The villain's way to tame the protagonist

"Ha! If you put it that way, I should be thankful that my Laurie is exactly like me?"

"Borenna, you should also be thankful that your son is innocent enough, otherwise if he did something reckless..."

"I just gave him the title of Viscount." Borenna waved his hand and said nonchalantly, "Only that fool really thought he had inherited my status and authority, and was excitedly fantasizing about those irrelevant things."

"Don't try to undermine the young man's confidence, Borenna. Didn't you say yourself that he is a good son who cares about his people?"

"Thinking about the people?"

The old Viscount Qiuhe suddenly sneered, smashed his wine glass on the table, and raised his voice: "Does that kid know how to coordinate the economic stability of the territory? Does he know how to create more tax revenue? He only wants to distribute this and that to those hungry civilians, and he can't even figure out the priorities. Could it be that this bunch of mediocre guys are ruling us!"

The middle-aged nobles present all knew who he was talking about, but no one stopped Borenna from continuing to speak. No matter how relaxed and casual he seemed when talking and laughing, it was only when he was talking and laughing.

Now, all the nobles under the Grand Duke of Triumph are dissatisfied with the new Grand Duke. Both her absurdity and her toughness are difficult for the nobles to accept.

The old Viscount Qiuhe, who had already drunk a lot of wine, couldn't help but wave his arms, and his tone became more excited: "Damn it... When my useless father was alive, the walls of Qiuhe City even had to be repaired regularly. It took me twenty-two years! Twenty-two years! To turn Qiuhe City into what it is now! There are four more villages around! Who dares to say that I didn't do a good job? Who has the right to say that I didn't do a good job!"

"Qiuhe City has become better, doesn't that mean my people will live a better life?"

"What's the result? This ignorant kid... He keeps saying that for the sake of the common people, we should cut taxes, increase salaries, and even demand clear guarantees? He also forcibly eliminated so many industries with the bullshit excuse of 'oppression'... Does this idiot know how much money it will cost to improve people's livelihood? With so much less money, what can I use to improve people's livelihood? Why do they think that as long as I take less money from them, they can live a good life? The good life is not something they can earn themselves, it's given to them by me!"

Old Viscount Qiuhe cursed and expounded his own ruling philosophy. Those who could hang out with him were naturally the same type of people. Having found common topics, they regarded a certain new Grand Duke as the naive son of old Viscount Qiuhe and criticized him as extremely stupid and good for nothing.

"Although it's not completely useless." Mr. Devil, who was watching them, made a relatively fair assessment, "But if Miss Elalo is really just doing 'good deeds' without any proper preparation, then it's really stupid and blind to the point of being laughable."

"What do you think?"

Anser finally turned his gaze towards the silly saint who thought she had been following him silently, and a smile that was always unfathomable appeared on her face:

"Is your salvation such a foolish and blind thing, Saint?"

Chapter 7: Concealment within a Concealment (K)

The handsome young man, with his legs crossed and his face supported, had a charming smile. The mature woman sitting opposite him kept her legs together, looking elegant and calm.

The two people who made people feel relaxed and happy just by looking at them from a distance seemed somewhat out of place in this room filled with the shouts of middle-aged men giving orders.

"Your Excellency the Saint..."

The evil Hydra dragged out his tone: "If I remember correctly, you disappeared these few days to think about God and faith, right?"

"Yeah." Xin nodded.

"Then could you please explain to me how you went from thinking about faith..." Anser tapped his temple, "to suddenly jumping to spy on me in the dark?"

The Saint said seriously, "I'm not peeping!"

"Isn't being sneaky like that considered peeping?"

"Because Mr. Devil knew I was peeping, but he didn't intend to stop me from peeping."

Xin's words were righteous and logical: "In other words, Mr. Devil agreed to my peeping, so I am not peeping."

The devil sitting opposite her seemed to be shocked by the rigorous logic and was speechless for a moment.

"But why is Mr. Devil so powerful?"

Xin looked at Anser in confusion: "Except for the bishop, no one can find me if I don't show up."

"Do you think those bishops are stronger than me?" Ansher raised his eyebrows.

"Mr. Devil is very powerful, more powerful than the bishops."

The Saint frankly admitted that the devil was "difficult to defeat": "But the bishops were able to find me because they had studied theology deeply, and Mr. Devil had never learned theology, so how could he find me?"

"What's so strange about this? Can't Xi'er find you too?"

"That's different. I wanted to show myself at that time, but I just wanted to hide myself... Mr. Devil shouldn't be able to find me."

Xin stubbornly denied it, and emphasized: "If I want to hide deliberately, she can't find me."

As she said this, she stared straight at Anser, as if she was constantly saying "Tell me, tell me."

