Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 305

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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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“Crown Princess Bellus? Is it really you, Crown Princess Bellus?”
“Lord Maretta, I’m… I’m fine.”
A whimper escaped me. Despite my careful enunciation, my pronunciation still slipped.
And of all people, I had to display such an embarrassing moment before Bianca!
Knowing this reaction would only deepen my mortification, I pressed my face into the Grand Duke’s chest with a tearful expression.
Fortunately, since meeting the Magic Swordsmen Corps yesterday, things hadn’t been quite so unbearable.
Having grown accustomed to this infant body in just two days, I found it no longer taxing when the Grand Duchess changed my clothes multiple times, and being cradled in the Grand Duke’s arms felt remarkably comfortable.
Most importantly.
“As expected of the Grand Duke!”
“We knew you would succeed, Grand Duke!”
When we visited the Magic Tower to show off my transformed state, the mages were surprisingly far more enthusiastic about the Grand Duke’s successful development of this magical potion than about me.
The Grand Duke found himself bewildered by the mages gazing at his adorable and precious daughter as though she were a successful experimental result, and he hastily fled the Magic Tower.
Watching him experience the same predicament I’d endured gave me a certain vindictive satisfaction.
It seemed he also remembered how terribly embarrassed and flustered I’d been before the servants yesterday.
Upon returning to the Grand Duke’s Castle, the Grand Duchess and Askart had already finished preparing for the picnic and dismissed all the servants.
Since I felt far less self-conscious when alone with family, I could hold the Grand Duchess’s hand and freely enjoy the soap bubbles Askart blew for me.
After eating my fill of snacks, I lay upon the picnic blanket spread across the soft grass, gazing up at the sky scattered with falling petals and the verdant trees, my eyelids fluttering slowly.
It was then, as I drifted in and out of sleep, happier than ever before.
“Father, what shall we do tomorrow?”
“Well, there’s so much I’d like to do that I can’t quite decide. Hmm, shall we go swing in the Back Garden?”
“It would be lovely to see small, adorable animals like Lia!”
“We could all disguise ourselves and venture outside the castle for sightseeing. I heard the Empire’s Traveling Theater Troupe has entered the Grand Duchy. Their puppet theater is particularly renowned.”
Even as drowsiness pulled at me and my vision blurred, I broke into a broad smile.
Riding the swing the Grand Duke had crafted with his own hands, seeing the animals, venturing outside to observe the streets and watch the puppet theater—I loved all of it.
I even felt confident I could enjoy the remaining five days with genuine enthusiasm.
But then.
“What if we went to the seaside tomorrow and went swimming?”
The Grand Duchess, who had been quietly listening to the warm conversation between father and daughter, suddenly offered her opinion.
I immediately recalled the outfit I’d seen yesterday.
While other noble young ladies might not need such things, swimming was a fundamental accomplishment for the Crown Princess of Belus Duchy, renowned for its beautiful seas.
The Grand Duchess had shown me a brilliant yellow outfit with waterproofing and buoyancy enchantments, its top and bottom connected, covered entirely in elaborate ruffles—prepared specifically to teach me swimming from infancy.
And she desperately hoped I would wear this adorable outfit.
Even a matching sunflower-shaped hat!
But the outfit looked absolutely dreadful to me, so I firmly refused.
The Grand Duchess appeared visibly disappointed but nodded in acceptance.
‘I thought she’d given up so easily…’
Clearly, that wasn’t the case.
Since the Grand Duchess wielded the most influence in the Grand Duke’s Castle, the moment she spoke, the Grand Duke and Askart immediately nodded in agreement.
“The Grand Ducal House has a private beach, so we can spend time there without worrying about prying eyes!”
“Lia has mastered swimming, but with her body transformed into an infant’s, she’ll find it awkward. So we’ll have to hold both her hands and help her!”
Watching the Grand Duke and Askart grow increasingly animated and excited, Lia’s drowsiness evaporated in an instant, replaced by an expression of sheer dread.
She rolled her eyes furtively and clenched her fists tight.
‘Absolutely not—anything but that outfit!’
* * *
“Father confirmed multiple times that the potion’s effects lasted a week, remember? Yet strangely, on the morning of the third day, Lia’s body returned to normal. Isn’t that odd?”
