Berilla felt her palms grew sweaty facing their enraged mother. The truth is she would have never dared to do anything if it wasn’t for Valerie taking the lead. Her plan was just to leave on her own and help Princess Laylin to the best of her abilities but the Book Of Oath changed things. The fact that it was because of Sarang's negligence was true as well. If they back out, they will be making an enemy out of Rakhbar. The Youngest of Red Witches took hesitant steps to her mother. Even though she wasn’t unaware of her mother’s cruel nature and the brutality she had shown toward her daughter and niece, but her mother had always been lenient with her. With whatever had happened, she didn’t wish to proceed against her mother. Her mother had dreams of future glimpses that led her astray. It was time her mother saw things from their perspective. Maybe in the face of calamity, they could stand together as a family putting differences aside. “… Calm down, Mother. Our ancestor, the Grea
They were standing above the cave, on the Mountain. Ambrose had disappeared for fifteen minutes to look around the area. The letter telling them of their arrival and asking for a certain location to meet was peculiar, but Laylin insisted they meet them on the top of the deserted mountain. Laylin curiously looked around the great wide area. Moss was growing on several stones but the faded scribbles on the stones were apparent. “For how deserted it is, it’s hard to imagine a civilization lived in these mountains.” Esmer thought out loud, watching Laylin taking a deep interest in the lifeless patterns on the walls. Laylin shook her head, after observing for a while. “...These resemble magic circles but are wide enough to cover the whole mountain range.” She spread her arms around. “The climatic changes may be there since it’s been at least thousands of years but this place doesn't look like it could ever be inhabited." She pointed for Esmer to see. "Look, the mountain is covered in
“You know, the girl grew up well.” Berilla tilted her head to Laylin listening attentively to witches and wizards and engaging them very conveniently. They must look like chicks flocking around her to the Princess. They were probably all lost about how startlingly similar she looked to the witch in the Book Of Oath. “You should have seen her when she was in the Rakhbar Palace. She practically swung the King left and right by her mood swings and courtiers were frightened of her imposing stares.” Berila laughed, thinking of the young Princess's frightening temperament. Esmer smiled. The young Princess really was such an alpha. Wherever she was, eyes would fall on her. "Speaking of the King, is he with you?" Berilla bit her lip and asked nervously. The King had seen her as 'Marquis of Balijour' and probably had an inkling of what she did. Esmer huffed. "He's around." Berilla leaped up in agitation. "He doesn't know, does he?" Esmer rolled her eyes. Her sister was asking if he knew
“Yo-You!” The witch sisters had many vendettas against the Old Mistress of Sarang. That was also the reason Valerie wanted to confirm the mark on another person as soon as possible. Their mother was never brimming with motherly affection to begin with and was outright toxic to Valerie but then she saw Sansy’s attack Esmeralda's carriage on a rocky mountainous road but that wasn’t it. She saw Esmerlda’s death. There’s another thing about their mother’s ability that many don’t know. She only knows one future, where her interference isn’t there. It is like she’s a regressor. Her power is hard to understand but she only sees a singular path of future where things flow as they do, without any change made by her. If she or anyone makes a change, minor or major, it could have a butterfly effect and the future she will see will become a lie. Due to the peculiarity of her ability, their mother recorded her dreams with the Head Bookkeeper of Sarang and on that day she made a choice. Eith
Laylin softly breathed out a sigh at his flaring temper. She closed her eyes in silent, her heart drumming in her chest. “Scarlet was the daughter of a Rakhbar Princess and Sansy so it made her the perfect medium: the blood of both, Red Witch and White Wolf. You said the Old Mistress sees the future, did she see it?” Berilla somberly nodded, “She saw a future where the King of Rakhbar wasn’t poisoned and Scarlet didn't absorb your aura during the ritual. The King kills Sansy and Scarlet but she saw his demon take over right after. He went mad... after absorbing the dark aura. In her vision, he hunts you in his beast form. He drains you of your aura killing you.” A silence falls on them and nobody speaks for minutes before Laylin hesitantly asks. “What does she say now?” Valerie replied instead, “Nothing she sees will ever happen again. Her power remains till she or anyone else doesn’t interrupt the future but the future had already changed without her knowing.” She pointedly looked
“That was also the door that opened when I was used as a medium?” Valerie couldn’t help but ask. Sayo quirked up a brow at her. “Yes. You and many other wizards. Their life forces were used.” he answered with a sadistic smirk, looking at the woman’s eyes twitch, “I crossed before her but then she closed the door and neither of us could leave.” Reading the woman's despair, Sayo's smirk widened and he elaborated more animatedly. Nothing was as satisfying as laying it out to a witch. That is why he enjoyed toying with the Princess. Demons and sorcerers were natural enemies. “Only the most desperate of demons cross to this world. I wouldn’t have if I wasn’t to be beheaded. She looked for ways to open the gate again while I waited for the foretold to come true so the charges dropped and the gate to the Other World opened again.” Valerie felt a vein in her head would burst with how enraged she was. Every demon that had crossed had consumed her aura, the suffocating pain still haunted he
