The Righteous Player(s) Chapter 163: Rasputin’s Infamy Ceremony

"...So that's it."

After listening to Annan’s narration, Grand Duke Ivan sighed deeply.

His mood was a little complicated, and his right hand holding the scepter tightened slightly.

"Anya..."

Ivan whispered someone's name.

His eyes showed extremely complicated emotions.

Sad? Miss you? calm? Open-minded?

Or neither.

Even Annan couldn't understand such extremely complicated emotions.

That is the look you can only have after spending most of your life, half buried in the loess, recalling the past.

Just looking at that look can make others calm down unconsciously.

"Are you sad, father?"

Annan couldn't help but ask.

Although Ivan was not responsible for any of this whole thing...it was just a tragedy caused by Lily's own clumsiness in the beginning.

But after all, Anya performed that ritual in order to find extraordinary wisdom, find a way to marry Ivan, and change Winter, and that was why Lily got into trouble.

After all, Ivan Coldong is old.

It is not surprising that older people look back on the past with regret.

Rather, it is because Ivan has had many successes in his life that the failures will be even more unforgettable...

Just like his two wives.

"Nolan Geraint..."

Ivan was silent for a long time, whispering the old crow's name.

"What?"

"If you see him again, remember to thank him for me."

Ivan said slowly: "Anya also told me... I hope that one day, I can see the winter pass and the harvest come. She wants to see a blooming flower, even a small one.

"...But I can't fulfill such a simple wish for her. I can't do as well as Nolan. He made Lily live a happy life."

"But you are a very good archduke."

"Indeed I am."

Ivan replied calmly: "But I am not a good husband."

When he said this, he looked deeply at Annan:

"...not a good father either."

"That's not the case."

Annan shrugged: "At least you are definitely not a bad father."

Grand Duke Ivan treated his children in a pure and free-range state without any management or restraint.

It can be seen from the copy of Wolf Kiss that when Annan was very young, he was brought up by his eldest brother Dmitri. Except for the Hand of Winter who takes care of his life, his brothers and sisters are basically with him.

Only when Annan was learning frost swordsmanship, he was taught by the Grand Duke himself.

When Annan just woke up from the frozen water port, the oil of silence had not yet seeped out... so Annan's past memories were only temporarily sealed, but not completely lost.

At that time, the first thing Annan recalled was that Ivan was teaching him the frost sword technique. It can also be seen from this that the "shared memories" between Annan and Ivan are probably extremely rare.

Given how busy Ivan is at work, Annan probably won’t be able to see him more than a few times a year.

At that time, Ivan's health was still good, and it was not like he had to stay in bed all year round now. He must have been running around all over the place... He should have been at that level three times.

At least he could make the two brothers Annan and Dmitri even call Fu Fu over to gamble at home without even realizing that something had happened to their cubs.

After all, Ivan is the best archduke in the history of winter.

This is something that all Winter people will admit from the bottom of their hearts.

No generation of Winter can handle various affairs in winter better than Ivan. At least after the death of his first wife...or maybe before that, Ivan had devoted his entire life to the Principality of Winter.

It is normal to neglect your own family.

After all, his time is not infinite.

Of course, Annan said it lightly... After all, strictly speaking, this was not his childhood. When he arrived in this world, he already had the soul of an adult inside him.

And now Annan has completely forgotten what happened in his childhood. It can be said that standing and talking does not hurt your back - at least Dmitri and Maria will definitely be affected a lot by this.

At least their childhood won't be that pleasant.

However, they still have a mother who is relatively normal. Especially Dmitri...his mother seems to be a rather gentle person. It can even melt the ice of Ivan.

...Perhaps part of the reason why Dmitri and Maria have always cared and loved Annan is because Anya passed away shortly after Annan was born.

Grand Duke Ivan was busy with government affairs and had no time to take care of his children. So the two siblings volunteered to take care of Annan.

The so-called eldest brother is like father, and the eldest sister is like mother. This is roughly the case.

...But I am afraid of comparing myself to others.

Compared with the Melvin family's style of simply treating their heirs as tools, the Lingdong family's style is already considered to be very good and couldn't be any better.

"However, although Lily is having a good time with Noah... it would be better to talk to Rasputin."

Ivan coughed lightly.

He raised his right hand, which was so thin that the shape of the bones could be faintly seen, and handed Annan a hard card, like a greeting card or a business card.

After Annan handed it over, he pinched it gently with his hands and found that there was a thin metal sheet sandwiched in the middle of the thick paper.

And it has an address and a name written on it.

"Vashka Rasputin...will you see him tomorrow?"

"He is the cousin of Anya and Lily...or cousin. He is also the patriarch of this generation of Rasputin. You can call him aunt or uncle."

"...What does it mean?"

Annan was a little confused.

Is this person a man or a woman?

"Rasputin is a keeper of secrets, so there are naturally many forbidden rituals... Vasika once performed a special ritual to merge himself with a female cat. So he would follow the moon phases and continue to Change your gender and appearance."

Ivan glanced at the copper calendar plate on the wall: "Now Vasika should be a female...may have some characteristics of a cat. After you see it, remember not to be afraid or rude."

...Cat lady, I'm afraid of a hammer.

Annan thought from the bottom of his heart.

"...However, is the frequency of Rasputin's people performing forbidden rituals...too high?"

Annan couldn't help but ask.

So far, what he heard about Rasputin seemed to have performed forbidden rituals.

Ivan shook his head: "For Rasputin, this is a normal situation - this is how the surname Rasputin came from in the first place."

The old Grand Duke said slowly: "In Frost Language, the word 'Rasputin' is usually used to describe a person with bad conduct... It is not a good word."

Not to mention it's not a good word... Ivan's words were too tactful.

That is a word that will be covered with asterisks when typed, and can insult a person's character.

"...but why did Rasputin use this word as his surname?"

"This is called the 'Infamy Ceremony'."

Ivan replied: "Their purpose is to make others insult themselves unconsciously. In this way, you can easily get a commonly used effect 'Three Words of Curses', which needs to be affected by three different words within one day. People 'abuse from the heart'. ~IndoMTL.com~ This is also the reason why in the story, some ritual masters who have fallen into darkness will use cruel methods to do evil everywhere and leave their names behind... They are deliberately collecting insults, Curse and hatred. If these are condensed to a certain extent, they will also become an influence.

"It causes weak villains to fall into nightmares and die... but it also strengthens the true villains."

To put it simply, it’s just looking for scolding.

Annan thought.

"And this influence is a common influence necessary for many taboo rituals and rituals to curse others. Rasputin is a very traditional family of ritualists. They have multiple influence pools...and his name, naturally It is also one of the influences.

"So they used the 'Bad Name Ceremony' to replace their family name with this ancient insult. Although there are very few people who understand Frost Language, as long as they pronounce this surname, it can be regarded as 'from Inner abuse'.

"In addition to the name, they will also participate in large-scale events such as festivals, funerals, weddings, etc. The purpose is to do their best to gather influence.

"Almost all of these influences will be used to perform rituals before they expire. Therefore, every Rasputin will have performed at least one forbidden ritual. They will be more or less different from ordinary people. Although they are all weirdos and behave strangely... when you succeed the Duke of Winter, Rasputin will be your best partner."

Ivan reached out and patted his three-color scepter, and said meaningfully: "Because they always need Winter's help.

"Remember this sentence. I can't reveal too much to you for the time being...but remember, don't let him bluff you during your communication with the leader of the Wasika clan tomorrow.

"——You are the one who takes the initiative. You have the absolute initiative."