Read Novel Full Chapter 340: A Small Talk
Chapter 340: Chapter 340: A Small Talk
Chapter 340 – A Small Talk
Ananke stared quietly at Cassius sleeping on Marvela’s lap, letting out a small, thin smile.
"Thank you." She whispered. "He truly needed the sleep. You can’t imagine how stressed he was because of this meeting." She chuckled softly. "He couldn’t even sleep properly last night."
"He didn’t look that stressed to me, though?" Marvela said, caressing his hair.
"Cassius is a great pretender." Ananke replied, looking fondly at him. "He can play a role so well that you would hardly believe he has any other sides besides those the role requires. But sometimes...sometimes even he falters."
Saying those words, Ananke remembered the forced smile Cassius had just given her before Marvela forced him to sleep.
It hurt her to see that kind of smile. It hurt her more than anything.
"I can hardly blame him. You are putting the weight of two goddesses’ lives upon him. He will never see his life as his own now." Marvela shook her head slightly. "What’s more difficult than that? Living a life not only afraid for yourself, but for those you will kill by dying? And that, without even taking into account the fact that his family is being wildly hunted."
Marvela spared Ananke a dark glance.
"You are burdening him far too much, Lady Ananke."
"I know."
"But?"
"He needs our highest power. And our highest power can only be gained through a True Blessing." She said softly. "You said it already, his family is hunted. These powers will help him save them."
"If these powers don’t kill them before that, that is."
"You underestimate Cassius far too much. And that brings me to something he didn’t dare say to you." Ananke’s eyes narrowed. "He is Cassius Desdemona. Call him by that name, or drop it. No one likes being called by a name that isn’t their own."
"But he is—!"
"He is no longer Adonis." Ananke didn’t let her finish. "He is Cassius. That is his identity, so keep that in mind, Marvela. I don’t want my Blessed to have an identity crisis because of your own unhealthy fixation on a being who is already dead."
Marvela stared at Ananke for a long while, her lightless black eyes narrowing dangerously, before she sighed.
"Maybe I still can’t forget Adonis." She said. "Even though Ad—! Cassius here looks like a better man."
"He is."
"But being a better man doesn’t mean he is better for me."
"He is not better for you as a lover." Ananke acknowledged. "But you are no longer here as a lover, are you?"
"Because it’s easier to love him as a mother?"
Ananke smiled wryly. "It’s worse, dare I say? He is problematic and rarely listens. But he is jovial despite his burdens, compassionate despite needing compassion the most, and always present for others despite the fact that few know what he is going through."
The Queen of Fate shrugged lightly. "So yes, it’s hard to have Cassius as a son. But it’s fulfilling too, you know?"
"I hope so." Marvela lowered her head, staring at him, smiling. "And he is assimilating my Blessing rather quickly. I wonder what type of dream he is having."
"You don’t know?"
"I don’t. I only used my power with the instruction, ’the dream he needs to see.’" Marvela said. "I can know if I want to, though. But a little privacy doesn’t hurt anyone, does it?"
"What a strange thing to hear coming from an abuser." Ananke muttered.
The Sleeping Beauty’s eye twitched. "I was just sexually thirsty."
"Very, very, very thirsty, I guess. And that’s not a valid reason."
"I regret it."
"Well, I hope you do. Cassius accepts many cruelties, but not those kinds." She spared her a glance. "So behave."
Marvela rolled her eyes, annoyed.
"First, I know. Second, don’t order me. Third, I am a goddess, I do what I want."
"...The favorite sentence of those false hero gods."
"They do love saying it, alright. Now shut up and let’s watch our adopted son." Marvela said. "Hm...I truly wonder what kind of dream he is having right now. Maybe he is dreaming of me?"
Ananke silently rolled her eyes in exasperation.
...
"This is...the dream?" Cassius said, looking around the place in a daze.
If paradise was real, then this was how it would look, or at least, something very close to it.
He was in a vast garden that visibly had no end, beautiful flowers and trees jutting upward all around. The sky above was a gentle blue with pristine white clouds, heavy-looking yet light as they paraded across the heavens.
A peaceful wind surrounded Cassius, bringing with it a soothing and refreshing scent.
Instantly, his mind calmed down, and his previous fears and worries began to fade, leaving room for peace and tranquility.
