NOVEL NEXT Chapter 370: Demon With A Heart
But before he could self-deprecate himself any longer, Aisha said something that completely caught him off guard.
"What are you talking about, Cassius?" Aisha chuckled lightly, before leaning in closer, her eyes soft but teasing. "You say this as if it's new but..."
"...I already knew you were a demon the moment I met you."
He blinked, baffled. "What...What do you mean by that?"
Before she could answer, Julie, who had finally managed to steady her blush and regain some composure, stepped forward. Her lips curved into a knowing smile as she said,
"It makes sense, doesn't it, Cassius? Since the very day we met you, you beat us up so badly we were sent to the hospital...Fighting you felt like fighting death itself. So, we already figured you were a demon one way or another."
Skadi gave a small nod of agreement.
"Yes, master. You've always been so kind, so gentle with us, and I love that about you."
She smiled sweetly at him, but then her gaze shifted, strained, and her tone dropped to something more serious.
"But at the same time...you are frightening, Master. Sometimes, I look at you and think, is Master really human? Or his he some kind of monster wearing a human skin?" Her lips twisted into a thin smile. "I wonder what exactly Master is."
Cassius opened his mouth, unsure what to even say, when Aisha cut in firmly.
"But even still, no matter what we think, no matter what you might be...whatever you are, no matter how powerful, how cruel, how brutal—you're still the same Cassius at the end of the day."
Her eyes shone with conviction as she stepped closer, her hand resting over his chest.
"The same Cassius who taught us not to judge a book by its cover...The same man we once hated and despised, who somehow turned our hearts completely around."
"Only you could do something like that. So even if you were a demon, even if you were something far worse...you're still our Cassius. The one who's loving, compassionate, and kind beneath all the rest, so stop questioning it so much and just consider yourself the demon people call you to be, whether it's this world or whatever world you were muttering about it before."
"Of course, a demon with a heart of course."
"...A demon with a heart?"
Cassius whispered to himself in disbelief at what he was hearing and seeing.
The warmth in her gaze was almost blinding. Julie's soft smile, Skadi's affectionate look, they all struck him at once. His heart raced wildly in his chest, and for a long moment he couldn't trust his own voice.
Finally, he exhaled, and a quiet, almost trembling smile broke over his face.
"Thanks. Thank you...for not seeing me like others do. For seeing me with your own eyes instead. I'm grateful for that...More than I can ever say."
The words made all three of them smile.
Aisha, however, wasn't content with just smiling. She grabbed hold of his hand suddenly, clutching it tight, and pressed herself against him without hesitation, rubbing her head lightly against his shoulder.
Then she turned her face deliberately toward Julie and Skadi, her eyes half-challenging, half-playful, almost as though she were declaring, he's mine, and I'm not afraid to show it.
Skadi's smile faltered instantly, her lips curving down into a faintly annoyed frown. Her tail flicked irritably, her eyes narrowing just a little as if she'd been provoked by a rival.
Julie, on the other hand, seemed less bothered. She still looked flustered, still clearly affected by the earlier kiss, but instead of reacting to Aisha's little display, her gaze lifted to Cassius instead.
She tilted her head curiously. "Cassius...how exactly did you manage all of this? You only had one day. How did you track every single criminal here and drag them all the way back? How did you even organize all this?"
Cassius let out a long sigh of relief at the change of topic, one hand instinctively lifting to gently pat Aisha's head. She leaned into the touch, visibly pleased, while he answered.
"It was...a big deal, even for me. Honestly, it was exhausting." He exhaled heavily, almost laughing at himself. "The moment I slipped out last night, I went straight to the administration offices and broke in. That's where they keep all the criminal records. I dug through everything, every report, every file, again and again until my head felt like it was splitting...But it paid off."
"Even though the estate's nobles are corrupt as hell and don't do a damn thing, the soldiers in this region are loyal. They keep proper records of everything."
"...That gave me enough to figure out where most of these bastards were hiding."
