An oppressive and unpleasant humidity filled the forest. After Cassia followed the wreckage of the unrecognizable truck, she found him.

“I also have a request for you, Cassia.” The Celestial of Ophiuchus offered her a deal. “They call him Alkaid, don’t they? I’d like you to bring him to me.”

“Why do you want to meet Lord Oh-Jin?”

“Haha. It's just a light curiosity. I want to see with my own eyes who the other master of the Black Heaven is that the Heavenly Demon spoke of.”

Facing Mobius, who warmly smiled, Cassia firmly shook her head. “I refuse.”

“Really? That’s unfortunate.” Mobius clicked his tongue softly and shook his head as though genuinely disappointed. “Cassia, you have a younger sister named Isabella, don’t you? She’s very beautiful, much like yourself.”

“Why are you bringing up Isabella all of a sudden?”

“Who knows?” Mobius’s smile sent a chill down her spine.

Cassia wasn’t foolish enough to miss the fact that he was using Isabella as a bargaining chip, cloaking threats beneath the guise of a deal.

“Unfortunately, Bella and I don’t get along.”

“Is that so? Then you wouldn’t care what happens to her?”

“That’s...” Cassia felt a suffocating pressure as if a giant serpent was coiling around her chest. She faltered and bit her lip hard.

“You really are a kind girl, Cassia.” Mobius kindly smiled. “Even though she took everything from you, you still can’t bring yourself to hate her, can you?”

“What do you know...?”

“Blood ties really are fascinating. As a Celestial, I don’t have such a concept. It’s an emotion I’ll never understand.”

Cassia clenched her fists with unease as she looked at the emerald serpent eyes glinting coldly before her. “I won’t let you have your way.”

“What a pity. Even if you’re not my child, I didn’t want to hurt someone who carries my Stigma.” Mobius clicked his tongue lightly and slowly rose to his feet.

From his shadow, pale white serpents slithered out and filled the forest.

***

Cassia staggered toward Kwon Oh-Jin, panting heavily as he faced off against Mobius.

“Haa, haa! No, Lord Oh-Jin!”

She anxiously tugged at his arm.

“You can’t... You mustn’t fight Mobius.” Her expression twisted in pain as she begged Kwon Oh-Jin.

When she had fought Mobius before, the memory alone left her pale and terrified.

Mobius looked at her with a puzzled expression. “Hm? Cassia, do you have any right to say that? Have you forgotten? You were the one who brought him here, not me.”

Cassia’s shoulders trembled. “T-That’s...”

“You were the one who betrayed him and lured him here. It was entirely your choice, was it not?”

“That’s because you had Bella—!”

“To protect Bella, you had no choice. Is that what you’re saying?” Mobius asked with a smile and nodded. “I see, I see. I guess what you’re saying is, your sister is more important to you than Alkaid?”

“T-That’s not what I—”

“If it wasn’t, then you shouldn’t have called him here. And not just that, you even told me yourself that you’d kill him with your own hands, didn’t you?” The white serpent shrugged with a cruel sneer. “If that isn’t betrayal, then what is?”

Cassia fell silent and bit her lips. She had chosen to lure Kwon Oh-Jin here despite knowing Mobius was waiting.

“If I were Alkaid, I’d be deeply hurt. He helped free you from the Black Heaven’s control, yet you turned your back on him and tried to kill him.”

“I-I...”

Cassia turned deathly pale as she stumbled back. Her hand that had been gripping Kwon Oh-Jin’s arm weakly slipped away.

Kwon Oh-Jin glanced back at her retreating. Then, he softly laughed and turned toward Mobius. “Listening to you makes the whole place reek of gas. I can’t stand it anymore.”

Gaslighting had its limits. The very man who kidnapped Isabella and threatened Cassia had no right to scold her.

“What’s with your wagging tongue? Ah, right. Maybe it’s because you’re a snake,” Kwon Oh-Jin said.

“Hm. So you’re defending Cassia? Interesting. Unlike the Heavenly Demon, you really are foolish.”

“The only foolish thing here is your dumbass.” Kwon Oh-Jin cursed and clicked his tongue. “Whether Cassia was wrong or not, that’s for me to decide, not you.”

Strictly speaking, Cassia had betrayed him. Regardless of Isabella being a hostage or not, she had deceived him and led him to Mobius.

She even told him she would kill me herself...

It wasn’t hard to guess why she had said such a thing.

