Doreen felt the hostility.
Doreen was sure of that.
That was also one of the survival skills of the werewolves in the countryside.
To prevent themselves from inadvertently messing with someone they couldn’t afford to provoke and to avoid being attacked while walking in an alley, werewolves were sensitive to the hostility from others.
In the moment of sensing danger, the entire world before Doreen’s eyes turned a hazy yellow instantly.
The flow of time seemed to slow down, causing everything stationary to blur significantly. Everything in motion before Doreen’s eyes became remarkably clear and vivid.
This ability to predict danger was also one of the racial characteristics of werewolves.
However, there was an exception to this kind of scenario, which was the current situation.
Even though she sensed the danger, there was still nothing in front of Doreen. Nothing seemed to move in her field of vision except for the wind blowing the curtains.
Doreen glanced sideways.
She was not supposed to see anything if she was not a transcender.
Even though she could feel the gaze of many people upon her, and even though she sensed an intense hostility or even murderous intent, she simply couldn’t pinpoint where they were.
“Doreen?” Annan urged again.
“…Yes,” Doreen responded tremblingly. Her vertical pupils reverted to round pupils, and she swallowed nervously.
Facing the cold gaze behind her, she slowly opened the door.
The first thing that caught her eye was not Annan.
Instead, it was a middle-aged man with numerous deep purple markings on his skin, gaunt cheeks, and deep, piercing eyes.
He had meticulously combed back grayish-white short hair. His hair appeared thin, and so did he. He seemed to be in poor physical condition, sitting in a chair, leaning on a staff divided into silver, black, and deep blue colors, which rested on the ground like sharp claws.
His pupils were the same icy blue color as Annan’s right eye. His facial features bore a resemblance to Annan, approximately around 70%.
However, his pupils had a lighter hue than Annan’s eyes. It was more like egg white than ice because it was faintly yellowish, highlighting the sense of transparency.
Is he the Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke?
Doreen realized who he was in a split second.
It was the legendary Ivan Austere-Winter.
“You are Doreen, right?”
Ivan’s voice was steady. The corners of his mouth raised slightly.
It was different from the cold feeling that Annan gave to people. Annan was like a translucent ice surface, giving off a serene yet dangerous vibe. On the contrary, Ivan seemed to have accumulated thick snow atop this icy lake.
All sense of danger was hidden beneath the deep snow.
At the same time, Ivan gave people an intricate sense of distance and awe.
It gave off an impression of a deep layer of snow with many corpses hidden beneath it.
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
Doreen’s anxious and fearful mood quickly calmed down under Ivan’s gaze.
She nodded, knelt on the ground, lowered her head, and replied softly, “My name is Doreen Angeal.”
“En.” Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke responded softly, nodding slightly.
He suddenly asked, “Do you know Bella? She is also a werewolf.”
“I do not know her.” Doreen thought about it seriously and shook her head.
“I see.” Ivan sighed softly and waved his hand, “Take a seat, child.”
“Please have your seat.” The voice, identical to when Doreen followed Annan into the room, sounded behind her.
However, Doreen wasn’t startled this time — perhaps because her nerves were already tense. The surprise was expected.
Doreen turned her head and saw the owner of the voice this time.
It turned out to be a middle-aged woman who had deep blue hair. The color hue was similar to the Grand Duke’s scepter.
On the ring finger of her left hand, she wore a transparent ring that continuously emitted cold air as if the ring was sculpted from ice.
Is she the upper echelon of Winter’s Hand?
Doreen’s heart tightened.
She had heard from the teacher before about the responsibilities of the top ten high-ranking members of the Winter’s Hand.
The left hand’s ring finger was responsible for all internal affairs of the Grand Duke, including food, travel, and attire. The role was roughly equivalent to the Denizoya & Fildes Archipelago United Kingdom’s “Beardless”, representing King Denizoya’s eunuch. The status in the palace was relatively high.
There was no doubt that she was a big shot.
When Doreen moved forward, she nodded to her respectfully.
This made “Ring Finger” stunned for a moment. Then, she smiled faintly, with her gaze becoming gentler.
She put her left hand on Doreen’s shoulder, and her right hand pointed silently at the chair in the corner of the room.
