Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 438: Chapter 438: September 1st.

Chapter 438 – September 1st.

Step.

Everyone stopped whatever they were doing as Sophia Amaris stood on the doorstep of the Church, holding Isolde’s hand.

Slowly, in perfect sync, whether they liked it or not, everyone rose from their chairs, their bodies all facing the door, all facing the two women.

Outside, the journalists and the people who had been waiting there since morning fell into a sudden, solemn silence, a silence so total and profound that not even the sound of breathing could be heard.

Even the wind no longer howled as it used to, as if some god had gripped it and held it in perfect stillness.

And in that stillness, Isolde watched the man standing on the elevated altar, the High Priestess just beside him.

He stood tall, wearing a white suit with purple stripes. His hands were gloved in white, and his long hair had been styled, some strands curled behind his ears, others still falling softly over his face.

His eyes, a mix of crimson and pink, stared at no one but her, and they were trembling. His lips, too, were trembling.

It took Isolde a couple of seconds to notice that Cassius was doing his best not to shake all over, and a couple more to realize that her own heart was pounding so hard she could hear nothing but its monstrous rhythm.

"This was not the plan," Sophia suddenly said, yet her voice didn’t travel, heard by Isolde alone. "When I decided to marry you off to the Desdemona, it was not for you to find happiness within that marriage."

Isolde pressed her lips tightly together and lowered her head slightly, her white veil hiding her whole face.

"But somehow, you did," Sophia continued, and she began to walk towards Cassius, towards the altar.

The sound of their footsteps was the only thing that could be heard inside the Church.

Every man and woman simply watched, like knights waiting for their Empress to pass.

The bridesmaids and groomsmen stood at the front, side by side.

"I don’t know how you did it," Sophia went on, "but this young man is deeply in love with you. And I can see that you, too, are in love with him. Am I wrong?"

"No... Mother," Isolde replied.

"With such love, I could say you made things easier for our family. After all, with this Official Wedding, we and the Desdemona are forever linked, no matter what happens afterwards. But I will put that part of me aside today, and only for today, Isolde."

They were now close to the altar, and the closer they got, the more clearly they could see the rare and important figures like Mallory and Rose, the King and the Queen, all of them seated in the very front row.

"Today, I have one, or maybe two things to tell you," Sophia said, as they finally arrived at the foot of the altar.

Sophia paused there and turned towards her daughter. She looked at her, veiled and ready to be married, and remembered the Soulblade she had lost, the loss that had left her stuck at the Fourth Rank forever.

She remembered the days and nights of anger and helplessness she had felt whenever she tried to step into the Fifth Rank, never able to, because she had literally lost a part of herself.

A part she was desperately trying to regain by accomplishing her goal.

Then, finally, she remembered what she had witnessed when she got the Origin Pool of the Amaris Bloodline.

Remembering all of that, she leaned forward and took Isolde into her arms, her own body shaking from doing something so foreign and wrong, before speaking in a tense voice:

"Happy birthday, little girl," Sophia said. "And happy Wedding Day. I pray that your child threatens to kill you one day too. If it happens, don’t forget to tell me."

Isolde’s eyes glistened with tears. She hugged her mother back for the first time in over fifteen years, wanting to wail like a little girl, stopping herself only because of the situation. "T-Thank you," she muttered. "And I don’t think you’ll still be alive when I have children."

Sophia’s lips twitched at those last words. "I will outlive you, both you and Anesthesia. Mark my words."

Isolde let out a chuckle and broke the hug. They looked at each other, not knowing how or when their relationship had changed. But it had.

And Isolde could only be grateful for that.

She then turned her attention to the altar, her eyes locking on Cassius.

Anesthesia witnessed the scene between her sister and mother, and tears fell down her face. Tears she wiped away absurdly fast, but Raven Hood, the man who never took his eyes off her, saw them.

And when Anesthesia looked at her boyfriend, he gave her a soft smile, and she nearly cried again.

The Chosen Heiress cursed herself for being such a crybaby today before refocusing, watching Isolde step up onto the altar, helped by Cassius’s hand.

Finally, the two stood face to face.

The guests all applauded rhythmically before sitting back down, watching the two young people, listening.

The doors of the Church were still wide open, the guards allowing some journalists to come closer and take pictures, though in complete silence.

Cassius stood there, looking at the veiled Isolde. At that instant, no one and nothing existed except the woman in front of him, and there was nothing he wanted more than to lift her veil, hug her, and wish her the happiest birthday ever.

Yes, all he wanted was to get this done and finally become Isolde’s husband.

