Ravenna did not shake off Ansel’s hand, but instead dropped the last drop of the unclear liquid into the vessel and shook it again, her tone indifferent, “Continue to indulge in your delusions.”

The youthful Hydral raised an eyebrow slightly. Although accustomed to this attitude, tolerance was not guaranteed.

He bent down, snatched the nutrient concoction from Ravenna’s hand, and with a serene tone under her increasingly icy scrutiny, he said:

“So it is. I had thought to share with you… a grand and unparalleled vision.”

“You never use such self-aggrandizing adjectives to describe your own ideas.”

Ravenna’s tone shifted slightly, “What is it this time, another poor jest, or —”

“Indeed, it is as I say.”

Ansel lifted his head, his sea-blue eyes twinkling with a teasing light that Ravenna couldn’t discern, “Only I could conceive of something so grand ‘at this moment’.”

His words plunged Ravenna into contemplation. She had seen many of Ansel’s shocking inventions, some of which had even been realized, but Ansel had rarely — no, he never used “unparalleled” to describe any device. “Remarkable” was already high praise; even for dream-like inventions like mechanical armors, that was as far as it went in Ansel’s view.

Ravenna’s heartbeat quickened, a rare surge of excitement at such moments.

The annoying — though not entirely so — blond youth turned his creations into tempting fruits, setting crude traps around them, waiting for her to step into the noose and then whimsically toy with her, suspended high.

But what of it? If she could taste the fruit, let the mockery come. And besides…

It seemed he wasn’t just doing it to mock her.

“… So, what do you want me to do this time before you’ll share it with me?” Ravenna asked, her face expressionless, “Are you planning to waste my time again?”

“No, no, no, Ravenna, you must understand, this is for a truly, truly, truly grand idea. In the future you’re looking forward to, in the new era I wish to see, it holds a pivotal role, not to mention being one of its core elements.”

Ansel exaggerated the importance of this mysterious idea, causing Ravenna to wonder if he was deceiving her.

“So there’s no such good thing this time.”

The youthful Hydral hopped off the workbench, smiling at the wavering Ravenna, “You won’t find yourself in a situation where you do something trivial for me, and I tell you in return.”

“… How can I be sure you’re not deceiving me?”

“When have I ever deceived you in this regard?” Ansel countered, “I might deceive you in any number of ways, Ravenna, but not about this — ”

“The vision I hope to see…”

The light in those sea-blue eyes made Ravenna’s breath catch.

“It will certainly, certainly be akin to you,” Ansel of Hydral said so.

…Yes, in this regard, Ansel would never deceive me.

After a brief silence, Ravenna nodded, “Alright, then what do you want me to do before you’ll share it with me?”

“Well…”

Ansel stroked his chin, froze the nutrient concoction in his hand into a lump of ice, and threw it to the ground, shattering it.

“First,” he said with a radiant smile, “start by eating properly every day.”

*

The bedroom door was gently nudged open.

A blue-grey high ponytail, grey-white glasses, a pure white coat, and a tight skirt that faintly revealed flesh underneath, encasing slender and full thighs in iron-grey stockings, and a pair of pure black high heels.

Such an intellectual and mature attire could only belong to our Miss Ravenna Ziegler.

Her expression was as cold as ever, but compared to the past, this coldness seemed to carry a hint of… deathly silence?

It was a kind of despair that seemed to have given up on everything, but it was not a helpless, powerless despair, but a kind of resignation chosen under difficult decisions.

“I thought you would show sincerity… by coming in with your true body.”

Ansel, sitting on the sofa, slightly raised his eyebrows.

“…I can’t go back now.”

Ravenna’s voice was still that indifferent tone without any fluctuations, but now this indifference, like her cold expression, also carried a bit of emptiness.

She shifted her gaze to Ansel’s face and continued in this somewhat creepy tone, “If you want to—”

“Stop.”

Ansel interrupted Ravenna’s words, “My intuition tells me that you are about to say something very rude and self-deprecating. Let’s stop here.” frёewebnoѵēl.com

He slightly lifted his chin towards the sofa opposite him, “Sit first.”

The exquisite and beautiful mature puppet silently sat opposite Ansel, her somewhat dull purple eyes slightly lowered, not making eye contact with Ansel.

“First of all, I need to confirm one thing—”

Ansel leisurely poured himself a glass of wine, “Venna, do you understand your current situation?”

“…The war has failed, I am ostracized, and isolated.”

Ravenna said in a low voice without any expression, “And, the Tower of Babel is yours, and I have lost my last foothold because of this.”

“I can only… be at your mercy.”

When she said the words “be at your mercy”, there was almost no fluctuation in her tone. This way of “narrating” her own miserable situation from the perspective of a bystander is nothing short of terrifying.

This can no longer be called rationality, but… another kind of madness.

“You figured it out pretty quickly.” Ansel propped his cheek with one hand and looked at her, “How do you feel now?”

“Terrible.”

“But you don’t seem to have anything to do with being terrible… well, there is some connection.”

The biggest winner of this game showed a malicious smile to the only loser, “But if I say that this is your own doing, would you accept it?”

Yes, Ansel planned, promoted, guided, and controlled all of this.

But in fact, what really made this “game” go completely according to Ansel’s wishes, what was it?

It was Ravenna’s almost mad rationality.

She would never accept the Tower of Babel, which carries her ideals, to collapse like this. She would definitely push the war under certain circumstances. She would definitely do things… that Ansel could see at a glance.

— Because when the choice is in front of her, she will always choose the one that is beneficial to her ideals.

Ansel had learned this a long time ago.

–>