"Victor."
"I’m here."
"First, deliver this letter to Igor in the province of Saint Alexius. Then make a trip to the lvin family and ask them for detailed information about ’Professor Wolf’."
"Understood."
Standing behind Ivan Winter, the middle-aged man with frosty hair and gray eyes nodded, taking a thick letter from the hands of Duke Ivan.
Without much hesitation or a formal goodbye.
He left the duke’s mansion without looking back.
One could vaguely see a ring on his right thumb, exuding coldness.
Ivan Winter sighed, holding his scepter as he slowly stood up and walked to the window.
Watching Victor’s departing figure, he asked softly, "Zoya, when Annan left... what did he take?"
"He only took so money."
The adult woman with deep blue hair gradually materialized beside Ivan.
On her left Ring Finger, there hung a crystal ring that emitted a chill.
Zoya sighed helplessly, "He took only fifty pounds in banknotes and a small bag of silver coins. Despite all my persuasion, he wouldn’t wear the locating ring."
"Children grow up like this," Ivan said flatly.
Zoya raised an eyebrow, "You say that, but Prince Annan never seed like a child to ."
"Because within him is the soul of an adult. There’s no need to treat him as a child, I’m sure he understands these matters well. If he needs help, he’ll surely co back imdiately..."
Duke Ivan took a deep breath, exhaling a mist of cold air.
The glass before him instantly frosted over, and Ivan turned pale and couldn’t help but shiver.
Seeing this, Zoya imdiately flashed to his side.
Her right hand supported the duke while her left hand was placed behind him to soothe his energy. The crystal ring on her finger suddenly shone bright, swiftly drawing out the coldness from Ivan’s body.
But Ivan still trembled violently.
He just frowned tightly, kept silent, and breathed heavily through clenched teeth. The severe pain made his jaw tight, and the muscles on his cheeks bulged.
The purple veins that appeared on his cheeks grew darker and more pronounced.
After a while, he said hoarsely, "I’m fine now, Zoya."
"You really are..."
Zoya complained, letting go of Duke Ivan.
Her right hand was slightly reddened from the cold, while the ring on her left hand sparkled even more.
"Anyway, there’s no need to be too harsh on Annan. He’s different from Dmitry; he’s not a child who’s obsessed with saving face... He knows when to flee, but he’s not a coward.
"Among those in power, this is a rare talent."
Ivan said slowly, "I trust him more than I trust Dmitry and Maria combined.
"Dmitry is a serious and earnest child, but he lacks foresight, has a sullen personality, and is too willing to place his genuine trust in others, which causes him to easily beco biased in both matters and people. He can be a great minister, but not a duke.
"Maria, just like her mother Anya, is a determined and brave girl. But her love for family exceeds that for friends, and her love for friends outweighs her love for her subjects... She completely disregards strangers and decides whom to approach or avoid based on personal likes or dislikes. If she ascends to the throne, she’s bound to beco either a foolish ruler or a Tyrant.
"If soone could be a better duke than , it could only be Annan."
"Because Prince Annan... has the world in his heart?"
Zoya guessed wildly.
Ivan shook his head.
"Because he’s mad," the duke answered. "A fearlessly mad person."
He still rembered... when he told Annan about the secrets of this country, this world, how Annan had replied.
"—I don’t care. I am the ’Otherworldly’ my father speaks of."
The young Annan, who had not long been nad, replied thus, "If need be, I’ll be the one to beco the duke. I can beco a god or even a saint."
"You need to think carefully, Annan. In this world, a lofty status is not about glory and wealth, not about power... but the crucible."
"So what?"
The young Annan asked sharply in return, "There must always be a king to pass on the fla, father.
"If not soone else, why not ?
"If not ... why not seize that fla."
... Although he didn’t understand what ’a king to pass on the fla’ ant.
Yet Ivan vaguely grasped the taphor Annan was making.
