Chapter 6

Hasen’s eyes narrowed.

“W-Why are you here?”

After what seemed like a long escape, Diena’s body finally relaxed as she caught her breath.

She was trembling.

Varkan looked down at her as she struggled to breathe, his eyes slightly narrowed.

Hasen spoke to him in an awkward tone.

“What should we do, Lord Varkan? Should we inform Duke Rothwell?”

The moment she heard those words,

“Help me!”

Diena’s eyes flew open and she immediately clung to Varkan’s leg.

One of Varkan’s eyebrows shot up in annoyance.

Diena cried out desperately,

“If you help me, I’ll do anything. If I stay here, I’m going to die. Please!”

Varkan remained silent as he stared straight into her eyes.

“Why would you die if you stay here?”

Diena’s small hands tightly gripped the hem of his clothes.

The desperation in her grip made it clear she had no intention of letting go.

It was surprising how much strength existed in such a thin, frail body.

Diena was truly that desperate.

“Please take me with you. I’ll really be useful. You won’t regret taking me.”

“What…?”

Varkan looked briefly taken aback by her confidence.

Then he quickly recovered and scoffed.

“Well, I don’t really see how you’d be useful. And I have no interest in getting help from someone who looks younger than me.”

“But…”

Diena’s eyes shook violently.

She had never expected the Varkan she met again to be the same as before.

Unlike her, Varkan had no memories of the past.

To him, Diena was just a girl he had met for the first time.

Besides, hadn’t Varkan often said this in the past?

“I was pretty terrible at socializing when I was younger. It’s honestly a good thing I didn’t meet you back then.”

It was impossible to imagine when looking at the Varkan she had known.

By the time she met him, he had been playful, kind, and mature.

Varkan had said that after the fall of his family, wandering from place to place had forced him to grow up.

“Thanks to that, I mellowed out a lot. Back then, I was obsessed with nothing except getting revenge on Duke Rothwell.”

Whenever he said things like that, Hasen would always add a comment from the side.

“Exactly. If you’d met Lord Varkan back then, Lady Diena, you might never have joined our family. He was truly cold-blooded! Seriously, the things he did back then made me sigh every time I saw them…”

“But I’m different now.”

“Only when you’re around Lady Diena, aren’t you? What a two-fac… Ahem.”

So she had known from the beginning that he wouldn’t immediately treat her kindly.

Still, seeing Varkan’s cold eyes looking at her like a stranger hurt.

Varkan tilted his head as though she were becoming a nuisance.

“How about just going back to your family?”

Diena stared at him with her lips pressed tightly together.

‘Yeah. I knew it would turn out like this.’

If she were in his position, she would’ve been suspicious too if a complete stranger suddenly begged to be taken away.

‘Of course, if I keep begging, Varkan will eventually take me with him.’

Varkan had witnessed what happened to her at the gathering earlier.

That meant he had probably already guessed why she wanted to leave her family.

But even if he helped her now, there was a high chance he wouldn’t take her to House Kardian.

‘That can’t happen. I have to go to House Kardian.’

Nothing would change if she simply kept worrying.

Rather than relying on sympathy, she needed to give them a reason to take her along.

‘This time, I’ll be the one reaching out first.’

Having made up her mind, Diena finally spoke.

“You hate my uncle… Baltazar Rothwell, don’t you?”

Varkan flinched slightly before nodding without hesitation.

“Obviously.”

“I know a way to make him furious.”

Interest flickered in Varkan’s eyes.

“And what’s that?”

“Take me with you.”

The moment she finished speaking, Varkan frowned.

He thought she was making fun of him.

“You…”

At that moment, Malakar let out a sigh and scolded him.

“Varkan, when are you going to fix that cold personality of yours? At least hear her out first.”

Clicking his tongue, he lowered himself to one knee.

Then he met Diena’s gaze.

“Why do you think you’ll die if you return there? And you seem to be running from something. I’d like to know why.”

Diena stared at Malakar.

‘Master…’

Seeing his gentle face made tears threaten to spill from her eyes.

All the faces here were familiar.

Of course they were.

They were the people of House Kardian.

She carefully examined Malakar’s face.

‘He looks unwell. He needs to take a suppressant immediately.’

That would make persuading them even easier.

‘This was my plan from the start anyway.’

There wasn’t time to explain everything.

The sounds of the pursuing soldiers were steadily drawing closer.

“If you take me with you, I’ll show you exactly why it will make Duke Rothwell furious.”

“What do you mean?”

Without hesitation, Diena grabbed Malakar’s hand.

The moment she did, his body froze.

* * *

When he first became an Ability User, everything had seemed wonderful.

It felt as though the entire world was in his grasp.

He had been the heir of a prestigious marquis family.

But because he failed to awaken an ability, he had been abandoned by his family.

“Malakar, a noble who can’t awaken an ability isn’t a noble.”

“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 became a mage.

But perhaps fate was playing a cruel joke.

After entering the Magic Tower and finally earning recognition as a mage, his ability awakened.

An awakening after the age of fourteen.

It was far from common.

And he was both a mage and an Ability User.

Everyone admired him.

It felt as though there was nothing left in the world to fear.

But that joy didn’t last long.

The terrible suffering that began after his awakening followed him like a shadow for the rest of his life.

At times, it felt as though being a Non-Ability User would’ve been better.

The darkness that accumulated every time he used his power.

Without suppressants to keep the side effects under control, it was difficult to live a normal life.

That had definitely been true just moments ago.

‘What did this child just do to me…?’

Malakar’s eyes widened.

The instant the little girl grabbed his hand, the hellish pain that had burdened him for his entire life began unraveling like loose threads.

One by one, it vanished.

The darkness that had seeped into his body over countless years melted away.

It felt like warm sunlight settling over a frozen lake in the middle of winter.

“W-What is this…?”

Confusion and wonder appeared on Malakar’s face as he experienced something completely unprecedented.

Varkan frowned and tilted his head.

“Old Man Malakar?”

At that moment, the soldiers’ shouts rang out.

“Where did she hide?!”

The eyes of all three met.

Then Malakar spoke urgently.

“Let’s hide her in the carriage first.”

“…What?”

“She was right. Taking this child with us is more than enough to make Duke Rothwell furious.”

There was no time to explain.

Malakar immediately pulled Diena into the carriage with him.