Aisha, however, just like the other two had another question which made Cassius feel like he was a lecturer at university. One she couldn’t keep in any longer.
"Y-You…Do you possibly hate me?" She asked hesitantly, her voice quieter than before. Her fingers clenched around her sleeve, the memory of Cassius’s hand moving towards her throat still vivid. "Back then...when you were reaching your hand out to me. You looked like you really wanted to kill me."
Cassius blinked for a second, then burst into laughter when he realised what she was talking about.
"Of course not." He said, as if the idea was absurd. "Why would want to wring your throat out just for the sake of it? I’m not someone who enjoys that sort of play."
"...I actually was just trying to touch your ears."
Aisha reeled.
"…What?"
Cassius grinned, his expression utterly unrepentant. "I mean, it was the first time I’ve seen someone from the feline race and they looked so fluffy, that I simply couldn’t resist."
Aisha gawked at him, her ears twitching involuntarily. That was not the answer she had been expecting.
And then—
"Lucius." Cassius called out, still grinning. "Don’t you think her ears are really cute?"
Lucius did not respond.
He stood there in the distance, motionless, his eyes fixed blankly on the sky, looking as though he had just witnessed the unraveling of the universe itself. His mouth was slightly open, yet no words came out. It was as if his mind had simply refused to process any more absurdity.
Cassius sighed dramatically, shaking his head. "Ah...my poor butler’s down for the count."
Aisha, still bristling from Cassius’s ridiculous comment about her ears, barely spared Lucius a glance before scoffing. "Honestly, I kind of feel the same way."
Cassius tilted his head, watching Lucius for a moment. Then, deciding that waiting for him to recover naturally would take far too long, so he went over to him and lifted a hand and—smack!—delivered a sharp slap across Lucius’s cheek.
The butler jolted upright as if he had been electrocuted, his eyes now wide and alert.
"M-Master?!" He sputtered, one hand clutching his face. "What in the world was that for?!"
Cassius smirked, crossing his arms. "Welcome back. You went off to another plane of existence there for a moment."
Lucius blinked rapidly, still visibly shaken. He looked around, taking in the scene, then exhaled heavily as the weight of reality settled onto his shoulders again.
"Master...I feel like I just survived an exorcism."
Cassius chuckled. "Don’t be so dramatic."
Lucius gave him a flat look. "Dramatic? You almost died, then proceeded to beat an entire squad of elite knights half to death, and now you’re debating the cuteness of cat ears."
Cassius shrugged. "You’re still standing, aren’t you?"
And seeing Cassius and Lucious joking around made Aisha realise that they weren’t in that life or death battlefield and had finally escape.
Because of this she suddenly let out a long sigh. And then, to everyone’s surprise, she plopped onto the ground, stretching her legs out in front of her.
"…Oh gods, it’s over." She murmured out of realisation, tilting her head back and staring up at the sky. "We’re actually alive."
Julie turned her head sharply toward her, still tense from everything that had transpired, but Aisha only let out another deep sigh, this time laced with sheer relief.
Skadi, finally snapping out of the daze of near-death adrenaline, perked up and let out a bark of laughter.
"Holy shit—we’re free! We actually got out of this alive!" Her tail wagged wildly as she turned toward Julie and Aisha, her silver eyes practically glowing with excitement. "We didn’t have to kill anyone! And we’re not dead either!"
Julie, still on her knees, exhaled shakily. ’We actually survived this...I-It feels surreal.’
Aisha, now slightly calmer, looked up at Cassius, who was still standing over them with that unreadable smirk. She studied him for a moment, then sighed again, this time with a bit of amusement.
"Y’know." She mused, resting her arms on her knees. "I guess all it took to ruin that bastard’s plan was someone way too overpowered for any of us to handle."
Cassius arched a brow, but before he could respond, Aisha smirked and said, "Oh, and a god complex that makes him think he’s above everyone else...That part is pretty important too."
There was a beat of silence. Then Cassius’s gaze slowly turned toward her, his smirk sharpening into something...almost predatory.
Aisha immediately went stiff.
"…I mean." She coughed, her ears twitching in alarm. "Y-You’re a very benevolent god, of course."
Cassius’s smirk widened. Aisha panicked.
Without another word, she crawled—literally crawled—between Julie and Skadi, using them as human (and beastkin) shields.
Julie, despite her exhaustion, blinked in bewilderment. "Aisha...What are you doing?"
