Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 70

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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 goodness! Aren’t you Duchess Elrad?”
A middle-aged woman approached with a familiar smile, as though they were well acquainted.
“Ah… Countess Petite.”
“It seems you’ve come to visit your son as well, Duchess?”
Countess Petite, beaming as she mentioned visiting her own son, let her eyes dart about with practiced swiftness.
The moment her gaze landed on Allen, who held Diana’s hand, her eyes gleamed with unmistakable interest.
‘This woman truly never changes.’
Though I appeared younger than my memories suggested, I couldn’t help but inwardly laugh at Countess Petite, who seemed utterly unchanged.
I knew her quite well—the mistress of the Petite Family, who now conducted extensive trading operations.
With three daughters to marry off, she was more zealous in frequenting the Information Guild than any other noblewoman in the Capital City.
Years later, when the family’s fortunes would decline sharply and the entire household faced bankruptcy, she would become even more desperate in her search for suitable sons-in-law.
“Since we’ve met like this, wouldn’t you care to accompany us?”
The Countess asked with an ingratiating smile.
“Ah… I’m meeting my eldest son here shortly.”
“How wonderful! Our son is here too. Since the young lady met our children at the Salon before, wouldn’t it be even nicer to tour together?”
While it was customary in aristocratic circles for children to form connections, Countess Petite’s approach was remarkably blatant.
Just as the Duchess, catching sight of the three similarly-faced girls in bonnets standing behind her, wore an uncomfortable expression—
“Mother.”
I froze as I watched a young boy take his place beside Countess Petite.
Given the location and the fact that I’d already encountered Countess Petite, I’d anticipated the possibility, but I never expected to face him so directly.
“There you are, Kenneth! Come now, pay your respects to Duchess Elrad.”
“Good day to you, madam. I am Kenneth Petite, one year Lucio’s junior. It is an honor to make your acquaintance.”
At the Countess’s words, the boy straightened his posture and bowed with practiced humility.
At the mention of Lucio’s name, the Duchess’s expression softened considerably.
The boy smiled politely and addressed Allen and Diana as well.
“So you are Lucio’s siblings! I heard you had come to the Capital City.”
He spoke as though he shared a deep bond with Lucio, and seeming eager to display the affection of an older brother with three younger sisters, he bent his knees and offered Diana a tender expression.
Watching him from right beside me, I clenched my fists.
Kenneth Petite. He was that very boy who had falsely accused me of theft and humiliated me.
To be honest, he appeared quite gentlemanly and respectable—the very image of a noble heir.
But knowing his true nature as I did, every gesture of his made my skin crawl.
Fortunately, Allen seemed equally displeased with him; it was clear he wished Diana would accept the greeting perfunctorily and send the boy away.
“Ugh, I hate monsters!”
Just then, Diana suddenly cried out and clung to Allen.
As Diana acted as though she’d witnessed something dreadful, the Duchess looked flustered, and Countess Petite’s complexion darkened considerably.
In that fleeting moment, Kenneth’s expression was particularly striking.
His face contorted like a demon—eerily reminiscent of when he’d accused me of being a thief.
Just as I felt fear creeping in, he recovered instantly, laughing with forced cheerfulness: “The young lady must be quite shy, I see.”
But as Diana’s cries grew louder and Allen’s expression darkened further, an awkward silence settled over the group.
Moreover, as other noblewomen nearby seized upon the commotion to greet the Duchess, Countess Petite’s face grew slightly rigid at losing her monopoly on the Duchess’s attention.
“Then perhaps we ladies should have a brief conversation. We should have time for that much.”
The Duchess Elrad spoke, unable to completely separate herself from the ladies who were eager to introduce their children. It seemed she had decided to handle them alone.
Then, before those whose eyes still sparkled with anticipation, she spoke with firm resolve.
“Allen, wait for your brother here. And when Lucio arrives, go ahead and look around inside. I’ll follow shortly after.”
As Allen nodded, the Duchess Elrad turned away without giving the others a chance to introduce their children.
Disappointment flickered across the faces of Countess Petite and the other ladies, but they all quickly composed themselves with aristocratic grace.
Kenneth glanced back and forth between the departing ladies and us, and seeing Diana still sniffling, he seemed to think today was a lost cause. He withdrew his attention from us and hurried eagerly toward the ladies, offering to guide them to the most famous café on Academy Street.
In doing so, I caught his cold gaze fixed upon me as I stood awkwardly beside Allen and Diana—it seemed his nature of disdaining those who were not nobility remained unchanged.
“Diana. They’re gone now, so you can lift your head.”
