Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 58

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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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Then, all at once, I realized that the current Lucio couldn’t answer a single question of mine.
Nor could I explain why I was standing in this rain.
When I blinked, tears streamed down my face—or perhaps it was merely rainwater.
“Lia, are you alright now?”
Duchess Elrad wrapped her arms around my shoulders, though I hadn’t noticed her approach.
Only then did I realize the scorching heat that had consumed my heart had begun to subside.
I also noticed the mages standing in a circle around me, performing something.
“I’m fine. Everything is fine now.”
Duchess Elrad pulled me into a tight embrace.
I shook my head with a bitter laugh at her murmuring.
“Nothing is fine, madam.”
The moment I opened my mouth, I could no longer hold back my tears.
“I have never been fine.”
“Lia…”
“Is it my fault that I’m an orphan?”
…
“I never wanted this. Yet somehow it’s all my fault… hack—”
I hastily covered my mouth with my hand as I spoke.
Suddenly, a violent dizziness washed over me, and something surged from deep within.
As I retched, my palm grew hot and slick.
What my small hand could not contain—something crimson—dripped down my arm and fell to the ground.
For a moment, I wondered if this was how I would die, staring blankly at the blood I had expelled.
My vision gradually narrowed, and darkness crept in at the edges.
The world spun, and my body swayed.
“Lia…!”
Feeling hands catch me, I surrendered to unconsciousness.
* * *
When Lia suddenly lost consciousness, the Duke rushed over and hastily checked the child’s breathing and heartbeat.
Outwardly, there appeared to be no serious injury, but…
‘Mana runaway.’
Having suddenly unleashed an enormous surge of mana and then abruptly suppressed it, the backlash had caused her to cough blood and collapse—her body must be in terrible condition.
Tellin, the chief mage of House Elrad, spoke with an anxious voice.
“Your Grace, we must treat her immediately.”
The Duke nodded at those words and lifted the child into his arms.
Despite being soaked by the rain, Lia’s body radiated intense heat.
A chill ran through his chest at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t sensed the ferocious surge of mana the moment he entered the Servant Quarters.
It was equally fortunate that Lucio, having quickly perceived the situation as well, had dispatched an attendant to summon all the mages from the Duke’s Mansion in advance.
However, contrary to the Duke’s expectations, the crisis had been contained to this extent only because of Lia’s own actions—rushing out of her room to suppress the mana runaway herself.
Though the mages had immediately deployed mana stones and magic circles to contain the runaway, they were wholly insufficient to control Lia’s mana.
The Duke, carrying Lia, hurried into the Main Building with the mages rushing after him.
The garden was filled with servants who had fled the fire and those who had heard the commotion, yet save for the sound of falling rain, no one dared speak.
The image of that child, tears streaming down her face like morning dew, refused to fade from my mind.
Everyone had been rendered speechless by the sight of the small, trembling girl asking if being born an orphan was her own fault.
They could scarcely believe the cruelty they themselves had inflicted upon her all this time—the neglect, the rejection.
Jack, who had arrived after learning the news, stood with clenched fists, staring at the place where Lia had vanished.
He wanted nothing more than to rush into the Main Building and confirm she was safe, yet he had no right to do so.
The guilt of having done nothing while Lia reached such a state weighed heavily upon him, but even now, there was nothing he could do for her.
It was then.
“Young Master, what are you doing out here? Please, come inside….”
Like Jack, Lucio stood motionless in the downpour, and his attendant shifted nervously from foot to foot.
Only then did Jack turn to look at Lucio, and his body went rigid at the chilling sensation that washed over him.
The man, radiating a barely restrained killing intent, spoke with icy coldness.
“Where is the Head Maidservant?”
In that moment, Jack felt as though he were hearing the voice of death itself.
* * *
As thunder and lightning split the sky between the torrential sheets of rain, a flash of light illuminated the dark room before vanishing just as swiftly.
“Aaahhh!”
A sharp woman’s scream filled the chamber.
Moments later, hurried footsteps sounded, the door burst open, and the lights came on.
“My lady.”
The man rushed to the bed and grasped the woman’s hand.
The woman, drenched in perspiration, breathed in ragged gasps.
Her pale pink hair clung to her forehead and cheeks with sweat, making her appear utterly delirious.
“Darling! Our baby is crying. She keeps saying it hurts—what should I do?”
“….”
“She’s looking for me. My baby. I need to be beside her….”
The gaunt woman wept, striking her chest repeatedly.
The man held her back firmly as she tried to rush out into the rain.
