The Art Of Deceit

Magnus had been confused ever since he learnt of Cain's arrival, from his politeness to his expression and even the way he spoke. This was clearly different from what he had heard but he wasn't stupid, the thought that this was all an act was something that was very plausible, nevertheless he was curious as to what Cain had to say.

Cain on the other hand couldn't hope to know what went on in the mind of a demi-immortal but he could at least to some extent make some guesses. Even though he was mentally old and had gone through a lot of things, the man in front of him has lived even longer than his past and present life combined

"Like I said, I didn't kill Celestine." Cain continued as his face was solemn. "The culprit is actually Abigail Brunhild"

Magnus brows furrowed when he heard that, "That is not what she said, and she also had witnesses that could attest to her testimony"

Cain however shook his head, "That is not the case, you see, I admit that I and Celestine fought but the person responsible for dealing the fatal blow was Abigail herself. It wasn't my intention to actually kill her you know, after all she herself didn't want to kill me"

Magnus was silent, this was just too confusing for him but he wasn't just going to believe what he said, "What proof do you have that Abigail was the one responsible?"

"And what proof did she have for saying I was the one who was responsible for Celestine's death?" Cain instead shot back a question of his own.

Without waiting for Magnus to reply, Cain continued, "You see, when I arrived in the second layer of the cave, I was attacked by some nobles after I had passed through the trial and so I had to defend myself." He cleared his throat. "There was one boy who was on the cusp of death but Celestine pleaded for me to spare him which I obviously refused"

Magnus nodded, this was in line with what he heard so he kept listening.

This time Cain paused and sighed in sadness, "I will tell you a secret of mine, I actually hate my family a lot"

Magnus couldn't hide the shock on his face, he looked at Cain with incredulity,

"What do you mean you hate your family? And what does this have to do with what happened to Celestine?"

Cain closed his eyes as if he was going through an emotional pain, "It has everything to do with it, the reason she steeled herself to hand me to the royal court was that I killed a member of my family there."

Magnus nodded again, it was also as he heard ten years ago so he remained quiet and waited for Cain to continue

"I killed a family member there for the sole purpose of not leaving any witnesses from my family alive so I could hide my powers...why I said I hate my family is because they're are too evil for my liking, Celestine misunderstood my intentions so I tried to explain but it was all for naught"

This time Magnus didn't know what to think, just what was going on here, does the prodigy from the Ashel household really despise his family that much? However with what he had heard so far, he knew Celestine was a stubborn and righteous person who detested evil so he at least knew that Cain wasn't lying about her reaction to his deed.

Cain continued solemnly, "When I killed my brethren, the rest of the nobles left the second layer leaving just me, Celestine and Abigail." His expression changed to one of hate as he gritted his teeth. "At that point I could understand somewhat why Celestine remained behind but didn't know why Abigail did so I guessed she was definitely one of those who wanted me dead."

He sighed, "Before I knew what was happening we all started fighting but I proved to be stronger than they imagined so imagine my shock when Celestine entered the first rank right there in the cave, that was when I knew that all hope was lost."

The more Magnus listened the more surprised he was and he began questioning what he heard. It was only told from one perspective and they all assumed that it was true, after all the Ashels are known to be very unreasonable, caring for no one but themselves.

Still, now that he was listening to Cain, he felt like it made sense. He also knew that the Ashels cared about family a lot but now that he heard Cain's reason for killing one of his own he felt like it was a reasonable explanation. He thought of Sabina, another odd Ashel, if she was odd then why couldn't Cain be odd as well.

When Cain mentioned Celestine's rank, Magnus also became serious, this was what was on his mind ever since he heard that report. Even though it was temporary, she was still genuinely in the first rank while Cain was a false mortal. A false mortal could never hope to defeat even the weakest of mortals but then he just chucked it up to Cain being an anomaly, however right now it seemed he was wrong.

Now that he heard Cain admit his inferiority he couldn't help but ask, "Are you telling me that there was no way for you to defeat Celestine?"

Cain nodded quickly and hollered, "Of course there wasn't! How was I supposed to defeat a rank one and a fellow false mortal all alone? No matter how much of a prodigy I am, even that is too much, don't you agree?"

