Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 336: Chapter 336: Sleeping Beauty [3]

Chapter 336 – Sleeping Beauty [3]

’Just what kind of nonsense is this?’ Cassius thought wearily, looking at Sleeping Beauty’s face so close to his.

How could he love someone he had never known before?

’I just wonder why she is so sure I am Adonis. All of this is so strange.’

However, Cassius knew that whatever he was feeling didn’t really matter at that point. Sleeping Beauty wanted an answer, so he would give her one.

Still, the best answer would be one that wouldn’t get him in trouble with her or even with his own wife, Isolde.

Now, how would that be possible in this situation?

"I can see the gears inside your mind churning in all kinds of ways to find a way to lie." Sleeping Beauty said, bringing Cassius back to the current situation. "You haven’t changed, have you?"

"So you expected me to lie?"

"You always do, Adonis." She replied, lifting her right hand and placing it on Cassius’s chin.

The Last Born felt a strange chill inside his heart. His breath stopped, and he helplessly stared into the lightless black eyes of Sleeping Beauty.

"You loved to lie. And you still do."

"Maybe because I have no choice but to lie." Cassius replied sharply. "What would you do, I wonder, if you were born with a beauty you never asked for? What would you do if goddess after goddess came to you, wanting you for themselves? You, a simple mortal, huh?"

At his words, the goddess stopped, her stunningly beautiful eyebrows arching upward.

Even Ananke was surprised, not expecting her Blessed to speak up like that.

But what they didn’t know was that Cassius himself hadn’t expected himself to speak. However, for the little time he had lived as the most handsome man anyone could ever see, he knew the heavy burden that came with it.

It was not easy at all. And that became even worse when those targeting you were literal bloody goddesses.

"Tell me, what would you do, my lady?" Cassius insisted. "I was a mortal, and even now, I am a mortal. I have no power to go against you, and all of you wanted a piece of me. In that situation, what was my solution? To tell the truth?"

He laughed humorlessly.

"I would have died faster than anyone then."

"You are actually justifying all your lies in front of me, Adonis?"

"I am." Cassius said as firmly as he could. "Because when a mortal finds himself in a situation where lies can give him more years to live than the truth, then lies become his way forward. And that, my lady, is the bitter truth."

Before either of them could gather themselves, the Last Born pressed on.

"So let me lie to you again, and this time, I will tell you directly that I am lying." He said. "I still love you, Sleeping Beauty. I still desperately love you despite all the things you have done to me. Is that what you wanted to hear? There you go. Take it. Swallow it even, if you wish."

At that point, Sleeping Beauty didn’t even know how to react. It was one thing to know that someone was going to lie to your face; it was another for that someone to directly admit it and still proceed to lie.

This was the first time anyone had ever done that to her, and she was at a loss for what to do for a moment.

Because she was angry, deeply so, but also inexplicably interested in this new attitude of Adonis she had never seen before.

All of that, coupled with her undying love still burning in one corner of her heart, made Sleeping Beauty lean her face even closer, looking deeply at his features.

And the more she did, the more she felt like this Adonis was even more beautiful than the one from the past.

His unblemished white hair, pure as if it belonged to an angel, and his crimson eyes holding a mesmerizing pink hue.

She could also feel the lineage of hundreds of dragons inside his left eye, and the power of spirits in both eyes.

Not only that, his bloodline was stronger than his original bloodline in his last life.

Adonis had become someone more distinguished. Someone no longer relying solely on charm, wit, and sex.

This Adonis could fight. Not against a god yet, but his foundation could allow him to reach the Fifth Rank.

’Father, how much did you sacrifice to reincarnate him into such a body? And this bloodline...this bloodline feels strangely familiar.’

However, all of that was not the most important thing to her at that instant.

"You have lied to me." Sleeping Beauty said, her face so close that her breath brushed against Cassius’s face. "Now tell me the truth."

"You will kill me."

"You know I won’t." She said, glancing at Ananke, who was smiling mysteriously at her. "Not with Lady Ananke here. You got yourself a rather interesting goddess. Is she your sex slave?"

Cassius frowned instantly at her choice of words, anger immediately rising inside him. "Don’t address my goddess with those kinds of words."

He sharply moved her hand away from him, causing Sleeping Beauty’s eyes to widen slightly in surprise, not expecting this at all.

