Last Born Of The Desdemona-Chapter 29: Isolde & Cassius [1]
Chapter 29 – Isolde & Cassius [1]
"W-We will take the teleportation portal, Young Master!" Océane stammered, bowing her head so hard her back cracked, face flushed red.
’Oh, Vorn take my soul, how is this possible?’
She couldn’t believe it. She had been desperately trying not to be affected since two days ago, but it was a vain effort. Her young master had become ridiculously beautiful, his eyes so compelling she felt willing to lose herself in them.
"Why so serious." Cassius chuckled softly, slipping on a set of purple earrings — a gift from Dorian — before going straight for his gloves. "I always tell you to relax, Océane. I don’t think I am that scary."
He paused, turned his head slowly toward her. She had recovered her composure, and his head tilted slightly. "Or am I?"
Océane twisted her tongue several times inside her mouth, swallowing everything that wanted to come out. All of it was inappropriate. The kind of thing that would get her killed by his sisters.
’Or even his new wife.’
It was one thing to think of her young master in a way that made her wish to be alone for a moment. Another thing entirely to actually show it.
The first would make her look strange. The second would put her in a dark chamber with laughing shadows for a discipline session.
So she reined herself in and smiled as politely as she could, hiding the storm inside. "You are not, Young Master."
That was a lie. He was scary. Just not in the way monsters were.
’Which makes it worse.’ She grumbled. ’But I can’t deny it, Lady Isolde is lucky.’
She pressed her lips together, taking in the sight of Cassius in his immaculate white suit. Regal. More prince-looking than the actual Prince of the Kingdom.
His white hair was cut short, revealing more of those mesmerising eyes — the kind that made her heart slam against her chest like a horse desperate for a mate.
His body was more athletic now. Broader shoulders. Sharper jaw. More defined arms and a wider back. All of it making his clothes look as though they had been tailored by a lustful goddess.
"I am ready." Cassius said, picking up the cane leaning against the wall.
Océane blinked, clearing the fog from her mind.
The first thing she saw was her young master’s knowing smile and his cane.
The cane was white streaked with purple, the pommel shaped like a snake eating its own tail.
"Tell me, Océane." He drawled, closing the distance between them one unhurried step at a time, the cane tapping softly on the ground. "Am I handsome enough for Isolde, do you think?"
He was now an inch from her, face looming slightly over her, his perfume hitting her nose like a direct blow.
White musk and cedarwood.
"...yes." She answered after a couple of seconds, quietly using her Aspect to harden her expression. "Lady Isolde is, without a doubt, a lucky woman, Young Master."
There was something hidden underneath her voice.
Cassius chuckled. "Ah, you should tell her that yourself then. Now let’s go. We have wasted enough time."
He walked past her, making his way toward the door with his cane. It was a sight to behold. Océane took a couple of breaths to steady herself, then turned on her heels and followed quickly.
’Young Master truly is different now.’
The two of them marched out of the house, finding the carriage already waiting to take them to the Teleportation Centre of Desde City, where they would be sent directly to Storm City.
There, members of the Amaris Household would be waiting to lead them to the Amaris Mansion.
And so the road was taken.
The inside of the carriage was comfortable. Cassius decided to sleep on the way, inwardly exhausted from training, and knowing he would need every shred of rest available for what was coming.
Because he would not only be meeting Isolde. He would also meet the Chosen Heiress, Anesthesia, and the Protagonist, Emrys.
This was the First Event of the Game.
The first and last event the original Cassius had ever participated in, because shortly after, Isolde killed him. Not only because of what his family had done, but because of his incompetence in front of her sister and childhood friend, humiliating her in the process.
’But you can’t fully blame him, can you? He didn’t know anything. And you, Isolde, made him even weaker with your antics. So he acted exactly like he always did.’
Spoiled.
And that kind of behaviour didn’t tend to work with Main Characters. The ending of it was obvious enough.
Cassius turned the event over in his mind again and again and again, until his thoughts drifted into the dream realm.
The next time he opened his eyes would be in front of the Amaris delegation, being led toward his first meeting with Isolde.
’I cannot wait.’
...
The travel was uneventful, both families having handled things in advance to clear away any potential problems.
Cassius and Océane met the Amaris members, who were dressed in black eastern-style clothes with purple stripes shaped like music notes.
Their faces were fully covered except for their eyes, giving them a strange yet intriguing appearance. They were called the Yinfu, a special group of the Amaris Family.
Only their leader spoke, and she wasn’t willing to go beyond a single word.
Océane found it rude, her eyebrows knotting together in visible disapproval. Cassius waved it off and followed them with a small smile, stepping into another carriage.
No one spoke inside. Cassius was glad of it.
He was genuinely nervous, about to meet the one girl he was as obsessed with as he was with his family.
The one girl he couldn’t bring himself to kill. The one girl he had made posters of with his own hands and hung them on his walls. The one girl he had spent countless attempts finding another impossible way around, just to avoid touching a single hair of hers.
Isolde truly didn’t know...but there was someone who had seen only her, in a world where everyone overlooked her for her sister.
Someone who loved her, cared about her, and accepted everything about her with open arms.
Yet she wanted to kill that same person.
Cassius couldn’t suppress a sudden chuckle. The Yinfu members glanced at him. He didn’t mind them.
[What if she really does try to kill you?] Ananke asked suddenly.
’She will definitely try.’
[What will you do?]
’I can’t let myself get killed, can I?’
He smiled and closed his eyes. Ananke said nothing, choosing to wait and see how it would unfold.
If there was one thing she knew about her Blessed, it was that he would never be unprepared for something he knew was coming.
So they travelled in comfortable silence, the Yinfu members staring at Cassius openly with guarded eyes.
A few minutes later, the Amaris Mansion peaked through the crowd from afar, and soft music began drifting around them.
...
[You’re nervous, aren’t you?]
’Queen, please learn to stay quiet in delicate moments.’
Cassius hissed inwardly, standing before a wide, heavy black door. The sigil of a music note was inscribed on it in blinding purple.
One figure stood at the front. He was short and stout, yet carrying the dignified bearing of a seasoned noble. This was the Amaris Household butler, looking at them with a welcoming smile.
Océane and even the Yinfu members lowered their heads in respect to his station.
Everyone but Cassius.
Not out of arrogance, simply because his eyes had been pulled elsewhere by something far more compelling.
A couple of paces behind the butler stood a woman.
Unnoticed. Unseen. Her presence so naturally merged with the space around her she was almost part of the architecture.
Tall, black hair pinned in a bun with a music note hairpin. Purple eyes glowing, and widening the moment she noticed Cassius’s red ones already on her.
Looking at her, Cassius had this strange impression of looking at a glass. Not because of fragility, but because of the lethality, the sharpness surrounding her, the quiet promise that getting too close would cost you something.
A promise of pain. A promise of death.
And at that, the Last Born of the Desdemona felt his heart pick up speed.
So while everyone else instinctively ignored the woman, Cassius bowed his head toward his soon-to-be wife and parted his lips.
"Sorry for making you wait."
Isolde’s heart skipped a beat, eyes flying wide.
DING!
[You have received a Fated Quest.] 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺
—End of Chapter 29—
