Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 296

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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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I flashed the Noble Boy a radiant smile, betraying not a hint of embarrassment.
〈But he must be hungry. These minor wounds need treatment, or they’ll fester. And besides…〉
Poisoned by the Demon Beast’s venom, he wouldn’t show it, but the pain must be excruciating.
Thinking of that, I wanted to do more than simply hand him pain-relieving herbs—especially during those agonizing nights, I longed to nurse him through them.
So I did exactly that.
〈What? Why at this hour….〉
〈Just because!〉
Outside the Cave, the cold was incomparable to the daytime chill.
Yet the sky, where thousands of stars flowed like a river, was so peaceful and beautiful that I regretted never having witnessed it before.
The Noble Boy’s flustered reaction at my sudden arrival delighted me immensely!
Above all, no matter how red and swollen my cheeks and hands became from the cold, it was far better than leaving the Noble Boy alone to endure such bitter frost.
But it seemed the Noble Boy didn’t see it that way.
〈Why are you meddling! Pay attention to those creatures beside you instead!〉
〈I don’t want to.〉
〈…What?〉
〈That’s my choice. Right now, you’re what concerns me.〉
Finding his expression of exasperation fascinating, I went to meet the Noble Boy that way.
〈By the way, I’m Spleshia. What’s your name?〉
〈….〉
Though he wouldn’t even tell me his name, night after night I returned without tiring.
I didn’t yet realize that as I spent more time with him, the discontent of those around me was growing—I still believed people possessed far more goodness than malice.
Perhaps.
〈Why are you doing this to me? What are you thinking? I was ready to die. I had no regrets. Just let me die—what exactly do you want from me….〉
With his face buried in his hands, the Noble Boy finally opened his heart, asking me through a voice fractured by overwhelming emotion—and I was so overjoyed by his transformation that I had no capacity to notice the others.
I was that happy about the Noble Boy’s change.
Even beneath his resentful tone, I could distinctly sense the happiness concealed within.
I could instinctively perceive that a flower had bloomed in the heart of a Noble Boy who had never once been loved.
So holding his hand when his suppressed sighs finally escaped, wiping away the cold sweat on his brow before it could freeze—those nights felt nothing like hardship.
Of course, as a separate matter, I no longer had to shiver from the cold every night.
〈You have a runny nose.〉
〈Oh!〉
〈You won’t have to anymore, night after night.〉
〈Huh? But….〉
〈I’ll… stay in that Cave too.〉
The Noble Boy finally accepted a proposal I’d made countless times before, only to be rejected each time.
Though he never did tell me his name, I was overjoyed and immediately seized his hand, pulling him along.
Naively, I thought everything would work out from that point forward.
But contrary to my expectations, the real conflict was just beginning.
Those who had been living with me began openly expressing their resentment.
Honestly, I was bewildered.
We were not a family bound by blood.
We had all met in difficult times, in similar circumstances, and begun living together—so why was I the only one unwilling to accept the Noble Boy?
I had tried to mediate between them, and though I did not fully understand, I had attempted to soothe the anxiety the others felt, only to fail.
“Just tell me to leave.”
“What?”
“Everyone wants me gone. If I just disappear, there won’t be any problems.”
“Why would you say such a thing?”
“Well…”
“Don’t cry. It’s not your fault.”
I grasped the Noble Boy’s trembling shoulders firmly as I spoke.
“I will always be on your side. So don’t think like that.”
The Noble Boy slowly lifted his head as if asking why, and I simply smiled.
In truth, I could not properly explain the reason myself.
Was it compassion, or merely meddlesome concern?
I could not even be certain whether I would have continued to care so deeply if the others had accepted the Noble Boy easily.
Even then, I was dull when it came to recognizing my own emotions.
Yet it remained true that I could not abandon the Noble Boy to such bitter solitude, and that my heart was troubled now.
That was enough.
I concluded that the only way for the Noble Boy to adapt well to the group was to find a way to detoxify the Demon Beast’s poison.
So I repeated a prayer I had already offered countless times.
That the people of this world would be freed from the Demon Beast’s poison…
That they would be liberated from the suffering of illness and wounds…
When I was Spleshia, I had not noticed it.
But now, my eyes could see it.
