Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 95

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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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It was a night when no one could sleep.
The servants of the Elrad Duke’s Mansion thought that when the Duchess, who had already been unable to rise, suddenly began wandering the edge of death at dawn, they would finally face a great calamity.
But when dawn broke and morning arrived.
Baron Bardo, the Duke’s Estate physician, told the servants who had steeled themselves for the worst: “Her Grace has passed the crisis.”
At the same time, the knights who had been strictly guarding and isolating the Duchess’s Chamber and the Study returned to their posts.
The mansion’s tense atmosphere, which had felt like walking on thin ice, began to ease bit by bit.
“What a relief. Isn’t it?”
“Of course. Honestly, I was really…. Oh, Head Maidservant!”
The Maidservants who had been sweeping and cleaning the Central Hall to do the deep cleaning they hadn’t been able to do for days trembled as they noticed the Head Maidservant entering alone.
But the Head Maidservant, whom they naturally expected to cry out “Silence!” and scold them harshly, merely glared at them coldly without saying a word.
Of course, standing there with arms crossed was even more frightening.
The Maidservants, relieved that they hadn’t received demerits or punishment, tilted their heads in confusion.
The Head Maidservant’s demeanor was slightly different from usual.
The Head Maidservant, who was normally meticulous and never showed a crack in her composure, appeared lost in thought as she gnawed at her fingernails—like someone anxious and uneasy.
Now that she thought about it, the Head Maidservant’s mood had seemed poor ever since the Duchess collapsed.
At first, she naturally attributed it to the unexpected illness that had befallen her mistress, but now her expression seemed even darker.
The Maidservants, who had been glancing at the Head Maidservant in confusion, gained a small insight as they saw a small child descending the staircase.
The young Maidservant who had monopolized the young lady’s favor since the Duchy had shown an unexpected side when this crisis occurred.
They had naturally expected her to cling anxiously to her young mistress and comfort her, but instead she had taken it upon herself to attend to her Grace’s illness.
Moreover, she had volunteered for all manner of errands for Baron Bardo, the physician, and bustled about tirelessly.
Thanks to this, even under the strict vigilance of the Lexion Knights, while even the Butler and Head Maidservant were forbidden entry to the Duchess’s Chamber, Lia alone could move freely in and out.
Of course, the fact that the child had to handle even carrying in a single glass of water alone was less a privilege than overwork, but it was certain that the child had earned the trust of House Elrad.
And while most of the servants of House Elrad who witnessed this pitied the child or regarded her admirably, the Head Maidservant’s position might be different.
The thought occurred to them that her mood might be sour, having been deprived of the duty of attending in the closest capacity.
“Head Maidservant.”
At that moment, Lia, who had descended to the hall at some point, stood before the Head Maidservant.
The Head Maidservant’s gaze as she looked down at the child was indeed cold, as if the conjecture had not been wrong.
But the child, meeting the Head Maidservant’s gaze that could intimidate even a full-grown adult, did not avert her eyes and spoke.
“The master is looking for you now.”
“…Me?”
Lia nodded to the bewildered Head Maidservant and stepped aside.
It was a sign for the Head Maidservant to go first.
The Head Maidservant, whose gaze seemed to waver for a moment, soon took a step forward.
Watching Lia quietly follow behind, the Maidservants tilted their heads in confusion.
The back figure of the child, who had always seemed so quick and obedient, somehow felt very imposing.
* * *
“The Head Maidservant has arrived. I am entering.”
I suppressed my increasingly ragged breathing as I watched the Head Maidservant enter the Duchess’s Chamber.
In the Bedroom beyond the wide-open Reception Room door, the Duke’s family, Baron Bardo, and Taize were all gathered.
Yet the room was eerily silent, as though devoid of all presence.
The Head Maidservant remained expressionless as always, seemingly oblivious to the oppressive weight that hung in the air.
But that composure lasted only a moment.
It was when she caught sight of the Duchess leaning against the headboard, looking perfectly well, that her eyes widened in apparent shock.
“Mother, you’re truly all right now, aren’t you?”
Allen, his eyes reddened from the tearful reunion with the Duchess moments before, asked with a sniffle.
The Duchess smiled weakly and stroked Allen’s head.
“Yes, Mother is fine now.”
Then she turned her gaze toward the Head Maidservant.
“Helen, my throat is parched. Would you fetch me some water?”
“…Yes, madam.”
Once again, a silence descended so profound it seemed one could hear a pin drop.
The Head Maidservant slowly poured water from the pitcher into a glass.
She must have been deeply flustered and anxious.
Yet observing her posture, which betrayed not the slightest tremor, I inwardly clicked my tongue—and simultaneously, fury surged within me.
It was then.
