Chapter 303: What Do You Feel?
Evangeline tilted her head, her eyes glinting with mischief as she leaned back in her chair with satisfaction. She was having a great deal of fun right now.
"Tell me, Magnus... how do you look into the mirror each morning knowing there’s a younger, happier, and more handsome version of yourself plastered all over the world? One who isn’t afraid to show himself—all of himself—in ways that make women scream his name until their throats go raw? What does that feel like? Please elaborate, I’m truly curious."
The question landed exactly as the woman expected it to. A knife that was wedged between Magnus’s ribs.
His forehead bulged, becoming a network of thick, throbbing veins that crawled across his skin. His jaw clenched so tightly the sound of grinding teeth filled the air. The veins pulsed in rhythm with his rage, grotesque in their prominence, his visage twisting into something far removed from the calm tactician the world knew.
But she was anything but terrified. No, the woman felt... delighted. A lilting giggle slipped past her lips, soft and cruel at the same time.
"Fufufu... is it jealousy, perhaps? Your son is adored, surrounded by a harem of beautiful women, while you are nothing more than a dog chained to a cold-blooded monster."
Her eyes moved briefly toward Vespera, who still gave no reaction. Evangeline continued, voice dripping with venom. "The contrast is almost poetic: the son basking in indulgence, living his life to the fullest, while the father languishes in restraint. Night and day. Freedom and chains."
The words hit their mark.
Magnus was usually the embodiment of composure, the strategist whose steady hand kept Vespera’s chaos from tearing their empire down around them. He was order; she was chaos. Together, they made the perfect balance, a necessary dance to avoid the wrath of the world. Namely, the other powerhouses declaring war on them after one of Vespera’s stunts of insanity.
But this topic—this single, festering wound—was his kryptonite. The Ashborn family name was his pride, his anchor. And Kaiden’s actions... to him, they weren’t simply reckless. They were a desecration of what was sacred. Spitting on everything Magnus had built and protected.