The Devil's Cursed Witch

Morpheus didn’t fail to notice the dangerous gaze thrown in his direction by a certain pair of red eyes, unlike Ember who had no idea what was going on. She was scared stiff by the fact that Morpheus had brought her back to the palace, and her thought process had suddenly stopped.

The shapeshifter found where the gaze was coming from and smirked at Draven when he found his normally expressionless face in a scowl. As if to tease the King further, Morpheus even deliberately looked at Ember who was being carried in his arms and then back at him.

She was clinging onto him tightly, burying her face into the crook of his neck and holding on as if she didn’t want to step down.

“Ember, we are here,” he said a bit loudly, intentionally addressing her with her name instead of calling her ‘little female’ as usual. The human girl shook her head in refusal, even tightening her embrace to protest stepping down.

“You don’t have to be scared when I am with you,” Morpheus tried again, trying to sound as gentle as he could to her. “Don’t worry.”

Though his words were mainly for her, they were deliberately said in that manner to let Draven hear them. Though Draven was standing quietly at a distance, Morpheus knew he could hear him because of his sharp sense of hearing.

Draven clenched his fists and heard Morpheus continue speaking in a lowered, somewhat husky voice, “Will you look at me, Ember, hmm?”

She obediently looked at him which surprised Draven. She not only clung to a man she barely met—practically a stranger—they even looked close and she also listened to him.

Meanwhile, Draven was her saviour, not only once but twice, and yet on that day when he wanted to see that mark on her, she was not willing to cooperate. The anger inside him started to rise.

‘Ungrateful creature!’

He heard Morpheus again, “You need to step down.”

Ember nodded slightly, and with great reluctance, she stepped down from his arms.

“Good,” Morpheus praised as he patted her head like they were intimate friends before smirking and throwing a gloating look at Draven.

Ember looked up at Morpheus and saw him looking in one direction and she followed his gaze. The very instant she saw Draven’s figure, she flinched. Though he was merely quietly staring at them from a distance, she could not help but feel scared and moved behind Morpheus to hide herself from his sight in reflex. She felt like her soul would leave her body the moment she saw him—after all, she had noticed he seemed angry.

‘Is he angry at me again? Did he order for me to be brought here to punish me? Will he tear my clothes again?” She gulped. ‘No…if he does that others will see me as well. Maybe that’s what he wants? To humiliate me in front of the people?’

Tears welled up in her eyes as she forced her voice to beg Morpheus.

“C-Can you take me away from here? Please…”

Draven heard her voice clearly for the first time. Before he had only heard her screams, those two words, ‘It hurts’ and all her mumbling while she was having nightmares.

Morpheus looked at her over his shoulder as she was hiding behind him. “I told you when I am with you, you don’t have to be scared. Don’t you trust me?”

“I do,” she replied, “but…”

Just then Erlos entered the corridor to inform the King that some of the council members had already arrived. As he was about to approach his master, he saw Draven glaring in the direction of that eagle.

‘So once again, that eagle came to stir up his mood. He’s been coming a lot lately. Should a warrior of the Divine Eagles have this much free time in their hands?’ Erlos wondered. ‘Wait, but what is that human girl doing with him?’

Even before he could reach any conclusion, he found Leeora entering from the other side of the corridor. She had noticed the way Draven was looking at Morpheus. To her, Draven was angry because of Morpheus as both couldn’t stand the sight of each other. Never could she imagine what was going on between these two beasts and how that ignorant human was caught in their silent battle.

“Greetings, sire,” Leeora greeted, but there was no reply from Draven as his fiery red eyes were stuck in the direction of the two who looked unusually close to each other. He had even felt offended by the fact that Ember had dressed herself neatly in elf clothes, even if it wasn’t intended for Morpheus.

Under the King’s glare, Morpheus cheekily pulled Ember to his side, holding her hand with his thumb caressing the back of her hand which had a number of freshly healed scars.

Morpheus explained to Ember, “Leeora told you that the council meeting is to decide about your stay, didn’t she? That meeting will be taking place here in the palace and your presence is needed. Leeora and I will be attending with you as well, so you don’t have to be afraid.”

Once again, she nodded to what he said, and it only added to the rising anger of Draven.

Leeora felt perplexed. “Sire, I believe Ember would refuse to receive the summons once she realizes that she has to come here, that’s why Morph—”

Draven turned around without letting the old lady finish her explanation. He went straight towards his study with Erlos hurrying to follow him, merely giving Leeora a small bow as a greeting.

Witnessing all that, Morpheus had a satisfied grin appear on his lips. The King’s study was in the same hallway, and thus he could hear the sound of a door slamming shut echoing.

“Let’s go.”

They walked towards the corridor where Leeora was standing. Along the way, the palace servants made themselves scarce.

“Morph, thank you so much for bringing Ember here,” she said.

“My pleasure. I enjoyed showing her the elf cities from the sky. It was fun, wasn’t it, Ember?” Morpheus asked.

She nodded and he said, “I knew you like to fly with me. Don’t worry, I will slowly show you the entire kingdom like this. I will even bring you to my home.”

Ember nodded once again, but she remained quiet as her mind was somewhere else. Leeora knew she had not explained anything to this young girl, and now, there was not much time left before the council meeting started.

“Ember?” Leeora called for the girl who was staring at the stone floor with a pale face.

Ember looked at her while Morpheus handed the conversation to Leeora.

“Dear, let me explain to you why we are here,” Leeora said while Ember simply stared at her with anxious eyes.

“Ember, as you are an outsider who doesn’t belong to this kingdom in the first place, there will be a meeting to discuss your stay here. As you may have noticed, the people of this kingdom are not humans—there are elves like me, shapeshifters like Morph, and witches like Lady Cornelia. There are others as well, and the leaders of these people make up the council.

“In this meeting, we will decide whether…” she trailed off.

Ember anxiously looked at the older woman to hear what came after that ‘whether’.

Leeora felt like a huge lump stuck in her throat, and she found it difficult to say anything further. She inhaled deeply. “….whether to send you to live with the other humans at the border of the kingdom or to send you back from where Sire found you. You are a human, and humans are not allowed to stay inside the main territories of the kingdom…”

Ember could clearly understand the meaning of her words and tears welled up in her eyes. She looked like she would cry any moment.

“Oh, dear….Don’t cry…” Leeora didn’t have any words to say to console her as she didn’t want to give her false hopes. She knew Ember had to leave.

Tears rolled down from her green eyes. Not just Leeora, but this time, even Morpheus felt something tug at his heart the moment he saw her cry.

Morpheus found his own reaction puzzling. He didn’t care about her. He shouldn’t care about her. He just wanted to use her against Draven… but why? Why was seeing her cry making him upset?

Morpheus was about to say something but Ember beat him.

“I…I want to stay with you, Elder,” Ember said in an earnest voice. “I promise to be good and obedient. I-I don’t want to leave you. I don’t have anyone else.” As she said it, her cry turned into a sob.

Leeora could say nothing but she stepped forward to hug this frail human. “If it was up to me, I would have kept you with me but…” Even Leeora’s voice choked up and tears rolled down her eyes.

Morpheus knew a certain someone out there could hear them and said, “Don’t worry. If they send you out of the main territory, I will take you with me. You can live with me outside Agartha, and I will even bring Leeora to visit us from time to time.”

His words were surprising for both women as they stared at him in wonder.

Morpheus patted the head of the crying girl and said, “Just attend the council meeting without any worry. You still have me.”

His words assured her in some way and she nodded.

“Good girl,” Morpheus praised her.