"...So that’s how it is."
After listening to Annan’s account, Duke Ivan sighed deeply.
His emotions were complex, his right hand holding the scepter tightened slightly.
"Anya..."
Ivan murmured soone’s na softly.
A profoundly complex mix of emotions surfaced in his eyes.
Sorrow? Nostalgia? Calmness? Resignation?
Or perhaps none of the above.
Even Annan couldn’t decipher such profoundly complex emotions.
It was a look one only acquired when reflecting on the past in the twilight years, with half of one’s body buried in yellow earth.
Just by looking into those eyes, an onlooker would unintentionally calm down.
"Are you very sad, Father?"
Annan couldn’t help but ask.
Although none of this was Ivan’s fault... it all started with Lily’s own clumsy tragedy.
But after all, Anya was trying to find Transcendent Wisdom to figure out how to marry Ivan and change Winter; it was for that reason that she perford that ritual, leading to Lily’s accident.
After all, Ivan Ri was old now.
It wasn’t strange for the elderly to be full of regret when reminiscing.
In fact, because Ivan had achieved so much in his life, those failures were all the more unforgettable...
Like his two wives, for instance.
"Nolan Geraint..."
Ivan was silent for a long while, whispering the old Crow’s na softly.
"What?"
"If you see him again, rember to thank him for ," Ivan said slowly: "Anya also told ... she hoped to see the end of winter and the arrival of a bountiful year one day. She wanted to see blossoming flowers, even if just a tiny one.
"...But such a simple wish, I couldn’t fulfill it for her. I am not as good as Nolan. He made sure Lily had a happy life."
"But you are a great duke."
"Indeed, I am."
Ivan replied calmly: "But I cannot be considered a good husband."
He said this and then looked deeply at Annan:
"... nor a good father."
"You’re not that bad."
Annan shrugged: "At the very least, you certainly can’t be considered a bad father."
Duke Ivan completely lacked any managent or restraint over his children, adopting a free-range approach.
As seen from the Wolf’s Kiss instance, Annan was raised by his older brother Dmitry when he was very young. Besides the Hand of Winter taking care of his living needs, it was mostly his brothers and sisters who were with him.
Only when Annan learned the Frost Sword Technique was he personally taught by the duke.
When Annan first woke up in Frostwater Harbor, the Silence Oil hadn’t seeped out... so Annan’s past mories were only temporarily sealed, not completely lost.
At that ti, the first thing Annan rembered was Ivan teaching him the Frost Sword Technique. This also indicated that shared mories between Annan and Ivan were probably very rare.
With the level of busyness in Ivan’s work, Annan probably didn’t see him many tis a year.
Back then Ivan’s health was good, unlike now where he needed to lie in bed all year. He must have been running around everywhere... probably at a level where he rarely entered his own ho.
At least he allowed Annan and Dmitry, the two brothers, enough leeway to call Crow over for a gamble at ho, without realizing that their young had already t with trouble.
After all, Ivan was the most distinguished duke in Winter’s history.
That was sothing all Winter folk would acknowledge from the bottom of their hearts.
No one from any generation of Winter handled the affairs of the cold years better than Ivan. At least after the death of his first wife... or perhaps it was even before that, Ivan had dedicated his entire life to the Duchy of Winter.
It was normal for him to neglect his family sowhat.
After all, his ti was not infinite.
Of course, Annan spoke lightly... After all, strictly speaking, this wasn’t his childhood. When he arrived in this world, he already possessed the soul of an adult.
And now, Annan had completely forgotten the events of his childhood. It could be said that he spoke without understanding the pain— at least Dmitry and Maria would definitely be influenced by this.
At the very least, their childhoods wouldn’t be very happy.
However, they did have a relatively normal mother. Especially Dmitry... His mother seed to be a very gentle person. She could even lt Ivan’s icy deanor.
... Perhaps, part of the reason Dmitry and Maria had always been caring and loving towards Annan was because Anya had died shortly after Annan was born.
