The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 757: So, You Knew?

In the image of the Grand Duke Annan overlapped with Vladmir from the past.

Celecia smelled the aura of death.

She sensed it vividly.

If she answered as she did back then to Vladmir, that answer seemed like asking “Grand Duke? Who’s that?”, she would die here and now.

It could be a decent death through a glass of poisoned wine, or maybe a public execution.

Today, she was no longer the innocent youth she was back then.

Annan was serious.

She knew it was impossible for the young new Grand Duke to forgive someone who had committed the rebellion and was still unwilling to surrender.

Then, a new idea came to her mind.

…I don’t want to die yet.

If she were still “Thoreau Nick” from back then, she wouldn’t care.

At that time, Thoreau Nick really wanted to dedicate everything to the teacher from the bottom of his heart. After becoming Celecia, her first reaction was “I can help teachers more.”

But now, she met new buddies.

She went to many places she had never been before, witnessed other people’s lives, and had a life of her own.

She had buddies who could travel with her and someone who loved her. She had also laughed heartily, and had anecdotes that she could tell with interest over drinks…

Was she still loyal to Vladmir?

—That was natural.

However, could she still sacrifice her life for him without hesitation like she did in the past?

That was not necessarily the case.

She wanted to live.

So, she surrendered.

“A great reply. That’s a great start.”

Annan smiled, slowly tightened his grip on the three-color scepter, and slowly spread his fingers apart one by one.

Having a weaker body than Celecia, this young Grand Duke was only a wizard… However, he exuded a strong sense of oppression that was difficult to look at directly.

“One thing must be clear – Vladmir has abandoned you.” Annan said calmly.

“That’s not necessarily the case—” Celecia subconsciously wanted to retort, but her words suddenly got stuck.

She thought that after she became Celecia, she never see the teacher again. There was no exchange or communication between them. The only certain thing was that the teacher and she confirmed each other’s survival…

Could it be that the teacher already knew that I would betray him now?

She thought about it sadly.

Celecia gripped the teacup tightly, oblivious to the heat scorching her hands.

Rather, this hot teacup could give her a masochistic sense of self-punishment, which in turn made her more determined.

“What I want to ask is how Vladmir betrayed me.” Annan said slowly, “I’m talking about – everything.”

“…Everything?”

Celecia was stunned for a moment and said slowly, “Just as you expected, there is nothing much to say. The teacher used Dmitri’s bodily fluids and the Grail-holding Lady’s ritual to cultivate the bloodline seeds, and used the cultivation results to create a device that could control the Frost Beast’s curse vessel.”

“That’s not what I meant.” Annan asked calmly, “What I’m talking about is – why did he betray me back then? What was his purpose?”

“He wants to leave the Austere-Winter Dukedom.” Celecia glanced at Zoya, hesitated before gritting her teeth, and replied, “This is a deal. He exposed all the potential enemies of Austere-Winter and defeated them in one fell swoop.”

“For example, local nobility, such as the Northern Brotherhood… for example, the Winter’s Hand.

“‘Her Royal Highness Annan’s biggest enemy is Winter’s Hand itself. Grand Duke Ivan doesn’t even have military power or personnel appointment and dismissal rights, and the officials of the United Kingdom are not so outrageous… He is simply working for Winter’s Hand.’ The teacher said those to me.”

Zoya said nothing and closed her eyes.

That was indeed the truth.

She also knew it, so she didn’t get angry.

Winter’s Hand had always been the highest secret service agency under the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke. With the gradual delegation of authority from generation to generation of Grand Dukes, the scope of Winter’s Hand’s privileges gradually increased.

For the Austere-Winter family, which had a high mortality rate, this governance model could minimize the negative impact of the death of the ruler. Moreover, the Austere-Winter family was usually not good at politics… It wasn’t easy for them to merely live a stable life without being assassinated, committing suicide, or going crazy.

The more they wanted to be a good Grand Duke, the more bad things they would encounter, and the faster they would die. Finally, every generation of Grand Duke could not become a “good Grand Duke”.

