Volume knocked on the door, and a response quickly came from inside, "Come in."

She pushed the door open and entered. Anna was sitting at the table by the window, flipping through a thick book. Sunlight streamed in through the window, casting a long shadow of the girl. Her soft cheeks and neck were almost blindingly white in the light, and her flaxen hair, which covered her shoulders, was almost dyed a light gold.

After nearly a week of getting along, Volume had basically figured out Anna's temperament: straightforward, never beating around the bush, calm and quiet, and particularly eager to learn. In short, it was rare to find a child from a common family as pure and peaceful as Anna.

"Aren't you going to play that... card game?" Volume pulled up a chair and sat next to Anna. Recently, after practicing, the sisters would rush back to the castle and crowd into Soroya's room to play the so-called Gwent, fighting over each other's collected cards, seemingly enjoying themselves immensely. Even Nanawa Pine, who used to come to play with Anna every day, had rarely shown up since learning how to play. Unlike the past few days, she could always see the little girl with the magical healing ability in the room.

"I want to read some more," Anna turned to the next page, "I don't have your abilities, so I have to spend more time on this."

She read almost everything, from historical biographies to long poems, including the various folk tales she had heard from the streets and alleys. As long as it was compiled into a book, she could read it with relish.

Volume lovingly stroked her head, "Don't rush, I remember, I'll tell you everything, book by book."

This is the child who changed the fate of the Survivors of the Witch Union, Volume thought. Without her, Nightingale would not have gone to Border Town halfway, would not have met the Fourth Prince of Graycastle, and none of what followed would have happened. In a sense, she is the savior of all witches.

This was also the reason why she had a good impression of Anna from the beginning, and the latter quickly accepted her after seeing the magic and expressed great envy, which made Volume feel a little dumbfounded. In the Witch Union, no sister had ever envied her ability. In contrast, Anna's magic capacity was the largest of any witch Nightingale had ever seen, and her freely controlled green flames were also very offensive.

"Your hair is getting a bit long," Volume lifted Anna's bangs that were almost covering her eyes, "Has no one ever cut your hair for you?"

She shook her head, "I cut it myself."

Volume suddenly became interested, "Hair that's been chopped off doesn't look good. Let me trim it for you."

"You can do that?"

"In the Witch Union, I was the one who cut most of the sisters' hair," Volume chuckled, "Just wait a moment, I'll go get the tools."

She quickly returned with a cloth bag. Unfolding the layers of wrapped white cloth, inside was a pair of bronze scissors. The scissors were V-shaped, and the handles were covered with tiny scratches, giving off a moist luster, obviously used frequently. Before Volume joined the Witch Union, she used these scissors to make a living by cutting hair for people in the taverns of Seawindshire. The copper eagles she saved, besides buying bread, were given to an old one-legged captain, who taught her to read until he passed away.

Volume skillfully unfolded the white cloth, tied it around Anna's neck, and began to trim her long hair.

"I... I have some questions I want to ask you."

"What is it?" Volume's fingers danced, and the scissors opened and closed in her palm, making a crisp clicking sound. Strands of flaxen hair slid through her fingers and fell to the ground.

"The book you showed me yesterday, the many stories recorded in it, almost all have the same ending. Does the prince always marry the princess?"

Her hand paused slightly. That storybook was not a real book in the true sense of the word, but a collection of folk tales that she had heard from sailors in Seawindshire for more than ten years. However, Volume had deliberately screened the content, discarding stories without happy endings and those where the prince did not end up with the princess, eventually compiling a book and conjuring it for Anna to read.

Knowing that she would definitely ask such a question after reading it, she felt a pang of regret when she actually had to answer.

"Mostly so, but some princes also marry the daughters of grand dukes or dukes, such as King Wimbledon III of Graycastle, whose wife is the daughter of the Silverlight Duke."

After saying that, Volume sighed inwardly. Wendy had mentioned Nightingale's concerns to her. Compared to the mature and calm shadow assassin, she was more worried about Anna, who was getting closer to His Highness the Prince. Everyone could see how important this girl was to His Highness. When Anna was present, Roland's gaze would always linger on her more. She did several times the amount of work that the other sisters did each day. After Nightingale and Wendy's rooms were changed to be shared by two people, His Highness was the only one who did not adjust Anna's room, even explaining that Nanawa could sleep in the same bed as Anna when she stayed overnight in the castle—he didn't even realize that as the owner of this place, he didn't need to explain.

Anna was the same way. She didn't talk much when she was with the other witches, mostly being a quiet listener. Only when she was next to Roland did she become proactive. If anything could make her look away from a book, Volume would bet it was His Highness the Prince.

Unfortunately, Roland was the Fourth Prince of the Graycastle Kingdom, the future king whom the witches would strongly support, and Anna was a witch.

Volume couldn't remind His Highness the Prince, so she came up with this method to indirectly persuade Anna. She didn't want the two of them to grow apart, and she didn't want to see a tragedy with no end.

"Why?" Anna shook her head, as if trying to get the loose hair out of her neck, "What if the prince doesn't like the princess or a noble miss?"

"Uh..." Volume didn't expect her to ask that, "Then he would still have to marry. Because the prince is likely to become the king, and the king's marriage is not just his own business," she tried to recall the knowledge recorded in the book, "In order to stabilize the great nobles far away on the kingdom's borders, to appease the restless neighboring countries, or even to achieve a good deal. But most importantly, the king must have offspring."

Anna didn't ask any more questions, which made Volume breathe a sigh of relief. This kind of thing could only be persuaded slowly. She believed that one day she would understand. After trimming her hair, Volume smiled and scratched Anna's hair, "Not bad, much more energetic."

"Thank you," Anna said, lowering her head.

"Then, today's..." Volume thought for a moment, deciding to summon a history of the Wolfheart royal family to reinforce today's instilled impression, "Let's choose a family biography."

As she was about to say goodbye, Anna suddenly said, holding the conjured book, "I don't think Roland is like those princes in the stories." Her voice was very certain, not like she was trying to convince herself, "He will only do what he wants to do, regardless of everything else."

"..." Volume paused, "Why?"

"If he were that kind of prince, he wouldn't have saved me."