Chapter 220: Trade for Silence
His father had gone lenient on him, all things considered. Cassian would be stripped of his title as Crown Prince and sent to the border to fight. It was a punishment, but also a calculated move—the Emperor recognised the value of Cassian’s powers and wasn’t willing to cast him aside completely.
Cassian’s mother, the Empress, had been both relieved and terrified by the news. She was glad that he would live, but the thought of him seeking vengeance against her loomed in the back of her mind.
She remembered everything she had done to awaken his powers: the brutal physical and mental torture, the relentless manipulation, all in the name of securing her position as Empress.
Cassian shook his head as he walked through the quiet corridors. Those memories didn’t matter now. What mattered was Adeline. The only person who had ever shown him genuine kindness, who had ever cared for him, was lying unconscious in that infirmary bed. This was his farewell to her, though he doubted she would care.
He left the academy without looking back.
The Goddess watched from above, her gaze fixed on Cassian as he walked away. Her expression was unreadable, a mixture of frustration and something softer, something almost like pity.
It was no secret that she didn’t like him. Adeline had picked up on it long ago, and they had even argued about it. The Goddess had always seen Cassian as a manipulative, power-hungry man, someone who would use anyone and anything to further his own goals. But now, as she watched him leave, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of something more complex.
She had seen the way he looked at Adeline, the way his normally cold and calculating demeanour softened in her presence. It was clear that she meant something to him, even if he didn’t fully understand it himself.
Shouldn’t she be happy? That she was proven right? No, she was not happy, not even in the slightest. Her old self would say I told you so to Adeline. Cassian was a dangerous person. She witnessed how the first life played out.