Chapter 58: Hitana’s Ordeal

Life is such a strange thing.

Hitana, who had racked her brain thinking how to expose the footage from Count Ironstone’s meeting, was now troubled by something else entirely.

Anselm had agreed to distribute coal to Chishuang Territory’s poor before the great cold wave—a good deed, a great deed!

The terrifying great cold wave in the North was one of the main reasons this vast land could never compare to the Empire’s central regions.

Crops, livestock, people, even infrastructure… all could suffer severe damage in the cold wave.

If not for an Emperor five hundred years ago building the Eternal Flame Tower at the

northernmost tip, reducing the cold wave’s destructive power by sixty to seventy percent, this land would be a desolate wasteland habitable only by powerful magical beasts.

—Of course, that Emperor had only been interested in the North’s rich mineral resources, so he expanded the Empire’s borders without much thought.

In her life, Hitana had experienced two great cold waves.

They weren’t as horrific as expected but left a deep impression.

Those two waves drained her family’s resources entirely; without doing so, their coal wouldn’t have lasted until the end and after each cold wave, many in the village perished.

Unwilling to burden others, some elderly would walk into the snowstorm, ending their humble lives painlessly in the extreme cold.

Anselm was willing to listen to her, spending so much to help Chishuang Territory’s poor survive the crisis.

How could she not be thrilled?

But as her joy grew… it turned to sorrow.

“So annoying… so annoying…”

The girl sat cross-legged in her room, slumped over the tea table, poking at the Shadow Crystal.

“Hydra’s finally doing something big and good. Ruining his reputation now would be too low.”

The young wolf girl was deeply conflicted.

On one hand, she wanted Anselm’s policies benefiting Chishuang Territory’s commoners to be fully and genuinely implemented.

On the other hand… she didn’t want him to lose the reputation he valued because of this.

“Why didn’t he just do things like this sooner? Why make me so frustrated? That Hydra guy is so annoying!”

Her fair, snowy foot kicked the table leg. Hitana could only grumble to herself, unable to talk to Anselm.

Since Marina’s request, she hadn’t seen Anselm even once today.

The reason was simple—compiling a list of all impoverished families in Chishuang Territory, ensuring coal distribution reached every noble, preventing them from pocketing funds, plus procurement, distribution, and transportation management…

Hitana’s simple plea to “give coal to all the poor in Chishuang Territory” sounded easy but involved incredibly complex and heavy work. With the cold wave looming, the task was near hellish in difficulty, which was why Anselm granted Marina such immense authority.

Even if others handled the groundwork, neither Anselm nor Marina were the type to issue orders and do nothing else.

“Forget it.”

The Shadow Crystal was making Hitana feel irritated, so she tossed it into her tool bag without care: “Might as well go train. If I’m not strong enough, I can’t help Hydra…”

The girl stood up, stretched lazily, and muttered: “Come to think of it, these past few days, it’s been Lina helping him. I haven’t done much for Hydra… That’s probably not great.”

Feeling a slight pang of guilt, Hitana quickly changed into her training clothes.

She pulled a collar from the jewelry drawer under her vanity and fastened it around her neck with practiced ease.

Anselm’s tailored training regimen for her included enduring low-voltage electric shocks to temper her body—she didn’t know how it worked, but she just had to let Anselm know before training.

As Hitana was about to close the drawer, she caught sight of a ring inside.

It was the emerald-encrusted ring she’d nabbed from Chishuang Mansion, undeniably beautiful from any woman’s perspective.

“Didn’t Hydra say… I need to be mentally prepared to wear this thing?”

Hitana picked up the ring, tilting her head to examine it: “What’s that supposed to mean? Does it have negative effects? Good for weight training?”

She’d wanted to try it on a few days ago but forgot where she’d put it—turns out, it was in the jewelry box.

Trusting that “Hydra wouldn’t harm me,” the curious young wolf slipped it onto her index finger without a second thought.

It’s fair to say Hitana was that kind of person.

With Anselm handling any potential consequences, her already impulsive and limited mind had all but shut down in most situations, acting purely on instinct.

“Hiss!”

