Chapter 44: Hitana’s Wondrous Adventure, Part One

Hitana was sitting in her room.

Four or five hours had passed since she overheard the conversation between Anselm and Saville.

The slightly matured Hitana cleverly went to train for two or three hours as a pretense, then sought out Anselm to discuss the vacation, and finally returned to her room, appearing completely oblivious.

Facing the blank paper on the desk, the girl furrowed her brow in thought.

Though she couldn’t understand most of what Anselm had said, she grasped the key point she wanted most.

[If Count Ironstone wants to continue oppressing, let him do it.]

What did this mean?

It meant that guy clearly didn’t care about the commoners of Chishuang Territory! He only wanted to boost his reputation through all sorts of crooked means… though she didn’t know why.

That didn’t matter.

The important thing was, the chance to expose Hydra’s evil face had arrived!

“That Count Ironstone wants to enforce policies that oppress the commoners… definitely not a good guy.”

The girl muttered, scribbling on the paper: “And Hydra pretends to do things for the commoners’ benefit, but in reality, he doesn’t care if his policies are implemented.”

She circled a spiky, urchin-like “stone” and then circled a crooked “snake.”

“So…” Hitana’s eyes gradually brightened, “if everyone knows about these two things, Hydra’s reputation is done for! That guy cares so much about his image and reputation. To salvage it, he’ll have to push his policies through immediately! Two birds with one stone!”

“Aha, I’m a genius!”

The young wolf cheered excitedly, then quickly lowered her voice, glancing around warily.

The excitement on her face gradually faded.

“…No, it’s not that simple.”

Hitana scratched her hair: “They’ve all been fooled by Hydra. Even Lina doesn’t believe me. No one will listen to me… I need evidence. Yes, evidence.”

She quickly sketched a… peculiar polygonal object on the paper.

“That crystal thing, right, Shadow Crystal… the thing Hydra used when dealing with that viscount. If I can get one and secretly record Hydra’s words…”

Hitana paused, circling the “Shadow Crystal” and connecting it to the “snake” with a line, only to frown and scribble it out.

“No, no… Hydra’s too cunning, and that butler’s like a ghost. I’d get caught too easily.”

Thus, Hitana turned her attention to the “stone.”

“…That Count Ironstone.”

The girl rubbed her chin: “His mansion’s defenses are so bad even a trash assassin could get in. Sneaking in would be a piece of cake, right?”

She scoured her memory for the layout of that mansion, recalling Anselm’s words—[He’s a clever man. He knows what to do.]

“So, that Count Ironstone might’ve figured out what Hydra’s up to? In that case, he might have even more evidence or something!”

Miss Young Wolf stood up, pacing excitedly around the room, immensely proud of her keen wit and intelligence.

Ha, you want to work together? Dream on!

“In that case, considering the timing… I can’t just leave a Shadow Crystal there for four or five days. I need to know when I can catch something critical…”

The girl grew troubled again, her shoulders slumping, her expression glum: “But how would I know that—”

“Hit.”

Marina pushed the door open: “His Excellency Hydra just sent me a basket of fruit. You… Hit? What are you doing?”

The gentle, caring elder sister looked curiously at her sister sprawled over the small round table, unsure what she was up to.

“I… I’m stretching my body.”

Hitana gave a dry laugh, stretching her limbs and rolling off the table, crumpling her abstract plan into a ball and stuffing it into her pocket.

Marina eyed her for a moment but said nothing more, placing the fruit on the table and saying softly: “You just finished training. Eat something first.”

To avoid arousing her sister’s suspicion, Hitana obediently sat down and grabbed a fruit, munching haphazardly while her eyes darted sneakily.

Marina, lost in thought, didn’t notice Hitana’s odd behavior.

“Lina, Lina, Lina!”

Hitana reached out, vigorously shaking her sister’s shoulder: “Why’re you zoning out?”

“…Nothing, just thinking that His Excellency Hydra will be busy lately, and I don’t think I can help him.”

Marina sighed: “His Excellency’s decrees are about to take effect, but during our lesson earlier, he said… many nobles, openly or covertly, won’t follow his orders.”

At this, Hitana’s face instantly soured, thinking that the hypocritical guy was deceiving people again.

She couldn’t help but blurt out: “What’s he worried about? He killed Count Chishuang like it was nothing. Those nobles are scared to death of him. If Hydra really wanted to do something, what difficulty could there be?”

“Hit, politics isn’t that simple… It’s not something you can solve with just killing and violence.”

Marina looked helplessly at Hitana, her mouth full of fruit juice and pulp, wiping her face with a handkerchief: “His Excellency Hydra can intimidate many nobles, but if the nobles, already in factions, unite, he can’t just execute anyone. If they’re all dead, who’ll manage the territory?”

—Of course, that was just common sense.

In reality, any noble with a bit of sense was terrified of Hydra.

If Anselm was determined to enforce his decrees, he could indeed succeed.

This was the “absolute” Anselm spoke of.

And Marina… clearly didn’t know Anselm’s true nature as well as Hitana did.

Her earlier conclusion wasn’t something Anselm told her but one she deduced based on her current knowledge and perspective.

At this, Marina sighed again: “Count Ironstone was so close to His Excellency Hydra… Why did he suddenly become the biggest opponent? I heard His Excellency say Count Ironstone will gather many nobles tomorrow to discuss the decrees, as it’s the deadline for implementation. I don’t know how His Excellency plans to handle—”

“Lina!”

Hitana shouted, interrupting Marina and startling her sister.

“What, what’s wrong?”

“What did you just say?!” The girl stood up, hands on the table. “What’s Count Ironstone doing tomorrow?”

“He’ll… gather nobles to discuss policies… What’s wrong?” Seeing Hitana’s excited reaction, Marina, who knew her well, suddenly felt an overwhelming sense of unease.

Hit… what is she planning?

“Oh… Oh! Got it, um, ahem, nothing, just curious.”

Realizing her reaction was excessive, Hitana laughed awkwardly, unable to come up with a good excuse on the spot.

She grabbed a fruit from the basket and prepared as if to bolt.

“Hit!”

Marina called out loudly, her expression deadly serious: “What are you planning?”

“Going to train!”

Using an excuse Marina couldn’t possibly fault, Hitana dashed out excitedly.

Now, she only needed to solve one thing.

Miss Young Wolf clenched her fist secretly.

Get that damn Shadow Crystal!

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