Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

Prince Theron reached Esther's manor in no time. There was no delay on his way; after all, as someone who helped his parents choose the reward for the brave baroness, how could he not know to take advantage of the location of her new residence?

"Halt! Who goes there?" a man shouted upon seeing the newcomers.

The two horses stopped in front of the gate while the puzzled guard came to check who the two men were. Since he originally was someone from the royal palace, just as he approached the newcomers, he immediately recognised the Crown Prince and his knight.

"Y-Your Highness?" exclaimed the gatekeeper, bowing in a fluster.

"Open the gate," the knight of the Crown Prince told him.

The man hurried to unlock the gate. "L-Let me send word to the Baroness—"

However, before he could say more, Prince Theron already made his horse resume its gallop and had it run past the gatekeeper, hurrying towards the mansion proper. Sir Galien could only murmur brief words of apology on the bewildered guard before forcing his own horse to speed up after his liege.

Upon reaching the mansion, Prince Theron climbed down from his horse and went towards the door of the manor. Probably due to hearing the sound of horse hooves approaching, the light of a lamp could be seen approaching from the sides. It was the coachman who had just finished his duties of cleaning the horses, and was just returning from the stables.

He frowned at the sight of the young man and the horse in front of the mansion. "How could there be a visitor knocking at this late in the—t-the Crown Prince?! Your Highness!"

The coachman even rubbed his eye to make sure he wasn't just seeing things. Unlike the gatekeeper, the coachman was a newly employed servant chosen for the Baroness, but he was a relative of a royal servant, and thus, he had seen the face of Prince Theron from afar.

When he noticed the knight arriving, the coachman threw whatever questions he had in mind and simply hurried to assist the Crown Prince. After all, he was just a servant and he had no business whether the Baroness had invited the Crown Prince over or not.

He raised his head and immediately opened the door for him. He didn't know why the Crown Prince was there, but he was starting to have funny thoughts in his mind. Though this property once belonged to the royal family, now its owner was Baroness Esther.

'Oh, there are rumours about the Crown Prince and the Baroness from the last royal ball!'

However, he didn't dare voice out his questions to confirm the rumours with the Prince and simply gestured for him to enter, bowing low to show his subservience towards the royal. Prince Theron took the coachman's lamp with him. At this point, the coachman could only silently cheer for the happiness of his master the Baroness.

Prince Theron entered the foyer while his knight, Sir Galien, stayed outside the manor to guard. Since the Crown Prince was here, it was his duty to keep a check on the outside to find out if there was any threat coming from the outside.

Although it was late in the night, a handful of servants remained awake to chat since it was their first day serving a new master. They were in the kitchen which was furthest from the foyer, but when one of them noticed a young nobleman entering with a lamp, she was equally surprised to recognize Prince Theron. She hurried back towards the other servants and whispered in shock, "The Crown Prince is here!"

"What? Are you daydreaming?"

"No! The Crown Prince is really here! I saw him entering just now!"

"How could that be?!" The head maid, who was a middle-aged woman and the oldest of all the female servants, was alarmed. She hurriedly made her way out of the kitchen. "Which decent man barges into an unmarried lady's home in the middle of the night unannounced? This is a scandal! We must protect our master's reputation!"

Unaware of the fuss he caused the servants, Prince Theron only briefly looked around the foyer and walked towards the grand staircase. It was strange, because he felt himself being pulled in a certain direction, just like that night at the lake where he could somehow sense Esther's presence. He didn't have to ask or say anything to anyone and blindly trusted the invisible string pulling him towards Esther.

Seeing him going upstairs, the head maid also could not believe her eyes. Lady Esther had retired to her room, and a man was going to enter her lady's room. This was unacceptable!

"Your Highness, are you searching for something?" the head maid asked in a stern voice.

Prince Theron stopped in the middle of the staircase and looked at the servant. "Do I need to answer you?"

Seeing his cold glare, the head maid felt unease creep into her body, yet she was someone who truly looked out for the young baroness who seemed to be the same age as her daughter. "Your Highness, you must not do this. This is highly improper! If you truly care for the lady, you must not ruin her reputation like this—-"

Prince Theron didn't stay to hear her lecture and continued to climb the stairs. He soon stood in front of a door for a moment and opened it without knocking.

-----

Esther could not sleep in this new place as she had many things going on in her mind. Thus, even though she had put out the light of the lamp, she was wide awake, standing by the window of her bed-chamber and looking outside at the night sky, reminiscing about the days she had spent in this kingdom so far.

'Was it right to accept Queen Theodora's request?'

This was a question she had repeatedly asked herself ever since she entered the royal palace, and her moments of confusion only intensified after what happened during the end-of-year festival.