Chapter 252: Pivot
"Get out."
Again, August told him to leave the room.
Arkai’s jaw tightened. Of course he didn’t move.
"Why?" He asked sharply, edged with the frustration of being dismissed like a child. "As your son, do I truly have no right to be here? No right to know why you’ve summoned soone who did nothing wrong, twice?"
August’s eyes t his. Absolute.
"I get to decide what you deserve to know." He paused. "After you dared to decide what I deserved to know."
"Now, son. Get out."
Arkai’s eyes faltered.
He knew.
August had found out about everything. Arkai could feel it. The words were confirmation itself. His father knew about Sienna, about the drugs, about the locked room, about the nightmare he had tried so desperately to hide.
As he thought, Cecilia had told his father about everything.
Did she use the recording, then?
The thought hit Arkai as all the color drained from his face, leaving him pale as bone.
Because if his father had watched that recording... if he had heard not just the truth about Sienna, but everything else Cecilia had said in that frozen cetery—
"If I was his sister, he’d fuck ."
"If I was his sister, even if we didn’t get trapped in an impossible situation with drugs... he’d still fuck . On a random Tuesday. Just because I walked ’different’."
"It’s not because you’re his sister, Sienna. It’s because you didn’t turn him on. At all."
Arkai faced the horror of the reality where his father saw all of it. If his father had... if August Dawnoro had listened to Cecilia dissect his son’s desires, his arousal, his most private, shaful reactions—
Arkai would drop dead.
He turned to Cecilia, desperate for answers.
"Did you show him the recordings?"
Cecilia flinched.
Her face went red imdiately. Violently, completely red.
"What?!" She gasped, and it was almost a squeak. "Of course not! I’m not crazy—" She caught herself, cleared her throat, tried to compose her expression into sothing resembling dignity. "Ahem. Just get out."
Relief. Imdiately.
It washed through Arkai like a wave, cooling the panic, easing the terror.
Until his father spoke again.
"What recording?" August’s eyes narrowed, sharp and suspicious. "What else did you hide from ?"
"An experint." Cecilia’s answer ca imdiately, smooth and practiced. "For later."
Experint.
August’s brow furrowed, but Arkai’s eyes went wide.
Experint. The word triggered flashbacks. Her hand in his. Her voice in his ear. Her mana flowing through his body, redirecting, controlling. The images she had planted in his mind. The climax he hadn’t been able to stop—
He cleared his throat forcibly and his face went redder than Cecilia’s had been monts ago.
Ah.
August watched everything and catalogued every reaction.
So... his son was this far gone, huh?
This was only the second ti he had seen them together, and already, it was decided.
Stupid brat.
Arkai decided quite firmly that he needed to leave. Right now.
He couldn’t spend another second in that room. Not with the woman who starred in his dreams, wet dreams or otherwise, and not with his own father, whose sharp eyes missed nothing.
He had to preserve his dignity sohow, after all. So he stepped out.
Thankfully, after Arkai left, Cecilia managed to regain complete control of her nerves. She had faced a lot more than whatever this was. After all, August Dawnoro, for all his power and presence, was simply another negotiation.
Until suddenly his deanor changed completely.
August rose from his seat behind the desk, moved to a drawer, and opened it. He pulled out a box that was made out of ancient wood, intricately carved and clearly precious.
He set it on the desk and opened the lid.
Cecilia’s breath caught.
Deep red jewels caught the light. A necklace, a tiara, a pair of earrings, a bracelet and a ring. The set was exquisite, craftsmanship beyond anything she had seen in this world. The gems themselves were flawless, each one large enough to fund a small kingdom.
Worth an entire mountain. The thought flickered through her mind, barely coherent.
"Marry my son."
Cecilia’s brain blanked.
Eh?
"This is his mother’s favorite set." August’s voice was steady and serious, absolutely sincere. "Take it."
He lifted the box, walked around the desk, and gestured for her to follow him to the sofa. She moved on autopilot, sinking into the cushions, and the box landed on her lap like a bomb wrapped in velvet.
August sat across from her, leaning forward, his expression one of complete solemnity.
"Engagent first." He folded his hands. "What do you want as the bride price? We have two diamond mines. You want them?"
"Wait, wait, my lord." Cecilia’s voice ca out flat, deadpan, because she genuinely had no idea where this conclusion had co from. "Slow down."
What she hadn’t accounted for was that news of yesterday’s conference incident had reached August’s desk. Reports of her power, her control, her value. It had arrived at the sa ti as his investigation into Sienna had confird everything she had told him.
Imdiately, everything had shifted.
A woman of her power, her connections, her worth, and she had uncovered his family’s darkest secret. The smart play was obvious.
Throw everything at her feet.
Bind her to the family before anyone else could.
Not to ntion she already had the Edengold heir in her orbit. That golden boy from the south, with all his family’s wealth and influence.
This had beco a race. And August felt like he had no leverage at all.
"You like my son, right?" He pressed on, relentless. "He’s equally strong compared to that golden boy. And don’t get
wrong, yes, that family from the south is rich. But we are also rich." He leaned forward, eyes intense. "We have three more mines. Just opened."
Cecilia stared at him.
"Get into the family." August’s voice dropped, serious. "You already know too much."
No wonder Anton Vasiliev had wanted her as his daughter-in-law. No one had seen his vision back then, but now everyone had. Thankfully, Anton’s stupid son had ruined everything. His loss.
And again, thankfully, his own son was stronger. And more handso.
But as he expected, Cecilia’s face was still as deadpan as before.
Of course. August wasn’t surprised.
With her position over him and the Dawnoro na now, she could have demanded the entire household and he wouldn’t have the power to refuse. The scandal would destroy everything.
Especially with her connections backing her. The Edengold. The Athenaeum. The empire’s princess.
He watched her open her mouth—
"Okay. I’ll marry your son."
"I see, of course it’s not enough. Which property do you want
to get for you—what?"
...
...
...
August’s brain short-circuited.
"What did you just say?"
The man asked.
Cecilia smiled at him. It was warm and gentle.
"But before we talk about that." She tilted her head. "Tell
how you’re going to handle Sienna."
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