Deviant: No Longer Human

"To ensure your daughter's safety?" Wang Xiao interjected, his tone dripping with skepticism, his eyes narrowing with suspicion. "Or was it a cunning ploy to pit two factions against each other, exploiting the ensuing chaos for your advantage?"

Seraphine, now wearing a bitter smile, fidgeted nervously, her hands trembling slightly as she attempted to play it cool. With a shaky hand, she began pouring wine into his empty glass. "I never said that."

"Don't pour more wine; hold onto it. You'll need it later," Wang Xiao remarked, his smile tinged with a hint of menace.

If this woman truly intended to manipulate him...

He should have been enraged.

But instead, he found himself oddly entertained...

Now, rather than seeking revenge, he plotted to use her in return, all the while concealing his true intentions.

After all, how could Seraphine possibly know that at this very moment, Wang Xiao found himself without the backing he so desperately needed?

"How did you come to this conclusion about my strength?" Wang Xiao inquired, maintaining his facade with practiced ease.

Seraphine, "You've faught so many Deviants effortlessly," she remarked before her eyes sparked with cunning. "And now, you've mentioned Guardian Asmodeous by name directly." Her implication was clear; she believed him to be a guardian from another continent.

Wang Xiao had no intention of correcting her misunderstanding.

Instead, he found himself admiring her naievity.

As he stole a glance at her, he couldn't help but notice how her demeanor grew increasingly provocative with each passing moment.

Whether she was aware of it or not, the slight flush on her cheeks, the damp bikini clinging to her curves, and her ample assets seemed almost calculated.

He might have assumed she was trying to seduce him if not for the seriousness in her eyes.

To imagine that this woman was contemplating pitting Guardians from two different continents against each other left him at a loss for words.

Was she incredibly foolish or simply daring?

But then, a rumor he had been itching to confirm surfaced in his mind. "Tell me about your family, the cursed woman of Sylvergard royalty. What's that all about?" he inquired, his curiosity piqued.

"..."

Seraphine's face momentarily betrayed her, locking into a mask of grim realization as Wang Xiao's inquiry veered into unexpected territory.

His eyebrows arched, a mischievous spark lighting his eyes, "Let's change the question, why does it seem like you called me here to come clean?" he proposed, steering their dialogue into deeper waters.

Caught slightly off guard but finding some solace in the change of topic, Seraphine responded with a question of her own, "Why do you think so?" Her attempt to redirect revealed her discomfort, an attempt to regain some control over the conversation's direction.

Wang Xiao, undeterred, laid down the rules. "I ask the questions, you answer."

Faced with his unyielding stance, Seraphine found herself at a loss for words, cornered by her own machinations.

With a sigh, she conceded, "I got cornered."

His amusement was barely contained as he suppressed a chuckle, "Oh, really?" His tone, laced with mockery, only served to deepen the tension.

Seraphine, now grappling with the consequences of her actions, acknowledged the heart of their predicament. "Guardian Asmodeous likely sees us as uncooperative by now..." she mused, her voice laced with resignation.

"That's a given," Wang Xiao agreed, his response concise, acknowledging the complexity of their situation without offering any solace.

Seraphine continued, her voice a mixture of defeat and determination. "And you already suspect me, not seeing me as a trustworthy ally. Choosing any side now would lead to the same outcome. My best option was to choose the path of least damage."

Wang Xiao, seizing on her admission, pressed further. "So, did you plan to use your daughter to ensure I wouldn't turn against you?"

Seraphine, "..."

Seraphine, her emotions a tempest, contemplated the unthinkable— hurling the glass of wine against his smug face, as a symbol of her frustration and defiance.

The notion that he might have been manipulating the situation all along, using Josephine as a pawn in a game Seraphine had unwittingly played into, sent chills down her spine.

With gritted teeth and a heart heavy with resignation, she proposed, "What would you do? I am fine if you just take Josephine away and flee." The bitterness in her voice was evident.

Wang Xiao's amusement only grew at her offer. "Oh, I hadn't pegged you for the motherly type," he remarked, his entertainment evident.

Seraphine, ignoring his jibe, declared, "That girl can't take the responsibility of being queen anymore." Her statement, definitive and resigned, caught Wang Xiao's attention, his eyes narrowing as he allowed her to elaborate further.

As Seraphine recounted the history, her words painted a picture of a tradition steeped in treachery and ambition that dated back to the 1500s. Wang Xiao listened, captivated by the tale of a queen who had married into the royal family of Sylvergard only to assassinate the king and seize control.

This act of betrayal had not only cemented her power but had also birthed a dark tradition within the kingdom.

The tradition dictated that the throne of Sylvergard would always pass to the husband of the princess, who, upon becoming queen, was expected to continue the cycle of assassination to maintain her rule.

This ritual, designed to consolidate power within the matriarchal lineage, cast a shadow over the women of Sylvergard, branding them as 'cursed' in the eyes of the people and potential suitors alike.

Josephine's grandmother, upon her ascension to the throne, chose a path of raw honesty over the cold finality of execution, unveiling her soul's burdens to the king—a choice that danced dangerously close to the precipice of catastrophe.

"She was a fool," Seraphine uttered, her words laced with a hidden melancholy that shimmered in the dim light, her face a canvas of unspoken sorrows.

"What about you?" Wang Xiao inquired, his curiosity flickering like a flame in the shadow.

"Me? What about me?" Seraphine deflected with a practiced air of indifference. She stooped to retrieve another bottle of wine, the glass cool in her grasp.

With a swift, deliberate motion, she uncorked it, the pop echoing softly in the room. She tilted the bottle to her lips, taking a deep, defiant gulp, the wine's rich aroma briefly filling the air.

Her evasion was palpable, a silent fortress built around the topic at hand.

Wang Xiao, either blind to her discomfort or choosing to pierce through it, pressed further, his voice a mix of casual curiosity and probing depth, "Did you also kill your husband?"

!!