Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 81

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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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“Your betrothed……?”
At those words, Barcan’s mouth fell open—he hadn’t even finished reading the letter. His reaction was far more heated than Diena’s.
“What kind of nonsense is this?”
Bianca agreed with him.
“Exactly. I’m against this engagement! Diena promised to stay with me forever.”
Of course, she’d never made any such promise.
‘That’s not what matters right now.’
Diena was only sixteen—not yet of legal age in the Empire.
Imperial law forbade forcing a betrothal on anyone under seventeen. The current emperor had enacted it to prevent child marriages.
But the moment she turned seventeen, that protection vanished. As a noblewoman, she had no right to refuse a match arranged by her house. In other words, Balthasar could betroth her to whoever he wished.
“Diena, what do you think?”
“…….”
“Do you want to accept the betrothal? It seems the other side is proposing Cassian Volkov as your fiancé.”
Barcan was the one who bristled at that.
“What, that bastard has no conscience?”
“Barcan, Cassian Volkov is objectively the betrothed that most girls your age desire. How would you know he’s a bastard?”
Even as he said this, Sevar’s tone was laced with palpable disapproval.
Barcan couldn’t say he knew from a dream, so he spoke with poorly concealed discontent.
“I just don’t like the sound of his name.”
Bianca backed him up.
“Right, I hate it. How dare he try to take Diena away from me!”
Sevar ignored their baseless complaints and looked at Diena. “Your opinion matters, Diena.”
“Your opinion matters, Diena.”
At his words, the Rothwell siblings pressed their lips together firmly. They wanted to tell her to refuse, but that was a decision only she could make.
Diena stared down at the crumpled letter.
“Cassian…….”
Cassian Volkov. She turned his name over in her mind.
He was the embodiment of an aristocratic ideal—among the young noblewomen in Diena’s circle, not a single one failed to admire him. Even Romie and her friends had secretly yearned for him.
And Diena, too, had once harbored feelings for him.
But.
“Now that your circumstances and ours have changed, it’s only natural that what lies between us changes as well.”
After that day, she and Cassian became nothing to each other. All the good memories they’d shared turned to ash.
And now she was supposed to become betrothed to him?
‘I did in the past timeline.’
To be honest, after awakening her Ability, Diena had already become betrothed to Cassian—awkwardly so. She’d fled before the marriage could take place.
In this life, she absolutely did not want to be betrothed to him. She didn’t love him. A betrothal without love was unbearable. Slowly, Diena shook her head.
“No, I don’t want to.”
At her answer, relief flooded Barcan and Bianca’s faces, while Sevar gently patted her shoulder.
“Don’t worry. If you don’t want it, I won’t let them have you.”
But even so, she couldn’t refuse everything. Diena knew that too.
“You said my uncle would come looking for me.”
Sevar nodded, his expression darkening.
“……Yes.”
“If the Family Head of House Rothwell requests to see me about the betrothal, it will be impossible to refuse outright.”
“You don’t have to see him, Diena. If it comes to that, we can register you into our house instead. If you wish it, I’ll begin the proceedings at once.”
Sevar’s gaze slowly turned toward Barcan.
“There’s no other way.”
He was looking at him with burning eyes. Sevar sighed quietly and looked away again.
“And I can’t very well betroth you to someone else of my own choosing.”
Betrothal was the prerogative of a Family Head. If Diena didn’t enter House Cardian through official registration, she would have no choice but to accept a betrothal.
Diena, who had been looking up at him, spoke carefully.
“Your tolerance of my presence here stems from your contract with Sevar, doesn’t it? The price for overlooking what Matilda and Count Roshe did?”
“……That’s right.”
“Then my uncle will likely want to use the betrothal as leverage for another bargain. He’ll keep making trouble.”
“…….”
“So I’ll meet with him first and decide what to do. I need to understand what he’s thinking.”
Running from it indefinitely was pointless.
She could already guess what Balthasar might be plotting by coming to House Cardian.
‘I should see for myself.’
Diena resolved to face Balthasar directly and uncover his true intentions.
* * *
Inside the carriage heading toward House Cardian.
Balthasar stared at the letter in his hand.
[While I appreciate the Duke’s proposal, his assistance is not needed.]
Balthasar narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin. The letter had arrived from Duke Castleton not long after the disturbance at dawn.
This was entirely unexpected.
Someone had clearly aided House Castleton. But who?
Diena had gone to the Castleton household, but he’d heard it was because the Duke needed her to procure the Ability Suppression Agent.
Yet the claim that the Castleton Young Master was an Ability User and required the Suppression Agent had been merely a lie to deceive the Duke.
The Castletons shouldn’t even have begun to imagine a method to neutralize Cain’s Ability, let alone found one.
‘Could it have been the Elder of the Magic Tower who went there?’
This seemed unlikely. A mere mage neutralizing Cain’s Ability? It was unthinkable.
Wasn’t Ability superior to magic in every way?
‘If not that……then perhaps Diena has awakened as an Ability User.’
In fact, this was the greatest possibility he entertained.
He suspected Diena was an Ability User. Of course, he didn’t know what her Ability was.
But if it were powerful enough to neutralize Cain’s Ability, it would have to be something extraordinary.
The recent events in his life. And the fortunate turns that had occurred in House Cardian since Diena arrived there.
Could all of it truly be coincidence?
This visit to House Cardian was largely motivated by his need to answer this question.
Bianca Cardian, who had been powerless for so long, had become an Ability User. If Diena had awakened similarly, it would not be impossible.
If that girl truly was an Ability User…….
‘I must bring her back to House Rothwell by any means necessary.’
And even if she wasn’t, the recent Diena was a prize worth coveting. She held the distribution rights to the newly refined Ability Suppression Agent from the Magic Tower.
If his house acquired both the Temple’s and the Magic Tower’s Suppression Agents, becoming the strongest house would be within reach.

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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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