The Righteous Player(s)

Chapter 690 The Fear of Being Chased by Nightmare
...Annan Coldwinter?
Hearing this familiar name, Celesia's light blue pupils shrank slightly.

—Of course she recognized the name.

But that was a long time ago...

At that time, Selicia was still a young boy named "Soronic", who followed his teacher "Vladimir" in the Hand of Winter.And as a reserve member of Winter's Hand, of course she had contact with the Grand Duke's son.

Of course... With her status at that time, even if she had contact with An Nan, she would definitely not be very close.

But even so, she is enough to appreciate the breathtaking [magic nature] of "Annan".

Annan had a nickname at the time, called "The Silent Man" and "The Monster That Leaves No Trace".

He wasn't called the Silent One because he was cared for by the Lady of Silence—it was the opposite.

Solonik once handed the young "Annan" evidence about a certain earl's rebellion in the middle of the night.

Yes... not to Grand Duke Ivan, but to Annan.This evidence was compiled by Vladimir himself and handed directly to Solonik, asking him to give it to His Royal Highness Annan by name.

Not even Thoronik himself read the contents.

After Annan took over the investigation report, he just sat silently in the study and wrote something seriously on the paper - when Annan was sitting on the chair in the study of the Grand Duke's mansion, his feet couldn't even touch the ground.

It's just so immature.

Even Solonik, who has an almost fanatical "belief" in Vladimir, can't help but slander:

——Can such a young child fully recognize the words on this letter?

"'Such a young child, can you read the words on this letter'... you are thinking so, aren't you?"

At that time, the young Annan suddenly raised his head and stared at Thoronik with tired, calm, almost magical eyes.

It was emotionless, like the gaze of a god aloft.

"...I see, you are such a person."

After looking at himself for a while, the black-haired child showed a non-smiling, cold smile: "Because your worthless life was affirmed by him, so you decided to dedicate your life to Vladimir. For the rest of my life, and all my loyalties... right."

When these words fell, it was like thunder.

"Hand of Winter" is a tool that must be absolutely loyal to Winter.Be like protecting your heart with your hands—it is better to hold the blade directly with your hands and lock the incoming dagger with the back of your hand than allow it to pierce the heart.

At that time, Solonik was overwhelmed by fear.

And the childish whispers like a devil did not stop:
"Serve Vladimir... instead of Winter? It's really interesting. You must have murdered me at this moment. If I guess right, your strength should have far surpassed that of the Hand of Winter in the same period... ...Is it because you can't pass the wolf kiss ceremony? It's okay, so that when you betray in the future, you won't get into trouble because you know too many secrets."

"Wait, wait a minute!"

The first half made him feel so frightened that his heart shivered, and the second half even made Thoronick himself unable to resist: "I swear that I will never betray you—"

"you will."

With a more positive attitude than Thoronik, Annan said calmly: "Because Vladimir will betray me in the end."

"……Varied--?!"

"I know him better than you. I also know you better than you. Naturally, I also know you better than him. It's so easy to understand... I can even see your end at a glance. Because I am in another layer History has seen stories like this."

The young Annan spoke incomprehensible words like this, and threw the reply letter in his hand into the hand of Soronik, whose brain was confused.

"Quite a riddle, isn't it? But you'll figure it out sooner or later."

Annan said so.

After that, Annan resumed his silence again, flipping through the books without saying a word.

But at this moment, Soronik didn't dare to listen to him at all—but fled from the study with an embarrassing movement almost like rolling and crawling.

That is not the world.

It's the abyss inhabited by monsters—

After he handed Annan's reply letter to Vladimir with slightly trembling hands, Thoronik couldn't help asking:
"Teacher...will you betray the Grand Duke?"

He regretted it the moment he asked this question.

But Vladimir just glanced at him, and replied calmly: "Don't tell others what you heard from His Highness Annan."

"Then you mean..."

"—Of course I will."

Vladimir calmly said something completely beyond Thoronick's understanding: "Because of betrayal, sometimes it has its meaning."

"The... meaning of betrayal?"

"You are not the Grand Duke, so you cannot understand."

"Then you..."

"If the Grand Duke needs it, I can also be the Grand Duke."

It is also a big treasonous statement.

Vladimir ended the day's conversation forcefully, and then disappeared for two days.

What Vladimir said at that time, Selicia has not fully understood until now.

But she still remembers...

Another week has passed since that day.

The earl who tried to rebel seems to have not appeared for a long time.When people realized it, they found that everyone in the Earl's Mansion had committed suicide in the Earl's Mansion.

Everyone left a suicide note, and there was no trace of anyone entering or leaving the Earl's Mansion, and there was no trace of fighting.Even with the oracle spell, no trace of the cast could be detected, so it could only be judged suicide.

The Earl's relatives also happened to be seriously ill, bankrupt, or imprisoned for crimes.

In the end, the one who succeeded the earl was a young man from Winter's Hand.He is considered Thoronik's senior brother... and also belongs to Vladimir's faction.

Later, when the Icebreaker Army was formed, the other party was also a noble who provided them with support. Naturally, they were also liquidated in the future, and the whole family was thrown into the Frost Beast Army.

——To this day, Cecilia doesn’t understand what happened that day.

But all she knew was that it must have something to do with Annan's instructions and the teacher's actions.

Therefore, after the teacher really betrayed her, the first thing she could do... was to escape far away from Frost Language Province, to a place that Annan could not see.

Even to this day, she occasionally wakes up from dreams of Annan's gaze.

She doesn't worry about being caught, or about being imprisoned.Whether it is imprisoned or executed, she has nothing to fear-as early as a teenager, she was ready to die for her teacher.

But if Annan was in front of her, keeping silent and watching her... on the contrary, it would make her tremble with fear.

And now...

After "Ai Lei" finished talking with Longjing Cha, she turned her head.

"Ai Lei" clasped her hands together, and showed herself a strange but somewhat familiar smile.

"Long time no see...do you remember me?"

She said softly, "Mr. Thoronick...?"

(End of this chapter)