… just now, our Adriana….”
As Askart stared at his rambling father with exasperation, he suddenly noticed a small water bucket in his father’s hand.
In that moment, an inexplicable chill ran through him.
Askart spun around, and in his field of vision appeared a ship that had only recently departed.
At the sight of it, his chest suddenly became heavy as if saturated with water, and he could not breathe properly.
Behind the now-frozen Askart, the Grand Duke’s anguished cry echoed through the air.
* * *
A slight start.
Lia suddenly turned her gaze toward the direction of the Empire she had just left.
“What’s wrong?”
“Someone….”
To Setikaael’s question, Lia had opened her mouth carelessly, but now she shook her head gently.
She swallowed the words she had been about to say—that it seemed someone was calling her.
It must have been a misheard sound, and there was no need to mention it.
For in this world, there was no one who would call her with such yearning in their voice.
“It’s just… I thought I heard something. It’s nothing.”
Lia answered, forcing the corners of her rigid lips upward.
“It’s nothing much… Why are you crying?”
“Pardon?”
Startled, I blinked rapidly before reaching up to touch my face with trembling fingers.
My eyes and cheeks were indeed drenched with tears.
“No, why is this….”
Only now realizing I was crying, I stared down at the moisture on my hands with bewilderment.
I couldn’t fathom why tears had suddenly fallen.
But more than that, it astounded me that I had wept in front of another person—something so distant from my memory.
Back at the Orphanage, trembling in fear of the Director’s punishment.
In front of the Academy, begging as a vagrant, my stomach hollow with hunger.
Young and fragile, I had cried countless, innumerable times.
Yet after painfully realizing I was truly alone, I had never shed tears before another soul again.
Even during the grueling training under Master’s guidance to become a first-rate intelligence operative in Terenthium, I had forcibly swallowed my tears.
Clinging only to the desire to survive and to be acknowledged.
‘But why suddenly….’
I blinked in confusion before turning my head once more.
The Empire—the land where I had spent my entire life—was receding further and further away.
‘Ah, I see.’
Perhaps it was an unspoken regret I hadn’t consciously recognized.
‘Yes… That must be it.’
Departing so suddenly without any mental preparation.
Having rationalized the reason to myself, I wiped away the tears that had stained my eyes and cheeks.
Then, feigning indifference with a flat tone, I changed the subject.
“By the way, Master, you’ve arrived early.”
“Yes. I only needed to assign a task to Jade.”
Of course, that wasn’t entirely true—I did attend to his hand briefly.
“I see….”
Watching me nod slowly, Setikaael chuckled softly and added,
“It’s not a particularly important task. Even if he fails, it won’t matter at all.”
“Pardon? A task like that….”
“Compared to the one you’re undertaking, it is.”
At those words, my face flushed as I burned with competitive spirit, wondering if Jade had been given a more important mission than me.
“Don’t tease me.”
Thinking I was being mocked, I spoke with a pout.
I had merely accepted his words about a “task with no consequences for failure” as a joke, but it wasn’t.
The mission Setikaael had given Jade was genuinely one designed with failure in mind.
​
〈M-Master?! Why….〉
​
Taking Jade along under the pretense of assigning him a task, Setikaael placed a curse upon him first.
Jade’s veins had turned completely black, and he collapsed to the ground as if his body were burning alive from the inside. He looked up at Setikaael with shock in his eyes.
Rather than resentment, his expression revealed fear—uncertainty about what he had done to displease his master.
Just as it had been in my previous life, at this point in time, Jade had not yet delivered the false mission to me.
Strictly speaking, he could have been considered innocent, but for a demon, such distinctions held little weight.
Before disposing of Jade immediately, however, there was a particular task I wished to entrust to him.
​
〈Find out who visits the Duke’s Mansion tonight and what conversation the Duke has with them. If you complete this mission successfully, I will lift the curse.〉
〈Yes? But…〉
​
Jade’s mouth moved as if to reflexively protest.
It had already been confirmed that the Duke’s Mansion had secretly made contact through a communication channel with the House of Bellus, and that the Grand Duchy had immediately dispatched a ship.
Of course, I had only vaguely grasped the identity of the visitor and had not yet learned the contents of their conversation.
However, the Duke’s Mansion—the most heavily guarded among all noble houses—was an extraordinarily difficult place even for an elusive Terenthium operative like myself.
The Lexion Knights, to which two young and powerful Sword Masters belonged, could be called the Empire’s strongest force, and to face even the Duke Elrad Minor—a master whose exact abilities were difficult to ascertain—would require deploying at least five first-class agents.
With so little time remaining before the full moon rose, such a waste of manpower was unnecessary.
I had thought the matter was settled with the decision to observe the situation afterward, yet now came this command.
Moreover, Jade’s body, already corroded by the curse, was no longer in a normal state.
Realizing at last that the true mission I had given Jade was nothing other than ‘death,’ he clung to me desperately, but my decision would not change.
Tonight, Jade would meet the same death that Lia had faced—such was the punishment I had decreed for him.
“Lia, do not concern yourself further with Jade.”
“Ah… Yes.”
Lia, interpreting my words as a caution against colleagues burning with competitive spirit against one another, laughed somewhat sheepishly.
Setikaael regarded her quietly for a moment, then asked.
“Is that truly all your luggage?”
Lia nodded and lifted the bag she had been packing slightly to show me.
“There was not much to bring along.”
After gathering a few training uniforms and everyday clothes, along with the outfit and shoes that Marquis Diapel had gifted me but which I had been too reluctant to wear, there was simply nothing else to take.
“Oh, I also packed some food.”
Though I spoke lightly, in truth I had eagerly gathered bread from the Dessert Café and tea brewed from medicinal herbs that I had cultivated together with Ted, packing them carefully.
In my life, where I had always had to flee like a fugitive whenever I went anywhere, today felt no different from my first true journey.
“Temlin herbs are especially good for recovering from fatigue, you know. I originally brought two flasks—one for Master and one for me—but I gave one away….”
I continued speaking while gazing toward the harbor, where the land was already no longer visible.
“I accidentally bumped into someone and gave it to them. They looked so very tired. I hope they feel better after drinking it….”
As I recalled the man who had appeared so gaunt, my heart stirred again with concern.
I touched the water flask, still warm from the simple heat preservation spell I had cast, and smiled bitterly.
Setikaael did not take his eyes off me.
His gaze grew dark and heavy.
Suddenly, I recalled when Marquis Diapel had come to Terenthium.
Lia had spoken with an innocent face, hoping there would be good news.
Unaware that she herself was the granddaughter he had been searching for so desperately.
And even now….
“I’m sorry.”
“Pardon?”
Lia’s eyes widened in surprise at the sudden apology.
Setikaael, who had apologized without thinking, smiled wryly.
If he truly meant it, he should turn the ship around now and inform Lia that the man they had collided with earlier was family, then send her on her way….
Unfortunately, he felt not the slightest inclination to do so.

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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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