Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 413: Chapter 413: Legitimate Reason

Chapter 413 – Legitimate Reason

Cassius let out a short sigh, wiping for the nth time his tears. It looked like today was a day for tears, he told himself dryly.

Ananke and Tysche were sitting now beside him, on each side, gently watching the golden river below them, the fish swimming, the water foaming gently.

Anyone seeing the three of them in some random part of the world, not taking into account their blasphemous beauty, would never come to believe that these three were two goddesses and a mortal.

The Gate’s pressure was still upon Cassius, but by now, he was getting used to it, giving him more time to be here. And he was not in a rush to go back to the real world.

He wanted to enjoy this beautiful scenery, and digest everything he had learned in one discussion with Tysche. There were also the things he had understood about himself thanks to Ananke, but also thanks to the Last Letter of his Parents.

He closed his eyes and thought about the recent events, and Cassius continued in that way for a while before opening them back.

Tysche and Ananke had been silent during the whole time, allowing him a time for himself.

He looked at the two of them in turn, narrowed his eyes at their faces, "You do have some common facial features."

The two immediately twisted their faces.

"Don’t ever say this to me again." Tysche said, looking completely baffled, "Look at my face, darling! I am more beautiful than her. That’s a fact."

"If that’s what you think, then take it." Ananke said with indifference, staring at her sister with open scorn, "I don’t need to be the most beautiful. That’s something only beings like you want."

"And what do ’beings like me’ stand for, Ananke?" Tysche asked with a menace in her tone, the Gate shaking.

Cassius saw the two, and immediately knew that his peaceful life was over. Now there was Ananke, Tysche, Marvela, and even Scarlet.

All women. Cassius shuddered at that realization.

’Isolde, this is truly not my fault!’ He cried out inwardly, feeling the urge to cry again, but this time, because of what his wife would do to him after knowing everything that happened.

’I am truly going to die, aren’t I?’

Cassius was honestly fearing for his future. His Wedding might become a Red Wedding.

"I have a question," he said after gathering himself, and both Tysche and Ananke looked at him, incredulous.

"You have a what?" Tysche said, "so your little mental breakdown was not enough? You want more, huh? You see now, sister? It’s him! I was innocent!"

"You can’t be serious, Cassius." Ananke said in the tone a weary mother held for her troublesome child.

The Last Born looked at their reaction, lips twitching. He only wanted to ask a question, and these two goddesses were acting like he was asking for the head of a King from a past generation.

"It’s not that type of question. Well, maybe a bit. But if you think you can’t answer, then so be it." He said, pushing away the face of Tysche who suddenly wanted to kiss his cheek. He was afraid for his life. Hell no. "I know that Tysche’s role, or maybe a part of it, was to bring me more fortune and luck by creating my mother. What about you, Queen?"

"Why is she called Queen, and me Tysche?"

Both of them ignored her comment.

"Me?" Ananke said, tilting her head, hesitating a bit, before thinking that maybe it was time. After his Self was consolidated, maybe Cassius could take this information.

"My role was more...strange but straightforward." Ananke replied, "I simply needed to keep you alive inside the womb of your mother, Sefira, for three years."

"Hm?" Cassius exclaimed, stunned, "Three years? I was in my mother for three years?"

"You were." Ananke said.

"Why? How?"

"That was the time necessary for your Aspect, Legacy, to be fully imprinted in you." Queen answered simply, "The fact you can obtain the Skills from your ancestors is thanks to these three years."

Cassius didn’t even know what to say at that point. But after receiving the news that Earth was a Gate, this one seemed pretty normal.

But Ananke was not done yet.

"But you still died." She added with a sheepish smile, "the Aspect was far too strong, and you couldn’t really bear it when you were actually forming into a real being."

"Then how did I come to be?" He asked calmly, Tysche listening without saying anything.

"Well, this is the part where I tell you the reason why Theophane hates you, and hates me." Ananke said, "Because you were dead, and we couldn’t afford you to stay dead, I transferred your Fate of Death to Theophane. I didn’t choose her specifically, to be precise. I just needed someone with Incredibly High Fate Affinity and talent so that it could work. And only she met the conditions."

