Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 344: Chapter 344: How Sweet

Chapter 344 – How Sweet

"It was quite intense." Cassius sighed in relief, now completely alone inside his chamber.

His master had suddenly left because of some matters she needed to attend to, and he was truly relieved about that.

"Still," he muttered, frowning slightly, "is it me, or were Master’s feelings unstable?"

Even without trying, Cassius was now very good at sensing emotions directed toward him. He could sense, approximately, whether someone liked him, hated him, or felt any kind of complex emotion toward him, though the last case was naturally more difficult.

But the point was that the feelings coming from his master during the whole conversation were...very mixed.

[Is that why you started making a fool of yourself?] Ananke asked.

"Yeah." Cassius replied calmly, leaning back further to make himself comfortable. "It was instinctive, by the way. I just said the first thing that came to mind, and when I noticed that her feelings were getting ’better’, I simply continued."

[What exactly did you feel from her?]

"Hard to tell." He said, slowly shaking his head. "It’s a mix of love, hatred, and guilt. I think the guilt was more pronounced than the other two. And I don’t need to be a bloody genius to know where those mixed feelings came from."

He sighed wearily, even irritably, lifting his head toward the ceiling of his room as if he could see the two goddesses.

"Tell me, Marvela, what in the hell did Adonis do again in the past? Because this is starting to get annoying."

[As if I would know, darling.] Marvela replied. [Adonis was a good liar, darling, I told you. But he was also ruthless and pragmatic when needed. He had to be, after all, if he wished to stay alive long enough. And I have rarely seen someone who loved his own life more than him. So he might have done anything.]

"So it’s in his character to hurt someone to gain something?"

[It’s in the character of everyone in this world to hurt someone in order to gain something.] Marvela laughed. [Even you, darling. You lied to me and manipulated me for your own gain. And how many people have you done the same to? What you are doing will only increase in magnitude as you grow older and rise higher through the ranks.]

Cassius said nothing, his thoughts wandering in all possible directions.

[And in most cases,] Marvela continued, [it’s not because people like doing it. They simply have no choice but to sacrifice others in order to live.]

"Life lives on life." Cassius suddenly muttered.

Marvela and Ananke nodded in perfect sync.

[That’s the very essence of life, darling.] Sleeping Beauty said. [To live, you must eat, and to eat, you must kill. That concept is at the root of everything in this world. Mainly what we call ’Evil’.]

"Is there no exception to this...rule?"

[There are some.] Marvela nodded. [Very rare, but they exist. The most famous among the people you could possibly relate to is the Undefeated Commander.]

She smiled.

[A commoner who became the most powerful and hailed Commander in this world’s history. The gods wanted him, the devils were scared of him, the angels loved him with a love so pure they would destroy anyone who tried to touch him, and the mortals worshiped him.] Marvela continued. [He was one of the Old Conquerors, from the same generation as Adonis and that sly bastard Trenovar, the Sleepless.]

"He sounds like a myth." Cassius said, deeply intrigued. "I have never heard of him. How did such a man even die? Or is he even dead?"

[He was betrayed.] Marvela said simply. [And do you know what’s worse about it?]

"What is it?"

[He protected the one who betrayed him against the enemies of an entire continent until his death.] Sleeping Beauty said. [That day, the Angels wept until the sky became milky white. You know, they say that members of the Old Conquerors can reincarnate into future generations.]

"I have heard that." Cassius said, frowning subtly, remembering that Adonis...was also one of the Old Conquerors.

[Undefeated might come back one day. And if his return is confirmed, everyone will rush to get him on their side. That’s how important he is.]

"Every person in the Old Conquerors group is abnormal."

[That’s what made them Old Conquerors in the first place.] Ananke replied this time. [And your own Generation has the potential to reach that level.]

"Reach?" Cassius smiled arrogantly. "We are going to surpass those old men, what you talking about?"

He stood up from the bed and walked toward his bathroom.

"And if my classmates are not enough, I will make sure that I alone make this generation greater than anything this world has ever seen."

[Arrogant now, aren’t we?]

"Not arrogance." Cassius now stood in front of his mirror. "Simply a fact I am spoiling for you right now."

Both goddesses said nothing, smiling instead. They trusted Cassius enough to know that he could do it if he put in the work.

"And I think I have finally adapted to my beauty." Cassius said, staring at his face with a more relaxed expression.

At the beginning, his beauty had reached a level that could deeply ’harm’ others. And his Snake of Adaptation saw that excess of beauty as something harmful, like a poison.

The Innate would never accept that.

So the White Snake adapted to the ’Beauty’ itself, while at the same time making the eyes truly Cassius’s own.

Cassius’s beauty was still off the charts. Unequaled by anything. But now there was a subtlety to it, something soft, gentle, and sweet. Something you would see and immediately like or dislike—as the adaptation didn’t completely nullify the innate drawback of the eyes—without having such an intense reaction.

The Last Born felt much better now.

All the Eyes were now his own.

Not taken.

[I like your appearance better now, darling.] Marvela said, marveling at his soft, almost angelic beauty.

[You are so beautiful.] Ananke complimented. [But you are never going to escape the title of Angel at this rate.]

"At this point, honestly, whatever. I am an Angel, okay? Fine. I give up."

The two goddesses chuckled at his resigned expression.

"Still, Adaptation is truly too much." He sighed in awe, and he could sense the Innate hissing proudly inside his mind.

Cassius smiled, then channeled his mana to let Stella take physical form.

She slithered around his body and wrapped herself lovingly around his neck.

