Sitana did not know that a web woven with pure malice was about to tightly bind her.
Now that she had the evidence in hand, she was not as happy as she used to be when she finally caught Hydra's tail. She was not happy about the nobles' noisy chatter, nor was she happy about Anselm's deliberate design.
Having broadened her horizons, the young wolf knew how wealthy the nobles were. Even if she could scrape off a bit of their wealth, countless commoners could survive the harsh winter of the Scarletfrost.
Thinking of how people were freezing to death every day in the Outer City District of Scarletfrost, while those nobles still gathered together, praising Hydra's "art," that long-dormant inexplicable emotion could no longer be suppressed and surged like a raging storm.
"I must put an end to this absurdity."
The girl murmured to herself, she absolutely refused to accept such a distorted rule, absolutely refused to accept such a ridiculous world.
Although it was a sunny day, there were occasional cold winds howling by. Sitana stood on the street, watching the passing carriages, then her hand gradually clenched, not feeling the biting cold at all.
At this moment, she was unusually calm.
"I can't do much alone, even with this thing, don't have a way to effectively spread what Earl Hardstone said."
All of Anselm's teachings over these days seemed to have perfectly come into play at this moment. Sitana rubbed the Image Projection Crystal, squinted her eyes, and murmured to herself, "It's one thing to offend that Earl, but spreading this means offending Hydra as well. In Scarletfrost... it seems no one has the guts for that."
Sitana thought of the "Revolutionary" she had encountered last night, and her mood worsened even more.
"...Counting on those bastards, I'd be better off hoping Hydra starts playing it straight someday."
The girl's impression of the Revolutionary was downright terrible. Besides, those people had already been caught by Hydra. Even if there were any remnants, she had no way to contact that bunch of sneaky bastards who could be hiding anywhere.
"Damn it, I really should've planned this out sooner." Now deeply experiencing the bitter fruit of acting rashly, Sitana bit her nails, "Just having this thing doesn't seem to do me any good at all."
Unable to contact anyone to help expose the truth, Sitana felt somewhat helpless—just showing what Earl Hardstone said to one person was meaningless. She needed to make many, many people see this scene in order to stir up a wave in Scarletfrost.
Many nobles and merchants who recognized Sitana's identity bowed to her, but our young wolf either ignored them or glared back fiercely, truly acting like a savage.
After going through all this trouble to get her hands on the key item, but found nowhere to use it, which made Sitana extremely frustrated.
In her eyes, Anselm was exceptionally obsessed with his reputation in Scarletfrost. If Earl Hardstone's words were exposed by her, Anselm's reputation would undoubtedly plummet.
Since those policies were originally meant to be implemented by Anselm, in this situation, in order to salvage his reputation, he would not care about those nobles and would have to enforce the original edicts by force.
Sitana was deeply convinced that as long as she could do it, the lives of the commoners in Scarletfrost would improve.
"No need to hurry... no need to hurry."
She kept reminding herself, the mistakes she had made before were still fresh in her mind: "I need to think carefully about other options, after all, I'm the one in control here."
"I just need an opportunity... an opportunity to make this record public."
Sitana murmured to herself, her conviction firm, as she walked towards Anselm's manor.
*
Anselm, having finished his outing, was now in his study, conversing with a prominent figure he had briefly interacted with not long ago.
"Your Grace, I have already tallied the assets looted by the rebels, and they will be sent back to the Scarletfrost Manor tonight."
"You've really worked hard, young Hydra."
The ordinary-looking old man in the projected image wiped his glasses and sighed helplessly, "If all these things were really lost, it would be quite troublesome."
"Among those assets, there were even the crystal core and heart of the Red Ice Python."
Anselm, swirling the wine in his glass, spoke with a hint of surprise, "I thought the Scarletfrost Earl had already handed them all over to you?"
"Cantrell is a greedy and foolish man," the Graytower Grand Duke said, not seeming surprised, "This is something he would do."
"Then, shall I send these two items directly to the Skyfrost Tower?"
"No, no, no... just leave them there, I don't have any use for them recently."
The Graytower Grand Duke, it seemed, was not very concerned about his own property.
"Alright, since you already said so, I won't do anything unnecessary, however..."
Anselm put down his wine glass, interlaced his fingers, and spoke sincerely, "Your security measures at the Scarletfrost Manor seem a bit too relaxed. Relying only on injunction spells and guards to protect those assets might be a bit too thin, don't you think?"
The old man chuckled, "Who would have thought they could get their hands on such a powerful Aether-Concealment scroll? That's a rare item, not many circulating even in the Northern Black Markets, and most of those came from us."
Anselm made a valid point, and the Graytower Grand Duke's response was reasonable. The young and the old looked at each other from afar, one with a humble smile, the other with a kind expression.
"In that case, I won't disturb you any further."
The young Hydra bid farewell to the old gray fox, "Goodbye, Your Grace."
"Come visit the Skyfrost Tower when you have the time," the Graytower Grand Duke raised his teacup to Anselm, "I should also do my duty as a host."
"Certainly."
The conversation ended, the image disappeared, and Savile's figure appeared beside Anselm.
"How is it going?" The wicked serpent, holding a wine glass, asked leisurely.
"As you predicted, Miss Sitana has completed the recording."
Savile bowed slightly, "I was a bit worried that she wouldn't know how to operate the Image Projection Crystal, but fortunately, with your teaching, she finally figured out how to use it before setting out."
"She must be struggling with how to make what she saw and heard public."
Thinking of Sitana walking in circles, talking to herself, forcing herself to calm down, her little face scrunched up as she tried hard to think, that silly yet adorable image made Anselm chuckle.
"Should we give Miss Sitana an opportunity?"
"It's still too early."
Hydra's lips curved upwards as he played with a ring embedded with an emerald gem—the very one that Sitana had taken from the treasure vault of the Scarletfrost Manor.
Or rather, the ring that Anselm had her take out from there.
The wicked serpent, having prepared a pit of despair for the young wolf, placed the ring back in Savile's hand, which signaled the old butler that he would need to return it later.
"Before that, she will receive a small gift from me."
"To strengthen her resolve... to either defeat me, or change me."
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