Chapter 845: Undercover Operation
Cassius gasped as if she’d just threatened to burn down his entire estate.
"You wouldn’t dare!"
"Oh, we most certainly would." Julie’s voice was pure silk wrapped around steel. "If you choose to stay here and be lazy, then don’t even think about getting us into your bed with any of us."
She paused, letting the threat sink in before mischievously adding,
"I’ll also make certain the other ladies of the household learn that their husband is refusing to help his own aunt. I’m sure they’ll be very understanding."
"Game over, Master..." Skadi whispered, not sounding particularly sympathetic.
Cassius hissed through his teeth, looking at her with genuine horror.
"You absolute devil...How dare you hold my sex life hostage like this?!"
The mere thought of a house-wide romantic boycott was a fate worse than death!
Julie laughed softly, completely unfazed.
"A woman’s gotta do what a woman’s gotta do, my dear husband. If blackmailing you is what it takes to save our beloved commander, we’ll wear the villain’s cloak with pride."
"There’s also a third reason, Master!"
Skadi suddenly wrapped her arms around his neck, peppering his cheek with enthusiastic kisses.
"You’ll go because you love us so much! And because you love us, you’ll do anything we ask!"
Cassius pulled back, fixing her with a deadpan stare.
"Anything you ask? Absolutely not!" He flicked her nose. "You’re not nearly cute enough for me to do anything you ask."
Skadi’s expression crumbled into the most devastating puppy-dog look he had ever witnessed.
Her eyes grew impossibly large, shimmering with unshed tears. Her ears drooped pathetically. A tiny, heartbroken whimper escaped her lips.
"Really, Master? You really won’t do what your puppy asks? No matter how much she begs on her knees?"
She whimpered again—that particular sound that bypassed all rational thought and struck directly at his soul.
Cassius lasted less than a single second.
"Of course I will, you absolute menace!"
Cassius groaned, caving instantly as he pulled her back into a tight embrace, raining kisses all over her face while she squealed with delight.
"Whatever you want! If you want a bone the size of a tree trunk to gnaw on, I’ll go drag it out of the wilderness myself!"
Julie and Aisha exchanged a warm, knowing glance. Beneath all his dramatic complaints, they both knew Cassius was hopelessly soft on them.
—
Leaning back in his chair with a heavy sigh, Cassius adjusted Skadi on his lap and let his tone settle into something more genuine.
"Fine. Extortion aside...I’d go anyway."
His voice softened.
"After hearing about this so-called aunt of mine, I genuinely want to meet her. And this little adventure might be exactly what I need to clear my head. Things have been..."
He paused, a shadow flickering across his features.
"Not the best, lately. Ever since Carmela disappeared."
A small smile returned to his lips. "This could be the perfect way to refresh my mind."
But then his brow furrowed with a new concern.
"What exactly have you Ragnora about me? Does she know I’m capable enough to handle this situation on my own?"
Immediately, an awkward silence descended upon the room.
Aisha suddenly found the ceiling fascinating. Julie became intensely interested in a loose thread on her sleeve. Skadi buried her face against Cassius’s chest, making a small, embarrassed sound.
"Well..." Aisha began.
"The thing is..." Julie said.
"Master, um..." Skadi whimpered.
Cassius’s eyes narrowed. "What did you tell her about me?"
Julie shook her head quickly. "It’s not what you think, Cassius! We didn’t say anything bad about you." She paused. "Even though there’s certainly plenty we could say."
Cassius snorted.
"It’s just that..." Aisha fidgeted with the hem of her sleeve, her cheeks flushing. "We didn’t really say anything properly about you, either."
"You see, Big Sis Ragnora asks about you constantly. Every time we’ve had contact over the years, she wants to know about you. What you’re doing, how you’re living, whether you’re healthy."
"Especially recently, Master." Skadi added quietly. "She’s heard the rumors. She asks about you even more frequently than before."
Cassius felt a strange tightness in his chest.
His aunt, this legendary warrior was worried about him.
And the rumors...the rumors painted him as a monster. What must she think?
"When she asked about all of that." Aisha continued, her embarrassment deepening. "We honestly didn’t know what to say!"
"But you can’t blame us Cassius! She’s someone we all look up to. Our mentor, our idol!"
She rubbed the back of her neck sheepishly.
"So, when she asked about our relationship with you...how could we tell her that every single one of us, along with most of the female knights in the Holy Guard are your women?"
"T-That we spend every night in your bedroom?"
Cassius raised an eyebrow. "Why not? Is being associated with me truly that shameful?"
"No, Master, no!" Skadi sat up immediately, her face flushed with distress. "Not at all! It’s just..."
She twisted her fingers together, unable to meet his eyes.
"It’s really embarrassing. Big Sis is Big Sis. Telling her something like that—it feels like...like telling your mother about your love life!.We just didn’t know how!"
Julie nodded, her own cheeks tinged pink.
"In the past, we were so headstrong. We always declared we didn’t need men—that we’d stay in the army forever and fight until our last breath. Big Sis heard us say those things dozens of times."
Cassius smiled. That definitely sounded like something these three would have proclaimed in their younger days.
"And now." Julie continued, rubbing her forehead in mortification. "After everything that’s happened between us...explaining how our relationship with you developed...it’s just awkward."
"We can’t just say, ’By the way, Commander, every single one of your top elite officers is sleeping with your nephew every single night!’"