He remained in that position for a while before jerking up in surprise as a small, melodious voice sounded behind him.
"Are you going to ignore me much longer, brother?"
Cassius snapped his head behind him, taking in the sight of the person in front of him, and immediately his eyes went wide, his heart skipping a beat.
"W-Wait, what?" He stuttered, unable to believe the sight in front of him.
The figure, a rather young girl with brown skin and black hair styled in a stunning afro, threateningly cute with big black eyes, stood there.
It had been years since he had last seen her, and the last time he had, she was nothing but a baby who loved to cry. But Cassius could never mistake her for anyone else.
"Stella...?" He muttered, and the small girl beamed.
"Took you long enough to remember me! Did you forget about me because of your new siblings?" Her face pouted at the end.
But Cassius was not following. He looked around, trying to make sense of the situation. He began to believe that this was some kind of test from Marvela.
However...
"This is nothing like that." Stella said, taking his hand and beginning to run in one direction, dragging him with her. "You are thinking too much, brother. I am here because of you."
"Because of me?"
"You missed me." She said, smiling, the wind slapping against their faces. "And so you imagined how I would look if I were older. And that is the very image I am taking right now. However..."
She stopped abruptly, and they found themselves in front of a small river with golden water, golden fish leaping out here and there.
The sight was mystical.
"...I think I would have been more beautiful than this, brother!" Stella complained about her appearance, thinking it wasn’t up to her beauty standards.
Those words, and the sight of the golden river, suddenly made Cassius laugh. "Am I going crazy now?"
"Maybe you are."
"Now I am talking with an imagined version of my own sister from Earth." Cassius sighed. "This is just insane."
"What? You don’t like me being here?" Stella frowned.
"No, it’s nothing like that. I was just surprised. And," he tilted his head, "are you sure I am your brother? I don’t look the same."
"White skin or brown skin. Black hair or white hair. Black eyes or red eyes." Stella said lazily. "All cosmetic, brother. It’s just appearance. It doesn’t matter. I know you are my brother."
"I have changed."
"Show me a living being that does not change, and I will show you something already dead."
"I am in another world, Stella."
"I know, brother."
"I missed you." He breathed. "How are Father and Mother?"
The two now sat at the edge of the golden river, on a golden stretch of grass.
"They are doing okay." Stella replied, bringing her knees up to her chest. "We miss you too, you know? We were worried about you when we left so suddenly."
"Hahah, is that so?" Cassius’s smile was soft, his head lowered. "Well, no need to worry. I pretty much managed to get through it. Hm, I admit I have done things that would have disappointed Father and Mother, and even you, but well...yeah...I was trying to accept all the things happening to me during those times."
He paused, looking at the golden river, then continued softly.
"I lost my family in a matter of hours, and I received the news in such a bland, mechanical way. ’Your family is dead in a car accident.’" He chuckled heavily. "Such a simple sentence to say. Not heavy on the tongue at all."
"Yet that sentence destroyed you."
"It did." Cassius admitted. "But hey," he chuckled again, "I made it, you see? Well, okay, I didn’t do it alone. I owe a lot to the men who worked at the graveyard. They were a bunch of lovely people who enjoyed life deeply yet moderately despite dealing with death every day."
Stella only listened, smiling.
"There was also a woman, strange but deeply caring. She was...she was my godmother, let’s say. Her name was Katherine."
"A beautiful name."
"And as a person, she was much more beautiful." Cassius’s eyes were getting slightly wet. "But she died. Not the kind of death she deserved, but..." he sucked in a deep breath, "...but it’s okay."
He paused again, and Stella waited calmly.
"Then I met a friend." Cassius continued. "A strange but compassionate friend. He was the one who taught me how to be resilient and steadfast when facing challenges, and how to be compassionate toward others. His name was Kaden Lightbringer. You can laugh at his name, I did too."
Stella laughed. "I hope you were a good friend to him too?"
"I hope so too. Even though I admit I received more than I gave him. That’s the only thing I regret about him."
"What happened after that, brother?"
"You already know, don’t you?"
"I want to hear it from you." She said. "So speak. Let everything out of your chest."
She turned and looked at him, and Cassius saw his face as Noah overlapping with her own.
"Tell me, brother, how is it living as Cassius Desdemona?"
—End of Chapter 340—