The Devil's Cursed Witch

While the entire city of Ronan was asleep, Draven quietly appeared in front of the door of Ember's house. Just as he took a step towards the door, he sensed movement in his surroundings. Upon noticing the presence of an intruder, several branches of the tree moved to block the front of the door.

Draven was not bothered and simply raised his right hand palms up. A small flame appeared on the tip of his fingers, as if to remind the tree spirit who seemed to have forgotten who is its real master.

Sensing the intense heat of the fire, the tree spirit recognized the intruder, and  the threat from the king of this kingdom worked on it.

Although the tree spirit backed out, it still waved its tree branches around, as if to show distress. As Ember was the one living inside the house within this tree, the tree spirit had started to treat the quiet Ember like a friend. Though tree spirits could not see or talk, they were generally aware of the feelings of those who live within them. It intuitively knew Ember feared Draven.

The door of the home opened and Draven entered inside, ignoring the tree spirit. Nothing changed inside, aside for the clean bedsheets and the new clothes the girl was wearing. Even the stool with the water jar was still on the spot where he left it.

The previous night, he did not leave immediately and heard Ember ask for a drink. Since the water was out of her reach, he was the one to shift that water container closer to her bed.

Draven approached the girl and watched her peaceful sleeping form for some time. Rather than sleeping, it seemed more correct to say she remained unconscious. He sat at the edge of the bed and held her bruised hand to check her pulse.

'Hmm, still the same.' He pulled his hand back. 'I wonder if you can make it.'

He unwrapped the bandage covering her right hand and checked her wound. Only he knew what he had seen. He then moved the blanket covering her body aside and pulled the skirt of her sleeping gown up to check the wound he had sewed shut.

He unwrapped that bandage around her thigh. A mysterious smirk appeared on his lips as he covered that wound again in bandages. Just as he was about to fix her skirt, his gaze landed on  her bare leg.

It reminded him of what Erlos said—about how he saw her with her dress torn. He remembered how the skirt was ripped, the slit so high the rest of the fabric barely covered her legs. A frown line appeared on his forehead.  He pulled her skirt down immediately and covered her body with the blanket.

Draven stood up as he had finished what he was there for. After leaving the house, his red eyes turned towards the tree, silently communicating with it, to which the tree spirit responded by shaking a few of its branches.

When Draven returned to the palace, he reappeared near a particularly large tree in the middle of the garden.

Thud!

"Ahh! My back—" Erlos whined in pain while rolling around the grassy ground.

"Want to resume hanging?"

Erlos swallowed the curse about to escape his lips upon hearing that voice, and he found his master standing a few feet away from him. His eyes widened as he stretched his body, realizing he could move and speak again.

"S-Sire, did you just free me?" he asked in disbelief. This time, he made sure his expression would show how grateful he truly was. "I knew it! You wouldn't have abandoned me!"

"A day has passed," was all Draven said.

'Right, he did say 'for a day',' Erlos realized. He jumped back to his feet like an energetic squirrel and started moving around despite still feeling a little pain in his muscles. He was a High Elf with a sturdy body, and such light punishments wouldn't really hurt him.

"Thank you so much, Sire!" he cheered with a silly grin. "I cannot believe you really—-"

"What did you understand?" Draven interrupted him, not willing to hear nonsense from his servant.

The young elf, who was now rubbing his hungry stomach, tilted his head. "What did I understand?"

Draven gave him a flat stare as if to say, 'Surely, you didn't think I'd hang you for a day for nothing.'

Erlos lowered his head in front of Draven as he spoke with all the sincerity he could muster, "After this punishment, I understood that I must never draw any hasty conclusion without looking into the matter properly and getting valid proof. I promise to refrain myself from acting overly agitated and passing judgment without knowing the entire truth. I also promise that I will try to keep calm  and not lose my composure regardless of whatever situation I face in the future."

When he raised his head up to look at the King, he heard Draven say, "Be on time tomorrow morning," before leaving.

Relieved, Erlos looked at that retreating figure.

'His ways of teaching me will cost me my life one day, but…' A smile painted itself on Erlos' lips despite the soreness his entire body was feeling. 'But I love the way he teaches me.'

-----

The next day, just as Leeora was feeding Lusca the stag, he saw the unruly kid, Zeno, walk by her tree along with his parents. The kid's father and mother greeted the High Elder with a smile and had a small chat with her.

Zeno then looked at a certain tree house with curious eyes. "Elder, I heard there was a thief who attacked that human girl.".

Leeora smiled at the little guy. "Why? Are you worried about her now?"

"Well." He scratched his head as he didn't wish to admit it. "I was just curious if there is really a thief."

His parents and Leeora shared knowing looks, aware that the kid was simply feeling shy.

Leeora could not help but chuckle at his attempt of hiding his concern for Ember. "It was a misunderstanding. There was no thief."

"But I heard that Ember was hurt. If not a thief, then who hurt her?" Zeno asked.

Even Leeora was curious to know what exactly happened that night. There was a king who never liked to explain, and the only other person who could tell them what happened remained unconscious. And even if she was awake, she was mute so getting an answer to this question was impossible.

Zeno's mother dotingly rubbed her son's head. "Elder, how about we visit this human girl? Is it alright for us to see her?"

Both Zeno's father and mother were quite young among the elves as well, and they could not help but be curious about Ember, the human girl who Zeno wanted to be friends with.

Leeora did not hesitate and was in fact glad that these elves held no hostility towards Ember. "But Zeno has to behave. Or else…"

"Understood, Elder!" he said happily and already went running towards the bridge leading towards Ember's house.

Just as Zeno reached the door, a long vine-like tree branch blocked the door, causing the little elf to bounce back.

"Son!" His father managed to catch him just in time.

"Oh, that was fun!" However, the little elf seemed to enjoy it and ran towards the door once more. This time, the tree branch wrapped itself around his torso and lifted him. "Elder! This tree spirit is bullying me!"

Shaking her head, Leeora tapped her staff to tell the tree spirit that he can let Zeno go inside, but the tree spirit simply put him down. It still refused to let Zeno enter.

"Son, come here—" Just as his father moved to carry him in his arms, another tree branch came to block his way, pushing both father and son away from the house.

Leeora was puzzled. "Everyone, step aside."

Zeno's family did so and Leeora walked towards the door, but this time, the tree spirit did not block the entrance and let Leeora enter the house.

Leeora merely let out a helpless smile. "Perhaps this spirit understood my instructions wrong. Its guard is probably up due to what happened to its house owner. It's all right now, though. Come in—"

However, she spoke too early as the tree spirit moved its branch to continue blocking the little guy and his father. Zeno's mother though could freely enter the house like Leeora.

Leeora tapped her staff on the floor, but the tree spirit didn't seem to be listening to her.

"Bully! This tree spirit is a big bad bully!"

Zeno started making a fuss, causing some of his friends nearby to approach out of curiosity. The other boys were also pushed away by the tree branches, except for the mother accompanying one of the boys.

Zeno's mother had an awkward look. "Elder…I think the tree spirit is not allowing males to come close…"

Leeora frowned, but she agreed since she also reached the same conclusion.

'The owner of the house is still unconscious and I did not leave such instructions. Other than me, the High Elder, the only person powerful enough to make a contracted tree spirit obedient is the King…Could it be…?'

Leeora realised something.

'The King had ordered the tree spirit not to let any male enter the home.'

But the question was, 'Why?  Why did he stop any male from entering Ember's home? And only males? He even banned Erlos, his most trusted person from entering her home. Not even that kid Zeno was allowed'

Such behaviour was totally unexpected from him when he didn't even care for her.