Death can easily be administered to anyone regardless of how successful they were in life.
A god agrees with the nihilist in this story.
There are many tragedies in this story. Many fortunes arising, too.
But the god and the antichrist don't car...
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The Hearts Asks for Pleasure
Varbridge Palace, Ember's Rock, Saprea
The maids brushed and curled Desyrae's hair so that it fell down to her back in soft ringlets. They made sure her hair was bejeweled with diamonds and garnets to Cassius's liking. She knew that she was beautiful, but what was she to do with all that beauty? Show it off? Why would she want a man to have so much liberty to look?
She sat on the edge of a curtained bed and drank while sitting inside the chamber where her marriage would be consummated. The maids dressed her in a silver silky nightdress. She spent ten minutes waiting, each second adding another knot to her stomach.
The doors opened. So this was it.
She was left with no escape. She didn't doubt that this man was anything opposite to his father despite his best efforts. But Cassius was not his father. Not unless he was ever given a reason to be. She thought that he'd take her without consent, remorse, or delay. She couldn't even assume a seductive pose for him as her mother instructed.
He looked at her blankly, but when their eyes met he chose to let his eyes wander, imagining the dips and curves of her body. He took a deep breath.
All-day she tried to keep a smile on her face, eyes bright, and chin up because a princess does not share her grief with all the world. But through it all, she dreamt of his death. She never dreamt of herself in his arms and him waking her with a kiss. She never dreamt of being pregnant with his child, her rounded belly under his warm hand. Now, all she could think of were those dreadful possibilities.
He walked towards her awkwardly and she shrunk back.
"Do you want to go through with this?" he asked.
She blinked. "What?"
He sighed as if she was wearisomely stupid. "Must I repeat the question?"
She shrugged her shoulders, denying her own pain. "I am the princess of Naparios and now of Saprea. I have to do this. I would always have had to marry and bed someone to suit my father's plans. I have no choice."
"I'm the one doing the deed. I asked you if you want to do this. It's not as if your father is spying on us," he said flatly.
"But I never expected to have a choice," she said, startled from good manners.
"Tell me once you've made up your mind," he sighed, carrying on with his own business.
She gulped, taking a deep breath. "There has to be proof that we consummated. The coronation cannot go on without—"
He turned around and stared at her with a confused look. "So you want to do it?"
"Gods, no!" She scoffed, startled out of her wits. Did he not find me desirable? she wondered. But it didn't matter. She only wanted to be his queen. She didn't want him as a man, so she couldn't care if he didn't want her to be his wife. But still, she shuddered at the thought of having a choice.