Since when did Adonis speak up for the women he slept with?

’He really is different now, isn’t he?’

Ananke, meanwhile, was feeling giddy inwardly. It was rare to see Cassius angry.

In fact, she hadn’t seen him angry since the matter with Coco. So it felt delightful to see him like that for her.

’That’s my baby!’ She wanted to hug him so much, but she restrained herself.

Cassius was still talking.

"As for the truth, you can already guess it." He said, lying through his teeth. "I have lost most of my memories after all these years spent in that Nightmare. I went mad, Sleeping Beauty. And only your father saved what little remained of me and sent me back here."

The goddess’s eyes lit up.

"So asking me if I still love you when I don’t remember more than half of everything we went through together is expecting me to lie just to save my skin."

Both answers were lies. Cassius neither loved her nor had he lost his memories.

But by boldly admitting that the first answer was a lie, with his own convincing argument behind why he had always lied, Sleeping Beauty had barely any choice but to believe that the fact he had lost his memories was the truth.

Or at least, something very close to it.

Ananke, watching this scene, was once more amazed by how much Cassius could gaslight others into believing him.

It was astonishing.

And it became even more astonishing when Sleeping Beauty actually seemed to believe him, as if his words were perfectly logical.

Which they were.

"So you have forgotten much about me." She concluded. "Even the fact that I took your eyes out?"

"Yes."

"Even the fact that I raped you before sending you into the Nightmare?"

’Queen’s bloody fucking skirt! What?!’

His eyes widened, and he unconsciously took a step backward.

Sleeping Beauty smiled predatorily. "So you did forget about that too. How nice. I was ashamed of that memory, though I cherish it deeply. Now, don’t blame me. No matter how angry I was at the time after seeing you with my mother, I had waited for so long to be with you. I couldn’t control myself."

She tilted her head.

"But if you have forgotten about me, that means you also remember nothing about Persephone and Aphrodite?"

"Nothing at all." Cassius managed to answer after gathering himself, his heart beating hard at the revelation.

"Freyja?"

"I don’t even know her."

"What about—!"

"I remember no one!" Cassius interrupted her, irritated, putting an end to the unimaginably long list.

Sleeping Beauty smiled widely, her beauty so striking that Cassius was blinded by it for a moment. Literally.

"Then you have forgotten all of them, and somehow, you came back to me. Oh, I see." She chuckled.

’Is that you, Father? Did you do all of this for your daughter? You reincarnated him for me, made him come back to me first, all while giving me what you sacrificed your life for: all the clues to my cure.’

Once more, she became amazed by her father, the Eternal King. He was wise and strong, yet he was loving and the best father one could ever hope for.

She didn’t know how many times she had cried after learning of his death, and even now, she still did, missing him dearly.

Only now did Sleeping Beauty realize that even after his death, he had left her gifts beyond anything she could have imagined.

’You appointed him as your Messenger because of me. I will accept your Will, Father, in the same way you accepted me being with Adonis despite him being a pathological, world-cursed liar.’

Sleeping Beauty took a deep breath and focused back on Cassius. Looking at his face, feelings long buried were beginning to burst forth.

"You have always been a liar, and telling one truth doesn’t change that." She said. "However, I don’t mind."

"What?" Cassius exclaimed.

"I will ask you another question, and I want you to look me in the eyes and lie to me, Adonis. Lie straight to my face, and I will believe your lies." She said, then asked right away without waiting for him to gather himself. "Will you love only me? Will you make me yours?"

Those questions were ones Cassius wouldn’t lie about even if he wanted to.

"Let me be truthful again." Cassius replied. "I can’t love you the way you want me to love you anymore. In this life, I have decided to dedicate all my love to one and only one woman."

Sleeping Beauty’s eyes widened.

But Cassius was not done yet. He approached her rapidly and gently grasped her hands.

"However, do you know that love has more than one facet?" He said, attempting a smile. "If I can’t love you in that way, I can love you as a friend, as a sister, as a master, as an aunt, or even..."

’Queen’s breath, I am crazy.’

"...as a mother."

Sleeping Beauty looked at him with puzzled eyes.

"So tell me?" Cassius continued, praying that it would work. "What kind of love do you want from me?"

—End of Chapter 336—