The villain's way to tame the protagonist

At this point, Anser couldn't help but chuckle: "He could have cast the spell directly on your soul, but he still chose to create a physical illusion. He is really cautious enough."

And Hitana, knowing that her family and friends would no longer be harmed, has completely lost her strength.

If Ansel hadn't held her back, she would have collapsed to the ground.

Great...it's all over.

No one was injured, no one died, and everything ended in the best way.

Ah, no, there's also me. Should I express something to Anser at this time?

Shitana looked at the face that she hated, loved deeply, and could never lose again in her life, and opened her mouth.

I will show my loyalty to Anser... I will erase my own ego, willingly let Anser dominate me, and be loyal to him even if I am just a puppet.

Xitana grabbed Ansher's clothes with even more force. She knelt on the ground with her head down, trembling all over.

Should I bend down, kiss Ansel's toes, and tell him that I will be nothing but his from now on?

The girl tried hard to bend her waist, but no matter how hard she tried, her body only bent slightly as she trembled.

No matter how she submitted to Anser in her heart, no matter how she flattered Anser, her body, her self, her self-esteem recognized by Anser... resisted all of this fiercely.

I should have done this, but I...I don't want to do this.

"Anser..."

The poor wolf, who had lost everything, raised his head and stared at his devil with pleading eyes: "I must, must do this, in order to accompany--"

"Can you stand up, Sitana?"

A soft voice sounded in her ears.

"...Eh? Ah? I...yeah, I can."

Xitana wiped away the tears that had accumulated in her eyes again in a panic, and stood up with some difficulty with the help of Ansel.

"Take a walk around your village."

Anser did not say anything about "loyalty", "self", "training" or the like, but just said this, smiled and took Xitana's hand: "Although it is dark, it is also interesting, isn't it?"

"……Um."

Xitana responded in a low voice, looking confused, not knowing how to respond.

So Ansher took her around the village.

"Although it has changed due to those guys trying to please me, I still remember most of it clearly. I think it's the same for you, Xitana."

Anser said with emotion, pointing to a thick dead tree: "When you were five years old, you climbed this tree and accidentally fell down. You were fine, but Marina was scared and cried."

Shitana was stunned, and the corresponding memories quickly emerged in her mind: Marina's crying and her frantic comforting her, everything was so vivid.

But...but why does Ansel know all this?

The boy continued to walk in the snow with the increasingly confused girl, recounting one after another the countless little things that Shitana had experienced in her life from birth to now, some of which she had even forgotten, things so small that they could not be any smaller.

"When you were nine years old, you and Reyota and a few others were playing snowball fights here. You hit two boys and made them cry. Reyota followed you and laughed. After that winter, they stopped playing snowball fights with you."

"In the summer when you were ten, you and Marina secretly went to swim in the lake over there. Your uncle Larto found you and brought you home, where you were severely scolded."

"When you were ten years old in the winter, you brought back a huge wild boar. You shouted with joy and attracted the whole village. You should still have its tusks in your bedroom as a souvenir, right?"

"In the spring of your twelfth year, you will go to the Skyfrost Tower to enroll. The whole village is seeing you off."

"Sixteen years old, that is, this year."

Anser looked at Xitana and said with some nostalgia and regret: "You and Marina were captured by Count Scarlet Frost. The next day, I came to Scarlet Frost City. In order to please him, he gave you to me before he could enjoy you."

"Anser...I..."

Xitana's mind was in a mess: "You... have you been paying attention to me for a long time?"

"Attention? No, not really. Before I was ten, I didn't even know you existed."

Anser smiled and shook his head.

"But, but why are you——"

"Want to know the answer?"

The young Hydra stood in the snow and let go of Sitana's hand.

Hitana instinctively wanted to reach out and grab it immediately, but Ansher dodged her move.

A fear of being abandoned arose spontaneously, but before Xitana could open her mouth to beg, she met Ansher's eyes.

That was the seriousness she had never seen in Anser's eyes, and...

consciousness.

"Xitana." Anser stared at the girl who had suffered so much. "Do you hate me?"

"I, I didn't, I can't--"

Naturally, Hitana subconsciously wanted to veto it. She could no longer hate Ansher.

"Answer me with your heart, Sitana."

Anser's voice became a little cold: "Do you really hate me, or... hate everything I did to you."

"Do you hate me for playing with your soul, trampling on your life, and all my 'arrangements' for you?"

"..."

In the darkness and snow, Hitana's body kept shaking.

It wasn't because of the coldness, but because of something... something she couldn't put into words.

At this moment, Xitana seemed to have sensed something.

