Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 262

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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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At that moment, feeling wronged by Lucio’s words, Lia laid bare the truth.
“I found out that Darel belonged to you, so I thought… what if…!”
“Darel? You knew back then?”
Lucio was slightly taken aback by this newfound revelation.
And thanks to that, another grievance he’d forgotten came rushing back to him.
“Now that I think about it.”
Lucio’s lips twisted into a bitter smile.
“You suddenly said you wanted to break the contract back then.”
He extended a mana stone he’d created with such intensity it was obvious his heart would suffer—clearly wondering just how much he could torment himself.
I had been so worried about Lia.
So terrified she might suddenly leave somewhere.
Recalling those days when my anxiety had reached its peak, a sigh escaped unbidden.
Watching that reaction, Lia suddenly pouted her lips.
“You seem to hold grudges for quite a while, don’t you?”
“What?”
“Every time you bring up old stories, you say I did this, I did that, and criticize me for being insensitive.”
“….”
It was becoming clear that my earlier comment about her lack of perception had been a mistake.
Judging by how often Lia brought up that very topic afterward.
As Lucio silently reflected on his own error, Lia continued speaking.
“But you just said it yourself—that you were foolish back then and couldn’t be honest. So how was I supposed to know what you were feeling?”
In other words, what she was really saying was that all her past actions that had disappointed Lucio were not her fault, and certainly not due to insensitivity.
Of course, Lucio acknowledged this to some extent as well.
After all, even Lucio himself hadn’t fully understood his own feelings toward Lia back then, and had simply felt hurt, worried, and concerned on his own.
However… he wasn’t entirely without a counterargument.
For instance, when he thought of how she’d rattled off everything she wanted to say in front of the Academy and then wore such a self-satisfied expression that it left him speechless, he still found it absurd.
That Duke Elrad Minor—a talent of the current Foreign Ministry and someone who, even during his Academy days, wielded cutting remarks like a blade to leave opponents utterly defenseless—had been so easily subdued by a young maidservant was something no one would believe.
But Lucio was a perceptive man.
‘If I air my grievances here, I’ll just be accused of holding grudges again.’
Besides, no matter how wronged he felt, appeasing Lia’s mood took priority.
So he was about to apologize, admitting that everything she said was right, that he’d been dishonest and had unfairly blamed her for being insensitive, when—
“You’re older than me, so why can’t you be more generous?”
“…!”
At Lia’s bombshell statement, Lucio’s mouth fell open.
Until he’d recovered his memories, this had been quite a sensitive issue, so being called out on it directly by Lia came as quite a shock.
Whether Lucio knew it or not, Lia clapped her hands together.
“Right! You remember both your previous life and your ancient past life. So doesn’t that mean your mental age is incredibly high? Then why do you hold grudges so long? Does it grow with your age?”
Bombarded by this sudden onslaught, Lucio, who could only take it, barely managed to squeeze out a rebuttal.
“You were holding a grudge just now too. About when I said you weren’t pretty back then…”
“I remember my previous life too, so maybe I hold grudges because of that. Though it’s nothing compared to yours.”
Faced with such logic, Lucio found himself utterly speechless.
Of course, a twinge of indignation and betrayal stirred within him.
When he’d apologized for his age before, she’d said nothing at all—and yet now, suddenly….
But in a way, it was his own doing.
After Spleshia died, there had been a time when he prayed every single day and wished for her next life to be happy.
〈If I too have another life… I hope I’m older than you then. So I can protect you the way you protected me.〉
The reason he’d resented her acting like an older sister when they were only a couple of years apart was that he hated how Spleshia saw him as nothing but a child.
And after the Demon had cut short Spleshia’s life before it could truly blossom.
Growing older alone, he’d come to regret being born so late—thinking that had he been older now, he might not have lost Spleshia so helplessly.
So naturally, he could only hope to be born as the elder in his next life.
‘But I never wished for such a vast difference.’
It felt petty to resent the god who had answered all his prayers, and Lucio was swallowing hard in silence when——
“Feeling quite wronged? Then why don’t you tell me about your ancient past life instead? Who knows? Maybe hearing it will help me remember too.”