But it was not yet time. So he reined in his feelings and listened to Helene, who had just begun to speak:

"Most of you know that I have a speech reserved for weddings such as this," Helene Mars began, her voice bright and preachy, yet beneath all that brightness was something few people took notice of. "But today, O men and women of the Kingdom of Death, I will spare you that speech, and instead introduce you to two young people who have come before us with the desire to become husband and wife. Two people who have chosen each other, and who are so certain of that choice that they have decided to undertake the Official Wedding, binding themselves together in a manner that no noble house in this kingdom has dared to do for thirty years. And the last time such a wedding took place was when Aldrin Desdemona married Sefira Hood."

A wave of surprised and confused murmurs spread through the crowd, as many were only now learning that the parents of the Last Born had also undergone an Official Wedding.

Cassius felt a pang of sadness at the mention of his parents, neither of whom was there to witness him following in their footsteps.

"And today, thirty years later, the youngest son of that very union, Cassius Desdemona, has chosen to do the same by marrying Isolde Amaris, the woman he has decided to spend the rest of his life with. And that, O men and women of the Kingdom of Death, is why we are gathered here today."

Helene smiled, her gaze moving from Cassius to Isolde, and at that very moment, a parchment of black and red appeared between them, hovering in the air as it released a cold, ancient power that seemed to have little to do with the world of the living.

"We are gathered here to honor the lifelong union of Cassius Desdemona and Isolde Amaris under the gaze of Vorn, the Lord of Death, Master of the Gate of Death, and Eternal Ruler of the Kingdom of Death," Helene proclaimed, her voice rising with every word, carrying across the church with an authority that made the ceremony feel all the more solemn. "We are gathered here to bind these two souls together, to recognize their choice before the Lord of Death himself, and to allow them to remain with each other until death parts them. Such a union is not one to be undertaken lightly, for it is a promise that neither time, distance, hardship, nor the changing fortunes of this world should ever be allowed to break. And so, before this union can be made, I must ask..."

Helene turned toward Cassius, her expression becoming solemn.

"Cassius Desdemona, are you willing to take Isolde Amaris as your wife, to love her as you love yourself, to protect her as you would protect yourself, to stand beside her in times of peace and in times of war, in moments of joy and in moments of suffering, and to remain faithful to the choice you have made today, until death parts you?"

Cassius had no reason to hesitate, and indeed, he did not hesitate.

Yet he remained silent for a moment, replaying the question in his mind over and over again, as though he wanted to make certain that he understood every single word, every promise he was about to make, and every consequence that would follow from his answer.

And each time he repeated the question, no matter how he looked at it, the answer remained the same:

A resounding yes.

Cassius opened his eyes, looked at Isolde, and nodded, his voice carrying not even the slightest trace of uncertainty.

"Yes, I will."

"WOAH! THAT’S MY—!"

"SHUT UP!" Love hissed at Klaus, who had suddenly begun screaming at the top of his lungs, and strangely enough, the man immediately fell silent, sulking as though he had just suffered the greatest injustice of his life.

That interruption made people laugh, and soon, applause spread throughout the church in response to Cassius’s answer.

Helene allowed the noise to settle before continuing, this time turning toward Isolde, and with the same solemnity she had shown Cassius, she repeated the question.

"Isolde Amaris, are you willing to take Cassius Desdemona as your husband, to love him as you love yourself, to protect him as you would protect yourself, to stand beside him in times of peace and in times of war, in moments of joy and in moments of suffering, and to remain faithful to the choice you have made today, until death parts you?"

The question echoed gently inside her mind.

Isolde had died once, and had nearly died again just after surviving a deadly battle.

She had gone through so much in the last few weeks of her life that there were moments when she had almost stopped believing this day would ever come.

But Isolde hadn’t given up, even when she was being pursued by a Third Rank with two hounds at his side. She hadn’t given up even when she entered that damned place, where she had been forced to fight her way through undead and ghosts just to stay alive.

And she certainly hadn’t given up when she finally escaped, only to find herself standing before a Fourth Rank and an entire group of assassins who wanted nothing more than to see her dead.

She fought. She fought. And she fought.

For herself, yes, but also for this day.

For a day when she would finally stand before Cassius Desdemona, wearing a white wedding dress, surrounded by her family and so many people, and say the words she had dreamed of saying for so long:

"Yes," she said, her voice trembling with all the emotions she could no longer contain. "I will."

As though their consent was all that had been needed, a single drop of blood escaped from each of their bodies and flew toward the Contract, which absorbed them both and began to glow before dissolving into countless particles of molten light that entered Cassius and Isolde.