A sharp pain and tearing sensation ravaged her brain for a few seconds.

Hitana clutched her forehead, brows furrowed, taking about ten seconds to recover.

“…That’s it?”

Aside from the initial pain, there was no notable effect, which puzzled her.

“Hmph… Ha!”

The girl shouted, throwing a punch forward.

Sadly, no light beam shot out as she’d hoped.

“Tch, boring. I’ll ask Hydra about it later.”

Disappointed, Hitana lowered her arm, grabbed a fruit from the ever-replenished basket, and munched on it as she sauntered out.

Barely two steps out, a maid approached, smiling gently and curtsying.

Hitana was about to nod back when she heard—

“This wild wolf is so rude and uncouth, not a shred of ladylike grace. Why does the master dote on her so much?”

“Pfft—”

Hitana spat out fruit pulp and juice, staring incredulously at the maid, whose lips twitched slightly.

“What… Did you say?!”

Rude and uncouth, fine—she didn’t care—but wild wolf?

No honorifics, not even her name?!

The maid’s expression stiffened: “Say… what? Miss Hitana, I didn’t say anything.”

At the same moment, Hitana heard a voice identical in tone but entirely different in content.

[She’s freaking out again? What a hassle. She almost spat on my clothes.]

The young wolf’s face darkened.

She stared at the maid for a moment before quickly shifting her gaze to the ring on her finger.

“…”

Without a word, she bolted toward Anselm’s study.

Along the way, she encountered several maids, and without exception, she heard—

[This wild wolf is running around so rudely again. Why doesn’t the master punish her?]

[So noisy… I hope she’s not disturbing the master.]

[She better not have run around outside and gotten her shoes filthy.]

[They’re sisters, so why’s the gap between the wild wolf and Miss Marina so huge?]

[If someone has to be favored by the master, I’d rather it be Miss Marina.]

Not only were the words varied in tone but unified in their disdain, Hitana also felt… their emotions.

Annoyance, envy, jealousy, indifference, even outright anger—no trace of positive sentiment.

The mansion felt like a terrifying cage lined with blades, leaving Hitana no room to stand.

She tried to remove the ring, but it was stuck fast on her knuckle, immovable.

Overwhelmed by the flood of emotions and negative words, Hitana clenched her teeth.

Though she wanted to scream and glare at the annoying maids, she held back.

She was used to others’ harsh judgments. Her overreactions were just instinctive, vengeful retorts, not because she cared deeply about every opinion.

Especially these maids! All they do is wipe tables and mop floors… Lina washes my clothes, not you lot. What’s with all the griping?

Hitana had never cared about befriending these maids, so it didn’t matter.

But if this thing couldn’t be removed and she had to listen to these gossipy women all day, that’d be infuriating!

Plus, she had no lowlife hobby of eavesdropping on others’ thoughts.

She needed to ask Hydra how to get this thing off, fast.

Our young wolf was either being reckless or paying the price for it.

She soon reached the study, the closed door sparking her irritation.

She pounded on it:

“Hey, Hydra! I need to talk to you!”

“…Hitana, did you forget what I promised Marina yesterday?” Anselm’s voice came from inside.

His tone carried a hint of warning, its seriousness and gravity making the girl even more uncomfortable.

“But it’s really important!” Hitana, never turned away by Anselm before, felt a pang of grievance.

“I, I’m in some trouble.”

After two or three seconds, she heard a helpless sigh from inside.

“Marina, please open the door.”

The girl’s tense expression eased, and she crossed her arms, grinning as she waited for the door that never stayed closed to her.

He sounded so serious… but he still opened the door. Fine, unless it’s super important, I won’t bother—

As the study door opened, Marina appeared, wearing a black butterfly hair clip, her usual plain braid replaced with sleek, straight hair, her lashes and eyeliner slightly bolder, looking almost like a new person.

She smiled at Hitana:“Don’t rush, Hitana. Come in and talk slowly.”

But Hitana’s thoughts, along with her smile, froze.

Because she heard.

The moment she saw Marina’s warm smile, she heard… her sister’s inner voice.

Numb and cold.

[What a hassle, Hitana.]

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep