Last Born Of The Desdemona

Chapter 44: Chapter 44: Meeting with Sophia [3]

Chapter 44 – Meeting with Sophia [3]

Happiness makes even wicked people good.

A bold statement, but one none could deny watching Sophia speak with Cassius as if he were her lost son.

The happiness of having secured the Last Born of Desdemona’s attachment to her daughter, and through that opened doors that few in the entire Empire could even comprehend, was overwhelming.

But Sophia could.

She understood the tangled relationship between the Desdemona and the Hood Royal Family, with Sefira Hood Desdemona being the half-sister of the current King.

But if it were only that, Sophia wouldn’t be this pleased. Because the very mother of the Desdemona Matriarch was the actual Queen of the Kingdom, having married her own son after the death of the previous King.

That relationship — which most of the Kingdom had wisely decided never to speak of, out of fear of a fate worse than death — had been, alongside their powerful bloodline, a critical factor in the Desdemona’s rise as a Tier One Family.

It made them bold. Fearless, even.

’And now I have the heart of that very family inside my own.’ Sophia thought, walking through the garden with Cassius beside her, her face perfectly calm. ’Isolde is not so useless after all.’

All that remained was to not only keep Cassius attached to Isolde, but to herself.

’He is loved within his family but despised and distrusted by most outside of it. So what does a young man like that do when someone from outside that circle shows him genuine affection?’

There weren’t thousands of ways to react to something like that.

And Cassius’s reaction had been perfect.

With all that in mind, Sophia glanced at him from the corner of her eye and parted her lips.

”I am relieved, dear, that you are the one chosen for Isolde.” Her voice dropped slightly, taking on a heavier quality. ”Isolde has always been someone who cornered herself. A young woman who couldn’t connect with others, partly because of the side effects of her power.”

She smiled at Cassius the way a mother smiles at seeing her daughter finally spread her wings. ”So it’s a genuine relief to see someone so taken with her. Especially someone like you, dear.”

Cassius would have believed every word of it if he hadn’t played the game. After all, the way everything about her projected sincerity...it was unsettling.

As that realization, his throat tightened, his stomach dropped. He knew then that he was not dealing with someone ordinary.

This was the mother of two generational talents. One, a heroine the whole world would eventually hail. The other, a villainess who could kill an entire city without a twitch.

She couldn’t be anything close to normal.

’Queen’s breath, I hate this.’

”Isolde is indeed like that.” He nodded, playing along.

”I hope then that you won’t abandon her. I wouldn’t want my daughter made sad.”

”There is no way I would do that.” He shook his head. ”Besides, mother-in-law, it’s exactly because of how she is that my heart was taken without me even noticing.”

”Oh?” Sophia exclaimed, the crows around them chirping louder, visibly pleased.

”Yes. If anything, I should be the one worrying about being abandoned.”

”As long as I am alive, my dear, Isolde will be your wife.”

”Then I shall pray for your long life.”

”Oh, dear.” She murmured warmly. ”Then how could I not pray for you, my dear son-in-law?”

She stopped walking. Cassius mirrored her instinctively.

Sophia turned to face him, wearing a smile that even Isolde had never once seen on her mother’s face.

Cassius was inwardly taken aback by it.

[Usefulness.] Ananke hissed, staring at Sophia with quiet distaste. [She is like this with you only because you are useful to her. The moment your usefulness runs out...]

’Aye. I’d be treated like Isolde. Or worse, since I’m not her blood.’

[Exactly. So be careful, Cassius. Treat every smile and gesture like something laced with poison, one that takes effect the moment you least expect it.]

Cassius said nothing back. There was no need. He already knew.

He had successfully made Sophia believe he was a young man in love with Isolde and starved for validation outside his own family.

He couldn’t push further, he had to hold his ground and endure this meeting until it ended.

But Sophia, it seemed, had other plans.