Life is such a wonderful thing.
Sitana, who had been racking her brains to figure out how to expose the scene of Earl Hardstone's meeting, was now troubled by something on another level.
Anselm agreed to distribute coal to the poor of Scarletfrost before the Great Cold Wave arrived, which was a good thing, a very good thing!
The terrifying Great Cold Wave of the North was one of the main reasons why this vast land could never be compared to the central regions of the Empire. Crops, livestock, population, and even infrastructure... all could suffer severe damage during the cold wave.
If it weren't for an Emperor five hundred years ago who built the Tower of Eternal Frenzy Flame at the northernmost tip of the North, which reduced the lethality of the cold wave by sixty to seventy percent, this land would be nothing but a desolate wasteland where only powerful magical beasts could survive.
—Of course, the Emperor at the time was only interested in the rich mineral resources of the North, so he conveniently expanded the empire's borders without thinking too much.
In short, Sitana had experienced two Great Cold Waves in her life, not as terrifying as she had imagined, but still left a deep impression on her. These two cold waves had drained her entire family's resources, if they hadn't done so, there wouldn't have been enough coal to last until the end of the cold wave. And after each Great Cold Wave, many people in the village would die.
Elders who did not want to add burdens would even actively walk into the snowstorm, ending their lowly lives painlessly under the extreme cold.
How could Sitana not be happy that Anselm was willing to listen to her and spend so much money to help the poor of Scarletfrost get through the difficult times?
And then, as she was happy... she became sad.
"Annoying... so annoying..."
The girl sitting cross-legged in the room lay on the tea table, poking at the Image Projection Crystal with her hand.
"Hydra rarely does such a direct good deed; screwing over his rep now would be real low."
Miss Young Wolf was deeply troubled. On one hand, she wanted Anselm's policies beneficial to the commoners of Scarletfrost to be implemented truly and thoroughly. On the other hand... she didn't want this to tarnish Anselm's reputation, which he valued so highly.
"Why the hell didn't you just do it right from the start? Now you've got me all stressed out, Hydra you're such a pain!"
With a kick of her fair, delicate feet against the table leg, Sitana can only mutter complaints to herself, unable to speak with Anselm.
Ever since Malena made that request, she hadn't seen Anselm even once today. The reason was simple - it involved tallying up all the impoverished families in Scarletfrost, ensuring the distribution of coal reaches every noble, and making sure they don't embezzle the resources. There were also tasks like procurement, distribution, and transportation management to handle.
Sitana's simple words, "Distribute coal to all the poor in the Scarletfrost," sounded not complicated, yet the intricacies involved were incredibly complex while the workload was immense. With the Great Cold Wave approaching, the difficulty of this task was almost hellish. That's why Anselm had granted Malena an unbelievably extensive authority.
Even though the work was also being handled by subordinates, neither Anselm nor Malena were the type to simply issue orders and then wash their hands of the matter.
"Forget it."
The Image Projection Crystal only added to Sitana's annoyance, so she casually tossed it into her tool bag and didn't bother with it anymore: "I guess I'll go train instead. If I'm not strong enough, I won't be able to help Hydra..."
The girl stood up, stretched, and muttered, "Come to think of it, lately, it's been Lena helping him, and I haven't really done much for Hydra... feels kinda wrong, doesn't it?"
Feeling a bit guilty, Sitana quickly changed into her training clothes and took out the collar from the jewelry cabinet under her dressing table, fastening it around her neck with great familiarity.
Just as Sitana finished fastening the collar and was about to close the jewelry cabinet, her eyes caught sight of a ring inside.
It was the emerald ring she had casually taken from the Scarlefrost Manor, which, from a normal woman's perspective, was quite beautiful.
"Didn't Hydra mention something about... needing to be mentally prepared to wear this thing?"
Sitana picked up the ring, tilting her head as she examined it: "What does he mean by that, does it have a negative effect? Is it for heavy training?"
She had actually wanted to try it on for fun a few days ago, but she couldn't remember where she put it; turned out it was in the jewelry box.
Following the principle that "Hydra wouldn't harm me," the curious Miss Young Wolf didn't hesitate and slipped it onto her index finger.
That's just Sitana for you. With Anselm handling any potential troubles that might arise, her already impulsive and barren mind often stopped working altogether, leaving her to be driven purely by instinct."
"Ouch!"
A sharp pain and tearing sensation ravaged Sitana's mind for a few seconds. The girl clutched her forehead, her eyebrows furrowed, and it took about ten seconds for her to recover.
