Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favourite - Chapter 97

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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 Head Maidservant gazed upon Lucio while desperately calling out for Duke Elrad.
Though Lucio bore a striking resemblance to the Duke in his youth, the poison coursing through his veins obscured his features, making identification difficult.
And moments later.
The Head Maidservant, breathing in ragged gasps, convulsed violently.
Just as I had been warned beforehand, she suffered the horrific agony of her heart and organs burning from within.
With her limbs bound to the chair, the Head Maidservant writhed in torment and collapsed to the floor, gasping in anguish, yet Lucio remained utterly unmoved by the sight.
Everything was of her own making.
For even this excruciating pain was a consequence of her own choice to accept the poison.
Lucio observed the Head Maidservant thrashing upon the ground with an indifferent gaze, then recalled Lia, who had passed by moments before.
‘Perhaps she has grown somewhat accustomed to me after all.’
The child who once showed signs of tension every time we met now gazed up at me with unwavering eyes.
Today, her eyes even gleamed as though seeking my praise.
And this small child had created the antidote.
Had the antidote not existed, I would have had to bid farewell to my mother despite knowing the truth of the poison.
‘Then what of my father and my remaining siblings….’
Lucio shook his head. No matter the scenario, the outcome would have been catastrophic.
Yet I could not tell Lia that I was grateful for her efforts, nor could I thank her.
The timing of our encounter was terribly inopportune.
I was barely suppressing my murderous instincts for the heinous acts I was about to commit, and a moment’s carelessness might terrify the child who had only just begun to lower her guard.
‘It would be better for her to feel disappointed than to sense something sinister.’
Yet it was I who had hastily fled the scene, and as I recalled the sight of Lia’s face growing forlorn, my mood sank considerably.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
At that moment, the Head Maidservant, her eyes rolling back as she convulsed, let out a piercing scream.
Lucio, who had drawn his blade from his waist, had pierced her shoulder.
As the Head Maidservant’s eyes, which had been on the verge of losing consciousness, momentarily cleared with pain, Lucio posed his question.
“You poisoned the invitation you gave to my mother, did you not? And who else was behind this?”
“Uuuaaahhh!”
“If you refuse to speak, there is nothing to be done.”
Lucio withdrew his blade from her shoulder and this time pierced her thigh.
In truth, it was not a question asked in expectation of an answer.
I had already searched the Head Maidservant’s quarters before the interrogation and discovered the poison, completing my verification.
As the Head Maidservant who had served the Duchess closely from her side, poisoning an object would have been effortless for her.
However, since the poison left no trace when washed away with water, I could not determine precisely how the poison had been inhaled.
Moreover, with the Duke and the children spending time together daily, she would have taken meticulous care to poison only the Duchess.
Then I discovered something peculiar in the Head Maidservant’s actions.
From the moment she delivered the invitation to the Duchess to the moment she burned the confirmed invitation in the incinerator, she had done it all personally each time.
“She may have wiped down other items, but burning the paper would have been the safest method.”
“Kugh….”
At Lucio’s murmur, the Head Maidservant coughed blood despite her terrible agony, unable to tear her gaze away.
“D… Dominic.”
When I called out his name with difficulty, a gaze honed sharp as the finest blade in the world fell upon me with icy precision.
I loved him—the dignified bearing befitting a nobleman, the haughty way he looked down upon others, the way he revealed not even the smallest vulnerability.
“My beloved… if I could die by your hand….”
At my strangled voice, a crack finally appeared in Lucio’s perpetually expressionless face.
Perhaps he might have pierced my heart right then and there.
Instead, as though he’d heard something distasteful, Lucio irritably flicked his ear and swung his blade with sharp movements.
The sword’s edge traced a thin line across my neck—a deliberate choice not to kill me easily.
Crimson blood spattered across Lucio’s silver hair in bright droplets.
“Torture her first, then burn her.”
Taize straightened his spine with chilling composure and bowed his head to Lucio’s command.
That night, screams like those from hell itself echoed ceaselessly from the Underground Dungeon beneath the Duke’s Mansion.
* * *
A few days later, Duchess Fairount visited the Duke’s Mansion.
“Our Lia! Day by day you do only prettier things, and I find myself wanting more—whatever shall I do?”
Having heard from somewhere that I had nursed Duchess Elrad through her illness, Duchess Fairount seized my cheeks on both sides the moment she saw me, delighted beyond measure at my devotion.
“Sister, it hurts!”
“Mother, stop!”
At that moment, Diana and Aiden jumped up and stopped Duchess Fairount.
She hadn’t even pinched that hard.
To the two children’s eyes, it must have seemed as though I were being terribly tormented.
It was only when Duchess Fairount burst into laughter and finally withdrew her hands from my face.
“Madam, please come and sit.”
As though tea and refreshments had just been prepared, Duchess Elrad guided her to a seat.
