Chapter 151: More Than What Fate Can Defeat - III
Chapter 151: More Than What Fate Can Defeat - III
"This is really..."
After listening to Marlina's description, Ansel was indeed somewhat surprised. Although he knew Marlina was doing something behind his back, he allowed it, and he also wanted to see what Marlina was doing and how far she could go.
But he didn't expect that Marlina could instigate a private fight between two extraordinary beings under the grand dukes and the Revolutionary Army. Although she mainly borrowed his momentum, this wasn't something that could be done easily and flawlessly.
You know, two months ago, Marlina Marlowe was just an ordinary country girl.
"Remarkable, Marlina." Ansel sincerely praised, "I didn't expect that you could go this far."
The smile on Marlina's face became more relieved and pleased, "I'm glad I didn't cause you any unnecessary trouble."
"No, no, no... your arrangement..."
The wicked Hydral mused for a while, then laughed happily, "Maybe it could play a bigger role, but... it's already very good now, very good indeed!"
He turned his head to look at the girl with a delicate face and said softly, "So, what kind of reward do you want?"
"..."
Marlina's breath quickened, her fingers slightly clutching the fabric of her long dress, striving to calm her emotions.
"Mr. Ansel..."
A moist, ambiguous light swirled in the young girl's eyes. She leaned into Ansel's ear, her lips parting slightly.
Upon hearing her whisper, Ansel was initially taken aback, then revealed a profound smile.
"If this is the reward you desire, then... it's not a problem."
He placed his hand on Marlina's soft thigh, gently exhaling on her neck: "I agree."
"Thank you... for your... benevolence."
Marlina, whose body was gradually trembling, endured the excitement in her heart, maintaining the last shred of rationality and dignity.
When Seraphina arrived at the lounge with a basket of fruit, she just saw her sister preparing to leave.
"Marli? Why are you leaving so soon?"
Seraphina tilted her head; "Sit down and have some fruit, after all, Ansel will be leaving in a few days, there shouldn't be much work left, right?"
"It's precisely because Mr. Ansel is about to leave the North that the handover of work becomes particularly important."
Marlina ruffled Seraphina's hair: "Don't relax too much, listen to Mr. Ansel's words."
"I don't need you to tell me that, Marli~"
Seraphina rubbed her sister's palm and held the fruit basket: "Do you want some fruit?"
"No need, you and Mr. Ansel rest well."
Marlina chuckled, then whispered in her sister's ear:
"Tonight, before that thing, come to my room first."
"…???"
Before that thing? Which thing? What thing?
Seraphina was confused, not understanding what her sister was saying, and sat next to Ansel with the fruit basket.
"Hmm?" The girl was chewing on a peach, looking at Ansel in confusion.
"Do you remember what you said to me that night?"
Ansel was smiling at Seraphina.
"Which night? That night?"
Seraphina mumbled: "Ansel, you're always like this, not making things clear."
"The night you said you wanted to have my child."
"Pffffft —"
The girl spat out all the fruit in her mouth, almost spilling the fruit basket in her arms.
"Why are you so nervous?" Ansel raised an eyebrow, "It was you, Seraphina, who personally said it, and not just that."
Not just that, of course not just that!
Reminded by Ansel, Seraphina immediately remembered how much nonsense she had said that night.
After making a name for oneself… which means, to give her precious first time...
The blush on Seraphina's neck quickly spread to her entire face. The girl, holding the fruit basket tightly, was trembling slightly, not knowing how much was due to shyness and how much was due to excitement.
"Well, that, I..."
She averted her gaze, not daring to look at Ansel: "I... I don't mean to go back on my word, but, but Ansel... you can't just... in a place like this..."
Ansel suddenly stood up, chuckling: "Marlina is right, the handover of work is troublesome, I need to deal with some documents first."
"…Huh? Wait, Ansel, you —"
"Tonight."
The wicked Hydral turned his head and said meaningfully:
"Seraphina, if there's anything, come find me tonight."
Looking at Ansel's departing figure, Seraphina suddenly remembered what Marlina had just said.
Before that thing...
"..."
The girl opened her mouth wide in shock, her already quite red face now almost like a boiled one.
You two...
You two! I won't forgive you!
*
"I-I shall never forgive you, Marli!"
