Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 7

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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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“My lord.”
In the darkness, Duke Elrad turned his head.
Beneath silver hair that gleamed with an icy brilliance in the moonlight, his features were carved with sculptural beauty, his expression as coldly impassive as always.
Sid, his head bowed, spoke in a voice heavy with despair.
“We’ve searched every orphanage and back alley within your territory, my lord… but we cannot find the young lady.”
Though shame kept his eyes downcast, Sid could sense that Duke Elrad’s face—his master and the proud commander of the Lexion Knights—had frozen into an expression of stone.
“Expand the search radius immediately. It doesn’t appear she’s left the Empire yet, but check the ships that have arrived at nearby kingdoms as well.”
“Yes, my lord. And just moments ago, we received word that the Sorcerer-Knights of Belus Duchy have arrived. Commander Bianca Mareta came personally.”
“The Countess?”
At the news that Bianca Mareta herself had crossed the sea, the Duke’s expression hardened further.
When he had urgently requested aid from the Bellus Grand Duchy, he had expected them to assist readily, but he had never imagined they would send the continent’s mightiest Sorcerer-Knight.
Surely, they must have made this decision because they understood the gravity of what had transpired better than anyone.
Even the Duke, who had maintained the composure of ice, could not hide his unease and exhaled a shallow breath.
Days ago, my second son Allen and youngest daughter Diana had slipped away from the castle under the pretense of attending a festival, and Diana had vanished.
I had raged at my subordinates for their negligence in protecting the child, but at that time, I believed that with the Lexion Knights mobilized, we would find her quickly.
I had thought she was simply lost, and my territory was safer than anywhere else.
But that was arrogance.
I could not believe there existed fools in the Empire foolish enough to lay hands on Duke Elrad’s daughter, yet as days passed without Diana’s appearance, kidnapping became nearly certain.
I had belatedly sealed off the exits from my territory and simultaneously began tracking Diana in secret while controlling information.
Not only to avoid entanglement in baseless rumors, but because if the culprits belatedly realized the identity of the Diana they had taken and panicked, there was no telling what they might do.
‘If only they would demand a ransom.’
As the notoriously fearsome Duke Elrad, that was virtually impossible. They would assume that demanding ransom would invite retaliation.
‘They would surely choose to eliminate her cleanly instead….’
As my thoughts spiraled increasingly toward darkness, I furrowed my brow and shook my head.
I felt the collapse of the icy rationality that had never wavered throughout my life.
I even recalled how I had laughed off the time when Diana had removed the tracking-spell bracelet my friend had gifted me on her previous birthday, complaining that it was cumbersome.
“People never truly understand until misfortune befalls them.”
Now that circumstances had become this dire, I could not help but recall the tragedy my friend had endured.
My only true friend, who had lost a child when it was nothing but a tiny bundle and has suffered in anguish ever since.
Even I, called a cold-blooded man, had believed I understood his pain deeply, but now that such a calamity had befallen me, I felt that agony pierce through me with devastating clarity.
“Taize.”
To dispel the suffocating despair threatening to consume me and to grasp at reason by any means, I called to the knight standing nearby.
At this, Sid, who had been issuing orders to the knights under his command, hesitated and turned his gaze toward me.
“I hear you haven’t slept or eaten for days now. Is this some sort of protest?”
“No, my lord. I am merely trying to find the young lady….”
“Yes. We must find Diana. We must. But in your current state of mind, you’re useless.”
“…I will correct myself.”
At my words, Taize barely suppressed the surge of emotion welling up inside him, his fists clenching tightly.
That a commoner of mercenary origins had become a knight and joined the Lexion Knights was something akin to a miracle.
‘But once this is over….’
It won’t end with mere confinement.
‘I’ll be expelled from the Lexion Knights and stripped of my knighthood.’
Yet if he could find Diana safe, he wouldn’t begrudge his own life.
It was then that Taize noticed Vice-Commander Sid watching him with contemptuous eyes nearby.
A surge of indignation rose within him.
He had clearly believed Sid’s words and thought himself removed from the lady’s escort.
It had all been a trap.
But before a lord who had lost his daughter, every excuse was meaningless.
As Taize swallowed his rage and regret, the Duke called for Sid.
Sid approached immediately, bowed his head, and gazed downward—his eyes gleaming with sinister intent.
“You will begin tracking eastward from here. Taize and I will head west, where the search area is broader. Inform Count Mareta to join us in the west.”
“As you command.”
Sid turned away, the very picture of a loyal knight—yet a faint smirk played at the corners of his mouth.
Though the situation had grown more serious than originally planned, nothing about it displeased him.
After all, Taize would no longer enjoy his lord’s trust.
Meanwhile, the Duke, gazing beyond his domain, thought of Diana—his spoiled daughter.
His eyes were glacial and unyielding, yet his chest churned with worry and concern.
He imagined his young daughter by now weeping, searching for him and her family.
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“Kyaa! Sister, that tickles!”
Diana couldn’t help herself, writhing as she burst into delighted laughter.
Morning kisses on both cheeks, affectionate greetings, and playful tickles to her belly.
I was simply doing what I had once wished my parents would do for me, and seeing her so happy filled me with quiet pride.
Yet beneath my smile, I felt a deep sadness.
The shock of learning the Tessar Orphanage’s secret still weighed heavily on me.
* * *
A few days prior.
After putting Diana to sleep and carefully concealing my presence, I made my way to the Director’s empty office.
Though the orphanage held only defenseless children, the Director locked his office every time he went out—today was no exception.
But for someone who had freely entered and exited noble estates with proper guards and strict vigilance, this posed no real obstacle.
First, I silently erected a barrier to muffle sound around the office and prevent anyone from approaching, then retrieved the needle I had prepared earlier in the day.
The needle gleamed as it caught the moonlight, reflecting brilliantly.
Click, click, clack.
I inserted the needle into the keyhole, manipulated it several times, and lifted the fixed pin of the locking mechanism—the office door opened effortlessly.
‘It’s been ages since I’ve done something like this.’
In truth, I was far more accustomed to masking my presence with mana and entering through windows.
But disabling a lock of this caliber was trivial, and setting up a barrier around the area consumed far less mana.
‘I don’t know what might happen, so I need to conserve as much as possible.’
Though my mana reserves had suddenly increased, my body wasn’t yet accustomed to it, making the precise control I once possessed difficult.
Besides, it had become my habit to use my limited mana efficiently, and this choice reflected that discipline.
“Well then, shall we see what he’s been hiding?”
Entering the Director’s office, I planted my small fists on my hips and let my eyes gleam with determination.
From the moment I returned to the past, I had instinctively sensed that the Director was concealing something.
And I was right. Upon discovering the Orphanage’s operational reports and accounting ledgers on his desk—documents ostensibly prepared for subsidy applications—I let out a hollow laugh.
“Ha, this is absurd.”
It wasn’t as though I couldn’t read. I had learned my letters after joining the Guild, and I had even studied basic accounting under Rope, the capable administrator who oversaw our operations.
There was no way I could fail to see through such sloppy bookkeeping.
“Prices should be even lower now compared to back then, yet he claims to spend this much on our food?”
It was a lie so transparent that even a stray dog wouldn’t believe it.
“Water fees, books, toys?”
And this, while the children wore nothing but cast-off rags scavenged from the village.
“Enough. I didn’t expect any better anyway. But where is the real secret?”
These crude ledgers couldn’t possibly be the true secret the Director was hiding.
I meticulously examined the desk drawers and even their undersides, leaving nothing unchecked.
Yet strangely, I found nothing.
Then a thought suddenly occurred to me, and I closed my eyes in suspicion.
Heightening my mana sensitivity and activating my detection magic, I felt something prickling at the edge of my perception.
Only then did I spot the fingernail-sized mana stone affixed to the lamp.
“…Why would that be here?”
Upon seeing the artifact housing the problematic mana stone, my jaw went slack.
The artifact was enchanted with a perception-distortion spell.
Illusion magic that deceived human perception and cognition was among the most difficult of all mental-type spells.
I never imagined I would discover such an expensive enchanted object in this dilapidated Orphanage nestled in a remote mountain region—not in some noble’s manor or wealthy merchant’s estate.
“Just how much does he have to hide to resort to this…?”
Unable to conceal my bewilderment, I immediately dispelled the magic on the artifact and surveyed the room again.
Then I knelt down and tapped the floor directly beneath the desk with my small feet. I felt a subtle difference from the rest of the floorboards.
Crouching quickly, I pressed down hard on the section my fingers caught, and finally a safe revealed itself.
“…!”
Upon discovering a ledger far thicker than the one before and sealed document files within the safe, I went rigid with cold dread.
The hidden ledger contained the names and ages of all the children who had stayed at the Orphanage before departing.
And beside those names were countless others I recognized all too well…
I had always prided myself as one of Terenthium’s top-tier intelligence operatives.
My ability to read mana signatures and my stealth skills were exceptional, and my hand-to-hand combat was as good as any of my male colleagues, with several simple spells to boot.
But what I was most confident in was my observation and memory.
Thanks to these abilities, I could complete missions flawlessly even when I couldn’t retrieve documents or information.
Which meant I remembered with perfect clarity the names of the criminals who had shaken the Empire with their slave auctions.
“These bastards.”

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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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