A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

The overcast sky spread from the distance to this place, where two figures stood on the rooftop—one leaning against the railing and the other propped against the door of the entrance, both gazing at the swath of gray.

"Venna, the color of the sky now somewhat resembles the hue of your hair."

Ansel remarked with a smile, turning to look at Ravenna, who seemed momentarily lost in thought. "A beautiful shade of blue-gray."

"..." Ravenna, touching her hair tied back in a high ponytail, replied softly, "It seems you have a fondness for long hair."

"Do I?" Ansel tilted his head, questioning.

"When we sleep," the petite sorceress said nonchalantly, "you sometimes bury your face in my hair."

The young Hydral chuckled, "Don't make me sound like a child."

Ravenna furrowed her brows and emphasized, "But you are a child. And such behavior... it's not typical of children."

She opened her mouth as if to say something more but hesitated and instead continued to look up at the increasingly gloomy sky.

Ravenna actually wanted to ask if Ansel harbored... certain feelings for her, but partly felt it might be presumptuous, and partly felt that such considerations were unnecessary between them.

The connections that bind people together are never limited to just a few types of feelings. Ravenna considered Ansel a friend, but their journey towards a common goal was held together by a bond far more robust, steadfast, and unbreakable.

Friend, companion, or even... lover, were merely superficial labels, of no real significance.

Reflecting on this, Ravenna felt a twinge of guilt for the agitation, frustration, and unease she had felt over the past few days due to Ansel's "jest."

She had no reason to doubt Ansel, a person whose thoughts and actions always radiated hope for a new world.

A man capable of creating beneficial alchemical tools and devices, devising data systems to break through barriers of knowledge, and even helping her develop a universal Etheric Furnace... The sparkle in his eyes during their conversations could not possibly be insincere.

Ansel, more than anyone, desired to change this stagnant world.

With these thoughts, Ravenna felt increasingly reassured. She looked at the boy lying on the railing, looking up at the sky, her gaze filled with a tenderness she had never shown to anyone else.

In this world, what could possibly make Ansel give up on something he cherished so dearly?

If Ansel truly... truly did so, it would mean he must have needed—

"Venna."

The young Hydral turned around, leaning on his scepter, his expression tenderly fixed on Ravenna.

A raindrop shattered on the rooftop tiles, and Ravenna, reaching out to feel the cool touch of the raindrop, spoke first:

"It's going to rain, let's talk about this back inside."

"No, Venna. This question will decide where we both ultimately go."

"..." Watching the warmth slowly fade from Ansel's face, Ravenna's brows slightly furrowed.

"Are you going to… tease me again?" she asked, her expression gradually becoming resigned, "Wasn't it enough to make me lose control just now? If you really want to say something nonsensical, come and say it inside. The rain is getting heavier."

Above the quickly darkening heavens, the rolling thunder within the pitch-black inkiness foretold the imminent arrival of a storm.

"Venna, it's the same question again."

Yet Ansel remained unmoved, standing on the edge of the rooftop. His youthful figure stood tall, commanding the storm clouds and rain as if he were the master summoning them. The pitch-black sky that devoured the azure heavens floated above his head, yet seemed to crawl at his feet.

Amid the increasingly fine rain, the young Hydral asked:

"Between me and your ideals, which will you choose?"

Boom—!

The incandescent lightning illuminated their faces for a moment, but the thunderous roar could not drown out Ansel's voice. Ravenna heard his absurd question very clearly.

"An old joke should not be repeated."

Ravenna slightly tilted her head, "How could you think this would be effective?"

But Ansel just quietly watched her, his face devoid of the usual teasing or the gentle, familial smile he often wore.

The rain grew heavier, turning into curtains that enveloped the boy under the dark clouds, making his figure in Ravenna's eyes become blurred and ethereal, except for those sea-blue eyes, which Ravenna saw with utter clarity.

He was serious—Ravenna thought so.

Just one look was enough for her to read Ansel's thoughts; she knew him that well. As long as the conditions were right, it was not difficult for her to see through his lies.

The friend standing in the cold rain curtain awaited her answer.

"Why should I make a choice?"

After a long while, Ravenna looked directly into those eyes and replied, "Why should I make such a meaningless choice? Is there any conflict between you and it?"

"Conflict..."

Ansel murmured the word, then burst into laughter, a laugh with a youthful timbre that pierced through the rain curtain.

That deep-seated resentment and anger, which even the thunder could not mask, vividly reached Ravenna's ears.

What exactly does fate want to do?

After discovering everything about this world from the vast memories of his traveler friend, Ansel had hardly thought about this question because, on that very day, he had suffered the greatest hardship of his life.

Anger, fear, despair... numerous negative emotions had entangled him for a long time, and just freeing himself from them had taken too much of Ansel's effort, let alone having the energy to ponder what fate really wanted.

And Ravenna's casual remark inadvertently gave Ansel the answer.

A... remarkably simple answer.

Fate selects those born extraordinary, bestowing upon them its favoring gaze, causing the world to revolve around them.

It subjects the defiant to sufferings to know themselves, and the void to traverse humanity to comprehend the truth… With invisible threads, it shapes heroes into the visage of its desire.

—No, into the visage the world desires.

The visage needed… by the new world.

Fate seeks to destroy this malformed empire, to cleanse this twisted society, and through four heroines, to erect a new realm, a new world.

The tyrant, the sage, the awakened, the benevolent... Upon these four heroines, it intends to topple all and start anew.

Undoubtedly, this is what fate demands.

This is, in fact, a simple answer: one need only look at the great deeds wrought by the four heroines to understand the simple truth—for the accomplishments of the heroines are the reality scripted by fate, their denouement, the endpoint of fate's gaze.

And amidst his interactions with Ravenna, Ansel, whose spirit is gradually inclined to ponder other questions, is awakened by his friend's profoundly fortunate lament.

["Our encounter is surely the work of fate."]

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