The Devil's Cursed Witch

With the entire kingdom enveloped with unease and confusion, the council made a choice to focus on keeping the peace and order of their respective territories and clans while assigning the Deputy Commander of Warriors, White Tiger Logan, to investigate what happened in the palace while the residents of Agartha were in the Netherfields.

Late in the same afternoon, Clio and Reya fortunately regained consciousness together with the young beastmen who were appointed to stay for the security of the palace. Each of them explained their experiences to Logan, and the warrior repeatedly verified the details about what exactly happened based on the various personal statements of those in the palace.

"Commander—" one of his subordinates began to speak.

"It's Deputy Commander," Logan corrected in a low voice, causing the warrior to grow pale.

Strictly speaking, with Morpheus gone, the role of commander officially belonged to Logan; however, it was quite understandable why Logan refused to be addressed as such at the moment.

"Apologies, Deputy Commander," the warrior said tactfully. "After collecting all the statements of the witnesses, I am afraid not only us, even the council cannot directly respond given the nature of this case. We need to inform His Majesty."

Logan nodded and left the rest of the interrogation to his subordinates to search for Draven.

'I don't think he will be back so soon, but there is nothing wrong with trying.'

Logan went to see Yula and Erlos who were busy handling the matters of  recovering the destroyed part of the palace. However, he was only able to find Erlos.

"Is your master back at the palace?" Logan asked Erlos.

"Not yet, Deputy Commander."

"How about his whereabouts?"

The young elf shook his head.

"Once he is back, let me know. I will remain here in the palace for the meantime."

"I understand. I will inform Dame Yula as well."

—--

Draven returned to the palace late in the evening and directly went to his mate's chamber without alarming anyone of his presence. However, his entrance to Ember's room did not go unnoticed as there were people inside.

Instead of Reya and Clio, a different pair of servants were attending to the unconscious human girl. Seeing the King, the two servants lowered their heads to greet him and left the chamber without being ordered to do so.

With slow steps, Draven went towards Ember. She was peacefully sleeping in her bed and he sat at the edge of it, intending to not wake her up. He held her wrist to check on her situation. Her life was not in danger but her pulse felt weak due to her body's inability to endure the strong divine power she used earlier.

He observed her pale face with a conflicted gaze.

'Wake up and tell me the truth, Ember,' he pleaded in his heart. 'I do not wish to doubt you…

'I want to believe that you did not kill Morph…at least not intentionally.'

Draven let out a heavy sigh as he closed his eyes, but his hand holding onto Ember's wrist trembled.

'I-I want to believe you can never harm your friend, your best friend.

'So wake up. I do not want to accept that you can harm him. Wake up and defend yourself. Tell me an excuse. Tell me…'

He opened his eyes, their red color seemingly dull.

"At the very least," he whispered, "you need to wake up so you can say goodbye to your friend for the last time."

As Draven continued to sit by her side, Yula arrived at the chamber as she was informed by the servants that Draven had returned to the palace.

"Good evening, Sire." Yula bowed to the King. Traces of fatigue could be seen on her face as well, but she remained dutiful towards Draven. "Do you want me to prepare anything for you?"

Draven continued to hold Ember's hand, looking at her pale face as he talked. "Ember's servants, have they regained consciousness?"

"Yes, Sire. I am here to inform you of that. Deputy Commander Logan had finished his initial investigation of the incident and he has been waiting to meet you all day."

Draven nodded lightly in response and heard Yula continue, "Lady Cornelia checked on Miss before leaving and she assured me that Miss is fine."

Draven nodded once again and stood up to leave.

Yula knew what her King was going to do and simply bowed. "I have already informed Deputy Commander Logan of your arrival and he is waiting for you in your study."

Draven disappeared from the chamber of his mate and appeared in his study. He found the large warrior with white hair standing by the window while looking outside.

In the King's absence, Logan dared not leave the palace. With Morpheus gone, the security enforced by the warrior was on an all-time high. Logan chose to stay in the palace not only to be in the central command but also to stabilize the situation; after all, there was one powerful human residing inside the palace who could be targeted by the angered residents of the kingdom.

Logan sensed the arrival of his friend and turned to look at him. Seeing that emotionless face, Logan wanted to ask him where he had been or how he was feeling, but in the end, he dared not ask this. Draven was not good at showing emotions, and neither was Logan skilled in comforting others. Each of them were coping in their own ways with the pain at the death of their beloved friend.

Draven sat in his chair while Logan went to sit on the chair opposite his. He observed Draven's unkempt appearance and his clothes still had blood on it.

"That blood, it's yours? How did you get hurt?" Logan asked.

"That's not important now," Draven said coldly. "You talked with the servants?"

"Yes."

"What happened in the morning?"

Without hesitation, Logan started to narrate what happened within the palace in the morning and finally everything would be known to everyone.

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A/N- Dear readers thank you for being patient with the updates when I was away. I had been on a long trip where I went to attend WSA event by Web and later was tired due to too much traveling.

I am delighted to inform you that "The Devil's cursed witch" has won the Bronze reward in WSA 2022.

Thank you so much for all your support and I hope you all to be with me always. <3<3