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Chapter 65  The Abyss of Despair - One (II)

"I\'ll tell you why—because this city, this territory, has nothing to do with Mr. Ansel. It never belonged to him but to those detestable nobles you and I both despise."

"Do you know how many nobles are here, how many years they have inherited their power, and how intricate their networks of exchanging interests or opposing each other are?"

"Do you know how many procedures Mr. Ansel\'s decree must go through, how many links must respond, and how many people are affected?"

"Throughout this lengthy and complex process, even if Mr. Ansel has the will, he cannot possibly grasp the entirety of such a complicated network. To make every link, every detail, and everything run perfectly according to his wishes is impossible for Mr. Ansel, who only brought his maidservant and the butler Saville."

"Do you know this, Seraphina?"

Seraphina\'s eyes were filled with confusion as she looked at her sister, who had become so unfamiliar, and trembled helplessly, "What are you talking about, Marlina? What are you saying?"

"…You see, Seraphina, even though I have explained it so clearly, you still cannot see the truth."

Marlina ignored Seraphina\'s vulnerability, which was indistinguishable from pleading, "Why are you so foolish, so willful, and so self-righteous in wanting to change everything?"

"Then, let me tell you the answer."

"Mr. Ansel is paying the price," she said calmly, staring into Seraphina\'s eyes on the verge of collapse, "Only by paying the price will the nobles be content. If he merely issues orders without expending any resources or effort, leaving everything to the nobles to handle and forcing them to pay all the costs—"

"Then, even if the nobles fear him, these people who have developed in the Red Frost territory for decades or even centuries will have hundreds of ways to thwart Mr. Ansel\'s intentions."

Marlina\'s expression and words became increasingly indifferent and cruel, "Now, do you know why Mr. Ansel willingly spends his own money to provide coal for the poor?" n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

"Because under such a huge cost, no one dares to make small moves, no one dares to embezzle even a single copper coin from Mr. Ansel. All they can do is honestly follow Mr. Ansel\'s plans and arrangements, purchasing and distributing coal."

This was what Ansel had prophesied for Seraphina that day.

["The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting; next best is to attack alliances; the worst, to attack the enemy\'s army."]

And Seraphina chose the worst, the rudest, the least intelligent "army".

"However, you, Seraphina."

"No… it\'s not like that, it can\'t be like that…"

"You arrogantly and foolishly believe that you can accomplish what even Mr. Ansel cannot."

"No, it\'s not…"

"Letting the nobles take over all the costs means that their networks can operate as they please—because Mr. Ansel has not paid the price, there is nothing that absolutely terrifies them."

"…It\'s not me."

"They will cut corners, be negligent, and deliberately ignore… They will pay the price because it is Mr. Ansel\'s intention, but the size of that price is entirely in their control."

"It\'s not me…"

"Do they fear? They will be afraid, but this fear cannot outweigh their greed and stinginess."

"…"

"Yes, Mr. Ansel can decide their life and death, but so what? Can he alone control everything in the entire Red Frost territory? Won\'t they think that way?"

"Even if Mr. Ansel holds them accountable, they can use countless reasons and excuses to shift the blame onto countless insignificant people within this vast network."

"This is the survival rule of the nobles."

"Yes, many of the poor, at least those in the city of Red Frost, could have survived this great cold wave under Mr. Ansel\'s plan."

"But you, Seraphina."

This lengthy trial finally reached its end.

The sisters, seemingly parting ways, stood in the howling cold wind and the desolate landscape of despair, one as the judge and the other as the sinner.

"It\'s not me!!!"

Seraphina screamed in madness and despair, pushing Marlina to the ground and into the thick snow, "It\'s not me… it\'s not me! It\'s those nobles who killed them, just as you said! It\'s not me!"

Marlina, who had been released by Seraphina, showed no mercy or hesitation in pronouncing the sinner\'s guilt:

"You killed them, Seraphina."

"You killed them all."

"It\'s not me!!!"

Seraphina screamed in madness and despair, pushing Marlina to the ground and into the thick snow, "It\'s not me… it\'s not me! It\'s those nobles who killed them, just as you said! It\'s not me!"

"But they could have survived, each and every one of them." Marlina closed her eyes, whispering softly,

"Originally, everyone could have survived."

The uncontrollable sorrow and pain in her words reached Seraphina\'s ears.

"..."

Seraphina released her grip on Marlina\'s collar, staring at her own hands, hands that were trembling uncontrollably, almost numb.

"It\'s not like this... It\'s not like this..."

The girl, her eyes out of focus, was on the verge of collapse. She hugged herself, murmuring incessantly as if to deceive herself, "This is wrong, this is wrong..."

"Are you still going to deceive yourself, Seraphina?"

Marlina opened her eyes again, her face full of sarcasm, "Let me tell you, this is reality. And not only in Red Frost City, if Mr. Ansel really paid the price to save all the poor in the Red Frost territory, indeed countless people would be saved, but—"

"But guess what." She whispered softly.

"Besides Red Frost City, so many cities, so many villages, so many people."

"How many hells have been born because of you...?"

"Ah... Ah..."

Seraphina let out a meaningless wail from her throat, she... suddenly felt as if something was watching her.

Who is it? Is it Ansel? No, Ansel wouldn\'t look at her like that, who is it?

Then, as she slowly raised her head, she saw herself in the eyes of the ice corpses.

All the ice corpses, all the fragile, crystalline, dead eyes, all reflected her figure.

Silently pleading—

[I want to live]

"Ah!!!"

The piercing scream shattered the glass of Ansel\'s manor, and Marlina, who was pinned to the ground, let out a muffled grunt, blood flowing from her ears.

The completely broken and mad wolf howled in frenzy, "Don\'t look at me! Don\'t look at me... Don\'t come over! It\'s not me... It\'s not me!"

She wildly beat the air, the terrifying sound of air splitting proving that each punch was hysterical and full of force.

The wolf scrambled to her feet, screaming hoarsely, attacking the void with a fierce and weak spirit, indiscriminately attacking everything around her, until she felt exhausted from such violent, hysterical exertion, then she finally stopped, trembling, looking at her own hands.

White, delicate, reddened by the cold, but still very beautiful hands.

Red, red... red?

In a daze, Seraphina felt a sticky, sluggish, slippery sensation from her hands.

Drip.

Drip.

She raised her head tremblingly, looking around.

It was a ground full of shattered, bloodless, fleshless, so clean, so beautiful, like works of art... limbs.

"Ah!!!"

With another scream... the wolf fled in madness.

Fleeing from this hell she didn\'t have the courage to face.