Grand Duke Ivan was too busy with state affairs to take care of children. So the two siblings volunteered to take care of Annan.
As the saying goes, an older brother is like a father, and an older sister is like a mother. It was like that.
... But it’s worriso to compare oneself to others.
Compared to the lvin family, who simply treated their offspring as tools, the Winter family was already as good as it could possibly be.
"However, although Lily is doing well with Noah... it’s still better to talk to Rasputin about it,"
Ivan gave a light cough.
He lifted his gaunt right hand that revealed the shape of bones underneath and handed Annan a stiff card, resembling a greeting card or a business card.
After Annan took it, he pinched it lightly with his hand— discovering that there was a very thin tal sheet sandwiched inside the thick paper.
The card bore an address and a na.
"Vasily Rasputin... Shall I go see him tomorrow?"
"He’s Anya and Lily’s cousin... Or perhaps, their cousin on the other side. He’s also the head of this generation’s Rasputin family. You can call him aunt, or uncle,"
"... What do you an?"
Annan was sowhat confused.
What is this person’s gender, exactly?
"Rasputin is a Keeper of Secrets, naturally involved in many taboo rituals... Vasily underwent a special ritual, rging himself with a female cat. As a result, his gender and physical traits change continuously with the lunar phases."
Ivan glanced at the calendar disc on the wall: "Currently, Vasily should be female... and may have so feline traits. When you see him, rember not to be frightened or to show any disrespect."
... I’m not afraid of catgirls in the slightest.
Annan thought to himself.
"... However, isn’t the frequency at which the Rasputin people perform taboo rituals... a bit too high?"
Annan couldn’t help but ask.
So far, it seed like every Rasputin he had heard of had perford taboo rituals.
But Ivan shook his head: "For the Rasputins, this is the norm— the surna Rasputin was originally derived from that reason."
The old Grand Duke spoke slowly: "In Frost Speech, the word ’Rasputin’ is usually used to describe soone of immoral character... It’s not a term of endearnt."
It was more than just "not a term of endearnt." Ivan’s description was rather too mild.
It was a word that would be covered with asterisks if written out, capable of insulting a person’s morality.
"... But why would the Rasputins use such a word for their surna?"
"It’s called an ’Infamy Ritual’."
Ivan replied: "Their goal is to have others insult them unconsciously. By doing so, they can easily obtain the influence needed for ’The Three-Word Curse’, which requires three different people to ’genuinely insult’ them within one day.
"This is also why in stories, so Ritualists who fall into darkness use cruel thods to wreak havoc and leave behind their nas... they are deliberately collecting insults, curses, and hatred. If these accumulate sufficiently, they will also beco influences.
"This might lead to the death of weak criminals overwheld by nightmares... but it also strengthens the power of truly evil individuals."
Simply put, it’s about seeking abuse.
Annan thought.
"And this influence is a common requirent for many taboo rituals, as well as rituals for cursing others. The Rasputins are a very traditional Ritualist family, they have multiple influence pools... and naturally, their na is one of those influences.
"So they used the ’Infamy Ritual’ to change their family surna into this ancient term of abuse. Although few people understand Frost Speech, those who recite this surna can be seen as ’genuinely insulting’ them.
"Besides their na, for example, in large events like festivals, funerals, weddings, etc., they also partake, with the aim of gathering influences as much as possible.
"These influences are almost all used for rituals before they expire. Therefore, every Rasputin has perford at least one taboo ritual. They are all, to so extent, different from ordinary people. Though they are all eccentrics and act mysteriously... when you succeed as the Grand Duke of Winter, the Rasputins will be your best allies."
Ivan extended his hand to pat his tricolor rod, speaking with profound aning: "Because they will always need the help of Winter.
"Rember this sentence. I can’t reveal too much to you for now... but during the conversation with head Vasily tomorrow, don’t be fooled by his bluster.
"—Rember, you have absolute initiative."
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