To His Hell and Back-Chapter 508: Midnight Agression

Blinking, for a moment everyone fell into a stunned, breathless silence as they stared at the fork, a fork that now hovered just inches from severing a limb.

The metal still trembled faintly from the force Cassius had applied, the prongs buried halfway into the wooden table as if it were soft butter. Riley had jerked back only because Isaac had grabbed Cassius’s arm at the last possible heartbeat.

Meanwhile, Cassius’s expression remained flat, bleak, void of even the faintest hint of remorse. He looked not like a servant caught in a frenzy but like a predator mildly inconvenienced that his prey had slipped away.

His tone, his posture, even the calm blink of his lashes all suggested one truth: he did not care in the slightest that he had nearly mutilated someone. He only cared that he had been stopped, that he had failed to finish what he had clearly intended to do, which was slicing off the finger of the woman who had dared speak ill of Arabella.

Isaac felt his heart hammering against his ribs, the thud so loud it rang beside his ears. His palms had gone cold, and he could barely feel his fingers. He stared at Cassius, then at the two maids whose tears were already gathering, their faces pale with shock. People were beginning to turn, whispers rustling through the hall. If they realized what had truly happened, if anyone understood the direction that fork had been headed...

Isaac didn’t let them.

He reacted instantly, voice cracking like a whip through the growing tension.

"You shouldn’t have stopped me, Cassandra!" he shouted, his tone filled with righteous fury, loud enough that anyone who saw the scene would think he was the one being held back. Cassius tilted his head slightly, his eyebrows raised with a kind of bored amusement, but he allowed the act to continue.

Isaac stepped forward, pointing an accusatory finger at the two maids. "I don’t think these two understand just how loyal I am to Lady Arabella! How dare you speak ill of her? Earlier you said you wanted to serve her, serve her! yet here you are, slandering her like she’s nothing more than a burden. No wonder she didn’t choose either of you. It’s because Lady Arabella can see through people. She saw your rotten hearts the moment you opened your mouths!"

"H- Huh? But—" Mires stammered, her eyes darting to Cassandra— because she clearly remembered who had stopped whose hand, and it hadn’t been Isaac stopping Cassandra. Her voice wobbled, but she couldn’t form anything coherent.

Isaac continued, not giving her or Riley even a fraction of time to recover. "You should be thankful that I am not petty. If I were, I’d march right up to Lord Morpheus and tell him every single thing you two just said. Let’s see if you’d still have a job in this castle after that."

With a dramatic huff, Isaac grabbed his tray, stood, and marched away. After two steps, he realized Cassius wasn’t beside him. Cassius was still sitting with perfect indifference, one leg crossed over the other, as if they were having a casual afternoon tea instead of narrowly avoiding an assault.

Isaac doubled back, grabbed Cassius by the elbow, and dragged him up with all his strength. "Come on," he hissed through clenched teeth, "we’re leaving."

Cassius allowed himself to be hauled away, more amused than anything, though he cast one last glance at the maids, a look so cold and even, so dismissive yet so cutting, that both women shivered.

As they left, Mires huffed with a sulky, wounded expression, cheeks puffed in frustration. "Did you see that? Isaac has changed! I heard that power can change people, but I didn’t think it was this real."

Riley, however, wasn’t sulking. She was staring. Staring at Isaac and Cassius disappearing through the hallway. Her brows knitted sharply, her lips pursed, her gaze narrowing with suspicion. "Perhaps Isaac has changed," she muttered. "But that new maid... there’s something off about her. She’s not an ordinary maid."

"What are you talking about?" Mires asked, baffled, glancing between Riley and the door. "She flinched when you raised your voice! She can barely hold a spoon. What’s off about that?"

Riley didn’t answer. Instead, she pushed back her chair and rose to her feet.

"Where are you going?" Mires asked immediately when she saw her friend stand.

"I think I’m going to sleep early," Riley said, voice quiet and oddly thoughtful. "I’m done eating."

"But you barely touched your turkey! Did you even take a single bite?" Mires protested, but her words only echoed into the hallway.

Riley was already walking away.