Cassius looked at her, blinking his eyes repeatedly, recalling all the words and hatred from Theophane and suddenly it all made sense.

But something was still strange, "...but Theophane...is not dead?"

"She will die if she reaches Third rank." The Queen said, "and because I have directly attacked a mortal and put upon her such a Forbidden Fate, I went against one of the Three Fundamental Laws of Sunu Gaal, and paid the price for it."

"In other words," Tysche added, "Ananke lost her Church, her believers and everything. They were completely wiped out, as if they never existed, forgotten by the world itself. Only high ranking gods with powerful authority remember her past glory. Others don’t even know who she was and who she is anymore."

The Goddess of Fortune and Luck grinned coldly, "That’s what happens when you go against a Fundamental Law."

"So that time when I asked you how you lost your power and church...?" Cassius said.

Ananke smiled, "I lied. But I lied because you were not ready to know the truth."

"How many other lies have I received?" He asked.

Ananke didn’t answer at first, only looking at him with a gentle expression. She leaned in, face close to him, "Do you not trust me?"

"I do, but—!"

"Do you doubt my love for you?"

Cassius shook his head.

"Then know that whatever I do, I only do it for your own good. And you will know, Cassius. Don’t be so hasty. You will come to know, I promise."

The Last Born stared at her in silence, then nodded slowly. After the recent event, he came to understand even more the truth behind her words.

"But don’t you regret what you have done?" He asked, looking at the golden river beneath and saw the golden snake erupting out from it, looking like some golden pillar rising out from sand, "Theophane hadn’t asked for anything, but she obtained the fate I was supposed to go through. No wonder she hates you and me. I would have profoundly hated whoever and whatever did that to me."

"She didn’t deserve it, I agree." Ananke said, "but I don’t regret it, of course. You are more important to me, and I would have done the same every single time."

"What about all your powers you have lost?"

"Power can be regained. And I am getting something better than I had."

The two looked at each other, and Cassius smiled.

"Well, now I have some talented Seer wishing to kill me and make you pay." Cassius said, "I suppose there is no way to have a respectable talk around tea, wearing expensive suits, and find a way out of this, right?"

"I doubt it." Ananke replied.

"Am I allowed to try?" He asked, stroking his chin.

"Theophane’s Fate talent is very high. The fact she didn’t die immediately and instead would only die if she reached Third rank is proof of that." Ananke said, smiling with warning, "No matter what you do, be careful."

"She will come to me either way." He replied, "we will see once she does."

Queen nodded, and fell into silence. Cassius did the same, thinking about the implications of this discovery.

To think Theophane could only rank up until Second rank. All of that because his goddess wanted to protect him.

’I am starting to understand why in the Game, Emrys didn’t become Ananke’s Blessed, despite obtaining her Blessing.’ He thought, ’It feels like it was made solely for me to know how to reach Ananke and how the Blessing works, and take it from Emrys.’

What else in the Game, if he could even call it that anymore, was made for him to know?

Everything?

Cassius truly didn’t know, and he was tired of asking questions.

He breathed out, wanting to close his eyes in peace, but Tysche suddenly sat in front of him:

"I think all of this talk, darling, has made you forget the reason you are here, to begin with."

"The reason...oh!" Cassius exclaimed, finally remembering, "My Blessing!"

"Your Blessing." Tysche said, and a golden coin appeared in her hands. The same golden coin she had sewn when Cassius was braiding her hair.

And now that he was looking at it up close, the Last Born felt the chilling power behind the golden coin.

Before he even got the time to register the situation, however, Tysche placed the golden coin on his forehead.

Cold. Immensely cold, so much that Cassius jumped in shock.

Or at least, he tried.

He couldn’t do anything as the golden coin melted and entered deep into his forehead in a heartbeat.

Cassius’s consciousness began to fade as the Blessing of Tysche began to take root inside him. And as it did, the name came naturally to him:

"Blessing: Coin of Maybe."

—End of Chapter 413—