At her appearance, Duchess Fairount spoke with a broad smile.
“What a relief it is. I was so worried, but seeing you in such good health now.”
“Thank you. By the way, Her Majesty the Empress was quite shocked as well, wasn’t she? To collapse right there in the Imperial Palace, of all places….”
Embarrassment flickered across Duchess Elrad’s expression as her words trailed off.
After regaining consciousness, when Duchess Elrad learned what Duke Elrad had done in the Imperial Palace, she was astounded.
To interrogate not only the servants of other noble houses, but even the attendants of the Imperial Palace itself.
She worried that it was excessive, no matter how much the Emperor’s trust and favor he enjoyed.
“What concern is that? It was only possible because His Majesty the Emperor permitted it all, and Her Majesty the Empress showed no displeasure whatsoever.”
Duchess Fairount waved the fan she held and spoke dismissively.
“Rather, upon learning the full truth, she was even more indignant, so set aside such worries. But still, to think there are such impure elements remaining within the family—the Duke must have much on his mind.”
“…Yes. Still, it seems we’ve nearly rooted them all out now.”
Duchess Elrad spoke with an awkward smile.
Watching her, who was not skilled at lying, I shook my head slightly to myself.
The place of her collapse was the Imperial Palace—and it was a gathering where many noblewomen from prominent families were present, so Duchess Elrad’s incident became common gossip.
Thanks to that, it spread swiftly among the nobility that the Head Maidservant was the culprit.
However, House Elrad, fearing that a sordid scandal would surround the family, manipulated the poisoning attempt incident to appear as though a retainer who disliked Duchess Elrad had been the mastermind.
Fortunately, since the Head Maidservant’s family had been very close to Count Valery’s family, which had been expelled previously, the story was easily accepted.
A family that should have been dealt with long ago had narrowly escaped ruin thanks to the Head Maidservant—a fitting conclusion to the whole affair.
“But truly, her complexion seems even better than before, doesn’t it?”
At that moment, Duchess Fairount examined Duchess Elrad’s face closely and spoke.
“Is it really thanks to that antidote? I heard everyone is rushing to purchase the medicine that saved the Duchess.”
“Well, that’s true, but… they say it will still take time before it can actually be sold.”
The rumor that Duchess Elrad, who had been poisoned with a deadly toxin, had survived after consuming an antidote made from Splecia spread naturally throughout society.
Just as the Guild Master of Darel had said, the moment word spread of an antidote capable of neutralizing any poison, its price skyrocketed beyond measure.
Among the nobility—whether driven by political ambitions or personal grudges—all of whom understood that their own lives were their most precious possession, chaos erupted.
‘The Duke mentioned that even the Emperor had shown interest.’
Apparently, he had deeply regretted not offering Baron Bardo a position at the Imperial Palace.
Yet Baron Bardo himself, now celebrated as a renowned physician, appeared deeply uncomfortable.
He struggled to explain to the mages and physicians who had cultivated Splecia alongside him what had transpired, and above all, he apologized profusely, feeling as though he had stolen my accomplishment.
However, I was grateful to her simply for protecting my secret and refraining from prying further.
Moreover, though this time I had personally infused mana to cultivate Splecia due to time constraints, I had already discovered the cultivation principles.
Though it would take longer, once I succeeded in cultivating it using mana stones, I could produce the antidote again using the formula I had developed.
‘Now that I think about it, the early batches of antidote failing repeatedly does nag at me a little.’
I couldn’t pinpoint the exact reason, but I suspected my impatience had led me to make careless mistakes.
In any case, my heart swelled with the thought that becoming the wealthiest person in the entire Empire might no longer be merely a dream.
“Sister!”
Aiden, his cheeks flushed rosy, held out a cookie to me.
“Ah… now that I think about it, Young Master, I apologize for not eating the cookies you left behind last time.”
On the day Duchess Elrad collapsed at the Imperial Palace, cookies that Aiden had made himself were waiting at the Duke’s Mansion.
But since it was hardly the time to leisurely enjoy treats, I had simply preserved them carefully, and much time had passed.
As I apologized, Aiden broke into a bright smile.
“It’s fine. But this time, you have to eat it for sure.”
“Yes!”
How could I refuse something a kind little child had made with his own hands, and specifically for me?
I answered promptly, and was about to eat the cookie that Aiden was offering right up to my mouth when…
“Crunch crunch.”
I failed to eat it.
“Diana!”
Aiden, who had his cookie snatched right into Diana’s mouth before his eyes, jumped up in protest.
“Why are you eating what I was going to give to sister!”
“Because I’m the one who’s going to feed sister!”
“But this is something I made!”
As Aiden and Diana suddenly began bickering, I stood there at a loss for what to do.
“Diana, you’re mean. You get to be with sister every day, but I… I’m leaving for Drham now.”
Aiden, his eyes glistening with tears and his lips pouting, dropped a bombshell.

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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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