Chapter 94 – Meadow Wealth [2]

"What was so urgent that the famous Last Born of the Desdemona couldn’t wait a few more days?" Meadow said, sitting on a couch worth more than ten times the yearly expenses of a commoner household.

Cassius looked around him in genuine awe — not faked, not performed, but real, because the sight surrounding him was simply that inspiring.

He found himself in an oval-shaped room, coloured black, with paintings of a pink river covering the walls, spirits floating atop it and magical creatures gathered along its banks.

At the centre of the room stood two luxurious black couches facing each other, resting atop a pink carpet, with a table made from the bones of a Mirror Path Ravager between them.

The room was well lit, a light shaped like the W of Wealth hanging overhead, spreading a soft glow perfectly suited to any pair of eyes.

Then there were the shelves, equally black with pink stripes, as tall as pillars, encircling the entire walls of the room like a ring. Every inch of them was packed with books of all sizes and colours, lending the room a rusty, well-worn book-scent.

The atmosphere was cosy.

Cassius was slightly overwhelmed by so many books, realising that the game had not been exaggerating when it described Meadow’s obsession.

"If you are done fawning over my room-library," Meadow spoke, swapping her previous glasses for a pair of oval pink-rimmed ones that suited her face perfectly, looking at him with intensity, "then perhaps you can sit and tell me what was so urgent."

"You really do like books that much, Meadow?" He said, sitting on the couch and facing her with a faint smile. "I wonder why."

"A simple hobby."

"No simple hobby requires this many books." Cassius retorted. "Especially knowing what they cost."

"Money is not a problem." She answered, unbothered. "Wasting my time is. And that is exactly what you are currently doing, Cassius. So why not speak already?"

"As you wish." Cassius replied, leaning back on the couch, his cane resting leisurely at his right side. "However, before anything else, I want to know something, Meadow."

"Huh?" She cocked her head, waiting.

She didn’t wait long.

"What is your goal?" Cassius asked, his red eyes completely serious. "What is the thing that makes you wake up every morning — sunny or cloudy or rainy — and start working on it even when it’s the last thing you want to do?"

Meadow arched a black eyebrow, intrigued. "Why do you ask that?"

"I want to know."

"Don’t tell me, Cassius, that you came all the way here just to have leisurely conversations with me?" She whispered. "What? Is your wife not giving you enough attention? Who is she again?"

"Isolde Amaris."

"Ah, yes, the Tier Three woman overshadowed by her own sister." Meadow smiled, her pink eyes glowing behind her glasses. "I won’t lie, Cassius, I was deeply disappointed to hear you married not only a Tier Three, but the lesser of the two. Tell me, aren’t you worth more than that?"

"Oh, Meadow, you hold me in such high regard?" Cassius smiled thinly.

"No." Meadow smiled mockingly, openly. "But your family is interesting enough."

"Interesting enough?" Cassius chuckled, more amused than irritated. "What gives you that confidence?" He asked, then shook his head almost immediately. "No, wait. I already know. Is it the money your family possesses?"

"Oh my." She laughed. "Is that disdain I taste under your words? Oh, Cassius, you sweet fool."

She uncrossed her legs and leaned forward, her dark-skinned face framed by her glasses a sight to behold. "Don’t take this as a threat, please, really don’t! But it is the money I possess—!" 𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂

"I?" Cassius snickered. "It’s not your money. It belongs to your mother. To your family, Meadow."

Meadow went immediately silent. Cassius pressed on.

"What do you have that is yours?" He asked. "Or even, what do you plan to have for yourself?"

He didn’t bother waiting for an answer.

"Let me answer for you: nothing at all." His teeth bared a grin. "Is that why you can’t answer my first question? Is that why you are trying to redirect to my wife? Oh, Meadow, what do you actually know about my life or my wife to dare say anything about either of them?"

"Oh." Meadow exclaimed, not intimidated at all, though a touch of annoyance was clear in her pink eyes. "Are you really acting like you care about your wife? You, Cassius Desdemona?"

