Chapter 439: Social Construct
"Do you remember the talk we had that day?" Kael asked, staring at Ozia deeply.
"Yes sir," Ozia nodded his head.
The sound of Isabel pouring out the contents of her stomach was still being heard.
Ozia was uncomfortable, his body wanted nothing more than to fly and be by Isabel's side right now.
'What if she thinks I don't love her?' Ozia thought.
"Good, make sure you never forget it," Kael smiled and said. He decided that he wouldn't say anything and just let things play out.
Inevitably, all will become clear to Ozia, all in due time.
"Is anything the matter?" Ozia asked.
Kael shook his head, "Not really, just stopping by to give Isabel a gift,"
By this time, Isabel had cleaned herself up and was coming out of the bathroom.
As soon as she stepped through the doorway, Kael flicked his fingers toward her.
Golden magic runes flickered into existence around his fingers, engulfing the whole rook in a powerful and ethereal magic aura.
The golden runes condensed to form a small magic circle that flew toward Isabel's chest.
Before Ozia or Isabel could react, Kael had placed a protection rune on Isabel.
The golden glow died down and Isabel could feel the tingling sensation of magic energy converging on her chest.
Ozia blinked, clearly puzzled, "Father? Why did you put a protection rune on Isabel?" He asked.
As a part Magus, he could naturally recognize the type of rune Kael had just cast on Isabel.
But why?
As far as Ozia was concerned, his father did not care at all about Isabel, nor did his mother.
Ozia had always felt that he was the one maintaining Isabel's image in his family. There was just something about everyone disregarding their taboo relationship that was so seductive and made him want to maintain it.
It felt like he and Isabel were the only ones fighting against the world for their love. It was romantic.
How sad.
"Just a protective measure, just in case," Kael mentioned, preparing to go.
"Protection from what? I can protect her," Ozia said, trying to make sure his tone didn't come out as challenging.
"It's protection from you, Ozia," Kael said with a smirk, "Remember, simps always finish last."
And with that, Kael was gone. He faded away in such a way that it seemed like he was never in the room in the first place.
"Protection from me? I would never hurt her!" Ozia exclaimed and turned to see Isabel with a ghastly expression on her face.
She looked pale, her face was drained of color and her red hair was in disarray. She looked like she had seen a ghost.
"Isabel, I would never hurt you, I swear!" Ozia exclaimed as he rushed toward her and wrapped his little and slightly tall body around her waist.
Isabel flinched, Ozia's hug was like a thousand needles in her heart.
"Isabel, what's wrong?" Ozia sensed that something was wrong and had to ask.
He looked at Isabel's face with worry, "Don't worry about what he said, I'll never hurt you," He tried to reassure her.
Isabel had an uneasy expression on her face. If not for Kael having pointed it out by scanning her, she wouldn't have noticed it.
She had made a big mistake, a serious blunder. Isabel was scared as she looked at Ozia's eyes.
Scenes of what he had done at that club flashed through her mind and she couldn't help but blank out.
Now she understood why Kael had cast that protection rune on her.
If Ozia knew about what she had done, it could break him mentally.
'No, what have I done,'
"Isabel, are you okay?" Ozia asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine, forget about it," Isabel said but she was already racking her brain for the best scheme she could pull.
Kael had already forbidden her from terminating or hiding the pregnancy. That was also a bad thing.
He had told her secretly through telepathy so she was assuming the king didn't want Ozia to find out. At least, not at this moment.
She would have just aborted under a normal case and everything would have gone back to normal. But she can't, not now.
She looked down at the rune mark on her chest in between her breasts. This was a protection rune cast by the king himself, it was expected to be strong enough to withstand anything.
But Isabel wasn't sure if she could rely on that.
Why would the king help her? Why would he do such a thankless thing for nothing? Why was he so interested in her keeping the pregnancy?
Was he that serious about teaching Ozia a lesson? Or was it the pregnancy itself?
'Did he fancy me?' Isabel wanted to delude herself but shook her head. That idea was bollocks and would be considered heretic if it ever left her mind.
"I'll be fine, forget about it," Isabel said. She could only try to dismiss Ozia's worry while thinking of a way out of this mess.
Even if she didn't say anything, soon, her belly would begin to bulge…
"Let's go to that monarchy babe, let's get those clothes you wanted," Ozia said, thinking that doing this would dispel the harsh words Kael had said earlier.
"Yeah, let's go. The President and his wife here should be waking up anytime soon," Isabel nodded.
Both of them walked out of the room. The presidential mansion was eerily silent, as if there was no one present.
/////
"I thought you would be subtle with this one," Kael said, standing in front of one of the most luxurious hotels in the world.
The hotel building was tall and looked like a giant glass sword stuck into the ground. Of course, this was just a result of architectural magnificence and nothing too extraordinary.
Kael stood at the base with his black and white robes fluttering in the wind.
"Subtly was nice. I got to experience a lot of things and learn from them. But N'bayé says she no longer needs the subtle acts to be strict.
She's gotten bored with the humans actually," Priya said.
She and Kael were together as she was the one to come out and welcome Kael to meet the Primordial Wolf.
"Really," Kael's eyebrows were raised as he walked into the building. Everything was luxurious here.
The tiles, the receptionist desk, the walls, the decorations, and the high ceiling. Everything was exquisite and made for the eyes of wealthy customers.
"She's already bored of the humans after a few days?" Kael asked, surprised.
Priya nodded, her grey eyes scanning the lobby. The receptionist in front of them was a fox in the disguise of a human male.
He was there to turn away all the customers who were not to be 'expected'. This hotel was reserved for Kael's guests only till further notice.
The receptionist bowed at Kael and Priya who nodded their way and continued walking toward the elevator.
Priya continued, "N'bayé said that humans were fascinating at first, but after studying them in detail, they have become…predictable.
And I can actually see things from her perspective this time.
These humans create so many labels and social constructs that it's baffling. They have religion, schools, politics, corporations, communities, small families, friend groups, hobbies, institutions, security, banks, and many more.
They are so intertwined with everything that most of them cannot stop to think for themselves.
They are not mindful, they are not aware of the here and now. Many of them are either too focused on the past or dream too much about the future.
How many of them are aware of what is happening to them at the present moment? Very very few. The rest are just going with the flow of their everyday lives.
The illusion of choice is presented before them and they think they have autonomy when they actually don't.
Go to school, get a job, start a business, join this group, join that group, live on your own, start a family, don't start a family."
The two of them walked into the elevator, and Priya pressed the button for the highest floor.
It doesn't matter what they choose, ninety-nine percent of them would still conform to their environment and what their immediate society wants.
It's the law of conformity and other rules playing their hands.
An example is how there are a whole class of elites and successful people that are usually living better lives than the rest of the population.
Now, not all of these elites or successful people were born that way. But N'bayé was actually able to identify some traits in young people that would increase their chances of becoming an elite or successful person in the future.
One of those traits was a human's lack of care for others' opinions, and another was their pattern recognition ability.
So you see, whether a human becomes rich or poor, religious or not religious, old or young, married or otherwise, they are still predictable.
The more you watch them, the more you see them making the same mistakes and the same decisions.
The only thing about humanity that keeps advancing is its technology. Their society is completely stagnant and predictable from an outsider's perspective.
If only they could take a step back from all the chaos and become aware and mindful of what was going on…"
Priya talked on and on, not knowing that her words had struck Kael deeply.