Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 24

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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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At that, Bianca’s cheeks flushed pink as she tapped Daniel’s arm lightly. Tap, tap.
“We haven’t gotten engaged yet. We’re planning to soon, that’s all.”
Daniel flashed a smile and took the seat across from Bianca. But his expression hardened at once into something arrogant as he asked his question.
“Where has Matilda gone?”
“Matilda?”
“Yes. Didn’t Matilda serve as Bianca’s exclusive attendant before? It seemed to me there was no maid more suited to Bianca than Matilda was.”
Diana, who had been looking down, lifted her gaze to meet Daniel’s.
“Though Matilda was a Fallen Noble, she was still of noble birth. Is this maid also of Fallen Noble descent, perhaps?”
“Hm? Diana isn’t of noble birth.”
“Then you mean she’s a Commoner?”
“Yes, more or less.”
As Bianca answered, she felt an odd unease creeping over her.
Was Diana truly a Commoner?
It should have been the case, yet something about it felt wrong. There was a peculiar elegance to her, and a subtle pressure that emanated from her being—something that made her seem far from a mere Commoner.
Bianca was still turning this puzzle over when Daniel spoke again.
He wore a sympathetic expression.
“Bianca, you are a nearly perfect person, but don’t you have one notable weakness?”
“A weakness?”
“Yes. The Cardian Family originally rose from baronial stock, didn’t they? So much so that you scarcely had exposure to noble society’s customs. Didn’t Matilda conceal that shortcoming of yours?”
……
“Thanks to her, I watched you grow and refine yourself. Yet now you’ve suddenly replaced your exclusive attendant. The Senate has been quite concerned about this affair.”
At Daniel’s blunt words, Bianca’s face reddened. He was laying bare her deepest shame.
His tone was gentle beyond measure, yet beneath it lay barbs as sharp and cutting as the cruelest insult.
It was like watching Rothwell himself at work.
Hearing his words, Diana found herself thinking.
‘I had a bad feeling about him the moment he walked through that door.’
There he was—just as expected. Diana fixed her gaze on Daniel’s red hair.
‘I’d heard that name before somewhere.’
The Rosche County Family.
One of the vassal houses of the Cardian Family—the ones who had recommended Matilda as chambermaid in the first place.
It was written in the reports she had reviewed.
‘And they sided with my uncle too.’
In her past life, they had betrayed the Cardian Family the moment his rebellion began.
Just then, the reception room door opened with careful restraint, and the head steward appeared.
“Miss Bianca, an urgent letter has arrived.”
“Ah.”
Bianca rose from her seat with an apologetic expression.
“Please wait a moment. I’ll be right back.”
The instant Bianca left the room and the door closed behind her, the smile vanished completely from Daniel’s face.
“A Commoner with ambitions beyond her station.”
With that, he tapped the teacup on the table with one finger and looked Diana up and down, as though appraising livestock.
“You think you’re someone special just because Bianca has played with you a little?”
……
“But in the end, you’re replaceable. You’re someone who can be discarded the moment you become the least bit troublesome.”
Diana had known he would show his true colors once they were alone, so she watched him without the slightest change of expression.
“By contrast, Bianca cannot do without me. You do know what awaits a Non-Ability User at the end of the road?”
“What end would that be?”
“Being cast out from the family in disgrace. Without me, there’s no one who would ever agree to marry her. That’s why Bianca always watches my face. If I told her to throw you out, she wouldn’t hesitate for a second. Isn’t that right?”
“I see……”
Watching Diana blink innocently, her wide eyes betraying apparent fear, Daniel felt confident enough to continue.
“Are you thinking of telling her what I’ve said? No one will believe the words of a mere Commoner anyway.”
Diana tilted her head slowly.
In her past life, she had found herself in situations like this often.
She had experienced it while purifying high-level Ability Users in the Rothwell Duchy.
‘Especially when I was with the Mercenary Company.’
People outside the Purification zones were rough. Mercenaries in particular were far rougher still.
Diana had faced many such men. A mere noble’s spoiled child could hardly be her match.
Failing to notice the subtle shift in her expression, Daniel curled one corner of his mouth upward and spoke.
“So in the end, Bianca has no choice but to take my side. Do you understand?”
“I don’t follow.”
“Yo-you’re speaking casually to me?”
“I saw no reason to use formal speech.”
“What?”
Daniel stared at her in shock. Diana was looking back at him with a sneer painted across her face.
In that moment, Daniel felt an inexplicable sense of humiliation. It was her gaze—as though she were looking down upon him from an infinite height.
Daniel had encountered that gaze before, a handful of times.
‘The Five Great Houses……’
Only those who wielded such power could wear that arrogant look—he couldn’t fathom how a mere maid in front of him possessed it.
“Does Miss Bianca throw me out, or does she discard you?”
“……?”
“Think about it. You’re not superior to me in any way. Beauty? I have more. Elegance? I excel there too. Wealth? It’s only going to grow.”
“Ha, ha……”
“Mark my words—you’ll be the one leaving, not me.”
When something is too absurd to comprehend, one often finds oneself unable to formulate an appropriate response. It defied all logic, after all.
A Commoner speaking to him—a noble—in such a manner? Could she possibly be a significant Ability User?
One could be a Commoner by status and still wield Abilities. If that were the case, her confidence would make sense. At that thought, Daniel’s face paled slightly as he spoke.
“C-could you be an Ability User?”
“Hmm……. What do you think?”
“I-I suppose you must be, mustn’t you?”
Watching his immediate obsequiousness, Diana let out a soft laugh and answered.
“I’m a Non-Ability User.”
“……You dare mock a noble!”
At that, Daniel’s face flushed scarlet with rage.
“Why would I tell anyone what you’ve said? A lowborn Non-Ability User like you speaks to me like this—who would ever believe it?”
“Wow……”
“They’d laugh at you instead, I’m sure. You’d be a laughingstock—or worse. Go ahead. Tell anyone you like.”
……
“Bested in wit by a Commoner. That’s what you’d be known for.”
As Diana finished speaking, she smiled. Daniel clamped his mouth shut. She was right.
If he claimed a lowborn woman had spoken such insults to him, no one would believe him, and any ‘proof’ would only make him the butt of every joke. A noble, reduced to listening to a Commoner’s barbs?
“How is this even possible!”
Unable to contain himself, he raised his hand abruptly—when—
“What are you doing?”
The cold voice of Bianca cut through the room.

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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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