But just as the tension reached its breaking point, Cassius let out a soft, unexpected sigh.

He shook his head, his posture slumping slightly as if he were a man caught in an exasperating predicament rather than a demon poised to strike.

The shift was so jarring that it made Julie’s breath catch, while Aisha blinked, her claws hesitating mid-flex, and even Skadi’s ears twitched in confusion.

For some reason, that simple, human gesture drained the immediate threat from the air, leaving them oddly…relaxed.

Cassius then rubbed the back of his neck, his crimson gaze softening as he looked at them with a tired, almost sheepish expression.

“I know this looks bad.” He said, his voice low and tinged with exhaustion. “Really bad. And I get it—completely. You’re staring at me like you’re about to pounce, and honestly, I don’t blame you. Finding a fingerless man in my basement? Of course you’d think the worst.” He paused, his eyes flickering over their tense stances before he raised a hand in a placating gesture. “But if you give me just a minute to explain myself, I can clear up this mess. So…calm down, alright? Let’s talk this out.”

Julie and Aisha exchanged a wary glance, their instincts warring with the sincerity in his tone. They could feel a thread of truth in his words, a quiet conviction that tugged at their doubts, but the horrifying sight of the mutilated man and the bucket of diced fingers loomed large in their minds.

Skadi, however, reacted instantly. Her guard dropped like a stone, her claws retracting fully as she stepped forward, her eyes wide and pleading.

“Master…” She said, her voice soft but urgent, almost childlike in its desperation. “Can you really explain this? I…I don’t want you to be a bad master. Please tell me this isn’t what it looks like.” Her tail drooped, her loyalty to Cassius shining through despite the grim scene behind her.

Cassius’s smile softened, a flicker of warmth breaking through his eerie demeanor as he met her gaze.

“Of course I can, Skadi.” He said gently, his tone reassuring. “And I’d like it if the others trusted me too.” He glanced at Julie and Aisha, his expression earnest. “I’m not your enemy here. Give me a chance to prove it.”

Julie exhaled sharply, her shoulders easing slightly as she lowered her sword, though she kept it in hand. Aisha followed suit, pulling her magic orb as she crossed her arms, still eyeing him warily.

“You’d better have a good excuse.” Julie said, her voice firm but less hostile. “Because I don’t know what happens next if this doesn’t add up. I hope you’re telling the truth, Cassius—for all our sakes.”

Cassius nodded, his tired smile widening faintly. “Oh, I do. Most definitely.”

And without another word, he stepped past them, brushing by with a casual confidence that belied the tension still simmering in the room. He stopped in front of Edmund, who flinched under his gaze, and pointed at the trembling doctor with a steady hand.

“Let me just tell you that this man…” He said, his voice taking on a sharper edge. “…was actually the mastermind behind my poisoning a few weeks ago.”

The revelation hit like a thunderclap. Julie’s eyes widened, Aisha’s jaw dropped, and Skadi’s ears perked up in shock.

“Wait—what?!” Aisha blurted, her tail swishing as she turned to Cassius. “I thought Isabelle poisoned you! That’s what everyone said!”

Cassius shook his head, his eyes narrowing as he glanced at Edmund, who was shaking his head frantically, muffled protests escaping his gag.

“Isabelle was simply a pawn.” He explained, his tone calm but laced with a quiet anger. “She did the deed, yes—slipped the poison into my food—but she didn’t plan it. She was manipulated, fed lies and promises until she thought she had no choice…And the real mastermind?” He jabbed a finger at Edmund again, his smile turning cold. “Him…The Patriarch’s trusted little doctor. He’s the one who orchestrated it all.”

Julie’s gaze snapped to Edmund, searching his face. His denials were vigorous, his head shaking so hard it looked like it might come loose, but there was something in his eyes—a flicker of guilt, a shadow of fear that betrayed him which made her realise that what Cassius was saying was the truth.

Seeing that his words were going through to them, Cassius let out a low, sardonic chuckle, his voice cutting through the silence like a blade.

“I let him go back then.” He said, his tone casual but edged with a quiet menace. “His time hadn’t come yet, you see. I figured he’d slink off into the shadows, stay silent for a while—maybe regroup, maybe strike back later when he thought I’d let my guard down….I was ready for that. Planned for it, even.” He tilted his head, his smile turning sharp as he glanced at Edmund. “But who would’ve thought this little weasel had the guts—or the stupidity—to try poisoning me again the very next day?”

“…Caught his accomplice red-handed in the marketplace, of all places, slipping something into my drink while I was browsing spices.”

