Chapter 159 Anya Rasputin

That's absolutely genuine hostility.

Doreen was sure.

This is also one of the survival skills of the country werewolf.

In order to prevent yourself from accidentally getting into trouble with someone you can't provoke, or to prevent you from being attacked unexpectedly when you are walking in a small alley. Werewolves are very sensitive to the hostility of others——

The moment she sensed the danger, the entire world before Doreen's eyes turned pale yellow in an instant.

The speed of the flow of time slowed down dramatically, and everything that was still became blurred... and everything that was still moving in front of me became extremely clear and bright.

This ability to predict danger is also one of the racial characteristics of werewolves.

...but there is also a situation.

Just like now.

Even though she sensed the crisis, nothing appeared in front of Doreen. In her field of vision, nothing seemed to move except the wind blowing the curtains.

Doreen peeked sideways.

Reasonably, she who is not an extraordinary person can't see anything.

She clearly felt that she was being watched by many people, and she clearly sensed strong hostility and even killing intent, but she couldn't find out where they were at all.

"Doreen?"

Annan urged again.

"……Yes."

Doreen responded with some trembling, her vertical pupils shortened again and returned to round pupils, while she swallowed hard.

Against the cold eyes behind her, she slowly opened the door.

It was not Annan who came into view first.

It was a middle-aged man with many dark purple lines on his skin, thin cheeks and deep eyes.

He has short gray-white hair that is neatly combed back. The hair has become very slender, just like himself. He didn't seem to be in very good physical condition. He was sitting on a chair, leaning on a scepter that was divided into silver, black, and dark blue, and was propped on the ground like sharp claws.

His pupils were the same icy blue as Annan's right eye. The face is roughly 70% similar to that of Annan.

But his pupils are even lighter than Annan's eyes... It's more like egg whites than ice. It is slightly yellowish, which highlights the sense of transparency.

...Is this the Archduke of Winter?

Doreen realized who he was in an instant.

It is the legendary Ivan Winter.

"You are Doreen."

Ivan's voice was calm, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly.

It is different from the chilling feeling that Annan gives people - if Annan is a translucent ice surface, it gives people a sense of calm and danger. Then Ivan is like a thick layer of snow has accumulated on this glacial lake.

All sense of danger is hidden under the deep snow.

But at the same time, Ivan gave people a wonderful sense of distance and awe.

It's just like……

Under the snow, there were many corpses hidden.

"...Yes, Your Majesty."

Doreen's originally anxious and fearful emotions quickly calmed down under Ivan's eyes.

She nodded, knelt on the ground, lowered her head and replied softly, "My name is Doreen Angel."

"Um."

Archduke Lin Dong replied softly and nodded slightly.

He suddenly asked: "Do you know Bella? She is also a werewolf."

"……do not know."

Doreen thought for a moment and shook her head.

"I see."

Ivan sighed softly and waved his hand: "Sit aside, child."

"—Please sit down."

The same female voice that Annan had just entered the door rang from behind Doreen.

But she didn't frighten Mao Mao this time—perhaps because her original emotions were already nervous to the limit, this sudden attack was unexpected.

She turned around and saw the owner of the voice this time.

It was an adult woman who looked to be in her early thirties and had hair exactly the same color as the dark blue on the Archduke's scepter.

On the ring finger of her left hand, she wears a transparent ring that constantly emits cold air.

It's like being carved out of ice.

...Is this the upper echelon of the Winter's Hand?

Doreen's heart tightened.

She had heard from the teacher before that the responsibilities of the ten high-level officers of the Hand of Winter.

The ring finger of the left hand is directly responsible for all the internal affairs of the Grand Duke, including food, sex, travel, and dressing. Roughly the status is equivalent to the "unnecessary public" of the United Kingdom - that is, the eunuch of King Denisoya, and the court status is quite high.

No doubt, this is also a big man.

When Doreen got up, she hurriedly gave her a respectful salute.

This made Ring Finger stunned for a moment, and then the corners of his mouth raised slightly, and his eyes seemed to become gentler.

Her left hand was on Doreen's shoulder, and her right hand silently pointed to the seat in the corner of the room.

Although Archduke Winter's life is simple, it is not dilapidated. Said to be a chair, but it was actually a soft and cold sofa made of frost beast fur.

