Chapter 122: Listen, I’m not as good of a person as you are making me out to be
"Uh, well, I don’t think the gods chose us because we signed up for it, and I’m not as good of a person as you are making me out to be." Cass told the woman who was having a crisis.
Lady Fiona snorted, shaking her head but she didn’t look up at Cass. She was staring down at her hands like they had done something awful. Cass couldn’t even believe that she had for a second. Sure, there were all of the problems with Lord Blackburn, and her behaviour with Cass, but to be fair, only in this context, that was how the story was supposed to go.
It wasn’t as if Lady Fiona was out here murdering innocent people, just walking all over relatively innocent people’s names. Sure, emotional damage was terrible in its own right, Cass could attest to that, but for the story’s sake, there wasn’t a trial of bodies.
"Of course you’d say that." She muttered and Cass gave a forced laugh.
"No, I really mean it. You make it sound like I’m doing everything out of the kindness of my heart. I’m really not. It’s...a publicity stunt." Lady Fiona’s head jerked up. "I’m trying to do it to get back at my grandfather, and get the title he promised, but never gave." Her eyes widened. It wasn’t a true lie, just the blending of two truths.
He wanted the title, and he needed to repair his image. He wanted to the title to rub it in the old man’s face, and he needed to repair his image so he could get the fuck out of here. She didn’t need to know either fact.
"W-What?" She stuttered, surprise colouring her features. "Why would you donate to an orphanage for...publicity? Not many people know." She said and Cass smirked.
"The people who matter know, and it’s small steps. I can’t just jump into doing this. No one would believe me. They would all think I had ulterior motives, probably something disgusting, when in reality, I just have a lot of money, it doesn’t hurt me to donate to people who are less fortunate, and it goes along with the image of a hero in the hero party. Why wouldn’t I donate to a group who are so obviously affected by what the demon king has done?" She nodded along with his words, before her features twisted and she looked like she was in pain.
She put her head in her hands, and that was when Cass heard the first sob.
Panic filled him. He was so not good at comforting people like this. He knew, knew that Lady Fiona was not someone who cried easily. Or ever. He knew it, because despite everything else that was going on, they were similar. There.
Caspian and Fiona were similar.