Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 396: Chapter 396: I Hate Nepo Children

Chapter 396 – I Hate Nepo Children

"My angel, are you finally remembering you have a grandmother?" Morenna said, her voice as sweet as ever, though the reproach beneath it was impossible to miss.

Meadow, William, and Diaila all froze like statues, realizing they were witnessing the actual Queen of the Kingdom speaking, live.

Her voice sounded nothing like what they were used to hearing about her.

’Is this really how she talks to her own family?’ Diaila wondered. For a Tier Three heiress like herself, this was something she never expected to witness firsthand.

’Then again, I never expected to kill someone the way I did either. Or to end up close enough to Cassius Desdemona that he could actually give me orders.’

Unexpected things kept happening, one after another. Diaila Law genuinely had no idea where her life was heading anymore.

She blinked, refocusing, as Cassius began his reply.

"Forget?" he said, sounding thoroughly scandalized. "How could I ever forget my only true grandmother? You’re the only one I have left."

"Ah, of course I’m the only one," Morenna laughed. "Your father’s parents are dead."

"That’s not very kind of you to point out, Grandmother, you know?"

"And it’s not kind of you to ignore my messages," the Queen countered. "You’re turning into Esmeray. She never replies to her poor mother either. I’m dying of grief over here."

"I assume Uncle Raven still answers, at least?"

"He’s the only decent child I have."

"As my mother’s son, I have to disagree with that," Cassius chuckled. "Though I’ll admit he’s the most normal one of the bunch."

"Right?" Morenna sighed, weary. "My twin children are impossible. One loves killing far too much, the other’s far too ambitious. And then my youngest daughter, who ignores me entirely and acts like I’m the worst mother alive."

"You’re the best grandmother, at least."

"Not the best mother, though?"

"That, I couldn’t say," he smiled, amused. "Though I’d bet yes. Ask Uncle Raven. Not your daughters."

"Because Raven only tells me what I want to hear," the Queen guessed, chuckling. "Much like this whole long chat you’re having with me, right before you finally ask me for what you actually need."

"What?" Cassius said, mock-offended. "Can’t I just call my grandmother to see how she’s doing?"

"You can," Morenna said, "but you wouldn’t, my angel. Not without a reason. And it’s fine, you’ll still be my favorite grandson regardless. So tell me," her voice dropped, turning a shade more serious, "why did my grandson actually call?"

Cassius didn’t answer right away. He stood from the bed, under his teammates’ watchful eyes, and began pacing, wondering how she’d actually react.

Maybe badly. Maybe well. After all, what he’d done effectively made an enemy of the Museum itself. That was no small institution, it could ripple through the kingdom’s economy and social order alike.

Thinking it over now, Cassius realized he probably should’ve named someone else as his guardian, if only to avoid political fallout. His master, perhaps.

Too late for that now.

He took a breath and continued, "Before I tell you what I need, Grandmother, I should mention first that I’ve been wronged. Alright?"

"So my suspicion was right. You actually did something, my angel. Something serious enough to call me over."

"Depends how you define serious, I suppose?"

"Tell me, and let me be the judge."

"To start, I accepted a mission to protect the Museum’s carriages, from the Hushsight Domain to Vorn City," Cassius said, and caught a cough from someone unfamiliar behind his grandmother’s voice.

He paused.

"Continue," Morenna said.

He nodded and went on. "Long story short, we were attacked, and all the artifacts were stolen. The only survivors were the four of us students assigned to the mission. Then, once the battle ended and the artifacts were gone, we were taken back to the Museum for questioning about the incident. At least, that’s what we assumed. Instead, these old fossils actually accused us of stealing the artifacts ourselves."

Cassius’s voice climbed with disbelief, genuine shock coloring every word.

Meadow was quietly amazed at how effortlessly he could lie.

Watching him now, no one would ever guess he was the actual thief who’d stolen the Legendary Artifact himself.

’I’d probably be reacting just like William and Diaila right now, if I weren’t in his sect,’ Meadow thought, unsure whether that was a good thing or not.

She was starting to understand that not every truth needed to be known.

Cassius continued,

"I’m sure you understand why I got irritated. We nearly died, and they’re accusing us? Ridiculous. So I invoked a Call of Justice, and named you as my guardian." He smiled sheepishly. "Did I do well?"

"More than well," Morenna said, her tone suddenly icy enough to make the three teammates shudder. "Not only did their mission nearly kill my grandson, they had the nerve to blame him for their own incompetence?"

The Queen was genuinely furious.

"How dare they."

"Yeah, AND, one of them essentially threatened my life, when I tried to defend myself and my teammates."

"Say that again?" Morenna said, another cough echoing behind her, harsher this time. "They did what?"

