The Male Lead isn't Following the Script!
Chapter 220: Trade for Silence

Chapter 220: Trade for Silence

His father had gone lenient on him, all things considered. Cassian would be stripped of his title as Crown Prince and sent to the border to fight. It was a punishment, but also a calculated move—the Emperor recognised the value of Cassian’s powers and wasn’t willing to cast him aside completely.

Cassian’s mother, the Empress, had been both relieved and terrified by the news. She was glad that he would live, but the thought of him seeking vengeance against her loomed in the back of her mind.

She remembered everything she had done to awaken his powers: the brutal physical and mental torture, the relentless manipulation, all in the name of securing her position as Empress.

Cassian shook his head as he walked through the quiet corridors. Those memories didn’t matter now. What mattered was Adeline. The only person who had ever shown him genuine kindness, who had ever cared for him, was lying unconscious in that infirmary bed. This was his farewell to her, though he doubted she would care.

He left the academy without looking back.

The Goddess watched from above, her gaze fixed on Cassian as he walked away. Her expression was unreadable, a mixture of frustration and something softer, something almost like pity.

It was no secret that she didn’t like him. Adeline had picked up on it long ago, and they had even argued about it. The Goddess had always seen Cassian as a manipulative, power-hungry man, someone who would use anyone and anything to further his own goals. But now, as she watched him leave, she couldn’t help but feel a twinge of something more complex.

She had seen the way he looked at Adeline, the way his normally cold and calculating demeanour softened in her presence. It was clear that she meant something to him, even if he didn’t fully understand it himself.

Shouldn’t she be happy? That she was proven right? No, she was not happy, not even in the slightest. Her old self would say I told you so to Adeline. Cassian was a dangerous person. She witnessed how the first life played out.

She had seen how he mercilessly abandoned Annora the moment she was of no use to him. Her powers had been stripped away and the only person she could have relied on... Cassian threw her aside. She did not want Adeline associating with him.

But what could she do? Adeline was a stubborn person, but that was something she admired about her.

She did not want to be right this time. But she was. She saw how devastated Adeline had become when Cassian refused to answer her letters. He refused to visit her... She felt like she was being abandoned all over again.

First, it was Dimitri... Of course, Dimitri could not reply even if he wanted to, Cassian on the other hand... He refused to contact her.

The Goddess was infuriated on her behalf! Adeline forgave Cassian but she did not. She knew what Adeline’s life in the modern world was like, always ignored by her parents, always neglected. She could not see that happen again.

When Adeline learned that Cassian had left again, a deep sense of heartbreak consumed her. She had hoped—prayed even—that things would be different this time, that he wouldn’t walk away without facing her. Yet here she was, left behind once more, her feelings discarded as if they meant nothing.

Her heart ached at the thought. How could he do this to her again? How could he abandon her without so much as a proper goodbye? Adeline was furious, her anger simmering beneath the surface. But she refused to let it show. She kept it all bottled up, pushing the emotions down until they were buried under layers of feigned indifference.

That note was nowhere near enough. Just once, couldn’t he come to see her face to face and talk to her, talk about why he was doing this?

Guys suck, they break your hearts and don’t care. Adeline pouted.

She never spoke a word about it to anyone. Not to the maids who fluttered around her with worried glances, nor to the professors who checked in on her recovery. She didn’t even mention it to the Goddess. She would tell the Goddess everything!

Adeline forced herself to move forward, pretending that nothing had happened. She went about her days as if her world hadn’t been shaken to its core. The topic of Cassian became a silent, forbidden thing, locked away in her heart.

Her role in the aftermath of the hunting grounds incident was minimal, though not by her own choice. She had been hurt and unconscious during the critical moments, leaving her unable to bear witness to the chaos that unfolded.

What had transpired was no small matter. The hunting grounds had been the scene of not just an assassination attempt on her life but also an unthinkable crime—Cassian, the Crown Prince, had killed the second prince, Lucas, in front of witnesses.

The Emperor acted swiftly, doing everything in his power to suppress the scandal. Imperial family honour would always take precedence over justice, truth, or accountability.

Only a handful of individuals were privy to the full story, and they were sworn to silence under threat of severe consequences. To the outside world, the hunting incident was nothing more than a minor mishap, an unfortunate accident blown out of proportion by rumour.

The Imperial Concubine was among the few who knew the truth. She had been devastated by her son’s death or at least she acted like it. She was smart enough to see the political opportunity in the tragedy. She struck a deal with the Emperor, trading her silence for a favourable outcome.

In exchange for agreeing to a lenient punishment for Cassian, her youngest son, the third prince, would be named the new Crown Prince. It was a calculated move, one that ensured her family’s continued prominence in the imperial hierarchy.

But while the Imperial Concubine was content with the trade, she was far from satisfied. Cassian’s punishment, though officially framed as a demotion, was nothing of the sort.

Stripped of his title as Crown Prince, he had been sent to the border to fight. There, he earned accolades and glory, slaying monsters and making a name for himself as a hero.