This is also one of the survival skills of rural werewolves.
In order to prevent yourself from inadvertently provoking someone you can't afford to offend, or from being unexpectedly attacked while walking in an alley. Werewolves are very sensitive to the hostility of others -
The moment she sensed the danger, the entire world in front of Doreen turned dim in an instant.
The flow of time has slowed down significantly, and all stationary things have become blurry... while everything that is still moving in front of you has become extremely clear and bright.
This ability to predict danger is also one of the racial characteristics of werewolves.
...But there is also a situation.
Just like now.
Even though she was aware of the crisis, nothing appeared in front of Doreen. In her field of vision, except for the wind blowing the curtains, nothing seemed to be moving.
Doreen glanced sideways.
It makes sense that she, who is not an extraordinary person, cannot see anything.
She clearly felt that she was being watched by many people, and she clearly sensed strong hostility and even murderous intent, but she could not find out where they were.
"Doreen?"
Annan urged again.
"……yes."
Doreen responded with some trembling, her vertical pupils shortened again and returned to round pupils, and she swallowed hard at the same time.
Against the cold gaze behind her, she slowly opened the door.
The first thing that caught my eye was not Annan.
He is a middle-aged man with many dark purple lines on his skin, thin cheeks, and deep eyes.
He has short gray-white hair that is meticulously combed back. The hair has become very slender, just like himself. He seems to be in poor health. He is sitting on a chair, leaning on a chair divided into silver, black, and dark blue. A scepter that holds the ground like a sharp claw.
His pupils are the same ice blue as Annan's right eye. His face is roughly 70% similar to Annan's.
But his pupils are lighter than Annan's eyes... more like egg white than ice. They are slightly yellowish, which highlights the transparency.
...Is this the Duke of Winter?
Doreen realized his identity instantly.
It is the legendary Ivan Winter.
"You must be Doreen."
Ivan's voice was steady and the corners of his mouth raised slightly.
It is different from the cold feeling that Annan gives people - if Annan is a translucent ice surface, giving people a sense of calm and danger. Then Ivan is like a thick layer of snow accumulated on this ice lake. .
All sense of danger is hidden under the deep snow.
But at the same time, Ivan gave people a wonderful sense of distance and awe.
It's just like……
Under the snow, there seemed to be many corpses hidden.
"...Yes, Your Majesty."
Doreen's originally anxious and fearful mood quickly calmed down under Ivan's gaze.
She nodded, knelt on the ground, lowered her head and whispered softly: "My name is Doreen Angel."
"Um."
Grand Duke Cold Winter responded softly and nodded slightly.
He suddenly asked: "Do you know Bella? She is also a werewolf."
"……do not know."
Doreen thought carefully and shook her head.
"I see."
Ivan sighed softly and waved his hand: "Sit next to me, kid."
"——Please sit down."
The same female voice as when Annan first entered came from behind Doreen.
But she was not frightened this time - perhaps because her original emotions were already stretched to the limit, and this sudden attack was unexpected.
She turned around and saw the owner of the voice this time.
It was an adult woman who looked to be in her early thirties, with hair color exactly the same as the dark blue on the Archduke's scepter.
On the ring finger of her left hand, she wore a transparent ring that constantly exuded cold air. It looked like it was carved from ice.
...Is this the senior management of Hand of Winter?
Doreen's heart tightened.
She had heard the teacher tell her before about the responsibilities of the ten top leaders of the Hand of Winter.
The ring finger of the left hand is directly responsible for all the Grand Duke's internal affairs including food, sex, travel, and dressing up. His status is roughly equivalent to that of the "bearded Duke" of the United Kingdom - that is, King Denisoya's personal eunuch, and his palace status is quite high.
There is no doubt that this is also a big shot.
When Doreen stood up, she quickly bowed respectfully.
This made "ring finger" stunned for a moment, then the corners of his mouth slightly raised, and his eyes seemed to become gentler.
Her left hand was placed on Doreen's shoulder, and her right hand silently pointed to the seat in the corner of the room.
Although the life of the Grand Duke of Winter is simple, it is not shabby. It is said to be a chair, but it is actually a soft and cold sofa made of frost animal fur.
In the hot summer, just staying inside can keep your whole body cool. But this season is not too hot... Fortunately, werewolves are not very afraid of the cold.
