Chapter 1

Prologue

“No, please hold on… Please.”

With trembling fingertips, Diena activated her ability. A gentle light wrapped around Varkan’s wounds, but there was no response.

The Purification Ability could only erase darkness. It had no power to hold onto a fading life. She knew that, yet she couldn’t stop.

“Stop… Diena.”

Varkan’s voice was faint, but firm.

“Don’t be stupid. At least you need to survive.”

“You should’ve just left me behind! Why…”

Varkan smiled weakly.

“How could I leave you behind? You’re my little sister.”

But Diena wasn’t his real sister.

She was even a member of House Rothwell, the ducal family that had destroyed Kardian.

“Why don’t you resent me? If it weren’t for me, you could’ve lived proudly as the strongest.”

It was something she had wanted to ask for years. The words she had swallowed because she lacked the courage. In the end, she blurted them out at the most cowardly moment possible.

At Diena’s anguished cry, Varkan slowly shook his head.

“Not once have I ever hated you.”

“But…”

With trembling hands, Diena gently caressed his face.

“Please live… At least you. Be happy…”

Varkan’s eyes closed.

And in that moment, the world fell silent.

Diena buried her face against the back of his hand and cried. She, too, had already reached her limit.

The price of forcing herself to use her ability was that her life was slipping away.

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

“I won’t let them get away with this.”

If she were ever given another chance, she would never forgive those who had killed her family.

She would somehow take revenge on those who had reduced Varkan to this state.

Inside the cave, where the blizzard had finally ceased, the warmth of their bodies slowly faded away.

1

Diena didn’t know who her mother was, but she had a father who cherished her.

However, in the year she turned fourteen, he disappeared while on a monster subjugation expedition.

Her father, who had always been her steadfast shield, was suddenly gone.

House Rothwell quickly fell into the hands of her uncle, and Diena became an unwelcome presence within the family.

At first, Diena held onto a small hope. After all, he was her father’s younger brother. Even if he couldn’t be like her father, she thought he would still become her guardian.

True to her expectations, her uncle pitied Diena for losing her father.

“Diena, from now on, think of me as your father.”

But her aunt and cousins never treated her as family.

Most people awakened their abilities at fourteen, yet even after her birthday had passed, Diena remained a Non-Ability User.

It was a world where noble birth meant nothing if you failed to awaken an ability. A commoner with a powerful ability could rise to become a high-ranking noble.

Normally, that wasn’t an issue. Most noble children awakened abilities and became Ability Users.

But those who failed were treated worse than commoners. Many were abandoned by their families.

The reason her uncle had been able to seize control of House Rothwell so easily after the former duke disappeared was because he himself was a powerful Ability User.

Whenever her uncle was away, Diena’s cousin Romie would curl one corner of her lips upward and say,

“Hey, I’m the young lady of this house now. If you want to keep living here, you should do your share. See that rag over there? Use it and clean my room.”

With her arms crossed, Romie tilted her chin arrogantly. Her older brother Cain watched with amusement and snickered.

“Wow, this is really entertaining. The great Young Lady Rothwell becoming Romie’s maid.”

Diena lowered her eyes without a word. She had never been given a choice in the first place.

She hid everything from her busy uncle because she didn’t want to burden him.

And so, Diena, once the beloved princess of House Rothwell, came to live a life worse than that of a servant.

Still, perhaps fate hadn’t completely abandoned her.

Around the age of sixteen, Diena finally awakened an ability.

The Purification Ability.

It healed Ability Users by removing the darkness that accumulated every time they used their powers, making it an ability everyone desperately needed.

From that moment on, her family began to change.

Her aunt, who had always treated her coldly, approached her with a bright smile.

“Our Diena, you’ve finally awakened your ability!”

Even her cousins, who had always treated her like a servant, embraced her with apologetic expressions.

“Diena, I’m sorry. I was too mean to you. I was just immature back then. I won’t treat you like that anymore.”

Diena hadn’t completely lowered her guard around them.

But the words of her uncle, the only person who had ever shown her sympathy, washed away years of sorrow like melting snow.

“Diena, I’ve always believed in you. I knew you’d become the pride of our family.”

She thought happiness had finally come to her.

It took a very long time for her to realize that belief was nothing more than an illusion.

When she turned twenty, her uncle successfully staged a rebellion.

