Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 18

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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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From that point on, relations between the two families spiraled toward catastrophe.
Barkan grew afraid of fragile things. He dreaded the very idea of having something precious.
“Brother, couldn’t you stay with me today?”
When Bianca’s plaintive words left him unable to answer, that dread deepened all the more.
He understood now—if he lost her someday, the pain would be unbearable.
* * *
Barkan set out at once to find a safe haven for Diana. Now that he recognized the danger, inaction went against his nature.
‘Somewhere with minimal influence from Ability Users.’
But that alone wasn’t the only threat. Any Ability User who discovered Diana would covet her. To prevent such a situation, he had to secure a truly safe place.
He spent the entire day holed up in his office, searching for a suitable refuge.
That’s when Hasen, who’d been watching Barkan carefully, approached and spoke.
“Diana has come to see you.”
“I told you not to let anyone in.”
“But she looked so desperate… wouldn’t it be better to at least hear her out?”
“…….”
“Surely you agree. If you mean to turn her away, shouldn’t you at least warn her so she can prepare herself?”
He was clearly trying to understand what Barkan was searching so earnestly for. Barkan’s brow twitched with displeasure.
Yet moments later, he conceded that Hasen’s words held truth, and nodded.
“Let her in.”
Not long after Hasen left, the door opened.
“Barkan.”
Barkan’s gaze shifted to Diana.
The strange sensation from moments before threatened to surface again, so he deliberately hardened his expression. Then Diana, her face tense, spoke.
“Please don’t send me away.”
Barkan’s face twisted slowly.
“We agreed from the start it would be temporary.”
“But not now. I don’t want to leave.”
“Why don’t you want to leave?”
“I told you—I want revenge on my uncle.”
“…….”
“I understand to some degree why you’re trying to send me away now. But please don’t.”
Her words struck so close to the mark that Barkan felt genuinely startled.
Had she discovered that bestial desire of his? In that moment of shame—
“My Ability is frankly absurd, so you must be wondering if this is some kind of trap. It isn’t.”
Fortunately, Diana had completely misread him. As relief flooded through Barkan, she continued.
“Without me, you’ll find it difficult to confront my uncle. You haven’t figured out what his Ability is, have you?”
Barkan’s mouth slowly fell open.
“Wow, you’re really telling me this?”
“Why shouldn’t I?”
“Well, if you tell me all this, you won’t be able to go back to your family even if you wanted to.”
“Is that so? Then I’ll tell you everything. My uncle is a Dual Ability User. Now believe me—you really can’t face him alone, can you?”
At her exasperated tone, Barkan’s eyes widened in shock.
He had long suspected that Duke Rotwell was a Dual Ability User, hiding a second Ability that wielded darkness.
Diana had just spoken aloud the suspicion he’d never breathed to another soul.
“How did you know I suspected that?”
Diana met his gaze directly.
In her previous life, before she fled the family, Romie had told her this fact while mocking her.
“Do you know why your father died? Because our father blocked Sevar Kardian’s reinforcements from arriving.”
“And you never knew, just used your family like a fool. Your life really is pathetic.”
Later, when she met Barkan, she heard it again from him.
“Before my Ability spiraled out of control, I met Duke Rotwell. When we shook hands, I felt extraordinarily filthy.”
And Barkan, learning through Diana about the Darkness Amplification Ability, spoke with equal certainty.
“I think that’s what I experienced then. Darkness Amplification.”
Diana recalled that time as she spoke.
“When the Great Flood occurred, I learned that my uncle used his Ability on you. That’s why you spiraled out of control.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
“Because I’m from the Rotwell Family.”
Barkan’s jaw tightened. A member of the Rotwell Family—so it would be natural for her to hear anything discussed within the family.
“And for an elite Ability User like you, the moment an Ability is used against you, you’d have sensed something.”
“…….”
“That’s also why I want revenge. My father died that day too.”
Her uncle had deliberately blocked Sevar Kardian, who would have reinforced her father.
“The reason I came to the Kardian Family was… I needed someone to fight alongside me toward a common goal.”
Barkan looked at Diana. In her eyes, her resolve to take revenge on the Rotwell Family became all the more vivid.
After a long moment, Barkan spoke.
“If you stay here, how can you help me? You must have a plan for your revenge.”
“First and foremost, my Ability—which is frankly extraordinary. It will be invaluable to you.”
Diana continued in a confident voice.
“Second, I can be of help to Bianca. You were planning to give me the position of her personal attendant for exactly that reason, weren’t you?”
“Bianca?”
“You don’t know the first thing about her situation. Just how dire things are in your own household.”
He wanted to deny it, but found himself unable to respond.
“…….”
“You wouldn’t know. You couldn’t have.”
Barkan couldn’t meet with Bianca—Matilda had been interfering with their communication all along.
“Bianca is alone right now. She’s a non-Ability User. A member of the Five Major Families, and yet powerless. Only you and I could truly understand how painful that is. There are even servants in your own house who dare to despise her.”
In Diana’s view, Bianca’s situation was remarkably similar to her own. That was precisely why the two had grown close so quickly.
Diana understood Bianca better than anyone.
“Just give me authority over Bianca’s affairs. I’ll stay by her side and put everything in order.”
“……You?”
“I’m good at that sort of thing. The Rotwell Family did it to me often enough that I notice immediately who’s disrespecting Bianca.”
“But our household servants are all rather headstrong—will you be all right?”
“Of course.”
From her years with the mercenary band, Diana had seen it all. Handling household servants was hardly a challenge.
“There’s something I wanted to ask. Do you place great value on honor?”
Barkan answered with the expression of someone who found the question distinctly odd.
“No, I prefer money and power to honor.”
“Then it shouldn’t matter. What do you say—shall we join hands?”
He exhaled slowly.
From the start, there had been no way to refuse this proposal of hers.
“I understand what you’re saying. I understand why you came to our family. Bianca truly does need you.”
“…….”
“Then we’ll make a contract. In exchange for caring for Bianca, I’ll provide you with compensation.”

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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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