Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 334: Chapter 334: Sleeping Beauty [1]

Chapter 334 – Sleeping Beauty [1]

Night passed, and finally, the day of the meeting with the Sleeping Goddess arrived.

Cassius woke up at 5 a.m. just like always, but this time, he didn’t go to the training session with his master.

Instead, he sent her a text telling her he would be unavailable because of some matters.

Needless to say, his master demanded to know the reason why. And needless to say, too, Cassius bullshitted his way through it, managing not to let his master know that he was about to meet a goddess.

He didn’t want to know how she would react if she ever found out.

For the meeting, Cassius truly didn’t prepare much.

The only thing he did was rehearse his role, meaning his role as the Eternal King’s Messenger, and go over the advantages he had in his possession.

There was the ring itself, where the Eternal King had placed everything he had found that could heal his daughter from her curse.

There was also the fact that he was, presumably, Adonis’s Chosen One.

The last part was something Cassius was absolutely unsure how it would turn out. But there was no turning back now.

’I just need to fool myself so thoroughly that even I will believe my own lies.’ Cassius thought at last, facing the mirror inside his bathroom.

His beauty still stunned him sometimes.

Then he frowned slightly, feeling something wrong with the atmosphere around him.

He lifted his head, arching an eyebrow at the ceiling.

"Are you angry about something, Queen?" He asked in a concerned tone. "I can feel your dissatisfaction and anger from here."

[Anger is not the right word.]

"What is the word, then?"

[It doesn’t matter.] She said dismissively. [I will need you, Cassius, to go to Sarah once you are done with the meeting.]

"Sarah?" Cassius echoed, puzzled, tilting his head until his eyes widened in realization. "Don’t tell me...?"

[Your uncle chose Anesthesia Amaris.] Ananke said with obvious anger. [It’s confirmed.]

"Oh, Queen’s breath." Cassius exclaimed, before shaking his head wryly.

He couldn’t say he was surprised. Raven’s love for Anesthesia was unhealthy, and that had been obvious since the day he was ready to be manipulated just to have her beside him.

Sarah never had a chance. It had simply never been a fair game for her.

"How is she?" He asked a dumb question.

[How would you feel if Isolde accepted another man instead of you?]

Cassius’s lips twitched. "Queen, you don’t need to be angry at me too, you know? I am innocent here."

Ananke didn’t respond. She was truly pissed, and that was only because Sarah held a special place inside her heart, though not nearly as special as Cassius.

But she was her First Believer. To Ananke, Sarah represented the beginning after the end.

Added to the fact that the young girl was faithful, grateful, and prayed to her every single night without missing a single day...there was no choice but to be fond of her.

Cassius understood that, but wisely decided not to say anything about the matter.

Ananke was hardly ever in a bad mood. But when she was, the wisest choice was to become mute.

So Cassius continued his preparations until only minutes were left before the meeting, still thinking about Sarah and how she was doing.

By that point, the goddess had regained her usual self, ready for the meeting.

[Are you ready?] Ananke asked. [This meeting will be held inside my Gate, my beloved. I will finally see you again.]

Her voice was delighted. Cassius, too, was happy. "You have enough GeumGeum for that?"

[I have grown stronger since the first time we met. So yes, I have enough.] She replied. [Now, close your eyes and focus deeply on our connection.]

That was the easiest thing to do. His connection with his goddess was so strong that he managed it in seconds.

Lady Ananke acted next.

Cassius began to feel a strange pull tugging at him. He didn’t resist, letting himself be grasped by whatever that thing was.

The next sequence of events was beyond his understanding.

One second, he was inside his room, lying on his bed. The next, Cassius found himself in a completely new yet familiar place.

Everything around him was made of threads, moving and almost alive.

He planted his feet firmly on the ground, trying his best not to lose his footing, all while lifting his head and looking in front of him.

There, he saw her.

Sitting atop her own throne, with a wheel turning, turning, and turning above her.

Her silver hair flowed down her body, coupled with her magnetic blue eyes that seemed to pierce his very essence.

Lady Ananke was divinely beautiful. And when Cassius remembered that this was not even her True Self, he couldn’t help but be amazed.

She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, even beyond Theophane.

And at that instant, that beautiful woman, a literal Goddess, was looking at him with fondness, her eyes and lips smiling affectionately at him.

And Cassius, without even realizing it, returned the smile, delighted to see his goddess face-to-face again.

"You haven’t changed at all, Queen." He said with a beautiful smile, slowly walking toward her.

"Gods don’t change that easily." Ananke replied, before her body disappeared from her throne and appeared directly in front of Cassius.

Before the Blessed had time to react to her sudden proximity, he was pulled into a tight, warm hug by the Goddess of Fate and Secrecy.

Ananke was taller than Cassius, so when She hugged him, his face pressed directly against her divine breasts, which didn’t seem to bother her at all.

Then she placed her chin atop his head, caressing his hair gently, lovingly, her eyes closed.

Cassius was genuinely surprised, having not expected such a level of affection from her.

"I haven’t changed, Cassius." Ananke said, her voice soft. "But you are nothing like the boy who entered my Gate for the first time."

"Hahah, right?" He chuckled. "I am more handsome, aren’t I?"

"You certainly are, my dear."

"Can I seduce goddesses now?"

"If you want Isolde to kill you?" She chuckled. "Why not?"

"Hahah. I wouldn’t risk that, Queen." Cassius laughed heartily. "I don’t know why, but now that I think about the whole event when I first met you in retrospect, you accepted my proposal far too easily for a goddess who didn’t even accept Emrys as a Blessed inside the game."

Ananke smiled mysteriously at his words.

"You knew I was coming, didn’t you?" Cassius added.

"Maybe I did, my beloved. Maybe I didn’t. I am Fate, aren’t I?"

"Why did you accept me?"

"Maybe because I love you?" She said with a chuckle, before breaking the hug and facing him directly, his face doubtful. "You don’t believe me?"

"So you loved me before you even met me?"

"Who said that was the first time we met?"

"Huh?" Cassius exclaimed, and Ananke laughed, just in time for the Gate of Fate and Secrecy to shake.

"Well, my beloved." Ananke said, lifting her head and seeing a door made of light forming high in the sky. "Our lovely guest has arrived."

True to her words, a figure stepped out of the door, standing majestically in the air.

She wore a long, flowing white-golden dress that constantly undulated behind her like waves.

Her forehead bore the tattoo of a golden sakura flower that shone brightly, coupled with similarly golden hair braided into twists and locs, and lightless black eyes.

Her beauty was unique, as Cassius observed. And her whole presence itself was different from the elusive, mysterious one of Ananke.

That woman had the presence of a time long lost, of melancholy.

Simply looking at her affected Cassius’s emotional state.

The woman’s expression was neutral at first. However, when she swept her divine golden gaze around the Gate until her eyes reached Cassius standing beside Ananke, her neutral face crumbled instantly, replaced by a look of recognition, of anger, but also...of pain.

"Adonis?" She muttered, and the next thing Cassius knew, the Sleeping Beauty’s face was an inch from his own.

His heart almost ripped out of his chest as the divine presence slammed into him like a wall, almost making his knees buckle.

But he didn’t fall, as if some mysterious force was keeping him standing, giving him no choice but to stare at Sleeping Beauty as she parted her golden-colored lips:

"How did you get back the eyes I gouged out myself?"

—End of Chapter 334—