In the hot summer, just nesting in it can cool down the whole body. But this season is not too hot... Fortunately, werewolves are not very afraid of cold.

Doreen shrunk in the chair, habitually looking around the room.

She soon found two female portraits hanging by the head of the bed.

A black-haired girl with a beautiful appearance and a gentle smile, her hair is placed in front of her left shoulder and the front end is braided.

The other was almost identical to Annan—she had beautiful long silver hair, secured by a headband. And her expression is even colder than Annan's, and her temperament is also very cold, giving people a noble feeling.

This should be Annan's biological mother, right?

Speaking of which, both generations of Grand Duke Ivan's wives seem to have passed away.

...they all voluntarily married the Grand Duke.

Doreen pursed her lips.

Because Archduke Ivan is not an extraordinary person, and his talent is terrifyingly high... This has caused each of his partners to live short lives. Just like himself.

Of course, there are not many nobles who have long coveted the blood of the Winter Clan.

However, not everyone can experience the test of the old grandmother.

The grandmother is also the god of tradition.

She doesn't care if they love each other...it's best if they're in love, but if it's not free love, then at least the consent of the parties must be required - both men and women.

Because forced marriage is the seed of instability. It can mean that one party is approaching the other with ill-conceived intentions, bringing about a fusion and separation of powers after the birth of the offspring, and after the death of both parties, this complex lineage can lead to "instability".

Instability is the biggest impact on tradition.

Therefore, there are few large-scale marriages in the Duchy of Winter - the nobles will instead care more about each other's health and abilities. Because this will affect the offspring, which in turn directly affects the inheritance of the family.

And Archduke Ivan even more so.

His first wives were just commoners. Not an extraordinary person, nor a ritualist, just an ordinary old grandmother believer.

And she also knew at the time that Archduke Ivan had a cursed physique. But she was still willing to marry Ivan.

——Not willing to marry the Grand Duke, but to marry Ivan.

But true love doesn't change reality.

After she gave birth to two children, she died of illness.

The Archduke's second child died before he was given a name.

If the principality has only one heir, "Dmitri", it cannot be regarded as stable. And if there are no female children, who can inherit the Tower of Storms?

Not to mention, Dmitri's talent is mediocre at best. He worked very hard, but he wasn't smart enough, not strong enough, or even extraordinary.

At this time, a noble girl directly boarded the Grand Duke's mansion and bluntly said that she wanted to marry the Grand Duke.

She has no feelings for Archduke Ivan, and has never even seen Ivan before.

But she can pass the magic check, she is not greedy for wealth, nor does she care about status. She really really wanted to marry the Grand Duke... not Ivan.

Her purpose was pure and simple, but it was difficult for Ivan to accept at that time.

--Yes.

Just for the Principality of Winter.

When she first met, she said that Dmitri's ability could not inherit the Duchy of Winter - given the tension in the duchy at that time, if Dmitri inherited the duchy, his ability would not be able to suppress all the nobles, and would only cause civil war in the duchy. Split.

"—The nobles are fighting, the civilians are killed and wounded, and the winter is destroyed."

she said so.

Therefore, before the grand duke dies, he must be used to "create" a stronger heir for the Duchy of Winter; at the same time, in order to allow his future daughter to continue the mission of the endless storm.

The daughter of the storm at that time was Ivan's aunt. She is very old, and this is the only female blood heir with the "heart of winter". To prevent the Tower of Storms from being powerless to suppress, they can only find the Son of God from the Church - and this also means the transfer of power.

Ivan was very resistant to this kind of marriage at first. He refused three times, and he didn't even have a good impression of this strong girl.

But later, he was impressed by the wisdom, vision and mind of the other party.

——If the other party has the blood of winter, he will definitely become a better prince than himself.

Ivan realized this.

And they soon became friends—not lovers, but friends of the opposite sex who could entrust everything and talk about the world and politics. This was also a legend at the time.

Many of the most effective and long-term policies of Archduke Ivan came from his second wife.

In the end, they later got married.

This was Ivan's second and last wife.

A total of four children were born, two of whom survived the curse of the Heart of Winter. In the end, as a powerful ritualist, she did not support Ivan's increasingly powerful frost power. Like Dmitri's mother, she died of illness between the beds.

Doreen remembered that this heroic woman was born in the Rasputin family.

She seems to be called...

Anya Rasputin.