The Tyrant's Pet

Aries stared at Marsella solemnly before her eyes fell on the magic circle. In silence, she glanced at the poisonous plant that Marsella pointed at, etching how it appeared in her head. When she memorized how it looked, she gazed at the magic circle.

Aries drew a deep breath. She stared at the magic circle intensely, narrowing her eyes. Unknowingly, Aries had also been holding her breath. Only when she was out of breath and her face had turned red did she realize she was forgetting to breathe.

"Ugh…" Aries breathed out heavily, clutching the edge of the marbled table. "My head hurts."

"Who told you to hold your breath? Calm down and breathe calmly," Marsella instructed tonelessly, arching a brow when Aries looked up at her. The latter didn't retort, though.

"I'll try harder," announced Aries weakly, keeping a laser focus on the magic circle. She shunned all unnecessary thoughts in her mind until it was nothing but blank, imagining setting the poisonous plant on fire. However, as she thought so, lines between her brows appeared.

'Setting them on fire would cause harm since the smoke it will produce will be toxic, right?' Aries wondered, letting out a long-suffering sigh.

"I can't." Aries shook her head, raising her eyes at Marsella. "I'm getting distracted."

"About?"

"The toxic smoke it will produce," Aries explained. "If I set them on fire, the smoke will be lethal. What if the fire spread? Then this entire greenhouse will be on fire. Once it did, it will also put the people in the manor to harm. I can't risk that even though there's only a slight chance I'll succeed."

Marsella's expression remained blank, arms crossed. "We have a long, long way to go," she commented tonelessly as if she hadn't decided whether to get disappointed or get angry.

"That's all for today," Marsella added. "You had a visitor. Keep practicing moving small objects throughout the day. Treat it as an exercise."

Before Aries could even ask what Marsella was talking about, she caught a figure approaching from the side. When she turned her head, Gustav was already bowing several steps from their vantage point.

"My lady, the Marquess is summoning you back to the manor," Gustav stated as he stood straight to his height. "A royal carriage had arrived in the residence. Your presence is needed to receive a royal decree."

Aries furrowed her brows. "What does Abel want now?" she mumbled, looking back at Marsella.

"Who knows? And I don't care. I will stay here for a while. After all, I do not have business with His Majesty… for now." Marsella waved, dismissing her. "I also needed some time alone to reconsider my plans for how to trick you."

"That's not hilarious." Aries planted her hands on the table as she pushed herself up. When she was standing beside the table, she performed a short curtsy. "I will be on my way. Thank you for your time today."

Aries flashed Marsella a subtle smile before facing Gustav. She nodded, and with that, Gustav escorted Aries outside the greenhouse to the main building.

As they leave, Marsella kept her eyes on Aries's back. A shallow breath slipped past her lips, shaking her head mildly when the two crossed the threshold. Marsella kept her arms folded under her chest, eyes on the empty chair across from her.

After some time, her eyes fell on the magic circle. The flames from the candle burned still until they danced despite not having any wind blowing.

"She's determined, but at the same time, too stubborn. I never liked and disliked someone at the same time," came out a mumble, raising a brow when the flames on the candles suddenly died.

Thin smoke ascended in the still air, drawing a line going up. Her brows knitted as her gaze fell on the magic circle once more. Marsella narrowed her eyes when the tip of the parchment where the magic circle was drawn started to burn without fire.

"Mhm…?" Marsella watched the burnt part of the paper stretch, engulfing it bit by bit until the whole thing turned into ash. She bent over, touching the ash. She checked her fingertip, rubbing her thumb against her index to feel its texture.

"Interesting," she mumbled before the side of her lips curled up into an amused smirk. "I guess I was wrong to think we have a long way to go. We have progress, after all."

Marsella planted her hands on the table, pushing herself up. She stared at the table that had candles, ashes, a straw doll, and a bunch of needles of different sizes. The smirk on her face remained, peeling her sharp eyes away from it to the flower bed nearly.

Marsella marched towards it. Standing before the poisonous plants, she kept quiet. Her smirk stretched even wider, watching the plants wither right before her eyes.

"Will you look at that?" she mused, recalling Aries's reasoning previously before leaving. "It was the same as that night of the coven."

Aries hadn't realized it yet, but she had already awakened her powers in her subconscious. She was able to do it. It was just that her subconscious was far more dominant. It was an instinct, and Aries hadn't realized she had been living relying on her subconscious.

This plant was the proof that crystallized Marsella's theory.

Knowing setting the plants on fire could harm others, Aries subconsciously killed them in another way. Hence, they had withered, sucked the life out of that plant.

Marsella squatted down, reaching for the withered leaves. She had simply touched it when the leave was disintegrated into powder.

"How scary," she commented, chuckling in amusement. "No wonder Marsella is itching to kill her. Oh, Marsella. Your brother found an interesting lady to take home. How exciting."

The side of her eyes squinted as her lips stretched from ear to ear. A glint flickered across her eyes, anticipating things in the distant future.

"She's giving me a sliver of hope," Marsella whispered happily, watching the rest of the plants that were on the same flowerbed wither. "I don't want to repeat and go back from the start again. I hope this is the last one."