章 59: Scripts of Hydral [2.3K]
Ansel, resting his cheek in his hand, admired the scene of sisterly affection before his door.
His joy was for Seraphina's growth through pain, not for the twisted pleasure... well, perhaps a little.
In truth, the ring indeed belonged to the Count of Red Frost, having nothing to do with Ansel. He merely allowed it to appear before the greedy eyes of the young wolf while she was scavenging for gems, through Saville's timely intervention.
Regardless of the ring's true owner, it was the core part of Ansel's plan. Even if the Count of Red Frost did not possess it, he would find a way to obtain it, or have his father create something of similar effect.
Although its function was simple, it would destroy everything about Seraphina - not just making her recognize herself.
This was about the final step of her training, and Ansel's... enlightenment.
"Seri, what's wrong?"
Marlina looked at her sister with concern. Although she was somewhat annoyed by her sister's recklessness and irrationality, she would no longer overreact.
She had recognized reality and found a goal to strive for, no longer lost.
[So, Seri, even if you are absurd, I won't mind anymore. After all, you are recognized by Lord Hydral, I don't need to, and don't have the time, to care about you anymore. ]
[After all, you never cared.]
Thinking this, Marlina reached out to touch Seraphina's shoulder, but... she touched nothing.
The girl, whose pupils were trembling, took a half step back, her mouth slightly open, but she said nothing.
"Seri?" Marlina, who had keenly noticed Seraphina's abnormality, finally felt a bit of worry.
But just as she voiced her doubts, Seraphina suddenly grabbed her shoulder and pushed her out without a word.
Bang!
Seraphina rudely closed the door and gasped for breath.
"Why so flustered, Seraphina?"
Ansel laughed, deliberately looking at the ring on her index finger, "Oh... so you put that thing on. Didn't I tell you, you need to be mentally prepared?"
Seraphina covered her finger, ignoring the knocking and asking outside the door, and said nothing, just staring at Ansel.
The young Hydral shrugged, his index finger lightly tapping the table, "Speak freely, Marlina can't hear."
"What is…" Hearing this, Seraphina relaxed a bit. The young wolf didn't want Marlina to know that she had just... heard her inner voice, not at all.
"What is this thing?"
"I took a look when I brought you back that day, it's probably a trinket of the Count of Red Frost, timely recovered by the Red Frost family and left in the treasury."
Ansel answered leisurely, not lying. What he stated was the "truth", just omitting a bit of information. Even so, if Seraphina asked, he would answer truthfully.
But Seraphina at this moment, couldn't possibly think of that.
"It allows the holder to hear the inner voices of all extraordinary beings and commoners lower than themselves, and also sense their emotions."
"And when facing higher stage extraordinary beings..."
Ansel stood up and walked towards Seraphina, who was gradually leaning against the door and sliding to the ground, "You can listen if you want, but you need my permission. Otherwise, I will only feel continuous harassment."
"I..."
Seraphina's already fragile thinking ability had become chaotic under the impact of Marlina's inner voice.
Clenching the ring, she murmured with downcast eyes, "I don't want to hear these things. Help me take off this ring, just take it off right away."
"Take it off?"
The devil's lips curved slightly upward.
He leaned down and whispered in Seraphina's ear, "Why take it off? Don't you want to hear how others see you?"
"I don't want to!"
Seraphina first shouted, then lowered her voice as if afraid of being heard by Marlina, "I don't have such... a despicable hobby."
"No, no, Seraphina, it's not that you don't have this hobby, it's just that you can't control it."
Only a very few people in this world can resist the temptation to peek into others' hearts.
Seraphina has not yet embarked on the path of a supreme ruler who despises everything and considers herself the only one. Now she is just a sixteen-year-old genius girl, who is completely different from her original world line, has not experienced any hardships, but has absolute resource support and a huge backing.
Such a Seraphina is very sensitive to the evaluations of the outside world.
She can disdain the evaluations that despise and disgust her, but before these evaluations are made, whether good or bad, she definitely "wants to hear."
In this respect, most people are the same, it's just that Seraphina is particularly obvious.