It was from that ti that Ivan ca to understand the true nature of Annan.
——That he could sacrifice everything except for his "goal" without any psychological pressure.
In other words, he was soone who could destroy the world in order to save it.
He was not one guided by the teachings of others, devoid of desire for wealth and power, nor a believer in benevolence and morality... but rather soone who derived pure pleasure from the act of "achieving his goal".
From that mont on, Ivan understood.
Annan walked on the dividing line between dusk and dawn.
——Therefore, instead of compelling him with "fear", it was better to seduce him with "pleasure".
If Annan wished to beco a Saint or a deity, he would have to seal away his own heart of fear. Not so that he would be "fearless", but to prevent that fear from diverting his path and his goal in any way.
But conversely.
"I trust Annan imnsely." Ivan spoke slowly, "Only a madman would want to save this deeply flawed world; only a madman would save these nations so full of sin... and only a madman would try to save the foolish and shortsighted mortals.
"Only a madman would attempt to cleanse all the nightmares of the world; only a madman would try to clear the Mist; only a madman would easily kill his past ’self’ just to rise higher.
"But it just so happens, Annan is such a madman.
"He has a strong desire to ’ascend’, he is the perfect Transcendent; he has a strong desire for ’knowledge’, he is the perfect Ritualist; he has a strong desire to ’possess’, he is the perfect fallen one.
"Any path he takes, he can reach the summit... He is not doing it for Justice, nor for compassion, but rely for his own amusent, attempting to change the world."
His desires were all devoted to internal refinent, not to the mastery of external objects.
Perhaps this was the reason he was chosen by the Book of the Celestial Chariot...
The Celestial Chariot is the chariot of "ascension".
If the Winter Duchy needs a new king.
Then it can only be Annan.
The Winter Duchy needs Annan for its salvation, and Annan needs a duty to save him.
——From the very beginning, it was so.
"Oh, by the way... Your Majesty," Zoya seed to rember sothing, and she asked Ivan, "Annan seems to have a ring from the Rasputin family."
"...What?"
It was the first ti Ivan froze.
He turned back in confusion, "How would he co into contact with soone from the Rasputin family?"
Zoya shrugged.
"I guess," she whispered, "he must have gotten it from the Geraint family."
"Could it be Anya’s sister..."
Thinking of his deceased second wife, naly Anya Rasputin, mother to Annan and Maria, Ivan frowned slightly.
He recalled that Annan had once used the identity of "Tan Juan Geraint" during his ti in the Noah Kingdom. Tan Juan’s mother was a noble from the Winter Duchy.
——But according to what Ivan knew, Tan Juan’s mother should have been from the lvin family.
However, thinking about it now, the sudden disappearance of Anya’s sister, Lily Rasputin... also happened about two years before the lvin family’s third daughter married into Noah, which could also be connected.
"...Look into this matter, Zoya."
Ivan tapped his scepter with his fingertips.
He commanded softly, "Check if the third daughter of the lvin family... Euphemia lvin might have switched identities with Lily Rasputin. Verify if that really is a Rasputin family’s ring. If it is, get from the Rasputin family a copy of Lily Rasputin’s code and give it to Annan.
"Annan said he would co back next month. Get these things done before then."
"——Yes, Your Grace."
The blue-haired woman replied solemnly.
"And another thing."
Ivan said quietly.
"What is it?"
Zoya asked puzzled, "What did you say?"
"When Annan cos back, rember to secretly give him more money. Fifty pounds... I recall he has eighty Otherworld servants, yes? That money will be gone after just four or five subway rides."
Ivan spoke with a straight face, "He might not feel embarrassed, but he surely doesn’t know the subway fare standards of the Underworld. Next ti, bring him two hundred... no, three hundred pounds in bills.
"Winter may be poor, but we’re not so poor that we need to make a Grand Duke penny-pinch. Did you get that, Zoya?"
"Yes, I got it."
Zoya answered with a light smile.
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