But to her utter shock, he did not push her away or reject her as she’d expected.

Instead, he said quite casually:

"Oh, I already knew that, Aqua."

She froze, looking up at him in disbelief.

"I knew that you didn’t do that to me on purpose." He continued calmly. "I understood that it was because of your bloodline reacting that you did such things."

This completely caught her off guard. She hadn’t expected this response at all, especially delivered in such a composed, understanding manner.

Aqua stared at him, her mouth hanging open and when she properly looked at him, she was even more shocked.

He had a casual smile on his face, the same easy, warm smile he always had.

No anger. No disgust. No disappointment.

Just...Cassius.

"Wait." She stammered. "You knew? You knew what happened?"

He shrugged. "Of course. I know everything that probably happened to you."

He chuckled softly and went on to say in a slightly awkward manner,

"At first, I was scared—I won’t lie. My sister suddenly attacked me out of nowhere and touched me in the most inappropriate way possible."

"I didn’t know what to think."

Aqua’s face burned with shame. She looked down, unable to meet his eyes.

"But then." He continued. "After I calmed down, I realized there had to be a reason. There was no way my sister would just molest me like that without some kind of explanation."

"So I did some research, and I found out about the fairy bloodline. About how condensed mana can cause emotional outbursts."

He stepped closer.

"I put two and two together. You saw what I was doing to Portia, and it triggered a burst of lust that you couldn’t control."

Aqua nodded, her face so red it felt like it was on fire.

"After that." Cassius said. "I realized it was just a mistake. An accident. Nothing more."

Aqua looked up at him, her eyes wide.

"So...you’re not bothered by it at all? You’re not angry? You don’t hate me?"

Cassius’s expression became even warmer, more affectionate.

"Of course not." He said with complete sincerity. "After the initial shock wore off and I realized what had actually happened, I had no bad feelings toward you whatsoever, Aqua."

He looked at her with such gentle understanding.

"After all, you’re my sister at the end of the day. You’re family. How could I harbor resentment toward you for something that wasn’t really your fault?"

"How could I look at you with anything but love?"

Hearing these words, Aqua felt such overwhelming relief that she could barely process it.

Her body completely relaxed, almost going limp, as if a massive crushing burden had been lifted from her shoulders.

Her eyes grew much brighter than they’d been in days.

This guilt had been consuming her mind constantly since the incident occurred. It had poisoned every waking moment.

But now it was gone.

Forgiven. Understood. Released.

She couldn’t help but lean forward into Cassius’s embrace, placing her head against his chest.

"Oh, thank the Goddess, Cassius." She breathed out, her voice thick with emotion. "Thank the Goddess..."

Her arms wrapped around him, holding on tightly.

"I was thinking about this constantly for so long. I thought you hated me. I thought you were going to push me away completely."

Her voice broke slightly.

"I-I was even considering leaving the estate and going back to the capital early because I was too embarrassed and ashamed to face you."

She looked up at him with pure happiness shining in her eyes, tears of relief gathering there.

"But to see that you understood, that you didn’t misunderstand my intentions at all—I’m so happy right now!"

"You don’t understand how much this means to me!"

She placed her head back against his chest, feeling his steady heartbeat, feeling safe and accepted for the first time in what felt like forever.

"Thank you, brother." She whispered. "Thank you for understanding. Thank you for not hating me."

Aqua really did feel so relieved.

Her entire purpose for studying magic, for working as hard as she did—

—spending countless nights without sleep, bleeding from experiments gone wrong, facing near-death experiences while gathering materials for her spells—

—it was all for her brother.

Everything she had sacrificed, every wound she had endured, every tear she had shed in frustration and exhaustion, it was all so she could meet him again.

If Cassius had given up on her, everything would have been lost.

So hearing his words, feeling his acceptance, lifted a weight she hadn’t even known she was carrying.

She was happy. Truly, genuinely happy.

But just as that happiness bloomed, another feeling crept in—something unexpected, something that completely caught her off guard.

Confusion.

Confusion at why her brother was so calm.

Let’s think about it logically.

Out of nowhere, a family member you’re supposed to cherish and love corners you, molests you, touches you all over, does unspeakable things, and proclaims her love for you.

Shouldn’t that leave some kind of lasting effect?

Shouldn’t it change something in your behavior, your relationship, the way you look at that person?

It wasn’t that Aqua wanted her brother to suffer—she didn’t want him to feel traumatized or hurt.

But from a purely logical standpoint, there should have been some shift, some sign that what had happened actually mattered.

Yet when Aqua looked up at Cassius, she saw nothing.

No awkwardness. No lingering discomfort. No wariness in his eyes.

He looked as calm as ever. He even hugged her back, his arms wrapping around her with the same easy warmth as if nothing had gone wrong at all.

It was almost as if what she had done meant nothing to him.

And that offended her.

After all, she had spent days agonizing over this.

She had imagined a hundred different scenarios—Cassius yelling at her, Cassius pulling away, Cassius looking at her with disgust and telling her he never wanted to see her again.

But she had never imagined him simply...not caring.

Aqua knew her brother was calm and composed.

She had seen it over the past few days—how he handled stressful situations with ease and how he rarely let his emotions get the better of him.