"I’m seeking asylum." Aisha muttered, peeking out cautiously from behind Skadi’s shoulder.
Skadi, still on her high from surviving certain doom, let out another laugh. "Pfft, scaredy-cat."
Aisha glared at her. "Don’t you start."
Julie was about to smile at the usual sight that warmed her heart, that is until her eyes turned gloomy once again when she remembered that things weren’t truly over yet. She exhaled slowly, pressing a gloved hand to her forehead as if warding off an oncoming headache.
A wry smile then tugged at her lips, though her emerald eyes reflected nothing but exhaustion and reluctant acceptance.
"Don’t get too excited since it’s...It’s not over yet." She muttered.
Skadi, still caught up in the rush of survival, tilted her head. "Huh?"
Aisha, peeking out from behind Julie and Skadi, narrowed her eyes. "W-What do you mean it’s not over? We made it, didn’t we? We’re alive. Cassius is alive. That bastard’s plan is ruined. What else could possibly—"
Julie cut her off with a weary chuckle.
"Young Master Cassius was merciful enough to spare us, even though he had every right to take our lives after what we did." She turned her gaze to Cassius, her expression a mixture of guilt and gratitude. "But our failure doesn’t mean we’re safe."
That wiped the triumphant looks off both Aisha’s and Skadi’s faces.
Julie let out a slow breath, gathering her thoughts before continuing. "My orders were absolute. Kill Cassius, return with his head, and if we failed…"
Silence settled over them, heavy and suffocating.
Aisha’s ears peeked up. Skadi’s tail stilled.
Even the injured knights who had been celebrating their survival suddenly stiffened as realization dawned upon them.
Julie’s voice was calm, but the underlying tension was unmistakable. "The Holyfield patriarch...Cassius’s father...will never forgive this failure."
Cassius, who had been idly watching the conversation unfold, quirked a brow at that. Instead of looking the least bit concerned, he seemed rather...entertained.
"Well..." He mused, adjusting his sleeves before lowering himself onto the ground like everyone else. "That sounds interesting. Do go on."
Lucius, still standing, looked at his master like he had lost his mind. "Master, I hardly think this is something to be entertained by!"
Cassius shot him a cheeky smile. "Well, I already knew dear old father wouldn’t take this lightly. I just want to see how bad it’s going to be."
Julie ran a hand through her bangs, looking at Cassius with a complicated expression before sighing. "Bad doesn’t even begin to describe it."
Aisha swallowed hard. "How bad?"
Julie looked away, her biting her lips slightly before she finally answered.
"If we return empty-handed, we will all be marked as...traitors."
Aisha sucked in a sharp breath. Skadi’s ears shot up in alarm. The rest of the knights, who had been clinging to the hope that they could return to their normal lives, let out a collective murmur of panic.
"Traitors?" Skadi echoed, her voice wavering. "But...But we were just following orders!"
"Doesn’t matter." Julie said grimly. "We failed. That alone is enough."
Aisha gritted her teeth, her tail flicking violently. "So what? We go back and get executed for incompetence? That’s insane!"
"Of course it is." Julie said, her voice laced with bitter amusement. "But it’s reality. The Holyfield patriarch doesn’t tolerate failure, and this...this was the worst failure imaginable."
One of the knights, still clutching her injured arm, muttered anxiously. "Isn’t there anything we can do? Captain, if we explain—"
Julie shook her head. "You think reasoning with him will work? You think telling him, ’Oh, sorry, sir, your son turned out to be a walking nightmare, so we couldn’t kill him,’ is going to earn us any mercy?"
Silence. The truth was brutal.
They had been sent to do the impossible.
And now, they had no home to return to.
Skadi’s ears drooped. "Then what do we do?" She whispered.
Aisha’s tail flicked anxiously, her amber eyes burning with defiance. "No." She said, shaking her head firmly. "That doesn’t make sense."
Skadi and Julie turned to her, watching as she clenched her fists, her claws slightly digging into her palms.
"The patriarch wouldn’t just execute all of us." Aisha continued, her voice laced with frustration. "We were assigned an impossible task! We were sent to kill him—" She gestured toward Cassius, who sat watching their conversation unfold with quiet amusement. "—a man who completely outclasses us in every way! How could he expect us to succeed?!"
Her tail lashed from side to side as she went on. "I mean, as long as Cassius demonstrates his overwhelming power—if he proves to the patriarch that he’s not someone who can be eliminated so easily—then…"
But then, mid-sentence, her voice faltered.