Julie's eyes widened with admiration, her lips parting slightly. She realized then just how extraordinary his ability to analyze and act must be, to have pulled this off in so little time with only scattered records.
Cassius went on.
"And it wasn't just the reports. I asked the villagers too. They knew where a lot of the bandits were hiding. They just couldn't do anything about it themselves...But I could."
"So with what I learned from them and what I pulled from the records...I tracked them down. Dragged every single one of them here. And I informed the local authorities about the kidnapped children, too."
Julie nodded slowly, deeply impressed. But she tilted her head again. "And the criminals themselves? You really carried them all here?"
Cassius scratched the back of his head, grimacing.
"Yeah...I did. Every single one. Five or six at a time, back and forth, until the pit was full. No shortcuts. Just me hauling them over and over again." He groaned. "It was hell, carrying those stinking old men on my back all the time. If it had been women, I'd have been fine, energized, even!"
"...But men? Gods, it was torture. I thought I was going to puke from the smell alone."
His exaggerated disgust drew a chorus of small smiles from all of them, the tension easing just a little.
At that moment, Skadi let out a small huff and stepped closer. "But Master...you could have called us, couldn't you? We could have come with you. Helped you."
Cassius just shook his head with a faint smile.
"No, Skadi. I wanted this to be a surprise. I wanted to see Aisha's reaction for myself." He looked down at the girl in question, who was still holding tightly to his hand. His lips curved into a grin. "And seeing how brazenly she just kissed me in front of you two...I'd say she really liked her gift. That makes this an overall success."
Aisha flushed red, her lips pressing into a shy smile, while Julie, let her thoughts flicker inward, wondering quietly whether she would be able to handle just how bold and shameless the two of them were becoming before her eyes.
And just Cassius was thinking that everything was quite harmonious and ended on a good note, he noticed the smell of charred flesh still hung heavy in the air, acrid and suffocating, clinging to every breath.
Cassius wrinkled his nose faintly, about to speak up and tell the girls that they should leave this place. He hated the stench of burning skin, it clung to his clothes, his hair, seeped into his very bones.
But just as the words rose to his lips, he froze.
He had forgotten something.
A cold bead of sweat ran down the back of his neck as he remembered the weight of another duty, not to the crowd, not to the people, but to the Goddess of Debauchery, who was most certainly watching from above, her unseen gaze burning down upon him like the stars themselves.
He still had to fulfill his role for her.
So instead of turning away, he pivoted on his heel, his crimson gaze cutting through the smoke-filled night.
"Noah." Cassius called, his voice sharp. "Come here."
At once, Noah in the distance jerked his head up, startled. He hurried forward, almost tripping over himself in his haste, clutching something clutched tightly to his chest, an apparatus, small but strange, shaped like a rectangular box with an orb glimmering at its side.
It hummed faintly, an otherworldly contraption that functioned like a recorder, capturing every sound, every flicker of light, every motion.
He stumbled to a stop before Cassius and bowed slightly, holding it out with trembling hands.
Cassius's gaze flicked toward the apparatus, then to Noah's trembling hands.
"Did you get it?" He asked, his voice low but cutting. "Did you get everything I told you to record?"
"Yes, sir! Of course, sir!" Noah blurted in a frantic rush, his voice trembling. "I-I took everything. Every detail. Your speech, the fire, the...the punishment, it's all here, sir, not a single moment missed!"
The fear in his tone was naked. He had seen what Cassius had done, how easily he had orchestrated the massacre of hundreds. The thought of displeasing him was unbearable.
But to Noah's surprise, Cassius didn't take the device. He simply shook his head.
"No." He said, his voice calm but edged with something sharp. "There's still one more message to be recorded."
Hearing this, Aisha, Skadi, and Julie exchanged uncertain glances, confusion flashing in their eyes.
None of them understood what he was doing now, but if they did, they would try to stop him with their lives on the line as what he was about to do was going to change the trajectory of the entire continent and mark his name as the most Depraved Noble to ever exist...