"This is not a particularly advanced etheric device, and it won't be too difficult to control."
Ansel held Seraphina's delicate and fair hand, gently caressing the ring, "It's not difficult to remove its locking prohibitions either, just find a skilled alchemist in the Red Frost territory."
"So..."
The wicked Hydral revealed his fangs for countless times.
[Which one do you want to choose?]
The sudden voice in her heart made Seraphina shudder.
She looked up at Ansel, and his smiling appearance made her less nervous. Knowing that the problem was not serious, her heart began to stir.
If, if I could really choose whose inner voice to hear...
I'm not saying I want to peek into someone's heart! I just want to get some real answers to some questions!
Seraphina hated thinking about complicated things. Although her intuition could tell her a lot, it could never help her peek into others' inner voices.
If I have this thing...
As Seraphina's heart stirred, the inspiration she trusted so much suddenly flashed through her mind.
[How come it seems like... part of Hydral's plan?]
This thought suddenly flashed through her mind, and everything about the ring flashed back in her mind.
— It suddenly appeared when I was looking for the image crystal, and after being brought back, Hydral specifically reminded me, then suddenly disappeared for a few days, and now it has mysteriously appeared again.
Is this... a coincidence?
Hydral seems to know a lot about this ring, but why doesn't he just explain it clearly, instead of vaguely saying "be mentally prepared"?
As these doubts grew, making Seraphina more and more suspicious, another thought, completely opposite and unreasonable, arose in her heart.
— But Hydral wouldn't harm me.
If he wanted to harm me, would he need to go through so much trouble?
This kind of willful and domineering behavior that is usually disgusting easily defeated the sudden whims that always interfered with her thinking from time to time.
Seraphina Marlowe is such a person, an unreasonable egoist.
This is also the fruitful result of Ansel's day and night training, with absolute sincerity.
Unless it is extremely important, important enough to shatter Seraphina's spirit, even fate cannot shake Ansel's position in Seraphina's heart.
The young wolf had a brainstorm for a long time, and finally gritted her teeth and looked up at Ansel, "Are you sure you can teach me how to use it?"
"How do you absorb the ether stored in the magic crystal during your usual training, and spread it throughout your body?"
Ansel still held Seraphina's hand, her fingers long and delicate, her knuckles distinct but not protruding, making her hand look beautiful but not overly soft.
"Just... just like that." Seraphina didn't know how to describe her usual training methods — this is the unique distress of geniuses, they don't need principles, they just need to think about completing it, and they can complete it.
Ansel didn't feel embarrassed, he just smiled and said, "Then follow your feelings... focus on the ring, do you feel it? The ether in your body is being absorbed by it, and then radiating out in all directions."
Seraphina closed her eyes and sensed according to Ansel's words. In less than two seconds, her eyes opened again, full of joy, "I can feel it, it's so easy?"
"To turn it off, just stop the ether from flowing to the ring. If you want to hear someone's inner voice, just focus the ether radiating from the ring and aim it at a specific target."
According to Ansel's words, Seraphina quickly tried it out. The process went smoothly, but since there was no test subject, she couldn't be sure if it worked.
Ansel's gaze shifted towards the door, "Marlina is still outside."
"Ah, Marli!"
The good sister who had just come to her senses remembered that she had just rudely thrown her sister out the door, and hurriedly turned around to open the door.
"..."
Marlina, who had been waiting quietly outside the door, had her hands crossed over her lower abdomen, her demeanor dignified and polite. Her gaze first glanced at Seraphina's hand held by Ansel, then she smiled gently and calmly, "Have you finished talking with Lord Hydral, Seri? You've kept us waiting for a long time."
"Ah? Oh... wait a minute —"
It really works! I can't hear Marli anymore! Seraphina breathed a sigh of relief in her heart.
She looked at her sister, whose gentle and soft face was exactly the same as she remembered, but for some reason... there was an indescribable strangeness.
Should I try it—
No, no, I absolutely can't use this thing on Marli!
Seraphina immediately interrupted her previous thought. She wanted to scratch her head, but then realized that her hand was still being held by Ansel. She immediately blushed and pulled her hand out, walking away with an awkward and shy bow, "Well, I'll go first then."
"If you're hungry, remember to find Miss Meli. I probably won't be able to have lunch or dinner with you today, Seraphina."
"Oh..."
The girl looked down, feeling a little sad.
She didn't like the feeling of loneliness.
Marlina didn't say anything, just watched Seraphina disappear down the corridor and finally entered the study, gently closing the door.
"Lord Hydral." Marlina's smile was gentle and appropriate, "Let's continue our work."
"I thought you would ask Seraphina what was wrong first."
Ansel looked at the girl who was gradually breaking free from her cocoon, his eyes becoming more and more satisfied, "She was acting very strange, wasn't she?"
"It's not my place to pry."
Marlina bowed her head slightly, "I don't have the qualifications or strength to compare with Seri right now."
This made Ansel laugh happily, "So you mean, one day—"
"Yes, one day."
The girl placed her hands on her heart, looking into Ansel's eyes with devotion and passion, humility and confidence:
"One day, I will gain the power and authority that will make you recognize me, and repay your kindness and recognition with it."
Looking at the noble soul that was gradually being tainted with his own colors, Ansel gazed at the pair of dark red eyes similar to Seraphina's with a slightly raised tone:
"Is that all?"
The confident and beautiful Marlina hesitated for a moment, her ears gradually turning red, and she unconsciously shifted her gaze away, her voice becoming soft and charming.
"No, it's not... if you —"
"Alright, let's stop here for now."
Ansel took a step forward, but didn't make any excessive physical contact in Marlina's nervous gaze.
He just gently adjusted Marlina's hairpin and straightened the collar of her simple dress, placing his hands on her shoulders.
"You're doing great now, I like your purity, Marlina."
"Before your ambition is realized, I hope you can maintain this purity."
"After all, between you and me, there should be no need for any extra things to bind us, right?"
In Ansel's eyes, there was no teasing, no mockery, no ambiguity between men and women, only the purest trust, recognition, and encouragement.
"You're not the kind of person who needs to use that method to achieve value and repay kindness."
The devil who loved to play with people's hearts but was always sincere, gently patted the girl who was about to fall into his believer, and said confidently, "Even if no one believes your wild words, I will be the witness to your realization of this ambition."
"Ah, and one more thing."
Hydral laughed, "Just call me by my name in the future, 'Lord Hydral' is too formal, isn't it?"
Marlina had to close her eyes for a moment, because she didn't want to show any more emotional outbursts in front of Ansel.
"Alright, An... Ansel... sir." The ordinary Marlina responded with a bow, without showing any girlish shyness, and replied calmly and steadily, "I won't let you down, I promise."
"Good, let's continue working then. I have a speech scheduled in six days, can you complete your task before then?"
"Of course." Marlina answered without hesitation or reluctance, "I will finish it even earlier."
No one could have imagined that a month ago, she was just a village girl, standing here so calmly, holding the authority to mobilize the entire Red Frost territory's nobility, and making such a guarantee to the feared Hydral.
Marlina couldn't have imagined it either, so she valued everything she had now more than her own life, and valued... Ansel, who had given her everything.
[I've already given you so much, Seri.]
[Even if I don't have the right to monopolize Sir Ansel, I won't let you be the first.]
The girl with the burning black flame in her eyes made this arrogant vow in her heart.
And here, Ansel, who knew everything that had happened, sat back down at his desk with a smile.
The Red Frost territory was gradually getting on track under his management, and the documents he needed to handle were becoming fewer and fewer.
At the same time, in this play that was about to end, the adjustments and corrections he needed to make were also running out.
My dear Seraphina, everything is ready for you.
The stage, the actors, the props, and... my carefully polished, perfect script.
Please die in the fire ignited by contradictions and collapse.
And I will give you an unparalleled rebirth.
クリエイターの想い 
POWER_
POWER_ Okay so by now, Ansel’s preparation has been 100% ready. From now on to the next climax of this volumes, there won’t be any pauses or downs. I will try update more these days so we can ENJOY xDDDD
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