At Allen’s words, Diana peeked her head up and glanced around.
Allen chuckled softly, clearly charmed by Diana’s cautious behavior.
“Well done. From now on, if any strange person talks to you, hide behind your brother. Understood?”
“Yes. I was scared.”
Diana trembled, sniffling as she wiped her nose.
I was momentarily alarmed, wondering if Diana had caught a summer cold.
“Buy me one! The blue one!”
But Diana’s face brightened in an instant as she raised her hand eagerly, pointing to the shaved ice drink being sold at a street vendor near the Clock Tower.
As Allen moved to head in that direction immediately, I hastily stopped him.
“Young Master, stay here. I might miss the Elder Young Master, so I’ll go quickly and return.”
“You will? Then the money is here….”
“Hehe. I’ll treat you, so please wait a moment.”
As I proudly displayed two bulging pouches, Allen and Diana simultaneously gasped with wide-open mouths, “Wow!”
‘What adorable little ones.’
I suppressed my laughter and headed toward the Clock Tower with Jack.
Some of the escorts who had come with us followed the Duchess Elrad, while the children were being protected by the remaining escorts under Taize’s command, as he had instructed Jack to accompany me.
“Jack, have one too. I’ll buy it for you.”
“For me as well?”
“Of course!”
Thinking Jack hadn’t come here just to play, I ordered two blue ones for Diana and Allen, then added red, green, and yellow as well.
There was fun in choosing, and with the heat, I didn’t think any would go to waste.
And I was just about to pay.
“…?”
Suddenly, Jack handed me his coin purse.
As I looked at him questioningly, Jack scratched his head and spoke.
“I don’t need money. You keep it.”
As a friend, it was a remark that made me sigh involuntarily.
I shook my head firmly and pushed the purse back to Jack.
“Jack, we don’t know what the future holds. How can you say you don’t need money? A person’s peace of mind comes from having a well-stocked purse.”
Of course, Jack would live a smooth path ahead, but still, this careless attitude toward money and giving it away to others was problematic.
If I had unscrupulously accepted it and spent it all, what would he have done then?
I clicked my tongue and shook my head, causing Jack to give me a bewildered look.
However, I generously understood that the young Jack would find it difficult to accept advice born from experience, and I settled the bill with my own money.
Since we had ordered a considerable amount, I waited leisurely and surveyed my surroundings.
Directly beneath the Clock Tower, a beautiful Fountain caught my eye.
Watching the water sparkle as it reflected the brilliant sunlight, I felt an odd sensation wash over me.
As a beggar, it was a place I could only ever see in the early dawn hours.
“Jack, do you see that Fountain over there?”
“The Fountain?”
“Yes. See the angel statue on top? They say if you make a wish there and toss in a coin, your wish will come true.”
Before visiting the Academy, Allen had chattered on about all sorts of things, so Jack didn’t bother asking where I had heard such a tale. Instead, he simply gazed at the Fountain again with a distinctly skeptical expression.
Though he was two years older than me, we had both grown up in the Orphanage equally ignorant of the world’s ways, yet he was remarkably clever.
In the past, I had been naive enough to believe anything, rushing there every dawn to make wishes.
〈Please don’t let me go hungry today. I wish someone would ask if I’m okay when I’m sick. I want to sleep somewhere warm… No, wait, that’s fine. Just grant me one wish. I just want to…〉
I closed my eyes and wished with all my heart.
But my wish never came true, and I naturally assumed it was because I hadn’t thrown in a coin, which only deepened my melancholy.
〈Here, a coin.〉
Then one day, Lucio appeared.
My heart nearly stopped when someone suddenly materialized before me, but Lucio held out a coin.
〈Throw it and make a wish.〉
〈Th-th-this is too much money…!〉
The coin he handed me was a gold coin. Not copper, not silver—gold.
But feeling pressured by Lucio’s gaze urging me to take it, my hands trembled as I tossed the coin and hastily made my wish.
Even now, thinking back on it, it was a mad thing to do.
‘With that money, I could have eaten my fill, and the children wouldn’t have given me dirty looks—I could have slept comfortably.’
At the time, I was too startled by the gold coin I’d never seen before, and my heart was pounding so frantically from throwing it into the Fountain that I hadn’t thought it through.
Why someone living in the Academy Dormitory would appear in that place at such an hour remained a mystery.
“Do you want to try it too?”
Jack broke through my reverie with that question.
I shook my head and spoke with cynicism.
“It’s all superstition.”
Even after wishing with a gold coin, my desire never came to pass.
My wish to meet family—whether parents, siblings, or even distant relatives—remained unfulfilled.

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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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