Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 5

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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 Punishment Chamber was damp and cold. A bone-chilling dread seeped through the threadbare scraps of cloth that served as her clothing.
In this lightless void, an ordinary person would have already succumbed to terror. But a faint smile played at the corners of Diena’s mouth.
‘Thank goodness Romie’s temperament is still as violent as ever. And how fortunate that the Duchess and the Duke are equally predictable.’
Diena had known exactly what would unfold the moment she revealed herself before the five great houses.
She’d anticipated Romie’s rage, and the confinement to this chamber that would follow. It was the punishment her sister feared most, after all.
Despite knowing all of this, Diena had deliberately provoked her.
‘Because there’s a secret passage here.’
Diena ran her fingers across the cold stone wall. As she tapped along it in steady rhythm, the bricks began to crack and separate.
The passage that had been sealed shut swung open.
“Farewell, Rothwell.”
With those words, Diena stepped into the darkness. The bricks shifted once more, and within moments the wall closed as though nothing had ever occurred.
* * *
Diena moved swiftly through the secret passage, barely breathing. It wasn’t long before chaos erupted throughout Rothwell Castle.
“Where’s Diena?”
“Which way did she escape?”
Whether the past itself had shifted, or for some other reason, her escape was discovered far more quickly than before.
Diena’s body went rigid at the passage entrance. Through gaps between earth and stone, she could hear voices from within the castle.
Edelin’s irritated voice reached her ears.
“What does it matter if that girl’s gone? She’s just a useless Non-Ability User.”
A man’s voice answered her.
“Quiet! You know as well as I do that Abilities can awaken late. If that girl turns out to be an Ability User, we cannot simply let her run free.”
Diena’s body stiffened at the familiar voice.
‘That’s my uncle.’
Balthasar, the Duke of Rothwell, bellowed his next words.
“An Ability User is an asset to our house by virtue of their very existence! Even if she lacks an Ability, that wretched girl must remain under my control until her dying breath!”
A bitter smile twisted Diena’s lips. They had confirmed once more what she already knew—that to them, she was not family, but property to be valued. What came next made her face go cold.
“Search the entire castle immediately! Seal the gates. Find Diena and bring her back!”
She crouched low and pressed forward into the darkness.
‘Barcan will be heading toward the Eastern Mountain Range. He said he’d visit the Magic Tower with his master after this banquet.’
To reach the Magic Tower, one had to cross the Eastern Mountain Range. Her confidence was grounded, but an ominous dread kept surfacing.
‘What if the past doesn’t unfold as it should?’
Diena squeezed her eyes shut.
‘No. I can escape. Even if not this time, I will break free from this place. I will.’
That was the moment. Barely steps after emerging from the earthen passage, a sharp cry split the air behind her.
“There she is!”
Two guards bearing torches spotted her first.
Their eyes met. In the torchlight, she was exposed in an instant.
On a night when snow fell thickly in all directions, she ran with all her strength. The cold air tore at her throat; the snow beneath her feet crackled and shattered with each step.
“She’s running that way—catch her!”
Diena gritted her teeth. Her eyes flashed. As a Purification Ability User, she possessed the gift of sensing darkness. When Ability Users appeared, she could locate them.
And now—
‘I can feel such darkness!’
Only Barcan possessed darkness so thick. He was close.
Just forward. Always forward.
She didn’t dare look back. Where she found the strength, she couldn’t fathom—she’d barely eaten. She threw herself through the trees, running as though her very life depended on it.
Harsh wind lashed her face. Snow and tears blurred her vision. Her clothing tore on branches, cloth ripping away in tatters.
‘Just a little further… Barcan will be there…!’
Her heart thundered like mad, her legs screaming as though they might shatter, yet she could not stop. Behind her, the shouts and footsteps of soldiers still pursued.
In the midst of that desperate flight—
The ground beneath her suddenly gave way.
Diena fell without even a cry of alarm.
* * *
Barcan frowned at the fierce blizzard. The weather had been foul for days.
“As wretched as the house itself, I’d say.”
Barcan’s sharp comment made his adjutant Hasen flinch.
“We’re still within House Rothwell’s territory! What if someone overhears?”
“Let them hear. Watching what those dogs do, I’d say the cursing is deserved.”
Barcan’s brow furrowed deeper.
His mind returned to the image of Diena’s threadbare appearance—so starkly at odds with Romie’s resplendent gown.
‘The daughter of the missing previous Duke, if I recall.’
Whatever else she might be, she was clearly a blood relative, yet the way the household treated her—as a servant—churned his stomach. All the more so when he considered the circumstances of the previous Duke’s disappearance.
Hasen glanced around before speaking in a low voice.
“Now that your station is elevated, you mustn’t speak that way.”
“I’m a man without roots to begin with. I can speak however I please.”
“Barcan!”
“I’d sooner return this wretched title and tell him to take it back. My father never wanted the Dukedom in the first place.”
“And yet, because of it, didn’t Bianca receive the treatment she needed?”
“And the Duke of Rothwell uses that treatment as a toy. He plays with people’s lives.”
Hasen fell silent at Barcan’s cutting words. He released a sigh and changed the subject.
“What will you do now? Will you head straight to House Cardian?”
Barcan’s gaze fixed on the fork in the path ahead. The rightward path stretched across the forbidding Eastern Mountain Range, leading eventually to the Imperial Capital.
The left path would lead him north, to House Cardian.
‘But…’
Barcan turned his attention to Malacar’s condition. The ashen pallor of his complexion and the deep shadows beneath his eyes revealed that his state was grave.
“No, we won’t stop at the Territory. We’re heading straight for the Imperial Capital. Malacar’s nagging has worn thin—I need to send him back quickly anyway. His Suppressant has run out. Ridiculous that a sorcerer needs a drug to suppress Ability-related side effects, but there it is. An insufferable old man.”
At that, Malacar let out a hollow laugh.
“You incorrigible wretch. Anyone would lecture you, seeing your disposition. You go through life as though you alone are right.”
“At least I’m better than those Rothwell dogs.”
Hasen, watching Malacar, asked with concern in his voice.
“Are you well, Malacar? The Suppressant you took earlier seems to be wearing off. The time lost during our visit to House Rothwell may have been too much.”
“I can manage for now.”
“Still, if your condition deteriorates further, you must tell us at once. Promise me.”
Malacar smiled faintly.
“Yes, I understand.”
“And don’t go silent on us and then Rampage. Really.”
Barcan, speaking bluntly, suddenly furrowed his brow. His gaze turned toward the forest beyond.
“Why is it so noisy out there? What’s happening?”
“Noisy? I don’t hear anything.”
“No, the Rothwell soldiers are chasing something. And it’s getting closer to us.”
Hasen tilted his head, puzzled. Malacar, who had been standing silent until now, spoke up.
“The boy’s more sensitive than ordinary humans. He must be hearing something.”
In that moment, Barcan’s eyes narrowed further. He sensed a stronger presence approaching.
He raised his hand, pointing toward the hilltop.
“What is that?”
All eyes turned in that direction. Rolling down the snowy slope was a snowball.
As it finally reached the gentle flat ground below, it came apart, revealing what lay within. Barcan observed it from a distance and spoke with casual certainty.
“A rabbit, isn’t it? Looks like a scruffy rabbit.”
“What? A rabbit? Anyone can see that’s a person!”
Hasen cried out in shock and rushed forward, barely catching the snow-covered figure—not a snowball, but a girl in tattered clothes.
As Barcan examined the girl’s face, he murmured.
“Diena Rothwell?”

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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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