She felt that her answer would determine her future and the rest of her life.

"Shitana, go back——"

Bang!

Once again, Ansher was grabbed by the collar by Sitana and pinned to the ground.

But this time, Shitana was not crazy, nor did she lose her mind. Although her behavior had given the answer, she did not reveal any emotion related to "hatred".

Only...sadness.

"Yeah, I hate you, Anser."

The girl gradually bent her waist, rested her head on Anser's chest, and whispered:

"I hate you. I hate all the so-called arrangements you made for me. I hate that you had to say this in person."

"You've already got everything from me, why do you have to tell me this?"

She raised her face slightly, and her heartbroken and sad expression made Anser's eyes freeze slightly.

"So I understand. You want me to submit to you on my own initiative, right? You want me to be willing to abandon my last bit of self-esteem and ego even though I know how you play me, right?"

Her voice gradually trembled: "So until now, you asked me this question just to get my answer, right?"

The hot and wet tears wet Ansher's clothes.

"I want to say... I really want to say that you win, so just take everything from me, as long as you allow me to stay by your side."

"But...but..."

Xitana raised her head, tears streaming down her face, and almost howled at him, "Does it have to be like this? Why... why can't I stand by your side of my own will?"

"Anser...I don't want this."

“…I hate you.”

Hitana emptied her heart out to Anser.

Even at that moment, in the utmost despair, when I was willing to give up myself and become a puppet, I didn’t mind—

She still felt unwilling in her heart.

That hatred.

The hatred of having one's life toyed with, the hatred of being forced to this desperate state by Anther.

She recognized her own weakness and her own frailty, but even so, she did not want to give up on herself and become a puppet manipulated by Ansher.

Deep in the soul of the desperate wolf, the wild beast is still roaring unwillingly.

Why does it have to be this way? Why does it have to be so that I have no choice?

Now, she spoke her true feelings.

The girl dejectedly let go of Ansel's collar and pulled the corners of her mouth palely.

Is it all over, or was my resistance also within Ansel's expectations?

Next, should he comfort himself and gain his gratitude and loyalty in another way?

But nothing matters anymore. As long as I insist on being myself for even one more day...Shitana as an individual will never accept being manipulated by Ansher.

It's like an unsolvable dead end.

A dead end that Anther left for her, which was also unsolvable for Anther.

But the truth... is this the case?

Is this really the conclusion drawn from this complicated series of events?

Anther's face was reflected in Hitana's dark red eyes.

Under her painful and confused gaze, that face...actually smiled.

"Very good, Sitana."

He reached out and caressed the desperate and collapsed girl, closed his eyes slightly, and said reassuringly:

"That's what I want to hear, your hatred."

Xitana stared blankly at the peaceful smile on Ansher's face, and an incomprehensible sense of absurdity overwhelmed her.

"What do you mean... Is this what you wanted to hear?"

Xitana's heart came alive at this moment. She grabbed Anser's collar tightly and said anxiously: "Anser, what do you want me to do?"

"Shitana."

The young Hydra opened his eyes again and stared at her with the same solemnity and determination as before.

"You hate all the arrangements I made for you over the past month, and you hate me for trampling on your life."

"So, what if I told you that everything you've experienced since you were born until now was planned just like what I did to you?"

“…You, are you crazy?”

Xitana's lips trembled: "Are you going to use such ridiculous words to excuse yourself?"

"I'm not excusing myself, Sitana."

Anser held Sitana's face in his hands and made her look into his ocean-blue eyes.

"I am just explaining this - if everything you experience in your life is controlled by a certain existence, if the happiness, sadness, joy, and pain you experience are all driven by a certain existence, if all the despair you endure is 'destined' -"

The young Hydra showed his true fangs at this moment, a kind of hatred that was so familiar to Xitana.

"Will you hate Him as much as you hate me... No, will your hatred for Him be a million times stronger than your hatred for me?"

Hitana did not collapse because what Ansel said was so ridiculous, so ridiculous that she had no way of responding.

"I know that words alone won't make you trust me."

Anser smiled and took out a ring from his pocket.

"This is..." Xitana looked at the ring in Anser's hand in disbelief, "This is that——"

"I asked my father to recast the Heart-Stealing Ring that you destroyed, and gave it new functions."

"As long as I agree, you can see everything that is revealed in my heart, including the pictures I am thinking about."

Ansher put the ring on Xitana's finger with his own hands, and then continued to stare into the girl's eyes.

He held Xitana's hand tightly and said word by word: "Xitana, what I can achieve depends entirely on whether you believe what you see and whether you believe me."

"Now, Anser Hydra opens his memories and soul to you."