Chapter 21 – Fuck you both
Cough! Cough! Cough!
Cassius coughed uncontrollably as his body slammed against the hard ground, the bones inside him rattling, his breath knocked clean out of his lungs.
He wheezed, managed to pry his eyes open through the horrible pain gnawing at every inch of his body, and stared up at Lucian and Lilien looking down at him from a distance.
He narrowed his eyes furiously, tasting his own blood.
"No need to look at us like that, Youngest!" Lucian laughed cheerfully, without a shred of malice.
In one frightening instant, his leg was an inch from Cassius's face.
[CASSIUS!]
Ananke's voice snapped his mind sharply back into focus. He raised his arms instinctively, crossing them in front of his face, gritting his teeth, bracing for impact.
It was worse than he expected.
Lucian's kick landed directly on his forearms, causing his bones to creak wrenchingly, followed by a sharp cracking sound that echoed through the training room.
Cassius didn't even have time to register the agony before his body was hurled backward like a thrown rock, his back crashing into the row of training weapons lined neatly along the wall.
A booming sound flooded the white training ground.
Cassius slumped, weapons scattering over him, cursing under his breath while continuously coughing blood. Both arms lay limp at his sides.
'O-oh bloody hell…' He cursed, exerting a considerable effort not to break down into tears.
Fortunately, his recent full fusion with Cassius's memories made it easier.
[Are you alright, Cassius?] Ananke whispered through his mind, pulling a little of his consciousness back.
'Yes. I feel fantastic.'
[…were you being sarcastic?]
'Please, Ananke, I am trying not to cry here.' He answered, irritated, lifting his head to stare at his siblings. 'This is not the time for stupid questions.'
[…]
The Goddess scoffed.
"Back with us, Youngest?" Lucian spoke again, still smiling freely, as if he hadn't just nearly broken both his brother's arms.
"I went easy on you. So get up already."
Lilien stood at his side, saying nothing, watching with a neutral expression.
Cassius looked at them, watching Lucian strip off his shirt, revealing a brilliant Birthright Mark shining on his left shoulder.
The man was truly something.
Standing at seven feet tall, white hair tied back in a ponytail, a body riddled with muscles that seemed to breathe with every movement.
Lilien was no different. Standing at the same height as her twin, she had long legs and thick thighs beneath a white skirt with black leggings underneath. She wasn't as built as Lucian, but she had exactly the right amount of muscle to suit her perfectly.
And these two monsters were staring down at him with the look of people who wanted nothing more than to eat him alive, their combined presence darkening the training room as if swallowing the light itself.
'What are they doing here?' Cassius wondered, painfully and uselessly trying to move. 'The Twins were supposed to be at the Academy, preparing for their final test of their third year.'
That was what had happened in the game at this stage.
So why were they here?
He had no idea. And his siblings gave him no time to think further about it.
"We would love to start slow, Youngest." Lucian said, cracking his neck left and right, his fingers dissolving into black ink splattering across the ground. "But we barely have five days to teach you anything worthwhile. That's why—"
"—forgive our harshness." Lilien finished her twin's sentence flatly, not sounding sorry in the slightest. "We will not be following mother's instructions. Now choose your weapon, Youngest."
"Fuck you, Lucian." Cassius hissed, voice hoarse and blood dripping from his head. Then he looked at his sister. "And you—!"
"Choose your weapon, Youngest." Lilien cut in, her tone carrying a note of quiet warning.
"Let me first—!"
No further words were needed. Lilien kicked off the ground, tearing through the air, appearing in front of Cassius in the next instant.
She raised her right hand overhead. A small creature made of shadow spawned — resembling a rat — then transformed into a long black scimitar.
Cassius cursed.
Without hesitation, she brought it down toward him. In a state of fear and pure instinct, Cassius snatched up one of the scattered weapons from the ground around him and barely managed to block the strike.
Sparks exploded from the point of contact. Lilien's weapon recoiled upward. Cassius groaned, his arms screaming in pain, his body sinking.
"Good." Lilien said impassively, eyes settling on the weapon in her little brother's hands. "That will be your weapon now, Youngest."
Behind her, Lucian burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Cassius, meanwhile, was completely dazed, staring down at the weapon in his shaking hands.
It was a white cane with a serpent-coiled handle, its jaws locked on its own tail.
But it was not a simple cane.
Cassius instinctively grabbed the handle and pulled, and a sharp, thin blade slid out.
"Shall we begin, Youngest?"
"Fuck you both. I will not forget this. I fucking swear."
"Hahahaha!"
And so Cassius's hellish training began.
…
Meanwhile, in the sole Tier Zero City of the Kingdom — Vorn City, where the Royal Palace and the Church of Vorn, Lord of Death, resided — the Crown Prince stood in front of his chamber window.
The room was one worthy of a Prince.
Wide, the floor carpeted by the crimson skin of a dead Ravager, the walls adorned with the same grim yet mesmerising sight — heads of numerous monsters mounted as trophies.
A luxurious bed stood at the centre of the room, and just beside it, a desk lined with pictures.
Pictures of a woman. Black hair, purple eyes and a bright smile. And even through a still image, anyone could feel the pull of that smile — the kind that made lesser wills want to bow and tend to her every need.
It was striking.
And the Prince's maid, standing beside that desk, couldn't help but curl her lips into quiet jealousy as she looked at the pictures.
She clenched her fists behind her back, fighting hard to keep her emotions off her face framed by blue hair and matching eyes.
"She is going back soon to her family's home." The Prince said suddenly, pulling the maid — Sarah — away from the pictures.
She looked at him. Tall, red hair ruffled by the breeze from the open window, wearing a matching suit.
"Who, my Prince?" Sarah asked, despite knowing the bitter truth.
"Anesthesia." He said. Then his voice turned dark and cold. "And she is going to meet that boy from the Stormblessed Family."
"Emr—!"
"I don't want to hear his name."
Sarah closed her mouth and lowered her head.
A tense silence followed, though it didn't last long. The Prince — Raven Hood — turned his head and looked at Sarah over his shoulder with his crimson eyes.
His gaze on her made Sarah visibly shift, doing her best not to embarrass herself.
"Do you know what that means, Sarah?"
She nodded gingerly. "Yes, my Prince."
"Then begin." He ordered, turning back to the window. "Undress yourself and lie down on the bed."
Sarah pressed her lips together, her heart warring between the happiness blooming inside her and the indignation of being a second choice.
But every time those thoughts crossed her mind, she came back to one single fact.
'I am a commoner. I am a maid. I am nothing, and my Prince is everything.'
She was not worthy of being his first priority. So she smiled, swallowed down the tears of inadequacy, and began to undress herself. Like the obedient maid she was, like the obedient woman shaped to serve her Prince.
And most importantly…
"As you will, my Prince."
…like a woman who loved the one she shouldn't.
—End of Chapter 21—