"Possessiveness and Protectiveness"

Ina looked as though she were thinking for a moment, then raised her hand and pinched the corner of the check. It seemed she knew how to act in her own interest.

Yet the old man did not let go. Clearly, his face held only gentleness and modesty, yet the authority of one in power—stern without anger, without words, without any verbal threats—was quite enough to leave a deep impression, enough to make one involuntarily shift away the gaze that met his.

"Doctor, I believe you must have encountered quite a few people like myself. We possess a modicum of wealth, but in the twilight of our years, even a lion grows old. People are no different, and I am compelled to consider matters more deeply.

For instance, secrets—those one wishes to share with no one."

The more one knew, the faster one died.

The check was tantamount to a down payment, a hush money. Taking this money meant accepting that risk and guarantee.

If no secret was leaked, all would be well.

If the secret was leaked, then he could not be blamed for being ruthless.

Such was roughly Semior's meaning.

A pure command would arouse resistance; a pure request would arouse contempt.

Only thus—a carrot in one hand, a stick in the other—with boundless benefits upon cooperation, would people be more willing to strike a pact with him.

The act of casually writing checks was also a display of his own power.

He could casually give her money that an ordinary person might never earn in a lifetime; naturally, the same way he had of giving her money gave him the way to permanently seal her lips.

Though Chlorine Sodium did not buy into his act at all. After all, while the old thing's idea was sound and his execution airtight, the only thing he miscalculated was...

Standing before him was a Herrscher, a god walking upon the earth.

Yet Chlorine Sodium had no intention of exposing it either, playing along in order to accomplish her own affairs.

Still, it felt utterly farcical, much like a dog boasting to a griffin about how magnificent its throne was, little knowing that a hyena's crown could only exercise power among hyenas, whereas the griffin stood at the very top of the food chain.

Even hyenas were merely one of the dishes on its menu.

"Grandfather!"

Suddenly, the outer door was pushed open abruptly, and a little blonde girl rushed in.

It was a Feline little girl.

Mm...

It seemed she had already been found, though it was unclear what Koschei wanted to do.

Yet whatever he did had nothing to do with her.

No one cared about the life or death of an extra; absolutely no one.

"Oh child, why are you up?"

That was a little blonde girl, and the old man who had previously been smiling on the outside while plotting within beamed with joy.

"I couldn't sleep... Who is that?"

The little girl threw herself into her grandfather's arms, and then those jade-like eyes caught sight of the blonde woman standing to the side.

The child gazed at her with curious eyes.

Oh right, remember to keep smiling at all times.

This was Koschei's parting tip before she left.

Ina was not cold by nature, so she had to act the part.

Even if it was a fake smile.

No, she only knew this one kind.

Yet one could not make a person imagine out of thin air the sensation of having a third arm; similarly, one could not make someone who had forgotten how to smile recover that mirth.

Even simple muscle stretching required subtle control.

Still, she did have another method. The advantage of methodology was that anytime, anywhere, one could achieve a similar effect simply by mimicking that approach.

Such as this.

The girl extended two fingers and slowly propped up the corners of her mouth, forcing herself into a somewhat stiff and subtle smile.

Shoddy and saturated with lies.

"...Grandfather... who is this?"

Yet this caused the opposite of the intended effect. It seemed the little girl before her was not easily fooled; with a hint of fear in her jade-like eyes, she slowly shrank back into his embrace, leaving only a pair of eyes peering out from over his shoulder, secretly watching the woman behind her grandfather.

"Oh, this is grandfather's guest. Go find A'fu to play with first; grandfather still has work to attend to."

"Mm, goodbye, grandfather."

He put the little girl down, and she scampered out of the room with pitter-patter steps.

"My apologies for the small interlude. Let us continue our previous topic."

It seemed that once people reached a certain age, they all grew very fond of young children.

Affection skipping a generation seemed to be observable anywhere, including another world.

"Children are always like this—endearing."

Perhaps because he had seen his granddaughter, his mood seemed to have improved entirely, and two more zeros were added to that check.

The meaning went without saying.

Perhaps he was in a good spirit, or perhaps Ina still had her uses. Because he was so attentive to concealing information about his granddaughter, he increased the stakes along with the corresponding responsibility.