Like a broken faucet, he could not stem the flow of his wife’s tears, and he bit his lip as though trying to suppress his own sobs.
“I’m sorry. I failed to protect our child… I’m truly sorry.”
“…Your Highness, Grand Duke. Shall I summon Captain Mareta?”
The elderly butler standing before the open door asked carefully.
At this, the man—Kale Bellus—nodded heavily.
* * *
“What is the current situation…?”
Duke Elrad asked, his expression one of disbelief.
Tellin swallowed hard before repeating what he had said moments before.
“It is grave. She is experiencing pain as though her entire body were being seared by fire and pierced by needles. Tonight will be the critical moment.”
“But didn’t you say we could breathe easier?”
When the child was moved, he had said they should be grateful the matter had been resolved to this extent.
But now he was calling it a crisis?
Still, Tellin nodded as though my words held no falsehood.
“It is fortunate, at least. Many lose their lives when their bodies rupture from mana runaway.”
Even when controlling a small amount of mana proved impossible, such outcomes occurred.
For someone like Lia, possessing a colossal mana never before witnessed, this could truly be called a miracle.
Yet Duke Elrad continued to gaze down at Lia lying in bed with an expression of disbelief.
Unwilling to trust the maidservants any longer, he refused to place her in their hands, and Duchess Elrad personally changed the child’s clothes.
Even as Lia lay unconscious, her body dried of all moisture, soft whimpers escaped her lips, and tears streamed endlessly from her closed eyes.
The sight was painful enough to pierce one’s heart, yet she did not appear to be suffering such terrible agony.
‘If only she would thrash about and cry out as she did during the runaway, then I could believe it.’
The child’s quiet groaning, as though bearing her pain alone, filled me with an indescribable desolation.
“Waaahhhhh!”
In that moment, as the door opened and closed briefly, Diana’s wail rang out loudly.
Duchess Elrad, who had entered the room, wore an exhausted expression.
Diana, who had awakened from her late sleep, had come downstairs to the first floor only to encounter Duke Elrad carrying Lia directly.
Allen, who had been waiting in the hall, hastily covered Diana’s eyes, but she had already clearly seen Lia, her front soaked with blood and unconscious.
Diana burst into tears and insisted on going to Lia’s side, but Lia’s condition was poor and required absolute rest.
Duchess Elrad went out to soothe Diana, but from the sounds outside, it seemed entirely ineffective.
Duchess Elrad wiped away Lia’s cold sweat and flowing tears as she asked.
“Is Lia feeling better now?”
“….”
Tellin shook his head slightly, observing Duke Elrad’s terrifyingly frozen gaze.
Then he quietly left to replenish the mana stones of the artifact that aided in controlling mana.
Click.
The door closed, and Duchess Elrad opened her mouth as if to break the heavy silence.
“My dear….”
Duke Elrad, who had been staring intently at Lia, turned his gaze away.
“It’s all my fault.”
Duchess Elrad, her eyes reddened, continued with self-reproach.
“I thought she was doing well. I should have paid more attention.”
The child, who had lived her entire life only in the Orphanage, had adapted admirably in the Duke’s Castle, a completely new environment. So she naturally assumed Lia would fare well even after coming to the Capital City.
She had also believed that since she had openly shown her affection for Lia, surely the servants would care for her well.
It was a naive judgment.
The servants of the Duke’s Mansion were different from those of the Duke’s Castle, and every action taken for Lia had instead become poison.
“It’s not your fault.”
Lucio had already dragged the maidservants who attempted to punish Lia to the Underground Dungeon.
Duke Elrad heard their excuses in full detail and was genuinely enraged.
He could not believe such things had been happening within his own house.
This was not why he had brought her here.
Not to have her beaten and tormented as the child had said—he had not extended his hand for that.
“But…”
Watching his wife shake her head while biting her lip, Duke Elrad could discern the words she couldn’t bring herself to voice.
〈I could have left anytime. I could have gone anywhere!〉
She was surely recalling the child’s desperate cry.
Duke Elrad himself couldn’t escape those words—they echoed relentlessly in his mind.
“Sigh.”
The Duke exhaled a long breath, then ran his dry hands over his face before speaking.
“All this time, I couldn’t fathom why this clever girl refused my patronage and insisted on remaining a maidservant. Looking at the books she selects, she doesn’t seem entirely disinterested in her studies. To be honest, one reason I permitted Diana’s education early was with Lia in mind—I thought perhaps she might learn something by observing from the sidelines. But now, reflecting on it all, I wonder if she was planning to leave from the very beginning.”

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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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