Chapter 278 – Rose Bishop
Cassius didn’t say anything for a very long time. He sat there, on the ground, swallowed by the thick darkness of his room.
Yet no matter how deep the darkness was, his eyes burned brightly like untamed true fire, reckless and bold, yet there was undoubtedly a touch of apprehension and confusion inside.
Once more, as had often happened lately, Cassius came across the word "Earth" in a place he’d never expected.
The fact that the one the world called The Fool had been approached by a woman to enter Earth and guide someone there...it was quite unbelievable.
He was almost certain that "someone" was him. It could only be him, unless there was another being on Earth chosen like him.
’I knew my reincarnation into this world was orchestrated. But since when did the plan begin? How deep does all this go? And how many legendary beings are involved in this play?’
Cassius was at a loss. Each revelation peeled back a new layer of his situation, and there seemed to be no end to it.
None he could see, anyway. And it brought him no fort.
He sighed through gritted teeth, then tilted his head upward, watching the darkness swirl and twist.
"Did The Fool accept the offer?" He asked, not expecting an answer, "if he did...who was he on Earth? Did I ever meet him?"
Many more questions. Far fewer answers.
Cassius read the page again, this time with a sharper mind, hoping to catch some clue.
But he found nothing beyond the lovesick words of the Fool, speaking so lovingly and passionately about a woman who already had a husband.
The man had even gone as far as calling her Hope. A big name. A heavy one.
Cassius almost pitied the Fool. He was truly a fool.
’Maybe that’s why he was known as The Fool?’ He found himself chuckling slightly at the thought, ’Not for some legendary reason like everyone assumes. Simply because he was foolish enough to fall for a married woman. A woman married to, well, what was it again? A Primordial Beast from the Age of Heedlessness?’
First time he’d heard that term, and it made him wonder who the other two Primordial Beasts were.
Cassius filed that question away in his mind.
Either way, the woman who’d approached the Fool was almost certainly connected to him. No name was given, but the way she was called "Third Holder," bined with his family’s strange fondness for the number three...
’...my ancestor, maybe? Lady Third? Or...Desdemona?’
He mulled over these new pieces of information a bit longer, trying to extract every scrap of knowledge he could.
If they refused to answer his questions, he’d simply find the answers himself.
But Cassius felt a quiet despair settling in. Now that he knew content from the True Tales of the Fool was obtainable, he’d end up anticipating every Saturday’s Origin Day, hoping for more.
Which, of course, wouldn’t happen every time, and would leave him with disappointment, and if things went badly enough, with anger.
Cassius hated waiting without getting what he wanted.
"It’s like back on Earth with those s." He reminisced with a faint smile, and Stella turned her head to look at him, "I remember there was a novel I liked so much I bought coins for it, something I never usually did, just to read it. Then overnight, the author stopped updating."
Just thinking about it again irritated Cassius.
"At first I was gentle about it, asked if he was okay, all that. He never answered any of my lovely, encouraging messages."
Ananke smiled with amusement. [What did you do then?]
"I crashed out, of course, and wrote a bunch of hate reviews."
[You can be so childish sometimes.]
"Well, I WAS a child." He emphasized, "and you can’t blame me, Queen. Do you realize how invested I was in that novel? I’d wake up in the middle of the night just to read it, because the author updated at night. Can you imagine that? That novel was my second obsession, after Isolde."
[Maybe the author died, and that’s why there was no update.]
"He didn’t die."
[How did you know?]
"I hacked his account." Cassius said with a lazy shrug, "with Kaden’s help. Good thing I’m a decent man. I only sent his nudes to a few other women besides his girlfriend."
[...]
"I hope that she had dumped him soon after."
[You are evil.]
"He started it. Should’ve responded to a dedicated fan." Cassius defended himself, before slowly standing up, taking Stella into his arms.
He looked one last time at page 33 of the True Tales, noting how starkly different its content was from what people currently had.
If the True Tales were the unfiltered thoughts of The Fool, honest and genuine in every sense, a true journal...
...then the current Tales of The Fool looked like a curated version, keeping only his most inspirational quotes and erasing the human heart behind them.
What Cassius was curious about was who had done that. It seemed unlikely it had been The Fool himself.
’Or maybe it really was him? Well, no way to know for now. Let’s not dwell on it. I’ve got bigger things to worry about.’
Namely, the ing battle against the second year, and the fact that in two days, students would be free to challenge one another.
"Good." Cassius cracked his neck, popping it, Stella perched atop his head, "This is the moment I bee the greatest disciple to ever grace this earth."
He grinned arrogantly, pulled his phone from his pocket, and called his master directly, pacing back and forth around his room.
For the first time ever, she picked up immediately.
"I see you’re—!"
"No nonsense, Cassius. Say what you want and be done with it."
"No pleasantries?"
"No need."
"Alright, master. You told me that Palatines, or even high rankers, are usually part of factions within the Academy."
"Aye. Most of them. Though not all. Like your siblings, and Cassandra."
"I figured as much about my siblings. Cassandra is new information, though. A wele one, too." He said, "But which faction is Copycat part of?"
"The second-year Palatine?" Mallory said, thoughtful, "He’s with White."
"The Vice Dean? Didn’t expect that."
"Well, Copycat is his wife’s son."
"...what?" Cassius blurted out, stopping abruptly mid-step, nearly making Stella slip off, "What do you mean?"
"White is part of a harem." Mallory said, her tone far too serious for the moment, "He’s the fourth husband of Rose Bishop, mother of Alexander Bishop, also known as Copycat."
Cassius’s mouth went suddenly dry as cotton, thoroughly surprised.
Reverse harem?! A damned reverse harem?!!!
"...Queen’s dreadful, sinful skirt, who even is Rose Bishop?! I’ve never heard of her!"
"Not surprising. Rose prefers staying home, more often than not." Mallory replied, her tone strange, "She owns the modeling pany Bishop Rose, and a number of other brands besides. She’s also the most famous screenwriter of the current generation, and a renowned author under her pseudonym, LowerLips."
"Lower what?" Cassius sank weakly onto the bed, eyes widening as though his master were revealing the secret of the universe.
"I think you might have actually heard of her most popular novel." Mallory continued, giving him no time to recover.
"...you think?"
"The Woman With a Thousand Harem."
Cassius sucked in a sharp breath.
"Rose Bishop wrote that novel."
—End of Chapter 278—
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