Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 4

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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 Five Major Families had known each other since childhood. When the previous Rotwell patriarch was still alive, Diena had been treated as preciously as a princess.
Castleton, aware of this history, regarded her with a look of pity. “My goodness, your dress—are you all right, Diena?”
“My goodness, your dress—are you all right, Diena?”
The eyes of other young nobles and ladies flickered between Romie and Diena. The contrast was stark: Romie, resplendent in an elaborate gown, and Diena in her shabby state.
Edelin’s eyes widened as she stared at Diena.
“Why are you here? You should be in your room!”
The words tumbled out before she could catch them, and her expression turned defensive. Her sharp tone had escaped unbidden. Diena’s face crumpled, threatening tears, and she bowed her head low.
Her shoulders trembled as she hunched into herself—a picture so fragile it stirred pity in anyone who saw it.
“I’m so sorry. I was just so hungry, I went looking for the kitchen, and I must have taken a wrong turn…”
Romie’s face flushed crimson.
“That’s nonsense! How long have you been here and not know where the kitchen is?”
Uncertainty flickered across Edelin’s features. Romie’s response had been poorly judged.
The hostility in her tone made the gathered ladies shift uncomfortably. Castleton’s question came with a carefully measured edge. “Duchess of Rotwell, does Lady Diena typically dress this way?”
“Duchess of Rotwell, does Lady Diena typically dress this way?”
Edelin’s face flushed scarlet in an instant. She began fanning herself rapidly. “Oh, no! Today was just—I simply didn’t attend to it. She doesn’t normally wear such things.”
“Oh, no! Today was just—I simply didn’t attend to it. She doesn’t normally wear such things.”
But her trembling voice, her flushed face, and Diena’s wretched appearance contradicted every word.
“And what was that about being hungry? Surely you haven’t been starving her?”
At the renewed question, Edelin’s hands began to shake. She glanced toward Volkoff and Hartmann, but they quickly averted their eyes.
They, too, believed Edelin had overstepped. Castleton could no longer hold his tongue. “However she may not be your natural daughter, she is still Rotwell blood. This is too much.”
“However she may not be your natural daughter, she is still Rotwell blood. This is too much.”
Castleton’s attendants moved to support him.
“That’s servant’s garb, surely?”
“If I imagined my own child enduring such treatment, my heart would break.”
“A member of a great house should be cherished as one’s own.”
Heat rose to Edelin’s face. She turned sharply to a servant, her voice rising. “Go fetch Diena’s meal at once! How could you let her come to this state?”
“Go fetch Diena’s meal at once! How could you let her come to this state?”
Castleton shook his head watching Edelin berate the hapless servant. It was uglier than any excuse—raw displacement of blame.
Romie’s face darkened in a moment.
The warm regard she had basked in all evening had turned cold in an instant.
The gathering where she should have shone had collapsed into chaos.
‘Because of her—what is this!’
She watched the servant hurry Diena away, her eyes boring after them with barely concealed fury until they disappeared from sight.
The moment the reception ended, Romie made straight for Diena’s quarters with Edelin and Cain.
A Side Building tucked away in the manor’s corner—a dingy, decrepit room fit only for servants.
Romie kicked the door open roughly. Diena, who had been curled up on an old bed, started and lifted her head in alarm.
“You came down on purpose to humiliate me, didn’t you? I told you not to leave this room. So why did you come out?”
Romie advanced on her with sharp eyes, her voice cutting. Diena shrank back, hanging her head.
“I didn’t go out on purpose. It was just—it was mealtime, and no one brought me any food, so I was so hungry…”
“Don’t lie to me!”
Romie shoved Diena’s shoulder roughly. Her body rocked two or three times, but Diena bore it without resistance. Even as it happened, she thought to herself:
‘She’d be angry whether I lied or not.’
Romie’s rages were familiar. She’d always grown violent when her mood soured.
Edelin stood behind Romie, making no move to restrain her. She simply looked down at Diena with cold eyes.
“Romie is right. Why did you come out and embarrass us?”
Cain snickered while fanning the flames. “High Society will have a field day with this. That your stepmother plays favorites between her own daughter and her ward, that she mistreats the legitimate heiress—what excellent gossip.”
“High Society will have a field day with this. That your stepmother plays favorites between her own daughter and her ward, that she mistreats the legitimate heiress—what excellent gossip.”
Romie’s eyes reddened as she suddenly shrieked. “I’m so ashamed because of you! How can I show my face to the other families now?”
“I’m so ashamed because of you! How can I show my face to the other families now?”
Diena shook her head.
“No, Romie. The truth is your reputation was already ruined the moment you put on that dress. Don’t blame me for that.”
“…What?”
“You might not realize it, but the upper nobility consider it improper for a girl who hasn’t yet made her debutante debut to wear red in a gown.”
Romie’s mouth fell open in shock.
“I’m not trying to upset you—I just thought you didn’t know, so I told you.”
Romie’s gaze dropped to the Red Ribbon pinned to her chest. Her face flushed the same shade as the ribbon. Seeing this, Cain laughed with obvious amusement. “I think she’s deliberately making fun of you.”
“I think she’s deliberately making fun of you.”
“I know she is, Mother! Please, do something about her. She won’t even apologize—look how brazenly she speaks!”
Edelin dabbed carefully at Romie’s eyes, her expression pitying. “Don’t cry, Romie. You’ll ruin that pretty face. What would make you feel better?”
“What would make you feel better?”
“She wanted to go outside—lock her away where she can never leave again! Put her in the Punishment Chamber beneath the castle!”
Cain nodded in agreement. “That’s not bad. If she’s done wrong, she should be punished properly.”
“That’s not bad. If she’s done wrong, she should be punished properly.”
Diena met Edelin’s gaze calmly. The woman smiled sweetly. “How kind our Romie is. Her heart is generous indeed, to be satisfied with so little.”
“How kind our Romie is. Her heart is generous indeed, to be satisfied with so little.”
In the next instant, her expression turned glacial, and she seized Diena’s arm, dragging her forward with brutal force. Romie trailed behind Edelin, sticking out her tongue in mockery, while Cain giggled in amusement.
“The Punishment Chamber is so cold.”
“Members of the Rotwell Family don’t complain about cold. We are a line of powerful Awakeners.”
Her eyes glinted with menace.
“If this is too difficult for you, then you’re not truly one of us.”
Diena fell silent. Edelin’s eyes narrowed to slits as she murmured low. “Where did something like you come from? So utterly lacking in propriety. I must have failed in your education.”
“Where did something like you come from? So utterly lacking in propriety. I must have failed in your education.”
She dragged Diena relentlessly down into the depths beneath the castle, finally halting before the Punishment Chamber.
“Had you apologized properly to Romie, none of this would have been necessary.”
Romie nodded with smug satisfaction. But Diena understood: no matter what she had done, the punishment would have come regardless.
Edelin heaved open the creaking iron door. A wave of bitter cold rolled out from within.
“Think carefully about what you’ve done wrong. This door will not open again until you’ve learned.”
Before the door could close completely, Diena spoke quietly. “In all these years, have you never once thought me worthy of pity?”
“Worthy of pity?”
“Did you ever, while raising me, consider me part of this family?”
“Why would you be my family? You’re not my blood.”
Edelin’s face contorted.
“Foolish words. Go inside.”
Bang!
The heavy iron door slammed shut. Diena stood alone in the darkness.
“Merciless as always.”
Her stepmother’s cruelty was no revelation. She had always known what kind of woman Edelin was.

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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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