Read Novel Full Chapter 286: Lower Your Voice
Chapter 286: Chapter 286: Lower Your Voice
Chapter 286 – Lower Your Screams
After the call with her daughter, Sophia sat cross-legged in her office room, a cup of green tea in front of her, steam wafting off it like smoke from a chimney.
Her face was hard and cold, her black eyes growing darker as the weight of the situation settled onto her shoulders.
She lifted her head slowly, strands of black hair falling over her face, sweeping her gaze around the room.
She used her Sound Affinity, pushing her senses outward.
Within seconds, the entire Amaris Household existed inside her mind, and she could see and hear everything through the frequencies of its sound.
"All of this...abandoned?" She muttered under her breath, feeling an unexpected reluctance settle over her.
After all, this was the house where everything had changed for her. The house where she’d shed her commoner self and become a noblewoman of the Amaris family, gaining their Origin Pool Aspect affinity.
This house had witnessed hours of her silent suffering, her doubts, her crawling fears. It had been a trusted confidant whenever she’d spoken to it, since it couldn’t speak back, and Sophia loved anything that couldn’t speak.
At least with them, there was no fear of her secrets being exposed.
But now Sophia knew she had to abandon the house, her confidant. And she’d better do it as quickly as possible if she still wanted any chance of surviving all of this.
She took a breath, looked at the house one last time, and closed her eyes.
Then, without further hesitation, she stood and walked out the door.
Outside, her black eyes settled immediately on Veronica, the maid who’d been sleeping with her husband under her own roof.
The woman had lost most of her light, her eyes deader than the dead themselves. She bowed her head the moment she noticed Sophia, seeming almost ready to drop to her knees.
"No need for that." Sophia stopped her, "I’ll spare you your daily torture today, Veronica."
Those words felt like a burst of light in the dark. Veronica’s head snapped up, staring at her mistress in shock.
"...you truly will, master?" Her voice was hoarse.
"Have I ever lied to you?"
Veronica wanted to say yes. More than once, even. But she wasn’t foolish enough to be honest with someone who wanted her to lie on her behalf, "You never have, master."
"Good." Sophia said, walking toward her husband’s room, Veronica trailing close behind, "Give me a progress report."
"Master Cole’s memories are growing more and more disjointed. This morning, he couldn’t tell who I was until I..."
Veronica hesitated, either afraid or too embarrassed to finish.
"I’m still listening, Veronica." Sophia said coldly.
The maid swallowed and answered, "...he couldn’t recognize me until I sucked him off. But before he said my name, he mumbled several others. The Kanam Matriarch was one of them."
Sophia said nothing to that. She simply kept walking, and when she reached Cole’s room, she spoke again,
"Go inform your cuckolded husband, Leo. Tell him I want everything in this house’s treasury taken. As for the guards, poison all of them except the ones I recruited and trained myself, the Blood Lotus Guards."
Sophia paused at the door. She turned her head, glanced back at Veronica over her shoulder, and saw fear written across her face.
The Matriarch smiled humorlessly, "You can handle that, can’t you?"
"Y-Yes."
"Then get out of my sight."
Veronica bowed and hurried away from Sophia at once.
Sophia opened the door and stepped inside.
Inside the room, her eyes settled immediately on Cole Amaris, slumped against the wall, eyes half-open, mouth drooling.
He wore a robe he’d been in for two days straight, and it had been a full week since he’d bathed properly.
He kept muttering something under his breath, fragmented and unintelligible, occasionally bursting into laughter, only to weep like a newborn seconds later.
Looking at him, Sophia saw nothing but the shadow of the man she’d married. Someone whose mind had been ruined, repeatedly poisoned to dull his thoughts and scatter his memories, along with poisons designed to kill his testosterone and numb his sexual desire.
Sophia felt no pity for him. None whatsoever.
It wasn’t that she’d never loved Cole.
She might have, once, at the very beginning, enough not to push him away at night, at least. But not anymore.
Right now, the only things occupying her heart were her goal, and her daughter Anesthesia. Isolde...well, that was something she still hadn’t figured out how to handle.
She’d lost too much because of that girl. And for someone like her, that loss still cut deep.
Her thoughts were interrupted by Cole, who finally sensed her presence.
"...hm? Ah...Sophia?" He wheezed, his head swaying from side to side, "...is that you, Sophia? Vorn, haven’t you aged fast?"
"Fast, you say?" Sophia said, her tone coaxing as she approached slowly, "What do you mean by that, husband?"
"Hahah." He laughed hysterically, spit flying everywhere, his face flushed red, "Is it because of her? Surely it’s because of her! Or maybe just because you’re a commoner, no matter your Aspect! You commoners age so fast! So fast! Hahah!"
Sophia kept her expression and tone controlled, "It seems you’re not feeling well today, husband. Would you like something to help?"
"Something?!" He shrieked, eyes bloodshot, "No, no, no! I want nothing from you! Not since you lost your Soulblade because of Isolde’s birth! That monster! That monster turned you into a monster! How does someone survive losing their Soulblade?! Monster!"
Sophia’s eyes turned dead cold at those words, dragging her back to a memory she’d wanted buried forever.
"But fine! Fine! You can never get it back anyway! Never!" Cole grinned now, drool still leaking from his mouth, "So you’ll stop being so arrogant with me, won’t you? I have a Soulblade, and you don’t! Hahah. And without one, you’ll never advance beyond your current rank! Never! Despite how much I hate that daughter, I was thrilled that day. I never told you that, did I? Oh, your face was priceless!"
"Cole, that’s enough—!"
"But you tried!" Cole continued, uncaring, his rancid breath now hitting her face directly, "You tried to be a good mother despite your resentment! And you failed! I loved watching you fail so completely to that monster, while you turned Anesthesia into your coping mechanism, showering her with all your love! Pathetic! Pathetic, you—! Urgh!"
Sophia seized Cole’s throat with cold, murderous intent, tightening her grip until it began to crack.
Her eyes were empty of all feeling, staring at her own husband as though he were nothing more than an ant.
"I may no longer have a Soulblade, my dear husband." She said, "But I don’t need one to kill you here and now."
"W-What are you—!"
"And you chose the wrong day to dig out those memories. The worst possible day." She tightened her grip further, his throat cracking, his eyes bulging with pain, "I’ve waited long enough for your mind to fragment further. Now let’s get into it."
Her voice dropped to a dreadful whisper,
"Today, you’ll either tell me where the Origin Pool of the Amaris Bloodline is located, or I’ll show you the true face of the woman you married."
"B-Bitch!" Cole spat, eyes burning with hatred, "I’ll—!"
BAAAAAAANNNNNGGGG!!!
Sophia slammed his head into the ground so hard the floor cracked, splintered wood spraying out around her.
Cole cried out in disbelief, the pain so intense his whole body trembled from the aftershock.
Sophia lifted his head back to eye level, now bloodied, splinters of wood embedded in his flesh.
Her eyes were flat. Her voice, equally flat.
"Don’t test my patience today. I warned you, didn’t I? Now let me ask you again, husband." Sophia said, "Where is the Origin Pool of the Amaris Bloodline?"
Cole looked at his own wife through the blood and pain, and saw a demon ready to send him straight to hell.
The fear he’d always harbored toward her — the one he’d kept carefully buried beneath layers of contempt and laziness — suddenly burst open, and he found himself paralyzed by it.
He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out were gasps and pleas for mercy.
But Sophia had never been merciful. And certainly not that day.
"Guess it’ll take some time." She said without much feeling, then in the next instant...
BAAAAAAANNNNNG!
"ARGHHHHHHH!!!"
"Lower your screams, will you?"
—End of Chapter 286—