The Devil's Cursed Witch

Ember could still feel the heat on her cheeks as she closed the door of her room behind her and rested her back against it. She closed her eyes while catching her breath, her body slowly sliding down along the door due to her trembling legs, but she didn't seem to notice any of these.

Her mind was in absolute chaos.

Her legs finally gave in to her muscles' exhaustion--after all, not only did she just have a bewildering experience, she had also ran the entire way from the King's study, only stopping once she returned to her bedchamber.

'What...?'

She sat on the floor with head lowered, and before she knew it, she could feel tears making their way out of her eyes. She didn't know why she was crying but felt truly overwhelmed by the situation--like everything was just so unfair and she didn't want any of this.

What Draven did with her, she didn't know how to take it, and those confusing thoughts came out in the form of tears. She didn't even want to think about it. Not what happened, and neither what Draven had asked her to answer.

All she wanted to cry and cry as if it was the only way of letting out these things she could not understand.

After a while, she heard a hesitant knock on the door behind her.

"Miss, are you okay...?"

The concern on Reya's voice caused Ember to furiously wipe her tears from her cheeks. She stood up from where she was sitting but she didn't reply and went straight to her bed. With her pent-up emotions flooding out of her system, she knew she would not stop crying anytime soon and simply wanted to just hide herself. She got onto the bed and covered herself with a blanket before curling up herself into a ball.

Reya and Clio standing outside the door could not help but worry about Ember. They saw the way Ember was running in the hallway as if something was chasing down her. After their master entered her chambers, the elves' ears also soon picked up the sound of her muted sniffling. They could only imagine how upset Ember must have been that she burst into tears the moment she isolated herself.

"What should we do?" Clio asked her older cousin.

"Shall we enter the room? Though Miss didn't answer us, I feel..."

Clio was also worried but she's the more level-headed person between them too. "Miss said she wants to be alone. Since she explicitly said those words, it will be rude to enter her room without her permission."

"I know, I know but...Do you think it's fine to leave her alone? Shall we go to Dame Yula?" Reya suggested.

Clio immediately agreed to it. "I will go call her. You stay here and keep an eye on Miss."

Reya saw Clio leaving to get Yula as she was someone with higher authority and experience about these things. It should be fine if Yula permits them to go inside Ember's room to comfort their Miss.

Meanwhile, inside the bedchamber, the human girl continued to cry while hiding herself inside the blanket, trying her best to not make any sobbing sounds. Of course, those weak attempts of hers could not escape even an ordinary elf's senses.

Soon, a frowning Yula came to the southwest wing along with Clio.

"What happened?" Yula asked as soon as she realized the atmosphere outside Ember's chamber. Clio didn't inform her earlier what they witnessed as there were other servants around and she didn't wish others to hear that something happened to their Miss.

Reya was the one to respond. "Dame, something is wrong with the Miss. We don't know what exactly happened but Miss didn't look good and she had been crying ever since she entered her room. However, she told us she wants to be left alone..."

"Do you have any idea what might have happened to her?" Yula asked.

Reya hesitated for a moment and replied, "When I was looking for Miss earlier, I came across Erlos and he casually mentioned that Miss had gone to His Majesty's study."

"So she was with His Majesty?" Yula made sure.

"I didn't check personally but I believe so," Reya replied.

The aide of the King had a strange expression on her face as she muttered, "Did she have a fight with His Majesty...? How could that be...? All right, I shall ask Miss herself--"

"Miss said she wants to be alone so we dare not enter, Dame Yula," Clio spoke up just as the short elf stepped forward. "Do you think it is wiser to check on her right now or give her private time first?"

"I will check on her," Yula said. "If my meddling displeases her, then I will apologize to her."

Instead of knocking, the short elf called out, "Miss, it's me, Yula. I will be coming in." She opened the door without waiting for a response and stepped inside with careful steps while Clio and Reya tactfully stayed outside the closed door.

Yula looked for Ember and found her in bed, her entire body  under the blanket. From the little shivering under the blanket and those light sobbing sounds, Yula could not help but wonder what must have happened to upset her this much.

"Pardon my intrusion, Miss Ember, did something bad happen? Is there anything I can help you with??" Yula asked but there was no response from the shivering body under the blanket.

The elf waited for a while and realized that the girl truly wished to be left alone. She no longer pestered the crying girl.

"I will return later to bring you a sweet drink and cookies to help you feel better," Yula told her before quietly leaving the chamber. "I will be excusing myself now."

A sigh escaped Yula's face the moment she faced the two younger elves waiting outside for her.

"After an hour, check on her once more and bring her sweet snacks and a refreshing drink. Till then, let her be alone," Yula informed them and left. She was sure the reason for Ember's tears was related to the King, and those delicate things weren't concerns she might want to share or feel comfortable talking about with her subordinate or servants.

As per Yula's instructions, Clio and Reya entered the chamber after an hour and found Ember still hiding under the blanket.

"Miss Ember, are you sleeping?" Reya asked tentatively.

As there was no reply, Clio said, "We have brought you freshly-squeezed fruit juice with honey, Miss. There's also baked snacks, remember the cookies from last time you said that have an interesting flavor--"

"Please leave me alone," was all Ember said.

The two servants looked at each other and then obediently left, not before reminding Ember that the juice and snacks they brought were left on the table in the lounge area of the chamber. After all, they could not force her though they were worried for their master's wellbeing.

Once the elves closed the door behind them, Ember finally peeked her head out of the blanket. Her entire face was flushed red and her eyes were swollen from continuously crying for the past hour.

After exhausting her body from crying, not a single tear could be squeezed out of her eyes anymore. With that, she was able to calm  her mind a little, enough for her to think about her situation without the accompanying waterworks.

As she stared at the fancy ceiling of her canopy bed, she remembered about the incident in the study and felt anger. She was angry at herself for behaving like that, but at the same time, she was angry at the King as well.

'Why did he do that to me?'

No matter how much she thought of it, wasn't she the one wronged by the King?

'He knew I am weak to his scent, so why did he treat me like that? It's so frustrating and embarrassing.'

She pulled one of the pillows and hugged it to herself tightly, wanting to bury her face against it, but her face was covered with tears and she didn't want to wipe them off her pillow. In the end, she had to use her hands to wipe the leftover tears on her face.

'I do not understand why I had to be treated like that. I only wanted to consummate the bond with him because the book said that way he won't suffer but....he did something else. Why did he touch me like that?'

She hugged the pillow closer to her body as her thoughts returned to what happened after their kiss.

'It felt so weird...My body felt weird...I don't want to feel it again...I won't go to him again...'

Despite not wanting to, it was as if her body remembered Draven's touch--the way his hands touched her between her legs, the way her body heated up in a way she couldn't understand...and the frustration that came after...

'Why did it feel good when he--' She frowned at herself, not wanting to continue that thought. 'No! It was bad...really bad...I don't want to...It felt bad when he stopped...It was frustrating...I don't want to experience that again...'