“Allen, you and Diana step outside with me.”
Lucio spoke to Allen.
“You as well.”
And to me.
Though bewildered, Allen sensed something amiss in the atmosphere and, while coaxing Diana—who refused to leave the Duchess’s side—rose from his seat.
‘…I wanted to witness the Head Maidservant’s final moment.’
I had already anticipated this wouldn’t happen, yet regret still gnawed at me.
Dragging my reluctance behind me, I slowly stepped out of the room with Allen and Diana.
And the instant the door closed, there came a sharp crash!
The sound of shattering glass echoed from beyond the door.
Diana flinched at the noise.
I quickly embraced her and stroked her head several times.
And it was just as I hurried to move us farther from the room.
“…Lia, did you know?”
Suddenly, Allen asked with a grave expression.
I hesitated, but deliberately blinked and tilted my head.
“Pardon? Know what?”
“Ah… never mind.”
Allen, his lips pouting, wore an expression of confusion and anguish.
Seeing such a look on the usually straightforward Allen somehow left my heart feeling heavy.
“Young Master.”
“…Why are you calling me?”
“There’s one thing I know for certain, regardless of everything else.”
Having impulsively grasped Allen’s arm, I spoke slowly, hoping my sincerity would reach him.
“Whatever happened, it’s not Young Master’s fault.”
“….”
Allen, who had fallen silent for a moment, soon gave a short nod.
Relieved, I looked ahead and gestured with my chin.
Jack, who seemed to have grown taller in the time I hadn’t seen him, stood in the middle of the corridor leading to the staircase.
“Young Master, you’ve been neglecting your sword training lately, haven’t you? You’re not studying either, and now you’ve abandoned even that….”
Even though I knew this wasn’t the time for it, I deliberately shook my head and spoke, causing Allen’s face to flush red as he said, “Th-that’s!”
Before he could finish, I smiled brightly and continued.
“So hurry along and work hard. Later, we’ll show the Duchess. That Young Master is a splendid knight who will protect her.”
At my words, Allen hesitated, clenched his fists tightly, and nodded.
I waved lightly to Allen as he rushed off and to Jack, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, and once their figures disappeared, I let my smile fade.
Then I turned my body and gazed at the firmly closed door behind me.
* * *
“Say something! Are you even human?!”
Once the children left, the Duchess exploded with the anger she had barely contained and suppressed.
Water dripped from the glass onto the Head Maidservant, yet she offered no excuses.
Her refusal to even deny it infuriated the Duchess further.
The Head Maidservant—someone the Duchess had trusted and entrusted with the Duke’s Mansion for nearly twenty years, whose loyalty to House Elrad she had never once doubted—was the culprit who had tried to poison her.
When the Duchess first learned this truth, she fell into panic beyond mere shock.
But after hearing why she had barely succeeded in detoxification only to find herself teetering between life and death again, she quickly regained her composure.
“No, truly human? How could…”
How could she poison the hands of children who had stepped forward to wipe their mother’s face with their small, fern-like hands?
The Head Maidservant’s viciousness made her shudder.
Perhaps she had thought the Duchess was enduring far longer than expected.
Having decided to use poison once more, the Head Maidservant exploited Allen and Diana to evade the eyes of the knights who guarded the estate like an iron fortress.
She had learned that the two children tended to their mother diligently every night, massaging her and wiping her face, and she seized upon this opportunity.
The Head Maidservant waited for the children at the stairwell landing, where the knights’ eyes couldn’t reach, with water mixed with poison and a towel prepared in advance.
Though the Duchess’s Chamber had its own washroom, it was designed for an adult’s height, so Allen, who found it tedious to draw water each time, gladly accepted it without suspicion.
Taize, watching from afar as the two children struggled to carry the wash water, approached in a single stride and even carried it for them.
And by misfortune, all of this unfolded precisely when Lia, relieved to see the Duchess recovering, had fallen asleep.
The Duke and Lucio, believing they only needed to apprehend the culprit now, had made the mistake of relocating and exchanging reports.
The Duchess, who was barely showing signs of improvement, faced another critical moment from the poison mixed into the water the children brought.
And thanks to Lia’s healing magic, which came rushing in urgently, and the antidote prepared as a precaution, she regained consciousness by the skin of her teeth.
Afterward, once they identified who had entered the Duchess’s Chamber and the circumstances surrounding it, the culprit was revealed in an instant.
Fortunately, Allen and Diana, who had first been exposed to the poison, hadn’t been exposed to it as long as the Duchess, so simply washing it away with water prevented them from being affected by the poison.
But even with Baron Bardo’s explanation, the Duchess’s anger did not subside.
“How could you do such a thing! How could you involve the children…!”
That was the moment.

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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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