Chapter 159: Chapter 159: Never again
Chapter 159 – Never again
Persephone stood in complete silence, her pink eyes settled on the teleportation runes where a subtle crimson fog wafted upward like undulating waves, slowly dissipating like sand swallowed by water.
Her gaze was distant, her thoughts drifting across everything she had experienced since becoming aware of her own Self, and what was soon going to occur.
A stifled sigh escaped her small lips at that realisation. She lowered her head, her blonde hair falling gently forward, her gaze settling on the body of the seven-year-old she was inhabiting.
’I am sorry.’ She mused with a dry smile. ’I lied to you, Angel. But I had no choice, you see. After all, it is over now, isn’t it?’
She thought at last, feeling her heart already beginning to beat for another purpose.
Soon, Persephone realised, she would sink back into the broader consciousness of the Head Maid of Hood, only to be woken again if the Lord of Death willed it, when the time came to fulfil the end of her bargain.
That was the deal she had made with Vorn. And Persephone had believed she would be fine. That she would be satisfied. She had honestly believed that as long as she was given the opportunity to be with her Angel just once more, nothing that came afterward would matter.
Just one time.
Only one, she had promised herself.
But give a parched throat a single sip of water, and it will devour the rest with a hunger it never knew it possessed.
And so Persephone slowly lifted her head, and coincidentally, her gaze fell upon the outline of the Gate of Death, framed by a great multitude of souls shrouding the enormous black gate.
"I know I need not say anything for you to understand what my soul wishes to convey, Lord of Death." She said, using her natural voice now, rather than the flat one she had kept in front of Cassius to hold her emotions in check.
Her words travelled straight to the Gate and reached her interlocutor. A hollow chuckle echoed immediately after.
[Are you not being a little too greedy?] Vorn replied. [This was not the deal.]
"It was also not part of the deal for you to take my name and give it to someone else." Persephone retorted coldly. "I am his Katherine. Why did you rob me of that distinction?"
[You know well that he cannot know you are here with him. No, no one can know, Katherine. I transgressed my own oath to bring you here. Do not disrespect my affection for you.] Vorn said with quiet authority. [I was merciful. I gave you the opportunity to be with him once more. That is enough.]
"He needs me."
[Needed.] He corrected. [Not anymore.]
"No. I am what he needs. I am your wife, Lord of Death, that much is settled. You essentially forced it upon me. And I cannot escape you no matter what I do, since you hold my soul. So tell me, what are you afraid of? I am not asking for much, Vorn. I am asking for the right to be at his side. Again."
[That is already asking for more than you should.]
"No. I can fulfil my duties to you while remaining at his side."
[I have no use for a wife who refuses to remain beside me.]
"You do not need me beside you at all times."
[And who says that? You know, I always knew you would eventually act like this.] Vorn replied, his voice dropping to something deathly, the space around Persephone flooding with a heavy, suffocating presence. [But there is a reason I named that woman Katherine.]
Persephone’s eyes went instantly cold, her previous suspicion confirmed.
"You wish to replace me in his heart with that woman." She gritted her teeth.
[It must be so.] The Lord of Death said.
"I will kill her."
[Not without my permission. And I will not give it.]
"All of this for what? What are you afraid of, Lord of Death? Are you afraid that I love him more than I love you?"
[That would only matter if you loved me to begin with. But you do not.]
"Then you have very little to lose. Except...you do. You may earn my hatred."
[Things are delicate enough at the moment, Katherine.] Vorn replied. [I took you from that place because I took a liking to you, but also because you are the best candidate for what is needed. Remember your words, Katherine. You know I despise lies above all else. Hate me if you must. But hate me while honouring the end of your bargain.]
Katherine bit her lip, her eyes trembling slightly. "...you never told me you intended to do this. You know what he means to me. You know it well. And yet you are replacing me inside his life!"
[Again, Katherine, it must be so. I need you. And I cannot afford any lingering attachment from you for the path ahead.]
"I will never forgive you for this!"
[This is for your own good. You will thank me once you understand what you have been holding onto. You will see, in time, that I saved you. What is coming is something even I want no part in. The boy is the centre of all of it. And the choice of whether I participate has been taken from me.]
Katherine sneered with cold scorn. "And now you are taking mine."
[I am saving you instead. And we are not going to have this discussion again.] Vorn’s voice settled into undeniable authority. [I proposed a bargain. You accepted it. I fulfilled my promise. Now, Katherine, it is your turn.]
