Soryntha promised to marry Thalrik only after he succeeded. What man would care about a woman like this? This was the most important time to grow deep and intimate feelings, to embed themselves deep within the psyche of such a man.
Men were vulnerable in their own way as well. The Matriarch had always seen them as little babies that needed their egos constantly stroked.
Would Soryntha’s proclamation give Thalrik a little boost for now, and fuel him with the courage to charge forth and take command?
Sure.
But once that faded, and he finally satiated his lust by tasting Soryntha’s body, that flame would clear and his eyes would see the situation for what it was.
At that point, especially after Thalrik wielded a great amount of power—if he came out on top in the first place—it would be all too easy for Soryntha to become secondary, tertiary, or even worse in his life.
Who knew, he might find some other woman soon after. At that point, what leverage would Soryntha have to stop him from courting someone else or taking on another wife?
Soryntha would have had neither the capital of being strong enough herself at that point, nor the sentimental love of a woman who had been there when he needed her most.
She would just be a nice ornament to place by the side.
And then there was Nyssa, the daughter that truly disappointed her the most. She had executed everything perfectly; she was the one that had been there at Sylas’ greatest time of need. She was the foundation that helped him to grow to the point he could stand here—even the system acknowledged that oh so clearly…
But she was just too mediocre.
Her strength was average, her talent was inferior, and if not for her upbringing, she would have nearly nothing to give at all.
She had been smart enough to save her body and not give that much, and that might be worth something, at least. But she clearly had no ability to keep Sylas by her side.
In fact, her mistake may very well have been choosing the wrong man. After everything the Matriarch had heard about Sylas Grimblade, he was likely to be too prideful to control properly in the first place.
At that point, Nyssa would have to rely on the system and Karma to restrain him, but that could only survive for so long.
The further away Sylas got from the pivotal moment Nyssa changed his life, the less weight it would hold.
Things obviously weren’t that simple, because inevitably, being that pivotal point was the only reason Sylas could make it so far in the first place. But the problems would start to rear their ugly heads as Sylas accumulated more Luck unto himself and survived more and more pivotal points on his own.
At that point, what leverage Nyssa did have would be thrown out the window, and there would be no chance of continuing to use that same leverage at all.
None of this even considered the fact that Sylas had no chance of winning at this point.
The Matriarch so very much wished that it had been Soryntha who found Sylas first instead of this youngest daughter of hers, but now she could only sit here and look at two failures.
In all likelihood, even if the winner was chosen amongst those two by some miracle, the Florineth family wouldn’t benefit in the slightest… not unless the Matriarch stopped using her daughters as proxies and instead chose to take the Trakar or Thryskai up on their offers.
But at that point, she would be putting the whole family at risk of being wiped out.
If she accepted their offers, she would have to ignore the influence she had over the Petals of the Seeing Thorn. No matter how much the main organization had ignored them, there was no way the Matriarch would dare to use their power for her own ends. That would be its own form of suicide.
Matriarch Valeria swirled her tongue again, flicking up the cherry into her mouth and eating it slowly, seed and all.
There wasn’t even the slightest sound of a crunch, her actions still smooth and endlessly graceful.
But her mood was foul.
Nyssa looked down at her own cup of wine. There was a sensual expression on her face that belied the struggle in her eyes. She didn’t even know how to contact Sylas, even if she wanted to.
She had only just had the thought when there was a flash on her screen.
Nyssa’s pupils constricted into pinholes, but her expression didn’t change in the slightest. In fact, she was even able to hide the look in her eyes with a sip from her cup of wine.
Calm and collected, she sat there for several more minutes, the heaviness of the atmosphere only growing until she finally spoke.
“I’ve disappointed you, Mother. A woman can only love with the one heart she has. I took a chance on a man who doesn’t seem to want my love back… for now. But I believe my patience will win out. Unlike some others, I didn’t make a rash decision based on fear of missing out, and at most I offended a small little branch of a branch—instead of a Main Clan standout.”
Nyssa said these words with a seductive smile on her face. Then, she stood, her dress flowing down.
“I will go and arrange some things in case my hubby decides that he needs me. I will always be ready.”
After saying that, her hips swayed and she left the room.
Her mother and sister watched her leave, the latter carrying some hints of disdain while the former looked half amused and half apathetic.
…
Nyssa waited until she had long left and was on a vessel back to a planet she was far more comfortable on before she read the message again.
She read it once, then twice, then a third time, her eyes narrowing all the more every time.
“You want to join Petals of the Seeing Thorn as a man? What dangerous game are you playing at here, hubby?”