Having ascended to the imperial throne, he plunged House Rothwell into a constant state of celebration.

In stark contrast, Diena’s room felt unbearably gloomy.

‘I have nothing left.’

Nothing except a body that would soon die.

Diena looked at the physician standing before her.

“Can you say that again?”

“What I’m about to tell you is something I’m risking my life to reveal.”

“…”

“If you continue using your ability, you’ll die.”

Diena slowly blinked.

“Your body was still growing, yet you overused your ability within a very short period of time.”

The physician looked at her with pity as he continued.

“Every physician who examined you was silenced by the Duke. He said that if you ever learned the truth, he’d kill all of us.”

“Why are you telling me this?”

“Because I’m from Kardian Territory. I’m going to be purged anyway. I’m sorry. I’ve looked away for too long.”

Letting out an empty laugh, Diena wandered aimlessly until she found her uncle.

‘It has to be a lie.’

Her uncle would never do such a thing.

Even when the rest of his family looked down on her, he had always cared for her.

But…

“Tch. So you found out after all.”

His true colors appeared almost instantly.

“That’s right. Thanks to your Purification Ability, our family was able to rise to the very top. You’ve worked hard all this time, Diena.”

He admitted that he had used her ability solely for his own gain.

Diena’s body trembled with betrayal.

“So it didn’t matter if I died?”

“To defeat those vermin from Kardian, there was no other choice. Shouldn’t you feel honored to sacrifice yourself for the family?”

The Duke of Rothwell smiled brightly, as though her life truly meant nothing to him.

“You said we were family.”

“Yes, we’re family. That’s exactly why you should work even harder. If you want to remain family, that is.”

His voice turned cold.

“You aren’t my biological daughter. But I’ve raised you no differently from one. Now it’s time for you to repay that debt.”

“Uncle…”

“There are still many remnants of House Kardian left. Until they’re completely wiped out, you mustn’t rest.”

There was certainty in his eyes.

Certainty that Diena would never refuse him.

And under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have.

She would’ve continued doing her best, just as she always had.

Because they were family.

She had devoted her entire life to them without question.

Yet, as though mocking her devotion, the Duke of Rothwell smiled cruelly and said,

“Sacrifice yourself for the family until the very end.”

* * *

Diena slowly opened her eyes.

It was a dream from the distant past.

Memories of her life in House Rothwell and her final moments with Varkan had resurfaced.

Had she seen her entire life before dying?

The last memory from the cave remained vivid in her mind.

Varkan had died.

She had stopped breathing as well.

Diena blinked.

‘Didn’t I die? Where am I?’

Splash!

At that moment, icy water poured over her head.

Startled, Diena quickly turned to the side.

“Romie…?”

“Romie? Who said you could call me that?”

Diena froze.

“What is this…?”

It was definitely her cousin Romie.

But she looked much younger.

Was she still dreaming?

After Diena awakened her ability, Romie had never openly mistreated her.

‘She still mocked me behind my back, but she always pretended to be friendly in front of others.’

Whenever she openly bullied Diena, their uncle would scold her.

“I told you to call me Lady Romie. Do you still think you’re the young lady of this house?”

Lady Romie.

That was what Diena had called her before awakening her ability.

Romie frowned irritably.

“Anyway, don’t leave your room for a while. You don’t need to clean either.”

“…”

“The people from the Five Great Families are visiting in two days. Got it? They’ll only be annoyed if they see you.”

After saying that, Romie left with a maid.

Diena stared blankly at her retreating figure.

‘This is strange. It has to be a dream, but it feels too real.’

She slowly walked forward.

Inside an old brass basin was cold water.

Reflected faintly on its surface was a face that felt both unfamiliar and familiar.

It was the face of a girl who looked to be in her mid-teens.

Diena’s eyes widened as she staggered backward.

She pinched her arm.

“What? It hurts…”

She could feel pain.

Which meant this wasn’t a dream.

‘I’ve… become younger?’

She had no idea how such a thing was possible, but she had returned to the past.

And Romie had said that people from the Five Great Families would arrive in two days.

That was enough for Diena to figure out exactly when she was.

‘That was when Big Brother Varkan first came to Rothwell.’

Varkan Kardian.

The heir apparent of House Kardian.

The man who had saved her when she escaped from House Rothwell in her previous life.

Just thinking that she would be able to meet the younger version of him made her heart pound.