Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 61

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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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‘Either the Butler or the Head Maidservant. I had especially suspected the Head Maidservant….’
I had been observing the Head Maidservant carefully all this time, but since her movements rarely overlapped with others and she was so cautious, I could hardly find anything suspicious. Then yesterday, the same incident occurred.
Yet Lucio had punished her.
I couldn’t tell if he had discovered some suspicious trace, or if he was simply holding her accountable for negligent management.
‘Still, at least something good came of it.’
I wasn’t sure how long her confinement would last, but in the meantime, I would be able to observe the servants’ movements in detail.
However, I was a bit worried that Duchess Elrad’s administrative duties and the Estate management might become difficult.
Setting aside suspicions, she had been the one who reliably assisted the Duchess.
I was just resolving to help as much as I could from her side when suddenly the outside grew noisy.
Perking up my ears sensitively, I caught fragments of voices. Without realizing it, my expression softened.
‘It’s Allen and Diana.’
Hearing that I had awakened, the two of them insisted on entering my room, while the Butler stammered about needing rest—and somehow my heart swelled at the sound of their voices.
Not long after, there came a knock, and the Butler entered, perspiring profusely.
He informed me of Allen and Diana’s visit, and Duchess Elrad looked at me as if asking whether it would be alright to let them in.
My answer was already decided.
* * *
“Does it hurt a lot, sister?”
Diana looked up at me with glistening eyes.
Recalling how sad I had felt last night at the thought that I might never see this child again, I smiled bitterly.
‘Why am I already so afraid of parting like this?’
In truth, when I left the Beggar Gang and even when I closed my eyes for the last time, I had been quite composed about farewells with those I had spent time with. So I had come to believe I was rather strong when it came to separation.
‘I thought I could always brush it off without hesitation and disappear.’
I don’t know why I feel this way now.
“It doesn’t hurt anymore. I’m fine, Miss.”
Even as I waited for her response, seeing Diana with her lip trembling and tears welling up, I hastened to speak.
Then Duchess Elrad stared at me intently.
I smiled awkwardly and said.
“I’m truly fine now.”
Thanks to medicine and recovery magic, the pain in my body had subsided considerably, and my mood had improved greatly.
‘It’s a bit embarrassing that I cried like a child.’
Still, I was relieved that there was no one left to torment me.
Of course, the remaining servants might still dislike me, but at least they wouldn’t openly mistreat me.
“Sister, don’t be hurt.”
“Alright.”
“When sister hurts, Dana hurts too.”
Watching Diana tap her heart, saying it ached there, I felt tears threatening to spill again from eyes that had barely stopped.
But my tears dried up the moment I saw the sullen boy beside her.
“…Um, Young Master.”
“Hmph!”
After radiating his presence for quite some time as if hoping I would speak to him, Allen abruptly turned his head away when I finally did.
It was at that moment when the Duke and Duchess Elrad exchanged puzzled glances.
It seemed Allen found it easier to express his anger openly rather than hide it, for he suddenly glared at me and stomped his foot.
“You! I! Clearly told you! If things get hard! If you need help! Tell me anytime!”
“…I didn’t know something like yesterday would happen either. Everything was truly fine until then. While I was in the library, I barely encountered any of the other servants.”
“B-but…!”
As I watched Allen’s face flush red and pale in turns, the Duke’s expression grew cold and rigid.
“Allen, did you already know what situation Lia was in? Lucio too? Is that why you sent Lia to the library….”
“Well! It’s all in the past now. I’d rather not dwell on it.”
Seeing both the Duke and Duchess Elrad’s faces cloud over with self-reproach and anger at not knowing beforehand, I spoke urgently.
The Duke closed his mouth, apparently understanding my desire not to revisit this matter any further.
I thought I should change the subject quickly, but I couldn’t think of anything to discuss.
It was in that awkward moment, observing Diana’s tearful face, Allen’s sullen expression, and the Duke and Duchess Elrad shrouded in silence.
Knock, knock.
“My lord. Lunch has been prepared… but.”
The Butler spoke in a hushed, tentative voice, apparently sensing the uncomfortable atmosphere.
My heart ached seeing the elderly man shrink back, reading the room so carefully.
Moreover, to express gratitude for him clearing the tension at just the right moment, I quickly opened my mouth as if yawning and covered it with my hand.
“Yawn.”
“Lia, are you tired?”
“Yes….”
I nodded slowly.
In truth, while the pain had only subsided, my body wasn’t in particularly good condition. It felt as though the medicine was making me slightly hazy.
