Once they reached the smooth and well-lit mountain path, their travel significantly improved.
At a point where the viscount’s mansion was faintly visible, Annan suddenly heard a rustling noise coming from the woods beside them.
“—Your Majesty.”
A low and soft voice emanated muffled from beneath Zorgen’s scarf.
He stepped forward to stand in front of Annan and gestured for Annan to hold onto one of his scarves.
Zorgen was wrapped in eight dark gray wool that wound from his forehead down to his shoulders. The eight scarves of varying lengths dangled around his body.
Apart from those silver-gray eyes, not a patch of skin was exposed. He was wrapped more tightly than Danzo [1], and he could disguise himself as a mummy while lying in the coffin.
After Zorgen stopped Annan, Zoya did not leave but motioned to the players to check out the situation.
She looked deeply at Viscount, not hiding her suspicion and vigilance.
The three players looked at each other and followed the sound without hesitation.
Citalopram was so shocked that her soul seemed to leave her body on the spot — a sight that made Viscount Dolgoruky pause for a moment and take a second look at her.
However, there was no sound of fighting coming from the forest.
It didn’t take long for the players to return.
“Your Majesty, we caught a strange… little fella.”
Suuankou glanced at Old Viscount, hesitated, and then said, “I think you should take a look…”
There was a mixture of surprise, curiosity, and joy.
It was like seeing the cat at home suddenly turn into a cat lady—
However, when Annan saw what was following them clearly, he instantly understood why the players had such expressions.
It was a girl with white hair.
She was very young, barely clothed. Yet her skin was not dark or dry, instead, it was pale to the point of almost glowing… To be precise, her skin was indeed translucent.
She has a pair of dog ears on her head and a white tail under her body.
Her hands were tied behind her back with vines, and vines also wrapped around her left ankle, ending with a strand of hair from the Wandering Child.
On his head, the “strange hairstyle” that resembled tree roots extended a vine that roughly bound the girl. Clearly, this girl was the one he had captured.
This was probably a ritual modification that Wandering Child made to himself to make up for the fact that “Vine Strike” could not be used in most environments — he could now bring his vines.
The outfit looked odd.
However, players dressing in strange-looking equipment for the sake of attributes or special effects were also considered a characteristic of the game.
The girl with white hair had been trying to run away. However, upon seeing Annan, she paused, then crouched on the ground like a dog, looking up at Annan timidly with those silver pupils. Her eyes seemed to hold a certain eagerness.
“A werewolf?” The viscount frowned slightly in displeasure, “Your Majesty, I don’t know this wolf cub… it should be wild.”
“Do you need me to get rid of her, Your Majesty?” The tall, ghostly figure of Zorgen emitted a deep and soft voice.
As if she understood what he said, the werewolf girl suddenly became furious. However, she didn’t dare to growl at the old man, so she could only whimper and shrink back. However, the Wandering Child blocked her path.
The strange thing was that Wandering Child didn’t dare to touch her at all — he took a few steps back as if he was electrocuted.
“Wait a minute, Zorgen.” Annan suddenly had an intuition and said, “Don’t attack her.”
This familiar feeling…
He walked forward, squatted down, and extended his right hand to the girl.
When she saw Annan approaching, her eyes suddenly lit up.
“Woo…”
She struggled to get closer but staggered a little because her ankles were tied.
“Release her.” Annan stood up and commanded softly.
The child hummed in acknowledgment. The light green vines untied themselves from the girl’s body as if alive and retracted back to his head.
However, the vines were covered with a layer of frost marks.
The girl, who had been trying to escape all this time, did not flee upon seeing Annan. Instead, she affectionately rubbed against Annan, hugged his waist, and raised her head trying to lick his cheek but couldn’t quite reach—she was about up to Annan’s chest.
—It’s just like what it seems.
Feeling the attraction deep in his blood, Annan was thoughtful.
“This child is not a werewolf, or at least not in the traditional sense.” Annan turned around and explained in a low voice to the two Winter’s Hands, who frowned in concern, “She is… a Frost Beast.”
“Frost Beast?” Zoya was surprised.
She suddenly remembered something, “I recall that His Highness Dmitri seems to have lost a Frost Beast in the form of a werewolf.”
“It should be her.” Annan replied, “I didn’t expect her to be here.”
Zoya stepped forward to take a closer look at this girl — possibly the only Frost Beast Humanoid in the world.
However, after Zoya got closer, the girl’s pupils shrunk into vertical pupils. She was so nervous that her body stiffened — if it weren’t for Annan decisively hugging her tightly on the spot, she might have bolted away immediately.
However, even so, she still fearlessly glared at Zoya. She growled as a sign of warning… yet her legs wouldn’t stop trembling.
“…This little thing is afraid of Zorgen but not me?” Zoya joked.
Just when Zoya wanted to approach, the girl suddenly opened her mouth and took a deep breath.
Something pale white, like a phantom, peeled off Zoya’s face and was sucked into her throat.
However, immediately after, the girl began to cough uncontrollably as if she had choked on something.
Zoya immediately halted her footsteps.
Her pupils trembled suddenly but quickly calmed down again.
“…It’s really a Frost Beast.”
Zoya’s voice became slightly deeper, and her mood suddenly turned somber. Yet, she felt relieved.
Even a well-trained Winter’s Hand could not completely resist the Frost Beast’s active emotion-devouring effect at close range… even though it was only a Frost Beast cub.
No matter how powerful the Frost Beast was, it would not harm the people of the Austere-Winter family.
The Frost Beast was a transcended creature born from the curse of “Austere Winter’s Blood”.
Just as oars mimic fins and leaves mimic wings, the “Winter’s Hand,” a transcendent profession capable of paralyzing others’ emotions and consciousness, was originally born from imitating the survival mode of “Frost Beasts”.
However, Winter’s Hand was only human after all.
Having the Frost Beast devouring their emotion would leave a strong feeling of discomfort.
However, when the Frost Beast had consumed the emotions of a Winter’s Hand, it also felt discomfort—different from consuming the emotions of ordinary people, it was probably akin to the difference between eating hot grilled meat and eating grilled meat that had been frozen.
“Aunt Zoya, do you have any extra clothes?” Annan asked Zoya.
“Do you want to take her with you? That’s fine. His Highness Dmitri has been looking for her for several months.”
Zoya nodded, simply took off her coat, and handed it to the girl.
Although the Frost Beast was not afraid of the cold, and Zoya had no good temper towards werewolves—she also could not stand to see a girl so scantily clad in front of so many people.
However, the girl with dog ears did not accept her kindness.
She squirmed on the spot, shrinking her body and transforming back into the form of a white wolf.
That was a werewolf’s natural ability — to transform into the beast form.
…But she didn’t seem like a wolf.
It looked to be less than knee-high to Annan, white and fluffy. It was small enough to be held in Annan’s arms.
“Is this a white fox?”
Citalopram looked intently at the girl who had transformed back into her beast form, her eyes a little more fiery than before.
“…But, only werewolves can transform. I haven’t heard of any fox-men.”
Suuankou whispered, “So I think this is probably…”
“…A werewolf in the form of a fox or a fox-dog?”
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