Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 253

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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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Was it relief at my family’s reaction?
A bright smile bloomed across my face without my realizing it.
I wasn’t the only one relieved—Duke Elrad and the Duchess’s expressions also softened, as though they had exhaled a long-held breath.
‘Thank goodness.’
I exchanged glances with Diana and Allen, who seemed equally unburdened, then followed Duke Elrad as he led the way.
Upon arriving at the Dining Room, the warm, convivial atmosphere continued until light appetizers were served.
A moment later.
“My apologies. I’m running a bit late.”
Until a man with luminous silver hair and pale blue eyes—whose striking beauty was on full display today—made his entrance.
* * *
After steadying himself, Lucio stepped into the Dining Room and immediately bowed in apology.
The moment he lifted his head, he witnessed it vividly.
Lia’s family, their expressions strained and uncomfortable, averting their gazes and turning away from him.
“….”
In truth, such a reaction was not unfamiliar to me.
Unlike the period when I had lost my memories and endured their open disdain, ever since rescuing Lia from the Black Forest, her family had consistently treated me with this same discomfort.
Of course, even before losing my memories, I could never have said that Lia’s family held me in any particular affection….
‘But they weren’t this uncomfortable with me.’
At that time, I had been too preoccupied with the hope that Lia would awaken safely to notice.
But after Lia regained consciousness, I could not help but be aware of it.
Perhaps because I myself understood the reason better than anyone else.
In that moment of melancholy, my expression was about to darken without my awareness.
“…!”
The instant I saw Lia’s face gazing at me with those sweet pink eyes, my countenance cleared as though the turmoil had never existed.
The suffocating ache that had been pressing upon my chest vanished in an instant.
‘How did I endure this before?’
The question struck me suddenly.
During the nine years I spent without seeing Lia, I had thought my heart had worn thin enough.
Yet after reuniting with her, I could only wonder if I had always been so lacking in patience.
Even this past week, when I had been too occupied to visit her, felt the same.
Every moment, I yearned to see her so desperately I thought I might lose my mind, and only upon seeing her face now could I breathe properly.
So it was only natural that I marveled at how I had endured those hours.
‘It must be because I confessed.’
The walls I had so steadfastly erected until now had crumbled, and the moment I conveyed the feelings I had suppressed and restrained for so long, I had reached a point where I could no longer contain my own emotions.
And having now recalled just how ancient my interest in Lia truly was—or rather, my love—I could only accept my current state all the more.
It was then.
“You wretch, do you not know what day this is, that you arrive so late?”
Duke Elrad suddenly erupted at Lucio.
“I understand you’re occupied with coronation preparations and such, but on an important occasion like today, you should have arrived early to make ready!”
He raised his voice deliberately, worried that his son—who merely apologized without offering a single excuse—might be viewed unfavorably by his future in-laws.
The Grand Duchess let out a hollow laugh, catching the subtle implication hidden beneath Duke Elrad’s reproachful tone—that Lucio was currently so overwhelmingly busy as the new Emperor’s closest confidant that he could barely catch his breath.
‘No matter how long ago it was….’
When he had once declared with absolute certainty that he would never marry, let alone have children, and that he would never build a family.
Yet he had married on a whim, fathered three children, and now fussed over his eldest son as though he were the most precious thing in the world.
“Ahem, ahem!”
Duke Elrad, as if reading the Grand Duchess’s thoughts, let out an awkward cough.
In that moment, Lucio quickly took his seat at the place his family had left vacant for him.
It was directly across from Lia.
Watching her deep pink eyes sparkle beautifully as they met again, his lips twitched with the urge to smile, but Lucio forced himself to suppress it.
His sharp, keen instincts signaled that now was not the time to grin like a fool.
And as expected.
“….”
“….”
Though the meal was quite satisfactory given all the preparations made for today’s formal meeting, a subtle tension hung over the Dining Room as the truly important conversation failed to materialize.
Diana, eager for the engagement date between Lia and Lucio to be set as soon as possible, picked at her food with an impatient expression even more anxious than the principals themselves, her feet tapping restlessly beneath the table.
“By the way, the coronation isn’t far off—do you plan to attend?”
When the House of Bellus still said nothing even as dessert was served, Duke Elrad finally broke the silence.
