The Devil's Cursed Witch

"Aren't you just jealous of me?" she giggled. "Even though I am younger than you, I am more powerful than you. Since you're so busy playing servant of His Majesty, you don't get to strengthen your powers. I bet you will be defeated even if I give you a handicap of using only weak spells."

"Why don't you try it?"

"I don't want you to go to His Majesty crying and complaining about me like in the past."

Erlos frowned. "You keep reminding me how unlucky I am to have spent my childhood with a cunning fox like you."

"Cunning?" she chuckled lightly. "Well, foxes are meant to be cunning. That's our nature."

"Reason for the hate is clear then. I hate cunning ones."

"It's more like you cannot be smart so you blame me for being cunning. I thought you would have become smarter when we meet this time but…" she sighed loudly.

"You don't have to worry about me. One doesn't need to go to the mountains to get stronger. Soon, the day will be there when you will regret boasting your three tails."

She giggled sweetly. "By then, I might grow all my nine tails."

Erlos didn't reply to her and continued to direct her to the top floor of the southwest wing of the palace.

"What is His Majesty's mate like?" she asked. "I heard she's human."

"Exactly the opposite of you," came another hateful reply from Erlos but Isa seemed to be unbothered by this.

It was not the first time these two were arguing as they were used to it. He could not help but hate her and felt annoyed at her presence, but she enjoyed annoying him—even becoming entertained the more he showed he hated her. Their rivalry was as natural as breathing for them.

"That means she is like you," Isa mocked.

"Yes, she is my soul sister," he replied with equal annoyance.

"Always crying and complaining, lost, powerless, depending on His Majety for everything, brainless…"

"Mind your words. She is—"

"I was describing you, not her," Isa countered immediately as she smirked.

Erlos didn't argue and they reached the hallway leading to Ember's bedchambers where a blue-haired elf servant came across them.

Clio immediately greeted the red fox. "Lady Isa, good to see you back."

Isa smiled and replied, "I am here to visit His Majesty's mate."

"Umm…Ah yes, let me first inform Miss. She is in her study."

Saying that, Clio left to go to Ember's study where she was standing on her balcony, enjoying the pleasantly cold breeze.

Clio informed her, "Miss Ember, Young Lady Isa is here to visit you. Shall I let her in?"

Even before Ember could reply, Reya, who was accompanying Ember by standing at one corner of the balcony quietly, immediately spoke up, "Why does she…?"

Clio gave her a narrow-eyed look, telling her to keep her mouth shut, and then returned her gaze back to their master. Ember had a puzzled look, surprised to know that this newcomer wanted to meet her when they didn't even know each other.

"His Majesty must have sent her to visit you. Erlos personally escorted her here," Clio informed her.

'His Majesty sent her to me?' Ember thought. "Fine, let her in."

In a while, a beautiful young woman looking about the same age as Ember entered the study with Erlos following her. Ember could barely catch what the two were saying.

"...Are you allowed to enter here?"

"Didn't you hear Sire ask me to send you here?"

"No male wants another male entering the private place of their mates. I wonder if His Majesty even considers her his mate."

"You don't need to judge what he thinks of her," Erlos said and smirked, "She is the first female Sire takes care of personally and I even saw him allowing her to sleep in his bed with him."

Hearing that, Isa felt a little angry but she was good at suppressing her true feelings behind a smile. They soon reached the balcony where a young woman with green eyes could be seen standing by the railing.

The two females stared at each other.

"So you are His Majesty's mate? You have the most beautiful eyes."

Isa put on the brightest smile on her face as she entered the balcony, while Erlos stayed inside the study with a decent view of the balcony. He didn't trust Isa and was always wary of her intentions.  The sweeter she sounded, the more suspicious he grew. Experience from childhood with her had made him cautious of her.

"Thank you, Young Lady Isa."

"I heard His Majesty has a mate and became curious to meet you. I hope you don't mind that I made a sudden visit. Meeting you now, I say, it's so good to see you."

Ember smiled back at the beautiful red fox in front of her. She looked like a pretty doll, and she was also polite and well-mannered. It made her wonder why Reya and Clio looked anxious seeing her.

"Same here." Ember only nodded as she only stared at this sweet, young, elegant and beautiful girl. It made her wonder if they could become friends.

"How about we have tea?" Isa offered.

Even before Ember could instruct her servants who were standing like guards of their master, the elves immediately moved to get tea and snacks. As they passed Erlos, they saw him giving them a light assuring nod.

When the servants left, Isa walked closer to Ember. "You know, you are pretty famous among the people. On the way here, I heard a lot about you, like that you are human but you have some special power inside you."

Ember shrugged bashfully as she could not deny it.

"Good to know. At least, you are not a weak and useless human." Her voice was as usual sweet but filled with a tinge of mocking.

Ember blinked in surprise. She could not say anything as she was not used to interacting with strangers and guessing their intentions. Though Isa's words felt somewhat uncomfortable to hear, her naive self did not know that this fox was mocking her for being a human.

Isa walked closer to her and looked at Ember's neck. "Wow. How pretty. What kind of mark is it?"

"It's a mark given by a mate when—"

"That I know. What I mean is what is the meaning of this bond. Each mate mark always has a certain meaning, kind of like a symbolic brand describing their bond, but I had never read about this mark." She then moved her curious gaze from her neck to Ember's face.  "Does it mean that there is no meaning to the bond you share with His Majesty?"

Even Ember was unaware of what this mark meant and why it was not mentioned in that book she read.

"Well, it won't be surprising if there is no meaning to this bond. His Majesty had not marked you out of love but just on a whim to check if a human can survive. Now as you have survived, he has no other option but to keep you here."

A sharp voice resounded. "Isa! You—"

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