Doreen huddled on the chair and looked around the room habitually.
She soon discovered portraits of two women hanging above the bed.
A dark-haired girl with a delicate appearance and a gentle smile, her hair is placed in front of her left shoulder, and the front end is braided.
The other one is almost identical to Annan - she has beautiful long silver hair, fixed with a headband. And her expression is even colder than Annan, and her temperament is also very cold, giving people a noble feeling
.
This should be Annan's biological mother, right?
Speaking of which, it seems that both of Grand Duke Ivan's wives have passed away.
...They all married the Grand Duke voluntarily.
Doreen pursed her lips.
Because Grand Duke Ivan is not an extraordinary person, but his talent is frighteningly high... This leads to the fact that every one of his partners does not live long, just like himself.
Of course, there are quite a few nobles who have coveted the blood of the Winter clan for a long time.
However, not everyone can go through the test of grandma.
Grandmother is also the god of tradition.
She doesn't care whether they love each other... It would be best if they fall in love, but if it is not free love, then at least the parties must agree - this is true for both men and women.
Because forced marriage is the seed of instability. It may mean that one party is approaching the other party with ulterior motives. After the birth of the heir, it will bring about the integration and separation of power. After the death of both parties, this complicated bloodline will
Leading to "instability".
And instability is the biggest impact on tradition.
Therefore, there are rarely large-scale marriages in the Principality of Winter - the nobles will instead care more about each other's health and abilities. Because this will affect the heirs and directly affect the inheritance of the family.
And this is even more true for Grand Duke Ivan.
His first wife was just a commoner. She was not a supernatural being, nor a ritualist, just an ordinary grandmother believer.
And she also knew at the time that Grand Duke Ivan had a cursed physique. But she was still willing to marry Ivan.
——Not willing to marry the Grand Duke, but to marry Ivan.
But true love doesn't change reality.
After she gave birth to two children, she died of illness.
The Grand Duke's second child died before he could get a name.
If the principality has only one heir, "Dmitri", it cannot be considered stable. And if there is no female heir, who can inherit the Tower of Storms?
Not to mention, Dmitri's talent is only average at best. He works very hard, but he is indeed not smart enough, nor strong enough, nor even an extraordinary person.
At this time, a noble girl went directly to the Grand Duke's palace and bluntly said that she wanted to marry the Grand Duke.
She had no relationship with Grand Duke Ivan, and had never even met Ivan before.
But after the magical test, it was found that she did not covet wealth, nor did she care about status. She really wanted to marry the Grand Duke... not Ivan.
Her purpose was pure and simple, but it was difficult for Ivan to accept at the time.
--Yes.
Just for the Principality of Winter.
She made it clear when they first met that Dmitri was not capable of inheriting the Principality of Winter - given the tense situation in the Principality at that time, if Demetri inherited the Principality, his ability would not be able to suppress all the nobles and would only cause internal strife within the Principality.
Split.
"——The nobles are fighting, the civilians are being killed and injured, and the winter is being destroyed."
She said so.
Therefore, before the Grand Duke dies, he must be used to "create" a stronger heir for the Principality of Winter; and at the same time, in order for his future daughter to continue the mission of the Endless Storm.
The Daughter of the Storm at that time was Ivan's aunt. She was already very old, and she was the only female descendant with the "Heart of Winter". The Tower to Prevent the Storm was unable to suppress it, so the only way to find the Son of God was from the Theocracy - and
This also means a transfer of power.
Ivan was very resistant to this kind of marriage at first. He refused three times, and he didn't even have a good impression of this powerful girl.
But later, he was impressed by the other party's wisdom, vision and mind.
——If the other party possesses the blood of winter, he will definitely become a better archduke than himself.
Ivan realized this.
And they soon became friends - not lovers, but friends of the opposite sex who could trust everything and talk freely about the world and politics. This also became a legend at the time.
Many of Grand Duke Ivan's extremely effective and long-lasting policies came from his second wife.
Finally, they got married.
This is Ivan's second and last wife.
A total of four children were born, two of whom survived the curse of the Heart of Winter. But in the end, as a powerful ritualist, she could not withstand Ivan's increasingly powerful power of frost, and she fought with him.
Like Dmitry's mother, she died of illness between the beds.
Doreen remembered that this heroic woman came from the Rasputin family.