—This is the relic that Maria left when she killed Bella last year.
Maria inherited the Storm Tower and advanced to the Gold tier at the age of seventeen, two years ago.
And at the end of last year, soon after the man in the mirror ascended to divinity... It was only with the aid of the surveillance from the Storm Tower over the entire Winter Duchy that Maria finally stumbled upon the whereabouts of Bella, the werewolf traitor who vanished two years ago.
Maria’s feelings toward Dmitry were merely not as close as Annan’s.
But compared to other "outsiders," Maria still cared for and respected Dmitry deeply as one of her few direct blood relatives.
Naturally, for this she-wolf who had betrayed her brother twice and even the entire Winter Duchy, Maria had no mercy... one might even say she detested her deeply.
Facing Bella’s decision to bite off her own tongue to avoid revealing information,
Maria did not take an interest in interrogating her at length, but simply issued a "Decree: Suicide," causing Bella to die instantly.
Afterward, Maria didn’t bother to examine her body.
Instead, she directly rolled up a storm to bury her remains. Out of sight, out of mind.
But at that moment, Vasily Manning sent her critical information—Annan was still alive, and was in Noah.
Upon hearing this, Maria immediately took the news back and reported it to Duke Ivan at the earliest opportunity.
...And that was when she learned of Annan’s previous plan from Duke Ivan—it involved discarding memory. Even Duke Ivan himself was not sure whether Annan was still alive or remembered he was Annan Winter.
To discard his own memory—using his life thus far as a sacrifice, coupled with the Reversed Inscription, to completely reverse the curse of the Heart of Winter.
This was all to give Annan a greater advantage when facing the "mirror."
Maria did understand that in the long run... this plan would actually make Annan safer.
Fate is the rut of the Celestial Chariot—if any side of Annan’s "mirror" could break free from its symmetrical and similar destiny to Annan and defeat him, it would become the new holder of the Book of the Celestial Chariot.
Since Annan had been chosen by the Book of the Celestial Chariot to be the new Celestial Chariot, this was an inescapable "fate." The more one tries to seek it, the less one finds; conversely, the harder one tries to escape, the more inescapable it is.
This wasn’t a seven-way conflict, but rather a six-on-one rotational battle.
Being able to prepare early was indeed beneficial.
...But this was predicated on Annan’s plan being successful.
What enraged Maria most was that both Dmitry and Ivan knew of this plan.
It wasn’t just Annan keeping her in the dark—the men of the family had unanimously decided to exclude Maria from the plan.
Maria was very angry.
—Wouldn’t it have been better to include me in the plan?
Of course, they knew Maria’s personality very well... Now they were sure that Annan had succeeded. But if Maria had known the full details of the plan before it was executed, she might have wavered. Her knowledge of the entire plan might have had some adverse effect.
But as it turned out... Annan disappeared suddenly before the plan commenced.
He was suspected to have been attacked by the decay, but not even a body could be found, and prophecy spells were completely unable to locate him.
However, if asked by the Knowing Worm "is Annan dead?" sometimes the answer would be "dead," but at other times it was "not dead," with the reply continually fluctuating.
So there was still a possibility that he had survived. But even Dmitry, who believed in Annan the most, could only comfort himself... until they saw Annan again and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Now they finally understood why that question’s answer had changed.
It was because the "dark and cold Annan Winter" they knew had indeed died, but the existence that was "Annan Winter" was still very much alive... and had been resurrected anew.
So faced with this question, the Knowing Worm would give an entirely different answer.
Looking back now... thankfully, Annan’s plan was successful, which means that his past memories had been completely erased.
But Maria still felt some reluctance.
She had not provided any help with the plan itself and was completely excluded from it. So after Annan’s return, could she prepare some useful gifts for him?
Once Annan returned, he would become the new Grand Duke of Winter.
What could he possibly lack?
Maria pondered this for a whole month within the Tower of the Storm.
Eventually, she had an idea... perhaps she could find something that might help Annan recover his memories that had been destroyed but were recorded in the world and inscribed in the realm of dreams.
As long as there were nightmares in which the "Annan" of the past appeared, they could help Annan retrieve his past memories!
To be precise, it wouldn’t be correct to call it "retrieving". It was more like watching a play where he himself was the protagonist, to familiarize him with his past self... and in doing so, to understand himself better.
But where could she find such nightmares?
—The answer was on the cusp of reveal.
Bella, the werewolf who had been killed by Maria four months ago in the province of Saint Aleksei and buried in the wasteland near the Poison Fern Pillar... As a silver-tier Transcendent, even after death, she could generate nightmares.
From Bella’s experiences, her nightmare would likely be that gambling game from long ago... which was the last bet Dmitry took part in during his life. If Annan could relive that nightmare, perhaps he would gain a deeper understanding of his past self and Dmitry.
After understanding the situation, Maria ascended the Tower of the Storm.
Today, after her "sentence" of guarding the Tower of the Storm concluded, she immediately ran back to the Poison Fern Pillar to seek the remains of Bella, buried by the blizzard.
Thankfully... four months had passed, and no one had dug up Bella’s remains.
As a Transcendent, most of her body had decomposed after her death. The remaining artifacts were generally the "keys" needed to enter the nightmare.
The "key" left by Bella was her left claw in wolf form.
After retrieving this "key," Maria immediately sealed it... and then went to beat up Dmitry.
She knew that Annan had been alive far earlier than Dmitry. But Maria asked Ivan to not inform Dmitry about this for the time being—let him worry a little longer as a petty revenge.
And now, Dmitry had learned everything.
—So it was time for Maria to beat him up.
She had been holding back this beating for a long time... ever since she found out about Annan’s disappearance and Ivan and Dmitry’s involvement, she had been determined to beat Dmitry.
And to beat him twice—since Ivan was unwell, the elder’s share should be borne by the eldest son.
But if she rushed over and beat him immediately, Dmitry might actually realize what had happened and become happy.
That was unacceptable!
Maria patiently waited until Dmitry had learned the truth... which was now.
The only reason she didn’t go back to Frost Speech Province to deal with him sooner was so that she could finish beating Dmitry outside.
In front of Annan, to spare her foolish brother a bit of dignity.
...Once his wounds healed, she would bring him back home.