“Will you be alright alone?”
“Of course. Please don’t worry and go eat.”
“Hmm….”
The Duchess Elrad seemed reluctant to leave me alone, but as she watched my eyes growing drowsy, she nodded.
She then took the hands of Allen and Diana, who still seemed to have much more to say and were huffing indignantly.
Diana looked at me with tearful eyes, gently patted my blanket, and whispered, “Sister, I’ll be back after eating!”
Everyone left, and quiet silence descended.
The events of last night suddenly felt like a dream, and I sank into deep slumber.
* * *
“Allen. When did you find out about Lia’s situation?”
As soon as they stepped into the Corridor, the Duke asked with a hardened expression.
Allen hesitated for a moment before beginning to speak.
“Well… it wasn’t long ago. From the day Lia started working in the library.”
Allen carefully revealed that in fact, the maidservants had sent Lia to clean the Main Library first, before she was put in charge of managing it.
He had thought he knew enough of what had transpired through Lucio’s reports.
The Duke realized he had still been arrogant.
On the other hand, knowing well the cold and sharp personality of his eldest son, he thought it was fortunate that he had given Lucio a heads-up about Lia’s situation beforehand.
“Brother!”
At that moment, Allen spotted Lucio at the end of the corridor.
Lucio was just ascending the staircase and entering the corridor.
“What brings you here?”
This place was far removed from his room, let alone the library where he typically spent his time.
It was when Duke Elrad regarded Lucio with a peculiar expression.
“Don’t tell me you’re planning to have tea time again today?”
Duchess Elrad beside him asked with an animated face.
Lucio nodded slowly.
“This boy, really. Yesterday he suddenly came asking for tea time too.”
Duke Elrad chuckled softly as he watched Duchess Elrad, unable to hide her joy yet deliberately holding back, and her endearing demeanor struck him as charming.
She had always been formal and distant with her eldest son, but now she was finally becoming more at ease with him.
“Does this fellow not know what time it is? Dinner preparations are already complete, and here you are talking about tea.”
“….”
“Tea time comes after lunch. I’ll join you too. I have things to discuss anyway. Come along.”
Following his wife, Duke Elrad, now in good spirits, grasped Lucio’s shoulder and turned him around.
The matter concerning Lia still weighed heavily in a corner of his heart, yet he found it deeply gratifying to see his taciturn son making an effort to draw closer to his mother.
Not merely in his current actions, but also in how he had suppressed his nature and treated Lia with generosity, and in how he had handled this entire incident with such finesse.
Lucio had always been a son to be proud of—a trustworthy heir who had never once disappointed him.
And alongside him, there was the mischievous yet affectionate Allen, and his beloved youngest daughter Diana.
Newly appreciating the happiness his family brought him, Duke Elrad’s lips curved upward in a gentle smile.
* * *
Lucio was inadvertently seized by Duke Elrad and proceeded toward the Dining Room, surrounded by his family.
Though this meal had never been part of his plans, seeing his father appear unusually cheerful and his mother radiating happiness from every fiber of her being, he found it not unwelcome.
‘Besides, the excuse of tea time still remains valid.’
As Lucio thought this absently, a peculiar expression crossed his face.
For Lucio to request tea time from his mother was so unexpected that Duke Elrad had questioned whether the sun would rise in the west tomorrow.
But the reason he had done so was….
〈Wouldn’t it be possible for you to be a bit kinder to my lady?〉
The image of that child’s face surfaced in his mind—terrified yet meeting his gaze directly.
Why had he then agreed so readily without even understanding himself?
And not content with that, he had sought out his mother the moment his duties were complete.
Wasn’t it as though he were being swayed this way and that by a single word from that child?
Lucio let out a small, quiet laugh and shook his head.
He had certainly not followed the child’s words. Rather, through the child, he had come to understand his mother’s heart, which he had not fully grasped before.
Of course, it wasn’t as though he had been entirely unaware.
Being perceptive by nature, he had vaguely sensed that his mother found him difficult and felt a distance between them.
Yet Lucio still vividly remembered his mother’s radiant smile as she handed him chocolate when he was young.
Of course, even then his taciturn nature had prevented him from being affectionate, so expressing himself now was all the more difficult….
Still, if the young maidservant was troubled enough to bare her heart to him, then he ought to fulfill his duty as a son.
‘Therefore, I certainly did not move because of that child’s words.’
He gathered his thoughts once more, then suddenly frowned as he gazed down at the dining table.

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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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