Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

While Seren was immersed in her own shocking thoughts, the aide of the King of Griven approached his king to inform him that the morning assembly would be starting soon, and as such, they needed to leave.

"Alas, time flies when you are enjoying!" King Ailwin could not help but complain. His queen merely laughed as the two of them stood up to leave.

Everyone else stood up as well to see them off, pulling Seren back to the present. She hurried to follow the others in bowing slightly to the king and the queen as they left.

"Finally, we can abandon all the formalities!" Arlan gave a sigh of relief just as his parents, the King and Queen of Griven, left the drawing-room.

With a gleeful chuckle,  the little girl who was quietly sitting on her chair immediately ran towards Drayce. "Dray, will you take me out like last time?"

"Rayjin..." her mother warned.

Drayce looked at Alvera. "It's fine, Sister Alvera."

Before Alvera could say another word, Arlan spoke, "He is right, Alvera. Just let that naughty girl trouble him. When he was young, he troubled you a lot, to the extent where I questioned myself whether you are his real sister or mine."

"Something wrong with your memories? He never troubled me at all, but you, you are my constant headache," Alvira countered.

Arlan looked at Lenard and pulled out a sad expression. "See? We are the abandoned ones here."

"Playing favorites. Like mother, like daughter," Lenard agreed as the two brothers made faces like they were hurt deeply.

"You two never stop acting like kids," Alvera commented.

Seren was stunned at their sudden change of behavior. Earlier, the three siblings were so well-mannered and elegant—well, with the exception of Arlan—but as soon as the elders were gone, it was as if they changed into other people.

'Why are they talking without polite speech? No one seems offended, and they're laughing.'

She had never experienced how other families normally talked to each other, and she found the situation oddly nice. The three Cromwell siblings looked happy together, and she somehow missed her own brother.

Just then, the naive voice of a little girl pulled her out of her daze.

"Why is the Queen of Megaris covering her face?"

Seren looked at the little girl who was asking that question to Drayce. Ever since she left Abetha, Seren had never heard anyone raise this question. It must be because she was a queen and no one dared ask it or even talk about it, but the little girl was an innocent thing who did not understand this.

"Rayjin, you are being disrespectful," Alvera interrupted her.

Drayce looked at Alvera and assured her it's fine, while Arlan and Lenard sat quietly as they didn't know how Drayce would deal with it. They sure didn't want Seren to feel offended.

Seren found Drayce looking unbothered with the little girl's question. She heard him answering it in the most gentle way, "Because she is comfortable wearing a veil."

"Comfortable? Are veils comfortable? It doesn't look like it?" the girl mumbled as she looked at Seren who was staring back at her with equal curiosity. The little girl observed Seren's veil that covered the lower part of her face. Everything from below her purple eyes till an inch below her chin could not be seen. It was a veil small enough to only cover the lower half of her face.

"No one here wears it. Can she breathe?" the girl asked again.

Drayce knew that he had to answer Rayjin in a way she would understand; otherwise, he could not coax her to remain behaved. He looked at the hand of the little girl and held it up.  He touched the tiny gold chain around her wrist that had a small but solid pendant with colorful threads hung to it.

Drayce pointed at the bracelet. "Last time, you said it's so heavy and uncomfortable, but you are wearing it."

The girl nodded. "My grandpa gifted it to me on my birthday. He said I should wear it all the time as it's something precious my great-grandma owned."

"It's the same for her too," Drayce explained and the little girl somehow understood.

Still, she has another question. "But who gifted it to her?"

"Her mother," Drayce replied.

Though Seren was silent, with all this talk, she felt heavy in her heart and her eyes turned emotional. Maybe, it was because he mentioned her mother who she had never seen.

"But how will we see her face? How will I know if she is pretty?" the curious little girl asked again.

"Did you see her eyes?" Drayce asked.

The girl approached Seren to see her eyes better. Seren immediately blinked so that no one would notice the moisture building up on them.

Observing her eyes, the girl looked back at Drayce. "Wah! They are pretty! They sparkle like jewels!"

"That is just her eyes. Do we need to see more then?" Drayce asked.

"No! With her eyes alone, I think she is the prettiest," the girl said cheerfully. "Wait, no, second prettiest because I am the prettiest! Ah, no, third! Mother is the second prettiest!"

Everyone in the drawing-room found her mumbling funny.

The little girl then turned to observe the rest of Seren's face. "What is that?"

Drayce followed Rayjin's sight which was fixed at Seren's forehead. She was looking at the scales.

"My Queen, can I hold your hand for a moment?"

Seren didn't know why but she just nodded. She didn't want to interrupt the conversation between Drayce and Rayjin. Moreover, she herself was curious to know what Drayce thought about it and how he would answer the little girl.

As Drayce was sitting on her right side, it was easy for him to get her right hand. He put his hand forward, palm up, and Seren put her hand on top of his. Drayce looked at Rayjin whose eyes were fixed on Seren's hand that had blue golden scales on it.

"This is a part of her skin," Drayce said as he caressed that scaly skin with his thumb.

Rayjin felt an urge to copy him. "Can I touch it too? Can I?"

"You should get her permission," Drayce replied.

"Your Majesty, can I touch your skin?" she asked, her curious eyes blinking innocently.

Seren had no will to deny the request from such an innocent and sweet girl and nodded to grant her request.

Rayjin carefully touched the scaly skin with her little forefinger. "Wah! It's really just skin!."

Drayce smiled at her. "See, I told you."

At first glance, anyone would think that those scales must be the same rough scales on a snake's body, but if one were to touch it, they would realize it was more like a scale-like design made on the skin like a tattoo. If only the sense of sight was used, people would have the illusion of seeing rough and patchy scales like on the body of a reptile.

Seren was taken aback with how the situation unfolded before her. She did not know what to feel as she stared at how those two were engrossed in studying her scales, forgetting about the others present in the drawing-room.

The three Cromwell siblings, like their parents, were good at reading the atmosphere and understanding the hearts of people. Even without words, they realized the importance of what Drayce did today.

Through the seemingly simple exchange between Drayce and Rayjin, Drayce must have given his queen assurance and strength. He knew many people in the future would ask the same question to her, so it was better for Seren to be prepared for it. Through this as well, he could convey to her that he didn't care about her veil or her appearance. He was fine with however she was.

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Dear readers, about the character "Rayjin" the name is derived from the real name of reader "RMehrotra" the top fan of the novel. It's my way of showing gratitude to her.

In the coming days, I will make such thank you gesture to other readers too.