Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 93

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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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The Duke had yet to return from the Imperial Palace, and Taize would never have abandoned the children to leave on his own.
So who in the world was standing before the Duchess’s Bedroom at this late hour?
The thought that it might be an intruder sent me forward with every nerve on edge.
“Who…?”
Just then, the clouds parted and moonlight streamed through the window.
As wind drifted through the open casement, the curtains swayed gently, and soft silver light illuminated the man’s figure.
“…Young Master?”
I froze solid at the sight of Lucio’s clearly revealed face.
Now that I thought about it, I recalled hearing that Lucio had returned from the Academy on the night the Duchess collapsed.
But I hadn’t encountered him for days, so I’d completely forgotten his existence.
“Y-you startled me. Why are you standing there like that? Where did the Vice-Captain go?”
Knowing full well that he moved without a sound, I felt embarrassed by my wariness and rambled on unnecessarily.
But Lucio merely gazed at me expressionlessly.
He neither answered my words nor withdrew his gaze.
An oddly prolonged silence stretched between us.
“…Why.”
Why wouldn’t he say anything? He might as well ignore me and move on.
Yet I couldn’t bring myself to speak, and I couldn’t look away from his eyes either. Something felt strange.
‘No, it’s just because I haven’t been sleeping properly…’
“Whether you’re pretending not to know or truly don’t.”
In that instant, Lucio closed the distance until he was right before my face.
Incomprehensible words followed.
“Making it so you can’t feel hurt or suspicion.”
He exhaled a shallow sigh, and something about him seemed utterly strange.
‘Or perhaps I’m the strange one.’
Exhaustion made me wonder if I was dreaming. My mind felt foggy.
But before I could continue the confusion, I felt something vivid against my face.
Lucio’s long, cool fingers gently brushed beneath my eyes.
“Are you sleeping while working?”
Startled by the sudden contact, I froze, and a quiet voice reached my ears.
“I can’t even tell you to take it easy.”
My ears burning red as I listened to Lucio’s words, I detected an apology woven through them and shook my head.
“I’m fine. It’s work I chose to do.”
“Still, don’t push yourself too hard. Mother wouldn’t want that either.”
“…I’m being careful.”
I lowered my gaze, avoiding the eyes that had met mine, and a sigh scattered across my forehead.
“You’re lying.”
As I looked up, stung by the accusation, he gazed down at me and spoke.
“It’s alright. As long as you’re not going anywhere.”
“…Where am I supposed to go?”
I tilted my head at his incomprehensible words and asked.
Then Lucio suddenly let out a small laugh.
“Yes, stay by my side from now on. Don’t think of leaving without my permission.”
“…?”
Again, his words made no sense to me.
I shook my head inwardly and took a step backward.
It was only then that I realized how uncomfortably close I was standing to Lucio.
“But are you trying to see the Duchess right now? It’s quite late….”
I asked, recalling that he had been standing in front of the Duchess’s Bedroom, and Lucio tilted his head with an amused expression.
“I came to see you.”
“…Me?”
“Yes. When I checked the Preparation Room, Baron Bardo said you had gone to rest for a bit. You weren’t in your room, so….”
I was startled to learn that Lucio had personally searched for me in my room.
“Why were you looking for me? Is something wrong?”
I still wasn’t certain whether the Duchess’s collapse was due to poison, but just in case, the Duke had said he would secretly pursue the culprit.
As the heir to House Elrad, Lucio must be deeply involved in this matter. Perhaps he had uncovered some clue.
But unexpectedly, Lucio simply stared at me in surprise and handed me something.
“This is….”
“You must be tired, so eat while we talk.”
Looking down at the box filled with round chocolates, I was at a loss for words.
“Try one. Allen told me you’re fond of chocolate.”
I had no idea how I had become known throughout the neighborhood as a child obsessed with chocolate.
But considering the sincerity of the person giving me the gift, I reluctantly picked one up and put it in my mouth.
“What’s wrong? Doesn’t it taste good?”
“…What?”
“Your expression… it looks like you want to cry.”
At Lucio’s words, I was startled and reached up to touch my face.
But touching it didn’t tell me what my expression looked like.
I forced a smile and spoke.
“I was just remembering the past.”
“….”
“Thank you. The chocolate tastes good. Then… and now.”
