Last Born Of The Des Chapter 44: Meeting with Sophia [3]

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Meeting with Sophia [3]

Chapter 44 – Meeting with Sophia [3]

Happiness makes even wicked people good.

A bold statement, but one none could deny watching Sophia speak with Cassius as if he were her lost son.

The happiness of having secured the Last Born of Desdemona’s attachment to her daughter, and through that opened doors that few in the entire Empire could even comprehend, was overwhelming.

But Sophia could.

She understood the tangled relationship between the Desdemona and the Hood Royal Family, with Sefira Hood Desdemona being the half-sister of the current King.

But if it were only that, Sophia wouldn’t be this pleased. Because the very mother of the Desdemona Matriarch was the actual Queen of the Kingdom, having married her own son after the death of the previous King.

That relationship — which most of the Kingdom had wisely decided never to speak of, out of fear of a fate worse than death — had been, alongside their powerful bloodline, a critical factor in the Desdemona’s rise as a Tier One Family.

It made them bold. Fearless, even.

’And now I have the heart of that very family inside my own.’ Sophia thought, walking through the garden with Cassius beside her, her face perfectly calm. ’Isolde is not so useless after all.’

All that remained was to not only keep Cassius attached to Isolde, but to herself.

’He is loved within his family but despised and distrusted by most outside of it. So what does a young man like that do when someone from outside that circle shows him genuine affection?’

There weren’t thousands of ways to react to something like that.

And Cassius’s reaction had been perfect.

With all that in mind, Sophia glanced at him from the corner of her eye and parted her lips.

"I am relieved, dear, that you are the one chosen for Isolde." Her voice dropped slightly, taking on a heavier quality. "Isolde has always been someone who cornered herself. A young woman who couldn’t connect with others, partly because of the side effects of her power."

She smiled at Cassius the way a mother smiles at seeing her daughter finally spread her wings. "So it’s a genuine relief to see someone so taken with her. Especially someone like you, dear."

Cassius would have believed every word of it if he hadn’t played the game. After all, the way everything about her projected sincerity...it was unsettling.

As that realization, his throat tightened, his stomach dropped. He knew then that he was not dealing with someone ordinary.

This was the mother of two generational talents. One, a heroine the whole world would eventually hail. The other, a villainess who could kill an entire city without a twitch.

She couldn’t be anything close to normal.

’Queen’s breath, I hate this.’

"Isolde is indeed like that." He nodded, playing along.

"I hope then that you won’t abandon her. I wouldn’t want my daughter made sad."

"There is no way I would do that." He shook his head. "Besides, mother-in-law, it’s exactly because of how she is that my heart was taken without me even noticing."

"Oh?" Sophia exclaimed, the crows around them chirping louder, visibly pleased.

"Yes. If anything, I should be the one worrying about being abandoned."

"As long as I am alive, my dear, Isolde will be your wife."

"Then I shall pray for your long life."

"Oh, dear." She murmured warmly. "Then how could I not pray for you, my dear son-in-law?"

She stopped walking. Cassius mirrored her instinctively.

Sophia turned to face him, wearing a smile that even Isolde had never once seen on her mother’s face.

Cassius was inwardly taken aback by it.

[Usefulness.] Ananke hissed, staring at Sophia with quiet distaste. [She is like this with you only because you are useful to her. The moment your usefulness runs out...]

’Aye. I’d be treated like Isolde. Or worse, since I’m not her blood.’

[Exactly. So be careful, Cassius. Treat every smile and gesture like something laced with poison, one that takes effect the moment you least expect it.]

Cassius said nothing back. There was no need. He already knew.

He had successfully made Sophia believe he was a young man in love with Isolde and starved for validation outside his own family.

He couldn’t push further, he had to hold his ground and endure this meeting until it ended.

But Sophia, it seemed, had other plans.

She leaned her face forward, her black eyes locking onto his with overwhelming intensity. He almost stepped back; it felt like her gaze bypassed flesh and cells entirely, reaching somewhere metaphysical, as if she were trying to poke out something that would give him away.

"Do you know what I will pray for, my dear?" She asked, voice sweet as honey, blinding white teeth on full display.

