Doreen never thought that the person she attacked was the only heir of the Austere-Winter Dukedom, the legendary Annan·Austere-Winter!
When she realized that “Ghirlandaio” was Annan·Austere-Winter, Doreen was so scared that she forgot to breathe. It had been two days since that moment, and her anxious feeling hadn’t subsided.
Attacking the Austere-Winter family was undoubtedly a felony, regardless of whether she was a werewolf.
Although Doreen was a werewolf, she was from Austere-Winter.
She naturally knew the Frost Beast was under the Austere-Winter family’s control.
Furthermore, she once studied under a mentor. Although she didn’t become a transcender, she discovered that the Storm Tower needed a sacrifice from the Austere-Winter family every few decades.
In other words, the Austere-Winter family was the protector of the Austere-Winter Dukedom. Therefore, anyone with the surname “Austere-Winter” was respected by all.
Besides that, Austere-Winter’s governance abolished the need to separate nobles and commoners in its dukedom.
Therefore, the nobles were not friendly toward the Austere-Winter family. The most prominent reason might be the surveillance of the entire nation under “Winter’s Hand” and the strictness of the law caused by this decision.
This drastically reduced the privileges of the nobility.
Not all nobles, like the Austere-Winter family, were absent of human feelings. On the contrary, they had hearts filled with joy and delight, so they would naturally have desires: the desires for wealth, for the opposite sex, for power, and for food.
In the winter year, Austere-Winter resources became scarce. There was a lack of entertainment, which would naturally make the nobles dissatisfied.
Even though you can’t taste the delicious food, how can you let us live that simple life like your family? No matter how tight the resources are, they must be enough for the nobles to use.
These nobles controlled the operation of the dukedom.
Economy, education, industry, fishing, hunting, military… These required a lot of talent to manage. However, Austere-Winter Dukedom’s resources were scarce. It was already a challenge to keep everyone from starving. Thus, offering higher wages wasn’t a possibility.
Hence, using power for personal gain had become common in the dukedom.
However, Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke had a firm attitude.
Grand Duke naturally had his confidence in exercising an uncompromising attitude. Although these nobles were in charge of the operation of the dukedom, the Austere-Winter family represented the continuation of the dukedom.
Even if the central power of the Austere-Winters was diluted, the Austere-Winter family had to be there. Otherwise, the people would be vulnerable to the Frost Beasts.
The Winter’s Hand members stationed in various locations were primarily responsible for domestic affairs rather than foreign matters. Wizards, in particular, were a significant focus of surveillance because they possessed numerous methods and were prone to committing crimes, especially smuggling, theft, and murder. However, the number of wizards was relatively small.
The primary role of the Winter’s Hand was targeting local nobles, especially in places far away from Frostwhisper Province and places that were challenging to supervise.
The Winter’s Hand supervised and prevented illegal transactions and extravagant expenditures, investigated cases of abuse of power, and gathered evidence. They also had the authority to take emergency and unconventional measures, such as assassination, without the need for reporting. This authority was mandatory when facing dangerous actions like treason, summoning evil deities, killing innocents, or assassinating other nobles or church members.
The nobles were dissatisfied with this strict surveillance approach.
Especially after comparing the treatment of nobles in other countries, they were naturally even more dissatisfied.
During the three-year “Ice Breaking Rebellion” event, these local nobles were the leading investors of the Ice-shredders.
Of course, the nobles didn’t have the same objective as the Ice-shredders. Even the most extreme nobles didn’t want the Austere-Winter family to disappear completely.
After all, compared to the well-behaved Austere-Winter family, Ice-shredders was an organization that had its desires but also had the means to control the Frost Beasts. The Ice-shredders couldn’t be trusted.
As all Austerians know, the Frost Beasts were dangerous.
Even when parents tried to scare their children, they would say, “If you don’t sleep, the Frost Beast will crawl in and lick you.” Ordinary people were likely to go crazy after being licked by the Frost Beast once.
Unlike the horror legends of other countries, the Frost Beasts were everywhere.
Anyone who ventured through the barrier would encounter Frost Beasts everywhere. The frequency was similar to encountering beasts in the wild. After all, any wild beast was likely to be transformed into the Frost Beast.
As a result, this terror became more vivid. No one would dare to challenge it.
So, no one wanted the Austere-Winter family to disappear unless they also had the technique to control the Frost Beast.
The best situation was secretly obtaining the Ice-shredders’ technology to control the Frost Beast. If the nobles could not achieve it, their only option was to have the Grand Duke disband Winter’s Hand. Alternatively, they would attack Austere-Winter’s prestige or weaken Austere-Winter’s rights.
However, unlike the nobles, the people of the Austere-Winter Dukedom loved their Grand Duke even more.
Since the civilians believed that only the Austere-Winter family was the absolute and just ruler, even the most stringent laws and unacceptable government orders could be implemented.
However, that was not necessarily the case outside Austere-Winter’s direct governance.
The actions of those local nobles who used their power for personal gain and were dealt with fairly by Winter’s Hand strengthened the position of Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke in the hearts of the local people.
One of the reasons why the Ice-shredders failed was because the people generally did not support or were even hostile to their rebellion. During the three years of rebellion, the Ice-shredders had never received any resources from civilian forces. As a result, their ranks had hardly expanded at all.
The people trusted the Austere-Winters, especially the Grand Duke of this generation, Ivan Austere-Winter.
Ivan was a wise king, no matter the military, economic, religious, or political.
If the Icebreaker’s rebellion and the Frost Maul Disaster hadn’t occurred during his reign, they might have lasted another decade. By that time, the economic impact would have been much more significant… Neither Noah, the Papal Kingdom, nor the United Kingdom could have shown the same level of restraint as they do now.
Of all the children of Grand Duke Ivan, the most famous was Dmitri, the eldest.
However, anyone aware of the political situation in the Austere-Winter Dukedom would know that Annan·Austere-Winter was the true heir.
According to legend, the most talented ritualist in history went to other countries when he was 8eight years old. Although influenced by the Winter Heart, he had a magical charm, so much so that he could form friendships with more than 20 deities.
Just hearing his legend made Doreen incredulous.
If “Captain of the Stone” Celecia was the legend of the underground people, then Annan was the legend of Austerians.
Annan was also Doreen’s idol!
Dorin never imagined someone as humble as herself would be so close to the legendary Annan… She had even spent a night with Annan in the same room.
Many recent events had thrown her mind into chaos.
After learning that Annan would take her to Frostwhisper Province, Doreen refused.
It was because of her timidity.
Just by going underground, she was terrified of seeing so many bizarre strangers daily. She hid in the house every day and dared not go out.
However, it was much more intense to enter Frostwhisper Province.
That was the center of power for the entire nation; the core of Austere-Winter Dukedom… Doreen was just a werewolf.
However, Doreen’s refusal and resistance were naturally ineffective in front of Annan.
Her current status was Annan’s captive.
However, when Doreen thought she was brought back as a trophy, she seemed less resistant and less afraid.
After entering the Grand Duke’s Residence, Doreen stood at the door of the Grand Duke’s room, feeling uneasy.
She felt the cold and slightly hostile eyes coming from all directions. Doreen couldn’t help but let out a groan.
I don’t want to be here!
Help me! I’m about to be killed!
Suddenly, Annan’s indifferent voice sounded from inside, “Doreen, come in too.”
“Woo—”
Doreen was startled. She was so nervous that she forgot to breathe.
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