The Grand Duke, startled by the question, slowly set down his teacup before answering.
“We plan to send a congratulatory delegation to the coronation. We must return to Bellus soon.”
“I see.”
It was an answer he had already anticipated to some degree.
Had it not been for Lia’s exceptional circumstances, the Grand Duke, as master of the Duchy, would never have been absent from his post for so long.
Duke Elrad nodded and spoke as though this was convenient timing.
“Then while you remain in the Empire, it would be best to discuss matters promptly. Though the discussion was unavoidably postponed, I believe now is actually an even better time to celebrate the occasion, wouldn’t you say?”
To anyone’s ears, it was a clear allusion to the marriage prospects of Lia and Lucio.
Right then.
“Celebrate? What occasion?”
The Grand Duchess tilted her head and asked.
Her manner was so artlessly innocent and infuriating that Duke Elrad, who had maintained an unusually gentle demeanor throughout the meal, could no longer contain himself and frowned sharply.
“What do you mean, what occasion! Of course, the engagement between Lucio and Lia….”
“Even the Former Emperor, who absurdly tried to pair our daughter with his son, has passed away. Is there truly any need to proceed with an engagement?”
But the moment he heard the shameless Grand Duchess’s question, his words caught in his throat.
Duke Elrad knew better than anyone that the House of Bellus had no intention of hastily engaging Lia.
They had even made the ridiculous claim that she was still only nine years old, having spent less than ten years in her parents’ care.
Whether it was because he was a father himself, or because he understood how desperately the Grand Duke and Duchess had yearned for their child.
Though absurd, Duke Elrad could understand their sentiment quite well.
But emotion and reason were clearly different matters.
“That makes no sense whatsoever. You’ve already received a proposal letter! Don’t you know the rumors of these two being engaged have spread far and wide?”
Duke Elrad raised his voice, emphasizing the unreasonableness of the Grand Duchess’s statement.
But his opponent was one of the strongest of the strong—someone who had not blinked an eye since childhood while changing her words, and who paid no mind to others’ gazes.
“A betrothal letter? Was there one? I don’t quite remember.”
“I…!”
“Besides, what does gossip matter? It’s not as though we’ve made an official announcement anyway.”
“That’s exactly why we need to announce it faster!”
Precisely because it remained unofficial, everyone would watch Lia and Lucio’s engagement with keen interest.
They harbored hopes that if things fell through, an opportunity might present itself to them as well.
I could not allow that to happen.
“Keep your promise, Stella! That covenant you wrote yourself and forced me to sign….”
“How persistent you are, Dominic, holding onto a child’s game. It seems you didn’t keep all the promises you made in your own childhood either.”
The Duke, unable to see even a step ahead and having uttered countless words he could not keep, found his mouth closing of its own accord.
The Grand Duchess laughed generously as though it were nothing and spoke with candid sincerity.
“You know as well as I do that you acknowledged that covenant to avoid the marriage arrangement the Former Emperor was orchestrating.”
“….”
How could I not know?
Had the deceased Emperor not insisted on taking Lia as his daughter-in-law, I would not have brandished that covenant so stubbornly.
The Duke exhaled softly and persuaded the Grand Duchess with genuine conviction.
“Regardless of how the engagement came about, the fact remains that the two children care for each other. So what reason is there to hesitate over a betrothal?”
Rather than allowing idle people to set their sights on them, it would be better for both Lucio and Lia, as well as for both houses, to settle the marriage quickly.
Beyond his own selfish desire to unite the two children soon, it was a rational judgment.
The Duke had no doubt that the Grand Duchess, who had endured much discord because of the deceased Emperor before his marriage, would share the same sentiment.
And yet.
“Dominic, you speak as though you’re an old man. Not in our time, and certainly not now—who gets betrothed and married immediately upon liking someone? First they meet, and if they’re incompatible, they can part ways.”
“What, what did you say? Part ways! If you’re going to meet with such a light heart, why meet at all? You should be prepared to work through your differences!”
“That’s precisely why you might meet someone perfectly suited to you without any such effort. Before a betrothal, one can take their time….”
“Take their time, my foot!”
Duke Elrad cried out indignantly.
“You, who fled to Belus Duchy like a thief in the night without even obtaining the Marquis’s permission and then declared you would marry—what right have you to speak?”

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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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