A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

Chapter 728 Judge the Disloyal - III

At the time, Ansel had believed that Nine, sharing the perspective of ordinary people, would empathize most deeply with their suffering in this distorted world. He had hoped she would think, learn, and seek ways to correct this distortion.

Ansel had wanted her to go further down this path, to pursue not only him but also hold grand beliefs and ideals.@@@@

But now it seemed that his actions had instead become the beginning of Nine's fall.

Ansel had pondered this many times but still couldn't understand... why had Nine, who clearly felt pain and despair from this distortion, abandoned her anger as an ordinary person?

Faced with Ansel's question, Nine responded frankly: "No."

"Not even a little?"

"No," Nine smiled. "If I were to give a reason, besides the previous ones, there's another."

She paused, her voice now more mature and slightly husky, no longer unpleasant but increasingly captivating.

"Because you are considering the commoners of the West."

"..."

"Even if we still can't find a way for them to live with dignity and value, at the very least, they shouldn't suffer endless oppression and bullying."

Nine gazed into those sea-blue eyes, speaking softly: "This must be what you're thinking. Even at this moment, you hold such gentleness towards the commoners who shouldn't be your responsibility."

Ansel could only remain silent.

He had done the right thing, out of caution against fate, by placing Nine in a position of least significance to him. No matter how useful she might be, he couldn't allow himself to develop any feelings for her.

And indeed, whenever he saw Nine, whenever he thought of her willingness to become a mere tool, Ansel couldn't even muster feelings of tenderness.

Yet he found himself, time and again, wanting Nine to deny—

"Mr. Ansel," Nine suddenly said, "From now on, you don't need to ask me these kinds of questions anymore."

She tilted her head slightly, her smile gentle and beautiful: "You clearly already know the answer."

—She knows what I'm thinking again.

"...I understand," Ansel responded calmly. "Do you have anything else to say?"

"Hmm... I have some more suggestions. For instance, rather than using various schemes to win over potential supernatural allies, why not directly use your sermon to brainwash—"

Nine's words were cut off as she felt Ansel's gaze turn ice-cold in an instant.

"I apologize for my indiscretion, Mr. Ansel," the girl lowered her head slightly. "Please forgive my presumption."

Ansel didn't say whether he would or wouldn't do as Nine suggested. Instead, after looking at her for a few seconds, he brought up another topic.

"Besides this, there's something else you want, isn't there?"

He leaned back, slightly raising his chin. "You want to personally execute the plan for the Western Lands."

Her bewitching face now bore a cold and severe expression, her black eyes surging with boundless ferocity and madness.

That slightly husky voice seemed like a whisper from the netherworld:

"Where is your enemy?"

"That enemy I don't know about, the one that's pressing you step by step, forcing you to make so many choices, making you... become who you are now. Where is it? Is it the force you mentioned when talking to Evora in the Enigma?"

...She found out? How could she have discovered this?

Ravenna's discovery of Ansel's secret was because Ansel was indeed revealing his heart to her at that time, and it was also because fate was pushing things along that she realized Ansel might be suppressed by some powerful entity.

But what about Nine? She was facing a more mature, more complete, and flawless Ansel, and she had no help. How could she sense such an "enemy," and since when had she discovered it?

Could it be... fate's interference again?

After a long gaze at Nine, who seemed on the verge of losing control, Ansel shook his head lightly:

"That's not something you should know right now, Nine."

He didn't intend to avoid the question, but he also didn't intend to let Nine know this secret.

"...You're right, Mr. Ansel."

Nine quickly calmed down, lowering her head slightly: "Thank you for being willing to answer my question. Then I'll take my leave now."

After Nine left the study, Ansel, leaning back in his chair, began to mutter to himself in puzzlement.

"Such an ordinary girl... is she worth so much of your effort and care?"

Going to such lengths to elevate Marina's position, could it be that fate believes the influence she brings to him would surpass that of Seraphina and Ravenna?

Should I be grateful that she willingly became a tool?

*

Nine's wheelchair moved slowly forward. With her hands folded, she looked more gentle than any noble lady - if one could ignore her bone-chilling black eyes and the black markings covering the left side of her face.

Convincing Crow was no challenge for her. Taking control of Shadewell now seemed an incredibly simple task to Nine.

There was an unbridgeable chasm between her level of awareness and theirs.

...Just as there had been a fundamental gap between her former self and them.

Now, there was only one thing left to do.

Nine put on her mask, concealing the unfamiliar, manic smile that had appeared on her face.

Judge the disloyal, hunt the rebellious.

*