During his youth, Balthazar had realized he wouldn't inherit the family line and chose to enter the Temple instead. He had risen to a high position there as well. Thanks to that, after Balthazar became the Duke of Rothwell, the bond between the Temple and the Rothwell Duchy grew exceptionally close.
'Though it was always suspicious how he returned to the family immediately after my father went missing.'
In truth, it was also baffling why the Temple was so favorable toward Balthazar upon his return, not to mention how openly they flaunted their relationship within high society. The Temple had essentially appointed Balthazar as their proxy and handed over the monopoly on the supply of side-effect suppressants to him.
Currently, the Temple exclusively manufactured high-quality suppressants. Because of this, it had already been quite a long time since the House of Kardian had received a proper supply.
The Magic Tower provided suppressants as well, but they were inferior in quality compared to the Temple's. They were completely insufficient to heal the darkness festering inside the bodies of Duke Kardian and Varkan, both of whom were highest-tier ability users.
It was only natural for Varkan to despise the Rothwell Duchy. Yet, despite that, Varkan had helped Diena.
In her past life, and in this one too.
A brief silence hung in the air. It was Diena who broke it.
"Then, what do you plan to do with me now?"
Varkan tilted his head. "Why are you asking me that?"
Diena raised her head and looked squarely at Varkan. "If it's alright with you, I want to follow you, Lord Varkan."
Varkan narrowed his eyes. His expression made it clear he was questioning her sanity.
"……You do know who I am, right?"
"Of course I know. Varkan Kardian."
He deliberately spoke in a cold, menacing voice to intimidate her. "If you know that, you'd better think it through carefully."
Varkan crossed his arms and turned his gaze back to the window.
"I only helped you because the Duke of Rothwell was acting like a total piece of work. It wasn't because I'm some kind of saint."
"Ah."
"The Kardian estate where I live is in the north. The weather is freezing, and powerful demonic beasts appear constantly."
"I see."
When Diena didn't seem fazed by his words, Varkan added with a mischievous, stubborn smirk, "I have no idea what use a kid like you could possibly be. Besides, I don't have much of a sense of responsibility, nor am I the type to easily give away my affection."
Beside Varkan, Malakar nodded vigorously in agreement. "The boy is right. The Kardian estate is no place for a young girl to live. It lies outside the Purified Zone, so unlike the other Four Great Families, it is difficult to expect any protection from the Temple."
However, Diena shook her head.
"I’m not that young. I'm only three years younger than you, Lord Varkan. And I'll be much more useful than you think. Furthermore, I have absolutely no need for the Temple's protection."
"Oh?"
"I'm a great cook, and I get along with animals quickly. I'm also really good at hard labor." Diena looked up at Varkan with pleading eyes. "I eat incredibly small portions, so I won't be a burden at all."
At that, Varkan knitted his brows in disapproval. "You don't need to do anything. Whether you're useful or not isn't the point. And eating less isn't exactly something you should be bragging about, is it?"
"Oh... In that case—"
Varkan let out a deep sigh, seeing that Diena still hadn't given up.
"Do you want to die?" he asked in a low voice. Exhaling slowly, he continued, "There's no way you stayed in the House of Rothwell without hearing about Kardian's weakness."
The bodies of the people of the House of Kardian harbored a colossal darkness that could drive them into a rampage at any given moment. This was because they were possessors of special abilities rooted in the power of darkness.
'Originally, it wasn't quite this severe.'
And that darkness was growing more potent by the day.
"You said you didn't want to die. Then why are you trying to follow me? For all you know, the ability inside my body could rampage at any second."
However, Diena knew the true cause behind this worry of his.
'It's because of Uncle's ability.'
Though the public was entirely unaware, Balthazar was an ability user who possessed two distinct powers.
'Everyone believes he is an ability user who manipulates gravity, but he has one more hidden power.'
The ability to amplify darkness.
To ability users, it was quite literally a catastrophic power. Balthazar had used his monopoly on suppressants alongside this hidden ability to manipulate the House of Kardian as he pleased.
What made matters even worse was that when an ability user went into a rampage, the people near them would also be consumed by the darkness. For non-ability users who had never awakened, this corruption by darkness was essentially an incurable disease. Without regular doses of suppressants, it would ultimately lead to death.
And…….
'That is exactly why Varkan's younger sister, Lady Bianca, is sick.'
His younger sister, Bianca, was a non-ability user. Two years ago, Varkan's darkness had rampaged. As a result, the Duchess had passed away, and Bianca had been severely corrupted by the dense darkness.
'I didn't know if my ability could heal her in my past life…….'
In her previous life, the Duke of Rothwell had exploited that fact. Using Diena and her purification ability as bait, he had stripped the House of Kardian of countless things.
'He took everything from them, but in the end, he never allowed my power to be used on Lady Bianca.'
In her past life, Varkan's younger sister had died that way.
Diena had never actually tried to heal a non-ability user corrupted by darkness before. Because of that, she wasn't entirely certain if her power would work on them.
'Which is all the more reason I must go to the Kardian estate.'
She needed to confirm whether her ability would work on Bianca.
Diena let out a soft sigh. She felt reluctant to persuade him by promising to cure Lady Bianca under these uncertain conditions. If her ability failed to work, she would only be planting false hope. He might even get furious and call her a liar.
'In the end, I need to convince Varkan with logic.'
Fixing her resolve, she spoke up. "Yes, I really don't want to die. And that is exactly why I am choosing to follow you, Lord Varkan."
Varkan flinched. The fragile, pitiful look on her face from just moments ago had vanished. Diena's eyes were now filled with unyielding determination.
"To be honest, everything I said just now was just an act. I had a pretty good feeling you wouldn't fall for it."
"What? Then why did you even bring it up?"
"Well, I thought if I made myself sound a bit pitiful, there might be a chance you'd take me along anyway. It was worth a shot. Plus, I wanted to see what kind of person you are."
If this had been the Varkan of her past life, it would have worked to some extent. Back then, he used to grant her every whim the moment Diena put on even the slightest act of being weak.
"But now I know for certain that you're a person who is entirely unmoved by emotional appeals."
"It's a relief you figured it out now. I'm not that much of a pushover." Saying so, Varkan crossed his arms again.
Watching him, Diena realized once more that the pushover Varkan—the one who would do absolutely anything at her word—did not exist right now.
"Diena, why are you crying? What didn't you like? Just tell me, I'll take care of everything for you."
"It's just some dust in my eye……."
It's fine, I already prepared myself for this.
Holding onto that thought, Diena slowly opened her mouth.
"I am well aware of Kardian's weakness. I also know that if it weren't for that weakness, the House of Kardian could become far more powerful."
"……That may be true. But it's an impossible task."
"It is entirely possible with my purification ability. Because my power purifies darkness. This is also the reason why I said earlier that I have no need for the Temple's protection."
This time, even Varkan couldn't hide his blatant shock. An ability that purified darkness was a power he had never even heard of.
He turned sharply toward Malakar. "Is what she's saying true?"
"It is true. Look at me, my condition has cleared up entirely."
"Wow, now that you mention it, it has. That's an insane ability."
It was exactly as he said. Malakar’s condition, which had demanded an immediate dose of suppressants just moments ago, had visibly improved.
Unable to fully comprehend it, Varkan turned back to Diena and asked:
"Why on earth did you hide the existence of this ability from the Duke of Rothwell?"
