Free Web NovelChapter 177: Chapter 177: Auction [6]
Chapter 177 – Auction [6]
It was only three minutes. Yet to Veronica, it felt like far more than that.
Her head had been cracked multiple times, leaving her bones shattered and her skull caved in. The ground beneath her was now a mess of blood, vomit, tears, broken teeth and dozens of cleanly cut lips.
Her own lips.
Cut with sadistic care by Anesthesia and regenerated by Sophia’s blood, while Isolde robbed her of the right to even scream and let the gods hear her agony.
Veronica had always known the subtle cruelty of Sophia Amaris after working in her house for so long. She had always known this was a woman who would not shy away from wiping out a whole bloodline if the risk was low enough and the benefits worth it.
But knowing something and understanding it by living through it were entirely different matters.
Now, Veronica understood that Sophia was not simply merciless and cruel.
She was a devouring wolf wearing the clothes of a calculating woman — and no one stepped on the tail of a wolf without being gnawed until even their bones were swallowed.
Just like that, the three minutes ended, and the Amaris women stopped immediately, not one second over.
Sophia’s face, arms and chest were stained by Veronica’s blood, but she did not seem to notice at all. She looked instead at Isolde and stretched a hand toward her.
"I know you have a dagger on you." She said. "Give it."
"There is a way of asking, mother."
"Now I am your mother?" Sophia smiled, amused, as if the anger from moments ago had been burned away entirely by her outburst on Veronica. "Isolde, you are such a—! Ah, nothing. Just give me the dagger. This little wretch has been away from her master for far too long already."
Isolde rolled her eyes, took out a dagger and threw it at her mother.
"Tsk. Always making a scene." Anesthesia muttered disdainfully at Isolde.
Isolde looked at her and smiled. "How is your stomach? Would you like another one?"
Anesthesia’s tear-stained eyes hardened. But before she could respond, both sisters saw their mother drive the dagger into her own chest.
They both shivered, and instinctively, guided by something neither could name, the two sisters bolted toward Sophia in horror.
"Mother!!" they shouted simultaneously, only to halt abruptly when Sophia shifted her head and looked at them with an impassive raised eyebrow, the dagger still in her chest.
The stop was so sudden that they both fell to the ground, unable to control their momentum. They groaned and cursed in unison.
"Why all this fuss?" Sophia said lazily. "The dagger did not fully reach my heart. Just enough to draw a little blood from it."
She explained as she withdrew the dagger, its tip carrying an ebony black blood. The sight of it alone was enough to make both Isolde and Anesthesia feel a certain ancient power within it.
"Only blood drawn directly from my heart can heal her body and restore her mind enough to function after this little session." She said, as she applied the blood to Veronica, and visibly the maid began to heal.
Her bones mended, flesh and teeth regrew, her face regained its previous color, and somehow even improved, without the heavy dark circles that had been beneath her eyes.
Veronica’s broken mind was stitched back together, returning her awareness. Yet everything she had gone through remained fresh inside her like a scar that would never fade.
And somewhere within her, a seed of fear — deep and profound — had been planted. By Sophia, yes. But also by Isolde and Anesthesia. fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com
It was never wise to fear the wolf while ignoring the pups beside her.
Anesthesia and Isolde watched the healing with a hint of stunned surprise. They had always known their mother possessed the ability to heal with her blood, but they had never known why.
It was certainly not her Aspect. Her Aspect came from the Sound Origin Pool and carried no healing properties.
This power came from something else, somewhere else. But where?
That was the question both sisters silently asked and received no answer to. Their mother had never spoken of this power.
However, strangely, Isolde found the way this power worked quite familiar to something she had recently observed in Cassius — his left eye, no longer human but draconic, granting him access to things his original eye had not.
’Is it the same with mother?’ She thought as she got up. ’Does she have a Characteristic? If yes, how did she obtain it? And what kind of creature is it?’
Those questions went unanswered as Sophia spoke to Veronica, pulling their full attention back to the matter at hand.
"Answer only the questions I ask, and nothing else." Sophia ordered. "Nod if you understand."
Veronica nodded instantly. In that moment she was regretting her entire life. Her obsession for Cole — a man who was abandoning her for another — had never been on the same level as her survival instincts, and the fear this woman now produced in her after only three minutes made that fact devastatingly clear.
"Did you sign any Death Contracts preventing you from revealing Cole’s secrets?"
"Yes."
"It must be a sloppy contract, then, considering you revealed those secrets and nothing happened to you. Did it require the act to be intentional for the contract to activate against you?"
"Yes."
Sophia suppressed a contemptuous expression. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered how she had managed to tolerate Cole for so long.
But she knew the answer.
Divorce had simply never been an option for her. The Amaris bloodline was Cole himself. She had married into the family, and like many recognised Tiered Families, they possessed the Corresponding Ritual to shift one’s Origin Pool to match that of the family.
This was done to keep the bloodline free from excessive impurities and outside interference. The Origin Pool had to remain clean.
However, the process only worked when the Origin Pool one possessed was weaker and less unique than the one being transitioned into.
There was a reason why men had many mistresses willing to be with them. It was not only money. Most of those women sought the opportunity to change their Origin Pool, to obtain a better Aspect and a better chance at survival.
Sophia Amaris had been one of those women.
Few knew it — or rather, few still remembered it — but Sophia had been a simple commoner girl, an orphan, who had managed to capture the heart of a young heir of a Tier Three family and marry him.
One might think she would have been satisfied with becoming a noble.
But Sophia had never had low ambitions. She wanted the heavens, and there was nothing she would not do for them.
That was why she had tolerated Cole all this time. But if there was one thing she loved more than power, it was respect.
And Cole had achieved the highest level of disrespect possible.
The time for leniency was over.
"You will return to his side and act as though nothing happened." Sophia said with a gentle smile, cupping Veronica’s face in both hands. "I do not need to tell you who you should fear more between Cole and me, do I? If I notice anything suspicious in Cole’s behaviour, I will act immediately, and what you just went through will feel like paradise by comparison."
"I-I understand." Veronica stammered.
With that, Isolde took one step forward and threw her a fresh set of maid’s clothes she had prepared in advance.
"Strip and put these on. Then go." Isolde ordered flatly.
The maid glanced instinctively at Sophia. Seeing no objection, she obeyed. She stripped naked in front of the Amaris women and changed into the new clothes.
Afterward, she looked as though nothing had happened to her at all. Yet the subtle trembling of her eyes said everything.
She was dismissed shortly after, leaving the Amaris family alone.
"We can’t let him go without consequences, mother." Anesthesia said immediately, trying to bury her grief in thoughts of revenge.
"And we won’t." Sophia said. "However, acting right now is not the right choice. We need—! Where are you going?"
She asked suddenly as Isolde began to walk away.
"I have done what I came to do. I showed you the true face of the man you call husband and father. I have nothing more to do here. I will leave you to—!"
"Who do you think you are fooling with this act? Isolde, you are too young for that. Come back here and stop making a scene. Anesthesia, you were right. Always a scene."
"She is just so embarrassing. Mother, let her go. I do not think I can stop myself from slamming her head into the floor if we stay in the same space much longer."
"I feel the same." Sophia said. "But Isolde has proven herself cunning enough to be accepted. She might be useful. We will need her to bring the Kanam family under our control."
"Yes, she—! What?" Anesthesia exclaimed. Even Isolde forgot every curse she had been preparing and looked at her mother with confusion.
"What do you mean by ’bring them under our control’?" Isolde asked.
"What else?" Sophia replied, looking at both her daughters. "We will take the Amaris bloodline fully under our control. I want the Origin Pool under me, Sophia Amaris. I want to be the Wielder of the Pool. In other words, the Amaris will become a matriarchal family."
Both Isolde and Anesthesia drew a sharp breath simultaneously.
"And at the same time, we will use this opportunity to absorb the Kanam family and fuel our power. Our relationship with the Desdemona will be strengthened further when they realise we have dealt with an irritating problem on their behalf."
"But all of it begins with one thing: the fall of Cole Amaris. Not my husband. Not your father. Cole Amaris, the wretched man."
Her eyes glowed with an ambitious, hungry light. Isolde and Anesthesia looked at each other — and saw in each other’s faces, for the first time ever, the exact same feeling of dread mingled with anticipation.
Sophia Amaris smiled, her voice settling one final time:
"Are you with me, my daughters?"
—End of Chapter 177—
