Temptation

Seeing no trace of fear in Anna, Bellatrix frowned and circled her, her wand subtly pointing in her direction.

The four people farther behind felt tremendous pressure, but Anna showed no sign of panic. Instead, she casually changed the subject.

"Miss Black, I hear you've pledged your loyalty to Voldemort? And that you're a member of the Death Eaters?"

As far as Bellatrix knew, only a handful of people could address Voldemort by name. But remembering that Anna was a descendant of that distinguished lord, she understood where her confidence came from. Even so, she pressed her wand to Anna's chest, beside herself with rage.

"Watch how you address him. My master is the great Dark Lord. Don't think your surname can protect you. That old man Grindelwald is still shut away in Nurmengard!"

She delivered the threat viciously, only to be answered by a soft laugh from Anna, without a trace of mockery.

"The Dark Lord? That reminds me of something.

"The old man you mentioned, Miss Black-my father—was also called the Dark Lord by many people back then. But I've always thought he was more of a radical revolutionary."

The girl spoke slowly. As the little-known information reached Bellatrix's ears, the wand she had pressed against Anna's chest loosened slightly.

"You're... you're his daughter!"

Looking at Anna, who seemed to be reminiscing about her father's past, Bellatrix was the first Death Eater to learn Anna's true identity. Even though she was loyal to the current Dark Lord, she could not help being somewhat shaken when she learned this secret.

"The year my father was defeated by Dumbledore and locked up in Nurmengard, your master happened to be in his seventh year, about to graduate from Hogwarts.

"Voldemort was much better-looking then than he is now, and many female students admired him.

"He maintained a mild, gentlemanly manner on the surface, humble and polite, but he was actually distant with everyone.

"If you fell in love with him back then, I wouldn't find it strange. But now..."

Anna's tone could be called exceptionally gentle, yet she mercilessly laid bare Voldemort's past.

"Although he's a descendant of Slytherin, quite a few people knew back then that he was actually a genuine... half-blood."

With a woman this obsessive and a little mad, drastic measures were needed to shake her fixation.

Anna was eager to see how someone who had always championed the Pure-blood ideal would react upon suddenly learning that the master she followed was a half-blood who ran counter to everything she believed in.

Because the group of four was some distance away, and Anna had deliberately lowered her voice, they could only see a confused and distorted expression gradually appear on Bellatrix's face. They did not hear what Anna had said.

Seeing that Bellatrix had been stunned for the moment by this earth-shattering secret, Anna had no reason to lie to her. Everything she had just said was a fact Bellatrix had not known!

Before Bellatrix could answer, Anna took advantage of her shaken state of mind. Without mentioning the Pure-blood ideal at all, she turned to another subject.

"Miss Black, you were born into the ancient Black family. You should have lived a life of the utmost privilege and luxury.

"Not been ordered around and made to do dirty work by that half-blood fraud, work that could land you in prison.

"You should be a gorgeous, delicate flower, pampered and cherished, held in the palms of handsome men of equally noble birth.

"Not following behind some fraud, forever able to see nothing but his back. You know he won't even spare you a glance.

"You have what it takes to wear the most beautiful dresses and enjoy the jealous, resentful looks of other women. They can't even touch the lace on your skirts.

"Not wear dark, utterly drab robes, kneel humbly, and kiss the hem of that fraud's robes."

Anna spoke slowly and unhurriedly. She gently caught the tip of Bellatrix's wand between her fingers and slowly stroked it, never forgetting to remind her with every sentence.

Voldemort was a complete and utter fraud!

Her voice was like the devil's whisper. Her words were at times the sweetest candy, at others a blade coated in deadly poison, gradually seeping into Bellatrix's soul and slicing through every lie, cut by cut.

Sweet and delightful, dangerous and deadly.

"Look, dear Miss Black.

"You were born with everything the world has to offer, yet you can't win the heart of a fraud.

"How ridiculous and sad that is."

The girl's fingers were like a cool little snake, slowly sliding from the tip of Bellatrix's wand down its shaft to rest gently over her tight grip, while also clutching the woman's violently shaken heart.

"Take a guess. If that fraud found out you knew the secret he's gone to such lengths to hide, what would he do to you?

"Would he give you a Cruciatus Curse?

"Or would he press his wand to your heart and mercilessly utter an Avada Kedavra curse?"

!!!

Anna's final words were like a bright, burning spark, igniting all of Bellatrix's emotions.

"No, he wouldn't do that!

"I'm his most loyal subordinate! I'm the person who loves him most in this world!"

She flung the girl's hand away with a piercing roar of anger. She meant to point her wand at the young devil opposite her again, but even gripping the wooden stick with both hands, she could not stop its violent trembling.

The woman's once-fierce tone held unmistakable fear, because Bellatrix knew perfectly well that, if Voldemort learned of this, her end would be just as Anna had said: a blinding flash of green light!

The corpses dragged out of Malfoy Manor in recent days flashed before her eyes one after another.

Almost all the Death Eaters had gradually come to realize that the Dark Lord was growing more and more brutal, and increasingly suspicious.

She loved Voldemort, but she had not gone mad yet. She loved her own life more!

"Don't be nervous, dear Miss Black.

"Someone who disguises himself with lies isn't as frightening as you imagine."

Anna easily pushed the harmless wooden stick aside. The eleven-year-old girl only came up to Bellatrix's chest, yet her untroubled manner exerted tremendous pressure.

"At least the Dark Lord doesn't know about this little secret between us yet, does he?

"Dear Miss Black, if you trust me, you can try the Memory Charm.

"I promise he won't see anything about what happened between us in your mind."

The girl proposed a solution that seemed capable of resolving the problem perfectly. She also understood that, once Bellatrix told one lie, she would spend the days to come telling lie after lie to cover up a lie that could never be made convincing.

In the end, the woman turned and left Hogwarts with a small crystal bottle in her hand.

Silvery memories swirled and shimmered in the bottle.