Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 428: Chapter 428: It’s Over

Chapter 428 – It’s Over

Among the clouds, drifting freely in a way they had rarely felt before, Cassius and Isolde looked at each other wide-eyed, each one not believing all the things the other had gone through when they were not together.

Cassius was shocked by the fact that the Fruit inside the Damned Village was the Consciousness of the Tree of the Underworld, and by eating it, Isolde actually got Blessed by the Underworld itself.

How was that possible? To be blessed by a literal Realm? Even with all his knowledge in the game, which was proving to be increasingly useless at this point, Cassius had never heard of it.

However, that was not the thing that made him pause. Nor the fact her Blessing allowed her to kill a Fourth rank being of the Crimson Daggers. No, the one thing that made his heart shake was the fact that...

"...you have died?" Cassius muttered in utter dismay, his voice coming out faint and almost choked.

Isolde looked at him and smiled wryly, having expected such a reaction. Still, she didn’t want to hide this from him. "I did." She said, voice muffled by the howling wind, "But don’t think of it as death in the literal sense. It was just the requirement to have the Blessing."

"I mean yes but still..." he was quite speechless, not even knowing what to say.

But then Cassius allowed himself, at that moment, to think of what it would feel like to realize that Isolde had died.

Waiting for someone that would never be back again.

The very thought of that was like the tip of a spear had been lodged deep into his heart, twisting into a spiral.

Cassius said nothing at that moment. He knew that saying anything would be useless. And he knew, certainly, that after everything she just went through, Isolde didn’t need him to be frozen like this.

However, there was one question that forced its way out of his mouth, and before he knew it, he had asked it:

"Why didn’t you ask me for help?" he asked, looking at her stunning purple eyes, "When you sent me the message, you could have told me what was going on, and I would have come to help you, Isolde. You know that."

"I do." Isolde said, "I do know that, and that’s exactly why I didn’t say anything. And no Cass, let me speak first." She raised a hand to stop Cassius who was about to retort, and followed, "I didn’t want to burden you, Cassius. You already have so much on your plate that I would have hated myself to just bring you more. And I know...I know that you see me as your responsibility, and I am happy about that, but sometimes...sometimes allow me to take upon myself to make life easier for you."

"No, Isolde. The question is: What if you had died?" Cassius said, and without realizing, his voice was colder than what he had intended it to be, "You have died to have the Blessing. Then you got out and managed to kill a Fourth rank being that left you kneeling in front of the opened door of Vorn’s Gate. And Isolde, you would have died if the woman that saved you wasn’t there on time."

He looked at her, his wings made of golden plasma burning brighter behind him, as if somehow echoing his own turbulent feelings.

"Now take a hypothetical situation where—!"

"I don’t want to consider a hypothetical situation." Isolde cut him off, "Because I know where you are going with this."

"But then—!"

"Cass, I understand your side." She said, holding his hand, "But you must understand me, too. Would you have asked me for help if you knew I was going through so many things?"

Cassius’s jaw clenched, and silence filled the lack of words, disturbed only by the wind.

He understood where Isolde was going. However, knowing that didn’t mean accepting what Isolde had done. Because to him, the probability of him dying was extremely low.

Not because of arrogance, no. But because he was protected by many goddesses, beings who were ready to sacrifice a part of their power for him.

So Isolde comparing the two of them didn’t hold to him. But Cassius couldn’t say it straight to her face.

He didn’t need to.

Isolde knew her husband more than he realized, and she knew what he was thinking simply by his face. And she shook her head in disappointment.

"This is also one of the reasons I didn’t ask your help." She said, letting go of his hands, and looked at him with dead serious eyes, "If I ask you for help anytime I am in difficulty, what would I become? I don’t know about you, Cassius, but I am not planning to just be the woman that will always be saved by her husband. And this time, in the Damned Village, it was for me to prove to myself that I can do things on my own. And don’t go believing it’s because I don’t want to depend on you, I do. I really do. But only after I know what I am capable of achieving."

Cassius stared at Isolde, and stifled a sigh, looking around at the white, puffy clouds parading around them like some armies with no direction.

Intellectually, he knew Isolde was right. But a part of him couldn’t simply accept what she had done, because she could have died. Died! That alone made his heart shiver, unwilling to continue this discussion any further.

And yet...

[You have done many stupid things, Cassius.] Ananke said to her Blessed, cutting off his thoughts, [Things I have warned you to not do, yet you did them. Now take into account that my life heavily depends on you. Did I ever, and I repeat ever, blame you?]

Cassius’s mind ground to a stunning halt. He lowered his head, saying nothing.

[Tell me? Did I ever or did I not? The only thing I do after your reckless decisions is to make you understand the danger of what you have done, and my own view of things. I didn’t impose restrictions on you.]

’Queen...it’s not the same.’

[It is, Cass. If I can do that for you, you can do that for Isolde. No matter how close you two are, you can’t blame her for wanting to prove something to herself. However, I do agree that you can share with her how what she had done had hurt you. But you do that by first understanding her view, and explaining yourself.] She halted for a heartbeat, allowing Cassius to absorb her words, [Be patient with her, like I have been with you. And like Isolde has been with you, knowing all the things you do.]

It was not like Cassius didn’t know all of that, he knew, of course. Just that sometimes...he just couldn’t help it.

Sometimes his love for others became a cage he didn’t even realize he was projecting.

"I love you, Cass." Isolde suddenly said, making him snap back his head at her, "and I know you love me. I have no doubt about that, and nothing in the world would make me doubt that. And I know that being with someone is accepting to have shackles around you, stopping you from doing certain things. It’s a simple fact but..."

She closed the distance between them, "...don’t hold the shackles so tight around my neck that I can’t even make my own decisions. I need my own agency, just like you do."

Cassius sighed under his breath, "I understand but I...just don’t want you to die. And can you imagine what I would have felt if you died because you didn’t want to burden me? I don’t believe I will ever get over it."

Isolde smiled painfully, "I know. I am sorry." She hugged him, "But it’s the past now, Cass. I have survived and I have killed a Fourth rank. I am stronger now, way stronger."

"And I am proud of you."

"Then show me that, and not this sad and worried face." She whispered, "In the same way I am not looking at you like I want to slap your face, even though I want to do it badly, after all the things you have done. And you have done so many things, Cass, including having two more goddesses."

"Now I see you are trying to turn the situation on me." He defended himself.

"No, because if you want to be moody, then I will be too. Why must they all be goddesses and not gods? Why are you so close with so many women? Why do you have even a Spirit who is a woman?" she began to speak, and the more she did, the more her anger seemed to increase, "Why, Cass, I feel like you are—!"

Cassius grabbed her face and kissed her. It was a kiss to silence her, but it was also a kiss to ease his worried heart and to make him realize that his wife was not dead.

And instead of blaming her, he could do better things, like hold her, kiss her, and whisper:

"You are the only one, I promise."

"I know." She said, breathless, face flushed, "But I can still be unhappy about it. Which made me want to say, cut down your hair."

"My hair? Why? Long hair suits me better."

"That’s exactly why." She hissed, holding his two cheeks together, "You are beautiful enough. Don’t fucking increase it."

"You are more beautiful than me."

"Shut up. Cut it down."

[WHAT!!! DARLING, NO!!! DON’T DO IT]

Marvela was back from slumber.

—End of Chapter 428—