I am the Only Son of Nyx

Chapter 182: Hiding in Plain Sight

"Fuck, fuck, fuck. What are we going to do?" Bryan stared across the cloudy expanse.

His eyes were locked onto the Auric Cabal, watching the faces of each student contorting with anger and hate. There’s about a thirty-yard distance between him and where the Auric Cabal was sitting, but he could already tell Kai was saying something outrageous.

Even from where he was, he could feel the heat of anger stroking his skin.

It’s not a good sign.

"No more going on our own after this," Dorian exhaled roughly through his nose. "I’m pretty sure we’d be attacked constantly whenever we’re alone after this, now that the Ichor Legion and Auric Cabal are on our tails."

"Eugh... He can be really stubborn at times," Bree complained.

On the other side, Matilda sat alone.

Her mind was too occupied to even attempt to stop Kai, especially when she noticed that his face was already the same as back then. Already the same as when he decided to fight her to the death.

No dissuading if it had already come to that, so she didn’t even bother.

Besides, Kai is not someone easy to kill—that much she knew.

Instead of fretting about the inevitable, Matilda’s mind was fixated on her investigation.

Last night, she didn’t make any plans with a friend—that was only an excuse. She was looking into the strangeness that was surrounding Kai instead, especially about that person who was responsible for scaring Ragnar.

Someone who was secretly helping Kai from the shadows.

She reckoned that the perpetrator should be watching Kai.

Kai decided to make a group, which wasn’t a secret. Many people knew about it.

He did go to talk with Professor Kimberly, and even went from class to class in search of one professor who could sponsor him in making the Ambrosia Pact. And the perpetrator made a move on Ragnar only right after Kai learned that someone was trying to sabotage him.

It was surprising for Matilda to learn that the perpetrator was late in detecting this.

From the footage she saw, the perpetrator should be someone stronger.

Because of that, Matilda reckoned it might be a senior—or even a professor—who has the ability relating to darkness, and perhaps could even shapeshift. One that she suspected was Professor Hera, as she was close to Kai.

At least, she had seen Professor Hera glance at Kai with more intent.

She looked at Kai with a different gaze compared to the other students in class.

Not to mention, she did see Kai meet Professor Hera secretly on the ship after the Blood Rite.

But she’s still not convinced.

Either way, the perpetrator should be able to detect that someone was trying to sabotage Kai.

Odd for the perpetrator to be too late to react had it been a senior or a professor.

One conclusion that Matilda came to was that the perpetrator is watching Kai too closely.

So close that he or she was tuned out of the surroundings entirely.

Perhaps someone is obsessive.

And because of that, last night, Matilda tried following Kai and the others as they went to the Fire Swamp and then went over to the Dead Range. She was there, watching them silently, and saw everything that happened.

It took her a moment to reach the Dead Range, but she saw the battle against the Star Beast.

She also saw the battle between Kai and Barbara.

Despite wanting to help multiple times, she restrained herself from interfering—and watched the situation unfold while keeping her eyes peeled to find someone. Since she was thinking that the perpetrator was strong, she was extra careful and kept her distance.

But even through all of that, she didn’t find anyone around.

’All I have on this person is that scent,’ Matilda thought.

Back when Kai was being attacked by two seniors from another academy, Matilda confronted one of them and engaged in a fight. She was about to win, but the senior’s experience made it very hard to deal the killing blow.

In fact, the senior almost slipped away.

Matilda could only deal with her because someone had stepped in and stopped her.

And she believed the perpetrator was the one who helped her.

After all, if the senior managed to slip away, she would circle around, regroup with the second senior, and return to kill Kai together. The perpetrator had no intention of allowing that, so the perpetrator intervened and stopped the senior in her tracks.

From that incident, Matilda smelled a lingering scent of flowers.

No flower in the Fire Swamp, so it must be the perpetrator’s scent.

Perfume, maybe.

’How can I even make use of this?’ She sighed inwardly. ’Do I need to smell everyone to find out who has the perfume? No, I don’t think I could even if I wanted to. I don’t remember what the scent smells like, other than remembering that it smelled flowery. Like the smell of a rose.’

Matilda massaged her forehead.

She wanted to find this person so that she could know more about what’s really going on.

And perhaps determine whether this perpetrator is really a good person or not.

’But why am I really doing this?’ Matilda exhaled lightly and then glanced at Kai, who was still talking with Barbara in the distance. Even now, she still remembers the night the two of them shared together.