Her steps were slow as she reached the door of the dining table, the very same one which Cassius and Isaac was walking towards with a deep curling grin.

"What was that?" Isaac stopped on his way from the hall. "I already told you not to do anything that could hurt someone, wound them, severe their limbs or even threaten them of anything close to death!"

"Did I say that I would follow and listen?" Cassius asked him back, "It was clearly on them for daring to say such thing knowing I was in front of them. Anything else I wouldn’t have minded but about Arabella, that’s different."

"I know, I know," Isaac can’t be mad as Cassius had indeed held himself back and only did got mad when Arabella was involved. "But still!"

"This should convince you now not to ever invite me to this charade again."

"Even though I’m doing this at your best interest," Isaac cried before turning around. "Anyway now is the time. I’ll go to the left and you make sure to become a great decoy."

"Decoy," Cassius repeated with a chuckle. "Well make sure not to die."

"Don’t jinx me already!"

Isaac walked ahead, heading in the opposite direction from Cassius as if wanting to put as much distance between them as possible. His posture was stiff, clearly determined to carry out the plan Arabella had entrusted to him. Even from behind, one could sense the nervous energy vibrating off him— he was fully committed, fully focused, fully terrified of messing up.

Cassius watched him for a moment with a faint furrow of amusement crossing his brow. After a brief sigh, Cassius shrugged and turned toward the more familiar corridor, the one that would eventually lead him to Arabella’s chamber. His steps were unhurried, almost lazy, his expression unconcerned.

From behind a pillar carved with ivy motifs, Riley watched all of this unfold, her lips stretching into a satisfied, victorious smile.

So this was all it took?

After weeks, weeks, of people being sent to trail after the elusive "Cassandra" and Isaac, weeks of failed attempts, weeks of frustrated reports and supervisors berating her fellow maids for incompetence... Riley had accomplished in a single evening what no one else had managed.

Lady luck, it seemed, favored those who were bold enough to grab her by the wrist.

She waited until Cassius disappeared fully around the corner before slipping out from her hiding place, keeping ten careful steps between herself and Isaac. The corridor was nearly silent, most servants were already done with their duties at this hour, leaving the hallways dim and mostly empty. Perfect. No one would notice her shadowing him. 𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

Isaac never once looked over his shoulder. He was far too absorbed in whatever mission Arabella had given him, his attention entirely fixed on the path ahead.

Riley’s eyes dropped to the object he carried in his hand.

Not a scroll of magic circle but a cloth.

That made no sense. A coded message would be written on parchment, not on something meant to wipe dust. Why was he holding that? It wasn’t until Isaac slipped quietly through a side door and out into the courtyard, heading toward the stables, that understanding dawned on her.

Riley remained pressed to the shadows as Isaac reached the small sheltered clearing beside the stable. There, he knelt near a torch mounted on the wall and began gathering a few loose branches and twigs, arranging them with practiced motions. Within moments, a small fire crackled to life, orange sparks licking the night air.

And then he lifted the cloth.

A signal! He wasn’t meeting someone... He was alerting someone outside the castle!

Her heart slammed against her ribs. She fumbled for the golden necklace beneath her collar, the one Esme had forced into her hands with that sharp, knowing smile.

"If you see anything suspicious about Isaac or the new maid, break the necklace. Immediately. Don’t hesitate."

And here she was, staring right at suspicious behavior served on a silver platter.

Riley snatched the necklace off her throat. Her breath shook with excitement, fear mixed with triumph. Was this truly happening? Had she actually found the proof Esme wanted?

She didn’t let herself hesitate.

With a sharp cry, she smashed the golden pendant against the nearest stone column. The delicate metal cracked instantly, the magic inside releasing with a faint shimmer she barely noticed. Esme would receive the signal.

Without giving herself a second to think, Riley bolted forward and sprinted straight toward Isaac. She reached him just as he was about to toss the cloth into the growing fire. She grabbed his wrist with both hands, yanking him back with all the force her panic lent her.

"And just what," she spat, breathless with adrenaline, "do you think you’re doing, Isaac?"