Chapter 104: Not Adela
Cassian, while certain events were happening on the elves’ side, had spent a few days pampering Adela, oblivious to all the commotion that was already brewing around him.
First, news arrived that the crown prince had become addicted to a certain drug, not at all popular among the people.
Meanwhile, other rumors of embezzlement continued pushing the story toward an unpleasant direction for the heir to the throne.
Some even started strikes to have him removed, and the people in power who supported him began to doubt.
But, of course, among the four duchies of the Demor Empire, there was one that had a special interest in Leonardo reaching the throne: the Vitalis family.
The ancestor, with a serious face, looked at the current duke and his daughter Lisbeth, who seemed especially nervous.
"Did you do it?" asked the ancestor.
Lisbeth lowered her head, nervous.
"Did you do it?" he repeated, now with evident anger.
"Elara wasn’t at the academy, but as soon as she returns she should find what we planted."
Lucius frowned.
"Planted? I told you to kill her..." Lucius turned his gaze toward the duke. "Is this your way of doing things? No wonder everything has been going wrong lately," he shook his head with a furrowed brow.
"But there’s no need to kill her," Lisbeth intervened. "If she stops being eligible, that should be enough."
Bang!
An object smashed against the wall.
"Cassandra has already seen Elara, and there’s been no news of her since then," the duke intervened.
Lucius adopted a serious expression at those words.
"Then it’s too late," he said dryly, as if everything was already lost.
"Cassandra?" Lisbeth murmured.
"You don’t know her, ’little saint.’ That woman is terrible; if she shows support for Elara, it’s over."
"But... the Emperor is clearly on the crown prince’s side..."
"Haven’t you heard the rumors? Although it surprises me that they exist, considering the woman behind Leonardo. This is strange, too strange. I’ve communicated with the gods again; maybe... just maybe they’ll come to help us with this."
The Vitalis duke didn’t seem convinced.
"Are you thinking of making them fight Cassandra? If we do that, it’s the same as our empire losing the little power it has."
Lucius shook his head.
"What will a Transcendent matter if we have the support of gods? Besides, you still don’t understand what’s coming. The whole world will change."
Lucius left the room, leaving a father and daughter with exhausted expressions.
"Father..."
The duke didn’t even look at her; he simply slapped her face.
"I asked you for one thing, Lisbeth, just one. If your brother were here, he would have already fulfilled it."
Lisbeth put her hand on her red cheek; she bit her lips, but didn’t dare do anything. She looked at her father and simply nodded.
Lucius, who had left instead, received news when he returned.
One that brought back the confident smile to the old man.
...
On the crown prince’s side, he himself was biting his nails.
"Those damn Paddens, just barons and they dare treat me like this."
His eyes, which before seemed clear while he played with Caelia, now showed clear signs of addiction.
"What does my mother say about all this?"
The person he was talking to wasn’t where he was looking.
The minister didn’t correct him; he simply observed how the work he had been carrying out all this time was bearing fruit.
"Certainly they are wrong, Your Majesty. If you want, I’ll send guards right now to arrest them," he said with a false smile.
Leonardo frowned and rubbed his eyes, confused.
For a moment he gained a bit of lucidity, but this also brought back memories: the ghosts of when he was inside the legacy, the screams and the pressure of not being enough.
Maybe not much planning was needed for Leonardo to end up like this... he himself ended up seeking an outlet, an escape from what tormented him.
But from there to obtaining it...
...
Emperor Alric wasn’t in good shape either.
"How did Leonardo become like this in such a short time?" He leaned back against the throne with a weariness that weighed on his bones. "On top of that, Elara is with Cassandra and she doesn’t seem to want to let her go..."
A strange letter from Pradiles had also arrived.
His empress was now a Transcendent, but what she was demanding made no sense; or at least, he couldn’t process it completely.
A silence followed; the emperor seemed to be processing something.
"Why? Why does this name seem to be appearing too much?"
Cassian Varkas.
Written with a pen in an elegant style, the name stood out especially in the letter that Alric held between his fingers.
The emperor shrugged.
"What else would we do? Prepare everything for these two people to head toward the Pradiles Empire."
"And Caelia...?"
Alric frowned and sighed resignedly upon hearing about who was supposed to be his wife.
"If she comes to say something about her toy, I’ll tell her this is a matter of state; it has nothing to do with what she wants," although the emperor sounded sure saying this, the nights that would come after this were already making him regret it.
Alric knew that Caelia was not a woman who accepted a "no" for an answer when it came to her whims.
...
Cassian woke up feeling a weight on his waist.
At first he thought it was Adela, who had wanted to wake him up in a special way.
So he began to move his hips on purpose, managing to draw a moan from the woman.
The woman ran her hands over Cassian’s stomach, lifting his shirt to caress his abs.
"Adela, don’t play so early..."
This stopped the movement for a moment, until it resumed.
The movements seemed too hesitant, inexperienced.
This confused Cassian, who at that moment opened his eyes.
And what greeted him was not Adela’s short blonde hair, nor Elizabeth’s long purple hair, nor any of the women he was used to.
His eyes became serious and he asked in a hoarse voice:
"What are you doing?"
