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Chapter 6
Hasen’s eyes narrowed.
“W-Why in the world are you here?”
After what seemed to be a long escape, she looked completely exhausted, her body drooping as she trembled.
Barkan narrowed his eyes slightly and looked down at her as she struggled to catch her breath. Hasen turned to him and asked awkwardly,
“What should we do, Lord Barkan? Should we inform Duke Rothwell?”
The moment those words were spoken—
“Please help me!”
Diena’s eyes flew open, and she immediately clung to Barkan’s feet.
Barkan’s eyebrows rose in annoyance.
Diena cried out desperately,
“If you help me, I’ll do anything. If I stay here, I’ll die. Please!”
Barkan remained silent as he stared directly into her eyes.
“Why would you die just because you’re here?”
Diena’s small hands gripped the hem of his clothes. Her desperation made it clear she had no intention of letting go.
It was surprising that such strength could come from such a frail, emaciated body.
Diena was that desperate.
“Please take me with you. I can really be useful, you know? You won’t regret it if you do.”
“What…?”
Barkan looked momentarily taken aback by Diena’s confident declaration.
Soon recovering himself, he let out a scoffing laugh.
“Well, I have no idea what kind of help you could possibly be. And I have no interest in receiving help from a kid who looks younger than me.”
“But…”
Diena’s eyes shook violently.
She had never expected the Barkan she met again to be the same as before.
Unlike her, Barkan had no memories of the past. To him, Diena was merely a girl he had never met before.
Besides, hadn’t the Barkan of the past said it many times?
“When I was young, I was a pretty unsociable guy. It’s honestly a good thing I didn’t meet you back then.”
It was impossible to imagine just by looking at the Barkan she had known.
The Barkan she met had been playful, but also incredibly considerate and mature.
Barkan had said that after his family fell, he wandered from place to place and grew up a great deal.
“Thanks to that, my personality softened a lot. Back then, I was obsessed with nothing but getting revenge on Duke Rothwell.”
Whenever he said that, Hasen would always add her own comment from the side.
“That’s right! If Lady Diena had met Lord Barkan back then, you might never have come to our family. He was truly cold-blooded! Honestly, every time I watched him, I couldn’t help sighing at the things he did…”
“But I’m different now.”
“Only when you’re in front of Lady Diena, isn’t that right? You hypocri— Ahem.”
So Diena had known from the beginning that he wouldn’t treat her kindly.
Still, seeing the cold eyes with which Barkan looked at her—as if she were a complete stranger—hurt her heart.
Tilting his head as though she were a nuisance, Barkan said,
“How about you just obediently return to your family?”
Diena stared at him with her lips pressed together.
‘Yeah, I knew this would happen.’
Even she would have been suspicious if a complete stranger suddenly begged to be taken away.
‘Of course, if I keep pleading, Barkan will eventually take me with him.’
Barkan had witnessed what happened to her at the gathering earlier. He must have realized, at least to some extent, why she wanted to escape her family.
But even if he helped her right now, there was a high chance he wouldn’t take her to the Cardian family.
‘That won’t do. I have to go to the Cardian family.’
Nothing would be solved by simply worrying.
Rather than relying on sympathy, she had to give them a reason to take her along.
‘In this life, I’ll be the one reaching out first.’
Having made up her mind, Diena opened her mouth.
“You dislike my uncle… Balthazar Rothwell, don’t you?”
Barkan flinched slightly, then nodded without hesitation.
“Of course.”
“I know a way to make him furious.”
Interest flickered in Barkan’s eyes.
“And what’s that?”
“Take me with you.”
The moment she finished speaking, Barkan frowned, assuming she was making fun of him.
“You…”
At that moment, Malacar let out an exasperated sigh.
“Barkan, when are you going to fix that cold personality of yours? At least hear her out first.”
Clicking his tongue, he bent down on one knee and met Diena’s gaze.
“Why do you think you’ll die if you return there? And you seem to be running from someone. I’d like to know why.”
Diena stared at Malacar.
‘Master…’
Seeing his gentle face made tears threaten to spill from her eyes.
The faces around her were all familiar.
Naturally so—they were members of the Cardian family.
She carefully examined Malacar’s face.
‘He doesn’t look well. He’s at the point where he needs to take a suppressant immediately.’
If that was the case, persuading him would be even easier.
‘This was my plan from the start anyway.’
There was no time for lengthy explanations.
The sounds of noisy soldiers were growing closer.
“I’ll show you why taking me with you is enough to make Duke Rothwell furious.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Without hesitation, Diena grabbed Malacar’s hand.
The instant she did, Malacar’s body froze.
* * *
When he first became an Ability User, everything had seemed wonderful.
It felt as though he had the entire world in his hands.
He had been the heir of a prestigious marquis family.
But because he failed to awaken an ability, he was abandoned by his family.
“Malacar, a noble who cannot awaken an ability is no noble at all.”
“You’re nothing more than vermin—worse than a commoner with a low-grade ability.”
The lives of abandoned non-ability users were miserable.
Fortunately, he possessed talent for magic and walked the path of a mage.
But perhaps fate enjoyed playing cruel jokes.
After entering the Mage Tower and earning recognition as a magician, his ability finally awakened.
An awakening after the age of fourteen.
It was an extremely rare occurrence.
And not only was he a mage, but also an Ability User.
Everyone admired him.
There was nothing left in the world for him to fear.
But that joy did not last long.
Because from the moment he awakened, a horrifying pain began following him like a shadow for the rest of his life.
To the point where being powerless would have been preferable.
The darkness that accumulated whenever he used his abilities.
Without special suppressants to restrain its side effects, he could barely maintain a normal life.
That was certainly true until just moments ago—
‘What… did this child do to me…?’
Malacar’s eyes widened.
The moment the little girl grasped his hand, the hellish pain that had oppressed him for his entire life began disappearing one strand at a time, as though a tangled ball of thread were unraveling.
The darkness that had seeped into his body for years scattered away as though it were melting.
It felt like warm sunlight settling upon a frozen lake in the middle of winter.
“Wh-What is this…?”
Confusion and awe crossed Malacar’s face simultaneously as he experienced something he had never encountered before.
Barkan frowned and tilted his head.
“Old Man Malacar?”
At that moment, the soldiers’ shouts echoed nearby.
“Where did she hide?!”
As the three exchanged glances, Malacar spoke urgently.
“Let’s hide her in the carriage first.”
“…What?”
“She’s right. Taking this child with us is more than enough to make Duke Rothwell furious.”
There was no time to explain.
Malacar quickly took Diena and hid inside the carriage.