Edmund flinched, his eyes darting away in shame as the trio’s stares pinned him in place. His vigorous shaking slowed, his shoulders slumping as if the weight of Cassius’s words crushed his last shred of defiance.

Cassius continued, his voice steady but laced with a dark amusement. “Of course, I thwarted that attempt too. Caught the hired hand he sent after me as well.” He gestured lazily toward the mutilated man slumped against the wall, his fingerless hands and blood—soaked floor a grim testament to his fate. “This one here. Pathetic, really. But while we’re on the subject…” He paused, his crimson gaze sweeping over the trio as if gauging their reactions. “Do you remember that case a while back where a bunch of orphans died in a church because of negligence in management?”

Aisha’s ears perked up, her amber eyes narrowing as she nodded slowly.

“Yeah.” She said, her voice tight with recollection. “The one where the caretakers fed the kids spoiled food—rotten stuff laced with rat feces. Horrible mess. A bunch of those poor orphans ended up in the hospital, and some…” She trailed off, her expression darkening. “Some didn’t make it. It was a tragedy—everyone said it was just poor management, a failure of oversight.”

Cassius’s smile faded, replaced by a cold, steely glint in his eyes. “Poor management?” He repeated, his tone dripping with disdain. “No. That’s what they wanted everyone to think as it wasn’t an accident, kitten.”

“…It was actually a very deliberate coordinated take over.” He said the trios shock of this new piece of information.

“You see, another group—greedy, power—hungry bastards—wanted control of that church. So, they hired someone to poison those kids, to make the original caretakers look incompetent so they could swoop in and take over.” He pointed a steady finger at the mutilated man, his voice dropping to a chilling growl. “And this piece of filth? He’s the one they paid to do it. I’ve got evidence letters, witnesses, the works. He’s the rat who slipped the poison into their food.”

The room fell silent, the weight of his words sinking in like a stone. Julie’s jaw clenched, as she stared at the unconscious man with a mix of shock and disgust, hating the fact that she felt pity for him a moment ago.

Aisha’s ears perked up in rage, her face twisting into a snarl as she muttered. “That’s…That’s monstrous. Those were kids…Innocent kids.” Her tail lashed violently behind her, her earlier unease replaced by a burning anger.

Skadi’s reaction was the most visceral. Her eyes widened in disbelief, then narrowed into slits of fury.

Her claws emerged fully, glinting in the dim light as her tail bristled. “He did what?!” She snarled, her voice trembling with rage. “He poisoned little kids for money?!”

Cassius nodded, his expression unreadable as he watched their reactions. “Exactly. So I’ll ask you this.” He leaned forward slightly, his crimson eyes locking onto each of them in turn. “After hearing that, do you think what I did was truly bad?”

“…Was I wrong to deal with him in this manner?”

Skadi didn’t hesitate. “Absolutely not!” She roared, her voice echoing off the stone walls as she took a furious step toward the man. “What you did wrong was letting a scumbag like him live this long! He doesn’t deserve to breathe!”

And then to Julie and Aisha’s surprise, her claws flashed as she lunged forward, aiming to slash at his throat and end him then and there, her fury overriding everything else.

But Cassius was faster.

In a blur of movement, he grabbed her arm, pulling her back with a firm but gentle grip.

“Whoa, easy there, pup.” He said, his tone calm but authoritative. “He’s outlived his worth, I’ll give you that. It’s time for him to go—I won’t argue there. But you shouldn’t taint yourself by touching him.” He released her, stepping past her with a deliberate slowness as he approached the man. “Scum like this? They don’t deserve your claws.”

“…They’re dealt with like this.”

The man stirred then, his eyes fluttering open just as Cassius walked forward and to his shock, planted the sole of his boot against his face. A weak, pitiful whimper escaped him, his body jolting in pain as he registered what was happening.

But Cassius didn’t flinch.

With a slow, gruesome deliberation, he pressed down, the man’s head pinned against the stone wall behind him.

“Mmmm!~ Hghnnn!~ Nghh!~”

The whimper turned into a muffled scream, his fingerless hands twitching uselessly as Cassius applied more pressure and the trio watched in stunned silence as the man’s skull began to give way—first a sickening crack, then a wet, grinding sound as bone and flesh crumpled under the force.

That is until his head finally gave out and blood and brain matter splashed out like a watermelon that was squished, staining the wall and floor in a grotesque smear, until all that remained was a mush of crimson and gray where his head had been.

Cassius then stepped back, wiping his boot on the stone with a casual flick, as if he’d just squashed a bug. The man’s body slumped fully now, lifeless and broken, the bucket of diced fingers a macabre footnote to his end.

The room was silent again, save for Edmund’s ragged breathing and the faint drip of blood pooling beneath the corpse.