Yet the nanny behind the door looked somewhat flustered.

It was only natural. Although the old man before her was kind and affable toward his granddaughter, this matter should not have allowed Ina, an outsider, to see her. It was a dereliction of duty on the nanny's part.

For one who failed in their duty, he was not nearly so gentle.

Yet all of this had to be handled past this outsider first before the matter could be properly dealt with.

The man still wore that modest and gentle smile.

Dream interpretation?

He really knew how to invite trouble for himself.

Spirit and psychological suggestion did indeed share a connection, but asking her to interpret a dream? She suspected he was intentionally making things difficult for her, Chlorine Sodium.

The whole affair was absurd.

The grand duke had cast out his problem.

That actually proved quite common. Lately, he kept having nightmares, and the contents of those dreams were roughly identical.

All of them amounted to a method of self-cognition.

Yet, this felt far more like a curse.

That is to say, a prophecy.

According to the grand duke, he had dreamt of a tall building of his own, alongside fluttering heavy snow.

Though it was not presently the depth of Ursus's winter, even in Lungmen's winter, it was not a region where snow fell at random.

A region where snow almost never fell suddenly experienced a heavy snowfall out of season.

Snow falling in June—surely there must be a grievance behind this.

She was merely a doctor; why come to her if there was a grievance?

Truly troublesome.

"Perhaps it is caused by excessive anxiety. Dreams are not true prophecies of the future; they are more of a self-suggestion. After all, upon reaching the twilight of one's years, having weathered the midlife balding crisis, family conflicts and the mental frailty of old age might make one melancholy and drastically alter one's mood. Especially the shift in life rhythm in late life can lead to such issues as well. Perhaps you simply need a good rest recently."

As a doctor, Chlorine Sodium still offered her own opinion.

"No, it is different, Doctor. This is no mere anxiety."

The grand duke said with absolute finality.

"I can feel it. This seems to be a premonition, as though someone is telling me to do something."

Though he saw no concrete details, the dream itself felt like a piece of information.

It was telling him of the arrival of a crisis.

That made things interesting, but unfortunately, she was not a professional dream interpreter. Such dreams, possessing only imagery and mood without concrete details, were far too obscure and difficult to understand.

Still, she could have helped, but she lacked the interest.

"Yet it might perhaps be related to your granddaughter, for all you know."

Suddenly, perhaps stirred by a lingering, mischievous streak, Chlorine Sodium abruptly pointed out another possibility.

Naturally, Koschei, as a consciousness composed entirely of pitch-black malice, could be imagined to cause untoward events if he schemed toward certain ends.

After all, she was not standing on Koschei's side; they merely cooperated with one another. Cooperation between villains would sooner or later breed rifts, culminating eventually in a battle.

Thus, she was quite happy to manufacture a tiny bit of trouble for Koschei.

It was, after all, effortless.

As for whether this dream was truly related to Koschei, that was no longer her concern.

After all, whether it was meaningless or not mattered little, because she could make it so.

"The child... mm."

The grand duke did not possess Chlorine Sodium's malicious inner thoughts; he contemplated the alternative possibility offered by the doctor, taking it quite seriously.

Children always possessed a quality that evoked pity.

Especially those who were thin, small, and pathetic.

Much like why settings involving blind girls invariably aroused redundant protective instincts in people.

Redundant emotions.

Yet she had to admit, this possibility also counted as one of the methodologies: rousing the other party's protective instincts or possessiveness.

Those two impulses always ran parallel to each other.

Perhaps...

Thinking thus, the first face that leaped into Chlorine Sodium's mind.

Was... Yelena.

It fit those conditions perfectly.

If she had to find an excuse for herself.

Right, it was merely for this reason—because of those superfluous protective instincts, she cared more about that girl.

Right, it was just like that.

An additional investment.

Along with an outward appearance just sufficient to stir one's urge to protect.

Mm, it had to be so.

The girl thought to herself.

Woke up late. By the way, what causes a memory leak? Why does playing games sometimes always tell me my memory leaked, and then crash to desktop?

I don't get it. Collapses limply