CHAPTER 339: FATHER, I HAVE A FAMILY-II

A flicker of fear broke through the King’s pride as he recognized that look on Cassius’s face, the look of a man who had finally pieced together the truth. The look of someone who had seen through all the lies carefully spun for survival.

"I had nothing to do with your mother’s decline!" the King snapped, voice rising with desperation. "If it truly was poison from a witch, then I—"

"You’re always so quick to wash your hands of blame." Cassius’s sigh was almost bored, but the edge beneath it was cold enough to cut. "I never expected much from you, but it’s still irritating to watch you dismiss every problem as if you weren’t the root of it. You were a husband. You brought home a mistress greedy enough to steal everything your wife had. Did you really think she wouldn’t kill her to claim the crown?"

"If you blame me because I didn’t protect your mother, or because I took a mistress, then you’re wrong, Cassius. Every man takes a mistress. I am a King! As a man, you should understand—"

"But I don’t."

Cassius’s boots hit each step of the dais with deliberate weight. A gem from the crown lay on the carpet; he stepped on it, grinding it into dust beneath his heel.

"Being a man doesn’t mean I need a garden full of flowers. I only want one. One worth more than my life. But your little affair with Morgana... no. That’s not why I’m here tonight."

The King’s brows drew together. "Then—"

"The one who poisoned my mother... was never Morgana."

The words struck like a hammer. The King froze, choking on air, eyes widening until they seemed ready to burst from his skull.

"You’ve been lying to me all this time," Cassius said softly, stepping closer. His hand closed around the King’s throat, fingers feeling the tremor of fear.

"I always wondered," he continued, his tone almost musing, "why you’d choose Morgana when she was so... unimpressive. No beauty. No fortune. No lineage worth naming. And you, always hungry for more wealth, more power, suddenly settling for her? Odd."

Cassius regarded his father like a wolf savoring the sight of fresh prey. The scent of guilt clung to the man so thickly it was almost intoxicating, curling Cassius’s lips into a slow, deliberate smile.

"Morgana hails from Versailles, doesn’t she?" His voice was soft, almost amused. "Even before she became a half-vampire... before she met you, she hails from here. And it was she who told you of the witches’ existence. Which means you’ve known all along that witches reside in Versailles, known, too, that their poison is lethal to purebloods like my mother."

"Stop—"

Cassius cut across him, as if the interruption were nothing more than an insect’s hum. "It’s easy to see the rest once the pieces fall into place. Morgana knew a witch, one who could make you miracles. She dangled that power before you, and you took it. All it cost was a marriage... and the convenient removal of a first wife you’d long wished gone."

"I never wanted your mother to be gone—"

The King’s words died in his throat as Cassius’s grip tightened. The chokehold cut off his breath until his face turned a deep, mottled blue.

"Enough of your lies, Father."

Cassius’s gaze was lethal now, no trace of laziness, no flicker of amusement. Only a cold, murderous intent that had been buried for far too long.

"I know the truth. I warned you, didn’t I?" His voice was low, each word a blade. "You wanted her gone because her authority shamed you, because it showed the court just how pitifully incompetent you are. A man with such a fragile ego could never bear a wife who thrived, who was loved more than he ever could be. You feared the whispers, feared being seen for what you truly are: a puppet king, stripped of power and authority the moment she entered the room."

A memory of the past flooded to the King’s head at once. The thought of his wife entering the room and being respected by everyone while they turned away from him, dismissing his presence as deep down they knew the Queen was the one who truly control the power.

"You couldn’t bear the idea that she would thrive above you."

Having no choice but to confess, the King could only stare at Cassius with fright.

"How do you know?" He stammered with each of his words. "H- How..."

Cassius’s lashes swept over his father’s terrified expression and he smiled in delight.

"I made sure that no food or other items from Morgana could ever enter her room. I have eaten everything to prevent people from getting suspicious which is why my mother’s poisoning was quite odd... I thought perhaps Morgana had found a better way of poisoning her," Cassius released his hands and tapped his father’s head, "Well I soon realized that perhaps mother was poisoned when I wasn’t with her. But the only time when she wasn’t with me, she was with you and that’s enough for me to piece the puzzles."

A sudden screech of metal dragged across stone snapped the King’s head up. His breath hitched. Reflected in the gleam of Cassius’s silver blade was his own wide-eyed terror.

"Father."

Cassius’s lips stretched into a smile the King had seen only once before, on the day his son was born. A true, innocent smile... back when Cassius had still been a child.

"I thought of countless ways to make you suffer," Cassius said lightly, almost amused. "Ways so creative they’d be whispered about for centuries. But then I realized, why bother? Why waste my time on you when I have far greater things ahead?"

He tilted his head, voice softening into something almost tender.

"I’m going to have a family."

The blade lifted, poised directly above the King’s head.

"And you, Father... you don’t belong in my small, adorable family."

At Cassius’s signal, the soldiers forced the King to his knees, bending him forward until the steel’s edge hovered within a breath of his neck.

"When you see Mother later, run," Cassius murmured, leaning close. "She’s terrifying when she’s angry... and she’ll be furious about what you did to her. Well then."

The blade flashed.

"Goodbye, Father."