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Chapter 8
Balthazar had known from childhood that he would not inherit the family, so he chose to devote himself to the Temple. There, he had risen to a very high position.
As a result, after Balthazar became the Duke of Rothwell, the Temple and House Rothwell grew remarkably close.
Though it was strange that he returned to the family immediately after Father disappeared.
In truth, it was also odd that the Temple treated Balthazar so favorably after his return to the family.
Even more suspicious was how openly they displayed their relationship to high society.
They had effectively made Balthazar the Temple’s representative and handed him the rights to distribute side-effect suppressants.
At present, the Temple held a monopoly on producing high-quality side-effect suppressants.
Because of this, House Cardian had been unable to obtain suppressants for quite some time.
The Mage Tower also supplied suppressants, but their quality was inferior to the Temple’s products. They were insufficient to heal the darkness dwelling within Duke Cardian and Barkan, both top-tier ability users.
Given that, it was only natural for Barkan to hate House Rothwell.
And yet he had still helped Diena.
Both in her previous life and in this one.
Silence lingered for a moment.
Diena was the first to speak again.
“So, what are you going to do with me now?”
Barkan tilted his head.
“Why are you asking me that?”
Diena raised her head and looked at him.
“If it’s alright with you, I’d like to go with you, Barkan.”
Barkan narrowed his eyes.
It was the expression of someone questioning her sanity.
“…You do know who I am, right?”
“Of course I do. You’re Barkan Cardian.”
As if deliberately trying to intimidate her, he continued in a cold voice.
“If you know that, you should think very carefully.”
Crossing his arms, Barkan turned his gaze toward the window.
“I only helped you because I couldn’t stand the things Duke Rothwell was doing. It’s not because I’m a good person.”
“Ah, I see.”
“The Cardian family is in the North. It’s cold, and powerful monsters appear regularly.”
“I see.”
When Diena didn’t seem to understand his point, Barkan continued with an irritated expression.
“I don’t know what use a kid like you would be. Besides, I’m not particularly responsible, and I’m not the type to get attached to people.”
Beside him, Malakar nodded vigorously.
“The boy is right. House Cardian isn’t a good place for a young girl. It’s outside the Purification Zone, so unlike the other Four Great Houses, they can’t expect much protection from the Temple.”
But Diena shook her head.
“I’m not that young. There’s only a three-year age difference between me and Barkan. And I’ll probably be more useful than you think. I don’t need the Temple’s protection either.”
“Hm?”
“I’m good at cooking, and I make friends with animals quickly. I’m also good at hard work.”
Diena looked up at Barkan with pitiful eyes.
“I hardly eat anything, too, so I won’t be much trouble.”
At that, Barkan frowned in displeasure.
“You don’t need to do any of that. Whether you’re useful or not isn’t important. And eating very little isn’t something worthy of praise.”
“Th-Then…”
Seeing that Diena still hadn’t given up, Barkan let out a deep sigh.
“Do you want to die?”
he asked in a low voice.
Then he slowly exhaled and continued.
“If you lived in the Rothwell family, there’s no way you haven’t heard about Cardian’s weakness.”
The bodies of the Cardian family members harbored immense darkness that could spiral out of control at any moment.
It was because their abilities were based on the power of darkness itself.
It wasn’t originally this severe.
And that darkness was growing stronger with each passing day.
“You said you didn’t want to die. Then why are you saying you’ll follow me? How do you know when the ability inside me might go berserk?”
But Diena knew the true cause of Barkan’s concern.
It’s because of Uncle’s ability.
Though nobody knew it, Balthazar was an ability user who possessed two abilities.
Everyone thinks he’s an ability user who manipulates gravity, but he has another hidden ability.
The ability to amplify darkness.
For ability users, it was nothing short of a disaster.
Using both that ability and the side-effect suppressants, Balthazar had manipulated the members of House Cardian however he pleased.
And the worst part was that when an ability user lost control, the people around them would also be consumed by darkness.
For non-ability users who had never awakened abilities, darkness corruption was practically an incurable disease.
Without regular injections of side-effect suppressants, death was inevitable.
And…
That’s why Barkan’s younger sister, Princess Bianca, became ill.
His younger sister Bianca was not an ability user.
Two years ago, Barkan’s darkness had gone berserk.
As a result, the Duchess died, and Bianca became heavily corrupted by darkness.
I thought my ability might be able to heal her…
In her previous life, Duke Rothwell had exploited that fact.
Using Diena, who possessed purification abilities, as bait, he stole countless things from House Cardian.
He kept taking and taking, yet in the end he never allowed me to use my ability on Princess Bianca.
In her previous life, Barkan’s sister had died that way.
Diena had never healed a non-ability user corrupted by darkness before.
Therefore, she couldn’t be certain whether her ability would work on them.
That’s exactly why I have to go to House Cardian.
She needed to find out whether her ability would work on Bianca.
Diena sighed.
She didn’t want to persuade him by claiming she could cure Princess Bianca in a situation like this.
If her ability failed, she would only be giving him false hope.
He might even become angry and call her a liar.
In the end, I’ll have to convince Barkan in a way he’ll accept.
Having made up her mind, she spoke.
“Yes, I really don’t want to die. That’s exactly why I’m saying I’ll follow you, Barkan.”
Barkan flinched.
The fragile expression she had shown earlier was gone.
Determination now filled Diena’s face.
“Actually, everything I said before was just something I tried. I figured there was a good chance you wouldn’t fall for it.”
“What? Then why did you say all that?”
“I thought that if I sounded pitiful enough, maybe you’d take me with you. So I decided to try it. And I also wanted to know what kind of person you are.”
If it had been the Barkan from her previous life, it would have worked to some extent.
Whenever Diena acted even slightly vulnerable, he had tried to give her whatever she wanted.
“But now I know exactly that emotional appeals don’t work on you at all.”
“Good thing you figured that out now. I’m not that much of a sucker.”
With that, Barkan crossed his arms.
Seeing him like that, Diena once again realized something.
The gullible Barkan who would grant every one of her wishes was gone now.
“Diena. Why are you crying? What upset you? Just tell me. I’ll fix everything for you.”
“There’s just dust in my eye…”
It’s alright.
She had already prepared herself for this.
Thinking that, Diena slowly opened her mouth.
“I know Cardian’s weakness very well. And I know that if not for that weakness, House Cardian could become even stronger.”
“…That’s true. But that’s impossible.”
“My purification ability can make it possible. My ability purifies darkness. That’s why I said I don’t need the Temple’s protection.”
This time, even Barkan couldn’t hide his shock.
An ability that purified darkness?
He had never heard of such a thing.
He turned toward Malakar.
“Is what she’s saying true?”
“It is. Haven’t you noticed that my condition has completely improved?”
“Wow. Now that you mention it, you’re right. That’s an insane ability.”
He was correct.
Malakar’s condition, which had been severe enough to require side-effect suppressants immediately, had visibly improved.
Unable to understand, Barkan looked back at Diena and asked,
“Then why did you hide your ability from Duke Rothwell?”
