Chapter 203

Chapter 203

* * *

It was a serene afternoon.

The scene inside the tiny room was both calm and peaceful. The curtains fluttered as the wind rushed in from the open window, while the bright sunlight fell on the white bedsheets.

Cassis silently peered down at the man sleeping inside the quiet room. There were others inside the house, but it wasn’t difficult for him to enter without them noticing.

Deon Agrece was a man who had been his foe from the moment they first met. And now he lay in front of the Pedelian completely defenseless. His motionless face seemed ironically peaceful. However, the Blue Heir could sense death’s presence shrouding the older man’s body. That presence grew heavier and thicker with every passing moment.

As he turned his gaze slightly, his eyes caught a scarlet butterfly perched on a flower by the windowsill. His golden eyes lingered on it for a moment.

“Deon Agrece...” His voice came out in a low, almost hushed, tone. It was almost as if he were trying to rouse a sleeping person. When he still received no response, he turned back to stare at the Agrece coldly. Visions of a man pushing Roxana aside without hesitation amidst a hail of broken glass overlapped with what he could see at present. “Do you really intend to die when you’re the only one who would be content with you dying this way?”

He imagined how the unconscious man would react to hearing that.

“If you ever get tired or sick of me, then try to leave...”

However, it was Roxana’s whispered voice that came to him.

“I’ll kill you myself.”

Her words might not match the feeling her half-brother might have harbored, but they weren’t far off either. Deon had saved her by sacrificing himself, then tried to meet his end as she watched. It was an all-too-perfect ending for someone like him. Why else is he lying here with such a look of satisfaction smeared across his face?

Cassis lowered his gaze. In truth, he had not wanted to send Roxana away that day. Whether Deon or Nix killed each other or not was of no concern to him. If anything, he had welcomed the thought of the two potentially disappearing at the same time.

They were both like splinters embedded in her soft fingers. He often felt the urge to simply wipe them out of existence, but he knew it wasn’t the sort of thing she would want. Also, he couldn’t make a move against them without her permission. Thus, Cassis merely daydreamed about the two facing off and falling together. And yet... When that moment finally came to pass, he felt no joy.

Not only that, but he was certain that Roxana would not be able to shake their deaths off lightly if they were to meet their ends in such a way. He hated that even their final moments had been laced with the very things that would only serve to pierce the deepest regions of her heart. Hence, Cassis felt that he had no choice but to encourage her to go after them that day. He did not witness what had happened to them afterward, but seeing how peaceful Deon was lying in his bed, he could tell that Roxana had made some sort of performance out of stopping him.

But that was the very thing Cassis could not accept.

“Don’t get the wrong idea, Deon.” His voice spread over the sleeping man like a thin frost. “I did not send her there for your sake.” Truth be told, he didn’t wish for the Agrece to die or live that way either. “Yet here you are basking in the delusion that you had a satisfactory death.” He knew this was not how Roxana wanted things to end. “That’s too selfish, even for you.”

Thus, Cassis would not accept the man’s death just yet. He stretched his hands out over the comatose Agrece’s quiet bed. No one would have been able to stop him were he to choke the man right then and there, and it would be insincere for him to claim the urge to do so wasn’t more appealing. After all, the man before him was his greatest foe. The two had fought with the intent to kill on multiple occasions.

As his cold hands finally reached Deon’s body, Cassis clearly recalled how the man he had designated as his beloved’s greatest threat ended up saving her life. That scene remained entrenched in the deepest parts of his mind. It was the main reason he had reached his decision.

If the black-haired man had done anything else that day, the Pedelian would not be towering over him in the middle of the night. But there was also another rather selfish reason that had prompted him to take action. With a crooked, blistering smile, he added force to his hands. If the Agrece were to die at that moment, his memory would remain with Roxana in some form or another for many years to come.

Fwish.

Pure energy flowed out from his hands and returned what he had taken from the man the last two times they had fought. That was Cassis’ only intention. Once the lifeforce he had taken from the crimson-eyed Agrece flowed back into his comatose body, the presence of death slowly faded away from him.

Cassis gazed at the scarlet butterfly on the windowsill one last time before turning to leave the room.

* * *

Roxana was with Grizelda at the latter’s hideout when her eyes twitched due to an alert from one of her butterflies. She silently connected with it to share its vision.

The person inside Deon’s room was definitely Cassis, though she hadn’t mentioned what had happened to him yet. Not only had he left almost immediately for Vertium, but they had also missed the chance to talk even before that since they each had to deal with their individual clan matters. But there he was inside Deon’s room at her mother’s house. He had successfully snuck into the room and was staring down at her half-brother’s unconscious body. Then she watched through her poison butterfly as he reached out over the bed. The question of whether the Pedelian intended to kill the Agrece before him never crossed her mind. The Cassis she knew would never do such a thing. She gently squeezed her hands as they rested on top of her knees while continuing to watch him do precisely what she had expected.

Soon her breathing began to slow. Just as he removed his hands from over Deon, she met his gaze through the tiny winged demon that watched him leave. She remained seated for a while even after she disconnected from her butterfly. Her scarlet eyes slowly turned toward the door to Nix’s room. It was becoming clearer by the minute just what Cassis’ stare had meant. A moment later, she rose from her seat.

“I’m going out for a bit.”

“I’ll go with you.”

Jeremy followed behind her without even questioning their destination. Grizelda waved her hand in a mock farewell to emphasize her indifference. With her supply of amphetamines depleted, she had finally succumbed to the temptation of sleep. It had been a nap at best, but she seemed much better than before. Her younger siblings proceeded to Sierra’s house.

“What the hell?! Maria’s here too?!”

“Oh my, Jeremy, what a pleasant surprise!” Their stepmother greeted them the moment they opened the door to the humble abode. His expression soured since he was utterly unprepared to see her. He was both shocked and amazed that the “old” woman’s dedication to finding out Sierra’s whereabouts had eventually paid off.

“Come in, Xana.” Sierra stood beside Maria to greet her daughter.

From the way everyone inside the house reacted, it was apparent they were all still unaware that the Blue Heir had snuck in during the dead of night. Roxana was quick to brush past both mothers.

“You’re going in there again?” Her mother questioned her softly once she saw where Roxana was heading. “A doctor came by this morning. He said the patient’s health has worsened.” Sierra’s voice was almost frighteningly monotone and tinged with a slight chill at the end. Yet her expression was also eerily sullen.

Maria expressed her concern after having seen the other woman’s face. Whether that concern was directed at her son or at her friend remained unclear.

“That’s fine.” Roxana turned around as she placed her hand on the doorknob, then spoke to everyone watching her. “He’ll wake up today.”

For the rest, her assuredness seemed rather baseless, but her words weren’t completely void of credibility. As returned her gaze to the door, she turned the knob and noted Cassis’ presence still lingered in the small room faintly.