Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 251

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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 the Saint’s arrow struck him, Lia had said something.
That he was already loving her the way an ordinary human would—willing to hurt in her place, willing to weep for her.
At that moment, Setikaael had thought perhaps he truly was capable of such love.
But.
‘No… it seems that wasn’t the case after all.’
Just hours ago, the moment he reunited with Lia, he understood.
And from that instant, only one thought had consumed Setikaael.
This time, he would never lose Lia.
In a past so distant he couldn’t remember it, he had desperately yearned for a world filled with pure evil and dreamed of becoming the god who ruled over it.
But such aspirations had become utterly meaningless before a life spent with Lia.
So he had devised a plan to leave the Empire immediately, concealing all the truth.
From Lia’s family, from the Saint who might reveal Lia’s identity, and from… the man Lia loved.
Perhaps that was why, like a bond he could never sever, he had hesitated in an uncharacteristic way while watching Grand Duke Bellus and Lia together at the harbor.
Lia, the reincarnation of Spleshia, humanity’s first mage, had possessed vast mana from the moment of her birth, and could wield magic through thought and desire alone.
To fully reclaim his own power, Setikaael had placed a seal upon Lia’s heart.
Yet whenever young Lia experienced runaway symptoms, even the seal couldn’t contain all the raging mana, and it would leak out in minute amounts.
Each time, Lia’s deep despair and longing would desperately reach for her parents, and through magic, her cries would connect to the Grand Duchess countless times.
But this wasn’t that kind of connection…
Today was the first time Lia had come face to face with one of her parents directly.
If he had dispelled the illusion binding Lia then, Grand Duke Bellus would have recognized his daughter, and Lia would have been able to meet the family she yearned for so desperately.
But what Setikaael ultimately chose was to tear Lia away from the Grand Duke and call her to his side.
Even now, watching the land recede into the distance, Setikaael felt joy far more keenly than guilt.
He was a demon through and through, and perhaps a love like that of an ordinary human would be forever impossible for him.
So Setikaael could only voice the apology from before his disappearance once more.
I love you so very much…
“I’m sorry.”
“Master…?”
“Spleshia.”
Lia, who had only been blinking in confusion at his inexplicable apology, stiffened with a start.
She hadn’t anticipated that the word ‘Spleshia’ would ever leave Setikaael’s lips.
Her shock was brief, but seeing Lia’s obvious discomfort, Setikaael murmured once more.
That name he had once despised and scorned, wishing for a painful death.
It was time to sever this ancient enmity at last.
So he had to address it once and for all.
“The antidote you made—I saw you throw it away, didn’t I?”
“Ah…”
Only then did Lia seem to understand why he had been apologizing so insistently, and she swallowed hard.
Setikaael continued speaking, pretending not to notice her misunderstanding.
“Why didn’t you ask? You went through so much trouble to make it. It could have been discarded by accident…”
“Master, you don’t make mistakes.”
“…Then, why didn’t you question me about it?”
“Question you, Master?”
Lia looked at him with an expression asking if he was serious.
“How could I possibly be angry with you? Besides… it wasn’t that difficult.”
It was a lie.
Using only the meager mana Setikaael had permitted, I had meticulously controlled it through countless sleepless nights to barely create it.
Setikaael knew all of this as well.
The face as he carefully brought the glass bottle filled with pink liquid and shyly handed it over, the wounded expression when he discovered the bottle discarded in the trash—all of it remained vivid in his mind.
Setikaael had lived for countless ages without knowing regret.
Even when he was defeated by the Saint and had his power sealed, forced to eke out a degrading existence, he never once regretted ascending to the human world with dreams of godhood.
But in this moment, he felt as though he were experiencing regret for the first time.
Or rather, ever since he had returned to Terenthium with the young Lia, Setikaael had been plagued by this gnawing sense of futility.
He had simply realized far too late that it was regret.
“I was foolish.”
“….”
“I shouldn’t have discarded it like that. I did it because I was so angry.”
The contempt and hatred toward Spleshia, who had stolen his power, should have ended when he killed that child.
Lia, who had been listening quietly to Setikaael’s words, asked carefully.
“You’re angry?”
“Yes.”
“…At me?”
She seemed worried that she had done something wrong and that he was upset with her.
Though she tried to hide it, fear filled Lia’s face.