Looking at those holy blue eyes, Anser felt it was expected but also a little funny.

As expected, the training of Xin is being completed step by step. From now on, Xin will shift his focus to his responsibilities and devote himself wholeheartedly to the matter of "saving Mr. Devil".

So the first thing, naturally, is to get to know Anser better and use all means to increase the possibility of redeeming Anser, so she observes Anser furtively like a clumsy thief.

With the support of this logic, he still asked the question even though he knew that Ansel would most likely not answer. After all, in Xin's view, as long as it was not "impossible", there was a need to do it...but his overly straightforward look was really funny.

"Your Excellency the Saint is wondering how I did it?"

Nod nod.

Anser hooked his finger at her: "Then come and listen."

The pure saint lady did not suspect anything and came over obediently. She squatted beside Ansher very obediently, folded her arms on her knees, and made an expression of a curious baby with her mature and beautiful face.

Ansher lowered his head slightly, and their faces got closer and closer, until their noses were about to touch.

Xin's face was indeed impeccably beautiful, as if it was a kind of pure beauty that integrated the world's consensus on "beauty". Except for a very few people, no one questioned it.

A kind of beauty... that doesn't seem to be obtained through gestation, birth, or growth; it's inhuman, or perhaps it's superior to human.

At this distance, if it was Xitana, Anser could smell the fresh air of the forest in the morning. Even Ming Fuluo would emit a faint fragrance while completely simulating the human body. But he couldn't smell anything from Xin's face and hair. It was as if what was in front of him was just a ball of air, an illusion that didn't exist at all.

"Miss Xin."

Anser suddenly asked, "What do you think you are?"

"...?"

Xin tilted his head, then slowly frowned, looking somewhat dissatisfied. After all, this was a very offensive question...

"Mr. Devil, you said it was rude to answer a question with a question."

The Saint Lady frowned and said, "You said you would tell me, how can you ask me questions again?"

Having suffered several losses in this regard, she finally learned her lesson and reprimanded Anser's unreasonable behavior with great displeasure.

Anser was also stunned by Xin's questioning, and then he decisively raised his hands in surrender: "Okay, I didn't explain myself clearly. Because the story of how I discovered Miss Saint... has to start with your own special situation."

He had no intention of answering Xin's question. He just took advantage of every flaw exposed by the Saint Lady as always to allow the darkness rooted in her to grow deeper. Although Xin unexpectedly fought back, it did not prevent Ansor from changing his approach immediately.

Instead of answering questions with questions, he could just move the questions to Xin. It just so happened that he also lacked some information about Xin. As long as she opened her mouth -

"Myself?"

Xin didn't realize that the topic had been changed again, but he showed a hesitant expression again, which was beyond Anser's expectations.

"If that's the case... forget it."

"...Well, since Miss Saint has said so." Anser shrugged, "Then let's end this topic here."

He watched Xin stand up again and sit opposite him, his eyes narrowed slightly and the smile on his face became more and more intense.

Xin's reaction just now was certainly not an active or passive realization that he was being controlled by Anser again, but the reason was even more surprising to Anser.

——She is weighing the pros and cons.

As we all know, Miss Saint's brain is super single-threaded. Once she locks on the target, the only thing she considers is how to reach the end. The only thing in her mind is "Can this help me achieve salvation?" Nothing else exists.

To the extent that the slightest consideration under this goal is insignificant - or rather, it is beyond her consideration, not to mention things outside the path and goal.

But now, she was weighing the pros and cons, between her own uniqueness and why Ansel could see through her existence, and she chose the former.

Either Xin's secret is indeed extremely important, or... she has grown beyond Anser's expectations.

Can such obvious progress be achieved simply by discarding the distorted perception of faith? The Saint Lady's potential really exceeded my expectations.

The discussion and quarrel among the middle-aged nobles on the other side of the room became more and more intense, and the joy and satisfaction in Anser's eyes became more and more intense.

This is not a bad thing, because unlike the training of Xitana and Ming Furo, the small transformation of Xin is confined to a framework that even Anser cannot break through. Some key things must be precisely timed, especially when the end comes. Xin's thinking mode and psychological state must strictly conform to the plan, so that Anser can get the saint he needs.

To erase the color, disassemble the lines, reduce a painting to pure white, and finally add one's own color and order to a painting that has reached perfection and is worthy of being preserved in a museum and exhibited behind layers of glass is an extremely difficult task, not to mention the strict time and process constraints.

Combining the existing information and time calculations, he does not have enough time to train Xin, and in Anser's opinion, Xin's changes are already a bit lagging behind.

Freeing himself from the shackles of faith is only the beginning. Xin needs to become more perceptive, more profound, and better able to follow Anser's footsteps and touch Anser's thoughts. After all... Anser's forcing things to happen is for this.