Askart pouted, genuinely perplexed.
“I was so looking forward to swimming with Lia the next day! But when she took the potion again, it had no effect whatsoever!”
Hearing this, Lucio—who was already reviewing the recording for the seventh time—raised his eyebrows.
“When her body returned to normal….”
“Hmm?”
“It’s nothing.”
When her body had grown smaller, her clothes had simply become loose, which was manageable. But when she returned to normal, the clothes she’d been wearing would have become too tight—that should have been a problem.
The fact that there was no mention of it whatsoever suggested that Lia, unable to bear the embarrassment, had likely changed her clothes beforehand and cast magic to conceal the evidence.
‘If that’s the case, then the potion having no effect afterward would follow the same logic.’
Lucio wondered if the Grand Duchess had failed to notice Lia’s true feelings, though Askart certainly hadn’t.
“Anyway, Father wanted to conduct further research, but Mother firmly stopped him. She said that dwelling on the past would only cause us to miss the precious present, just as I mentioned earlier.”
…So she had noticed after all.
As Lucio quietly nodded in agreement, Askart continued.
“Father agreed with Mother’s words and decided not to use that magical potion anymore. He also chose not to reveal it to the outside world, since there’s always the risk of someone misusing it.”
“I think that was a wise decision.”
To be honest, I was deeply disappointed not to have witnessed that sight with my own eyes.
But Lia’s wishes had always come first, no matter the circumstances.
Lucio glanced at Askart, who appeared to be in high spirits, and asked.
“How many of these recording magical artifacts does the Grand Duke’s Castle have?”
“Tons of them. We’ve been recording since the year after Lia arrived at the castle!”
Askart answered with unmistakable pride.
The fact that they had preserved the entire journey of the young girl who had transformed the dark and gloomy Grand Duke’s Castle into a place of brightness and happiness—watching her grow into the dignified and refined Crown Princess Bellus—filled him with an overwhelming sense of pride no matter how many times he reflected on it.
Moreover, though Lucio was asking in a deliberately casual manner, even someone as oblivious as Askart could plainly see his desperate eagerness to view these recordings.
‘Our Lia really means so much to him!’
Askart smiled brightly, recalling how Lucio had remained utterly motionless, absorbed in the magical artifact’s images as though witnessing something miraculous.
Lucio, recognizing the meaning behind that smile, felt his ears grow slightly warm, but he soon spoke with unwavering confidence.
“I believe recordings containing Lia’s image would be worthy of being treasured as family heirlooms.”
They were that precious—and his longing to see them was something he felt no shame in whatsoever.
At Lucio’s words, Askart asked in an amazed tone.
“Lucio, how did you know? Actually, we were planning to make them family heirlooms too, but Lia jumped up and objected so strongly that we let it drop!”
“Is that so?”
Lucio blinked his eyes wide in considerable surprise at Askart’s revelation.
But soon, a satisfied smile crossed his face.
The frustration and displeasure he had felt during his recent conversation with Nicholas seemed to dissolve entirely.
‘Nicholas simply failed to understand Lia’s flawless and perfect nature….’
Yet Lia’s family knew with absolute certainty that she was a being incomparable to anyone else—utterly irreplaceable and special.
So delighted was Lucio by this truth that he found consolation in the disappointing news that the recorded footage of Lia’s growth had not been designated as a family treasure.
Compared to the bewilderment and exasperation he’d felt long ago when Spleshia had suggested erasing herself from the records—citing that mana was originally a demon’s power and that those who possessed it might face persecution—this was nothing at all.
‘Spleshia should have been praised as much as the Saint, if not far more.’
In the end, he too had opposed the recording and refused to be documented, just as the Saint had chosen to leave no name behind.
Yet no matter how deliberately one might attempt to erase someone’s deeds from history, the flower that Spleshia left behind ultimately became a legendary herb bearing her name.
‘The sun cannot be hidden, no matter how one tries.’
Even now, Lia’s side was filled with those who recognized her radiance.
With that thought, the prospect of preserving Lia’s image for generations to come no longer seemed quite so appealing.
‘Descendants or not, is there truly any need to show them Lia’s adorable moments?’
Lucio shook his head decisively, concluding that it was more than sufficient for only her loving family and himself to witness such precious memories.

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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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