NovelChina Chapter 789: Evil Without Malice
Chapter 789: Evil Without Malice
As Joy gently played with Sir Fluffington the Second, while listening to Cassius hum to himself as he examined the lingerie, a thought surfaced in her mind.
She glanced at him, debating whether to voice it.
Finally, she gave in.
"I honestly really can’t figure you out Cassius." She said.
Cassius turned to look at her, his expression curious.
"At one moment—" She continued, studying him closely. "You act like the most caring person to ever exist. You know exactly how to make someone feel safe and comforted."
Cassius preened slightly at the compliment.
"And in the next moment—" Joy continued flatly. "You act like an utter pervert, an idiot, and a bit of a clown as well."
His expression drooped.
"Similarly." Joy went on. "You can be extremely powerful, taking down an entire army on your own. But then you let your wives bully you around and constantly tease you."
She shook her head in dismay.
"The travesty. The manifold of contradictions." She leaned in, properly observing his face. "I just can’t seem to figure out who you truly are."
Cassius stiffened slightly under her intense gaze.
"There’s also the fact that I feel as if you have some sort of secret life or weird past I can’t figure out."
Joy mused, glancing up at the sky before looking back at him.
"Especially since you’re connected to the Goddess herself. I just wonder..." Her voice dropped. "Who exactly are you, Cassius?"
Cassius didn’t answer immediately. Instead, he gave her a vague, mysterious smile.
"Who knows..."
He said softly before he let out a small sigh, looking at the sky himself.
"I myself don’t properly know who I am."
Joy blinked in surprise. He said it so casually, but there was something in his voice—something almost vulnerable.
He sounded like he genuinely didn’t know, like there were parts of himself that remained mysterious even to him.
It was strange to see this side of him, the man who was always so confident, so certain of everything he did.
But then she had a thought. A foolish, random thought that slipped out before she could stop it.
"If only I could see your soul..." She murmured to herself. "...maybe I could figure out who you truly are."
She didn’t actually mean anything by it. It was just a silly thing to say out loud. B
ut Cassius turned to her with a surprising expression.
"Go ahead." He said.
Joy stared at shock. "What?"
He leaned back casually, his hands behind his head.
"I said go ahead. If you really want to see my soul—what color it is and whatnot—then do it. I’m not stopping you."
Joy couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
"B-But what about the Goddess of Debauchery?" She asked apprehensively. "The last time I tried to see your soul, she almost died."
"Is this some sort of plan to kill me?"
Cassius shook his head, looking at her fondly as he said,
"You already know there’s no way I could kill a Saintess as adorable as you."
He reached over and pinched her cheek, which made her scowl but didn’t stop her from listening.
"As for the goddess herself..."
He stood up suddenly, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"GODDESS OF DEBAUCHERY!"
His voice echoed across the empty zoo, startling the nearby animals.
"I KNOW YOU’RE WATCHING RIGHT NOW! SO LET ME TELL YOU—"
He pointed dramatically at Joy.
"—I’M GIVING JOY PERMISSION TO SEE MY SOUL. I DON’T WANT YOU TO DO ANYTHING TO HER. LET HER DO WHATEVER SHE WANTS!"
He sat back down with a casual shrug.
"Now there won’t be any problem at all."
Joy stared at him, disbelief warring with something else—something that felt dangerously like hope.
She knew the gods valued Cassius highly, knew they’d probably follow any order he gave. But still...
"But what about the fact that I’ll see your true self?" She asked urgently. "Don’t you fear that?"
Cassius looked at her with a peaceful gaze. "I’d actually be glad if you did, Joy."
He let out a deep breath before saying,
"Like I said, there are parts of myself that even I don’t fully understand. So I’d like it if you could figure that out for me and tell me what you saw."
Joy’s heart was racing now. "So you really give me permission? To look at your soul?!"
Cassius leaned toward her, his face so close she could see the flecks of gold in his eyes.
"Yes, Joy. I do."
He opened his eyes wide, inviting her in.
"So, go ahead. Look into my eyes, and tell me what color my soul is."
Joy’s breath caught in her throat.
This was it. The moment of truth. She would finally see what lay beneath Cassius’s carefully constructed exterior, discover the secrets he kept even from himself.
Joy leaned forward, her gaze locking onto Cassius’s crimson eyes.
Without hesitation, as if she could no longer contain the burning curiosity within her, her own eyes ignited into a brilliant pink glow, blazing with the intensity of her power.
She peered deep into his soul, and it didn’t take long before the familiar sensation of being pulled inward consumed her.
Whoosh!
The world around her dissolved, replaced by the abyss she remembered from before.
This time, however, she was relieved to discover she was fully clothed—a small mercy she appreciated more than she’d ever admit.
Her first instinct was to scan her surroundings for any sign of the goddess.
She half-expected to find that divine figure hovering protectively over Cassius’s soul, ready to smite any intruder who dared approach.
But the abyss was empty. Utterly, completely empty.
