Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 267: Chapter 267: This is Forbidden. This is...a Sin.

Chapter 267 – This is Forbidden. This is...a Sin.

Esmeray looked at Dorian, dumbfounded.

"...you have a Characteristic?"

"I’m a Desdemona." Dorian said flatly, "And I don’t think you’re focusing on the right thing here, Esmeray."

"What do you mean, you need her body to awaken your Characteristic?" She asked again, her heartbeat gradually quickening.

Dorian didn’t answer. He couldn’t.

Instead, he stood up, turned, and walked away from Esmeray, internally exhausted.

It had been so long since he’d started searching for a woman with the Cupid’s Curse. Ever since he’d obtained his Characteristic in a Fractured Land.

During his second year, to be precise.

That Characteristic had shifted something fundamental in him — as they always did — leaving him with the desire to build an Empire of Pleasure.

But unfortunately, it wasn’t complete.

His Cupid Heart could only fully awaken through something called "Dual Cultivation," practiced with someone bearing the Cupid’s Curse.

He already knew the method, having traced it back through the Fractured Lands linked to Cupid. All that remained was finding the woman.

Now he had. And yet Dorian almost wished he hadn’t.

"There must be another one." He muttered under his breath, sitting against the cold wall on the other side of the room, "There has to be someone else with the curse. Someone who isn’t my fucking family."

Of course there was.

The question was how long it would take to find her. And even if he did, would her situation allow for what he needed?

Dorian couldn’t say. And that uncertainty, layered on top of everything else, was wearing his nerves thin.

’I hate this. How can this much coincidence happen? What’s going on? Am I being toyed with by Cupid? Are we being played?’

The more he thought about it, the more disturbing it all felt.

Esmeray, meanwhile, had already understood exactly what Dorian meant. It was obvious in the way he carried himself, like the world was ending.

"So you need me." She said suddenly, savoring how those words tasted on her tongue.

For as long as she could remember, she’d been the one needing others.

Now someone needed her. And it happened to be the most loathsome man she’d ever had the displeasure of meeting.

"Don’t look at me like that." Dorian replied, sparing her a dark glance, "You’re in a worse position than mine. How old are you? 18? You have two years left."

"What?"

"Two years, Esmeray." He held up two fingers, "Two years before your death. What, you thought the Cupid’s Curse just raised your lust up to an abnormal level? No one who bears that curse lives past twenty. No one, except those who manage to heal it."

"That can’t be true!" Esmeray shot to her feet, heart pounding, blood twisting in her veins.

Just moments ago, she’d been ready to die. Yet now that death had actually entered the conversation, the Princess found an unreasonable amount of fear rising inside her.

"It is true." Dorian replied, not bothering to justify the claim.

He wasn’t happy about it either. That restriction only made his search harder.

’Should I just give up on awakening it? That’s probably the smart choice here. Set this aside until I find someone else. I need to be patient.’

"Are you thinking about giving up?" Esmeray said suddenly, reading his expression clearly, "Don’t. What are you, a coward?"

"If being a coward means not fucking my own family, then thank you. I’m the biggest coward alive."

Esmeray stomped forward, closing in on Dorian dangerously.

With the knowledge of her death sentence hanging over her, her desperation reached a whole new level.

And a desperate woman was a dangerous one.

"Stop acting like you haven’t already done it before." She hissed, stopping a couple of meters from him, "At this point, what difference does it make if we do it again?"

"Do you understand what you’re asking of me?" Dorian asked.

"More than you think." She bit her lower lip, clenching her fists so tightly blood welled up from her knuckles, "Don’t assume I like this either. But tell me another way to heal me, if you have one."

Dorian said nothing. There was no other cure for the Cupid’s Curse.

"See?" Esmeray laughed nervously, "It’s either I commit incest, or I die. Do you think I’ll just let myself die?"

"You were ready to, not long ago. Do it again. I won’t stop you."

"Fucking bastard, it’s different!"

"Esmeray, we’re talking about incest, damn it!" He lost his composure, his voice climbing a whole octave, "It’s forbidden! Tell me you’re not that stupid! Think about it! Have you considered that your current situation exists because you’re the product of an incestuous relationship?"

Esmeray’s body trembled.

"Tell me!" Dorian continued without pause, "You carry a curse, Esmeray. Do you think the World curses anyone without reason? Fucking no! And you want me to repeat the same mistake?"

"You’ll gain power." She insisted, refusing to back down, "and I’ll be free."

"At what cost?"