“The Mad Harpies…?” Laylin drawled, not quite understanding why they were so shocked. “They are mostly tales for our world but they exist in the Other World. There are records of one showing up in the Great Mistress's diary. It says she was sealed but not before laying hundreds of eggs. Her eggs absorb vengeful spirits to nourish but can’t hatch without a hundred virgin sacrifices.” Valerie replied. “It was a fairy tale villain in our bedtime stories in Sarang...” Berilla shifted uncomfortably. It was a story they grew up hearing. A cannibal villain so terrible that sucked the life out of the living and feasted on their flesh. She shuddered just thinking about facing something like that in real life. “If he can control something like this….” The Princess wondered. He would truly be invincible but that was not all. He would need to feed those cannibal monsters along with the rest of the demonic monsters. Sooner or later, he will use people as livestock for them. There was no way tho
“What? Oh, wait ...Where?” He smiled, tilting his head. “Somewhere. I’ll be back soon.” She was curious but decided against roasting him when they were already this stressed. “Anyways, I need peace and quiet so… I’ll see you in the morning?” “Huh.” He quirked up another brow at her, “Are you throwing me out now? Your King?” “I’m not! I need to focus. I just don’t want to make a mistake.” His jovial smile thinned out and his eyes narrowed. “And why is that?” “I-I was confident a while ago because it was all talk but now… I’m afraid that I may not be able to do it and what if I do come up with a magic circle and that doesn’t work!” she stuttered, shrugging pathetically in nonchalance, “I might have missed something. There’s much I don't know.” she answered meekly in a soft whisper, as though she herself wasn’t convinced with her answer. Even still, she refused to lose to him and kept her eyes locked on his. She bit her lower lip, her pouting face finally ready to cry. “The surviv
“So Crimson Rukh, how do you feel about marrying me?”His question left everyone present speechless. Even bloodied and battered Ambrose scoffed. Laylin clenched her jaw and tried to walk past him but he blocked her path yet again.At the end of her wits, Laylin burst out. “Get out of my way while I’m being nice!” Her voice trembled as she tried to run to her husband.Tilting his head in confusion, the demon sneered with contempt a second later. "Oh… Is that this dog’s filthy mark? Now that complicates things," he jeers. “I will have to kill him.”With his one tendril, he threw Laylin at a broken pillar and held her there while he slowly walked to the Lycan King."Screw you!" Ambrose spluttered, exerting himself to the fullest despite his state.The demon cackled, throwing his head back, “Your worthless mother didn’t teach you manners.” He picked him up in the air and slammed him back down.Laylin screamed and struggled but her aura couldn’t fight against his sheer force. With her, sev
"...I still think you should see her," Laylin mumbled, in his embrace. When he didn't reply, she buried herself deeper in his embrace. "...Sorry. I should not talk about it recklessly." She mumbled saltily. It was a sensitive subject and she didn't have the courage to look him in the eye.He smirked, looking down at her. She was on edge and sensitive to his emotions. He wanted to pinch her puffed-up cheeks with how adorable she was being. His darkened features at that time must have put her on guard. Instead, he settled with running his hand in her hair. He still remembered the spitfire she was, ready to bite him when he first forced her to be his Mistress.He laid back suddenly on the divan, making her fall on him. "Ambrose!""Laylin." He held her by the waist, settling her on him. She instantly struggled to get off him but he held her there."What?! Someone will see!" she was huffing puffing while her face reddening in embarrassment."Laylin." He called her out again in his low se
"I'm sure you know if you try something, she dies." His eyes swept over Valerie and Ivan. "One less pawn won't make a difference.""No. Not her! Don't touch her!" She desperately tried to crawl but only ended up stumbling and falling on the bloody arena ground. "Let her go this instant!" She begged desperately as her heart was bursting out.Her mother shook her head, her eyes telling her to let her go but it only made Laylin more desperate."Oh, so you love the mother who abandoned you?" Sansy seemed amused and he cackled. "What to do though? You didn't want to be part of my 'shitshow'."Laylin shook her tear-soaked face, "Okay! Okay. Tell them to step back. Let her go and I promise, I will!" Sansy scoffed at the naivety of the Princess, "And why should I let her go?"At the end of her wits, Laylin snapped back. "I will help you!"She couldn't use her aura easily in these handcuffs. No matter how fast her aura might be but the moment she unleashes it, every wizard here will feel the