Powerful mana leaking from my hands as I prayed with my eyes closed—and how it touched the grass blooming upon the Frozen Ground.
I had known that Spleshia died at a young age.
I had also known that I was compressing memories imprinted upon my soul into a brief recollection.
‘Yet it still feels far too short.’
Soon, the Demon would come, having realized that his power was gradually fading.
And after my death, people infused with mana through Spleshia would appear, holy power would manifest in those never poisoned by the Demon Beast’s toxin, and the war between Castle and Demon would begin.
Even knowing that ending, my heart trembled with worry.
‘What happened to the Noble Boy… to Lucio?’
Contrary to my growing anxiety, my prayer continued unbroken, and soon bloomed into pale pink flowers.
I marveled at the flowers that had blossomed from the frozen earth, and attempted to use their leaves, stems, and roots as medicine.
And it produced remarkable results worthy of the name it would later bear—a legendary herb capable of creating the ultimate antidote.
“Ah, your face…!”
Though uncertain what side effects might occur, the Noble Boy, reasoning that he suffered equally every moment anyway, had volunteered for the experiment—and his condition showed marked improvement.
Overjoyed at finally discovering an antidote herb effective against the Demon Beast’s poison, I saw for the first time the Noble Boy’s refined and delicate features, which I had not properly observed until then.
To think he had lived all this time unable to show such a face because of the Demon Beast’s poison.
Gazing upon the Noble Boy’s handsome visage—so striking it felt as though I myself had lost years of my life—I marveled even as I felt relief wash over me.
I had escaped the Demon Beast’s poison, and with this appearance, I harbored a pure sentiment that I would no longer be rejected by others and could blend in seamlessly.
Of course, upon confirming anew that the boy with those youthful, delicate features was Lucio after so long, I only grew more anxious, dreading the parting that lay ahead.
And just as I had feared.
“So it was you. The one who stole my power.”
Was it the influence of Spleshia, whom I had nurtured?
On that joyous day when the snow melted and pink blossoms bloomed profusely across the Green Field, the Demon revealed himself before me.
Setikaael, who had never once shown me such an expression when called “Master”—a chilling, contemptuous gaze as though regarding a mere insect—seized my throat with killing intent laced through his power.
As my organs twisted in agony and a fierce blizzard suddenly erupted, I swayed helplessly, tears streaming down my face.
It was not from physical pain or fear of death.
Rather, I suffered because I now understood that I had been the target all along.
I rolled my eyes to survey the corpses piled like mountains around me and those who, despite grave injuries, gazed at me with anguished eyes.
They were all people who had willingly given their lives to fight the Demon and protect me.
Just when I thought hope might finally emerge, why had this calamity befallen us?
Even as despair consumed me, I could feel the light of my life slowly dimming.
The Demon, whom I had thought would sever my breath in an instant, hurled me to the ground as I coughed blood from ruptured organs, then turned away without hesitation.
I could not understand it then, but I know now.
“He wanted me to die slowly.”
So that the wretched human who had stolen his power would endure the agony and terror of death for as long as possible.
My heart beat so slowly it seemed it might stop at any moment, and I was in tremendous pain and anguish. Yet I was not afraid.
Rather, I felt a strange gratitude.
Because.
“Spleshia?”
I could see the boy one last time before death claimed me.
Even after detoxifying all the Demon Beast’s poison, I had constantly nagged him for not fitting in with others.
Today, I had wanted to praise the boy for spending time elsewhere alone, as was his habit.
I was grateful that I would not have to witness him die in vain, he who had so painfully reclaimed his will to live.
“You must… live happily.”
My throat was constricted, my body devoid of all strength, yet.
I do not know how it was possible, but I gasped and wrung out my final strength to speak to the boy.
And that truly was my last.
“How… how can you leave me and die like this?”
The boy’s voice, crying out with a deathly pale face, grew increasingly distant.
“If you were going to die like this, you should never have saved me! If you were going to die anyway!”
〈….〉
“Please, open your eyes. Don’t leave me and die…”
I’m sorry.
To the boy who wailed in resentment toward me, I offered an apology in my heart, then recalled my final thought in life and closed my eyes.
“If only you had told me your name.”
Then I would have called it so many times.
And…
I would not have forgotten you.

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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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