"Do you know me?"

"Everyone—!"

"Meadow." Cassius cut in, his eyes flowing like twin pools of bloody fire. "Do you know me?" He asked again, this time pressing each word with heavy intent.

The room tensed. For a moment, Meadow had the illusion of hearing the angry hiss of a snake.

Her pink eyes hardened, settling on Cassius as he continued.

"Don’t tell me what the Net says about me. Because if we are playing that game..." he sneered "...then I have news for you too, Meadow. Would you like me to list it?"

"What do you want, Cassius Desdemona?" She growled, patience already gone. "Say it now or get out of my room."

"Let me ask again: what is your goal?" Cassius repeated, unbothered by her threat. "Still, I know it’s unfair of me to ask yours without sharing mine. So let me tell you."

Meadow said nothing, irritated and annoyed, but listening. Yet subtly, her eyes shifted, runic inscriptions flowing through them.

"My goal is simple." Cassius said, not seeing the shift in her eyes but feeling the quiet churning of her essence. "I want to protect my family from any harm possible. At least, that was what it was not long ago. But now it’s different."

"What do you mean?"

"I no longer only wish to protect my family." He said. "I also wish to live the rest of my life with my wife, Isolde...travel this world, grow stronger together, and leave behind something we can be remembered for."

The youngest daughter of the Wealth family, upon hearing those words, looked at him with sudden shock. Her eyes glowed brighter. The runic inscriptions blazed with intense brown light, and slowly...

"...you are not lying?" She muttered in slight disbelief, blinking rapidly as if looking at something she couldn’t quite believe.

Unseen by anyone but herself, her eyes were reading one single colour coating Cassius’s body.

White. The white of Truth.

Cassius smiled inwardly, recognising it as Meadow’s First Skill: Truth Discernment, activated the moment his words had carried enough weight.

A Skill that would make her a formidable merchant if she truly committed to it, and someone people would despise having across the table from them.

But at that moment, it had worked entirely in his favour.

"Of course." He shrugged, completely honest. "This is exactly why I said you don’t know me. You, more than most, should know better than to trust what the Net says about anyone or anything. Just as I am not trusting what it says about you. And that’s what makes me ask you, Meadow..."

He paused, looked at her deeply, then,

"...what is your goal?"

Meadow didn’t answer immediately. Her face turned slightly strange, as if deeply reluctant to speak, yet finding herself compelled to anyway.

It wasn’t strange to Cassius. He knew from the game that Meadow would always answer honestly when directly asked a question.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t lie. She simply had no wish to let a lie pass through her own lips. That had been part of her even before she awakened.

And when she obtained her Aspect — Soul of Truth — she had also come to deeply appreciate anyone willing to speak honestly to her, even if it hurt.

Yet Meadow Wealth had come to realise that most people — if not all — only ever lied to her, and did so with a warm, earnest light shining in their eyes.

She had grown sick of it.

That was when her love and addiction for books appeared and grew into something unhealthy, something that made her build library after private library, just for herself.

The one Cassius currently sat in was only one of many.

So it was no real surprise when Meadow sighed and finally answered, her face flushing hard — though with her dark skin, nothing of it showed.

"I... I want to win." She said, only then realising it was the first time she had ever shared her goal with anyone.

As she lifted her head and looked at Cassius, she doubted deeply whether it had been a good idea.

But it was either that, or going against her own principles. And if she ever did such a thing — if she dared lie to herself — she would have no right to expect honesty from anyone else.

So with great embarrassment and shame...

"I want to win."

"Win what?" Cassius asked, sincerely curious. In the game, Meadow had only ever appeared in the context of handling money for the main characters, known for nothing beyond her love of books.

Nothing else.

Perhaps because the first game focused so heavily on Anesthesia. But in any case, he was genuinely eager to learn something the game had never shown him.

That was exactly why...

"I... I want to be a bestselling author!" She squealed, burying her face in both hands with spectacular shame.

His eyes went wide.

"Queen above..."

—End of Chapter 94—