The Righteous Player(s) Chapter 159: Anya Rasputin
That is definitely genuine hostility.
Doreen is certain.
This is also one of the survival skills of rural werewolves.
In order to prevent yourself from inadvertently provoking someone you can't afford to offend, or to prevent you from being unexpectedly attacked while walking in an alley. Werewolves are very sensitive to the hostility of others——
The moment she sensed danger, the entire world in front of Doreen turned dim in an instant.
The flow of time slows down greatly, and all stationary things become blurred... while everything that is still moving in front of you becomes extremely clear and bright.
This ability to predict danger is also one of the racial characteristics of werewolves.
…But there is also a situation.
Just like now.
Even though she sensed the crisis, nothing appeared in front of Doreen. Nothing seemed to be moving in her field of vision except the wind blowing the curtains.
Doreen glanced sideways.
It makes sense that she, who is not an extraordinary person, cannot see anything.
Obviously she felt that she was being watched by many people, and she clearly sensed strong hostility and even murderous intent, but she could not find out where they were.
"Doreen?"
Annan urged again.
"...Yes."
Doreen responded with some trembling, her vertical pupils shortened again and returned to round pupils, and she swallowed hard at the same time.
Facing the cold eyes behind her, she slowly opened the door.
The first thing that came into view was not Annan.
He is a middle-aged man with many dark purple lines on his skin, thin cheeks and deep eyes.
He has short gray-white hair that is meticulously combed back. His hair became very thin, just like his own. He seemed to be in poor health. He was sitting on a chair, holding a scepter divided into three colors: silver, black, and dark blue, which was like a sharp claw holding the ground.
His pupils are the same ice blue as Annan's right eye. The face is roughly 70% similar to Annan.
But his pupils are lighter than Annan's eyes... more like egg white than ice. It is slightly yellowish, which highlights the transparency.
...Is this the Duke of Winter?
Doreen realized his identity instantly.
It is the legendary Ivan Winter.
"You must be Doreen."
Ivan’s voice was steady, and the corners of his mouth were raised slightly.
It is different from the cold feeling that Annan gives people - if Annan is a translucent ice surface, it gives people a sense of calm and danger. Then Ivan seems to have accumulated a thick layer of snow on top of this icy lake.
All sense of danger is hidden under the deep snow.
But at the same time, Ivan gave people a wonderful sense of distance and awe.
It's like...
Under the snow, there were many corpses hidden.
"...Yes, Your Majesty."
Dorine's originally anxious and fearful mood quickly calmed down under Ivan's gaze.
She nodded, knelt on the ground, lowered her head and whispered softly: "My name is Doreen Angel."
"Yeah."
Duke Winter responded softly and nodded slightly.
He suddenly asked: "Do you know Bella? She is also a werewolf."
"...I don't know."
Dorine thought seriously and shook her head.
"That's it."
Ivan sighed softly and waved his hand: "Sit aside, kid."
"——Please sit down."
The same female voice as when Annan first entered the door sounded behind Doreen.
But she was not frightened this time - perhaps because her original emotions were already stretched to the limit, and this sudden attack was unexpected.
She turned around and saw the owner of the voice this time.
It was an adult woman who looked to be in her early thirties, with hair color exactly the same as the dark blue on the Archduke's scepter.
On the ring finger of her left hand, she wore a transparent ring that constantly exuded cold air. It's like it's carved from ice.
...Is this the senior management of Hand of Winter?
Doreen's heart tightened.
She had heard from her teacher before about the responsibilities of the ten top leaders of the Hand of Winter.
The ring finger of the left hand is directly responsible for all the Duke's internal affairs including food, sexual intercourse, travel, and grooming. His status is roughly equivalent to that of a "bearded man" in the United Kingdom - that is, King Denisoya's personal eunuch, and his status in the palace is quite high.
There is no doubt that this is also a big shot.
When Doreen stood up, she quickly bowed respectfully to her.
This made "Ring Finger" stunned for a moment, then the corners of his mouth raised slightly, and his eyes seemed to become gentler.
Her left hand was placed on Doreen's shoulder, and her right hand silently pointed to the seat in the corner of the room.
Although Grand Duke Winter lives a simple life, it is not shabby. It is said to be a chair, but it is actually a soft and cold sofa made of frost animal fur.