"Why me? Just why did you choose me?"
At this point, Katherine would have wished she had never been given this chance at all. To see him and be near him once more, only to be unable to remain at his side, was the greatest agony she could have endured.
Her Angel was the only person she had left in all of existence. Everyone else had been lost to the River of Time, or cleansed and transformed into someone else entirely by the River of Life and Death.
Only Noah — now Cassius — remained.
And yet...
Katherine stopped the dark and restless thoughts threatening to make her snap, just in time for Vorn’s voice to reach her once more.
[Because you have the highest chance of succeeding.]
"...Of being Persephone?"
[Yes. Your memories and the actions of your past align with the Myth. With sufficient effort and planning — and a measure of secrecy — it is possible. And this time, Katherine, I want you to truly become Persephone. Not in name only. But in your entire existence. She must not see you coming...must not see us coming. After what I have done, that will be difficult. But it is possible.]
"And the Desdemona?" She asked the most important question, after a few more seconds of silence,,trying to steady the foreign rhythm of her borrowed heart.
[I will naturally honour my oath to them.]
Katherine went completely silent.
She drew a slow breath, her mind revisiting the brief moments she had spent with Cassius. She remembered the countless times she had wanted to embrace him. To ask him how he was finding his way in this new world...and why he, of all people, had been the one chosen.
She remembered the urge, more than once, to smile and laugh, seeing traces of the Noah she had known in how Cassius moved and spoke at certain moments.
But instead she had stayed quiet, helping and watching in silence, trying to convey through small and careful actions what she could not say aloud.
She had also desperately wanted to know Isolde better, to understand the woman who had earned her Angel’s love, and to see with her own eyes whether she was worthy of it.
She had heard that the Desdemona were a loving family who held him dearly. That had brought her relief.
But given what Vorn had implied about what was coming...Katherine’s fear for them, and for the happiness of her Angel, had only deepened.
And yet none of that remained within her reach.
What remained, in the end, was only regret. The regret of not having been given more time with him. Of not being allowed to simply sit with him and rest in his presence.
Her heart ached. And she knew, instinctively, that she would not see Cassius again.
Something in her bones told her that. And Persephone believed it entirely. And that even more so when she looked up at the Gate of Death looming overhead.
’This is the price for another life. And it is heavier than anything I expected. What will your price be, then, my Angel?’
She refused to think further on that, and sealed every lingering worry away.
Exhaling, Persephone nodded to Vorn.
"What must I do?"
The Lord of Death smiled beneath his hood, and the buzzing sound of flies filled the space.
[First, return to me, my dear. Your time as the Head Maid of Hood has come to an end.]
...
At the same time, in Desde City, inside the Desdemona mansion, Cassius and Océane appeared out of the teleportation circle.
Cassius groaned, his head momentarily dizzy. He planted both feet firmly on the floor to steady himself.
’When will I get used to this, damn it?’ He cursed in quiet annoyance, breathing slowly to settle his heartbeat and reconnect with the feeling of his own body.
He was not given that chance.
"MY BABY!!"
He barely had time to lift his head before his face was buried deep within his mother’s embrace.
"I missed you so, so, so much!" She squealed, inhaling his scent, then purred with deep, unrestrained contentment.
"I-I missed you too, mother." Cassius managed, his voice thoroughly muffled.
Océane, with the wisdom of long experience, bowed her head quietly and disappeared from the room, leaving the family to themselves.
Behind Sefira stood Aldrin himself, watching the scene with a subtle smile.
It took Sefira a considerable while before she finally allowed Cassius to breathe normally. But the moment she released him, he was swept immediately by both parents into the meeting room.
They wanted to know everything that had happened during his stay at the palace.
The Last Born agreed.
Naturally, he would not dare to share everything.
But he shared enough entertaining things that his parents were effectively sitting forward with wide eyes and full attention.
’Damn... it feels like I have become one of those storytellers hired to amuse the masses.’
That was his last thought as he continued — moving from how he had beaten Raven in training, to complaining about Hel Hood treating him poorly despite him having done absolutely nothing to deserve it, to Morenna spoiling him like a true grandmother, to Esmeray being a strange but quietly loving aunt — and most importantly of all...to speaking about a certain Head Maid who had shown him more love than he felt he had any right to receive from her.
—End of Chapter 159—