Even Julie and Aisha stood frozen, their eyes locked on the gruesome remains splattered against the wall.

Even for them—seasoned warriors who’d waded through rivers of gore, who’d seen death in all its ugly forms—the sight was chilling. It wasn’t the blood or the crushed skull that unnerved them; they’d witnessed worse on battlefields.

No, it was the ease of it—the effortless, almost nonchalant way Cassius had snuffed out a life, like he was stepping on an ant rather than ending a man.

His crimson eyes still glowed faintly, his smile lingering as if nothing extraordinary had happened, and it drove home a truth they’d half—forgotten in his carefree demeanor: beneath the charm and the casual quips, he was a monster cloaked in human skin.

But while Julie and Aisha grappled with the chilling realization, Skadi’s reaction was the polar opposite. Her eyes sparkled with unrestrained delight, and she suddenly burst into enthusiastic applause, her claws clicking together as she clapped.

“That was splendid!” She exclaimed, her tail wagging furiously as she beamed at Cassius. “Master, you’re amazing! The way you just—bam—squashed him like that? So cool! I’ve gotta learn more from you—teach me how to do that!” She bounced on her heels, her voice brimming with admiration as if she’d just watched a masterful performance rather than a gruesome execution.

Julie and Aisha turned to her in unison, their jaws dropping in disbelief. “Skadi!” Aisha snapped, her voice a mix of shock and exasperation. “Are you serious right now?! That wasn’t ‘splendid’ it was horrifying! What’s wrong with you?!”

Skadi blinked at her, tilting her head in confusion. “What? He was a bad guy, right? Master took care of him! It’s not like he didn’t deserve it!” She grinned, utterly unfazed by their reactions, her loyalty to Cassius shining through like a beacon.

And just when Julie and Aisha thought the situation couldn’t get more absurd, a familiar voice piped up from the doorway.

“Young Master, really!”

Shockingly Lucious’s head poked into the room, his flustered expression shifting to mild annoyance as he squeezed past the trio. His eyes then landed on the gruesome smear of blood and flesh against the wall, and instead of recoiling in horror like they thought he would, he let out an exasperated sigh.

“Look at this mess! Did you have to crush his head like that? Couldn’t you have just snapped his neck or something quick? Now I’ve got to clean this up, and it’s going to take hours!” He crossed his arms, pouting at Cassius like a scolded child complaining about chores.

Cassius chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. “Sorry, Lucious. Got a little too excited there. You know how it is—sometimes you just gotta let loose.” His tone was light, almost playful, as if he’d spilled a glass of wine rather than reduced a man’s head to pulp.

Lucious huffed, his pout deepening. “Excited or not, you always leave the worst messes for me. Last time it was that murderer’s guts all over the parlor rug—do you know how hard it is to get blood out of velvet? And now this!” He gestured dramatically at the wall, his voice rising in a petulant whine. “I’m not a miracle worker, you know!”

Julie and Aisha stared, dumbfounded, as the exchange unfolded. The same butler who’d been a flustered, blushing wreck outside Cassius’s room earlier—squirming at the mere sound of lewd noises—didn’t bat an eye at the gore in front of him.

He didn’t flinch at the crushed skull or the bucket of diced fingers; his only concern was the cleanup, as if this was just another day in the life of serving Cassius.

The realization hit them like a punch: Lucious wasn’t just used to this—he was as unhinged as his master, in his own bizarre way.

Aisha’s tail puffed up again, her voice a strangled whisper as she leaned into Julie. “He’s…he’s complaining about cleaning? Not the fact that there’s a dead guy with no head?! Captain, the butler’s as crazy as he is! They’re both lunatics!”

Julie’s lips pressed into a thin line, her eyes darting between Lucious and Cassius. “I’m starting to think this whole household’s off its hinges.” She muttered, her tone dry but tinged with unease.

Ignoring them, Cassius clapped Lucious on the shoulder, his grin widening. “Come on, don’t be so dramatic. You’re the best at this—why do you think I keep you around? You’ll have it spotless in no time.”

Lucious rolled his eyes, muttering under his breath as he turned to inspect the mess more closely. “Flattery won’t make the blood scrub itself, Young Master. I’ll need some powerful tonics. And a new mop…And a couple buckets to move this disgusting mush.”

“…For a guy who was dumb enough to go against you, Young Master, he really has a big brain that now I have to take care of.”

Skadi giggled, clapping her hands again. “See? Even Lucious is cool about it! You guys worry too much!” She beamed at Cassius, oblivious to the growing horror on Julie and Aisha’s faces.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep