As the argunt between Arthur and Ofelia beca increasingly intense, their voices also grew louder.
Although they had yet to start smashing things or co to blows, it was clear that they were becoming heated. Others in the room either retreated further or remained silent, simply watching them argue.
Within this intense arguntative atmosphere, the first to beco uneasy was Selicia, who under Annan’s orders, was not allowed to intervene.
But her unease wasn’t due to the quarrel between two friends, nor was she worried about them coming to blows...
After all, neither Arthur nor Ofelia were fools. Arguing their points could be seen as asserting their own positions and beliefs—especially since they genuinely believed the other was wrong, they wouldn’t think there was anything improper with their own words.
However, that was just talk.
If they were to physically fight in front of a deity and Duke Winter, it would lack dignity—
After all, they were not ordinary people without concerns.
Arthur as the cardinal Archbishop of the Pardoners would not do anything unreasonable in front of his own deity; and Ofelia was about to form a close cooperative relationship with Duke Annan... To put it more clearly, Ofelia needed Annan’s help.
Though they were heated, they were still rational.
But physical violence was out of the question—however, once heated, they inevitably began digging up past grievances.
What made Selicia fearful was...
This was the first ti she realized the intense contradiction among her companions.
The more she listened, the more fearful she beca.
This thick layer of contradiction clearly did not arise during their ti apart.
It had been there all along... possibly even before they t on the "Silver". They had rely concealed this disagreent to accommodate her feelings and abide by her managent.
However, since Selicia hadn’t noticed this,
She, with her charm, had forcefully gathered these people together. During their ti traveling together, their contradictions did not alleviate but accumulated more and more deeply.
And Selicia had not realized the severity of the issue.
Every ti they started to argue, she thought it was a trivial matter and would step in to separate them. Both Arthur and Ofelia were rational and mature individuals... just as they wouldn’t physically fight now, they also wouldn’t display their contradictions when Selicia intervened.
This contradiction was like liquor, suppressed deep inside their hearts. The longer they traveled together, the stronger and deeper it grew...
—As a result, their contradictions were never truly resolved.
Instead, because of their strange physical relationship of being "lovers" with Selicia, the initial "dislike" and "animosity" gradually brewed into "hatred". It was just one step away from evolving into "murderous intent".
It was only now, when Annan truly let them argue openly, that Selicia realized from their behavior—though she was in a lover’s relationship with both of them.
She didn’t actually understand them at all.
Just like a mother who doesn’t understand the conflicts accumulating between her two children. Instead of "stopping fights and waiting for them to calm down before thinking", she inadvertently allowed their differences to build up into hatred.
"...Is this my fault?"
Selicia murmured softly, "Was I too arrogant before, letting their relationship turn into this..."
In front of her, Annan slightly turned his head and glanced at the sowhat trembling Selicia.
He sighed softly and said, "Yes, and no."
Selicia hadn’t grasped the crux of the issue.
The devilish confidence and charm of the forr Selicia had vanished along with her loss of the golden rank.
Or rather, as the "Captain of the Ship in Stone" and praised as the "Hellebore in the Deep Rocks" Selicia, that confidence to handle everything calmly as if everything was under control, was an anomaly bred from her extrely inferior past.
It was her stark and intense mories from when she had nothing, that when she had everything, gave rise to such strong feelings of confidence, self-esteem, and pride. Just like a grassroots individual who succeeded from scratch... It was precisely because she knew the "hardships of the lower levels" that she had such a clear understanding of her current success.
Therefore, she had such a dazzling confidence.
To the entirely comprised of losers "Silver Brigade", that confidence was the "starlight" that led them to regain their humanity or the "torch" that guided their future direction.
If one were to summarize her with a word, it would be—[Captain].
It was because of Selicia’s comprehensive suppression in appearance, rank, ability, etc.... that fearlessness and almost mad spontaneity without any moral considerations, for these wandering, perplexed losers, was like the toxic yet addictive Hellebore.
All the crew mbers on "Silver"—including Lucia, were in a lover’s relationship with Selicia and had been involved with her. But aside from this, Selicia didn’t really regard "her crew mbers" much.
—That kind of relationship, in fact, was more akin to the way the Winter Reverser tad her back then.
It was a relationship between "dogs and their master."
After Selicia fell back to the silver rank, that absolute control naturally collapsed.
It was like the originally amiable "pets", once away from their master’s side, would reveal another face.
The contradiction between Arthur and Ofelia was the "true self" they never showed in front of Selicia.
Ultimately, it was because of their positions that made coexistence impossible.
Arthur Burnfang’s wish was to beco head of the family.
And the head of the Roaring Fang family was also the Tower Master of the Magma Forbidden Tower—a mber of the "Council" and the real power behind Dennisiowa.
But what Ofelia wanted was to revive Dennisiowa. Not to be a puppet "King of Dennisiowa" with only a title, but to take back all the power that was restricted and divided by the oligarchic nobles.
—Their contradictions were inherently irreconcilable.
The realization of one person’s wishes would necessarily accompany the shattering of another’s.
It’s better to say, the fact that they could stay together for so long... was itself a miracle.
A miracle nad "love".
—The Third Miracle.
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