She remembered his passionate lips against her skin.

Remembered the lust that was burning behind his eyes.

Remembered the weight of his body pressing against her as if he was trying to crush her.

Just the mere thought raised goosebumps along her skin.

And she found herself rubbing the back of her neck as if to soothe the chill away.

Matilda had told herself that it was only for one night.

Once the night is over, that moment they shared should be erased from her memories.

And she did, or at least she convinced herself that she did.

But the fact that she was going to such lengths to help Kai determine who was watching over him made it clear that she hadn’t forgotten about that night. She can tell that there’s a part of her that wanted him still.

’What am I going to do with myself?’

"Entering the Dead Range and the Fire Swamp would be horrendous now," Dorian sighed.

"Chester would probably place sentries on the outskirts of the Fire Swamp in order to find us," Bryan added, sharing his thoughts as he knew Chester more than anyone here. "We can’t enter the Fire Swamp.’

Even now, the three of them were still bantering.

Fretting over what would happen now that things with the Auric Cabal had escalated.

"You should’ve tried stopping him harder," Bree said and looked at Dorian.

"Me?" Dorian pointed at himself. "How would I even do that?"

"You’re the one who had gone through the Blood Rite with him, so you must know a way."

"For the record, I am the one who encouraged him to kill the other students, so I can’t really say anything to him. And besides, if there’s anyone who should try harder to stop him, then it should be you."

"Me? Why me?"

"You’re a girl. Plus, you clearly have something-something going on with him. If you hugged him or kissed his cheek, maybe he would probably settle right down. Who knows? That rose fragrance of yours might work wonders on him."

"Is it that obvious?" Bree blushed as she pulled a couple of strands of her hair behind her ear.

"Look at you fucking lovebirds," Dorian clicked his tongue. "Of cou—"

On the side, Matilda’s eyes widened completely.

Dorian’s voice rang inside her ears and echoed inside the chamber of her mind.

Slowly, her gaze shifted to her right—and then landed on Bree as realization struck her mind like lightning. Her breath was stuck in her throat, and her lips parted in shock as she stared at Bree, "R-Rose fragrance...?"

For the last couple of days, she had been searching for the perpetrator.

And as it turns out, she was always this close.

"It’s Bree?" Matilda rasped in shock.

Hide in plain sight; Bree adopted that saying into her own agenda. Kai would never guess the person who had been helping him in the background would be Bree, as he was the closest to her, thereby the most blind.

Matilda suspected her of hiding something since the start.

But she didn’t expect Bree to be able to go this far.

Then again, the more Matilda thought about it, the clearer everything became.

Back that night when Kai was attacked by two seniors, Matilda learned that he was supposed to be going to the Dead Range instead of the Fire Swamp, as he had already made plans with Bree, so when he didn’t come, she could cross over to the Fire Swamp to check.

And that’s when Bree realized what was going on and decided to help.

Moreover, the perpetrator’s delayed response to Ragnar’s attempt to sabotage Kai also aligned with Bree’s position. She had stayed close to Kai throughout, possibly too close to notice what was unfolding in the background.

Only when Kai realized what was going on did she finally make a move.

However, that led to one question.

’How did she do it? How did she scare Ragnar?’ Matilda thought with an evident frown. ’No. More importantly, how did she have darkness-related power? Her Patron God is the Goddess of Childbirth. She’s not a Goddess known for strength.’

’And also... what’s her reason for going this far? Why help Kai this much?’

For a good moment, Matilda stared at the side of Bree’s face.

She was staring intently as if she could see the answer written on Bree’s face if she looked hard enough. Even as Kai returned to sit beside her, Matilda kept staring. Still thinking about what drove Bree to fight this hard for Kai.

’If I confront her right now, she could easily make an excuse.’

Matilda shifted her gaze and looked down at the plump clouds underneath her.

Considering Bree’s position within the academy and the Ambrosia Pact, it was hard to put strong pressure on her. If Matilda confronted her, she could easily say that she had fallen for Kai, so she went to such lengths.

And that would be going against what Matilda wanted.

Because deep down, she knew that Bree was up to no good. She has an agenda.

Despite how she seemed, Matilda believed that there’s intent from the very first moment Bree approached Kai. No doubt about it. Someone like her wouldn’t willingly get close to a nobody like Kai.

She wanted something.

But it’s hard to see through her with those layers of façade she kept wearing all the time.

’Just you wait, Bree.’ Matilda clenched her fists. ’I’ll find out your goal and expose you.’