Chapter 5

The punishment room was damp and freezing.

The cold seeped through her rag-like clothes and burrowed all the way into her bones.

In this pitch-black room without even a single light, an ordinary person would’ve already been terrified.

Yet a faint smile appeared on Diena’s lips.

‘I’m glad Romie’s personality is still as violent as ever. And it’s lucky that Lady Rothwell and Cain are exactly the same as before.’

Diena had already known this would happen if she showed herself in front of the people from the Five Great Families.

She had also expected Romie to lose her temper and lock her in the punishment room.

After all, this was the punishment Romie always feared the most.

Even knowing all of that, Diena had deliberately provoked her.

‘Because there’s a secret passage here.’

Diena ran her hand along the cold stone wall.

Tap. Tap.

She knocked in a steady rhythm.

Almost immediately, the bricks began to split apart.

Then the tightly sealed passage opened.

“Goodbye, Rothwell.”

Leaving those words behind, Diena stepped into the darkness.

The bricks shifted back into place, and the entrance vanished as though it had never existed.

* * *

Diena held her breath and hurried through the secret passage.

Before long, an uproar erupted throughout the Rothwell ducal estate.

“Diena’s gone!”

“Where did she run off to?!”

Perhaps parts of the past had changed.

Her escape was discovered much sooner than before.

Diena froze near the passage exit.

Voices from within the castle were carrying through the gaps between the soil and stone walls.

She heard Edeline’s irritated voice.

“So what if she’s gone? It’s only one useless Non-Ability User.”

Then a man’s voice answered her.

“Be quiet! You know some people awaken their abilities late! If that child turns out to be an Ability User, we can’t let her run around freely!”

Diena stiffened at the familiar voice.

‘Uncle.’

The Duke of Rothwell, Baltazar, practically shouted.

“An Ability User is an asset to this ducal house! Even if she isn’t one, that brat must 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 wasn’t family.

She was merely property whose value had to be calculated.

Then her expression hardened at the next words.

“Search the entire castle immediately! Seal the exits! Find Diena!”

Keeping low, she pushed through the darkness and continued forward.

‘Varkan should be heading toward the eastern mountain range. He said he visited the Magic Tower with Master after this gathering.’

The road to the Magic Tower passed through the eastern mountain range.

She was fairly certain of it, but an uneasy thought 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 it doesn’t happen this time, I’ll get out of here somehow. I will.’

That was when it happened.

She had barely taken a few steps after emerging from the secret passage when 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 snowy night with flakes swirling everywhere, Diena ran with all her strength.

The freezing air scraped at her throat.

Snow crunched beneath her feet.

“She went that way! Catch her!”

Diena gritted her teeth.

Her eyes flashed.

As the owner of the Purification Ability, she could sense darkness.

That allowed her to detect the presence of Ability Users.

And right now…

‘I can feel darkness!’

Only one person possessed darkness this dense.

Varkan.

He was nearby.

Forward.

Just keep going forward.

She didn’t even think about looking back.

She hadn’t been eating properly, yet she couldn’t understand where all this strength was coming from.

She hurled herself between the trees.

A fierce wind struck her face.

Her vision blurred from tears and falling snow.

The hem of her dress snagged on branches and tore apart.

‘Just a little… farther and I’ll find Varkan…!’

Her heart pounded wildly.

Her legs felt as though they would snap at any moment.

But she couldn’t stop.

Behind her, the soldiers’ shouts and footsteps continued to close in.

Then, after running for what felt like forever,

The ground beneath her suddenly gave way.

Diena didn’t even have time to scream before she tumbled downward.

* * *

Varkan frowned at the raging snowstorm.

The weather had been awful for days.

“The weather’s just as terrible as the state of that family.”

Hasen flinched at Varkan’s sharp remark.

“We’re still inside Rothwell territory! What if someone hears you?”

“Why should I care? After seeing the way those bastards act, I’d say they deserve every insult.”

Varkan furrowed his brow.

The image of Diena’s shabby appearance flashed through his mind.

It stood in stark contrast to Romie’s extravagant dress.

‘The daughter of the missing former Duke of Rothwell, was it?’

No matter how he looked at it, she was clearly a relative.

Watching the ducal family treat her like a servant left a bad taste in his mouth.

Especially when he considered the circumstances surrounding the disappearance of the previous Duke of Rothwell.

Hasen glanced around before speaking quietly.

“You can’t talk like that anymore now that your status has risen.”

“I’ve never had any noble pedigree to begin with, so I can say whatever I want.”

“Lord Varkan!”

“I’d rather tell them to take that title back. My father never wanted some ducal title in the first place.”

“But thanks to it, Lady Bianca was able to receive proper treatment, wasn’t she?”

“And Duke Rothwell is using that treatment as bait to play games. With someone’s life.”

Hasen fell silent at Varkan’s sharp response.

After letting out a sigh, he changed the subject.

“What are you planning to do now? Are we heading straight back to House Kardian?”

Varkan stared at the fork in the road ahead.

The road on the right crossed the rugged eastern mountain range and led to the Imperial Capital.

The road on the left led north to House Kardian.

‘But…’

Varkan turned his gaze toward Malakar.

His darkened complexion and the heavy shadows beneath his eyes made it clear that his condition was far from normal.

“No. We’re skipping the territory and heading straight to the Imperial Capital. Old Man Malakar nags too much, so I need to send him back quickly. He’s also run out of suppressants. Imagine being a mage who needs suppressants for ability side effects. What a troublesome old man.”

Malakar let out a dry laugh.

“You insolent brat. Anyone would nag if they had to deal with your personality. You act like you’re the greatest thing in the world.”

“Still better than the Rothwell lot.”

Hasen looked at Malakar with concern.

“Are you alright, Lord Malakar? It looks like the effects of your last suppressant are wearing off. I think our visit to House Rothwell delayed us too much.”

“I can still endure it.”

“Even so, if you start feeling worse, you need to tell us immediately. Promise.”

A faint smile appeared on Malakar’s face.

“Alright, I understand.”

“That’s right, Old Man. Don’t keep quiet and end up going berserk on us.”

Though speaking gruffly, Varkan suddenly frowned.

His gaze shifted beyond the forest.

“Things seem noisy over there. Is something happening?”

“Noisy? I can’t hear anything.”

“No. Rothwell’s soldiers are chasing something. They’re getting closer to us.”

Hasen tilted his head in confusion.

Malakar, who had been silent until then, added a comment.

“He’s more sensitive than most people. He must be hearing something.”

At that moment, Varkan’s eyes narrowed again.

The presence had become clearer.

He raised a hand and pointed toward a hill.

“What’s that?”

Everyone followed his gaze.

Something was rolling down the snow-covered slope.

A snowball.

At last it reached a flatter area.

Looking at the object revealed through the broken snow from a distance, Varkan calmly said,

“Isn’t that a rabbit? Looks like a dirty little rabbit.”

“What? What rabbit? That’s obviously a person!”

Startled, Hasen rushed forward and barely managed to catch the snowball.

Or rather, the person.

It was a girl dressed in filthy clothes.

After getting a look at her face, Varkan muttered,

“Diena Rothwell?”