Wait—if that happened, wouldn’t we become a couple with similar mental ages?
‘No, if anything, the gap would only widen….’
Lucio had opened his mouth to speak when he suddenly hesitated.
“Hehe. Then you can’t tease me about being old, can you?”
At Lia’s playful words, tilting her head with a mischievous smile, the turmoil in his mind cleared.
Only then did Lucio realize why Lia had deliberately provoked him about his age.
He’d found it strange at the time.
Lia was kind and gentle, lacking in perceptiveness but never one to probe at someone’s wounds—so it was odd that she’d suddenly attacked him like that.
Apparently, she’d seized the moment of his confusion and bewilderment to make him tell the story of his ancient past life himself.
‘She mentioned that memories from her previous life felt like reading a book….’
Her skills as an information broker remained sharp.
He’d nearly fallen completely for her subtle and natural conversational technique for extracting desired information.
Had Lucio not been unusually perceptive, or had he not worked to establish the Information Guild, he would already be spilling ancient secrets.
Especially since he’d even recalled the ancient era by now.
‘She probably orchestrated that too.’
It was refreshing to be manipulated and led astray by someone in this way for the first time.
Of course, it was only because it was Lia that he’d let his guard down….
Lucio tightened the slack strings of his nerves taut once more.
‘Regardless of anything else, I mustn’t slip up about my ancient past life.’
I should warn Diana about it beforehand too.
It wasn’t a past I was particularly proud of.
Above all, I didn’t want to speak of it for fear that Lia, hearing the story, might feel unwarranted guilt.
Now that she’d finally escaped the Demon’s shadow completely and found peace of mind.
….
At that thought, Lucio suddenly found everything remarkably joyful and worthy of gratitude.
What did it matter if he was treated as a long-winded old man?
He no longer had to be anxious and trembling with fear that Lia might leave him.
These moments of exchanging words with Lia felt like nothing short of a ‘miracle’.
“With you here, I can be happy.”
The words I had spoken to Lia in the Duke’s Tower were nothing but the absolute truth.
Lucio gazed at Lia with tender affection as she cradled an armful of blue roses, her eyes radiant, before letting the corners of his eyes droop slightly.
“You’re welcome to tease me. It’s true that I’m older than Crown Princess Bellus, after all.”
“Why, why are you suddenly speaking so formally?”
“On our very first date, I upset Crown Princess Bellus’s feelings, so I thought I should reflect on that. Of course, if the magnanimous Crown Princess, despite being younger, would take pity on me and forgive me just this once, I promise never to show you such an inadequate side of myself again.”
* * *
Ha!
I watched Lucio, who had swiftly discerned my intentions like a fox and hastily shifted his approach, with an expression of utter exasperation.
‘He looked like he was just about to spill stories from the past if I pushed just a little harder…!’
Losing the opportunity right before my eyes was truly frustrating.
Besides, did he really think I’d fall for his sudden act of pity and pleas for forgiveness?
“So from now on, you won’t say anything when I bring up what happened back then?”
…I fall for it.
Seeing the deliberately drooping corners of his eyes, even knowing his intention, my resolve weakened.
I felt a pang of guilt for attacking him about his age just to hear stories of his past life.
“I absolutely won’t do it again.”
“…It’s awkward and strange, so just speak to me like you normally do.”
The moment my permission left my lips, Lucio answered with a soft “Yeah,” and his mouth curved gently upward.
I felt as though I’d been played, but my own lips had already relaxed into a smile.
Above all, the words ‘first date’ that Lucio had mentioned weighed on my mind.
I couldn’t let curiosity ruin such a momentous occasion.
‘Besides, I can always ask Dana about the ancient past life story anyway.’
Diana would certainly grant my request.
Having shrewdly mapped out my plan, I asked Lucio, who was absently toying with my hair as was his habit.
“But where are we going right now?”
Lucio answered.
“That lovely place you went to with another man, leaving me behind.”
…Huh?

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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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