That's right...... Home is where your family is.

Even if the memories of the past have been completely forgotten by themselves, even if the other party can't feel love at all...... But the bloodline, as a link, still strung the hearts of the two together.

Maria examined Annan for a long time.

She used her fingertips to confirm whether there were any scars on Annan's skin, pinched Annan's left shoulder and upper arm, and touched his back to confirm whether the flesh was too much or too little.

Annan was fiddled with like a doll, but he didn't have the slightest patience.

After checking her whole body, Mary sighed deeply.

"Little Annan...... I've grown up.

She took a step back and muttered, "The body is too, finally strong." ”

Of course...... When I left home, my strength was 7 and my constitution was 6, but now I have 15 points of strength, and my constitution attribute has broken fifty and entered the transcendent realm.

Annan said in his heart.

Maria held Annan's hand that was not holding the scepter with both hands, carefully felt the muscles of Annan's fingers with her fingertips, lowered her head and whispered, "It's hard to be alone outside, isn't it?" ”

“…… OK. ”

Annan was silent for a moment before replying in a low voice.

It's not that hard.

"After all, I'm not alone, I also have friends and people I can trust."

“…… Friends should choose well. ”

Mary looked up and repeated with some apprehension, "Some friends are meaningless. Bad friends will only drag you down, bring you badly, and hurt you...... Be sure to choose your friends well and choose good friends. Choose friends who can keep up with you, help you, motivate you, or supervise you.

"Don't think about it...... I was able to take everyone to distant places. That would be too tiring......"

Maria's ice-blue pupils stared at Annan as if she were staring intently at the whole world: "Although you are now the Grand Duke, there is no need for you to give your life for this country...... It's okay to be selfish once in a while. ”

She spoke a very different language than Ivan and Dmitry.

Because for Maria, Annan is the most important person in this world.

Mary has a very obvious "hierarchy" of different people—how close she can be to herself, what she can say, and what kind of help and feedback she can give...... If two friends quarrel, which side she should stand on, she has always had a very clear standard in her heart.

Even, not just friends.

For Mary, whether it is power, power, mission, glory, affection...... All of this, in her heart, has an unusually clear hierarchy.

She is the one who truly has the heart of winter.

Perhaps because she is a relatively rare female descendant of the Rindong family, her atavistic signs are even more obvious - her personality, talents, and blood form are closer to her grandmother.

Cold, rational, paternalistic ...... and sacrificialism.

If it weren't for the Book of Cranes, she would undoubtedly be the most powerful and willed person in the entire family.

And in Maria's heart, Annan's "status" is very high.

Because Annan is Mary's closest relative...... Proarer than Dmitry.

This is a common sense that has always existed in this world and this era, but has always been deliberately ignored - that is, there must be a gap between the degree of intimacy between half-children and half-mothers.

Even if it is whitewashed as "brotherhood", the gap between this bloodline exists objectively.

The relationship between Maria and Dmitry was necessarily not as close as that between her and Annan. Whether it's the age gap between her and Dmitry, or the fact that they only have half of the same bloodline.

If it were an ordinary child, he might deliberately alienate Annan in order to make up for this objective emotional gap - in order to tell Dmitry that this "brotherly relationship is fair and equal".

It's like when your own child quarrels with your adopted son, you will favor your adopted son.

But Mary didn't do that at all.

From the very beginning, she realized that her feelings for Annan were stronger than for Dmitry. There is no attempt to disguise this or to follow an egalitarian approach in order to demonstrate fairness...... Her preference is not half hidden, no matter to whomever it is.

In fact, this is one of the reasons why Annan was mainly raised by Maria – which is exactly what Mary wanted. She was only five years older than Annan to participate in the operation of raising her younger brother that Dmitry was responsible for, and she refused to interfere with everything she could.

The results are also remarkable.

Annan's remarkable wisdom, which he was born with, was not initially shown to Maria and Dmitry. The main thing that knew about this was Ivan...... Then there is the old grandmother, and then Vladimir.

When Annan came into contact with the "Ten Fingers", he was even earlier than Dmitry.

Until then, Dmitry had always thought that Annan was a "shy" man; And Maria thought that Annan was a "gentle" person.

This is actually because Annan is too lazy to go out to play with the little kid, and he doesn't want to throw his face at this stubborn sister who tries to take care of herself.

Until Annan took Dmitry and gambled with the rotten man......

It was only then that his wisdom began to manifest itself in the eyes of his brothers and sisters.

And after that, a long time passed...... Dmitry gradually became accustomed to Annan's command and supervision, but Maria did not finally learn everything from Ivan until Annan left home last year and erased her memories.

Annan could also guess why he had been hiding from Maria for a week. Her character is that Annan is bigger than everything...... The idea of abandoning his memory to seek justice and fit the way of the chariot will certainly not be supported by Mary.

- This is also the reason why Maria's emotions were a little out of control when she first contacted Annan.

Annan had expected to see Mary when he returned home...... Mary will be more excited. For example, slapping yourself, or hugging Annan's headache and crying, or making an awkward fuss and ignoring yourself.

I didn't expect it......

It's just a careful look at the whole body.

In fact, Annan was also able to understand Maria's thoughts.

After all, shortly after Annan's birth, his mother and Maria's mother also died.

She gave birth to a total of four children, Annan was the third - she died after giving birth to her fourth. The second and fourth children died when they were two years old and when the moon was full, respectively, and only Maria and Annan survived.

Mary watched her brothers be born and die, watched her mother die in her youth, and now her revered father left them.

- Annan has become Mary's closest relative in the true sense. Every time I looked at Annan's face, which was almost the same as my own, this feeling became even deeper.

And after coming back this time.

Annan was finally different from her.

Whether it's the warm smile that gives people a strange feeling, the heterochromatic pupils, the spell lines on the shoulders, and the body that has become stronger......

She shook her head vigorously, dispelling the images.

"I brought you a gift, Annan."

Maria stretched out her hand, put it to her lips, and said seriously: "You must not tell Dmitry...... And a gift that will certainly be very helpful for your current situation. ”

“…… What is it? ”

"It's this."

As she spoke, Maria took a paw from her bosom.

It's really [one paw]. Canine paws.

"It took me a lot of effort to finally dig it out of the wasteland of the Pillar of Poison Ferns......

"The [Nightmare Coordinates] of that traitor Bella."