Ansel refrained from revealing any superfluous emotions to Seraphina at the moment, merely inquiring without anger, "Do you wish to continue listening, Seraphina?"
"... Why not?"
Seraphina responded, her fishing rod cracking slightly, her expression impassive.
"If I don't listen, does that mean you're not disgusting? And... remove your hand!"
Ansel withdrew his hand from Seraphina's shoulder with a smile, "Behold, these are words the former you would never utter. Shouldn't you detest everything about someone you dislike, Seraphina?"
"Don't act as if you know me so well!"
The girl turned her head, her face filled with rage, her slightly twitching visage revealing her sharp canine teeth.
Although still struggling to control her temper, Seraphina had undoubtedly matured. This pleased Ansel, as his guidance had proven effective in just a few days.
"Let us resume our previous discussion," Ansel stepped back, generously providing Seraphina with a comfortable social distance. "Since I have won the hearts of the people of the Red Frost territory through the two barons… Why would someone target me?"
"..."
Seraphina slowly turned her head back, seemingly refocusing on her fishing rod, but her thoughts were occupied by Ansel's question.
(Hydral had gained the support of the Red Frost territory... his words were now more powerful than anything else, so those who wanted to target him could only be…)
"The... owner of the Red Frost territory?"
Seraphina muttered incredulously, following Ansel's concise train of thought.
"B-but how is that possible? Didn't you kill the Count of Red Frost?" she asked.
"Who told you the owner of the Red Frost territory is the Count of Red Frost?" Ansel countered.
"What nonsense are you talking about? If the land lord of the Red Frost territory isn't the Count of Red Frost, then who could it be?"
"Can a lord control everything in their territory?"
The young noble shook his head with a light laugh. "Seraphina, a village chief manages a village but must bow before a tax officer; a tax officer may act with impunity in a small village but trembles before a noble in a city."
"Why do you think there is no one above the count? Simply because he controls a much larger area than a village?"
In silence, Ansel solemnly addressed the pensive young wolf, "Do not let a narrow perspective limit your thinking, Seraphina. What you can see is always limited, but the height and depth of your thoughts can reach the ends of heaven and the abyss."
Seraphina, quite unusually, fell silent.
Even as fate attempted to ignite the unquenchable rage in her heart, it yielded little success.
"...Are there more powerful people controlling the Count of Red Frost, using him to control the Red Frost territory?"
Seraphina whispered, her eyes downcast. "Is it... the emperor?"
"You're giving our dear count too much credit," Ansel laughed heartily. "It's merely a grand duke, one of the two grand dukes of the north, the Duke of Gray Tower."
"You should remember him, as he is the principal of the Frost Tower, and the title of Gray Tower is derived from it."
Seraphina paused for a moment, then jumped up in place, exclaiming, "You mean that old man who looks like nothing good?!"
"... If that's your impression of the Duke of Gray Tower," Ansel shrugged, "then yes, it's him."
The young girl, her fishing rod set aside, paced back and forth with a dark expression.
"So, all the good deeds the Count of Red Frost did were at his behest?"
"Of course not. You can find comprehensive information about their relationship in my study when you return," Ansel replied, not intending to elaborate further on the matter.
After all, he wanted to explain the current events to Seraphina and hoped she would independently interpret the peculiarities of the Red Frost territory after hearing his account.
Upon seeing that Ansel was unwilling to continue, Seraphina pouted and said, "It's because you took advantage of that Gray Duke, so he wants to deal with you... Wait, what does this have to do with him having those two barons killed?"
"Because if I kill them, they will definitely die; but if the Duke of Gray Tower kills them, it's not certain," Ansel replied casually.
"???" Seraphina was utterly confused. "Why would you want to kill them again? Weren't you here to help them?"
"Because they've been doing some dirty work for the Count of Red Frost," Ansel said nonchalantly. "If things were to proceed normally, they would receive a very, very thorough... punishment before they die."
Regardless of whether it was smuggling national resources or wantonly plundering and killing, according to imperial law, the tortures that the two barons would have to endure before being sentenced to death were, to some extent, more terrifying than death itself.
"My condition for them to assassinate me is that I will grant them a swift and merciful death."
Seraphina felt that there must be something wrong with this world.
A person uses "I'll kill you" as a condition for others to help him, and there are actually people who help him?
Is there a mistake? Are all you nobles insane?!
Seeing Seraphina's utterly shocked expression, Ansel happily explained with a smile, "If someone else made such a request, it might not have any effect, but Seraphina, do you know who I am?"
"I am the son of Flamelle Hydral, the sole heir of Hydral. If I want them to suffer a hundred times the pain, their despair will not be less than a thousand times."
The warm and radiant golden-haired young man gently shook his scepter, revealing cold and terrifying malicious words in an incredibly gentle tone:
"I told them that the death I give is merciful."
"Then they have no choice but to accept my mercy."
At this point, Seraphina was finally able to connect all the strangeness she had felt.
Without needing Ansel's reminder, she turned her head to look at the highest point of the castle and gradually gained some insight, muttering to herself:
"So they want to die in front of you... No, that's not death, maybe it's some kind of feigned death. I've seen that old fox headmaster revive a dead pet of a student with my own eyes..."
The girl turned her head to look at Ansel, meeting his satisfied sea-blue eyes: "This way, they won't be killed by you, and then... they can turn around and accuse you!"
Seraphina's tone gradually became excited: "They can accuse you, telling the world that the assassination was staged by you! This way, everyone will know that you are a despicable and shameless liar!"
"Isn't that right! That's it! So you can't let them be killed, because you... you're nothing without that scepter, and there's no strange sorcerer around you, so you can't be sure if they're really dead or just pretending! But they have the help of that Gray Tower... maybe there's a way out. And anyway, it's death either way, if it were me, I'd rather be really killed by someone else than die at your hands!"
The extremely excited young wolf spoke fluently, making a series of conjectures without any flaws, even taking into account the damned pride of the nobles.
Seraphina's cheeks flushed with excitement, and a sense of accomplishment completely different from a successful hunt welled up within her. She had never experienced this feeling before, the joy of unraveling the threads that had been bothering her, and then gently blowing them away, leaving them powerless to interfere with her.
(What is this, am I not very smart, super smart! Even Marlina might not be able to think things through as clearly as I did in one go!)
Thinking of this, Seraphina became even more proud. Believing that she had completely figured out the whole matter, she put her hands on her hips and laughed heartily:
"Well, I won't help you then! I'll just watch that guy escape right under your nose, and if it can expose your true face to everyone... let the punishment be punishment!"
As soon as her words fell, at the top of the castle, the safe house of the Baron of Howling Wind, exploded.