Rings formed from that light around their fingers, rings that would never be taken off.

At that instant, they didn’t need anyone to tell them what had happened. They knew, with a certainty that reached into the very depths of their souls, that from this moment onward...

"I declare you husband and wife," Helene said.

...they were officially married.

The guests erupted into cheers and applause, while the journalists strained to capture every possible picture of the moment.

But Cassius and Isolde heard none of it, as though the entire world had suddenly grown distant and there was nothing left within it except the two of them.

The Last Born reached out, gently grasped Isolde’s veil, and lifted it, finally seeing the face of his wife, a face so beautiful he almost forgot to breathe, tears streaming freely down her cheeks as she looked back at him.

But that wasn’t quite true.

Because Cassius Desdemona’s own eyes had grown blurry, and through them, the entire world seemed to be crying alongside him.

Without hesitation, he took a step forward and pulled Isolde into a deep, tender hug.

There were a million things he wanted to say at that instant. But in the end, the only thing that came out of his mouth was, "Happy birthday, darling."

Isolde began to sob, holding Cassius even tighter, as if wishing to become one with him. "T-Thank you. Thank you for everything, Cassius. This is the greatest gift I could have ever received."

Because Isolde knew why Cassius had chosen this exact day, her birthday.

For someone who had only started to have people around her a month ago, this was Cassius telling her that he would always be with her, no matter what.

That day at the Amaris Household, Cassius had chosen her in front of her sister and her childhood friend.

Today, Cassius had chosen her in front of the whole Kingdom, and even beyond.

And by choosing her on this very day, September 1st, Isolde Amaris, the woman who had never had any reason to celebrate her own birthday, finally had all the reasons in the world to do so.

So while everyone around them cheered, Isolde broke the hug, held Cassius’s face with all her strength, and kissed him on the lips for all to see, with so much love that everyone could feel it behind the gesture.

Cassius’s heart bloomed with tenderness, and he gently held Isolde close, forgetting everything but the feeling of the union binding them.

And as if it were the only thing they had been waiting for...

DIIIIIINNNNNNGG!!!

The whole Kingdom shuddered at the deafening sound that seemed to come from the heavens.

And it did. Because at that instant, gods had acted.

Not gods, in fact. Goddesses.

The Goddesses of Cassius Desdemona had spent a large amount of GeumGeum to request one thing of Mother System, their three voices overlapping, echoing loudly for all to hear:

[We wish, Mother System, to honor this Wedding.] Ananke said, her voice steady.

[We wish to spend our GeumGeum, and even a part of our Authority if needed, to make it a Nexus Point of Sunu Gaal.] Tysche followed, her tone serious for once.

[Allow us, Mother System, to carve this day into the Records of Sunu Gaal.] Marvela added, her voice dreamy.

Everyone looked up in absolute shock. Even Isolde broke off her kiss, looking at Cassius, who was equally stunned by such a development.

Yet the surprises were not over, as the gods began to stir.

[The Mother of Assassins wishes for Mother System to accept the request.]

[The Keeper of Truth wishes for Mother System to accept the request.]

[The Legacy of the Mirror wishes for Mother System to accept the request.]

And then, finally,

[The Lord of Death, Vorn, wishes for Mother System to accept the request.]

The whole Kingdom trembled, and every guest seated inside the Church tilted their head upward in tremendous surprise.

The air was buzzing with so much divine essence that people could see GeumGeum drifting through it.

At that instant, people felt the urge to kneel. But before they could, Mother System replied, its voice echoing everywhere.

{Request Accepted.}

The world shook.

{The Wedding between Cassius Desdemona — the Last Born of the Desdemona, Seraph of the Damned, Lightbringer of the Spirit World — and Isolde Amaris — the Traveler Between the Realms, the One Who Saw Death and Returned — has been acknowledged.}

The silver sky began to light up with all kinds of colors, dazzling and beautiful, the very sun glowing a brighter white.

{The Wedding of the Generation has been designated. The Records have been updated. The Worlds are witnesses.}

And at those words, which left everyone wondering what was going on, Ananke smiled mysteriously, looking at the Book of the Faith in front of her.

Her mind traveled far into the past, to another realm of existence, another dimension and a Forbidden timeline, when He had said,

"What do you think, little girl? The Second Ending isn’t too bad, is it?"

Ananke laughed, remembering those words. She closed her eyes before whispering under her breath, "Indeed. It’s not too bad."

—End of Chapter 438—

—End of Volume 2—

Second Ending: September 1st.