Chapter 314 – Don’t Fucking Touch Cassius Desdemona! [10K Win-Win Bonus Chapters 1/3]
The night passed, uninterrupted, giving way to the blazing sun of Wednesday.
Life in the Kingdom resumed as always, with moners waking either early or late, still scraping together enough to survive for themselves and their families alike.
No doubt, many of them didn’t bother making the effort at all. Some preferred staying in their rooms, dreaming of grand things they might one day achieve, but never taking a single step toward them.
Others wallowed in fear and despair after trying and failing, convinced it marked the end of the world.
And others still simply didn’t care. They woke up, ate if there was food, and went back to sleep. Life held no particular meaning for them.
All the while, just beneath the surface, hidden Sects and shady dealings operated with ruthless efficiency, building illegal enterprises that raked in millions of SN, fueled by their very despair.
And above them, nobles hoarded resources, powered by their flesh and blood as fuel.
Most people understood this. Yet none took the steps necessary to break the cycle trapping moners, and other weak Tier Three houses, in lives where survival meant accepting exploitation, day after day.
Every single day. The same process. The same life.
And the Kingdom’s rulers did nothing about it. Instead, they concerned themselves with expanding their territory.
"Have you received the news from the Academy?" Morenna Hood asked with a faint smile, standing atop the Royal Palace, gazing down at the capital below.
Dantes Hood stood beside her, watching the same view, their clothes fluttering gently in the wind.
"Mallory doesn’t like me. She only shares information with you." He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, "You already know that, so why ask?"
"Maybe I just enjoy reminding you of it."
"She dislikes me for no particular reason."
"Oh, sweetheart, so killing her Bonded Beast to harvest its blood and liver for one of your toxins, to enhance your Plague Aspect, means nothing to you?"
Dantes shrugged, "I asked, she said no. I apologized, then killed the beast anyway. Can you blame me? It was one of the conditions for my Skill’s evolution. You’d have done the same."
"I would have." Morenna nodded, "But it wasn’t me."
"Tell me what she shared with you." Dantes said, patience thin, his crimson eyes scanning the streets below, "Something important?"
"Very. The students required for the Tier 4 Fractured Land in the Wastelands have been chosen. If they truly succeed, we’ll officially gain the loyalty of the tribes." Her expression turned serious, "That would significantly boost our Kingdom’s strength. We’ve been badly weakened since the last war against those bloody Mages."
"We’re also weakened because of your daughter." Dantes shot back, "A revolution, right after such a war against the Kurppe. I still can’t believe it. Seraphim is the most self-centered woman to have ever lived."
"Oh, no." Morenna shook her head, meeting his gaze, her eyes suddenly cold and deep, "I was worse than her. You know that, don’t you?"
Dantes’s expression hardened instantly.
Then Morenna’s face softened back to normal, gentle and caring, "But that’s all in the past. Still, I’d appreciate it if you refrained from speaking ill of your sister, Dantes. She’s already suffered enough for her sins."
"Not nearly enough."
"Can we focus on the current matter?" Morenna redirected, "The tribes joining us is wele news, but we need to anticipate that the Kurppe won’t sit idle while we grow stronger."
"And our spies among them?"
"Some killed, others unaccounted for, a few still active."
"Useful ones?"
"Two of them are particularly useful." Morenna grinned, "Very much so."
"I see." Dantes nodded, "Then it all falls on the first-years to handle this. Is anyone in our family among those chosen?"
Morenna’s expression turned soft and proud, "Yes, my angel was chosen. My little darling too."
"Cassius isn’t surprising. And Esmeray not being chosen doesn’t surprise me either. But Raven? Now that’s surprising. Did he finally use his Aspect openly without holding back?"
"Most likely. Though I’m glad he’s still cautious about it. He’ll wield his power all the better for it."
Dantes nodded, arms crossed, gaze fixed on the horizon, "He’ll make a great King, I can see it already. He has little greed and just enough of love and passion. My only concern is his love life, and women. A whore can bring down even the greatest of Kings — that’s a famous, and truthful, saying."
"I know." Morenna replied, "He needs a great woman. I just hope he finds one, the way Cassius found his."
"Anesthesia Amaris?"
"...he deserves better."
"Because he’s your son."
Morenna shrugged, not denying it.
Dantes only grunted, pleased for his son. Still, this also meant they’d need to watch the ing events closely.
Because they couldn’t afford to lose either Cassius or Raven.
If the former died, the Kingdom would crumble beneath the Desdemona’s wrath.
And if Raven died, Morenna would lose her mind entirely.
She rarely said it aloud, but Raven was her favorite child. He was her only son.
Dantes was only her stepson. His mother had died when he was barely a month old, or so he’d been told.
