Chapter 6: What a greedy girl, huh?

Chapter 6: What a greedy girl, huh? Surprisingly, even in a different world, newspapers had the same style of formatting. Big, important or shocking news on the front cover, and tinier, but just as important stories on the inside. And ads. Lots and lots of ads. What the fuck did something called 'frogs lament' even do? Cass didn't want to find out, but there were several ads and mentions of it in the newspapers he looked through. Was it popular? Was it a drink? A medicine? He'll never know. Once Sam shook himself out of his shock and happiness that his friend wasn't being 'punished' and nor was he, he rushed over to Cass' side and explained what newspaper was the most recent. Cass was pleasantly surprised to find out that Sam could read, while Byron could not. That wasn't a big deal. If Byron passed tomorrow's test as well, he'd just hire him a tutor or something. When Cass mentioned that out loud, that seemed to shock the pair even more. He hoped the boys didn't have weak hearts. Otherwise, he would have to look for some new people to help him. He couldn't have them dying on him, now could he? Besides that, it appeared as if wherever he was, was in great turmoil. Like the first creature had said, there were three ruling Duke houses, and a royal family. It was a startling realisation that the Blackburn name was attached to one of the ducal houses, but at the same time, not. He'd thought he was a side character. What kind of fucking side character was a Duke? Cass was going to find out, apparently. The Ducal families were mentioned quite a bit. There were the Blackburn's, the Ridgewood's, and the Vespertine family. It appeared as if the Vespertine family was heavily involved with the country's religion. The current head of the family was the High Priest, which Cass assumed was the head of the organisation, while the next in line was not going to inherit the title. Instead, the newly brought in daughter was going to be the next High Priestess. Cass stared in shock as he looked at a picture of Lady Ava on the front page from a newspaper that was weeks old. Holy shit. She had holy power if a family like the Vespertines were adopting her. But, if that was the case, why was Lord Blackburn against Ava healing him? What was he hiding? It appeared that while the Vespertine's were loved by the people, probably because of their affiliation with the religion of this region, the Blackburn's were the exact opposite. It wasn't mentioned, but it was heavily implied that a serious situation had happened that had disgraced the Blackburn name forever. If Cass had to bet, it had something to do with Lord Blackburn's mother, and Lord Blackburn himself. Why else would it be a bad thing to bring up her name at all, or even around Cass? That was the only thing he could think of. But, something that was brought up was the delay in announcing the new Duke Blackburn. Apparently, Cass' father had stepped down from the title, and instead of handing it off to his son, which was the normal route, he'd given it back to his own father. So, Cass' grandfather was the Duke once more, and he was getting quite old. Cass wondered what kind of family drama had happened for that to go down. Nothing good, he could imagine. He learned that the Blackburn family was famous for magic, and that Lord Blackburn was a prolific magic user. A sense of guilt filled him, since Cass didn't even know he could do magic. It probably didn't bode well for him that he couldn't remember reading a story like this yet either. The last Ducal family, the Ridgewood's, seemed like your normal, military family. They were fiercely loyal to the Royal family, with many of their past family heads being the personal guards of the Crown Prince or Princess before they ascended the throne. It seemed, however, that this generation was a bit different. The man who was projected to be the next head had not been a personal guard for the royal family, and had instead gotten married. To the hero who had shown up to defeat the Demon Lord. Things were slowly starting to connect. In fact, several times in all of these papers, even dating as far back as 2 months ago, marriage was mentioned a lot. Lord Blackburn's marriage, the next head of the Vespertine's marriage, and the potential head of the Ridgewood's marriage. Had she? No, she couldn't have. Well, she was the hero of the tale. She had the next High Priestess in her circle. Had she...had he married someone who had married all of the next heads of the ducal families? Fuck, the royal family would be out for her blood. Unless.... Unless she was the secret love child of the current King/Emperor. Cass sighed heavily, putting his head in his hands. This was such a fucking predictable damn reverse harem. Holy shit. The only way that it would be unique is if the happy ending got fucked up by some idiot. Like a secret villain. Cass loved secret villains. It was one of his favourite twists. The friend you thought was your friend the whole time turns around and stabs you in the back? The horror! The drama! He always felt a shiver go down his spine when it happened. Maybe this was one of those? But who would have done it? Apparently, he was in love with his wife. He'd confessed first. Maybe all that animosity was because he was a piece of shit because he was full of himself, being the next Duke and all, and everyone wanted to keep their wife's attention all to themselves. It would