However, Winter’s Hand was not a complete machine – they were not as scary as the outside world said. Their emotion was not completely severed, just became weak. Naturally, they also had selfish motives and desires… Even eunuchs knew how to enjoy themselves, not to mention the Winter’s Hand.

The father and son, Ivan and Annan, were a special case compared to the Grand Duke in the past.

Even across several generations of Grand Dukes… “Ivan” was definitely the wisest one. His talents as a ruler were unparalleled in the world. Even though he served as an image, he could convince many courtiers and nobles, eliminate disputes within the principality, and gradually sort out the messy political situation.

However, the Winter’s Hand was not happy about that.

As Ivan gradually tried to take back his power, the senior management of Winter’s Hand gradually had ulterior motives.

Naturally, they must be loyal to the Grand Duke and obey the Grand Duke’s orders.

However, that didn’t mean they couldn’t seek their own benefit.

This was the truth of why Vladmir was able to rebel with other members of the Winter’s Hand.

He specifically picked out all the “disloyal” Winter’s Hands, and the ones left behind were naturally loyal.

For the Winter’s Hand, which had lost half of its people, had seen a significant decline in strength and a massive decline in power. They had to start relying on Annan. Then, they would have no choice but to follow the young Grand Duke everywhere… Otherwise, there was a high probability that Annan would be limited in the Grand Duke’s Residence as a puppet by them. They would act on Annan’s behalf for state affairs.

Zoya was not stupid. She had already figured out the truth about that “betrayal”.

His Highness Annan had been particularly good at this strategy he called “fishing” since long ago. His enemies would always take the bait. The border nobles were like this in the past, the Winter’s Hand was like this… and the Northern Brotherhood suffered the same fate like this today.

“This is not comprehensive enough.”

However, faced with such an answer, Annan shook his head.

His words pierced Celecia’s chest like a sharp sword, “What I want to ask is: Why does Vladmir want to leave Austere-Winter?”

“Don’t try to fool me. I know that you know the answer to this question.” Annan stared at Celecia, “I trust you very much, Celecia. I also decided to forgive you for your past sins. But, if you dare to fool me for this question, it would be tantamount to betraying my trust in you.”

…It’s just like that day.

The young son, who read deeply into people’s hearts, stared at Celecia like a devil.

However, on that day, Thoreau Nick was still his direct subordinate, but now Celecia had become a prisoner placed on the other side of the table.

“I have no idea.” Celecia was silent for a moment and replied in a low voice, “I really don’t know. Teacher left too urgently back then, so I could only form Ice-shredders with the defected Winter’s Hands to survive in the wilderness.”

In fact, she did know the answer.

Using Dmitri’s blood to study the Frost Beast was a deal between Vladmir and Professor Wolf. Leading the Winter’s Hand to rebel to form the Ice-shredders and taking away the support of local nobles was a deal between Vladmir and Annan. They would develop power underground and later grasp political power to surrender to Annan to erase their past crime. However, that was the second half of the plan.

However, Celecia knew that Vladmir had his own plans.

It was this answer alone that she couldn’t tell—

Of all the secrets, this was the only one that could not be told to others.

If she revealed this, she had betrayed the teacher in the truest sense.

She also thought about making up an answer, but she was worried that with her IQ, most of the lies she made up would not be able to deceive Annan.

Therefore, she could only answer “I don’t know”.

She was originally a fool, so it was expected of her not to know.

“You are lying.” However, that lie didn’t even last a moment before Annan recognized it.

That was within expectations.

Of course, Annan didn’t know what Vladmir was doing underground.

Annan merely went on with his typical approach. Deliberately bringing up information that was difficult to discern and know, and using this to bluff Celecia, forcing her to give out something to prove her sincerity and prove that she didn’t know about this issue.

This was what Annan originally planned.

However, the moment Celecia said, “I don’t know”.

She emitted a red light.

That was the light that belonged to the “betrayer”.

So, you knew?

At that moment, Annan was also stunned for a moment.

He suddenly understood the new approach to capitalize the curse, [Angel’s Left Eye].

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