Chapter 196: Preparing For The Crucible [II]

Raven supervised Vivian’s training under a shade.

The shade was very useful, as the sun was scorching the earth, turning some grass golden.

The shade was formed by the shadow cast by a large rock, Raven’s arms crossed, while Vivian and her beast leap from one place to another.

Vivian and her beast can fly, while Roselyn and her beast cannot, because Roselyn’s beast was aquatic.

No one should worry about octopuses until pigs fly.

That was an advantage. Raven and Vivian proudly searched for it.

"How do you know that woman is pregnant?" Raven asked after thinking about it for minutes since Vivian told her.

Vivian replied, "Can’t you see she’s becoming increasingly obsessed with consolidating Adrian’s position and her own authority? She wants to create a comfortable future for all her children before they are even born. This is the law of female biology."

"Yes, that’s true," Raven muttered. "So, another one... step-sibling... another silver-haired brat."

"Haha, aren’t you silver-haired too? And new step-sibling(s), not just a step-sibling, because Roselyn is pregnant with twins. It could be a boy and a girl, or it could be two girls, but there will definitely be one girl. If there were no girl, she wouldn’t be taking away our privilege. So she’s making room for a new Kingsley girl."

"You don’t know what you’re talking about..."

Vivian replied, "I’ve never been so sure about something. Our time in this house is up. So sad... And Father is doing nothing."

"He’s about to have a daughter or daughters, why would he care?" Raven spat. "He’ll side with Roselyn in the Crucible, not with us."

Vivian said, "Father is not here. He is on another pilgrimage, fighting the apocalypse with other great summoners. Raven, do you think I would challenge a pregnant woman to a Crucible with her husband present?"

Seeing the shock on Raven’s face, Vivian giggled, guessing that Raven didn’t expect her to be so clever and cunning!

Do they really have a chance to kill the Duchess?

"Vivian, then we must exploit Roselyn’s weaknesses!" Raven said. "For example, you can force Roselyn to defend instead of attacking."

Vivian replied firmly, "Yes. Force that bitch to defend herself instead of attacking."

This means that Roselyn might be unwilling to risk endangering her unborn children, so Vivian will exploit this by constantly putting pressure.

Raven said again, "Second, pregnant summoners are reluctant to use skills and techniques that consume a lot of Aeon. You must take advantage of this."

Vivian repeated with a salute, "Capitalise on her reluctance to employ high-cost skills and techniques, understood!"

Raven said, "Third, always make her choose between victory and protecting the twins, for example, deliberately creating situations in the middle of the fight where Roselyn has to decide whether to use dangerous techniques or let you gain the upper hand just to protect the children. Yes, this is similar to the first one, but it’s more like a psychological strategy."

"Psychological strategy! Got it, sis!" Vivian saluted again.

Afterward, Vivian lowered her hand from the salute, this time with a serious look on her face.

Seeing this expression, Raven couldn’t help but ask what had caused the drop in morale.

"Sister, in order for me to win, you know I have to kill two unborn children," Vivian said. "Their mother might be devil-sent, but they are innocent... I can’t kill innocent souls... Moreover, we have one or more half-sisters who might not be like Adrian..."

Raven snorted.

"Hmm... Vivian, do you have any Fetus-Saving Techniques?"

Vivian stammered a negative answer, and Raven interrupted her.

"If Roselyn cared well about her unborn children, do you think she should accept the Crucible that would put them in such danger? So why do you care more than the mother does?"

"I think you are right," Vivian said. "What was I thinking, imagining that the girl would grow up differently? What if she becomes a mini-Roselyn? It seems that I still feel this family will change."

"There’s nothing wrong with having that feeling. This is your family," Raven advised. "It may change, or it may not change, so you have to make a decision and change the status quo instead of continuing to live in uncertainty."

Vivian hugged Raven.

"Thank you, Sister. What would I do without you?"

Raven hugged her sister back. What would I do without you? she thought, the same words Vivian just said, though Vivian would never know.

Meanwhile, not far away, the hooves of a horse thundering on the grass, and the rider bouncing up and down as the horse galloped across the field.

Horse and rider had one destination: where Raven and Vivian are training.

That hair fluttering and glimmering in the sunlight, so bright, it may blind.

The silver hair in the sunlight was like a beam of death, no exaggeration!

And on Adrian, his ever well-groomed hair was just the icing on the cake!

Raven and Vivian saw him coming, but they sensed his bad energy first, before they even knew it was him on the horse.

Therefore, their half-brother, who has always hated them, Raven and Vivian do not want to have any relationship with him because they owe him nothing, so his purpose for coming here must be trouble.

So, Raven summoned her beast, the Crimson Hellhound, as a guardian.

NEIGH!

Adrian’s horse neighed and panicked when it saw the Elder-grade beast, rearing up in fear and almost throwing Adrian off its back.

However, the other person riding with Adrian lost her grip and fell off the horse.

The girl had peach hair and was wearing a blue dress.

When she fell to the ground, her peach hair scattered everyplace.

"Ow! Why, Dear..." She cried, frowning, and climbed to her knees.

However, Adrian didn’t pay attention to her

Adrian is interested in steadying the horse, while keeping his eyes on the Crimson Hellhound and his half-sisters.

"Get up, stop complaining, it’s you who are too afraid to ride my griffin. Thank goodness I listened to you. It turns out you can’t even ride a mere pony."