Chapter 88: Diane’s Family

We all stayed quiet for a while after hearing Diane. The good news was that she allowed the two girls to join our group, but on the other hand she made it clear that she still saw them as enemies. I thought I should say something to ease the tension between us.

“Girls, I’m sorry for what Diane said. She probably doesn’t want to trust easily after everything that happened,” I told them.

“We totally get it. It makes sense to doubt someone from the same group that tried to kill her,” Erina said, forcing a smile.

“But Diane shouldn’t be so harsh on you guys,” Sarah said in a sad tone.

“But that’s for Diane to decide to trust us or not,” Justine said.

I thought about Diane’s point of view for a bit. After being attacked by bandits sent by the leader of the Silver Fang, it must have been difficult for her to treat as an ally someone who had once been under that man’s command. But something about the way she was acting seemed strange to me.

Alicia tried to comfort them. “Diane doesn’t hate you two, I hope. She is very diligent, but she can be a bit…”

“Hard-headed,” I said bluntly.

“I would say stubborn, but yes,” Alicia said with a faint smile, “Diane doesn’t trust other people, but I’m sure that with time she would be accustomed to you.”

“Is she some kind of animal?” Erina asked.

“I don’t think you’re the best person to say that.” Justine replied to her.

Diane was loyal and trustworthy, which was why she trusted my judgment even if she didn’t agree with it. But the beautiful woman was also extremely stubborn. She was willing to follow me, but that didn’t mean she would trust the people I trusted. And when you put the Silver Fang into the equation, things became even worse.

“I think I should talk to her,” I said to them. “We need her if we’re going to plan the exploration.”

“Then I should go too,” Alicia said with determination in her eyes, “I’ve been her friend for a long time so it would be better if I came along.”

“Actually, Alicia, I’d like to talk to Diane privately.”

“Why though?” Alicia asked me.

“Well, bringing Erina and Justine with us was my decision. If someone on the team has a problem with it, it’s my responsibility to deal with it.”

Alicia looked down at the floor with a sad face. “If you say so.”

“Don’t worry, Alicia. I’ll bring Diane back in the blink of an eye,” I said to her with a playful smile, “Well, she didn’t run too far away.”

…

“So there you are,” I said to the white-haired woman as soon as I laid eyes on her.

I found Diane in an alley between the inn and another establishment nearby. Her arms were crossed, and she was looking up. If I had paid more attention, I would have let Diane stay like that a little longer. She looked so peaceful and beautiful with her eyes fixed on the bright blue sky, but when I called out to her, she looked at me with a much tenser expression.

“I’d like to talk to you, Diane.”

“About what?”

“Why did you act like that? You don’t seem like the kind of person who would show her doubts about someone so bluntly,” I said to her.

“Why do you ask?”

“You’re a member of my party, so of course I care about you,” I said sincerely.

A faint smile crossed the young woman’s lips. “Who knows. It’s true that I don’t trust those two, but maybe I’m losing my edge. Perhaps some recent events have made me lose my patience.”

I looked at her. Diane didn’t look ready to fight like she did in the room, so it felt right to ask her this, “Alicia said you have difficulty trusting others. Why though?”

“You could say it’s because of the way I was raised,” Diane looked away from me, avoiding my gaze. “Back there in Valleria’s forest you told me your family story. I think it’s fair that I do the same.”

’Are you going to tell me you have daddy or mommy issues?’ I thought inwardly, but judging by Diane’s expression, it wasn’t as simple as the problems in my former world usually were.

“I was born into a family of assassins. The moment I was born and my class was confirmed, my fate was sealed. I was trained to be an assassin from a very young age, until I was five, when I started living in the royal palace.”

“W-Wait a second, Diane. Are you saying you were trained as an assassin while you were still wearing diapers?”

“Of course not. I was trained so I wouldn’t need to use diapers,” she said. Judging by her tone, she wasn’t joking. “I had strict training, and my mother and father made sure to carve this into my mind: ’Don’t trust others,’ ’Your job as an assassin is to gain trust, never to give it,’ ’People outside our clan are either our clients or our targets, so don’t get attached.’”

“They sound lovely,” I said sarcastically.

“They were terrible. They never punished me physically, but living in an assassin clan was a living nightmare. It’s a rule to never harm someone from your own family, but because everyone was always trying to climb the clan’s hierarchy, you could never trust anybody. So I was alone most of the time—just me and that blue sky over there. Even on the darkest and bloodiest nights, I could feel a bit calmer just by looking at the immensity of the sky.”

“But how did you get out?” I asked Diane. I didn’t remember her surname, Stollen, from SCRL, so I became curious about the rest of her story.

“One day our hideout was discovered and attacked by the royal forces. Some of my family members were killed, others ran away, but I was captured. The soldiers didn’t want to kill a child, so they brought me to the man who commanded the troops. Ludwig Augustus von Astrea, Alicia’s father and King of Ashia.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep