Chapter 60

Chapter 60

* * *

“God damn it! How is this possible?!”

Lante cursed in anger as we quickly made our way out of the banquet hall. Shock and confusion were plain as day on his face, but above all, he looked astonished.

“I’m certain I watched that golden-eyed bastard die!”

It was a good thing that no one had been around to hear his outburst, or we would have been in deep trouble. Lante was clearly so flustered that he had completely disregarded such an obvious risk.

Of course, I understood everything he was feeling. How could he not be shocked when the person he had witnessed die before his very eyes had just made a grand entrance at an auspicious event three years later? He might have even been hoping it was an apparition as Jeremy had.

In the distance, I noticed Noel Vertium heading our way. He appeared to be on his way back to the banquet. Not wanting him and Lante to meet each other, I decided to make my move then and there.

“Father, please. For your own sake, calm down.”

“How the hell can I?!”

I then gently took him aside, which was effective in removing Noel from his line of sight. So at least for the time being, I had succeeded.

“You saw it with your own eyes. Didn’t you, Father? You saw him die by my hand.”

“Yes, of course, but... What the hell was that thing in there?!”

He seemed to become a little calmer upon recalling the death scene, but he still appeared plenty confused.

“The real Cassis is dead, so my guess is that was a fake made to look like him.”

Lante grimaced at my hypothesis.

“You actually think that was some sort of stand-in?!” he said. “But the aura was definitely Pedelian. What’s more it looked so much like that bastard it could’ve passed for his twin!”

“Perhaps the truth is simpler than we imagine, Father.” I could tell suspicion was brewing in his chest, so I made sure he could not contradict the next words to come out of my mouth. I whispered quietly as I looked dead into his eyes, “I’m referring to those people who can fashion puppets that are as detailed and realistic as actual humans.”

It felt as if time had stopped as our eyes remained locked on one another. We had come to a halt by then.

“A puppet...? You think that was a puppet?”

At that point I knew I had him hook, line and sinker. I could tell by his stern expression that he was nearly convinced. It was a matter of course since the very reason Lante had tried so hard to form a bond with the Vertiums had to do with gaining access to that very skill of theirs.

“And, Father, don’t you recall my informing you that the Blue and Gold clans had recently appeared to have established formal ties?” I was channeling all of my energy into extinguishing the flames of suspicion and anxiety in his mind. “To tell you the truth, I’ve been thinking it rather odd that both leaders happened to attend this year. What if they were trading secrets under the guise of attending this official goodwill gathering?”

Any objective listener would have been able to tell that I was feeding him a total fabrication. Over the last three years, both of those clans had actually agreed to form ZERO agreements or relationships that one would consider meaningful in any sense of the word.

“You think Vertium... would really do that?”

I could almost hear the gears turning in Lante’s head. Once confusion had taken over, he was no longer capable of making a proper decision.

Like the treacherous snake I was, I whispered vicious lies into his ear once more.

“What if after having lost their heir, the Pedelians decided to lay low and wait for the last three years until they could reconstruct a puppet heir in Cassis’ image? Don’t you find that more likely to be true, Father?”

* * *

Lante headed straight for the sleeping quarters hell-bent on tracking down Noel Vertium. Unfortunately for him, the Gold clan leader was already inside the banquet hall by then.

Roxana, of course, knew this and purposefully withheld that information. After ascertaining both her father and Noel’s locations through the help of her butterflies, she resumed her stroll.

Without warning, someone incredibly strong grabbed her by the arm. Roxana, however, didn’t struggle to break free as she knew on instinct who had come at her from the shadows. Then just as suddenly, the dark figure pushed her away with such great force that her spine crashed against the cold, hard wall behind her. Exuding a cool air from his entire being, Deon stepped toward her.

“What’s the meaning of this? That was a rather rough greeting, don’t you think?” Roxana kept her calm without betraying a hint of having been shaken. Her pupils had gone so placid that not even the tiniest quiver was detectable. And with that same steady gaze she stared coolly at Deon’s face.

He returned her stare with his equally cold, crimson eyes.

A light suddenly flashed from nearby, spilling a ray of brightness over from the banquet hall. With their backs facing the ground floor terrace, they could hear the music and murmur of polite conversation seeping out toward them as well.

“So Cassis Pedelian is finally out in the daylight again, huh?” he said.

Against the glare of light, Deon’s face resembled a frozen pond. He was not dressed for the banquet, which suggested to Roxana that he had only just arrived.

Upon smelling blood, she lowered her gaze. Inside his cloak, she noticed that his left arm was bleeding rather profusely. She had no doubts that it had to do with the assignment she had tasked him with. However, the sight of her severely injured half-brother still failed to move her.

“Were you happy to see him after such a long time?” Deon asked despite already knowing what she was most after.

She was, in turn, taken by surprise at just how much emotion he was displaying. After all, he had known Cassis was alive all along.

Roxana’s lips slowly curled upward to form a crescent shape. “Now why would you ask such a silly question when you already know the answer?”

Deon’s drowsy gaze also lifted slightly to suggest he was smiling. However, with the unexpected smirk, the air surrounding him became even chillier.

“Sometimes... I just want to murder you.”

Unlike his usual sarcastic tone, his words seemed to contain a real threat with a real intent to hurt his younger sister.

Step, step.

Another set of footsteps suddenly sounded from nearby.

“Don’t tell me there’s actually someone at the annual gathering who has failed to grasp the meaning of goodwill?”

A quiet voice cut through the cold night air just as the footsteps came to a halt. Just as the voice fell silent, a hand reached out and grabbed the forearm Deon had been holding over Roxana to entrap her. Roxana turned her attention from Deon to the new presence.

A man stood beside them cast equally in light and shadow. The surrounding light seemed to make his hair shine like silver, while the breeze softly tousled it in the air. His pupils, however, were still partially in the shadows, yet seemed to reflect an even more brilliant gold than Roxana remembered.

The newcomer continued to look straight at Deon, who was still towering over his younger sister menacingly.

“If physically pressuring someone is the Agrece way of extending greetings, then I must say it’s rather shameful.”

As he rebuked the older Agrece, Cassis Pedelian stepped out from the shadows.

It’s a wonder neither of us detected him until he was this close, Roxana thought to herself in silent awe.

Cassis continued in an even colder voice with a gaze just as frigid to match.

“Unhand her this instant.”

A powerful force seemed to clamp down even harder around Deon’s wrist. The Agrece yanked his arm away from the pain, while his entire body began to tremble with murderous rage. Yet despite being on the receiving end of his death glare, Cassis appeared completely unfazed.

No longer in his teens, it was abundantly clear that Cassis had evolved in several rather surprising ways. Much like Deon, the air of power and intimidation that exuded from the Blue Heir was so dense it made his immediate surroundings somewhat stifling.

Had Lante Agrece seen him at a moment like this, it’s unlikely he would have continued to play into the lie that he had been replaced with a Vertium puppet. However, to Roxana’s relief, the Agrece leader had not come upon the opportunity to meet Cassis in person during the event. This hardly came as a surprise since Lante had even failed to arrange a meeting with Noel Vertium despite having hung so much hope on their potential collaboration. But, of course, Roxana had made certain of it.

“Deon.”

Roxana finally decided to break the tension.

Deon turned his deadly gaze from Cassis back to his half-sister. Although she had only uttered his name, it was more than enough to place the human volcano on the verge of erupting in check. A torrent of emotions seemed to be swimming in his crimson eyes, but the wild impulses surging through his mind were indeed beginning to settle. Without a word, Deon disappeared back into the darkness. His departure finally allowed Roxana to straighten back up.

“Thank you for coming to my aid in such a precarious moment.” She curtsied toward the young Pedelian before her while lifting the hem of her dress with one hand. “My name is Roxana Agrece. Might I know the name of the esteemed gentleman who helped me?”

Had there been a spy in the vicinity, they’d surely mistake this exchange for the two’s first encounter.

Cassis simply watched Roxana with a look that made it impossible for her to decipher how he was feeling.

“...sis Pedelian.” He had opened his mouth a bit too slowly while answering her. “Cassis Pedelian.”

His voice came out the second time in a deep and resounding tone.

“Aha... the Blue Heir.”

“If you would allow me to, I would very much like to properly make your acquaintance,” Cassis said, extending his hand toward hers without a hint of awkwardness as he spoke.

Roxana felt herself hesitating at the sight of his hand, but the feeling passed in less than a second.

“It would be my pleasure.”

The two allowed their gloved hands to clasp in midair. As Roxana lifted hers slightly further up, Cassis bowed his head to bring it to his lips. The sudden contact caused a wave of warmth to spread over her cool fingers.

She looked down at her hand still in his and unexpectedly met his eyes. The two had indeed recognized one another, yet there existed a relational distance that offset those same feelings of recognition.

The look in Cassis’ eyes had conveyed that sensation to Roxana, which led her to politely tug her hand away from his grip.

“I am well aware of the fame the Blue Heir’s name carries. It pains me to admit how ashamed I am that you had to witness two siblings squabbling like spoiled children,” she said.

At the mention of siblings, his calm gaze diverted to the side toward the darkness Deon had disappeared into.

“Squabbling siblings, huh?”

“Yes, so I beg you to please put the matter out of your mind.”

“Do you?”

The question sounded as if Cassis had been speaking to himself rather than Roxana, but then he looked back at her.

Seeing her standing before him in such an elegant gown, he could not deny that her beauty was so magnificent that even the surrounding darkness had not detracted from it in the slightest. However, she also appeared quite frail. So much so that she might suddenly collapse due to the chilly night air surrounding them out on the terrace.

“Goodness, look at the time. I should return to my room soon. Please return inside and enjoy the rest of the banquet.”

Since Roxana had given the signal first that they should part, Cassis resisted the urge to detain her. As she bowed her head a final time before turning for the castle, she felt a sudden weight land on her shoulders. With it came a feeling of warmth and safety she recognized from the night before.

“Please wear this as the air is quite bitter tonight.”

The residual heat from Cassis’ body radiated through the cloak’s fabric and into Roxana. She had in fact been suffering in silence due to the thin material used to create her luxurious gown.

Without a word, she looked up at Cassis’ face.

“Please keep it on as your clothes are even lighter than before,” he said.

She had of course had her suspicions, but his remark was the definitive proof she needed to confirm that Cassis was indeed her silent visitor from the night before.

Once again the two locked eyes, but this time took one step closer to each other. It really had been such a long time since Roxana had seen him from so close up. She pondered if perhaps it was due to that time apart that she was having such a hard time trying to pinpoint the strange emotion swelling in her chest.

As if waking from a dream, Cassis’ took it upon himself to bid her farewell the second time.

“Please enjoy the rest of your evening.”

His soft voice seemed to linger in Roxana’s thoughts as she watched his retreating figure slowly fade into the distance.