Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 34

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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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“We will now proceed directly to the Capital City through the magic circle.”
The moment the mage finished speaking, fierce light began radiating from the mana stones arranged in a hexagonal formation around us.
My eyes widened at the sight of the high-grade mana stones glowing golden, and my body lifted weightlessly into the air.
As I instinctively squeezed my eyes shut against the scattering light, my heart began pounding wildly, growing hot as if responding to something.
Had I stared at the magic circle too intently just moments before? The pattern spun dizzily in my mind, its design becoming vividly clear.
Just as I felt a thirst I couldn’t quite grasp, my feet touched solid ground.
When I opened my eyes, the landscape had completely transformed.
We had arrived in Lunderhil, the Capital City of the Empire.
* * *
“Tsk, of all times for this weather.”
The moment we stepped out of the teleportation zone, Duke Elrad clicked his tongue.
Though she said nothing, Duchess Elrad’s expression betrayed her disappointment as well.
We had anticipated a warm spring day, but the Capital City was shrouded in a gentle drizzle.
Thanks to our advance notice of return, servants from the Duke’s Mansion in the Capital City had arrived with carriages and horses to greet us.
Duchess Elrad wore a displeased expression as she watched Duke Elrad don a raincoat over his formal attire.
“Must you ride on horseback? Why don’t we simply take the carriage to the front of the Imperial Palace, drop you off, and then we can head to the Duke’s Mansion?”
“Then I won’t make it in time for the audience. Don’t worry and get in the carriage. It’s chilly.”
Instead, Duke Elrad urged her along, concerned about her light spring clothing.
‘He’s surprisingly tender-hearted.’
Despite the time constraint, Duke Elrad made sure to help us into the carriage before mounting his horse.
Since we were heading in the same direction but to different destinations, we exchanged farewells before parting ways on the road.
“See you at home.”
“Yes, please take care on your way.”
It wasn’t an especially affectionate exchange—just ordinary conversation.
Yet watching Duke Elrad and Duchess Elrad together, my cheeks inexplicably flushed.
‘No, it’s just because the carriage is so warm!’
While I was unreasonably blaming the thermal magic woven into the carriage’s interior, the carriage began to move.
Though rain fell, it was spring rain—fresh and somehow charming in its own way.
Shortly after, as the carriage passed through the relatively quiet outskirts of the Capital City, bustling streets came into view.
Entering a place where even the air felt familiar, I felt my heart suddenly race.
The headquarters of Terenthium and its first-floor café, located on the most vibrant street in the Capital City, were right in this vicinity.
These were places I knew so intimately I could navigate them with my eyes closed.
‘Well, I did spend half my life in the Capital City.’
In the past, after Duke Elrad departed, the orphanage children and I, having nowhere else to go, initially descended into a small village.
But the small, remote village had nothing to spare for the sudden influx of orphaned children.
Eventually, hoping life might improve in the largest city, we walked and walked, beginning our life on the streets.
Yet even in the Capital City, there were few places where vagrant children could stay.
Naturally, we fell in with beggar gangs, subsisting precariously between legality and illegality through begging.
I was small and had no skills to speak of.
Moreover, being unattractive, I couldn’t even beg properly, which only made the other children resent me all the more.
Yet I could not bring myself to leave the group.
Alone, I felt certain I would simply starve to death.
‘It wasn’t the wrong decision.’
That day when I reached my absolute limit.
The day I first thought death would be preferable.
On that day when rain poured down in torrents, I impulsively abandoned the group and collapsed right there on the street.
No one offered me aid.
If Master had not found me then, I would truly have perished.
I lingered only briefly in that strange melancholy before the carriage crossed a massive arched bridge.
Immediately, the golden Imperial Palace loomed into view, situated at the heart of the Capital City in the distance.
The higher one’s noble rank, the closer their mansion lay to the Imperial Palace, and the Elrad Duke’s Mansion was positioned particularly near it.
Unlike Diana, who had never left her territory, Allen had visited the Capital City mansion several times and raised his voice to tell Diana we would arrive soon.
“….”
For some reason, cold sweat began to bead on my palms.
I honestly hadn’t anticipated they would use teleportation, so I’d thought I’d have several more days to prepare.
‘I’d convinced myself I was sufficiently mentally prepared.’
Unlike when I’d confidently planned this journey to the Capital City, my body felt strangely off.
And when the blue-tiled roofs finally came into view.
‘…I can’t breathe.’
The main gate opened wide the moment the carriage appeared, as if it had been waiting.
Our carriage proceeded through the labyrinthine gardens of the Duke’s Mansion and came to a halt before the wolf statue.
As I descended from the carriage, I felt some relief.
Thanks to the rain, a hazy mist obscured the spire where I had died, rendering it indistinct.
