Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 272

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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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Not long ago, I had someone assigned to monitor a figure in High Society.
But it seemed Terenthium had also set their sights on him by coincidence.
The problem was that the informant’s abilities far surpassed Darel’s.
Only later did I realize she was a first-class agent of Terenthium.
‘Deploying a first-class agent for such a simple task.’
Lucio double-checked to see if he’d missed anything, but he hadn’t.
I felt Terenthium’s underlying strength anew, and a sigh escaped me, but at the same time, a competitive spirit ignited within me.
Until now, every attempt to scout Terenthium’s informants had failed.
But this time, I was determined to bring her to Darel no matter what.
I would fully acknowledge her abilities and treat her accordingly—even offering extraordinarily favorable terms. With such thoughts, I ordered an investigation to learn more about this agent.
And Bert, who had received a report on her name, age, and appearance, came to me urgently.
She appeared to be ‘Lia’ from the Academy, the girl I had been searching for all this time.
Of course, it could be an alias used for her work as an informant.
Moreover, the fact that the seemingly fragile child had become a first-class agent was difficult to imagine at first glance.
Yet Lucio was seized by an intense premonition that he had found Lia.
So I resolved not to miss this opportunity.
But contrary to my resolve, meeting Lia proved difficult.
I had even revealed a VIP contact code known only to Nicholas since Darel’s establishment to verify directly whether the girl I sought was indeed her, yet she never came.
In the end, the method Lucio chose was.
“Commission Terenthium. Timed with Diana’s birthday party coming up soon.”
To summon Lia directly to Duke Elrad’s Residence.
It was madness. After all the effort spent making Duke Elrad’s Residence as impregnable as the Imperial Palace itself, I was now allowing an agent from a rival information organization to infiltrate.
‘And one who might harbor a grudge against House Elrad at that….’
Lucio wore a bitter smile.
After hearing from Jack about the Tessar Orphanage, a fear had taken root in one corner of my heart.
That the child might resent her father.
That the kindness he had shown at the Academy was merely born of fear.
Though I knew it was only natural, Lucio desperately hoped it wasn’t so.
To confirm this, I had to see her again.
With my resolve hardened, Lucio acted immediately.
I commissioned Terenthium and posted an announcement at the Duke’s Residence about supplementing staff for Diana’s birthday.
Of course, there was only one person to be hired as a temporary maidservant that day.
Thus, ignoring even the Imperial Princess’s command to accompany the delegation from the Liven Kingdom, Lucio remained at the Duke’s Residence to prepare to receive his guest.
And finally, on that day.
“…!”
Lucio held his breath, staring intently at a woman.
Dressed in the maidservant’s uniform of House Elrad, moving with a light grace as she flitted swiftly about Diana’s side….
‘Lia.’
It was truly her.
Though she had grown so much that he barely remembered her childhood, Lucio recognized her at a glance.
Perhaps it was because I had longed to see her again for far too long.
Watching Lia move before my eyes, I lost all sense of reality.
As if my roots had pierced the ground, I stood motionless for quite some time.
I saw Lia quietly slip out of the Banquet Hall, as if she had completed her assigned task.
Lucio, who had unconsciously begun to follow her, quickly stopped himself.
Though I wanted nothing more than to seize her at that very moment, Lia was currently in the midst of executing her mission.
‘For an informant, remaining unidentified is just as crucial as completing the task itself.’
Had this not been a case where Lia was specifically requested and a trap laid at the Duke’s Residence, I would never have suspected her.
But if I were to approach her now….
‘No, how should I even approach her in the first place?’
As the Young Duke of Elrad? Or as the Guild Master of Darel?
In this situation, neither was a favorable choice.
Considering Lia’s current mission, the former would naturally be appropriate, but that would be deception from someone who knows everything.
If Lia accepted the scouting offer, I had planned to immediately reveal that I was Darel’s Guild Master, so I quickly discarded that option.
And the latter would not only ruin Lia’s career, but could also cast doubt on my true intentions.