Most of the time, he was playful and goofy, but when things got serious, he was steady as a rock.

But this?

This was different. This was being molested by his own sister.

There should have been some kind of reaction—some flicker of discomfort, some hesitation, some sign that the event had left a mark.

Instead, there was nothing and that made her angry.

It was as if what she had done meant nothing to him. As if it hadn’t affected him at all.

While she had been agonizing over his potential reaction, losing sleep, imagining the worst, he had simply...moved on.

It made her feel insignificant. It made her feel like no matter what she did, it would never be enough to make him see her as anything other than his sister.

Which, she supposed, was the natural order of things.

They were brother and sister. Of course he wouldn’t see her as a woman.

But that didn’t make it hurt any less.

And just like that, aal the feelings she had of not wanting Cassius to react badly, of wanting him to forgive her and move on completely vanished.

Instead, she wanted him to show some reaction.

Because his calmness felt like rejection.

It felt like he was saying, What you did doesn’t matter to me, and neither do you.

She knew she was being contradictory. Two opposing sides warred inside her head.

One part of her was relieved that he wasn’t angry.

The other part was frustrated that he wasn’t anything.

But she couldn’t help it, so she decided to test him.

Maybe he was just hiding his true feelings to avoid making things awkward. The more she thought about it, the more sense it made.

He was trying to protect her feelings, to spare her embarrassment, to pretend everything was fine.

So she pulled back from the hug, put on a bright smile, and pressed her finger teasingly against his chest.

"You know, Cassius." She said, her voice light, almost playful. "I’m pretty sure you’re all flustered and embarrassed after what happened."

"After all, I did some really dirty things to you that a sister should never do."

She looked up at him, searching his face for any sign of discomfort.

"I’m sure you had many sleepless nights thinking about it over and over again. Just like me."

She expected him to blush. To look away. To stammer something about how she shouldn’t bring it up.

Instead, Cassius looked at her calmly and said,

"Not really."

Her smile faltered.

"Of course, at first I was surprised." He continued. "But after a minute or so, I realized something was wrong. I found out the reason, and after that, it made sense. So it really didn’t bother me at all."

Aqua’s lips twitched.

She forced herself to smile and shook her head.

"But Cassius." She said, trying to keep her voice steady. "You probably suffered a little bit, right? You probably thought about what I did, why I did it."

"Maybe you were agonizing over what your sister had done to you."

She tilted her head, her voice softening.

"There’s no need to hide it from me. You can be open. I’ll understand."

But Cassius shook his head.

"I didn’t really feel much, Aqua. I just spent the rest of the day as I always do."

He shrugged.

"In fact, I even went after Portia afterward since I wasn’t finished with her. We had another round."

Aqua’s cheeks flushed at the naughty statement, but she pushed past it.

She pressed herself against him, looking up at him with a stubborn gaze.

"You’re lying, Cassius. You definitely felt something. Some awkward emotion. Some restlessness."

"Nope. Nothing like that at all."

"NO!" She shook her head vigorously. "You have to have felt something. Something deep inside."

"Don’t hide it from me. Tell me, Cassius. I know you’re hiding it!"

She stood on her toes, begging him with her eyes to admit that she had affected him.

But Cassius just placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Aqua, I don’t know why you’re asking these questions. The whole thing is already over. But since you’re asking the truth is, I really didn’t feel anything at all."

He smiled, looking almost innocent.

"After all, you’re my sister and I trust that you’ll never do anything to harm me or our relationship."

But hearing this only made Aqua’s frustration boil over.

"But that’s exactly my point, Cassius!" She exclaimed. "Because I’m your sister, didn’t you feel weird about it? Didn’t you feel a sense of wrongness? Taboo? Shame?"

"Any emotion at all?"

Cassius simply shook his head.

"No. No matter what, you’re still my sister. That will never change. So it didn’t affect me that much."

The words echoed in Aqua’s mind.

’You’re still my sister.’

’That will never change.’

’It didn’t affect me that much.’

She felt her heart sink.

No matter what she did—no matter how she touched him, kissed him, confessed her love to him—he would always see her as just his sister.

Not as a woman. Not as someone he could love the way she wanted him to love her.

She was being irrational. She knew that.

Of course he saw her as a sister, that was what she was. What she had always been. What she would always be.

But knowing that didn’t make it hurt any less.

It felt like all the love she had for her brother was being completely denied.

Not rejected—ignored. Dismissed. Treated as something that didn’t matter.

And when she thought about how everyone else got to enjoy his love. His wives, his lovers, even Joy, while she was stuck on the outside looking in...

....it only made her feel worse.

She was plunged back into anxiety, back into that dark spiral she had been trapped in for days.

—

Meanwhile, Cassius looked down at his sister who was seething right now and couldn’t help but smirk internally.

Everything was going according to plan.

He had known exactly how to handle this.

If he had shown any sign of being affected, she might have backed off.

Become too embarrassed to continue.

But by staying calm. By treating it as nothing. By constantly reminding her that she was his sister...

He was driving her crazy. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

After all, she wanted him to see her, to acknowledge her, to treat her differently, even though she didn’t admit it.

And by refusing to do any of that, he was making her want it even more.

’It wouldn’t be long now.’ He thought.

’It won’t be long before my sister is mine as well.’