Magnus honestly agreed with that statement, there had to be a limit after all so he asked again,

"That doesn't explain how Celestine wound up dead though"

"Yes it doesn't, and this is where Abigail comes in." He clenched his fist and slammed it on the armrest. "That bitch saw this as an opportunity to kill me once she realised I was in a dire situation but Celestine didn't wish for my death and stopped her but Abigail was hellbent on seeing me dead so..."

This time Cain paused for a while as the place became deathly silent, Magnus still had a frown on his face but became impatient,

"So? What happened?"

Cain looked like he recalled something, he had a fearful look on his face as he stuttered, "Sh-She summoned that thing, that monstrosity to kill me but Celestine jumped to my rescue and took the blow for me." Tears began to pool out of his watery eyes. "In a way, I was responsible for her death but the person who killed her was that damned Abigail."

"Once she realised that her plan failed she immediately escaped with that thing because she knew she could not defeat me, I'm guessing it was only a one time attack but imagine my surprise and sadness when I heard that I was the one who killed her."

Magnus couldn't believe what he just heard, everything made perfect sense to him. It was the only possible way that Celestine would end up dead, he knew about the claw that appeared because everyone clearly saw it so he believed what Cain said. He also realised one thing and it was Abigail didn't actually have any witness for what happened between the three of them.

Cain however was still sobbing, he cleared his mind of any and all thoughts, he couldn't take the risk of being found out. He would never underestimate the might of a rank six mind, they were extremely powerful and who knew what strange spell was in effect.

Magnus this time looked at Cain with a little pity and began to make theories of his own. A boy who loathed evil but was born to evil, constantly pretending to keep up the facade in order to avoid the disappointment of his family. Blamed for something he didn't do just because everyone felt he was just like them without even listening to his side of the story.

He couldn't imagine the sort of burden he must've felt, as he saw the tears gushing out his heart tightened, sometimes he forgot that this boy was just a little kid from all the reports he kept hearing. Of course he already observed him carefully and found nothing wrong, his tears, anger and hate were all genuine.

Magnus stood up from his seat and approached Cain, he immediately gave him a warm hug and spoke softly,

"It's alright Cain, it's alright, feel free to cry to your heart's content, no need to pretend and act tough here, you can be yourself."

They were like that for a while before they separated, Cain wiped his tears and spoke again, "Thank you mister Magnus, thank you very much"

Magnus however smiled, "It's no problem, and just call me Magnus like you did earlier"

Cain nodded, "Thank you for believing me, I really admired Celestine's sense of justice and her pure heart, I know the kind of reputation my family has in the empire but I want you to know that I care a lot about this empire."

When Magnus heard this his eyes sharpened instantly but he made sure to hide it immediately,

'Perhaps he could be very useful.'

He snapped out of his thoughts, "Don't worry Cain, I will make sure that the Brunhild family pays for their transgression." He took out a small white circular device from his robe and handed it to Cain. "Take this so we can communicate, I know you have to keep up a facade but you can consider me a friend."

Cain put the device inside his robe and stood up as he gave a full bow, "Thank you Magnus, but right now I have to head back."

Magnus smiled and nodded as he gestured for him to leave. Cain thanked him again and made his way out of the residence under the hateful gazes of Ophelia and Japhta who didn't know what had transpired but he didn't care, he had accomplished what he came here to do.

Inside the mageride, Cain was expressionless. That little act of his was nothing to him. He was familiar with all those emotions, so utilizing them through his iron bloodline wasn't any issue for him whatsoever.

Emotions to him were a useless yet fascinating thing.

The best way to deceive someone was to first deceive yourself, you had to make sure that you yourself believed in what you were saying. Mixing falsehoods with truthfulness only cements the act itself.

Although he knew that it may not be perfect but he had already planted that seed of doubt. One cannot underestimate the power such a seed possesses. It only keeps on growing till the point of no return.

Ever since he saw Abigail use her summoning in the cave, he decided to make her his scapegoat. Even though he had other plans prior to that, he scrapped them and opted for this one. He didn't come here to clear his name or some other nonsense of the sort, he came here to show his value to the empire.

Yes, the feeling that he had always felt, he was sure of it. The royal and Archduke families were obviously up to something which didn't include the Ashels, and if he could feel it, he was sure that his family could feel it as well but their pride and arrogance would always prevent them from making the right decision.

He knew that he had to act fast and this was just the start for him. Even on his face devoid of emotion, he couldn't help but give a satisfied smirk.