Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 9
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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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“As you can see from my clothes, my position in the family was no different from a servant’s.”
Diana held out her tattered dress for him to see.
“If I told my uncle about my Ability in this situation, it’s far too obvious what he’d do.”
“What do you think he’d do?”
“He’d exploit me endlessly. I know my uncle. On the surface, he’d treat me kindly, but he’d work me without rest until I died, draining my Ability the whole time.”
Hasen muttered in disbelief.
“Surely not — even so, how could a person do something worse than a beast? Duke Rothwell, behaving like that?”
Diana offered a bitter smile.
Because her uncle was, in truth, a beast of a man…….
She understood now why he hid his true nature and why people found him easy to believe. But.
‘Varcan will be different.’
Varcan stared at Diana intently.
The others would not believe Diana’s words. Duke Rothwell enjoyed a sterling reputation in public, after all.
“Right. That bastard’s the type to do something like that.”
But Varcan knew the truth of her words.
“I thought only I knew that bastard’s true nature, but you knew it too.”
Varcan’s eyes and Diana’s met.
“I want to follow you. I don’t want to be used, and I want revenge against the Rothwell Family members who tormented me. Please let me work for you.”
Everything Diana said made him laugh without sound.
Now she even wanted revenge on the Rothwell Family. Honestly, it made no sense.
As long as they had Baltazar’s power and the Temple backing them, they were invincible.
“What work could you do?”
“You’ll find out if you take me with you.”
Yet somehow, curiosity stirred in him. What exactly could she do?
Varcan narrowed his eyes as he asked.
“Have you given no thought to me simply using you?”
“Either way, you’d be making use of me, wouldn’t you? Then at least I could have my revenge on my uncle. And my uncle despises you greatly.”
“You…….”
Diana waited for Varcan’s answer, her face calm and composed, though anxiety churned beneath.
Soon his mouth opened.
“You’re tough?”
As expected, that’s what he’d say.
“But you have no eye for people, kid. Others would laugh. Abandoning the Rothwell Family to choose Kardian.”
Varcan scratched his head and gazed out the window.
“Well, come along for now.”
Bringing this girl to the mansion was dangerous. She could Rampage at any moment. That was why all the servants of the Kardian Family were physically well-trained.
But she supposedly had Purification abilities, and a brief stay should be manageable.
‘Well, if she wants to leave, I can find her a safe place then.’
Somewhere warmer and safer than the Kardian Family. He’d protect her until she settled in, until then. That was what he decided.
* * *
Soon after, before them stood a mansion shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.
Yet Diana marveled at its grand scale.
‘Remarkable indeed. Worthy of standing alongside the Rothwell Family.’
The Kardian Family had great wealth.
‘Upon elevation to Duke status, he said they did well investing and running trading companies with the stipend for maintaining dignity.’
All of it had been Varcan’s doing.
Though the family had a head of house, he spent more time away from the mansion.
And so Varcan had naturally come to manage both the mansion and the family’s trading operations.
“Turns out I have a knack for running things? That’s why our family accumulated such enormous wealth.”
Diana looked around the mansion with unfamiliar eyes.
‘When I met Varcan, the family was already destroyed and destitute, so I couldn’t truly appreciate it.’
She’d thought he was just boasting, but the Kardian Family of this time was genuinely wealthy beyond measure.
At that moment, a butler emerged from the mansion to greet Varcan.
“Jordick, where is Father?”
“He has not yet returned from the Subjugation. This one seems to be taking considerable time, he said.”
“I see. I should leave again soon. Look after Bianca for me.”
“Haven’t you just returned from completing your mission?”
“Yes, but a guest has arrived. I’m leaving again right away, so I’m entrusting her to you.”
“A guest?”
Varcan nodded, then stepped aside and presented Diana, who had been standing awkwardly beside him.
“She’ll be staying with us from today.”
At those words, Jordick’s expression grew shocked. Diana’s appearance was far too frail-looking.
Until now, everyone who worked at or visited the mansion was physically trained. Jordick himself was tall and muscular.
The same was true of the maids. The Kardian Family was no place for the weak.
Not because of the Purification Zone, but because the supply of Temple Side-Effect Suppressants was unstable, and Ability-Users could Rampage without warning.
And yet he meant to bring this frail creature into the household?
“Sir Varcan, this person seems hardly fitting to call a guest of our family…….”
“Too frail-looking?”
“Y-yes, that is so.”
“No, this one is stronger than she appears. Don’t judge by looks alone.”
“Stronger, you say?”
“Not in body, perhaps, but in spirit. Probably.”
Varcan lifted one corner of his mouth and spoke, looking at Diana.
“Right?”
“Yes. You needn’t worry. I can take care of myself.”
“See how she answers right away? I’m right, aren’t I, Jordick?”
Jordick regarded Diana with skeptical eyes. He couldn’t fathom where this strength was supposed to be.
“Young Master.”
“A few months. That should be enough.”
Varcan cut him off before he could say more. Finally, Jordick released a light sigh.
“Very well.”
He could not oppose a decision the master had already made.
“Then I should treat her as a guest, correct?”
The moment the butler finished speaking, Diana’s head snapped up.
“No. Give me work.”
“Work?”
Even as Jordick’s eyes widened in surprise at this unexpected request, Varcan asked with suspicion.
“You really want to work that much?”
“Sitting idle makes me uncomfortable.”
“That’s unusual. I’m doing work I don’t want to do. But I doubt you’d have much to do around this mansion.”
“I’m fine with maid’s work. I’m good at it.”
“……Maid’s work?”
“Yes. I worked alongside the maids at my previous home.”
A duke’s daughter doing maid’s work? Varcan’s eyes widened at words he could scarcely believe.
“Please let me work for you.”
Her earlier words came back to him. So this was what she meant.
He recalled Duke Rothwell’s face, calling her useless.
If she’d been forced to prove her worth even in her own home, then her asking this now, and her grudge against the Rothwell Family, made some sense.
Varcan stared at Diana intently. She met his gaze without flinching.
He’d originally planned to give her a false identity, keeping her Rothwell connection secret.
But he had never intended to set her to maid’s work.
Yet Varcan nodded.
He was not the type to forbid someone from doing what they wished to do.
“Fetch Matilda.”
Soon a middle-aged woman emerged from the mansion.
It was Matilda, the head of the household’s maids.
“Is there any work she could handle? Among the maids’ duties?”
“Yes, there is.”
“What work?”
“Looking at that delicate frame, one position comes to mind. As a lady’s maid to the Princess Bianca.”
“To Bianca?”
“Yes. In fact, one of her maids left us not long ago.”
At that answer, Varcan sighed softly and asked.
“Did Bianca cause trouble again?”
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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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