So, if he simply wants to “calculate” Ravenna, it’s not that difficult.

Although she can see through Ansel’s schemes and tricks most of the time, as long as she is subjected to enough terrifying pressure, and always puts things that can affect her ideals on the other end of the scale, even if Ravenna has the ability to see through Ansel’s schemes, she will step into the trap without hesitation.

Just like three years ago, as long as Ansel tempted Ravenna with new ideas, she would always choose to submit to Ansel.

For many insignificant calculations, even if they are seen through, it doesn’t matter, Ansel doesn’t care.

However, even if Ravenna is to some extent easier to fall into his trap than Seraphina, it does not mean that she is easier to tame than Seraphina.

“What can’t I accept?” Ravenna said indifferently, “If you fail, you have to bear the consequences. It’s only natural.”

—Just as her answer is obvious.

Ravenna Ziegler is not a person who can be easily broken mentally.

Our lovely Miss Seraphina is only sixteen this year. Before meeting Ansel, her life can be described as thin, and her personality is extremely emotional.

Therefore, good and evil, love and hate, these things can easily affect her, disturb her, and even destroy and distort her mind.

But Ravenna is different, she is a rational, mad, firm, and obsessive idealist.

Idealists will not die, nor will they be broken, before their ideals are killed.

Just like her expression carries a bit of deathly silence, her tone has become a bit empty, it seems that she is in a state of despair, but in fact, she has not been knocked down by the terrible consequences brought by this war.

Ravenna’s current state of desolation stems from Ansel’s dominion over the Tower of Babel, effectively controlling her lifeline. On her path to realizing her ideals, she now faces a daunting barrier that seems insurmountable.

As for feelings of isolation, rejection, or instability? Such emotional tribulations would undoubtedly be intolerable for Seraphina, yet they have not swayed Ravenna in the slightest.

It is the sudden escalation in the difficulty of achieving her ideas that has rendered her so icy and detached — nothing more.

“Bear the consequences…”

Ansel continued with a light chuckle, his words laden with significance, “Are you truly prepared for that?”

“… What do you want me to do?” Ravenna’s voice was hoarse with emotion.

“Ah, such nostalgic dialogue,” laments the youthful Hydral, beckoning Ravenna with a gesture and patting his thigh, all without uttering a word.

The striking beauty rose and straddled Ansel’s lap, remaining silent.

“Venna, do you understand?”

The triumphant schemer toyed with the unfortunate loser, reenacting the Elder Princess’s actions upon him with Ravenna.

The crystal-clear liquid trickled down her pale neck, pooling into a shallow puddle at a certain spot.

Gazing up, Ansel locked eyes with her dim purple irises, his voice heavy with emotion, “I truly miss the times from three years ago, for I considered you a friend.”

“…Lies.”

“No, it’s not a lie,” Hydral insisted, sipping the wine, the cool dampness mingling with the warmth of Ansel’s tongue, skimming over the puppet’s false exterior, sending shivers through Ravenna’s soul.

“Even now, I still see you as a friend.”

A few sparks of vitality flickered in Revenna’s eyes, stirred by a touch of anger, her lips twitching slightly, “Is this how you treat a friend?”

“It’s because you stopped seeing me as one, Venna.”

Ansel retorted, cradling those two soft, ample wine glasses, his laughter light, “Do I seem like someone who would unconditionally be kind to another, regardless of their hostility?”

“You perceive my actions as betrayal, but from my perspective…”

Even with reduced sensitivity, the sensations transmitted by the puppet cause Ravenna to involuntarily tense her legs, clamping down on Ansel’s.

Hydral’s voice grew colder, his grip suddenly tightening, eliciting a pained moan from Ravenna.

“Are you not also a betrayer?”

Ansel’s actions and words seemed to infuriate Ravenna, who knew that silence, akin to a lifeless puppet, would be the best response to whatever Ansel does or says. Yet, despite her ability to suppress her emotions to the point of inciting wars… she could not contain the rage within her heart.

It’s reminiscent of her time at the Etheric Academy, where she failed to control her emotions, resulting in her soul being trapped within this puppet.

Because of this man, facing her, she once believed that her ideal was within reach, that she had found… a true friend, a destined companion.

“…What now?” Ravenna sneered, “Are you going to claim that you were emotionally invested as well? Have you forgotten what you told me that night? Do you need me to remind you—”

Before she could finish, Ansel pins her to the couch.

“Venna,” Ansel said with a warm smile, “It seems you’ve misunderstood our relationship. What’s wrong, unable to keep your emotions in check? That’s not like you.”

“That’s a bit…”

His whisper faded as his smile vanished. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

Slash —

The puppet’s chest skin, so lifelike on the surface, is effortlessly sliced open, revealing the gleaming metal beneath.

As Ravenna cries out in pain, the devil cutting through the puppet’s skin declares his reason for such cruelty:

“… disappointing me.”

After merely slicing through the outer layer, Ansel refrained from further harm, yet his fingers, capable of easily dismantling the puppet, continued to glide over the metallic sheen. His touch was fiery and tender, but his voice remained chillingly cold.

“The you from three years ago taught me something.”

“Emotions can’t change you, despite all my efforts to become the most important person in your life… In the face of that ideal, you would still choose betrayal.”

“Or perhaps, you never truly valued me as much as I thought. My place in your heart was merely wishful thinking.”

Ansel, astride the puppet, reached into the vocal apparatus — essential for humans but not for puppets. To minimize the soul’s rejection of the puppet body, Ravenna had perfected most of the puppet’s anthropomorphic functions, and now Hydral cruelly asserted his dominance by pinching the realistic vocal organ.

–>