explain the death glares when he'd just woken up from being injured. He could do his best. Try to fake being in love with her. It would be hard though. He'd never been attracted to women in his life, and especially never found a woman who looked so much like his sister attractive either. It was odd. And a little bit unsettling, but he was willing to give it a try. If it meant that he could solve whatever fucking problem that the "gods" wanted him to do, and then gtfo from here. Finally rest in peace. While Cass was mumbling and muttering to himself, looking over the newspapers like a man possessed, the two boys in the room tidied up. Sam was more than happy to chatter away to Byron, explaining everything he did, while Byron watched Cass intently. Cass didn't notice, nor did he care. So what if Byron thought he was acting weird? He was. And the sooner he realised it would not benefit him to tell others about it, the better it would be for him. Until, Cass' stomach took a turn for the worst. Fuck. He needed to find a bathroom, right now! "Sam!" Cass bellowed. He really didn't mean to shout, but it seemed that yelling came to Lord Blackburn easier than breathing. Sam scrambled to get to his side. "Y-Yes?" "Help me to the bathroom." Cass ordered, and Sam stared at him numbly. "The bath...room?" Sam repeated, and Cass groaned. Fuck! They didn't use that word here. "Uh, I need to relieve myself." Cass repeated, his cheeks warm, and Sam gasped. He began to throw the covers off of Cass with practised hands. "Oh. Oh! Of course my Lord. I am happy to assist. Did the drink help?" He asked, and Cass wondered what he meant. "You had such a hard time even moving before. Is that why you are asking for assistance instead of just...going by yourself?" Cass groaned. Fuck. Of course he should have tried to go on his own. Why had he even asked Sam for help? "Well, my headache is gone, but I am still feeling a bit weak. Your help would be appreciated." Sam's smile was bright when he looked at Cass. "Of course my Lord. I am happy to help." His cheerfulness really helped dampen Cass' own embarrassment at the situation. Sam's grip was sure, and firm as he helped Cass throw his legs over the edge of the bed. He held onto Cass' hand as he slowly put his weight on his legs, and everyone in the room gave a relieved sigh when Cass could stand. He could even do it on his own, without Sam's help, but it was clear, whatever had happened to him had caused something to be knocked out of whack. His soul, maybe? Who knew. Cass was never going to reveal it if he didn't have to. He would blame this accident for the rest of the time he was Lord Blackburn. Sam assisted him in walking to the other doorway, much to Cass' relief. It was clear that he was a bit unsteady on his feet. He didn't feel the pain in his head, but it was clear that the wound hadn't healed. Sam, who didn't have much knowledge in basic medicine, was worried about why it didn't work instantly. Cass had simply laughed and told him it wasn't holy magic. That seemed to work. Cass had no idea what Holy magic here looked like, but from every book, anime, and manga he'd read, it was pretty instantaneous. For whatever reason that Lord Blackburn was avoiding it, this was the consequence. He had to heal like a normal person, but with the aid of some weird, red powder. That tasted like sewage to him. Fucking disgusting. Sam opened the door to the bathroom, and it was surprisingly similar to a bathroom he would have expected in his world. A large double sink and vanity, a huge clawfoot tub. A flushing toilet. The shape of all of these things were a little...strange. The claws looked like dragon talons instead of clawed bird feet. The toilet was longer, not as bowl shaped as he was used to, and the sinks were deep, wide, and felt abstract. This space was also blindingly white in comparison to the last room. And didn't feel gaudy or tacky. "I didn't design this room, did I?" Cass muttered, and Sam glanced at him nervously. "Uh, no. Lady Fiona did. She designed all of the bathrooms." He told him, and Cass nodded. Thank god. At least he knew his wife had some decent taste. Outside of choosing him. And marrying three other men. But eh, that wasn't as big of a deal as he was thinking. It meant he didn't have to spend too much time with her. The other three were clearly infatuated with her, and that gave him some wiggle room. To find out who the fuck he was, and what he was supposed to do. On the topic of finding out who he was, he noticed that there was a giant, stand up mirror near the bathtub. Cass didn't think about the implications of what that meant, and instead asked Sam to help him over to it. Sam didn't ask any questions, and instead helped Cass hobble over. Once there, Cass felt a jolt of lightning shoot through his system. Oh fuck. Oh shit. Oh shit fuck. No! Not this fucking story! Cass had short white hair, and red eyes. And he was tall but skinny. He looked like a strong wind would snap him in half. At least he was fucking pretty, but that was about the only good news he'd just discovered. Cass now remembered what fucking story he was in, and he wanted to kill the "god" who had sent him here! He liked reading stories where the villain was a secret and betrayed the others, but that didn't mean he wanted to be that villain! Yet, here he was, the villain of the damn story! And it had a shitty, awful ending, too! He was supposed to fucking die at the end! Again!