Favored by the Family That Will Become the Strongest! - Chapter 95

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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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6.
Demian was a boy who talked quite a lot.
Whenever he found someone to speak with, he would say quite a bit, and sometimes he would even mutter to himself with a gloomy expression on his face.
“I’m actually not the kind of person who should be locked up in a place like this. You know that? The saint of the Temple—Sylvia—she’s my younger sister.”
The guards who kept watch over the Underground Dungeon cursed Demian as a braggart for speaking so carelessly of the saint.
“There he goes again with that nonsense. If Lord Dietrich were to hear such talk, he’d really give you a beating.”
And they despised him—a criminal who had killed so many, yet dared to slander the nobility.
Sylvia was the one and only princess of House Hartmann, rescued from outside the Purification Zone. And she was Demian’s twin sister, though no one knew this fact.
The guards were aware that Demian had once worked as a Necromancer outside the Purification Zone.
But now he was merely a traitor to the realm.
And so everyone dismissed his words as lies. After all, the beloved saint could never have a blood relative who was such a vicious criminal.
“You knew you’d rampage, but rather than die alone, you dragged innocent people down with you—that’s all there is to it.”
“You’re the worst kind of scum.”
The guards spat at Demian’s feet. No one believed his words. But Diena alone listened to what he had to say.
“Why weren’t you ever recognized as a member of House Hartmann?”
Demian’s eyes widened in surprise at the question Diena posed to him one day.
“……What? You believe me?”
“I have no reason not to. If I were to say that I’m an Ability User with a Purification Ability and that Romie is using my power while masquerading as a saint, no one would believe me either.”
Demian’s face went blank for a moment, then he laughed as if amused.
“You’re really something funny.”
After that, he began to tell Diena his story.
Every time she came to perform purifications, the two of them shared long conversations.
“My mother was just an ordinary commoner. Then she fell in love with some man, and it turned out he was a duke of House Hartmann who had hidden his identity. In other words, she was deceived into a fraudulent marriage. You know how most children born between commoners and nobles become Non-Ability Users, right?”
“That’s right.”
“The head of House Hartmann sent my pregnant mother outside the Purification Zone. He probably wanted her to die there.”
The mother sent outside the Purification Zone did her best to protect Demian and Sylvia. But there was almost nothing a middle-aged woman of unclear status could do outside the Purification Zone.
She threw herself into increasingly dangerous work. As a result, she fell ill.
She didn’t last long before death came for her.
Demian spoke in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Well, it’s a common story.”
But contrary to all expectation, not long after his mother passed away, Demian awakened to an Innate Ability.
Was that the problem? Dietrich, the eldest son of House Hartmann, came to know of his existence.
He learned of Demian’s existence before the head of the house did, which was perhaps inevitable. He had always been pathologically obsessed with his own position.
Likely, unlike the Duke of Hartmann who probably forgot all about Demian’s mother after sending her outside the Purification Zone, Dietrich had been watching them.
What was even more tragic was that Demian’s younger sister Sylvia also awakened an Innate Ability—and a top-tier Healing Ability at that.
“My half-brother feared me. He was terrified that I might one day take his position as head of the house.”
Demian’s expression darkened for a moment as he continued.
“So he made a deal with Duke Lothwell.”
……
“He said he’d bow and serve you obediently if you’d dispose of me—before our father could find me and eliminate me first.”
“And?”
“Well, you see what happened. Duke Lothwell sent me into a rampage and threw me into this dungeon. And now he’s making quite good use of my Innate Ability.”
Saying this, Demian laughed quietly.
“My younger sister is in the same situation. She’s called a saint at the Temple now, isn’t she? She’s forced to work there while being blackmailed with my life.”
“How do you know that?”
“Our brother has the same temperament I do.”
“I see.”
Indeed, even the talkative Dietrich was not the type to keep secrets for long. After trapping Demian, he probably got excited and blurted out the whole thing right in front of him.
Diena understood the entire situation now. Balthasar had gained an Ability User of the highest tier and secured the unconditional support of House Hartmann. Beyond that, he had also obtained the true saint whom even the Temple had its eye on.
It was a deal satisfactory to both Balthasar and Dietrich.
“Well, what can I do? The fact that I ended up like this is all because I was too excellent. That’s why he feared me so much. ……Why aren’t you saying anything?”
Demian spoke with pride, but Diena, lost in thought, hardly heard him.
“……It just seemed like something Dietrich would do.”
“You know that guy?”
“Yes, he was a friend once. Not anymore.”
At Diena’s words, Demian burst out in genuine laughter.
“The more I see of you, the more I like you. You’re a bit boring, though.”
“You’re not exactly interesting yourself.”
“That last bit was actually pretty funny. Well, it doesn’t really matter whether you’re interesting or not. People who hate the same person tend to get along well naturally.”
And so the two of them became friends through their shared hatred of Dietrich. Demian said a great deal without being asked, and Diena listened quietly to him each time.
“I often think about the past. If I had acted differently back then, would I have avoided this situation?”
“How do you think you should have acted?”
“I should have gone to House Hartmann as soon as my Innate Ability awakened. Running away solved nothing.”
Diena agreed with what Demian said. Dietrich was very fearful by nature, the type who felt compelled to eliminate all threats to his position.
“But if you hadn’t gone through something like this, would you have been able to think that way?”
Demian answered Diena’s question decisively.
“That’s true too.”
Like Dietrich, Demian also had a fearful nature. Had he learned that Dietrich was targeting him, he would have chosen to flee immediately.
“I had no idea back then that my brother was even more cautious and fearful than I was.”
Demian and Dietrich were people who could not exist under the same sky. Demian had learned this truth far too late.
Demian whispered to her a truth he had kept hidden until now.
“This is a secret, but when I get out of here, I’m going to have my revenge on the brother who threw me into this place.”
True to his talkative nature, he even revealed secrets he should never have told. Diena gave him serious counsel.
“Anyone can see that’s what you want. Everyone already knows it without you having to say it.”
Diena looked at Demian quietly. More precisely, at the empty space where his legs should have been.

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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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