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The world, through his eyes, became a clear framework; life, a cold formula.

This approach was inherently flawed, as it still involved trusting only himself. However, the more mistakes Ansel made, the closer he came to that elevated state, that realm he now nearly perfected.

He could dissect a person at a glance, manipulate their loves and hates, and place them precisely where they needed to be to do what was most suitable, steering everything towards … the outcome he desired.

In the game with Seraphina, he only lost to fate at the very last moment, while in the game with Ravenna, he had already executed a perfect checkmate.

Even the critical points that followed were part of a grand scheme already set in motion.

Ansel gazed at the bewildered Helen, his face still wearing that approachable smile.

As a child, he rarely smiled because Annelisa did not like it so formal.

Now, Ansel almost always maintained that gentle, courteous smile that felt like a breath of spring, yet he had long forgotten the meaning his mother associated with his smile.

— Smiling like this simply made it easier to manipulate others, so Ansel continued to do so.

"Is this... your story, Father?"

Helen asked, her lips trembling, her face devoid of any color. If Seraphina\'s tears after reading Ansel\'s memories were almost empathetic, then Helen\'s current expression of emptiness and daze was one of… regret—a regret a thousand times deeper than any before.

Such regret, intense enough to wish for self-strangulation, was so palpable that Ansel could sense it even without looking. Yet, watching Helen\'s reaction, Ansel did not feel the relief he had anticipated.

Regarding the secrets he harbored, Ansel would not hide anything from the pact heads, parts of his own life; all future pact heads would also come to know of Ansel\'s uniqueness and his resolve.

However, even though Helen had previously overcome Ravenna and killed her past, Ansel had not immediately shared these matters with her.

Even now, he had only told a... story.

He had long awaited this moment, expecting Helen to show the same expression as Ravenna after hearing this story, only to realize now—Helen was just Helen; she was ultimately not Ravenna.

The real Ravenna would have no regrets.

She might empathize with her plight, but she would not regret her choices. Within the framework Ansel constructed for her, she would surely commit acts that, to him, would amount to betrayal.

"So, you were unwilling to provide me with a reason at that time."

After three years of uncertainty, Helen found her answer, yet it brought her nothing but… anguish.

"Because, Father, you believed," she murmured, her gaze falling to her trembling hands.

"Had I known that everything was predestined, I would never have stood by your side."

Ansel gently caressed Helen, allowing her to lean on his shoulder as he spoke softly, "But you have already slain that past; do not trouble yourself with it any longer, Helen."

"Yet I cannot forgive... If I had stood by your side then, all, all of this—"

Helen\'s voice broke off, and Ansel could feel the profound loathing emanating from her silence, a hatred for her former self.

It was not merely a betrayal of Ansel, but a failure to support and assist him when he needed it most… further wounding his already battered life.

After a long silence, Helen spoke with a hoarse voice, "So your enemy was never the empress, but..."

"Fate."

The force that had destroyed everything for me.

The abyssal darkness flickered in the young eyes of Hydral.

My remaining years will be devoted to opposing you, until one of us is utterly destroyed, and for this… I will spare no effort.

Helen, gazing into Ansel\'s eyes, finally recognized her mission at that moment.

She instinctively reached out to touch his cheek, but her hand paused mid-air.

"Father, you... only now chose to reveal the answer to me."

The girl whispered, "It seems that the person I was before was not yet worthy of your recognition."

After deciding to kill her past self and emerging victorious from that struggle, Helen had asked Ansel who the real enemy was.

Ansel had still pointed to the empress, without revealing his true intentions.

Ansel patted Helen\'s head, "Don\'t dwell on it; I\'m not questioning your resolve, Helen, I just—"

He paused, leaving his sentence unfinished, but Helen filled in the gap.

"You actually... wished for Ravenna to survive."

"..."

Ansel hesitated for a moment, then sighed as if relieved, "Yes, perhaps... I did wish for her to survive, or rather, from the moment she broke free from three years of confinement, I hoped that she, having witnessed all the changes, would understand me."

"Right up until the moment you two settled your differences... I hoped she would show even a hint of hesitation."

If there had been any, Ansel could have convinced himself that even if he didn\'t completely erase Ravenna, he still had a chance to tame her.

Although their relationship could never be the same, she was still his friend.

But Ravenna did not falter; she remained steadfast and luminous, holding true to her essence, perhaps aided by fate, but that merely underscored… her inherent nature.

She was an unyielding, radiant hero

— Fundamentally incompatible with a devil like himself.

Ravenna\'s existence merely serves to underscore… the profound necessity of Helen to herself.

When Helen revealed her readiness to forsake even the last vestiges of her past, including Eileen, Ansel found no further reason to conceal the truth.

Perhaps it was the Empress\'s words, that so-called bargain, which touched upon Ansel\'s most guarded sorrows, compelling him to seek solace… in confiding in someone.

Your next chapter is on empire

Helen was destined to learn of these matters, and the timing of such revelations was inconsequential.

Ansel never lost sight of the need to guard against the whims of fate. After meticulous consideration, he concluded that among all the certainties under his control, only Helen could be manipulated by fate to disrupt his plans. Revealing this secret to Helen would bear no consequence.

After all, the extent of his affection for Helen had reached its zenith, and her feelings for him would remain unchanged by these revelations.

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