On a hot summer day, just sitting inside can keep your whole body cool. But it's not too hot this season... Fortunately, werewolves are not very afraid of the cold.
Doreen huddled on the chair and looked around the room habitually.
She soon discovered two female portraits hanging above the bed.
A dark-haired girl with a delicate appearance and a gentle smile. Her hair is placed in front of her left shoulder and the front end is braided.
The other one is almost identical to Annan - she has beautiful long silver hair, fixed with a headband. Her expression is even colder than Annan's, and her temperament is also very cold, giving people a noble feeling.
This should be Annan’s biological mother, right?
Speaking of which, both generations of Grand Duke Ivan’s wives seem to have passed away.
...They all married the Grand Duke voluntarily.
Doreen pursed her lips.
Because Grand Duke Ivan is not an extraordinary person, but his talent is frighteningly high... This leads to the short life of each of his partners. Just like himself.
Of course, there are not many nobles who have coveted the blood of the Winter clan for a long time.
However, not everyone can experience the test of grandma.
Grandma is also the **** of tradition.
She doesn't care whether they are in love or not... It is best if they fall in love, but if it is not free love, then at least the parties must agree - this is true for both men and women.
Because forced marriage is the seed of instability. It may mean that one party approaches the other party with ulterior motives, which will bring about the integration and separation of power after the birth of the heir, and after the death of both parties, this complicated bloodline will lead to "instability."
And instability is the biggest impact on tradition.
Therefore, there are rarely large-scale marriages in the Principality of Winter - the nobles care more about each other's health and abilities. Because this will affect the heirs and directly affect the family inheritance.
And this is even more true for Grand Duke Ivan.
His first wife was just a commoner. Not a supernatural being, not a ritualist, just an ordinary grandmother believer.
And she also knew at the time that Grand Duke Ivan had a cursed physique. But she is still willing to marry Ivan.
——Not willing to marry the Grand Duke, but to marry Ivan.
But true love doesn't change reality.
After she gave birth to two children, she died of illness.
The Grand Duke's second child died before he could get a name.
If the principality only has one heir, "Dmitri", it cannot be considered stable. And if there is no female heir, who can inherit the Tower of Storms?
Not to mention, Dmitri's talents can only be considered average at best. He works very hard, but he is indeed not smart enough, nor strong enough, nor even a super human.
At this time, a noble girl went directly to the Grand Duke's palace and bluntly said that she wanted to marry the Grand Duke.
She has no relationship with Grand Duke Ivan, and has never even met Ivan before.
Through the magical test, she does not covet wealth, nor does she care about status. She really really wanted to marry the Grand Duke... not Ivan.
Her purpose was pure and simple, but it was difficult for Ivan to accept at the time.
——Yes.
Just for the Principality of Winter.
She made it clear when they first met that Dmitri was not capable of inheriting the Principality of Winter - given the tense situation in the Principality at that time ~IndoMTL.com~ If Dmitri inherited the Principality, his ability would not be able to suppress all the nobles , will only cause internal strife and division in the principality.
"——The nobles are fighting, the civilians are being killed and injured, and the winter is being destroyed."
She said so.
So before the Grand Duke dies, he must be used to "create" a stronger heir for the Principality of Winter; and at the same time, in order for his future daughter to continue the mission of the Endless Storm.
The Storm Daughter at that time was Ivan's aunt. She is very old, and she is the only female descendant with the "Heart of Winter". The Tower of Storm Prevention is unable to suppress it, so it can only find the Son of God from the Theocracy - and this also means the transfer of power.
Ivan was very resistant to this kind of marriage at first. He refused three times, and he didn't even have a good impression of this powerful girl.
But later, he was impressed by the other party's wisdom, vision and mind.
——If the other party possesses the blood of winter, he will definitely become a better archduke than himself.
Ivan realized this.
And they soon became friends - not lovers, but friends of the opposite **** who could trust everything and talk freely about the world and politics. This also became a legend at the time.
Many of Grand Duke Ivan's extremely effective and long-lasting policies came from his second wife.
In the end, they got married.
This is Ivan's second and last wife.
A total of four children were born, two of whom survived the curse of the Heart of Winter. In the end, as a powerful ritualist, she could not withstand Ivan's increasingly powerful frost power. Like Dmitry's mother, she died of illness on the bed.
Dorine remembered that this heroic woman came from the Rasputin family.
She seems to be called...
Anya Rasputin.