Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 57

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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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“There’s nothing to worry about, my lady.”
The Duchess Elrad gripped her trembling hands tightly as she listened to the butler following behind with an umbrella.
Even now, her breath came in ragged gasps, but she quickened her pace further.
The figures of Duke Elrad and Lucio, who had gone ahead, were nowhere to be seen.
Unable to hide her anxiety, the Duchess Elrad finally released a sigh of relief when she arrived at the Dormitory.
Whether due to the rain, there was no smoke visible from the outside, nor any signs of fire.
It must have been a small fire, she reassured herself, yet she climbed the Staircase herself to see Lia’s face directly and confirm her safety. Then she stopped short.
In the Corridor ahead, Duke Elrad and Lucio stood frozen with terrified expressions. Smoke billowed thickly around them.
“…My dear?”
For reasons she couldn’t explain, the Duchess Elrad’s heart sank. She approached with hurried steps and turned her gaze to where Duke Elrad was looking.
“…!”
In that same moment, she saw something unbelievable—a small child standing in the midst of the flames, clutching a dress to her chest.
Then Lia cried out with bloodshot eyes.
“I could have left anytime. I could have gone anywhere!”
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“Fire! There’s a fire!”
“Ahhhhh!”
People scattered in panic, their shrill screams echoing as they bolted from the room.
It was only natural.
Flames had suddenly erupted from within the room.
The maidservants who had been holding me on both sides also hastily released their grip, terrified of the inexplicable fire.
Whoosh!
But while those crowded at the doorway fled, those inside my room couldn’t move an inch.
I had created a wall of flames blocking the door.
The fire that had suddenly erupted spread rapidly.
Amid the searing heat and acrid smoke, they were driven deeper into the room, away from the advancing flames.
I could see the terror in their eyes—the fear of being trapped within the inferno at any moment.
Their gaze converged on me.
I slowly bent down and picked up Bianca’s letter and dress, cradling them against my chest.
Each time fury made my vision tremble, the flames surged violently.
But I understood instinctively.
‘That fire cannot harm me.’
If anything, my own body burned hotter than the flames themselves.
As I breathed heavily, struggling with each labored breath, a terrified voice reached my ears.
“P-please! Save me!”
I turned my head.
A face drained of all color by fear came into view.
The confidence and mockery from before had vanished without a trace, and the sight was almost laughable.
As I let out a scoff, the maidservant’s face twisted with despair, and she immediately began to scream.
“You… you demon!”
A demon? Perhaps she was right.
Holy power held no sway over me, and consumed by rage, I was committing such irrational acts.
I laughed coldly and asked.
“If I’m a demon, then what are you?”
“….”
Seeing them stand rigid and silent, my fury surged anew.
“I didn’t come here to be beaten by someone like you.”
I spoke through gritted teeth.
“I didn’t come back to be tormented by you all!”
The more loudly I cried out, the fiercer the flames grew.
I began to scream as though expelling the fire roiling in my chest.
“You say there’s nowhere else to go? I’ve lived in places that couldn’t possibly be worse. What does it matter where else I go? I could leave anytime. I could go anywhere!”
There were many Guilds that had tried to scout me multiple times.
I could go to the Bellus Duchy, to Bianca.
My memories of this life and my past life tangled together, and I screamed without even knowing what I was saying.
But the rage did not fade; instead, a bitter loneliness pierced through me.
It felt as though I were struggling alone in a place where even if I screamed until blood came from my throat, no echo would return.
That was when it happened.
“Lia.”
A quiet, furious voice reached me.
When I turned, Duke Elrad stood before the door, emanating tremendous killing intent. Lucio was with him.
They looked at me with cold, rigid expressions.
Suddenly, my eyes grew hot.
Tears threatened to spill, though there was no reason for them.
I hastily swallowed my sobs, and even amid my rage, I thought.
Were they angry?
Because I’d set fire to their home?
Was I about to be cast out now?
But I felt no fear.
Only a deep, profound sadness that I might leave without even saying a final farewell to Diana.
Just as I was about to lower my head, unable to hold back my tears any longer.
“Lia, come here.”
I lifted my head sharply.
“It’s dangerous. Hurry.”
The Duchess Elrad, though I knew not when she had arrived, was gesturing to me with an anxious expression.
Her eyes held their usual warmth, and her gentle voice made fresh tears spring forth.