Cassius’s words had been true. The Goddess of Debauchery had actually listened to him.
’He really does have that much influence over the gods.’ Joy thought, equal parts impressed and unsettled.
She began walking forward, though she had no clear direction.
The abyss stretched endlessly in all directions, disorienting in its vastness. But something drew her onward—an instinct she couldn’t explain.
And then she saw it.
In the distance, something glowed.
A warm, pulsing light that seemed to call to her across the void.
Her heart quickened with anticipation. She knew exactly what it was.
Cassius’s soul!
Last time, the goddess had been covering it, obscuring most of its features. Joy had only caught glimpses of light, tantalizing hints that had left her desperate for more.
But now...now there was nothing blocking her view.
She couldn’t contain her excitement.
Without a second thought, she broke into a run, her feet pounding against the invisible ground of the abyss as she raced toward the glowing light.
Nothing else mattered in that moment—not the danger, not the unknown, not even the possibility of divine retribution.
She had to see.
When she finally reached it, her eyes dilated into tiny pinpoints. Her body trembled violently, disbelief crashing over her like a tidal wave.
This was...This was impossible.
In all her years of studying souls—hundreds of thousands of them—Joy had never seen anything like this.
She’d thought she’d witnessed every variation, every combination, every possibility that existed.
But Cassius had just proven her wrong.
This was because he didn’t just have one soul.
He had two!
Two distinct souls floated before her, side by side, each one radiating its own unique energy!
Joy’s mind raced, trying to process what she was seeing. It was unprecedented. Unheard of.
Every rule she knew about souls, about how they worked, about what they meant—all of it was being shattered in this single moment.
But even as confusion gripped her, she couldn’t help but marvel at how beautiful they were.
The first soul was unlike anything she’d ever encountered.
It wasn’t a single color at all—instead, it was split perfectly in half.
The left side was completely black, dark as the abyss around her.
The right side was pure white, bright as the sun itself.
They were balanced with such precision, such exactness, that it almost seemed intentional.
’Perfectly balanced.’ Joy thought. ’As if it was designed to be that way.’
Then she turned her attention to the second soul, and her breath caught in her throat.
"So pretty..." She murmured unconsciously.
The second soul was an extremely dark black—even darker than the abyss surrounding it.
It seemed to pull the darkness toward it, almost like a black hole that could suck in anything that came too close.
Joy felt her gaze being drawn to it, hypnotized by its depth, by the way it seemed to contain an infinite void within itself.
It was the most gorgeous soul she’d ever seen!
But then her training kicked in, and she forced herself to analyze it properly.
The darkness radiating from this soul was unmistakable—it had the attributes of evil clinging to it.
In anyone else, such darkness would have triggered her defenses immediately.
She’d have felt repulsed, disgusted, wanting nothing more than to distance herself from such corruption.
But with this soul, she felt none of that.
The evil within it was so pure that it almost didn’t seem like evil at all.
It was as if the attribute itself had been turned into an element—evil as a fundamental force, not evil as malice or cruelty.
There was no genuine hatred behind it, no desire to harm or destroy.
It was simply...evil itself. The concept, the origin, the very sin made manifest, but without the act.
’How does that even work?’ Joy wondered, utterly baffled. ’How can evil exist without malice?’
She stared at the two souls, her mind struggling to reconcile what she was seeing.
On one side, perfect balance of light and darkness.
On the other, darkness so profound it seemed to consume everything around it.
She wished a goddess were here. She had so many questions, and no one to answer them.
The rational part of her was screaming for explanations, for understanding, for answers.
But there was another part of her—something more primal, more instinctive that couldn’t resist the pull of these souls.
Her hand moved of its own accord, reaching toward the black and white soul before she even realized what she was doing.
Her fingers grazed its surface.
Immediately, she tried to pull back.
What was she doing?! This was reckless, foolish, potentially dangerous?
She had no idea what touching a soul like this might do—
But it was too late.
The black and white soul began to glow, emitting a brilliant light that filled the abyss. Joy barely had time to brace herself before she felt herself being sucked inward, pulled into the soul’s depths.
When she opened her eyes again, she was somewhere else entirely.
—
The world around her was foggy and clouded, filled with an oppressive gloom that pressed against her from all sides.
She could barely see more than a few feet in front of her, the mist swirling around her like a living thing.
But through the fog, she could make out scenes playing out around her like ghostly projections.
And in every single one of them, she saw Cassius.
But this wasn’t the Cassius she knew.
The man before her was utterly different.
Gone was the playful grin, the teasing eyes, the easygoing demeanor that she’d grown so accustomed to.
In its place was something cold. Something terrifying.
Something that sent a chill down her spine.
She found herself drawn to one scene in particular, pulled toward it like a moth to a flame.
The fog parted, and she found herself in an extremely sandy realm.
Massive pyramids loomed in the background, their ancient stones gleaming in the harsh sunlight.
And there, walking across the sand with measured steps, was Cassius.