Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 87

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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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“…You can’t be serious?”
“I am. I proposed an engagement to Diena.”
Leandro stared at Ardin with wide eyes. Ardin’s face remained unmoved.
It had been a decision reached only after careful deliberation. A royal marriage outranked every noble union in the empire. If he married Diena, Duke Rothwell would have no way to stop him—that much was certain.
‘I must prevent Duke Rothwell from taking the Magic Tower at all costs.’
He was wary of House Rothwell, already backed by the Temple, drawing closer to the Magic Tower through Diena.
But beyond that, Ardin himself desired Diena intensely. And he was hardly the only person in this empire harboring such thoughts.
‘Diena Rothwell—what decision will you make?’
While Ardin sat alone with his thoughts, Leandro shook his head.
“Even so, won’t you be turning Duke Rothwell into an outright enemy?”
Duke Rothwell was the strongest among the heads of the Five Great Houses.
‘And he backs the Second Prince.’
For that reason, Ardin kept his distance from Duke Rothwell, but had not openly declared hostility against him.
Diena’s engagement was the matter Duke Rothwell had been most zealously pursuing of late. Involving himself in it was tantamount to declaring the Duke a complete adversary.
Once that happened, Ardin’s position would certainly be driven to the brink by the Second Prince’s bloated power.
“She may prove valuable enough to justify making Duke Rothwell an enemy.”
To Leandro’s concern, Ardin simply replied with composure. Leandro, watching him intently, pressed further.
“You seem to have taken quite an interest in the princess lately. Don’t tell me you’re harboring romantic feelings for her? Is that why you proposed this engagement?”
Ardin started to deny it immediately.
His engagement proposal was purely strategic. No personal emotion had entered into it whatsoever.
Yet Leandro had a point. What he was attempting now was a complete gamble. It was not the sort of choice someone who valued his own safety above all else would make.
Leandro’s brow furrowed in frustration at Ardin’s demeanor.
“Good heavens, is it true? No matter how beautiful the princess is, you should be thinking of your own safety!”
“Perhaps.”
“I heard recently that after your Rampage, you suffered some kind of serious mental affliction. I never imagined it was actually true!”
Ardin’s expression darkened. It was a secret rumor that had circulated through the Imperial Palace since the winter banquet. That His Highness Ardin had grown even more handsome, but his mind had become strange and peculiar tastes had emerged. He was about to deny it when—
Someone knocked roughly on the reception room door.
“Your Highness, an urgent report! May I enter?”
“An urgent report? Come in.”
The aide rushed through the moment permission was granted.
“The Northern Commander Mage is on the verge of Rampage, and has requested emergency support from Duke Rothwell. However… he has sent word that he cannot go due to pressing matters.”
The Side-Effect Suppressant could not be transported via Warp. It was an object through which magical power did not flow.
Ultimately, people had to be dispatched to deliver the supply, and the fact that none were moving now was equivalent to allowing the Commander Mage to Rampage. At this news, Leandro’s complexion went deathly pale in an instant.
“That old bastard Rothwell—has he finally gone mad?”
“This was bound to happen eventually.”
Unlike Leandro, Ardin remained composed. With those words, he rose to his feet.
And his eyes fell upon a letter in his hand. In the letter Diena had sent him, it read thus:
[By now, my uncle will have cut off the Side-Effect Suppressant supply to the Purification District. And this time, he will not resume supply until the Commander Mage causes a Rampage.]
As Ardin folded away the letter, his eyes grew cold and sharp.
“Well then, I must be going. I have a prior engagement, and I can’t keep my guests waiting—especially ones who’ve come from so far.”
“Guests? At a time like this? You’re mad. Shouldn’t you be seeing a physician about that head of yours?”
“I haven’t time for your nonsense. These are very important guests.”
With that, Ardin walked out of the door. Leandro was left unable to extract a single clear answer, forced only to watch him go. At his friend’s unfamiliar demeanor, Leandro let out a hollow laugh.
* * *
Inside the carriage, Diena watched Barcan beside her.
Diena and Barcan were now nearly arriving at the Imperial Capital. Sevar and Balthasar’s conversation had ended in failure.
When Sevar emerged from speaking with Balthasar, his face was flushed with anger.
“That bastard Balthasar means to profit from your engagement.”
“Profit?”
“Yes. He’s seeking better terms from various nobles before proceeding with the betrothal. So far, House Volkov’s offer has been the most favorable.”
“How very like my uncle.”
“He threatened me too. He said if I interfered, he would place you as the second wife of Count Oder.”
Unlike Sevar’s blunt words, her uncle had surely spoken with feigned kindness and polished grace.
“I hear Count Oder has recently lost his wife and finds himself rather lonesome. The age difference may be considerable, but such maturity and refinement might surely shelter our dear niece…”
Diena shook her head. She had no desire to recall her uncle’s revolting words.
Count Oder was over sixty years old.
The moment his third countess died, he had sent matchmakers in all directions to find a new mistress for his household, so much so that the society circles already buzzed with sinister rumors about him.
As Sevar relayed this, his fury erupted.
“I’ll have those bastards assassinated right now. The audacity, running their mouths like that—!”
The bastards he meant were undoubtedly Duke Rothwell and Count Oder. Diena turned to Bianca with a troubled expression, hoping she might restrain Sevar.
But instead of stopping him, Bianca grasped the edge of his sleeve desperately and spoke.
“Father, assassination seems too merciful. Why let them off so easily?”
“…”
“We should think of a way to send them off more painfully.”
Bianca added one more thing as she said this.
“Even if this weren’t the case, I had already resolved to take those bastards’ heads eventually. When that happens is merely a question of whether it comes sooner or later.”
At Bianca’s unexpected words, Diena’s gaze shifted to Barcan. She had hoped he, at least, would be the most rational.
But Barcan’s response was hardly different from Bianca’s.
“Bianca, stay out of this. I can make it slowest and most painful.”
“…?”
“Their necks are mine.”
Diena found herself struggling to restrain the people of Kardian from declaring war on House Rothwell right then and there.

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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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