Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 303
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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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“Really?”
The Grand Duke’s expression, which had been tense with worry that I might refuse, brightened instantly.
Seeing his face, my fear about what came next dissolved, and in its place, my heart fluttered with a thrilling sense of anticipation.
“My dear, I made it in chocolate milk flavor just for you. It will be deliciously sweet!”
“….”
Why had chocolate become my obvious favorite flavor?
I had always wondered about this since my time at House Elrad, but I hadn’t bothered to mention it.
In any case, it was finally time to drink the magical potion.
Gathered in my room—the most beautifully appointed chamber in the Grand Duke’s Castle—and under the expectant gazes of my family, I swallowed the magical potion in one gulp.
Suddenly, my vision swayed as though I were aboard a ship.
“Ugh!”
Sitting on the bed in case of any unforeseen danger, I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut and clutched my head with both hands.
In that moment—poof!
Smoke billowed up around me from nowhere.
“Achoo! Achoo!”
My nose tickled from the smoke, and as I barely managed to open my eyes after coughing, the billowing smoke had already vanished without a trace.
Instead.
“D-Dad? Why are you so big?”
It wasn’t just Father—Mother and my Older Brother were enormous too!
So startled, I didn’t even notice the childish lisp in my own voice.
“No, no, dear. We haven’t grown. You’ve become small.”
The Grand Duke, unsurprised by countless experiments, quickly approached and grasped my hand as he explained.
Only then did I look down at my own hands, having been glancing around at the desks, chairs, and ceiling that now appeared larger and higher than before.
Seeing my small, plump hands, I could newly confirm that my body had indeed regressed to that of a child.
‘I never thought I’d experience this again…!’
Unlike the first time, when I was bewildered without understanding the situation, this time I clearly understood the cause and effect.
Yet it seemed I had harbored doubts about the potion’s efficacy all along, for when my body truly transformed, a sigh escaped me unbidden.
“Siiigh….”
Good heavens. Such a childish sigh!
More frustrated than when I first regressed, I cradled my flushed cheeks.
At that very moment, the Grand Duke beside me, who had been staring intently at my soft, round cheeks with their baby fat, drew in a sharp breath. “Hah!”
“Askart! Are you recording well?”
The moment he called out, Askart, holding a magical recording device, smiled and nodded.
“Yes, Father! I captured everything—from when Lia sneezed with ‘achoo, achoo’ to when she let out that adorable little sigh of ‘siiigh’—not a single moment missed!”
Embarrassed by his words, I puffed out my already round cheeks even further and glared at Askart.
“Oh! Our Adriana is so cute!”
To Askart’s eyes, that expression was maddeningly adorable as well, so he hastily positioned the magical device at an appropriate angle on the table before rushing toward me.
I thought I had forgotten all about it by now.
But seeing me with my small face and tiny hands and feet, the memories of those childhood days when Askart had waited eagerly for his younger sister came flooding back, and he lost all composure.
He touched my soft, pale cheeks, savored the impossibly small and squishy sensation of my hands, and cried out in delight.
“You really are like a doll! But you’re so warm and soft!”
The Grand Duke, delighted by his son’s joy, suddenly realized that the one person who should be moved to tears by the sight of Lia was conspicuously silent.
“My dear?”
The Grand Duchess stood with both hands covering her mouth, her gaze fixed on her husband and children.
Observing her trembling hands, reddened eyes, and the rapid rise and fall of her chest, the Grand Duke understood that she had been overwhelmed by memories of those bygone days—emotions too profound for words.
It was only natural.
Adriana was a precious child born long after Askart’s arrival into the world.
And from the moment of conception through her birth, there had been so much turmoil.
Because the child’s magical essence was so vast, the Grand Duchess had endured tremendous suffering, and the Grand Duke had been forced to purge the Demon Worshippers to secure the Duchy’s independence from the Empire while remaining vigilant against the Emperor.
Yet none of that had truly been suffering.
While the Grand Duke and his son had ventured to Snow Mountain in search of snow flowers, labor had begun—and the Demon Worshippers, whom they believed to have been eradicated, had abducted their precious daughter. It was something neither of them could have imagined in their darkest nightmares.
