Chapter 99 – Esmeray

Friday finally arrived.

The Royal Palace was bustling with preparations for tomorrow’s event, everything needing to be put in place for the heirs.

The palace cooks had already been given their instructions and were preparing a cornucopia of food for the occasion.

For that, untainted animals — ordinary animals with little to no essence in them, which had survived since the Age of Heedlessness thanks to extensive protection — were brought in to be slaughtered.

Sheep, goats, deer, chicken and even some bulls were all prepared for the feast.

There was also salmon and other fish that could only be sourced from the Wild Sea at the east of the Heartland.

Beyond the food, drinks and sodas were prepared alongside candies and other sweet treats for those who fancied such things.

The Hall of Welcomes of the Hood — where the event was held each year — was being cleaned and arranged, everything being set in place for the heirs to enjoy.

It would be the last time they tasted this freedom before stepping through the Academy’s doors. After that, only at the end of each academic year, or when given tasks by the Academy itself, would they be permitted to step outside again.

For this occasion, additional servants had been recruited to help with the installations and preparations, each one chosen after an extensive verification process confirming their eligibility.

The one responsible for that selection was Esmeray Hood, who was currently busy barking orders at the chosen candidates.

"You yellow-haired ugly man, do it correctly for Vorn’s sake." She bellowed, then snapped her head toward a pink-haired woman idling on the floor. "And you, if your ass is still on that floor in five seconds, you are—"

"I’m up, Princess!" Julie said with a giggle, making her comrades around her laugh. Without waiting, she walked off and busied herself with whatever task she could find nearby.

Esmeray sighed, muttering about how she would rather be in her room. Then she lifted a crimson-nailed finger and slowly scratched her nose, where her piercing sat, soothing a faint itch there.

Then she froze. A presence was behind her. One she had come to both recognise and despise.

"What are you doing here?" She growled, not even willing to turn and look at his insufferable face.

"Tell me, aunt, why do you dislike my presence so much?" Cassius said, wearing a simple black shirt and trousers, stepping around to face her directly and forcing her to look at him.

She scowled. "Am I under any obligation to like you?"

"No." Cassius said. "But I would appreciate a reason for the dislike. Maybe I can fix it."

"I simply don’t like you."

"I am not satisfied with that answer."

"And do you think I care?" She scoffed. "Please, dear nephew, just go away. I have things to do, can’t you see? Go suck my mother’s breasts instead."

"Finally." Cassius chuckled. "Now you are telling me what you are actually upset about."

He leaned his face toward hers — ignoring the eyes of people around them, who seemed to immediately assume something quite inappropriate based on the Hood’s notorious reputation for love affairs — and whispered.

"You are jealous, aren’t you?" He said, noticing that Esmeray didn’t dodge the closeness. "Jealous of me getting close to your mother. Of us laughing together while you stand in your own corner sulking like a child. Why not just admit it and save us both some time?"

"Admit what?" She smiled thinly.

"That you want to get close to your mother too."

"You know, Cassius, saying I want to be fucked by a million men at the same time would be more believable than that."

"No, seriously, you don’t want that?" Cassius exclaimed as if genuinely shocked.

Esmeray’s face froze, her lips twitching hard. "What the fuck do you think I am?"

"What a strange question. What else but my lovely aunt?" He smiled innocently. "And that is exactly why I am here, to ask you to be my chosen partner for the dance tomorrow."

"I refuse."

"You know you won’t find anyone more handsome than me."

"Maybe." Esmeray admitted, looking at his beautiful face with undisguised irritation. "But I will find someone who might actually fuck me afterward. That’s already better."

Cassius blinked, then rolled his eyes. "Is that the only thing in your head?"

Esmeray smiled with open, unashamed lust. "Oh, my dear nephew, you have no bloody idea. Lucky for me — and lucky for all of you — I took my pills this morning. Otherwise..."

She left the words unfinished, only smiling deeper.

"Whatever, Esmeray. I can see you are trying to steer this conversation elsewhere, but no, aunt." He shook his head. "You had better accept my proposal before I resort to our family’s speciality."

Her brows furrowed. "Which means?"

"It means I will have to blackmail you." He smiled with pure innocence. "I will do so by telling my lovely grandmother that you have kept every single gift she ever gave you stored neatly in a box, the same gifts you claimed to have thrown away and destroyed."

Esmeray’s eyes went wide.

"You take remarkable care of them, too. It is quite surprising, honestly, that you cannot sleep without one of them beside—!"

The words lodged in his throat.

Esmeray had closed the distance in a single step and wrapped her arms around Cassius in a warm hug — her body cold as a corpse, her face displaying nothing but love and affection for her nephew before the curious eyes watching.

Cassius returned the hug with a gentle smile.

However...

"I swear on the most Unholy that I will kill you if you dare, Cassius." Esmeray whispered through gritted teeth, still smiling beautifully.

"Then accept my proposal. Be my chosen partner."

"How do you know about it?" Her voice dropped colder.

"Secrets tend to whisper to me in my sleep." He said lazily. "And don’t drag this out. You know our reputation, people will start thinking something inappropriate if we hold this hug much longer."

He laughed quietly.

"So tell me, my dear aunt, do you—!"

BANG—!

Cassius’s face went red instantly, jaw clenching as Esmeray drove her knee directly into his previous jewelry; done in a way no one around them noticed, leaving him no choice but to swallow the shout and the curse, flooding his essence downward to ease the pain.

"How does that feel?" Esmeray whispered wickedly, still smiling. "You don’t want to tell me? As you wish, I will find out myself. But don’t you dare blackmail me, Cassius. Next time I will do far worse."

Afterwards, she caressed his hair, kissed his cheek, and broke the hug while smiling widely.