Hurrying into the main courtyard to escape the rain, I saw servants standing at attention as if they had been waiting.
Beyond them lay a massive spiral staircase and a ceiling so lofty I would need to crane my neck almost entirely backward to see it, supported by imposing columns that radiated an oppressive weight. The interior of the mansion came into view, filled with golden chandeliers, antique furnishings, and paintings.
‘This place is exactly as I remember it.’
Though I had grown accustomed to the Duke’s Castle in the territory, this had been my only true knowledge of House Elrad’s residence.
I had visited only once before my final mission, when I accepted a contract to infiltrate Diana’s birthday party, yet the memory remained vivid.
Though a decade or more had passed since then, the mansion’s atmosphere remained nearly identical, preserved by meticulous care.
“Welcome, my lady.”
At that moment, an elderly butler standing at the head of the servants bowed with a flushed face.
“Albert, it has been a long time.”
“Yes. Welcome, my lady.”
Duchess Elrad smiled faintly at his greeting.
In the face of the elderly butler who oversaw the Capital City mansion, I could sense his genuine joy at awaiting the lady of the house.
It was in that moment of scrutinizing his expression.
I stiffened slightly, my gaze drawn to a woman standing rigidly behind the butler.
For some reason, I sensed hostility emanating from her toward Duchess Elrad.
‘Surely it’s just my imagination.’
Her expression was so rigid that I must have simply misread it.
My old occupational habits kept surfacing, urging me to analyze and judge people.
Recognizing this wasn’t a good practice, I shook my head inwardly—but the butler suddenly cried out in a loud voice.
“Ah! So this is Miss Diana! She bears a striking resemblance to the Master.”
Already acquainted with Allen, he greeted him briefly before grasping Allen’s hand and marveling repeatedly at Diana, who looked around nervously.
At his words, the woman standing behind the butler’s gaze also turned toward Diana.
“Miss, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I am Albert, the butler overseeing the Duke’s Mansion in the Capital City.”
The elderly butler smiled warmly and bowed.
The woman stepped forward and lowered her waist in a curtsy.
“It is my first time meeting you, Miss. I am the head maid, Hel….”
“Waaaah!”
At that very moment, Diana suddenly burst into loud tears.
The servants, who had been paying attention to their new young mistress, startled in confusion.
“Diana?”
Duchess Elrad, equally flustered, opened her eyes wide and tried to soothe Diana.
Diana rushed toward me as if fleeing and threw herself into my arms.
“She’s not usually one to cry like this.”
The Duchess, speaking with an embarrassed expression, looked at Diana in bewilderment before calling out to Allen.
“Allen, take Diana upstairs first.”
“Huh? Yes!”
As Allen nodded, the butler quickly took the lead.
“I have prepared a new room for the young miss, so I shall guide you there.”
And as I naturally began to follow the children, the Duchess Elrad stopped me.
“Lia, you stay here for a moment.”
I tilted my head in confusion.
For Diana’s sake, I should have gone with them.
Allen also looked puzzled, but prioritizing Diana, he carried her—who refused to leave my side—to the room.
Once the figures of the two children and the butler disappeared up the staircase, the Duchess Elrad spoke to the woman who had introduced herself as the head maid.
“Helen, it’s been a while.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you always for managing the Duke’s Mansion so well.”
“I have merely done my duty.”
The curt, immediate reply made the Duchess Elrad smile awkwardly.
“With Helen here, I’ve been able to trust and leave things in your hands. So, about this child—Lia… wait, Lia, why does your face look like that?”
The Duchess Elrad, catching sight of my face, asked in surprise.
I touched my face, bewildered.
“Your complexion has turned pale as a sheet. From what I saw before, you didn’t seem prone to motion sickness. Could it be that using teleportation for the first time has affected your condition?”
She mentioned that some people occasionally have adverse reactions when suddenly exposed to such powerful magical waves, and perhaps Diana cried for the same reason, she said with concern.
But aside from the tension, my physical condition was actually at its peak.
Thanks to that, my sensitive ears caught everything.
“Who is that child, anyway, that she came with the Madam using teleportation?”
“But her clothes are a maid’s uniform….”
“Did you see the young lady clinging to her just now?”
The whispers of the maids grew softer the moment we crossed the threshold of the Duke’s Mansion, yet they reached my ears with crystalline clarity.
Duchess Elrad, however, remained entirely absorbed in examining me, oblivious to their murmurs.
“…My lady, I’m fine. I think I’m just a bit nervous.”
I forced myself to speak with studied indifference, mustering every ounce of composure.
The Duchess smiled warmly and gently stroked my hair in understanding.
Yet in that moment, the curious and wary gazes of those around us intensified.

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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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