Meadow, William, and Diaila all felt a flicker of unease. Cassius was actively pouring fuel on this fire.

They were angry too and felt wronged too, but none of them wanted things escalating quite this far.

Cassius didn’t care. He needed chaos at the Deathless Prison. Enough chaos to finally complete his blessing mission.

That was exactly why he’d invoked the Call of Justice in the first place. Otherwise, he’d have simply dropped the matter and demanded something smaller for the insult.

But this mission had been sitting unfinished for a while now. Time to close it out and claim his blessing.

His third blessing.

"When I tried to defend us, one of them said I was acting arrogant in front of people who could kill me in a heartbeat," Cassius snitched, shameless.

"Who said that?"

"I’m terrible with remembering unimportant people. But she was an old woman with blue eyes."

"I see," Morenna said, calm now. "Guess threatening the royal bloodline is common practice these days, is it? Fine. When’s the Call of Justice?"

"Soon, I think. We’re about to head there now."

"Wait for me," the Queen said. "I’m coming to get you myself."

"Are you sure? You could just wait for us there."

"I haven’t seen you in far too long, my angel. I can’t wait any more than I already have. And," her voice shifted, strange, as though several voices spoke through her at once, "I’d love to see exactly who threatened you, my dear. Just so I have her face fixed in my mind. So wait for me, alright?"

"Alright," Cassius nodded, and Morenna ended the call.

He looked up at his teammates, smiling sheepishly, almost innocently. "Guess who’s coming?"

All three of them rolled their eyes, hearts sinking.

"I hate nepo children," Diaila hissed.

...

At the same time, Morenna had just hung up on Cassius. She stood in her room, wearing a light black robe suited for indoor wear.

The room was decorated in black and red, spacious enough to hold a massive bed alongside a study desk and couches.

Portraits of her children lined the walls, one added recently: a portrait of Cassius, which she’d asked for and finally received.

Morenna stared at her phone for a moment, turning over what had just happened, before tossing it aside. Then she turned towards Hel Hood, seated on the couch, black-and-red death essence swirling around her, slowly healing.

"You didn’t tell me Cassius was there," Morenna hissed, anger simmering in her chest.

"I didn’t know," Hel replied. "I never even noticed him. I saw some children, but not him specifically. Must have missed him in the chaos."

"Missed him?" Morenna crossed the room, seizing her by the throat. "What do you mean, ’missed him’? What if you’d killed him?"

"Bold of you to strangle me right now, Morenna," Hel replied, smiling with murderous intent. "Are you that eager to suffer?"

"Answer my damn question, old hag."

"I answer whatever I feel like answering," Hel said. "And how dare you play the loving grandmother now? I wonder what that little boy would think of you, if he knew every atrocity you’ve committed."

Hel smiled, bloody and lethal,

"Everything you did to become Queen," she continued. "You, a foreigner, manipulating, killing, scheming your way into being the one and only Queen. You murdered my son’s lover for it. You murdered Dantes’s mother."

Morenna said nothing, only glaring.

"And then you had the audacity, you cursed bitch, to make Dantes your husband, to bear incestuous children ’blessed’ by some entity! What a fool! A complete fucking fool! Because that entity turned out to be Mad Gods! Mad Gods, Morenna!" Hel shouted, wrenching her hand away. "You were tricked! Tricked! And you wonder why your children are cursed, doomed to lose themselves, the same way the gods who ’blessed’ them lost themselves?"

"That’s not the subject here," the Queen hissed. "And don’t you dare lecture me like some holy saint. I killed Dantes’s mother? So what? You cheated on your own husband, got pregnant, and killed your child out of shame. Am I really worse than you?"

Hel’s eyes narrowed coldly.

"Of course not. I’m no worse than you. You’re no worse than me. We all carry secrets we’d rather kill innocent strangers over than let surface," Morenna whispered. "So you keep your mouth shut about my affair, and I’ll do the same about yours."

"You’ll regret everything you’ve done someday, Morenna," Hel said.

"I already do," she smiled coldly. "Just not for killing Dantes’s mother. I’m happy, proud even, that I did that. That bitch deserved every bit of it. Who told her to take what was mine? What I do regret is failing to be the mother Dantes actually needed, and letting Mad Gods encroach on my children’s very existence. But do you honestly think I’ll let them keep it?"

Her eyes burned with harrowing power,

"I’ll kill every single one of them. And," she straightened, turning to walk away, "if Cassius had died because of your incompetent mission — mission you couldn’t even pull off — you would’ve died here, right now."

"By whose hand?" Hel mocked.

Morenna smiled quietly under her breath, stepping out of the room, her voice trailing behind her.

"By all of us, old hag."

—End of Chapter 396—