Robbed of her daughter the moment she was born, the Grand Duchess ceased to truly live from that day forward.
The Bellus Grand Duchy, once filled with endless laughter and peace, descended swiftly into profound darkness, consumed by anguished weeping and agonized cries.
In those days, the Grand Duchess had been so shattered by shock that she could not even begin to comprehend the wounds inflicted upon her family.
Consumed by thoughts of her lost daughter, she had failed to attend to her son’s heart, and though she knew her husband always did his utmost for the family, she resented him for leaving the castle empty.
Though she could not be certain of the calamity’s true nature, since only the Demon Worshippers had earned her enmity, she had naturally directed her fury at the Emperor for ordering their destruction.
In those moments when the entire world seemed her enemy, the person she hated most was herself.
Beyond her failure to protect her daughter, the very fact that she bore the Emperor’s obsession seemed to have birthed this tragedy—and the self-loathing was unbearable.
And now, as she witnessed before her eyes the childhood of her daughter that she had dreamed of and imagined every day, the memories of those slowly dying days flooded her mind completely.
It was then.
“Mother!”
A sweet and lovely voice drew the Grand Duchess from her depths of regret into the light.
As the Grand Duchess blinked and hesitated, she saw Lia with flushed cheeks extending both hands toward her.
“Please hold me.”
Just as on that day when she had failed to recognize her daughter even with her before her eyes, and had instead wounded her, unable to draw near.
But there was one difference from that day.
The daughter who had once feared that she might not embrace her, that she might speak cruel words again, now harbored not the slightest doubt that she would hold her.
Thump—thick tears that she had unknowingly been holding back burst forth.
Though she had tried not to become a crybaby like her husband and son, seeing her daughter’s reddened eyes as well, perhaps it was easier now to simply accept that they were a family of tearful souls.
The Grand Duchess, weeping yet smiling, embraced Lia without hesitation. And she whispered against her ear.
“I’m sorry, my darling.”
Even after returning to the Duchy, the guilt of having wounded Lia lingered in one corner of her heart, and the Grand Duchess often offered these sudden apologies.
And whenever she did.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying, Mother!”
Lia, poor at lying, played innocent with remarkable skill.
How could she have such an angelic, virtuous daughter?
The Grand Duchess’s heart swelled, and she pressed a kiss to Lia’s cheek.
Then Lia wiped away the Grand Duchess’s tears and, at the same spot, gave her a kiss with a soft smack and beamed with a radiant smile.
Since receiving a kiss from the shy Lia was as rare as plucking a star from the sky, Askart’s eyes widened in astonishment at the sight.
He then raised his hand high and cried out, “Lia, me too! Give me one too!”
Whether it was because I had a baby’s body or because I was caught up in the unusually warm and harmonious atmosphere, I leaned forward and kissed Askart on the cheek.
As I watched Askart, overjoyed and not knowing what to do with himself, return the kiss on my plump cheek, I was smiling when the Grand Duke wrapped his arm around the Grand Duchess’s shoulder and asked in a gentle voice.
“My dear, I did well, didn’t I?”
“Yes, you did wonderfully.”
At the Grand Duchess’s delighted response, the Grand Duke broke into a radiant smile as brilliant as Askart’s and pressed his lips to the Grand Duchess’s forehead.
“Oh.”
Only then did he notice the children watching their affectionate parents, and his face flushed crimson as an apple.
As the Grand Duchess suddenly realized where my tendency to be easily embarrassed came from.
“Adriana, you can’t leave Father out!”
The Grand Duke gave a short cough and offered his cheek to me.
I thought fairness demanded it too, so despite my face turning as red as a strawberry, I quickly pressed my lips to his cheek.
Unable to resist such a precious sight, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, along with my parents and Askart, who had joined in so as not to be left out of showering his little sister with affection, all kissed me on my forehead, cheeks, and everywhere else.
Receiving an endless barrage of kisses from my family, I burst into bright laughter and thought to myself.
It was worth overcoming my embarrassment and drinking the magical potion.
I had no idea that this wonderful feeling would not last even a few hours.
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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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