This wariness had developed from the abuse at the Orphanage, the persecution by the Beggar Gang children, and the fact that even after coming to Terenthium, she had never lived a peaceful life.
In the end, it was all Setikaael’s fault.
Setikaael couldn’t bring himself to meet her eyes and shook his head.
“No, at myself.”
It was difficult for me to acknowledge my feelings for you.
Setikaael whispered softly, then reached out to brush back Lia’s hair as it scattered in the sea breeze, his fingers grazing her ear and gently caressing her cheek.
From the tenderness of his touch, Lia unconsciously caught her breath, feeling the sincerity in Setikaael’s gesture.
“Master. Do you really love me?”
In truth, Lia had shown no reaction since hearing his confession of love.
Rather, she had acted as though she hadn’t heard it at all.
She had revered and depended upon Setikaael, who had saved her as a child, as her savior, but this was not a romantic feeling.
Moreover, hadn’t she been actively denying her colleagues’ accusations that she was being favored all this time?
It was not easy to acknowledge it now.
If she simply pretended not to know… she thought she could continue living as though nothing had ever happened.
But seeing the atmosphere now, it seemed she could no longer pretend. So Lia asked again, even though she already knew the answer.
Did he truly love her?
“….”
Setikaael stared intently at Lia, whose cheeks had flushed a deep crimson.
She seemed embarrassed after asking the question.
It wasn’t as though she had suddenly developed feelings for him anew.
Because her heart already belonged to….
​
“Master, I really do know someone from House Elrad, you know? I know you won’t believe me, but I actually spent some time with the youngest noble lady at the Orphanage when we were children!”
“….”
“Oh, but that doesn’t mean the person I know is a noble lady. I’m talking about Duke Elrad (Minor). Now that I think about it, isn’t that strange? Why do other people call him cold-blooded? I mean, his face really does resemble Duke Elrad’s, but… Wait, how far did I get in my story?”
“….”
“Oh! So anyway, that person is really from a completely different world than me….”
​
It was the day the Guild executives had arranged a gathering to celebrate Lia’s coming of age and to foster better relations between her and the other Guild members.
Setikaael, who had brought the thoroughly intoxicated Lia back to her dormitory after she’d drunk alcohol for the first time in her life, learned something most uncharacteristic of him through her rambling, incoherent chatter.
Nestled deep within Lia’s heart was a boy she had met in front of the Academy—someone who had shown her kindness long ago.
​
“The truth is, he’s still searching for you.”
​
Yet he can’t even remember the truly important memories.
As Setikaael draped a blanket over the sleeping Lia, one corner of his mouth curled upward.
Learning that she harbored feelings for another man ignited a jealousy that churned within him, and simultaneously, he despised himself for experiencing such an emotion.
So he whispered to her ear like a curse.
“I hope you experience such utter despair that the terrible pain and suffering you once endured would seem merciful by comparison.”
“….”
“But I also hope you remain by my side, knowing nothing, forever.”
It was the most sincere wish he could muster, then as now.
Just when it seemed his hopes would crumble….
Another chance had arrived.
He had abandoned his resolve to become a god himself, along with his desire to destroy the world.
If the world remained at peace, Lia would never discover any truth.
Then she could remain by his side forever, knowing nothing.
In that moment, strangely, he heard something crack in his ears with a sharp sound.
But Setikaael ignored it. Looking at Lia, whose expression was tense and anxious, he murmured that short word—love.
Soon, Setikaael’s cold, frost-laden crimson eyes curved like a crescent moon.
“Yes, I love you.”
Even if this were not an opportunity granted to him, but merely a cruel punishment.
For this heart that could not abandon Lia was, to me, nothing less than the purest love.
He spoke without hesitation.
“I’ll make you happy.”
“….”
“I’ll be your friend, your family, and your lover—everything.”
Though the love Lia desired was impossible, I was determined to keep my promise that things would change from now on.
So from this moment forward, I would shield her from pain, blind and deafen her more perfectly, and let her live eternally in a serene illusion.
Setikaael gazed at Lia’s trembling eyes as he pressed his lips to her forehead and whispered.
“Even if someone dares to take you from me… even if it were a god, I will not let you go.”
Desperately wishing this fantasy would never end.
​
〈IF Side Story〉 End

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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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