Realization hit her like a slap to the face.
What was she saying?
Cassius and his father...they already had a long-standing blood feud. This wasn’t just a misunderstanding or a political dispute—it was a deep, irreparable hatred.
There was no scenario where Cassius would willingly go before his father to showcase his strength. That would be akin to presenting himself as an active threat, forcing the patriarch to escalate things further.
And even if, by some miracle, Cassius were willing to step in for them—why would he?
They had just tried to kill him.
They had dragged him into an execution attempt, outnumbered and outmatched, all because of an order they blindly followed.
Why in the hell would he put himself in danger for them?
Aisha swallowed, her ears dropping slightly.
As a last, desperate measure, she cast a sideways glance at Cassius, as if silently pleading for an answer, for some shred of mercy. She knew it was shameless. She hated that she was doing this, but she was backed into a corner.
But Cassius only gazed back at her with a neutral expression.
Unreadable. Unmoved. He didn’t say a word.
He wasn’t going to make this decision for them. He was simply watching. Waiting.
Aisha felt her stomach twist in frustration.
And before she could swallow her pride and outright ask him, Julie suddenly let out a quiet chuckle.
"Don’t bother." Julie murmured, shaking her head.
Aisha turned to her, confusion flashing across her face.
Julie smiled—though it was a weary, almost resigned expression. "Even if Cassius did speak for our sake...we’re sadly already doomed."
Skadi’s ears twitched violently, her silver eyes filled with uncertainty. "What do you mean?"
Julie exhaled softly before finally admitting. "Because I took an eternal vow with the patriarch."
Silence.
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Aisha’s breath caught in her throat.
Skadi’s entire body tensed.
The knights who had been listening to the conversation stiffened, their expressions morphing into horror.
Cassius, however, merely raised an eyebrow. He then tilted his head and glanced at Lucious. "An eternal vow, huh?" He mused. "That’s a term I haven’t heard before. Lucious, what exactly is it?"
Lucious, still pale from everything that had unfolded, opened his mouth to answer—but before he could get a word out, Julie spoke up instead.
"It’s a sacred vow." She explained, her voice eerily calm despite the gravity of her words. "A promise, a contract—whatever you want to call it—that cannot be broken, no matter what."
Cassius raised an eyebrow. "Cannot be broken?"
Julie nodded. "It is an unbreakable bond formed between two parties, sanctioned by a high-ranking member of the church. Using the binding power of God himself, the vow links the lives of those involved to the very words they swear upon."
She took a deep breath, then added grimly, "And should either party fail to uphold their end of the vow...their life is immediately forfeited."
A heavy silence followed her words.
Cassius absorbed the information with an unreadable expression. "Huh." He muttered, tapping his chin. "That’s quite the spell."
"It’s not just any spell." Julie continued, shaking her head. "It’s an exceptionally powerful and rare ritual. The church can only perform it a handful of times each year, and it’s usually reserved for the most critical of agreements—treaties between nations, pacts between rulers...and, well, situations where absolute trust and obedience are required."
She let out a bitter chuckle, though there was no humor in it. "And in my case...because of how much the patriarch despises you, Young Master, and how desperately he wanted to ensure that you would die today without any risk of failure—he made that vow with me."
Cassius’s gaze sharpened. "Oh?"
Julie nodded, her expression darkening. "The vow was simple. If you are not dead by the end of the day, I die. And not just me."
She let the words hang in the air, the weight of them suffocating.
Then, her lips curled into a humorless smirk. "To guarantee that no one in my squad would hesitate, to make sure no one would even consider abandoning the mission, he added another clause."
She swallowed, then continued, her voice hollow.
"If I fail, he will personally make it his mission to hunt down every last one of my subordinates. No matter where they run. No matter how far they flee. He will wipe them all out."
A cold chill swept through the knights. Some of them physically recoiled, others clenched their fists in horror. Even Aisha, who had long since known the cruelty of nobles, felt a sickening wave of nausea at how utterly ruthless the patriarch was.
Skadi looked like she wanted to throw up.
Cassius, however, only let out a slow exhale. "That is quite the predicament."
Julie let out a short, bitter laugh. "You can say that again." She shook her head. "He thought this vow would be his insurance. That no matter what happened, no one would dare defy him. That with our lives on the line, we would cut you down no matter what."
Her hands clenched into fists as a rueful smile appeared on her face, "But he never would have expected it to backfire like this."
"...Now, no matter what we do—whether we kill you or not—we are doomed."