Aria shook her head, "I am certain that we have no Saintess, and no Goddess ever graced our kingdom for hundreds of years, Madam. I thought it was all just a fairytale."
"That’s a pity. But I cannot blame you," Madam Harsetti said. "I know that you are here because you want to become a Great Witch, right?"
"Yes!" Aria nodded without hesitation.
"And what is your purpose of becoming one, hm?" Madam Harsetti inquired. "Do you want to kill someone you hate so much? Do you want to seduce a man? Or do you want to destroy a kingdom? Or perhaps you have a bigger purpose than that? Do you plan to spread the plague across the land? It’s not difficult if you’ve achieved the status of the Great Witch."
Aria remembered the humiliation she felt when Swan melted her hands, or when she healed her burn scar.
She had lived her life as someone who was above Swan in everything, so when that cripple humiliated her, Aria felt a sense of dread, as if she had lost control over this thing she used to bully when they were young.
"I want to kill a bitch who has humiliated me. She’s also a powerful witch with strange powers. She cannot be harmed as there’s a strange invisible wall around her. She cannot be touched as my hand melted when I tried to, and she healed my burn scar to make sure I can’t tell the others that I’ve been hurt!" Aria reported.
"None of those are strange powers for dark witches, except the last one. Healing is impossible for us no matter how strong you are as a dark witch. It exclusively belonged to holy magic from the Gods and Goddesses," Madam Harsetti explained. "Are you sure this woman you hate does not possess holy power?"
"No! It can’t be!" Aria denied it instantly. However, she denied it not because she was certain, but because she desperately refused to believe that Swan had a holy power. That filthy thing had always been born filthy, so she didn’t deserve to be called holy. "That woman was born from the womb of a brothel whore! There is no way she can be the Goddess’ daughter, right?"
"It’s impossible for Goddess Asmara to grace the earth and become a brothel whore, and certainly no daughter of a whore can possess a holy power," Madam Harsetti responded. "Then, that woman must’ve been a strong witch. She cannot heal you, but she can create an illusion as if your body hasn’t been hurt at all."
"That must be the case!" Aria agreed instantly. "Please, teach me how to defeat her, Madam!"
Madam Harsetti chuckled, "That is no big deal. But is that all that you want? Defeating one witch? That doesn’t seem to be worth fifty sacrifices, right?"
"T-there is one other reason..." Aria paused momentarily, not out of hesitation but because her cheeks started to feel hot as she blushed. "I-I am in love with someone."
"A mere human?"
Surely, with her amazing dark magic, she could be an immortal as well, and would be able to accompany Gale forever, right?
"T-then, is it possible to charm him like what I did to other men?"
"Unfortunately, he is an exception," Madam Harsetti shook her head. "He has half the power of the Moon Goddess. He is immune to any dark magic, no matter how strong it is. No charm would work on him."
Aria’s eyes widened, "But that crippled bitch is using a dark spell to charm him!"
"Then you are mistaken, little girl. What I have just said was the plain truth. He cannot be charmed with a spell, nor does any magic-induced charm potions work on him," Madam Harsetti added. "About that woman you mentioned just now, I’m sure that Gale is just in love with her. There is no secret charm for that."
Aria felt that her entire world crumbled beneath her. She had been studying Necronomicon non-stop because she wanted to be Gale’s wife. Would that mean everything she did up until now was a waste of time?
’The Beast King is genuinely in love with Swan? How could that be? What’s so good about her that I don’t have?’
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