That I had continued making scouting offers simply because I wanted to find that child I met in front of the Academy.
All the informants from Terenthium I had contacted thus far possessed formidable pride, so such an approach could potentially destroy everything.
Especially if there truly was resentment toward House Elrad, it could give her reason to reject the scouting offer altogether.
“Sigh.”
I had always believed that my ability to remain composed and make swift judgments in any situation was one of my few strengths….
Yet as I observed myself consumed by worry and conflict, Lucio could not suppress a bitter smile.
Suddenly, the memory of first meeting that child in front of the Academy came flooding back.
Those days when she kept catching my eye, and I was confused about how to treat her.
But unlike that time of mere bewilderment, now—even as I felt something still difficult to articulate—my heart found peace.
‘She was alive….’
In truth, I had not even entertained the possibility, erasing it from my mind because I did not wish to imagine it even in dreams, yet deep down I had feared that Lia had died long ago.
So even without new information, I found solace merely in the absence of definitive proof of her death.
But she truly was alive.
The fact brought tears to my eyes with such joy that Lucio raised a trembling hand—uncertain since when it had begun to shake—and wiped his face.
Rather than return to the Banquet Hall, I turned my steps toward the Maze Garden.
I thought to clear my head for a moment.
Lucio’s brow twitched slightly.
I had ventured quite deep into the garden.
Yet I sensed the presence of someone nearby.
At first, I thought it was merely a guest attending Diana’s birthday celebration who had wandered into the garden.
‘The movements of a skilled practitioner.’
I could feel that they had expertly controlled their mana to conceal their presence.
Even Sword Master Allen or Jack could not manipulate mana to this degree.
‘How dare they….’
The realization that a skilled intruder had infiltrated the Duke’s Residence under the cover of the banquet’s chaos struck me, and Lucio’s eyes sharpened with intensity as I spun around.
In that moment, the moonlight revealed the uninvited guest’s face.
“…!”
Lucio, who had been seething with anger, immediately understood.
He could never be angry at the person standing before him.
He had thought she’d already left Duke Elrad’s Residence after completing her task—so why was she here? Had she followed him?
As astonishment and joy mingled within him, Lucio found himself unable to tear his gaze from Lia’s face.
“I-I’m so sorry! I didn’t know you were here… I just wanted to see the Maze Garden… I apologize!”
Lia, equally entranced and staring at him, cried out a beat too late.
Before he could reach for her, she spun around swiftly and fled the Maze Garden.
Even as Lucio remained frozen in place, his empty hand clenched involuntarily—as though he were trying to grasp a shadow itself.
‘Was she truly here merely to sightsee?’
Her flustered apologies, delivered in evident panic, bore no trace of deception.
The mana she had kept perfectly controlled, mirroring her master’s composure, now trembled in disarray.
And yet.
“It doesn’t matter if it was a lie.”
Lucio murmured absently, a soft laugh escaping him.
Anyone would dislike falsehoods, but having operated the Information Guild and witnessed countless people’s duplicitous natures, he had grown accustomed to their deceptions.
Thus, Lucio habitually despised those who spun lies before him.
Sometimes, he even grew weary of his own.
It amused him that someone so coldly rational toward himself could become different around this child.
“Even I think I’m being too soft.”
If I’m already like this, what will happen if it grows worse?
Despite the worry in his murmured words, a smile lingered at the corners of Lucio’s lips.
Perhaps it was his own desperate hope reflected back at him.
‘That gaze….’
In Lia’s eyes as she stared blankly at him, there was no trace of fear or resentment.
Lucio, who trusted his instincts as keenly as his intellect, judged that Lia might harbor favorable memories of him.
‘When we meet again, I’ll know for certain.’
There was so much he wanted to say.
So much he wanted to do for her.
To make that possible, Lucio resolved once more that he would bring Lia to Darel—no, to his side—by any means necessary.
But from that day onward, events began to unfold in ways that defied Lucio’s expectations.

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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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