"I missed you too, Stella." He said, caressing her head. "Want to take a bath with me? Then we will go together for a talk with Aunt Sarah. She needs help."

Stella hissed in joy.

The two then entered the bathtub and began to wash themselves. Or more precisely, Cassius washed himself while Stella created a bloody mess by splattering water everywhere.

The Last Born said nothing and instead looked in more detail at his new Blessing: Unwanted Slumber.

"How sweet."

...

"This is getting annoying, Dorian." Esmeray said in an unamused tone, walking back and forth inside her room, wearing only a short skirt and a long shirt that barely reached her knees, her phone pressed against her left ear. "And I am fucking losing my patience."

"What do you want?" Dorian’s voice echoed through the phone, even more unamused than Esmeray. "Why do you keep calling me and texting me?"

"Why?" Esmeray halted abruptly, almost laughing incredulously. "Should I remind you what we did that night? Should I remind you how much we fucked—!"

"Esmeray, for fuck’s sake!" Dorian cut her off, slowly getting angry.

Esmeray could tell, and she didn’t give a damn.

"It doesn’t matter how angry you get, I will not stop until you accept the reality we are living in right now. We have crossed the point of no return, Dorian. What else do we have to lose?"

Dorian only sighed heavily, saying nothing.

"And I am pretty sure that I am not the only one feeling this." She continued.

"Feeling what?" Dorian asked despite knowing the answer.

"This budding sense of devotion and...attachment toward each other. We have done it only once, Dorian, and I disgust myself whenever I think about all the things I have done in the past because of the curse." She bit her lip tightly, her eyes hard. "I want to kill all of them. All those men and women I slept with."

"It’s useless. Doing that would not change your past."

"Oh, look at this! Are you judging me now?"

"Who am I to judge you?" Dorian laughed derisively. "I own a damn brothel, Esmeray. And I have slept with so many women I can no longer recall most of them."

"In that, we are very much the same. But you are worse." Esmeray smiled. "I was doing all of that because of the curse. You were doing it—!"

"Because Cupid’s Characteristics influenced me more than I expected."

"This feels like we were made for each other."

"Esmeray, I am not going to have that conversation with you."

"We have to. I will not bear seeing you with any other woman besides me, Dorian."

"This was not the deal." He hissed.

"Fuck the deal." Esmeray snapped, walking toward her bed before slumping down onto it. "What do you even need to sleep with them for? If it’s to satisfy you, I can do that. I am the only one who can do it anyway, just like only you can satisfy me."

"The easiest way for me to obtain what I want is through women. And the easiest way I have to make those women accept my orders quickly is by making them bloody cheaters on their husbands and having proof." Dorian replied. "You don’t want to know how many videos and pictures I have. Now, with this whole situation, I am losing my greatest tool."

"You are gaining something much better."

"What? You?" He scoffed.

"I think you tend to forget who I am because you only see me as the cousin or aunt you are fucking." Esmeray said directly. "But Dorian, I am Esmeray Hood, Princess of the Kingdom."

A cold, bloodthirsty smile slowly split her lips.

"I have power and influence, and I can help you build what you have always wanted to build."

"My Sex Empire?"

"Exactly." She said. "I will help you achieve your goal, because now your goal is my goal. For I want to see it..."

Her face twisted into a smile of ecstasy.

"...I want to see that Empire where forbidden things are no longer forbidden. An Empire where human beings can indulge in their basest and most sinful desires. An Empire, Dorian, where we give them every opportunity to be what they truly are without the judging eyes of society."

"What you are describing is an empire that will destroy itself in fucking record time." Dorian said.

"Not when that Empire is ruled by capable people."

"Let me guess," he said, and Esmeray could hear the smile in his voice. "You and I?"

"Of course." She smiled in return. "You and I, Dorian. I will be yours, you will be mine. And we will make this Empire come true."

Dorian remained silent for a couple of seconds before answering with a deep sigh.

"Cassius will hate me."

"You don’t know Cassius." Esmeray rolled her eyes. "He is unable to hate his own family. You should know that."

"We can never be too certain." He whispered. Then, "Anyway, I will need to change the way I do things now." Dorian said. "And you will help me with that. But first, I have a request."

Esmeray’s smile was devilish at that moment.

"So you finally accepted? Don’t ignore my messages and calls next time."

"I am a busy man."

"I will come to your brothel and make a scene if you do it again."

"We are not going far, you and I, if you keep threatening me."

"Then threaten me in return."

"Dumb bitch."

"I like the sound of it coming from your mouth. Say it again."

Dorian rolled his eyes, yet couldn’t stop a smile from appearing on his face.

"Focus here. I want you to do something."

"Tell me."

"I have been having problems with the Pink Lotus Brothel lately." He said with irritation. "Madam Fiona is encroaching on my territory."

"Just kill them?"

"Think I didn’t try that already?" He hissed. "Madam Fiona knows what she is doing. She allowed different sects to open franchises of her brothel all over the kingdom. They are eating into my clients, revenues, and opportunities."

"Pretty smart. What do you want me to do, then?"

"What would you do if you were in my place?" Dorian asked instead.

Esmeray smiled. "I would focus on the closest franchise to my biggest source of revenue, gather more information about the whole situation, then only after knowing enough would I decide what to do."

"Then that’s what we will do." Dorian decided. "I will give you a clone of mine for that."

"Alright. But I hope you know that I won’t fuck your clone."

"I know."

"And I want to do it."

"You know where to find me."

Esmeray grinned wildly, her heart racing.

"Let’s try cosplay this time?"

"Fuck you."

"Hahah."

—End of Chapter 344—