A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

Chapter 749 You Never Loved Me - IV

"Mr. Ansel, you mentioned earlier that I seemed to have some special ability."

Nine had unconsciously grasped Ansel's hand. She lowered her head with a slightly embarrassed and regretful smile. "I'm sorry, that might have been your misconception. Perhaps... understanding your inner thoughts isn't my talent after all."@@@@

"It's just that among those around you, only I have been watching you constantly, that's all."

Around Ansel of Hydral, there had never been anyone who could abandon themselves entirely for him.

Everyone needed to have their own thoughts, ambitions, desires. Only such vibrant and independent individuals were qualified to follow Hydral.

And among these people... how could there possibly be someone who would invest their entire being into Ansel, forever watching him without caring about anything else?

Seraphina's eyes burned with passionate justice, Ravenna's eyes held a brilliant future. Ansel was always the most dazzling, most brilliant part of their lives, but never the entirety. If he were, they wouldn't be the people Ansel needed.

So, no matter how well they could sense Ansel's emotions, no matter how in sync they were with him, if Ansel deliberately concealed something, they could never see the truth beneath the illusion.

Even when Ansel wasn't hiding anything, they might not notice some qualities that even Ansel himself had forgotten.

Only... someone who had been watching Ansel from beginning to end, always, could discover everything about him.

But if that's the case, it means...

A moment of bewilderment appeared in Ansel's eyes.

It means that Nine's devotion didn't stem from his preaching, nor from the accumulation of influence over time, and perhaps not even from the first enchantment he cast on her.

Instead, from the moment they met, she was already beyond salvation.

It's just that neither Ansel nor Nine herself had ever realized this devotion.

Would he rejoice in his righteous deed? Would he feel happy about their gratitude?

No, he wouldn't, because he understood his determination better than anyone else. He knew better than anyone... that doing this was wrong.

If things continued this way, fate couldn't be overcome.

"From that moment on, you must have already chosen this path. A path where, no matter what, at any cost, you would realize your goal of confronting that enemy. And then... you've walked it until today."

"Until you reached this point of mutual affection and support with Miss Seraphina and Miss Ravenna."

Experience tales at My Virtual Library Empire

Nine... had finally revealed the essence of Ansel's dilemma.

"They have transformed you into the very self you once despised - the one incapable of making a choice. You clearly understood that to vanquish the unknown adversary, you must resort to any means necessary. Yet, you allowed Miss Seraphina and Miss Ravenna to... guide you back onto that radiant path."

The path of justice and righteousness, destined to metamorphose into an epic hero's tale, to become the sun itself.

But can he truly fault Seraphina and Ravenna? If Ansel's heart had not yearned for that resplendent vision, how could they have so effortlessly altered his course? Or rather... how could Ansel have genuinely won their allegiance?

Thus, Nine spoke with tenderness: "But this is what you've longed for, isn't it?"

"After arriving in the Western Lands, you undertook numerous commissions, accomplished so much. It wasn't merely to distract yourself, but to... rectify past regrets. You desire to become the sun more than anyone, don't you?"

The aspiration to transform the empire, to enable the common folk of the Western Lands to live with dignity - these thoughts, these musings, are utterly genuine, devoid of any falsehood.

If Nine could discern the torment and anguish Ansel now endures, how could she fail to perceive... that fervent desire?

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