Chapter 15 – Isolde Amaris
The streets of Storm City were bustling, a forest of people moving in both directions along the paved road, leaving the middle to whirling carriages and shouting drivers.
The atmosphere was loud, flooded by a cacophony of voices, whispers and screams that blended together into something utterly ear-aching.
Especially for the woman walking slowly through the excited crowd, bumping into one person, elbowing another, nearly headbutting a reckless man.
Yet there was something odd about all of it. None of them felt her presence. Not a single one acknowledged her.
Her hair was as black as a sky devoid of the grace of "Let there be Light!", her eyes a mesmerizing purple that seemed carved from the finest jewel.
Her skin leaned toward pale, her face a sight to behold with a scar running along the left edge of her lips in a straight line, from upper to lower.
If it didn't enhance her beauty, it certainly didn't diminish it.
'People. So many people.' The woman thought as she walked, her mind darting in every direction — restlessly, continuously — never settling on one thing.
One moment she thought of the task she needed to complete for the Elysia Academy, the next of the fact her sister was enjoying her time in the Royal Capital, and then finally…
'…I am going to get married?' Isolde Amaris couldn't help but chuckle hollowly at that.
This was so utterly ridiculous.
She had always made it plain to her parents that she never wanted to get married. Not unless it was with him.
'I shouldn't have said that, should I?' She mused coldly. 'I should have kept it inside. Wasn't it always like this? Everything I wanted, everything I said out loud…'
Her sister always managed to get there first. It had been the same with toys, with clothes, with the pride and happiness of their parents… and even with the love of their childhood friend.
Whatever she wanted, her sister found a way to take it in the simplest, most effortless way possible.
'So they sell me. Me — worthless, unseen, unheard — because of their own goddamn mistakes.' She thought with cold wrath, though she still muttered a sorry with a bright smile after elbowing into an elderly woman.
The old woman didn't even notice. She looked around as if Isolde wasn't an inch away from her, breathing right on her.
She moved on shortly after, finding nothing, and Isolde remained there a moment longer, realizing how futile all her attempts were.
No ordinary human could feel her presence except in rare circumstances. And even those awakened with power would struggle if their level matched hers or fell below.
That made her forgettable. Replaceable. Nothing but a shield for her little sister and her hypocrite of a family.
She clenched her fist so tightly her nails dug into her skin, blood dripping down.
Her eyes were wide open — bulging, dilating — filled with so much hidden resentment that it was suffocating to observe, the nearby people feeling a rising unease without knowing why.
'I won't accept it.' She grated, the sounds around her disappearing completely. 'I am not a shield. I am not her shadow. I am not a goddamn substitute for that bitch!'
She huffed, her facade beginning to slip, her true self threatening to surface.
'And I certainly will not accept marrying anyone, least of all the talentless Desdemona. Who do they think I am? I will kill him. I don't care. I will!'
She was shaking so hard she looked on the verge of explosion. And that was exactly what was about to happen…
If a ball of ice cream hadn't dropped onto her feet, and a crying little girl hadn't appeared in front of her.
"My… my ice cream!" The girl wailed, hot tears striking down her face, looking between her ruined ice cream and Isolde with yellow eyes brimming. "Big sister! Big sister! Rory's ice cream!"
Isolde's face went blank at the sudden shift. She immediately hid her bloodied hand behind her back and forced out the gentlest smile she could manage in that moment.
It was ridiculously fake. The crying girl noticed none of it.
"I will buy you another. Don't cry, sweet girl." Isolde said in a soothing voice, caressing her hair. "Alright?"
The girl stopped immediately the moment another ice cream was promised. Guided by pure innocence, she grabbed Isolde's hand and pointed toward the ice cream stand across the way.
"There! There, big sister! Come, fast!" She urged impatiently.
Isolde followed reluctantly, asking question after question. "Where are your parents? Do you want me to help you find them?"
Slowly, she managed to reclaim her gentle smile — the composed, soft face of the overlooked First Heiress of the Amaris household — burying the hatred burning hotter than starlight deep inside her blackened heart.
'One week.' She whispered, letting herself be led by the girl. 'In one week I will see him.'
Cassius Desdemona. Her husband.
A reality that would never come to pass.
'I promise.'
"Here!" The little girl chirped.
Isolde shook her head and focused on the tedious task at hand. "Alright, sweet girl~!"
'Urgh…I hate children. Can I kill her?'
…
The return of Cassius to the House of Desdemona set off a chain of events none could have foreseen.
Cassius didn't hide the fact that he had secured a Goddess's Blessing, and he made no effort to conceal his delight in sharing his improved Birthright Capacity and First Skill with his family.
He had no reason to. He needed their support to grow stronger, faster.
His mother was thrilled; hugging him, kissing him, patting him lovingly while firing off a million questions about Ananke.
His father said only a few curt words. Yet his curiosity, concern, and pride were still plain on his face.
His siblings were nowhere to be seen, each caught up in their own affairs. Affairs Cassius knew were anything but peaceful.
After hours of explaining everything, while keeping his deal with Ananke and his unusual knowledge carefully hidden, Cassius was finally allowed to retreat to his chamber and rest.
His parents promised him a solid week of training with his First Skill before he met his promised. Cassius was grateful.
But the moment he was gone, and Sefira and Aldrin were alone, their faces shed every trace of the love and warmth they had shown him.
"Who is she, Red Queen?" Sefira asked immediately, her voice soft, yet those who knew her understood she was on the edge of losing control.
[The Queen That Swims The Red River shakes her head. She doesn't know.]
[The Queen That Swims The Red River tells you not to worry. A god cannot harm its own Blessed.]
"I know." Sefira hissed. "But that's not the concern. I refuse to leave my son in the care of someone I know nothing about."
She cocked her head upward, her eyes churning like a restless sea of blood.
"I want everything on [The Lady Who Reads The End], Red Queen. Use your divine connections. Use whatever you have. But I want everything."
[The Queen That Swims The Red River gives you a bloody smile and asks if you are ready to bear the cost of such a demand.]
Sefira grinned coldly.
"If you don't do it, I will kill your Priest, your Knight, your Herald, your Beast—!"
[The Queen That Swims The Red River yells at you to stop!]
[The Queen That Swims The Red River curses you and your family.]
"Curse all you want, Red Queen." Sefira shrugged. "It changes nothing. Will you do it or not? Answer quickly, I have time to destroy them all today if you refuse."
A long silence blanketed the shadowy room.
Then finally…
[The Queen That Swims The Red River curses you again and reluctantly accepts.]
Sefira smiled, waved the notifications away, then turned her attention back to her husband…only for her eye to twitch.
Aldrin sat in his chair, completely unbothered, scribing with intense focus in his book. Sefira didn't need to ask to know what he was documenting.
She asked anyway.
"What are you doing? Aren't you worried about Cass?"
Aldrin paused, spared her a glance, and resumed writing while he answered.
"I trust Cassius." He said flatly. "As for what I am writing…"
He gave the faint illusion of a smile.
"…everything he said today, of course. Didn't you listen? It was worthy of inclusion in his personal journal."
"When will you stop this?" Sefira rolled her eyes. "Or better, when will you share it with him?"
"The day you accept to share with him that you—!"
"Okay, darling. Thank you. I am going to train."
"You mean torture your prisoners?"
Sefira bared her teeth into a bloody grin.
"That is my training, darling."
—End of Chapter 15—