Everyone Was Obsessed With Me After I Became the Youngest Princess Favorite

I felt guilty for opening the secret space without permission, but I had no choice for the sake of my conviction.

Biting my lips, I recalled what had happened a while ago.

〈I’m going to finish up, so Your Majesty, please rest for now.〉

When I ran into Viscount Bardo and Lucio.

I suddenly realized the faint scent of Lucio as he passed by me.

The scent coming from him was the same scent as the guild leader of Darel who had barged into my room the last time.

When I visited the guild or met him in the maze garden, I didn’t notice it because we were far apart, but I remembered clearly the day he came into my room, which was different from usual.

“It was really Lucio…”

In fact, I was somewhat certain, but when I actually saw it with my own eyes, I was speechless.

As soon as I injected magic into the artifact disguised as a book, the bookshelf began to move with a clicking sound. And in the secret place that was revealed, there was a fairly large space that looked like a study.

The reports that were crammed onto the desk and the papers on the wall were filled with information from inside and outside the empire that seemed to have been collected recently, and I also found seal marks used when completing a commission in Darrell in several places.

I couldn’t help but admit it.

“Darrell… Elad.”

Still in shock, I muttered, and only then realized that Darrell was just a different spelling of Elad.

Lucio was really Darrell’s master.

At that moment, my pride as a top agent of Terentium, the best intelligence guild in the empire, seemed to be shattered.

‘I knew he was a swordmaster, but that didn’t mean I knew everything.’

Now that I think about it, I remember wondering why there was a romance novel among the inconsistent books that Lucio was reading.

Why didn’t I notice it before?

The Information Guild often secretly exchanged information through common, popular novels that could be found in any bookstore. The same goes for when each branch announced an emergency. Of course, I didn’t know the details because the encryption and decryption methods were different for each, but any guild would probably handle information in a similar way.

In addition, there were also unique, bossy speech patterns, favorite teas…

Thinking back now, there were quite a few hints, but I only realized them now. I sighed at how stupid I was.

〈So are you going to sign a contract with me or not? I’m a busy person. Can you answer me quickly?〉

〈Is this your house? Why do you come and go like it’s your house!〉

“Ahhh!”

At that moment, the outrageous remarks I had made to Lucio began to come to mind.

Today, I resented my memory because of the dark history that came back vividly.

I barely held back the urge to lie down and cry, and regained my composure. And then I decided to sort out the situation again.

‘Why did they establish the Information Guild?’

If the Duke of Elad had his own personnel to collect information, I don’t know why they created a separate guild.

Looking back on his past, Lucio was a political and cool-headed person.

He took into account all the circumstances, guessed relationships, and calculated the roles and conflicts between countries and people before acting.

So this must have had a clear goal…

“…the throne?”

A sudden thought gave me goosebumps.

Nicholas, who had solved important diplomatic issues in his previous life and suddenly rose to become the next emperor!

Nicholas, the Duke of Elad, had always quietly maintained neutrality in the issue of the throne, as befitting an emperor. So even though I was suspicious, I didn’t make a big connection between Nicholas and the Duke of Elad… … .

“Could it be that the Duke doesn’t know about this?”

So he established a guild without using personnel within the Duke’s family?

There was no confirmation, but it was the most reasonable inference I could come up with when I combined all the information I knew.

Lucio had put Nicholas in the fight for the throne while avoiding the eyes of the Emperor and the Duke.

He probably thought Nicholas was the most suitable person to be the Emperor, considering the various conditions including the revival of Elad.

“Yes. Lucio could definitely do that.”

He was the one who founded the guild while attending the Academy and raised it to the point where it could threaten Terenzium a few years later.

No matter how shattered his pride was, I was also someone who had handled information for a long time, so I was becoming more and more certain.

“Ah…”

Now that I think about it, a new memory came to mind.

“Darel tried to scout me several times.”

Of course, I had no intention of leaving Terenzium, so I rejected him outright, but they kept contacting me.

I was annoyed by his constant pestering, so I warned him, and he said he wouldn’t come if he came to Luezero just once and listened to me.

“If I had gone back then, I might have met Lucio.”

Of course, since I had changed my appearance with an artifact, I had no idea that the guild leader was Lucio.