I quickly wiped my reddened eyes and composed my expression.
I did not wish to show such a pathetic sight.
And I meant to speak.
“I’m fine, ma’am.”
But the moment those words were about to leave my lips, my heart suddenly began to pound violently.
As I clutched at my chest where my heart lay, my vision blurred and my breathing grew ragged.
Before I could even realize it, my fingertips had begun to tremble.
An intense heat surged through my entire body, fierce enough to make my hair stand on end.
I couldn’t bear this heat any longer.
“Lia!”
I don’t know what possessed me to hurl myself out through the open window.
I heard Duchess Elrad calling after me from behind, but I didn’t look back.
All I could think of was running like a madwoman, desperate to cool the burning heat radiating from my heart and body.
Whoooosh.
The light drizzle that had been falling gradually intensified, now pouring down as if the heavens themselves had split open.
I threw myself into the torrential downpour.
My entire body became drenched, but I didn’t care in the slightest.
Praying desperately for this agony to fade, I stood motionless in the rain.
A fine mist seemed to rise around me, obscuring everything.
The sound of rain filled the air on all sides.
As I breathed in the scent of rain, a sorrowful memory surfaced.
It was from when I lived on the streets near the Academy.
The Beggar Gang I belonged to often targeted Academy students, stealing their belongings and money.
Since most were of noble birth, I’d heard the children snicker more than once about how these students didn’t seem to care much when money went missing—unlike restaurant owners who would notice immediately.
They even pressured children like me, who only begged, to steal as well.
But I held firm.
Not out of principle or conscience, but simply because I had no desire to do it.
There were times when hunger grew so intense that the temptation to steal bread would visit me, yet I resisted.
Then came that fateful day.
“How dare this beggar girl steal from me? Do you know how much this costs?”
“No, no! I didn’t steal it! It fell on the ground, and I was just trying to pick it up for you…”
Thud!
The Noble Boy grabbed my collar, then threw me to the ground as if he’d touched something filthy.
It happened to be a day when rain was falling lightly, so the ground was dirty and damp.
The boy continued to shout at me, calling me a thief.
But it wasn’t true.
I had seen him drop a fountain pen from his pocket as he passed by the shop.
I hesitated when I recognized him as someone who often cursed at beggars and frightened them, but my concern for how distressed he would be upon realizing his loss was greater.
Yet the moment I rushed over and held out the fountain pen, he screamed that I had stolen his possession.
I couldn’t comprehend it.
If I had intended to steal, why would I have bothered to return it to him?
Unfortunately, it was right in front of the Academy’s main gate, where many students who had come to the shops were present.
Even as I was being beaten, I looked around desperately hoping someone would help me, but the Orphanage children and members of the Beggar Gang who traveled with me had already fled long ago at the sight of my predicament.
The others simply stood around me, watching.
Consumed by sorrow and fear, I suddenly thought of someone.
But I quickly shook my head.
He had no reason to stand up for me, and I didn’t want him to see me like this.
If even he came to think of me as a thief and a liar, I wouldn’t be able to bear it.
But heaven, it seemed, was determined to ignore my desperate wishes.
〈Ah…〉
When I met those blue eyes filled with deep, cold hatred.
I experienced the world crumbling around me.
In that moment, I found strength from somewhere and pushed the Noble Boy away, rising to my feet.
And I began to run.
I didn’t know where I was going, but I simply kept running forward.
Running across ground slicked by the pouring rain, I fell to the ground countless times, but each time I rose and ran again.
Eventually, I collapsed on some street.
Blinking my dimming eyes, I thought to myself.
‘I hope tomorrow never comes…’
And shortly after.
I laughed weakly.
Suddenly, I felt grateful.
If I had parents, they would surely have grieved seeing me like this.
If I had an older brother, younger brother, or sisters, they might have been deeply troubled.
But I had no one.
I was truly grateful for that.
And it was Master who saved me, thinking I would die that way.
Following him into the Information Guild, I did everything I could.
But in the end, I died in vain.
‘But why now.’
Why were those blue eyes I saw in my final moment trembling so badly as they looked at me?
Sensing faint anger and sorrow in Lucio’s gaze, I looked at him in confusion and opened my mouth.
“I actually had so many things I wanted to ask you when I met you.”
How did I recognize you?
Did you truly remember me?
My name… how did you know my name, when I never told you?
Watching my trembling eyes, I let out a small laugh.

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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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