Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 6

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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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Hasen’s brow furrowed.
“What on earth are you doing here?”
After a long flight, she had finally caught her breath, though her frame still trembled with exhaustion.
Barkan narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked down at her, breathing hard. Hasen’s voice wavered with uncertainty. “What should we do, Barkan? Should we inform the Duke Rotwell?”
The moment those words left her lips—
“Please help me!”
Diena’s eyes flew open, and she clung to Barkan’s feet.
Barkan’s eyebrows shot up in displeasure.
Diena’s voice trembled with urgency. “I’ll do anything if you help me. I’ll die if I stay here. Please!”
Barkan remained silent, his gaze fixed on hers.
“Why would you die simply by staying here?”
Diena’s small hands gripped his robes, unwilling to let go. The desperation in her grip was unmistakable.
It was startling how much strength such a skeletal frame could muster.
Her need was that profound.
“Please take me with you. I promise I’ll be helpful—truly helpful. You won’t regret it, I swear.”
“What are you—”
Barkan was momentarily taken aback by her certainty, but he quickly recovered. A scoffing laugh escaped him.
“I doubt it. I can’t imagine what use a girl who looks younger than me could possibly be. I have no interest in being helped by anyone like that.”
“But—”
Diena’s pupils trembled uncontrollably.
She had harbored no illusions that the Barkan she encountered now would be the same as before.
He had no memory of the past, and to him, she was merely a stranger—a girl he was seeing for the first time.
And hadn’t the Barkan of old often said as much?
“When I was young, I was fairly lacking in social grace. Thank goodness I never met you back then.”
It was utterly unimaginable judging by his demeanor now. The Barkan she had known was playful, yes, but genuinely considerate and mature.
He had told her that after the family’s downfall, he’d wandered here and there, and hardship had taught him much.
“My temperament softened considerably because of it. Back then, my mind was entirely consumed with taking revenge on Duke Rotwell.”
Whenever he spoke this way, Hasen would chime in from beside him.
“That’s right. If you’d met him back then, perhaps the Lady Diena wouldn’t have come to our family at all. He was truly cold-blooded! Every time I witnessed his behavior, I would sigh in exasperation…”
“Things are different now, aren’t they?”
“Aren’t they only different in front of the Lady Diena? That’s rather disgust— *ahem*.”
So she knew from the start that he wouldn’t greet her warmly.
Yet seeing that cold gaze in his eyes, as though he were looking at a stranger, her heart ached.
Barkan tilted his head irritably. “Why don’t you simply go back to your family of your own accord?”
Diena set her jaw and met his gaze.
‘Yes, I knew this would happen.’
Had she been in his position, she would have been suspicious of someone unknown suddenly demanding to be taken along.
‘Of course, if I keep begging, Barkan will eventually agree.’
He had witnessed what was happening to her at that gathering. He must have grasped to some degree why she wished to leave the family.
But there was a high probability he wouldn’t take her to the Cardian Family right away, no matter his help.
‘That won’t do. I need to go to the Cardian Family.’
Mere deliberation solved nothing. Rather than relying on pity, she had to give them a reason to take her along.
‘This time, I’m the one reaching out first.’
With that resolve, Diena’s lips parted.
“Your uncle… Baltazar Rotwell. You hate him, don’t you?”
Barkan flinched momentarily, but nodded without hesitation.
“Of course.”
“I know how to make that man furious.”
Interest sparked in Barkan’s eyes.
“How?”
“By taking me with you.”
At those words, Barkan’s expression darkened. He thought she was mocking him.
“You—”
It was then that Malacar let out a weary sigh.
“Barkan, when are you going to fix that cold personality of yours? At least hear what she has to say.”
He clicked his tongue disapprovingly before kneeling down to meet Diena’s eyes.
“Why do you think you’ll die if you return there? And it seems you’re being hunted. I’m curious about the reason.”
Diena stared intently at Malacar.
‘Master…’
Seeing his gentle face, tears threatened to spill over. All these faces were familiar to her. They belonged to the Cardian Family.
She studied Malacar’s visage carefully.
‘His condition is poor. He needs the Suppressant immediately.’
If that was the case, persuasion would be far simpler.
‘This was my plan all along anyway.’
There was no time for lengthy explanations. The soldiers’ footsteps were growing steadily closer.
“I’ll show you why taking me with you is enough to infuriate Duke Rotwell.”
“What do you mean?”
Without hesitation, Diena grasped Malacar’s hand. In that instant, his body went rigid.
* * *
Awakening to an Ability had seemed like a blessing at first. It felt as though he held the entire world in his hands.
He was born the heir of a Marquis Family of high standing. Yet because he had failed to awaken his Ability, the family had cast him aside.
“Malacar, a nobleman who does not awaken his Ability is no nobleman at all.”
“He is nothing but vermin—worse than a commoner who has awakened even the lowest-tier Ability.”
The lives of non-ability users abandoned by their families were pitiful. Fortunately, he possessed a talent for Magic, and so he walked the path of a mage.
But was it a cruel jest of fate?
After entering the Magic Tower and earning recognition as a mage, his Ability finally manifested.
An awakening after the age of fourteen.
An extraordinarily rare occurrence.
A mage and an Ability user both—
Everyone revered him. The world held no more terrors for him.
Yet that joy was short-lived. What followed was a terrible agony that haunted him like a shadow for the rest of his life.
He would have been better off as a non-ability user.
The darkness that accumulated with each use of his Ability. Without a Suppressant to manage its side effects, even maintaining an ordinary life became a struggle.
That much had been true until moments ago—
‘What is this child doing to me…?’
Malacar’s eyes widened.
The moment the small girl’s hand grasped his, the hellish torment that had weighed upon him his entire life began to unravel, thread by thread, dissipating like tangled yarn coming loose.
The darkness that had long seeped into his body melted away, scattering like mist. It was as though a warm sun had descended upon a frozen lake in the depths of winter.
“This… what is this…?”
Malacar’s face registered both shock and wonder at a phenomenon he had never before experienced. Barkan frowned, his head tilting in confusion.
“Malacar?”
It was then that soldiers’ voices rang out.
“Where is she hiding?”
In the moment their gazes met, Malacar spoke urgently.
“Into the carriage. Hide in the carriage.”
“…What?”
“This girl speaks truth. Taking her with us will be more than enough to infuriate Duke Rotwell.”
There was no time for explanation. Malacar hurried Diena into the carriage and concealed them within.

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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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