A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

Boom!

The entire alchemy workshop was instantly reduced to ruins amidst the thunderous roar. The advanced alchemical equipment, capable of forging the extraordinary and known for its robustness, was easily crushed, twisted, and obliterated like paper toys in a child's hands.

Ansel, veins bulging on his neck and temples, gripped his scepter tightly, remaining silent.

Sinister, black tendrils emerged from the void, writhing like a swarm of serpents, sending chills down one's spine.Nôv(el)B\\jnn

Ansel's eyes, now completely black, stared fixedly at Ravenna and Helen within the light screen, the madness in the darkness starkly evident.

"I did not come to this conclusion without reason... Since that journey to the Zero Realm Enigma, I have sensed something unusual between you and Mr. Flamelle. You have been deliberately avoiding Mr. Flamelle, and he has been speaking as if... giving his final instructions."

"Ansel, at that moment, I was truly in despair."

Hearing this, Ansel raised his hand to destroy the image crystal, but Ravenna continued, "But I also know, I have no right to speak of despair in front of you."

Pure destruction halted before the shadow crystal, and Ansel, whose shadow at his feet twisted as if a monster was about to be born from it, breathed heavily, struggling... and withdrew his hand.

Ravenna said, "I shouldn't think you could be so cruel."

Helen said, "I should think, what exactly... forced you to be so cruel."

After a brief silence, they both asked in gentle, pained voices:

"Is it fate?"

"..."

Ansel was stunned.

His entire body began to tremble, along with the scepter he had pressed into the ground.

The blackness in his eyes receded like a tide, revealing the original deep, bright sea blue.

And within them... only bewilderment remained.

Is it fate?

These three words pierced through his consciousness, his soul, all the anger born from Ravenna's lies, Helen's lies, and the madness that arose from having his most painful truths exposed.

Clang——

When Ansel came to his senses, the scepter he had been holding had already fallen, and he himself... was swaying, almost collapsing to the ground.

Ansel read the diary very slowly, unable to finish it, unable to see Ravenna's conjecture about fate before she spoke.

At this moment, he heard Ravenna utter that word.

"I couldn't be one hundred percent sure of Its existence until you confessed the truth to Helen during the final resolution."

"...I'm very sorry, Ansel."

Ravenna and Helen held hands, stepped forward, and cupped the reflection crystal as if cradling Ansel's cheeks.

"If I had noticed your anomaly earlier, if I had been honest with you sooner, if I could have..."

"I could have done more, I should have done more, but I still... couldn't help you."

"I'm sorry."

Why did Ansel avoid Annelisa? Because every time he saw her, he was reminded of the despair that made him want to self-destruct that day.

Every time he saw Annelisa, he remembered that he had killed his mother.

Why did Ansel avoid Flamelle? Because every time he saw Flamelle, he remembered that he was exploiting his father's love to gain greater power.

Every time he saw Flamelle, he was reminded of his own baseness and malice.

Whenever he saw his parents, Ansel was met not with warmth and joy, but with unrepayable guilt and...

And endless pain.

Ansel finally collapsed, sitting down shakily, his back against the ruins, his fingertips still trembling uncontrollably.

In this world, no one could ever understand his despair.

To whom should he confide? To his father? Tell his already deranged father that a higher existence governs everything, and that it was because of It that his mother died?

He told Seraphina, and Seraphina unwaveringly entrusted her resolve and faith to Ansel, rescuing him from his self-imposed prison.

But even Seraphina couldn't delve deeper, into the pain that slowly dulled and cut at his soul, formed by the long six years of suffering.

She could envelop Ansel with pure love, but she couldn't penetrate it.

Yet at this moment, someone, knowing the existence of fate, asked him: Is it fate?

Someone apologized to him so sorrowfully, telling him, I'm sorry, I couldn't do better, I'm sorry, I came too late.

"Until now... I finally understand why we resonate so deeply, Ansel."

Ravenna murmured softly in the light screen:

"The same despairing childhood, the same willingness to sacrifice everything for a purpose, the same unforgivable mistakes, the same..."

"The same existence and life, designed."

"The world in our eyes has become a lifeless gray."

After Eileen's death, Ravenna's life lost its color and hope. She was imprisoned by her grandfather's death, living only for ideals from then on.

After Annelisa's death, Ansel's life similarly lost its color and hope. He was driven by a mad belief to fight fate, with nothing else remaining.

All the beauty in the world had left them, all good and evil were irrelevant to them, the world... the world was just a meaningless shell, a cold and hard prison.

They lived only for their obsessions.

Until—

"Until I met you, Ansel."

Under Ansel's vacant gaze, Ravenna and Helen in the light screen spoke in perfect unison:

"You showed me color."

They reached out, as if to touch Ansel's... eyes. Experience tales at empire

"A color clearer and bluer than the sky."

Ravenna loved the sky, but now she realized she loved Ansel more, loved his eyes more.

In those bright sea-blue eyes, there was a possibility and hope far higher and broader than the sky.

"So, I won't let you fall deeper into hell, Ansel."

Ravenna and Helen spoke each word deliberately:

"You must not... must not continue to use Mr. Flamelle, continue to use your father, who willingly died for you."

"If you do, you will never be able to turn back."

"That Ansel of Hydral, loved by Lady Annelisa, proud of Mr. Flamelle, cherished by Seraphina, the Ansel of Hydral who brought me color, will die in the cold and unfeeling abyss."

Then, a fourth-stage sorceress and a third-stage sorceress uttered words that seemed utterly fantastical:

"If you need to resist the Empress, to defy the forces of fate, then... I will give you that power."

These words, which could easily be dismissed as a joke, were spoken without any hesitation or fear, but with such determination and confidence.

"I want to see that brilliance in your eyes once more."

The Great Sage, the Source of Truth, the founder of the new world, the eternal revolutionary... Ravenna Ziegler, as she is now, does not bear these titles.

She has only one title, and she acknowledges only one.

That is Ansel's friend.

"Ansel."

The friend of the devil spoke with such resolve:

"Trust me."

"...This should suffice."

Closing the image crystal, Ravenna sighed softly, "I hope Ansel can feel my conviction.""He will." Helen picked up a bracelet and said calmly, "Now, it is our turn."

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