"Tell me, mother-in-law." Cassius’s voice came out slightly strained. He felt suddenly trapped, like a snake being pulled into the void of Sophia’s eyes.

"I will pray that you come to love me as a son loves a mother." Her smile was achingly beautiful despite the thin edge of coldness that refused to leave it. "So that I might know how it feels to have a son. Would that be alright, dear? I wouldn’t want to cross the Blood Demoness."

She laughed, making a show of nervousness at the mention of his mother.

"I am not at her level, after all."

True. But Sophia was confident enough in her own standing to know that before Sefira ever reached her door, she would have to knock down many others first.

"Well," Cassius said, smiling with deliberate awkwardness, "I had already begun to think of you as a mother. Don’t they say a mother-in-law is just another mother? Not one created by blood, yes, but a relationship chosen. And that makes it—"

"—that makes it more special." Sophia finished his words, her black eyes twinkling like stars in deep space as they stayed on his.

He smiled. She smiled.

They held that position for a long moment, in complete silence, the wind moving their hair softly.

There was a tension in the air. A particular kind. The kind felt between two predatory creatures standing in the same field, playing a game of patience, each waiting to see which one would slip first.

It was a dire game, as it required the wisdom to know when to push and...when to pull.

"I admit, my dear, I have enjoyed this meeting more than I expected." Sophia finally said, and took a few steps back.

Cassius exhaled internally, his back damp with cold sweat.

"So, take this." She extended her hand, offering him an instrument.

A flute. Black, with purple lines running across it. Even at a glance it was clearly an artifact as a faint aura wavering off its surface.

"A gift to mark our new relationship." She said. Cassius reached out slowly and took it, feeling the cool touch of it in his hand.

The Matriarch smiled, pleased. "I will let you discover what it does yourself. But I must warn you, you will need to know how to play in order to use it. Are you capable, dear?"

Cassius smiled back. "Is that a challenge, mother-in-law?"

"You can take it as one." She chuckled. "So the next time we meet, I will take the time to listen."

"I will make sure to practice so your time is well spent." He tilted his head, letting an embarrassed look cross his face. "Though I must admit, too, my gift might not measure up to this. Actually, I confess I didn’t prepare one at all."

’Oh, don’t worry, dear. Your family will give me plenty of things very soon.’ Sophia thought, then waved her hand dismissively.

"It doesn’t matter, dear." She said. And at that, Cassius felt a strange power enveloping him.

His eyebrows knitted slightly.

"Your love for my daughter is already my greatest gift." She followed, raising her right hand and placing it tenderly against his cheek, beginning to caress it. "Well, my dear, it seems this meeting has reached its end."

"Oh, already?" Cassius whispered. "Let’s make it longer."

"How much longer?" Sophia chuckled.

"Until my face becomes tiresome to look at."

"I’m afraid, dear, that with a face like yours, we’d be here forever." She smiled wider. "Now I must say, Isolde is very lucky, isn’t she?"

"I am the lucky one, mother-in-law. I must have done something right in my past life."

Sophia’s smile widened further. "Which is exactly why I can’t keep you any longer. You have a wife to say goodbye to, and things to settle between you."

"Ah, right." Cassius nodded slowly. "Then I must reluctantly go."

’Reluctantly my ass. Just let this farce end already.’

Sophia’s eyes curved like a crescent moon. Cassius felt his body begin to vibrate, phasing in and out of reality around him. His head tilted, an intense urge to vomit clawing at his throat.

Before he could humiliate himself in front of her...

"Dear, see you next time."

Unwilling to lose face under any circumstances, he managed a grin out of his pale expression.

"Of course—!"

His words cut off as his body dissolved into a wavelength of inaudible sound, shooting directly toward Isolde’s Pavilion.

Sophia was left alone, her eyes fixed on the space where Cassius had just stood.

Slowly, methodically, her smile faded, leaving only a blankness that seemed to hunger for something to fill it.

"Well, my Lady," she whispered, her voice flat, tilting her head upward toward the vague outline of a Gate above her, "perhaps you know how to steal a boy from his mother?"

—End of Chapter 44—