The Devil's Cursed Witch

Bored of standing on his own for the past several hours, Erlos decided to wait for his master while sitting in one of the cozy chairs in the lounge area of the King's chamber. He had barely dozed off when he sensed movement inside the chamber, and his body jumped up out of reflex.

"W-Welcome back, Sire!"

He immediately bowed and straightened his body to greet the King who had returned to the palace.

Draven didn't reply to his greetings and walked towards the bed while removing the buttons of his clothes. With each step he took, one garment of his was thrown on the carpeted floor—first, his black tailcoat, followed by his patterned vest, his white long-sleeved shirt and his black gloves, among other things, leaving him with nothing but his pants on his body by the time he reached his bed.

Erlos immediately went towards the trail of littered clothes. He didn't say a word seeing the grave expression on Draven's face and quietly collected the dirty clothes.

Not saying a word, Draven kicked away his boots and climbed into bed which surprised Erlos. The King wasn't thinking of going straight to sleep, right?

"Sire, the bath is ready—"

"You can leave, Erlos," was all Draven said as he lay in bed with his eyes closed.

"Uhh, your meal?"

"Just leave," Draven said again and this time Erlos left without saying another word.

Erlos had not seen Draven like this ever since he started serving him, and it's been decades since then. He wondered what had happened to affect him like this.

'Is he thinking about the council meeting tomorrow? Maybe that eagle had said something? Bah. It can't be the meeting. It's not even a big problem. He can just send that human girl to the human village and everything will be solved.' Erlos sighed. 'Though I will feel bad for that poor girl, she can't stay here. If only she weren't human, she could continue staying with the Elder. I bet Elder Leeora will feel lonely when she leaves…'

Before completely closing the door behind him, the young elf glanced at the King who was lying on the bed with one arm covering his eyes, as if something was deeply troubling him enough to exhaust him body and soul. It was difficult to guess what exactly was going on in his mind.

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The next day was an important day for the Kingdom of Agartha as the decision would be made on whether the controversial human girl would be sent to the villages at the outskirts of the kingdom or be sent back to where the King had brought her from. In the mind of the people, the option where the human girl would be staying in the main territories was not even an option.

As the person who had watched over that human girl the longest, it was Leeora who was the most worried about the arrival of this day. Deep in her heart, she didn't want to let go of Ember, but she tried to hide her true emotions when she went to see her that morning.

Knocking on the door, she entered the girl's house as usual with a basket of food in hand. Just like any other day, she found Ember sitting by the window and staring outside of it. It seemed like she had been awake for hours, having finished dressing  herself even styling her hair neatly into two braids.

"Are you looking at the people below?" Leeora asked as she offered her a gentle smile. "Anyway, good morning, Ember. I brought fruits this time—"

"Good morning, Elder," Ember greeted back, causing Leeora to be pleasantly surprised. It was the first time Ember greeted her back like this instead of replying with a stare.

The more Leeora observed her, the more she realized Ember looked brighter and more cheerful than usual. It made her wonder what happened to cause this change. Was there something funny happening in the streets below?

"You seem to be in a good mood," Leeora said as she walked towards the center table and put the basket of fruits on it.

Ember reacted with a shy smile to her question and looked at the basket Leeora placed on the table. Leeora walked towards her and kneeled next to her. "Let me see what you are looking at from this window. Did a fight break out?"

When Leeora looked outside the window, there was nothing special. Small birds could be seen flying about as they basked in the morning sun. On the streets below, there were carts being pulled by merchants and their companion animals, and few early risers could be seen walking about, minding their own businesses. As it was pretty early in the morning, many people were probably still at home having their morning meals.

Leeora looked at Ember. "Hmm, did something special happen to you yesterday?"

Leeora recalled that Ember was smiling when she returned home after going out with Lusca yesterday, but at that time, she thought it was just because she got to go out. But since she was still happy even now, perhaps she had a special encounter.

"Is there something you would like to tell me? I want to be happy just like you," Leeora said, looking at that bright face with curiosity. She could not help but think, 'I knew it. A smile suits you best.'

Ember had always been expressionless, almost emotionless, ever since the day she had arrived in this kingdom. Aside from the past few days, her face only showed either fear or wariness to everything, even to Leeora. Now, the girl was finally lowering her guard and opening up her heart.

Ember nodded lightly to what Leeora asked. She didn't know how to explain but tried the best way she could, "A nice man with big wings. We flew in the sky like a bird, and it's amazing."

This girl didn't fail to surprise Leeora as she didn't expect to hear this from her. First, this was the first time they actually had a real conversation, and second, she looked like she found a new friend.

'A man with big wings probably means a shapeshifter from the feathered race,' Leeora concluded but there were a number of shapeshifters living in Ronan. That also didn't mean that the new friend she made was a resident of the city.