"So we’ve been avoiding the topic." Aisha admitted guiltily. "Giving vague answers. We haven’t even cleared up those rumors about you. So, right now, she probably doesn’t know whether they’re true or false."
"Her understanding of you is...quite muddled. And we’re the ones who made it worse by being evasive."
"There’s roughly a fifty percent chance." She added with a wince. "That she wants to track you down and give you proper discipline as your aunt."
Cassius shivered involuntarily at the thought of facing such a mighty aunt in a disciplinary mood.
Not because he feared her power, but because he genuinely respected her.
He couldn’t simply go against her.
"There’s also a fifty percent chance." Aisha continued. "That she’s genuinely worried about you. We don’t really know which way she’s leaning."
Julie’s eyes suddenly brightened.
"But we can fix all of that! We’ll send a message ahead to Big Sis Ragnora—explain everything about you, clear up all the misunderstandings."
"We’ll tell her you’re more than capable of handling the problem. It’s simple!"
Cassius, who had been deep in thought, suddenly spoke up. "Actually...there’s no need for that."
Julie blinked. "What?"
"I said there’s no need to send any letters."
A sly, calculating look crept into his eyes as he announced,
"I think...I’ll be going undercover this time."
"Undercover?" Aisha’s eyes narrowed suspiciously. "What exactly are you planning, Cassius?"
He resumed his idle play with Skadi’s breasts, his expression the picture of casual innocence.
"Nothing complicated. Instead of trying to explain everything from a distance, I’ll go under a completely different identity, one that you three will provide documentation for."
"I’ll travel to the mines, inspect everything personally, and see what’s really going on."
He leaned forward, his eyes beginning to sparkle with enthusiasm.
"If I go as myself, everyone will be on guard. Soldiers will put on a show. I won’t see how things truly operate. But under a false identity..."
He spread his hands.
"I can observe everything naturally. Make sure operations are running smoothly. Identify any hidden problems I wouldn’t otherwise discover."
The more he spoke, the more excited he became.
"Plus, I’ve always wanted to do a secret underground operation!"
"I’ll investigate the root cause, uncover the mystery, resolve the crisis, and then dramatically reveal my true identity at the very end!"
He clasped his hands together dramatically.
"By the time Ragnora realizes who I am, I’ll have already saved her entire operation. Even if she’s mad about the rumors, she won’t be able to punish the man who just saved her domain. It’s flawless!"
Julie and Skadi exchanged a look. As theatrical as he was being, the logic actually held up.
High-ranking soldiers often resented spoiled noble lords coming in to bark orders; an undercover operative would have far easier mobility among the ranks.
Aisha, however, did not buy the noble defense for a single second. She leaned in, her eyes narrowing into razor-sharp slits as she stared through him.
"There’s more to this, isn’t there? You’re hiding something."
Cassius froze for a fraction of a second before adopting a deeply offended expression.
"Aisha! Not everything is a grand conspiracy! Can’t a man just want to make his job easier and have a little fun while doing it?"
Aisha scoffed, remaining entirely unconvinced, but ultimately let it drop since she couldn’t prove anything.
In truth, Aisha’s instincts were dead on.
Behind his mask of responsibility, Cassius was already formulating entirely different plans.
Plans involving the seduction of the so-called "Big Sis Ragnora" and making her his woman.
After all, Cassius had always been particularly fond of strong women!
And everything they had described about Ragnora was adding fuel to a fire that was already burning.
A woman who could crush dragons with her bare fists?
Who commanded a thousand warriors through sheer charisma?
Who sacrificed herself again and again for others?
She sounded like his ideal woman!
But there was another layer to his motivation. He needed to increase his depravity—it was literally part of his divine mission.
And what could possibly be more depraved than pursuing his own aunt?!
He had already gotten his sister. Adding an aunt to the collection seemed almost natural progression.
The thought of dominating a woman like Ragnora—not just a legendary warrior, but his aunt was absolutely intoxicating!
But the problem was obvious.
Given their familial relationship, Ragnora would never easily see him as a man rather than a nephew.
He could certainly employ various schemes to gradually shift her perception, but that would take time and effort with no guarantee of success.
Unless, of course, she didn’t know who he was.
By approaching her under a false identity, he could build a relationship from scratch.
He could make her fall for him as a stranger first—capture her heart before she ever realized he was her nephew.
And when the truth finally came out...well, by then she’d be too deeply entangled to simply walk away.
He was confident he could reason his way through whatever complications arose.
The plan was perfect. He would solve the mines’ crisis, win Ragnora’s heart, and reveal his identity at the optimal moment.
Three objectives, one elegant scheme!
Skadi’s curious voice broke through his thoughts.
"So what identity are you going to use, Master? Who will you pretend to be?"
Her tail wagged with excitement.
"More importantly, what will your name be? It should be something strong and cool"
"Like...Nightfang! Or Bloodweaver! Or—ooh!—Cockatoo! Those are all amazing names!"
Aisha leaned forward with similar curiosity.
"And what occupation? A knight wielding a sword? Or maybe a barbarian with a massive hammer?"
She mimed swinging an oversized weapon.
"Something that matches your physical strength?"
To their surprise, Cassius shook his head.
"I’ll keep my own name. It would be strange responding to something else, and I doubt anyone will connect ’Cassius’ the commoner to ’Cassius’ the noble young master sitting in the Holyfield estate."
"As for my identity..."
His eyes gleamed slyly.
"...I think I’ll go as a mage."