It happened when all soldiers lost hope and thought they were fighting a battle with the fate to be defeated. ‘BOOOM!’ ‘THUD! THWACK! THUD!’ An explosion collapsed the outer wall of the palace and dark wizards and soldiers alike flooded in water crushing through from who-knows-where. But shock registered when they met the eyes of the person standing where the wall once stood. “I see. I almost missed all the fun.” There stood Princess Laylin scowling at her torn dress getting wet and an equally pissed woman behind her. “Did you really have to go this far? How am I going to walk around in this now!” Valerie was about ready to knock this stupid Princess out. Every man on the ground, thanks to the knee-high water flooding the palace, was shocked at the carefree women barging in as if they were taking a stroll in the garden. Ivan’s eyes widened. ‘That foolish Princess was here, in the middle of a battle! The King was right out of the door. If she dropped dead here, they wouldn’t b
She kept her hand on her belly and smiled solemnly. He was a piece of her and her husband. An heir to her lover. “Ahh.. To be young. Though I don’t really like the man, I certainly despise him less than your mother does. I’m not much of a success as a Red Witch so I have no such obsession with bloodlines or species. I just care for my family.” Laylin bit her bottom lip, shrugging. “Mother is... She will come around.” “Hmm, hope so. But I see... you look madly in love.” Berilla teased, looking at her distracted expression. "It must hurt your pride to love him more than he loves you." “What? No!” Laylin rolled her eyes, her smile still playing on her lips. “He’s the one who is chasing me. I just set my grace on my eager lover.“ She was flexing when both of them knew, Laylin was crazy enough in love to dive head-first in a war zone or in front of a raging monster. Laylin looked away. Her smile deepened. She did love him more but it didn't matter as long as he loved her back. A silen
The palace stood tall and imposing, its marble columns reaching the sky. It had been days since the rightful King had set foot in the home he despised and lived for.But now, with a burning sense of urgency in his heart, he returned to reclaim his throne. Laylin was expecting, he could feel his spawn growing stronger by the day. ‘SHIIINGG!’He walked solemnly, his two long swords dragging behind him. Electric zapping brutally filled the silence as his swords screeched.Previously when he had imagined her carrying his heir, he had wanted to keep her on feathery cushions day in and day out, lavish her with jewels but now he wanted to kiss her the path she walked on.He had no patience left for morons. His Queen was carrying the future King and she deserved better than a humid cave.As the sun dipped below the horizon, casting a golden hue over the palace walls, Ambrose stood lonely at the grand entrance.The military he had himself cultivated stood before him, pointing trembling spears
"N-No, please!” The startled young witch screamed and poured her aura in with all her strength as her life flashed before her. ‘FWISSSH…’ The witch toppled back on her ass, waiting to die but as the creature collided with the magic circle it emitted a bright, blinding light. The monster's movements slow, and it gradually, in a fraction of a second, evaporated in the air. It became quiet and all the witches huffed in disbelief, as if under a spell. “Good work.” Laylin turned to the witches with a smile. “This is how any witch, weak or strong, can make the teleportation magic circle.” She clapped her hands, “Well, nobody’s dead, so let’s go under the lake.” It may sound twisted but she enjoyed their fear especially Valerie who was pale. She felt gleefully satisfied. Now, sure, no one will question her about the potency of her magic circle. She felt bad for Eloise but it couldn’t be helped, she was the weakest witch and thus the perfect person to show them the spell worked. Seizing
With a deep sigh, she went to the young Princess. “You think you can handle it after all the… commotion?” She was talking about the things she heard them talk about.The Eldest of the Red Witches looked at the Princess with a faint smile. Laylin remained still. Her countenance was quite ample as she looked ahead at the lake in front of her.Ultimately it didn’t matter if Laylin could or couldn’t. She will have to. For the sake of everyone. For the future.Valerie sighed, “We can do it ourselves too.” Laylin knew it too.The witches could very well pull off a teleportation spell but they didn’t trust her or the magic circle she had drawn especially after Aunt Berilla couldn’t perform the designation spell. The battle with demonic monsters will take more than just technique, hesitation could cost these witches their lives.Only Laylin knew Berila couldn't do it because the Great Mistress had made that spell to pull her into the memory abyss.So the witches needed to believe any of them
‘AAACK!' She pointed the dagger at him and flicked it down. His leg bent at an unnatural angle, his bone stuck out bringing him into a half-kneeling position. “Keep it down. I don’t want a commotion.” She was so calm that it was creepy. Her lazy eyes fell on the Dark Wizard and she smirked. The Dark Wizard tried to cast a spell but nothing worked, he couldn’t take anything as the source. The Dark Wizard had little to no aura or couldn’t control their auras like Valerie. There are two sources for using magic. One is auras that are taken from nature and one is life sources. Dark magicians fuel their magic with life forces which means they kill to do magic. But it doesn’t have to be beasts or humans, depending on the magnitude of the spell even insects can be used for simple spells. She had protected every living being with her aura in the perimeter. Her snake rubbed its head against her neck, and she caressed its scales with a smirk. She enjoyed the Dark wizard's desperate attempts