But before he could give Xin a gift to celebrate his return, Xin brought him a surprise instead.

Even if it was the influence of fate, it didn’t matter. At this stage, Anser and fate could be considered to be on the same path.

What's more, this time is different from the past. Ansel knew the purpose of fate from the very beginning.

"Ms. Xin, tell me something." Mr. Devil smiled at the saint who was gradually emerging from ignorance. "What do you think of what I just said?"

"Mr. Devil, do you mean... redemption?"

Of course, Xin cared very much about what Anser had said to himself before. Whether it was his evaluation of Elalo or his evaluation of the redemption she had brought, Xin cared deeply about it.

If she hadn't been caught in the act and her brain hadn't been a little confused, she would have started arguing with Ansher a long time ago.

And now that Anser brought it up again, Xin would not have any scruples. When faith became an unimportant thing, in contrast... her obsession and even paranoia in her duties were also growing all the time.

"There is no mistake in redemption."

Her serious and solemn expression at this moment was the same as when she talked about God before.

"Mr. Devil, I don't know what you think, and I'm not as smart as you, but there is only one thing I can be sure of, and that is that salvation will not be wrong."

The Saint placed her hand on her chest and whispered softly, "The assistant who is freed from darkness and chaos will surely bring holy hope to the world... Those who are redeemed must have the ability to bring hope to the world. This is what God promised and expected, and it is also my most important responsibility."

The pair of holy blue eyes that seemed to be always as cold as the moon stared at Anser. The light in them no longer had the blind fanaticism when talking about gods, but a certainty that must be based on facts.

"Mr. Devil, from what I have witnessed, none of those who have been redeemed have betrayed the new life God has given them."

"My duty must be, correct."

She stared at the devil who needed her salvation the most, not emphasizing anything, but stating the facts.

"Are you so confident in yourself?" A familiar smile appeared on Ansel's face, the kind of smile that seemed like seeing some prey. Xin had seen it several times in private.

Whenever Ansher wanted to plot something... or to be more precise, was already plotting against someone, he would smile like this.

Mr. Devil, are you challenging me? Is he planning to plot against me?

Xin noticed Ansel's emotional change and did not react. She suddenly realized that she was indeed much calmer than before.

If it were my previous self, I might have lost control of my emotions the moment Anser showed his contempt and ridicule for "salvation".

Because this is a contempt for God, a trampling on God's power and God's expectations, and it is unforgivable arrogance.

But now, Xin would no longer think like that. Although she still couldn't get rid of that habitual thinking at the beginning, she quickly calmed down and realized that this was not what she should care about. Such insignificant things would only make her passive and put her in a situation where she was controlled by the devil.

If it were her old self, how could she have noticed such subtle changes?

God, it turns out that I had indeed fallen into unforgivable mistakes in the past, because of the faith that was of no importance to you, I committed countless mistakes.

Xin even realized that Anser would never smile like this in front of the people he was plotting against, except for her.

Because Mr. Devil... doesn't think I can see it.

But Mr. Devil clearly tempted me to doubt my faith in God, so shouldn’t he have thought of this...

"Your Excellency the Saint, Your Excellency the Saint?"

Anser waved at Xin with a curious look on his face: "What's wrong with you? Haven't you recovered from your doubts about faith yet?"

He leaned back on the sofa lazily: "This is not good. You want to perform your duties before your mental problems are resolved? Can you ensure that you will not make mistakes? If you continue to be so slow..."

Mr. Devil showed his undisguised, playful smile as if he was playing with his little prey: "Don't even mention redeeming me. It's hard to say what I will become of myself by then."

"..."

Xin looked at the curiosity in the devil's eyes and suddenly realized what was going on.

So that's how it is... Mr. Devil, he doesn't know that I have realized my mission with the help of Bishop Ming!

Yes, faith...faith is the life of the believer. How could Mr. Devil have thought that I would so quickly realize that faith in God is actually meaningless.

He must have thought that I was still in trouble and suffering. He didn't even know how many bishops there were in the church, so how could he know that Bishop Ming reminded me?

This is what Mr. Devil often talks about... information gap!

Xin discovered that he had gained such a huge advantage without realizing it.

In Ansel's eyes, she was still the confused, helpless, fragile saint who couldn't even confirm the correctness of her faith.

That's why he didn't even bother to hide his emotions, like an adult teasing a child, with a playful smile all over his face.

Xin Xie's breathing quickened involuntarily after realizing this. She subconsciously avoided his gaze and said, "I'm fine. Thank you for your concern, Mr. Devil."

"Ah, have you learned to lie?" Anser's smile became even brighter. "Well, if you say it's good, then it's good, Your Excellency the Saint."