That death had e so swiftly, so quietly, that few even knew Morenna hadn’t been the first Queen, or even the woman his father had originally chosen to marry.
Morenna had been selected by The Hooded Ones, from who-knew-where, forcing Mort Hood to marry her and bear his children.
The twins, Sefira and Seraphim, were born of that union. But The Hooded Ones never accepted a woman as ruler.
Only a man.
And it just so happened that the woman Mort Hood had met and loved of his own choosing had given birth to a young boy: Dantes Hood.
Yet that woman had died a month after giving birth.
Cause of death: unknown.
Morenna Hood became the official Queen of the Kingdom.
Strange, certainly, but Dantes never bothered chasing the truth behind it. Pointless, in his eyes. He kept his focus on the future.
Which meant...
"...contact the tribes in the Wastelands. Tell them our students are ing, and they’d better keep their word." His eyes turned murderous, flies swirling within them, "If they dare lie or betray us, the Wastelands will bee a dead land."
Without waiting for a reply, he dissolved into a cloud of flies.
Morenna stood alone, staring at the spot where her husband had just stood. Her expression slowly melted into something sad, wry.
"If only we could rewind time." She murmured, sighing wearily, "If only, Dantes. If only...maybe I could have been the mother you needed. Or maybe..."
She stopped there, shaking her head.
"I’ll carry this guilt until I die. I just want one thing...only one thing..."
She lifted her head, her all-black eyes trembling,
"...keep my children out of this. Sefira, Seraphim, Raven, and Esmeray...don’t touch my children."
She drew a deep breath, and her tone shifted instantly, murderous, power crackling in her eyes so fiercely that, for a moment, a cold wind swept over the entire capital.
"Don’t. Touch. My. Children."
...
"No news on Olympias?" Anger of the Crimson Daggers asked, seated on his throne, inside the realm of Red Moon, his beastly eyes fixed on both Smile and Eyeless, "Did Hound kill her?"
"We’re still waiting on the report." Eyeless said, her empty, bleeding eye sockets a dreadful sight to behold, "Shouldn’t be much longer, by our estimate."
"Killing Olympias will draw Constantine’s attention onto us." Smile added, his stitched mouth twisting into an attempted smile, "We already have some anonymous shadow-user killing off our believers. Can we really afford to deal with Constantine and the Fangs right now? Especially, dear rades, given that we’re at a critical stage of the plan."
He paused, glancing at both Anger and Eyeless,
"We’ve received word from Hatred. The first-year students are being sent to the Tier 4 Fractured Land in the Wastelands."
"First-years? Tier 4?" Anger growled, frowning deeply, "Have they lost their minds?"
"But this is the Golden Generation. Or at least, we believe it is." Eyeless muttered, "Is that why?" She turned her attention to Smile, "Will all of them be there?"
"Not all, of course, my dear. 12 of them, according to Hatred. And our target is among them."
"Jeanne Safara." Anger said.
"Aye, my dear Anger. Jeanne Safara will be there, and we need her as Samael. According to our information, she carries enough hatred and fear in her heart for that role."
Eyeless clicked her tongue, "Cassius Desdemona would have been the better choice." She said it, and both Anger and Smile growled, as though this weren’t the first time they’d had this exact argument.
"Tell me, Eyeless, is there something you don’t understand about ’Don’t fucking touch Cassius Desdemona’??!" Anger screamed, slamming a huge fist onto the ancient table, "Tell me, damn it!"
"Eyeless, you already lost your eyes to stubbornness." Smile said next, shooting her a dark glare, "Don’t make the same mistake twice. Hatred said not to touch him, so we won’t. Jeanne Safara will be enough."
"Hatred is letting her personal feelings interfere with this mission! She shouldn’t—!"
"Eyeless." Smile spoke again, eyes dead cold, impatience bleeding through them, "Drop this, will you? Or have you forgotten who Hatred is? Do you really want to be on her bad side? Touch Cassius Desdemona, and we’ll be the first ones to kill you."
Anger and Smile glared at her, murder in their eyes, "You’ve been warned. And we’re not discussing this matter again."
Eyeless gritted her teeth in silence, settling back into her throne.
"Now," Anger continued, snorting like a dragon, "which of the three of us is going to capture Jeanne Safara in the Wastelands, so we can wele our Lord Samael back from the dead?"
"I’ll pass." Smile said, smiling menacingly, "I’ve got a shadow-user bastard to catch. We’ve been losing far too many members lately."
Anger and Eyeless exchanged a glance. Then, after a moment, Eyeless spoke, her tone dangerous,
"I’ll—!"
"No." Anger cut her off, smiling with his beastly, draconic face, "I’ll go."
—End of Chapter 314—
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