Seraphina declared, her voice firm, yet she did not stop Marlina from undressing herself. "How could you... how could you be so shameless!"
"If Seri finds it unacceptable," Marlina's hands paused slightly, she blinked at her younger sister, "I can go to Mr. Ansel alone, it's not impossible."
"Absolutely not!" Seraphina, blushing with indignation, pinched her sister's cheek. "Why must you interfere? I'm getting angry!"
"Angry?" Marlina tilted her head, "May I... not?"
"..."
The young girl froze instantly, looking at her sister's increasingly charming and attractive face, which was completely different from before, she thought of the future, and a sense of guilt surged in her heart.
"It's not that..." she gently hugged Marlina, "Of course I won't dislike Marli, Marli has been so good to me, it's just, just..."
Seraphina bit her lip, stomping her foot in embarrassment and anger, "The thought of giving Ansel a bargain, I... I can't stand it!"
Marlina gently stroked Seraphina's head, her eyes filled with emotion.
She's grown so much in an instant...
And not just outwardly, even her character has truly matured.
Marlina could feel that her sister had begun to transform, compared to her previous reckless, arrogant, and haughty demeanor, she was now truly like a... wolf capable of patrolling her own territory.
All of this... everything, was given by Mr. Ansel.
"Seri," Marlina tiptoed, whispering in Seraphina's ear with a light laugh, "Are you really unable to stand it, or are you just too shy?"
Marlina knew this, and she knew that Seraphina, certainly understood this better than she did.
So, the girl's current stubborn struggle was nothing more than the most insignificant resistance under her shy nature.
"We provide the greatest assistance to Mr. Ansel in our respective fields, which is our greatest return for Mr. Ansel's kindness."
"So, everything tonight... is a return gift to Mr. Ansel, but it's not just a return gift."
The elder sister whispered seductively in her younger sister's ear:
"It's also a reward for ourselves, isn't it?"
"You know how joyful that is, don't you, Seri?"
Seraphina's body trembled slightly, letting out a shy and pitiful whimper.
"But, but..."
She whispered, "Do I really have to put on that kind of clothes, and also, also wear..."
"Mr. Ansel will like it, trust me, Seri."
Thus, Seraphina just blushed and nodded, her gaze drifting aimlessly over the clothes on the bed.
About twenty minutes later, Ansel opened the door to Seraphina and Marlina's room.
Two loyal beauties, one black and one white, were kneeling on the soft bed.
Black and white ears, black and white lace, black and white stockings.
"Master~" "Ma-Master..."
"Meow~"
"Woof…"
This time, even Ansel had to admit.
Even he, a seasoned veteran, had somewhat lost control of himself.
*
In the morning, Ansel, who had not slept, stroked Seraphina's snowy hair, listening to her soft and naive sleep talk, and couldn't help but chuckle.
Marlina had already gotten up early, cleaned up the mess in the room, and gone to work.
To keep up with his and Seraphina's pace, Marlina had specially taken a potion to replenish her strength... although it was still a bit forced, she had fainted for a few hours in the middle of the night.
Seraphina, on the other hand, had only fallen asleep an hour ago from exhaustion, but rather than exhaustion, it was more accurate to say that she was mentally satisfied, and she still had plenty of physical strength left.
The young Hydral lowered his head and gently scraped the girl's tender cheek with his index finger, a sense of indescribable, never-before-experienced joy welled up in his heart.
"... You're truly remarkable, Seraphina."
This story was supposed to be about a rebel who wanted to defy fate, who built a large territory into a prison to trap heroes, and then turned the prisoners in this prison into his own helpers.
But in the end, the original prisoner in the cage became the rebel who wanted to defeat fate with love and courage.
This rebel may not have defeated fate, but she really saved him, who seemed to be a rebel but was actually self-imprisoned, and became another prisoner, with love and courage.
Rebel and prisoner.
Prisoner and rebel.
Ansel quietly savored the warmth and fulfillment flowing in his heart, and leaned down to kiss.
There were no grandiose words, no touching vows.
The reformed Hydral simply whispered in the gentlest voice:
"I love you, Seraphina."
Ansel may not have won this game against fate, but he gained something more precious than defeating fate.
That was his loyal hound, his prisoner, his rebel —
His Seraphina.
*
The first volume, Rebel and Prisoner, ends.