"Of course I accept, my dear nephew!" She said brightly, loud enough for all to hear. "Aren’t you adorable? Hahah! I will be extra beautiful just for you."

Then her face paused, her head cocking as if something had just occurred to her.

"I do hope your wife is not the jealous type, though." She added with a wink.

Cassius watched her go without a word. Managing, at the very end, in a voice just loud enough for Esmeray to hear — soft, full of spite:

"...fucking bitch." 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The Princess of Hood’s smile widened.

"That, my dear nephew, I am indeed." She shrugged, then her voice dropped. "And you will find out just how much of one I can be, if you dare do what you just threatened."

She walked away without waiting for an answer, already redirecting her orders to the servants.

[...does it hurt?] Ananke asked gingerly, after a moment.

’What did I say about learning to choose silence in delicate moments?’ Cassius said, sighing as the pain slowly faded.

[I think she should have kicked you harder.] Ananke scoffed, annoyed at her rude Blessed.

Cassius rolled his eyes and walked away, reminding himself he had a meeting with a certain maid in a few hours.

’Tsk. All of this to save her skin. Ungrateful aunt. You’re lucky I am a good man.’

With that thought, he disappeared from the hall, though not before his eyes settled briefly on a pink-haired woman behind one of the podiums, quietly going about whatever she had been tasked with.

He smiled.

’Well. At least she knows how to use a given opportunity.’

He exited the Hall of Welcomes.

Sarah was waiting for him in a few hours.

...

Nervously — almost with the steps of a cat struck by a fear far too great for its nine whole lives — Sarah stepped carefully into Cassius’s room under the cover of night, guided by Océane and, rather surprisingly, by Persephone.

The Head Maid rarely left Cassius’s side, always standing at the front door of his room or following him from a distance like a shadow. She only relented when given a sufficiently convincing reason.

This time, however, Cassius hadn’t managed to give her one. Persephone herself had noticed something odd about Sarah’s behaviour and quietly deduced what was happening.

Yet instead of asking questions, she had only asked Cassius whether he needed help getting Sarah inside without anyone knowing.

To say Cassius was surprised would be generous. Ananke had laughed at that, growing more and more certain about her dream of one day having Persephone among her believers — while still refusing to share the reason why with her Blessed.

After numerous failed attempts to understand, Cassius simply gave up and accepted Persephone’s help.

’Queen above, can you smile at least once?’ He would always think when faced with Persephone’s blank, impassive face.

It was unsettling.

But all of those thoughts evaporated the moment Sarah — dressed entirely in black like an assassin on a mission, wishing to become one with the darkness — stepped inside his room.

She spotted the chair already prepared for her. Without much hesitation, she walked forward and sat down, facing Cassius who was seated at the edge of the bed.

Silence settled over the room for a while. Nothing could be heard except the faint rustling of the wind pressing against the window.

Cassius looked at Sarah’s face, and found the one thing he had been hoping to see most: resolve.

The resolve to follow through on whatever she had decided.

With that thought, he parted his lips.

"Let’s not waste time on pleasantries." He said. "Before I tell you what I want from you, I want to know one thing first, Sarah."

"Yes, sir." She answered immediately, her voice soft but firmer than he had expected.

’Oh my... what happened in the last few days?’ He mused, then added:

"Will you not lie to yourself?"

"Sir..." she hesitated, "do you really want me to stop lying to myself?" She asked, still holding a small worm of uncertainty inside her.

"To not lie to yourself. That is the one thing I ask of you." Cassius nodded. "Because if you lie to yourself, you will lie to me."

He smiled without humour, his red eyes glowing like fire against a pristine white horizon.

"And I hate being lied to."

Sarah’s body shivered. She blinked, steadied her racing heart. "I understand."

"Perfect. Then let me ask you one question, Sarah." He raised a single finger. "Just one. And I want you to truly grasp the opportunity I am handing you. I want you to know this is your one and only chance to change your life. And more than anything, I want you to think very carefully before you answer."

"I will, sir." Sarah nodded, tightening her hands around her own knees, lips pressed into a thin line, blue eyes glowing with both fear and determination.

A determination that had not been there before. Tainted with something that resembled resentment. Hatred, even.

And so Cassius spoke, his voice like the whisper of a devil, yet carrying the care that only an angel could offer:

"What do you wish, Sarah?"

Sarah had known the answer to that question for a long time. Yet in the past, she had been terrified of it.

Afraid to admit it, and by admitting it, to acknowledge it. Because acknowledging it would mean she needed to work toward it, to actually pursue it.

She couldn’t. She had been a coward. A commoner. Someone who didn’t trust herself in anything.

But a light had come. A dangerous, searing, blinding, immaculate light. One that might burn her to ashes rather than guide her to salvation.

Yet it was the only light she had ever encountered in her entire life. And she knew, with an odd certainty, the unbearable regret that would drown her if she didn’t reach for it despite the risk.

Regret is immortal, as The Fool once said.

So Sarah — like the man who flew toward the sun after gaining wings — threw herself headfirst into the blistering light of Cassius. She suppressed the shriek of instinctive fear and cracked open her chest, pouring out her most fervent desire:

"The Prince!" She almost shouted, with a twisted, aching longing, and nearly dropped to her knees from the overwhelming force of it. "I want the Prince! I want him to love me! I want it, sir! That is my desire! That is my wish!"

She sobbed, her heart swollen with both love and pain, looking at Cassius through a world blurred by tears.

"I, Sarah — without a second name, commoner, maid, and orphan — want the Prince of this Kingdom as my lover. For I love him. So I want him to love me. For I could die for him. So I want him..."

She smiled crookedly.

"...to die for me."

—End of Chapter 99—