"...It's gone?"
Apart from the sharp pain, there were no unusual reactions, which puzzled Sitana.
"Hi-yah!"
With a loud shout, the young girl threw a powerful punch forward.
Unfortunately, no light wave burst forth as she had imagined.
"Tch, boring. I'll ask Hydra later."
Disappointed, Sitana lowered her arms and grabbed a fruit from the ever-replenished fruit basket, then walked out the door casually munching on it.
Before she had taken a few steps, a maid approached with a gentle smile, bowing to her.
Sitana was about to nod in response when she heard—
"The wild wolf is still so crude and impolite, not a shred of ladylike demeanor. Why does Master dote on her so much?"
"Pfft—"
Sitana immediately spat out the fruit and juice all over the floor, staring in disbelief at the maid whose mouth twitched slightly.
"You... what did you just say?!"
Crude and impolite, fine, I don't care, but what do you mean by 'wild wolf'? No honorifics, not even my name?!
The maid's expression stiffened slightly: "What... what did I say? Miss Sitana, I didn't say anything."
At the same time, Sitana heard words with the same tone but completely different content.
[What's wrong with her this time? Such a hassle, she almost spat on my clothes.]
Miss Young Wolf's expression gradually darkened. She first stared at the maid for a while, then quickly shifted her gaze to the ring on her index finger.
"......"
Without a word, she dashed towards the direction of Anselm's study.
Along the way, she encountered many maids, and without exception, the words she heard were—
[The wild wolf is running around so rudely again, why doesn't Master punish her?]
[So noisy... I hope it doesn't disturb Master.]
[Please tell me she didn't go out and run around, getting her shoes all dirty.]
[They're sisters, so why is there such a big difference between the wild wolf and Miss Malena?]
[If someone has to be favored by Master, I'd rather it be Miss Malena.]
Not only were the various, varied in tone, yet uniformly disdainful remarks, but Sitana also felt... their emotions.
Annoyance, envy, jealousy, apathy, and even more extreme hatred... not a single positive emotion in sight.
This mansion seemed to have transformed into a terrifying cage filled with blades, leaving no space for Sitana to set foot.
She tried to remove the ring, only to find out it was firmly stuck on her finger, unmoving.
Filled with such overwhelming emotions and bombarded with so many negative words, Sitana clenched her teeth. Even though she wanted to scream and glare furiously at the annoying maids, she managed to hold it all in.
Because Sitana was already accustomed to others' harsh criticisms. Although she often seemed to overreact, that was just her instinctive, vengeful retaliation, not indicative of her caring too much about what everyone thought of her.
Especially these maids! All they do is wipe tables and mop floors... Lena washes my clothes, not you! What's it to you, making such a stink?
Anyway, Sitana never intended to get along well with these maids, so she didn't care at all.
But if this damn thing won't come off, and I gotta listen to these nosy women every day, that's gonna be a real pain in the ass! And I ain't got no interest in snooping into people's heads. Gotta find Hydra and get this thing off me quick.
Our Miss Young Wolf was either being reckless every day or on the way paying the price for her recklessness.
Sitana quickly arrived at the study, the closed door annoyed her, but she still knocked forcefully:
"Hey, Hydra! I need to talk to you!"
"...Sitana, did you forget what I promised Malena yesterday?" The voice of Anselm came from within the study.
His voice carried a warning tone, the seriousness and earnestness in it making the girl even more uncomfortable.
"But it really is important!" Sitana felt a bit wronged, having never been shut out by Anselm before, "I, I'm in some trouble."
After a couple of seconds, Sitana heard a resigned sigh from inside.
"Malena, could you please open the door?"
The young girl's tense expression relaxed significantly as she crossed her arms, happily waiting for the door that would never be closed to her to open.
Speaking so seriously... but you still opened the door in the end. Alright, from now on, unless it's super important, I definitely won't bother you--
As the study door opened, Malena, with her usual plain long braid transformed into smooth, straight hair and a black butterfly hairpin, her eyelashes and eyeliner seemingly thicker, looking completely refreshed and new beyond recognition. She smiled at Sitana:
"No need to hurry, Sita, come in and take your time to talk."
But Sitana's thoughts, along with her smile, froze in place.
Because she heard it.
The moment she saw Malena's warm smile, she heard... the thoughts of her own sister.
Numb and indifferent.
[You are such a hassle, Sitana.]
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