Betrayed By The Hero, Loved By The Lord-Chapter 267: Evil (2)

Cassandra shoved Phillip away. "You’re the opposite of what you preach. You took me in when I was young, and I looked to you as a father. I am done being used by men for your plans. That should have been my first sign of how awful the church is."

Cassandra didn’t like the sound of Phillip’s offer. She wanted to be free, but she wasn’t going to devote herself to him or anyone else from the church. She was done doing as they wanted.

"Awful?" Phillip chuckled, humoured by her words. "You’re going too far now, and I never said I wanted to use you as you assumed. I said to devote yourself to me."

"I am not a fool. Anytime a man asks a woman to devote herself to him, he expects something intimate. It is what the priests taught me when I was preparing to seduce Gabriel. From the moment you saw me, you must have thought you had a pretty face to use for your plans," said Cassandra.

It had taken her years to realise, but now Cassandra saw the truth. A man was a man, no matter what creature he was. Even priests could have their days of being evil.

Cassandra now believed that Phillip didn’t care that she had lost her parents. He cared about having a pretty young girl he could raise to follow his wishes.

"It disgusts me how much I looked up to you. How much I wanted to succeed and hear that you were proud of me. Vampires are evil creatures, but you aren’t too far behind them. You aren’t as holy as you claim to be," Cassandra said, seeing the real face of Phillip.

Cassandra grew concerned for the other little girls like her who only had the church. Was Phillip going to use them too and make the offer that they should devote themselves to her?

Phillip smiled just before he raised his hand to slap Cassandra. "You are too far gone. I have never asked you for your body. You’re worthless now that you’ve shared a bed with a vampire. I am asking that you will do everything I say without question. That you won’t misbehave as you are doing now."

"I don’t want whatever you are offering me. I’ll end up sent off to warm the bed of some other vampire or some other man you want to use. I want revenge for my parents’ deaths, but I don’t want to be a woman used like this," Cassandra said, disgusted with herself.

Cassandra hated Phillip even more after he slapped her. What kind of priest would do this to anyone?

"You are the one who needs to be saved. You are not as forgiving as you claim to be. I see now that there are also monsters among our kind. It won’t be long before the others realise it," said Cassandra.

Phillip frowned, annoyed Cassandra was choosing to be this way. He had hoped she would open her eyes to wrongdoings, but there was no saving Cassandra.

Phillip stood up. "You are too lost for us to save. I will make an example out of you so the others won’t disobey me. I told you, didn’t I? It is better to be saved by the water than to be burned by fire. You have sealed your fate."

Cassandra couldn’t believe her ears. She had never heard of anyone being punished with fire. That was saved for how they punished the witches they found. What had become of Phillip?

"You cannot do that," Cassandra said. It would make Phillip more of a monster in her eyes and in everyone else’s.

The rest of the church couldn’t stay blind to Phillip’s ways forever.

"I can’t? Why?" Phillip asked, amused by how Cassandra thought he didn’t have the power to do so. "I am the one who leads the church. I have always dealt with the ones who turned out like you. The ones who cannot be saved."

Cassandra realised something. "The others noticed you were a monster, didn’t they? You killed them so they wouldn’t share what they knew with the others. That is why we never found out about the water or the weapons. Anyone who doesn’t blindly follow you dies."

"As they should," Phillip replied. His plans could not be ruined by those who questioned him.

"It is not you that we must follow. You are simply a man who preaches what the church believes in. You have lost your mind to think you are our God. You are a mere priest who has turned greedy. You want to rule us," Cassandra figured out.

Phillip was obsessed with power. The church blindly following his lead was getting to his head.

It wouldn’t be good for the kingdom if Phillip were to rule. So many would die if they disobeyed him.

Phillip grabbed Cassandra by her hair and forced her to stand. "A mere priest?"

Cassandra had very little clue to how she had just insulted him. No mere man could do what Phillip was doing for the church. He was certain of it and quite ready to defend this.

"Ha," Phillip laughed. "I ruined you the day I sent you to that man. If it weren’t for me, you would have been wandering the town with nothing to your name only to be picked off by some vampire who wanted to feast on a young girl. I saved you."

Cassandra tried to yank her hair out of Phillip’s hold. "You saved me just to use me," she answered.

Phillip looked at the beautiful hair Cassandra had always cherished. "You don’t want to seduce men anymore, so you shouldn’t have this luscious hair to attract them to you. I will do you a favour by cutting it."

"No!"

"You are a beautiful woman, Cassandra. I will help you never to seduce another man again. My offer no longer stands since you see me as a mere man, and if you continue misbehaving, I shall burn you on a cross. You will be remembered as the woman who helped my followers behave," Phillip said.

Phillip let go of Cassandra’s hair only to receive a scratch on his face from Cassandra’s nails.

Cassandra glared at Phillip. She would gladly die than to let him continue to shame and torture her as he liked.

Cassandra wanted to hit Phillip, but something caught her attention. The scratch mark, which had started to bleed, was quickly disappearing. "You, you’re not human," she realised.

Cassandra stepped away from Phillip.

"I am very much human like everyone else here, but like I told you, I am not a mere man. I am the one who will save this kingdom by any means necessary. I will be the God you worship," Phillip revealed. free𝑤ebnovel.com