Even though Austere-Winter’s Grand Duke lived a minimalistic life, the place was not shabby either. Doreen’s seat was a fluffy, cold couch made of the Frost Beast fur.
Doreen curled up on the couch, instinctively looking around the room.
She soon found portraits of two women hanging above the bed.
Firstly, there was a black-haired girl with a handsome appearance and a gentle smile. Her hair cascaded down over her left shoulder with the front twisted into a French braid.
The other person looked identical to Annan. She had beautiful long silver hair held in place by a headband. Her expression and demeanor were even colder than Annan’s, giving off a noble air.
That should be Annan’s biological mother, right?
Speaking of which, the two Grand Duke Ivan’s wives seemed to have passed away.
They willingly married the Grand Duke.
Doreen pursed her lips.
Grand Duke Ivan was not a transcender, but his talent was frighteningly superb, causing his partners to not live long like himself.
Of course, quite a few nobles had long coveted the lineage of the Austere-Winter family.
However, not everyone could pass the Old Grandmother’s test.
The Old Grandmother was a Tradition Deity.
She didn’t care whether they were in love… If they were in love, it was naturally the best. Even if there was no love, it must be consensual for both parties.
Forced marriage was the seed of unrest. They often implied one party approaching the other with ulterior motives, leading to the merging and separation of power once offspring were born. After the death of both parties, this complex lineage could result in “instability.”
Instability was a significant blow to tradition.
Therefore, large-scale marriages were rare in Austere-Winter Dukedom. The nobles would prioritize each other’s health and capabilities. That would affect the offspring and then the family legacy.
Grand Duke Ivan was no exception.
Ivan’s first wife was a commoner. She was not a transcender, not a ritualist, but just plain Old Grandmother’s believer.
She also knew at the time that Grand Duke Ivan had a cursed constitution, but she was still willing to marry Ivan.
—not to marry Grand Duke, but to marry Ivan.
Unfortunately, even true love didn’t change the reality.
After giving birth to her two children, she died of illness.
The second child of the Grand Duke died before getting a name.
If the dukedom only had one heir, “Dmitri”, the dukedom could be regarded as unstable. Without a female heir, who would inherit the Storm Tower?
Not to mention, Dmitri’s talent was average at best. He worked diligently, but he was not smart or strong enough, not even a transcender.
Then, a noble young lady stepped into the Grand Duke’s residence, boldly declaring her intention to marry the Grand Duke.
She had no romantic feelings for Grand Duke Ivan and had never even met Ivan.
However, through the divine art test, she didn’t covet wealth and authority. Instead, she wanted to marry the Grand Duke…not Ivan.
Her purpose was pure and simple, but it was difficult for Ivan to accept.
Yes, her objective was her dedication to the Austere-Winter Dukedom.
“—The nobles fight, the civilians suffer, and the Austere-Winter Dukedom will be destroyed.”
That was her remark.
Therefore, before Grand Duke died, she must be used to “procreate” a more powerful heir for Austere-Winter Dukedom; at the same time, she wanted the future daughter to continue the mission of suppressing the endless storm.
The Daughter of the Storm was Ivan’s aunty. She was old, and she was the only female heir with “Winter Heart”. Unable to rely on the Storm Tower’s power to suppress it, they had no choice but to seek a divine child from the Theocracy, which also meant relinquishing power.
Ivan detested the marriage at first. He rejected it three times, and he didn’t even have any feelings for this assertive young lady either.
But later on, he was won over by her wisdom, perspective, and broad-mindedness.
Ivan realized she would become a better Grand Duke than himself if she had Austere Winter’s Blood.
Soon, they quickly became friends—not lovers. Friends of the opposite gender who could entrust everything to each other and chat freely about the world and politics. It became a story of their remarkable friendship at that time.
Many of Grand Duke Ivan’s effective and long-term policies came from his second wife.
In the end, they later got married.
This was Ivan’s second and last wife.
Four children were born, two of whom survived the Winter Heart’s curse. In the end, as a powerful ritualist, she had failed to contend against Ivan’s growing frost power. Like Dmitri’s mother, she died of illness in the bed.
Doreen remembered that this heroic woman was from the Rasputin family.
Her name seems to be Anya Rasputin.
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