"AT WHATEVER COST!" She screamed, tears finally spilling down her cheeks, her lips trembling violently, her chest heaving with an exhaustion deeper than physical, "You heard me, Dorian? Whatever it costs. I don’t care. I don’t care about curses or anything else. If the only way to save myself is to do something forbidden..."

She leaned in, her face now extremely close to his, her crimson eyes burning with madness.

"...then I will. I’ll do it. And the world be damned, because I’m already damned!"

"Good luck doing it alone." Dorian said with finality, moving to stand.

But Esmeray placed a hand on his shoulder, stopping him.

"Think of the power you could gain." She said, their eyes locked, "Think of all the years you’ve spent searching for someone like me. And here I am, the fruit of your patience."

"You’re not—!"

"This is what you wanted, Dorian!" She pressed on, giving him no chance to speak, "You told me once, after a night. Our third night, I remember it well."

Dorian grimaced, but Esmeray continued without hesitation.

"You told me how you wanted to build an empire where forbidden things were no longer forbidden. Where men and women could tear down every limit and chase their deepest desires."

Dorian clenched his jaw. Esmeray reached up and caressed his cheek.

"You’ll never achieve that dream if you’re not willing to discard your own limits."

"How far are you willing to go, Esmeray?"

"As far as you can imagine." She said, "My life is on the line, Dorian. And I can’t...I can’t let this curse kill me. It’s already destroyed my entire existence! I refuse to let it take anything more!"

Her expression hardened, merciless.

"You want to drag me into your fucking nightmare, Esmeray." He hissed, venom in his tone, "Is that what this is? Bringing me down with you?"

"You’re already inside it." She replied, drawing closer still, close enough that their breaths mingled, "You’ve been part of my nightmare since the first night we spent together. And you’re also the key out of it."

"And where would that key lead us, huh? To Eden?"

"Fuck Eden." Esmeray snapped, "If we’re going to be cursed for wanting more out of life, then so be it! We’ll be devils, demons, cursed...whatever the world wants to call us! I don’t care! I don’t fucking care!"

Dorian didn’t answer, and the room sank into silence.

He found himself recalling the effort, the sacrifices, the sleepless nights spent anxious over his goal and his family’s future.

He recalled every wound and every hardship he’d endured to gather information on the Cupid’s Curse and his Characteristic.

All those years...and now the fruit of his labor stood right in front of him.

But it was forbidden fruit.

A fruit that could — and surely would — be his ruin.

Just as his sister had once warned him.

And the thought of his sister brought his mother to mind...his father...the twins...and finally, Cassius.

What would they think of him, if he crossed the line they’d all been taught never to cross?

Would they abandon him? Would they turn on him, the way his mother had turned on her own mother and brother?

Dorian knew he wouldn’t survive that. His family was everything to him.

And so, with those thoughts, Dorian Desdemona clawed back a shred of his principles, telling himself to be patient, despite his heart’s inability to resist the cruel temptation before him.

And for a moment...he believed he could walk away.

But then...

"Nothing else." Esmeray said quickly, her voice like a demoness woven from temptation, drawing his eyes back to her, "Nothing else, Dorian. And no one will ever know."

His resolve wavered. Again.

"Know?" He echoed.

"No one." She clarified.

Again.

And Esmeray could see the struggle raging behind those crimson eyes.

So she smiled, feeling something dark twist with pleasure deep inside her.

She pressed her forehead against his, his skin oddly cold.

"This is a sin, Esmeray." Dorian said, "A sin I’ve despised my whole life, one I’ve shunned in anyone who committed it. And now here I am, tempted by that very sin, unable to do what I thought I would."

"A sin, it truly is. I was born of it, raised in it, and now..." she pressed her forehead in further, "...I’m falling back into it, willingly. I feel like I can’t help it. Can’t escape it. This sin is me. I am the sin."

"That reminds me of a passage from the Book of First Revelation." he whispered, "there’s a line commanding men to conquer sin. You are failing at that. We’re both failing."

"Then let’s go further, if you want to discuss theology with me." She replied, "The Book of Second Revelation didn’t command men to conquer sin. It promised we would conquer it, eventually. So we’re safe, aren’t we? One day, we’ll find our way out of this sin. The Second Book says so. It’s Law."

"You don’t even believe that yourself, Esmeray."

"I believe whatever I need to believe to ease my mind."

A sharp silence followed her answer, one that stretched on for a dozen seconds, their crimson eyes locked on each other.

Then, slowly, wearily...

"You truly don’t need a snake in the garden, when you have a woman like this." Dorian muttered, his heart trembling faintly.

"You get your power." She whispered, her lips drawing closer to his, "and I save my life."

"Nothing else." He added.

"Nothing else." She confirmed.

—End of Chapter 267—