As I finished speaking, a wave of embarrassment washed over me and my head naturally lowered.
Then Lucio spoke.
“Your mother must have given them to you. I ate them often when I was young too.”
Looking at his profile lost in nostalgia, I simply smiled instead of answering.
* * *
Lucio watched Lia’s retreating figure as she turned to leave, saying she should go now.
Even though small, her departing back seemed impossibly tiny.
After all, she was only nine years old now. Yet her body was smaller and more delicate than her age suggested, and I feared that the slightest misstep might shatter her entirely.
Naturally, the weight she carried felt impossibly heavy.
The secrets she harbored alone in the darkness, and the reality that our entire household could focus on nothing but her—all of it pressed down upon me.
In truth, ever since Lia visited Lueje, Lucio had begun investigating the Guild’s security breach, trying to trace where the information had leaked.
But even after re-examining the Tessar Orphanage where Lia had stayed, he couldn’t find a single clue.
By now, her secrets intrigued him far more than the leak itself.
Word arrived that Mother had collapsed at the Imperial Palace.
As Lucio hurried to finish his work and return to the Estate, an urgent message reached him.
I won’t be able to make mana stones for a while. I’m sorry for breaking my promise.
It was a message delivered through the communication device given to someone who had become a VIP in just six months of contract.
The follow-up was brief, but thorough—she even mentioned she would compensate for any damages.
Though Lucio found her more calculating than any merchant he’d met, he was certain her decision was connected to the news about Mother.
“But I never saw this coming.”
How many more times would this child manage to surprise him?
When Lucio returned home and heard the details from Father, he couldn’t help but laugh in astonishment.
‘I was certain she wanted to keep her magical prowess a secret.’
Beyond simply halting the mana stone production, Lia’s decision to reveal her abilities and dedicate herself entirely to crafting medicine for Mother was both shocking and astounding.
And then Lucio realized something—he felt relieved.
He’d expected her to guard her secrets to the end.
But seeing her willing to expose her abilities and exhaust herself to save Mother suggested she wouldn’t vanish without a word one day.
‘Perhaps my own desperation to uncover her secrets was really just an attempt to keep her from leaving.’
In any case, with his mind somewhat at ease, Lucio moved busily at Father’s behest to unravel the mysteries surrounding this incident.
In doing so, he and Lia kept missing each other, though neither intended it.
And only today, finding a spare moment, did Lucio appear before her with chocolate as his excuse.
He was curious.
Did this child, who seemed to see through everything, know his true identity as well?
But.
“Where are you going?”
Before he could properly test her, the moment he saw her tilt her small head in confusion, Lucio found her irresistibly adorable.
It was as though someone had breathed warm air into his entire being—his mood felt strangely altered.
Come to think of it, it had always been this way.
There was no reason for me to feel sorrow seeing this child, yet my chest ached with an inexplicable tenderness every time I looked at her.
‘I’ve never felt this way, even toward blood relatives.’
And more than that—ever since hearing about Mother, I’d felt suffocated by a choking despair, but the moment I saw Lia, it felt as though I could breathe again.
“So it doesn’t matter anymore.”
Whatever secrets she held, whatever thoughts occupied her mind.
Lucio no longer felt the need to justify why he cared for Lia.
* * *
The night I encountered Lucio.
Determined to repay the kindness of those who had given me such sweet chocolate, I poured all my strength into crafting the antidote.
Perhaps my heart had reached the heavens. The antidote I had formulated bloomed into a perfect, transparent rose-pink hue—as if I had steeped the very petals of Splecia itself within it.
At last, I had created an antidote of the highest caliber, neutralizing every toxin without a single adverse effect.
And now.
“…!”
My eyes widened as I scrutinized the Duchess’s complexion with bated breath.
“Her color… has returned.”
Less than five minutes had passed since she consumed the antidote.
The Duchess’s labored breathing had grown calm and steady.
The furrow that had creased her brow from chest pain had smoothed away entirely.
It meant the remedy I had crafted with such devotion was working precisely as intended.
“Her pulse has stabilized as well.”
“Then….”
I gazed at Baron Bardo, who had just finished his examination, my eyes trembling with emotion.
Though his face bore the marks of exhaustion, the Baron turned toward the Duke with a smile more radiant than ever before.
“Her Grace will awaken shortly, Your Excellency.”

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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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