She never really intended to kill me.

If Cassia had truly meant to kill him, she wouldn’t have pressed a blade to his throat with a clumsy threat. She would’ve just killed him then. However, Cassia couldn’t because they were both people she couldn’t give up. Therefore, she chose to sacrifice herself.

Maybe both Kwon Oh-Jin and Isabella could be saved if Cassia cornered Kwon Oh-Jin ruthlessly, only to fail and make a mistake. That seemed to be her plan. It was foolish and naive, but with no other way forward, she had raised the curtain on a pathetic little play.

“Is that so? Then what do you think, Alkaid? Are you planning to just forgive and move on since her sister was held hostage, and she had no choice?”

“Of course not.”

Cassia flinched at Kwon Oh-Jin’s firm head shake.

“No matter the reason, I can't forgive what you did this time, Cassia.”

“Lord Oh-Jin...” With sorrowful eyes, she looked at his turned back.

Of course, she knew she had done something unforgivable. Still, hearing it out loud from him made her heart drop.

It hurts.

A sharp pain struck her chest like being stabbed in the heart with a needle. Sticky guilt and self-reproach coiled around her throat.

I... After all, I did lie to him.

Cassia had hidden the fact that Mobius had kidnapped Isabella to lure him here under a false pretense. She had pretended to be the kidnapper herself and attacked him.

I betrayed him.

After living as nothing but a puppet smothered under dark clouds... After years of solitude and aching loneliness, he was the first who ever reached out to her. The only person who had shown him kindness. She could never repay him, yet she had wielded a blade against him in return.

Even hoping for forgiveness would be arrogance.

“Lord Oh-Jin, take Bella and leave this place.” Cassia staggered forward, standing between him and Mobius, who casually stood on top of the rubble.

She glared at him and summoned black serpents at her side. Even in her normal condition, she could barely stand against Mobius. Trying to fight him in her current state was nothing short of suicide.

“At the very least, I can buy you time.” She spread her shadow wide.

“Haha. So now you want to protect him?” Mobius chuckled and shook his head. “It’s too late for regrets. Just like how closing your eyes won’t make the world disappear, changing your mind won’t just change the fact that you betrayed him.”

“I know.” Cassia had no intention of receiving forgiveness.

She knew it was merely self-pity to ease her boiling guilt, but if she could buy him even the slightest amount of time to escape... If she, once like a vile insect hiding in the shadows, could offer even the slightest bit of help, then she would gladly sacrifice herself for his sake.

“You’ll buy me time?” Kwon Oh-Jin asked.

“Yes. I can’t hold out long, but if you move now—”

“Honestly... First the younger one, and now the older one. These sisters really know how to make me angry.” Kwon Oh-Jin clicked his tongue and recalled when Isabella had done something similar in the Demonic District.

He took one step toward Cassia and grabbed her by the back of her neck.

“Lord Oh-Jin...? Kyaa!”

He wrapped her around his wires and flung her back. Cassia rolled across the ground with Isabella.

“W-What are you doing?!”

“What do you think I’m doing? You’re in the way, so I’m setting you aside.” He frowned and stood in front of her as if to protect her.

Cassia’s eyes trembled as they fixed on his broad back. “But you just said you can’t forgive me...”

“Yeah, I can’t.”

Especially not the sheer stupidity of throwing her life away. He would never forgive that.

“That’s why I’ll punish you lots later.” 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

“What...?”

“You'd better brace yourself. I’ll spank you until your butt turns red,” Kwon Oh-Jin smirked. “I’ve got some experience in that department, you see.”

Cassia just stared at him in disbelief.

Spanked till my butt turns red?

“Lord Oh-Jin... are you an idiot?” She shook with exasperation. “I betrayed you! I used Bella as bait to lure you here! That’s not all. I even hurt you!”

Her attacks had really carried the raw and violent power of her Stigma. He had received numerous wounds from her truly trying to kill him. Now, he wanted to fight a Celestial just to save her? What kind of madness was that?

“I know.”

“Then why—?!”

“Well... uh...” Kwon Oh-Jin paused and sighed like he couldn’t be bothered. “Because I don’t like his face.”

“What...?”

“Look at him. Doesn’t he look exactly like a scammer?”

Mobius probably seemed like a kind, handsome man to others. To Kwon Oh-Jin, those venomous fangs gleamed all too clearly beneath that gentle smile.

“And I hate scammers the most.”