🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 5
The punishment room was damp and freezing.
A bone-deep chill pierced through her ragged clothes as if they were nothing more than scraps of old cloth.
In a place without even a single light, an ordinary person would already have been paralyzed by fear. But a faint smile appeared on Diena’s lips.
‘I’m glad Romie is still as violent as ever. And it’s fortunate that the Duchess and Cain are exactly the same kind of people.’
Diena had already known this would happen the moment she showed herself before the members of the Five Great Families.
She had expected Romie to lose her temper and lock her in the punishment room. After all, being confined here had always been the punishment Romie feared the most.
Even knowing all of this, Diena had deliberately provoked her.
‘Because there’s a secret passage here.’
Diena ran her fingers along the cold stone wall. After tapping it in a steady rhythm, the bricks immediately began to split apart.
The tightly sealed passage opened.
“Farewell, Rotwell.”
Leaving those words behind, Diena stepped into the darkness.
The bricks shifted again, and the entrance closed as though nothing had ever happened.
* * *
Holding her breath, Diena hurried through the secret passage.
Before long, an uncontrollable commotion erupted throughout the Rotwell Ducal Estate.
“Diena is gone!”
“Where did she run off to?!”
Perhaps some parts of the past had changed, because her escape was discovered much sooner than before.
Diena froze near the passage exit.
Voices drifted through the dirt and stone walls from inside the castle.
Edeline’s irritated voice rang out.
“So what if she disappeared? It’s just one useless non-awakened person.”
A man’s voice answered her.
“Be quiet! You know some people awaken their abilities later! If she turns out to be an ability user, we can’t just let her run free.”
Diena stiffened at the familiar voice.
‘Uncle’s voice.’
The Duke of Rotwell, Baltazar, practically shouted.
“An ability user is an asset to our ducal house by their very existence! Even if she’s not one, that brat should remain in my hands until her very last breath!”
A bitter smile formed on Diena’s lips.
Once again, she was reminded that to them she was not family, but a possession whose value needed to be assessed.
Then her expression hardened at the next command.
“Search the entire castle immediately! Seal all exits! Bring Diena back!”
Keeping low, she moved deeper into the darkness.
‘Barkan should be heading toward the eastern mountain range. He said he visited the Magic Tower with his master after attending this banquet.’
To reach the Magic Tower, one had to pass through the eastern mountains.
She was fairly certain.
Yet a sense of dread kept creeping into her mind.
‘What if the past doesn’t unfold the same way?’
Diena squeezed her eyes shut.
‘No. I can escape. Even if not this time, I’ll definitely get out of this place. No matter what.’
At that moment—
Just a few steps after emerging from the secret passage, a sharp shout rang out behind her.
“There she is!”
The first to spot her were two guards carrying torches.
Their eyes met.
Under the torchlight, her figure was instantly exposed.
On a night where snow swirled through the air, she ran with all her strength.
The freezing wind clawed at her throat.
Snow crunched beneath her feet.
“She’s running that way! Catch her!”
Diena gritted her teeth.
Her eyes flashed.
As a wielder of Purification abilities, she possessed the power to sense darkness. Whenever ability users appeared nearby, she could identify their locations.
And right now—
‘I can feel darkness!’
Only one person possessed darkness this dense.
Barkan.
He was nearby.
Forward.
Just keep moving forward.
She didn’t even think about looking back.
She hadn’t eaten properly in so long, yet somehow strength continued to pour from her body.
She darted between the trees as if flying.
The fierce wind struck her face.
Her vision blurred from snow and tears.
Branches snagged her clothes and tore them apart.
‘Just a little farther… Barkan will be there…’
Her heart pounded wildly.
Her legs felt as though they would break.
But she couldn’t stop.
Behind her, the soldiers’ shouts and footsteps continued to close in.
Then—
Without warning, the ground beneath the snow collapsed.
Diena couldn’t even scream before tumbling down.
* * *
Barkan frowned at the raging snowstorm.
The weather had been terrible for days.
“The weather’s as rotten as this family’s situation.”
Hearing Barkan’s sharp remark, his adjutant Hasen flinched.
“We’re still inside Rotwell territory! What if someone hears you?”
“So what? After seeing how those bastards behave, I’d say they deserve worse.”
Barkan frowned.
The image of Diena’s pitiful appearance surfaced in his mind, standing in stark contrast to Romie’s luxurious dress.
‘The missing former Duke of Rotwell’s daughter, was it?’
No matter how he looked at it, she was clearly their relative.
Yet the way the ducal family treated her like a servant disgusted him.
Especially considering the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the former Duke of Rotwell.
After glancing around, Hasen lowered his voice.
“You shouldn’t talk like that anymore now that your status has risen.”
“I’ve got no noble roots, so I can say whatever I want.”
“Lord Barkan!”
“That status nonsense—I almost want to give it back. My father never wanted a ducal title in the first place.”
“Still, thanks to it, Lady Bianca was able to receive proper treatment.”
“And Duke Rotwell is using that treatment as bait to play games.”
His eyes sharpened.
“With someone’s life.”
Hasen fell silent.
After a sigh, he changed the subject.
“So what will you do now? Are we heading straight to the Cardian family?”
Barkan stared at the fork in the road ahead.
The path on the right crossed the rugged eastern mountain range and led to the Imperial Capital.
The road to the left led north toward the Cardian family.
‘But…’
Barkan glanced toward Malakar.
The man’s darkened complexion and deep shadows beneath his eyes made it clear that his condition was far from normal.
“No. We’ll skip the territory and head straight to the Imperial Capital. Old man Malakar nags too much, so I’d better send him back quickly. He’s also run out of suppressants. Imagine a mage needing suppressants for ability side effects. What a troublesome old man.”
Malakar let out a dry laugh.
“You insolent brat. Looking at your personality, anyone would end up nagging you. You act like you’re the greatest thing in the world.”
“Still better than the Rotwell family.”
Watching them, Hasen asked worriedly,
“Are you alright, Lord Malakar? It seems the suppressant you took earlier is wearing off. Our visit to the Rotwell family delayed us too much.”
“I can still endure it.”
“Even so, if your condition worsens, you must tell us immediately. Promise.”
Malakar smiled faintly.
“Very well.”
“That’s right, old man. Don’t keep quiet and suddenly go berserk.”
Even as he spoke gruffly, Barkan suddenly frowned deeply.
His gaze shifted beyond the forest.
“Things seem strangely noisy. Is something happening?”
“Noisy? I don’t hear anything.”
“No. Rotwell’s soldiers are chasing something. They’re getting closer to us.”
Hasen tilted his head in confusion.
Then Malakar, who had remained silent until now, spoke.
“That boy’s senses are far sharper than an ordinary person’s. He must be hearing something.”
At that moment, Barkan narrowed his eyes again.
The presence had become clearer.
He raised a hand and pointed toward the hill.
“What’s that?”
Everyone turned to look.
Rolling down the snow-covered slope was a snowball.
Eventually it reached a gentler stretch of ground.
Peering at the object revealed through the broken snow, Barkan casually remarked,
“Isn’t that a rabbit? Looks filthy enough to be one.”
“What? What rabbit? That’s obviously a person!”
Startled, Hasen sprinted over and barely managed to catch the snowball—
No, the person.
It was a young girl dressed in filthy clothes.
After seeing her face, Barkan muttered,
“…Diena Rotwell?”
