My Three Beautiful Vampire Wives can hear my Inner Thoughts-Chapter 198: Shut up

Faith’s eyes remained open, and for a brief moment, there was a quiet understanding in them that no one else in the room could grasp.

Then she continued singing.

The sound did not rush forward all at once. It returned in a steady flow, as if it had never truly stopped, as if the silence that came before had only been a breath taken by something vast and endless. Her voice carried a calm weight, gentle in tone yet impossible to ignore, spreading through the hall and touching every corner without effort. It was not loud, yet it reached deeper than anything that relied on force.

At first, it felt familiar.

The same melody.

The same pace.

The same softness that had drawn confused looks and quiet laughter earlier.

But this time, something was different.

There was a fullness in her voice now, something that could not be explained through skill alone. It felt whole in a way that made the earlier part seem incomplete, as if what she had sung before had only been a fragment of something far greater. The notes rose and fell with a natural rhythm, never forced, never strained, and yet every single sound carried a presence that pressed against the senses.

Cain stood still, his gaze locked onto her, his mind no longer distracted by the people around him.

And then—

He felt it again.

That same place.

That same state where everything lost its boundaries.

It did not come as strongly as before, not at the beginning, but it was there.

A faint connection.

A thread.

And that alone was enough to make his breath grow slower.

His thoughts began to quiet, not because he forced them to, but because they no longer held any importance. The hall, the guards, the competition, even the tension that had filled the air earlier, all of it began to fade into something distant.

Faith’s voice continued.

Each note seemed to carry meaning, not in words, but in something deeper, something that reached past understanding and settled directly into the core of one’s being. It was not trying to impress. It was not trying to prove anything. It simply existed, and because of that, it carried a kind of truth that could not be ignored.

The melody grew.

Not louder.

But deeper.

It spread inward instead of outward, pulling the listener along with it, drawing them into a place where thought and feeling began to blur together. It was not overwhelming in a violent way. It was gentle, yet it held a power that could not be resisted.

Cain’s fingers curled slightly at his side.

He could feel it.

That same glimpse.

That same unreachable height.

It was there, just beyond his grasp.

Closer than before.

Much closer.

His chest tightened, not from pain, but from something else entirely. A desire that had not appeared even in his past life now rose within him, sharp and clear.

He wanted more.

Not power.

Not control.

But that feeling.

That state.

That existence where everything else became meaningless.

Faith’s voice carried him further.

The notes no longer felt like sound. They felt like a path, one that led somewhere beyond the limits of what he had once believed possible. Every moment she continued felt like a step forward, a step closer to something he had chased for countless years and never once found.

And just as that feeling began to deepen—

She stopped.

The sound ended cleanly, without struggle, without hesitation.

It did not fade.

It did not weaken.

It simply ended, as if it had reached its natural conclusion.

Her black, straight hair settled against her back and shoulders, moving gently before coming to rest. The air in the hall felt still, as if even the space itself needed a moment to adjust to the absence of her voice.

Faith lowered her gaze slightly.

Then she looked at Cain again.

Everything froze.

No one moved.

No one spoke.

Pam stood where she was, her expression locked between disbelief and something she could not name. The confidence she had held earlier seemed to falter, not completely, but enough to show that something had shaken her.

The guards who acted as judges remained seated, but their posture had changed. The careless ease they had shown before was gone. Their eyes were fixed on Faith, their expressions serious, as if they had just witnessed something they did not fully understand.

Ivira and Cornelia stood close together, their usual composure gone. There was a faint tension in their stance, something uncertain, something that made them look at Faith in a way they had not before.

The silence stretched.

Heavy.

Unbroken.

It was not empty.

It was filled with what remained of her voice, lingering in a way that made it impossible to simply move on.

Then—

A sound broke it.

Clapping.

One of the guards began first.

Slow.

Measured.

Then another joined.

And another.

Soon, the entire group of judges was clapping, the sound echoing through the hall in a way that felt both genuine and restrained.

"It was marvelous," one of them said, his tone carrying clear approval.

Another nodded, leaning forward slightly as he looked at Faith.

"Truly impressive."

There was a brief pause.

Then his expression changed.

"But it is not enough."

The words landed with weight.

"Especially the beginning."

A few of the others nodded in agreement, their earlier reactions settling into something more official, something that followed the rules they had set.

"The first half lacked impact," another judge added. "It did not carry the same level of control or presence."

"Compared to Pam’s performance, it falls short in consistency."

Their voices were calm.

Decisive.

Unmoved by what had come later.

"The result is clear."

The lead judge leaned back slightly.

"Pam wins."

The finality in his tone left no room for argument.

Pam exhaled softly, the tension in her shoulders easing as a small smile formed on her lips. It was not overly proud, but there was satisfaction in it, a sense of confirmation that matched the confidence she had shown earlier.

Her gaze moved toward Cain.

There was a question in her eyes, but also something more.

Expectation.

"Well?" she said, her voice light but carrying an edge. "I won."

Her lips curved slightly.

"We can finally—"

"Shut up."

The words cut through her sentence without hesitation.

The hall fell silent again.

Pam’s expression froze, the rest of her words dying before they could be spoken. The confidence she had regained faltered, replaced by a brief flicker of confusion and irritation.

Cain did not look at her.

He did not acknowledge the judges.

He did not react to the outcome that had just been declared.

His gaze remained on Faith.

Focused.

Sharp.

Unmoving.

"Faith," he said.

His voice was calm, but there was something within it that had changed.

Something deeper.

"Wife."

The word came naturally, without pause, without hesitation.

"Can you repeat that again?"

Faith blinked slightly, her expression softening just a little as she looked at him.

Around them, no one spoke.

The guards exchanged glances, uncertain.

Pam’s brows furrowed, clearly not pleased.

Ivira and Cornelia remained still, watching closely.

But Cain paid none of them any attention.

Because in his mind—

He was already going back.

Back to the moment her voice had changed.

Back to that second part.

The way the melody had deepened.

The way it had pulled him into something beyond understanding.

He replayed it.

Again.

And again.

Every note.

Every rise.

Every fall.

He held onto it, trying to grasp what made it different, what allowed it to reach that place, that realm he had never once touched in his past life.

His breathing slowed.

His thoughts sharpened.

That was it.

Not the beginning.

Not the part the judges had focused on.

But the second half.

That was where everything changed.

That was where he had felt it.

That glimpse.

That truth.

If he could understand it—

If he could experience it again—

Then maybe—

No.

Not maybe.

His eyes narrowed slightly.

There was no doubt in him now.

That was the path.

The way to reach something beyond an Overgod.

The way to step into a realm that existed above everything he had ever known.

And as he stood there, his gaze fixed on Faith, his mind locked onto that single thought, one thing became completely clear.

He would hear it again.

No matter what.

Because that—

Was the way to become a God above all.