“Oh! No way…”

At that moment, I remembered that Lucio had called my name, which I had never told him, when I was dying.

“So you knew?”

I didn’t know if he knew that I was that beggar kid back then. But he must have known that the person he was trying to recruit for his guild was the informant ‘Ria’. No, it was more likely that he knew that.

“…”

I had already given up on hearing the answer, but my doubts were resolved. But I felt strange. I was also a little disappointed.

“…I thought you might really remember.”

Although most of my memories of being a beggar were sad and miserable, I considered the time I spent with Lucio to be a pretty good memory. So maybe I was hoping that it wasn’t just my memory.

“Huh, that’s not important right now. You should come to your senses!”

I shook my head and lightly patted both cheeks.

The old stories didn’t matter at all.

The reason Lucio founded the Information Guild was honestly irrelevant to me.

“I’m more worried about how I’ll face Lucio, or rather the guild leader, right now.”

I already revealed some of my abilities when I saved the Duchess, but I also knew that I was planning something else, so what should I do?

“How sinister and strange a kid will I seem?”

Of course, he wouldn’t pretend to know me by breaking the contract, but I felt depressed for no reason.

“Let’s rest for today and think about tomorrow.”

After thinking for a while, I sighed and went back to the secret place and left the library.

I suddenly learned so much that my head felt like it was going to explode.

Honestly, I felt lost and depressed, but what could I do? Tomorrow’s work will be my responsibility, you know.

* * *

Time passed quickly, and two months had already passed.

The mansion was noisy since morning. It was only natural.

‘Because it’s the day Lucio returns.’

The graduation ceremony is still a while away, but the Academy students scheduled to graduate this year have completed all their courses and settled their dormitory life today.

Now that I think about it, it’s strange.

‘Why did you graduate early?’

Of course, Lucio never missed being the top student every year, so it could be possible if he wanted to. However, he was still attending the Academy when I was ten. But I couldn’t figure out why he was coming back to the Duke’s residence a year early.

‘Well, it’s none of my business. Let’s not worry about it anymore.’

I quickly shook my head.

In the past two months, I’ve only met Lucio, the guildmaster of Darrell, once, not the young master I serve.

Originally, we were supposed to meet four more times, but we kept putting it off and finally met.

After much thought, this was the conclusion I came to.

〈I think I should break the contract… I know there’s still time left on the contract, but instead, I made five times the amount of magic stones for a month, including the time off work, so I’ll take this…〉

〈Ha…〉

〈O-of course I’ll pay the penalty for breaking the contract without permission!〉

As I continued to speak, holding out the magic stones I had worked so hard to make, Lucio’s expression grew more grim.

When I reluctantly told him that I would pay the penalty, even though I was coughing up blood, he sighed even louder.

It was strange. Maybe because he knew the truth even though there was an external magic on him. I thought I could see Lucio’s face in the large, unfamiliar man’s appearance.

〈You made this again like this…〉

〈…〉

〈The deposit is paid.〉

I was surprised by Lucio’s words, tilting my head at the words that I couldn’t understand.

As expected of the successor to a great noble family, he was generous. However, he said that it would take time until he could pay the jewels he had purchased in advance in cash and sell the magic stone he had made this time.

Except for the last month, I was the one who asked for the jewels and I was the one who broke the contract without permission, so I said that I would wait without saying anything.

If I received the full payment the following month, my relationship with Darel would be over.

‘So now I just have to pretend not to know.’

Lucio was also disguised anyway, so he would never pretend to know me.

Just like before, it was best to pretend not to know each other.

That was when.

“Oh! What should I do? I couldn’t sleep because I was so excited last night.”

“The sun and moon are rising at the same time. What if I die from being so ecstatic?”

As I left the room to pick up Diana, I heard the maids’ excited voices.

I felt my heart pounding for some reason, even though I was laughing inside.

Today was not the day that only Lucio would come to the ducal residence.

Grand Duke Belus and Askart were also visiting the Elad Duke’s house.

‘And soon… I’ll be able to see Bianca again!’

There was news that Grand Duke Belus and his wife would be visiting the empire to attend their son’s graduation ceremony.

 

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