A Villain's Way of Taming Heroines

The streets were a dark crimson.

It was as if countless buckets of paint had been haphazardly spilled, coloring the roads and houses in large, arbitrary patches.

And if this dried dark red were indeed paint, then the brushes… could only be the scattered severed limbs.

Ansel stood at the edge of the street, looking down at the lower district, which resembled a spiral hell.

He had no idea what plans and arrangements Marlina had made, but it was clear that... her plan had spiraled out of control.

Regardless of her temperament, Marlina had never erred in her judgment. She would never allow a riot she had instigated to escalate to such an extent.

Ravenna, her expression cold, resisted the urge to rush in and treat the wounded, rubbing her temples vigorously.

"Whatever is going on… summoning the extraordinary beings of the Whistling Legion to treat them, will that interfere with your plans?"

Ravenna was unsure of what kind of image Ansel wanted to craft for Faust. Directly calling the extraordinary beings to treat the wounded would certainly affect how others perceived Faust. So, despite her strong desire to help, she first sought Ansel's opinion.

"If it's a bit troublesome," she paused, "I'll find a way to resolve it."

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Ansel shook his head. "Judging by the state of things, the riot ended some time ago. There are no wounded requiring immediate attention."

Ravenna glanced at the street, strewn with dried bloodstains. Ansel's words did calm her a bit, but the outrage and suspicion within her remained undiminished.

What could have happened… to turn the lower district into such a scene of carnage?

"Let's go," Ansel said softly. "We need to see for ourselves what happened."

As they descended, the streets were almost deserted, scattered only with dismembered limbs and corpses, and various blood-stained "weapons"—kitchen knives, clubs, any hard object capable of causing harm had been used as weapons, a testament to the sheer madness of the violence that had erupted.

Not far along, Ansel noticed several round objects hanging from the cables ahead.

They were... human heads.

Tied with hemp ropes, the heads swung in the wind, their expressions of terror at the moment of death frozen on their ghastly white faces, looking utterly horrifying.

Ravenna's eye twitched slightly. "If I recall correctly, two days ago, this was a poor and gloomy lower district, not some jungle occupied by a primitive tribe."

Hanging several heads... was it a protest? Or a show of spoils? In any case, such brutal and savage actions should not have appeared in this moribund place.

"The civilians have not been greatly harmed."

Ansel suddenly spoke. "Many people are hiding in the surrounding houses; you can sense them, can't you, Venna?"

Ravenna looked around. Although most of the surrounding houses were severely damaged, a slight release of her perception confirmed that, as Ansel said, many people were indeed hiding inside.

"And," the young Hydral said softly, "they are not hiding."

As Ravenna stood momentarily stunned, the door of a house a few meters away was suddenly kicked open from the inside.

A few men, dressed in tattered clothes with several newly healed wounds, rushed out carrying sacks. From the clattering sounds, it was clear the sacks were filled with valuables.

Ravenna, eyebrows raised, was about to apprehend them when Ansel raised a hand to stop her.

"They are civilians," Ansel said concisely, meeting the scholar's puzzled gaze.

"Civilians..."

Ravenna, hidden alongside Ansel, was momentarily taken aback. She then scanned the area again with her perception, her expression becoming more complex.

She realized the anomaly—this area at the top of the lower district was actually the best part of the lower district, almost comparable to the upper. The people living here were undoubtedly influential and wealthy individuals, so why were so many of people... crammed into such a place?

Having refrained from intervening, Ansel and Ravenna watched as the men fled in haste. As Ansel turned his gaze towards the lower levels, he heard Ravenna speak in a complicated tone:

"They are not hiding; they are looting."

"A massive riot has swept through the entire lower district."

Ansel shrugged. "It seems no one was spared, not even this area closest to the upper district. Or rather... this might be where the riot was at its most brutal."

As Ansel looked further down, he noticed that although the scene below was still grim, it was far less horrifying than here, where dismembered limbs and bloodstains were everywhere. At the entrance to the lower district... this was evidently the site of the most intense fighting, the endpoint of the riot.

"As expected..."

He turned to look at the heads hanging from the cables. "The most prominent residents of this area should be among them."

Ravenna was stunned for about three or four seconds before asking in disbelief:

"You mean the civilians of the lower district killed almost all the wealthy and powerful people here? How is that possible? Where did they get the ability and cohesion..."

They got it under Marlina's manipulation.

Ansel sighed softly. He could already vaguely reconstruct the riot's development and conclusion.

Starting from the lowest part, under Marlina's design, the rioting crowd gradually swept upwards to the top of the lower district... She must have planted many manipulated civilians among the resisting populace or directly involved extraordinary beings to give them the courage and strength to fight against the gang members.

But due to Seraphina's sudden return, Marlina had to use herself as bait to lure her away, losing control of the entire plan, and then the situation spiraled completely out of control.

The extraordinary beings of the Whistling Legion could never truly obey Marlina. After she had been away for so long, they would undoubtedly disregard the plan and treat the riot... as a game.

The onlooking adventurers were probably the same. If not mistaken, they should have blocked the exits from the lower district, trapping the civilians, whose minds were dominated by violent impulses, and the gang members, who had been crushed along the way, forcing them into a final gladiatorial battle, which is why the surroundings looked like a hellish scene.

Marlina did not return... to restrain Seri. How could she make someone with such a temper as Seri restrain herself from returning to suppress the riot?

But regardless, the current situation is the worst possible for you, Marlina.

The devil glanced at his gravely concerned friend, gently rubbing the bracelet on his wrist.

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