The Devil's Cursed Witch novel Chapter 55

When Leeora returned to her house, she found the black-haired king already seated inside, having made himself comfortable on the largest armchair in her lounge. He was leaning casually on the armrest, one hand under his chin, his red eyes expressionless between the black strands of his messy short hair. He simply watched her close the door behind her, saying nothing as she approached.

With his dark regal clothes, his commanding presence looked completely out of place inside the elf’s house which was filled with simple wooden furniture and leafy plants.

The Head of the Witches, Cornelia Grimm, was standing quietly by the side of the King, waiting for Leeora to return. There were only the three of them inside. Since Erlos was not with the King, it probably meant Draven didn’t find it important to bring him there with him.

“The Wood Elves are honoured to welcome King Draven in our humble city,” Leeora greeted him with her head lowered.

Draven simply nodded, easily dismissing formalities, and instructed, “Have a seat, both of you.”

The two women sat on the couch in front of him and patiently waited for their king to talk. The red-robed witch with a youthful face and the elderly elf clad in simple white clothes sat side by side, their expressions equally respectful before him.

Draven turned his attention to Cornelia. “Leeora told me that you tried to read that human’s memories but failed.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” she replied.

Though Draven knew the reason, he preferred to hear it from her, “What happened?”

Cornelia explained. “As you know, Sire, we witches have our potential powers determined at birth. Though we can use spells, we cannot effectively use them on beings that are stronger than the witch who cast the spell. When I tried to read the human girl’s memories through scrying, I felt a strange power stopping my magic from reaching her mind. I don’t know what exactly it is, but it’s not something I had ever come across before. It is the second time my scrying spell failed to read a person’s memories.”

Leeora looked at her. “Second time? You mean…?”

“Hmm,” Cornelia nodded. “The first time was with His Majesty King Draven himself. Not only me, even Her Eminence the Monarch tried to read the King’s memories in the past but failed to do so. It was understandable in the case of His Majesty as he is not an ordinary being, but that human girl…it bothers me that cannot read her memories. How can a mere human render my scrying invalid? Not even other supernatural beings can hide their memories from me.”

“Is there a possibility that she is not human?” Draven asked. Somewhere in his mind, he believed she wasn’t truly human.

“The world is a large mysterious place, and there is much to be explored. We cannot say we know everything about it so we cannot discount the small possibility that she is, in fact, a supernatural being like us,” Cornelia said, “but there is also another possibility—that she is truly human, but she is suffering from a curse. Since this kind of curse belongs to a divine realm far beyond what we mortals understand, it makes sense our powers fail to work on her.”

That reminded Leeora of something and she looked at Draven, who looked calm and cold from the outside, but there was a chaos of thoughts in his mind.

Cornelia was hearing about this for the first time, and she could not help but be surprised. “How is that possible? A human who I cannot scry and also use a magic spell? She’s becoming more and more of a puzzle. Now I understand why His Majesty wants to keep her close. She’s a special human, probably the first of her kind—a pure-blooded human who could wield magic.”

Humans could not use magic while other races could—that was the ultimate reason why supernatural beings and humankind had fought in the first place. Though they dominated the continent with their population, humans felt threatened by the magical races who were far stronger than themselves and refused to coexist with them, causing the hunted ones to go into hiding to survive.

Yet now a strange human appeared…

“Hmm,” was all Draven said and stood up. He looked at Leeora. “Is that human inside her home?”

“Yes, Sire. Do you wish to meet her?”

Draven nodded. Leeora also stood up with an awkward smile. “Let me lead your way, Sire.”

“No need,” Draven countered and walked ahead, not giving Leeora a chance to say anything.

Leeora and Cornelia shared a worried glance with each other. They were both concerned about the human girl. They knew his presence would scare her, but who would dare raise this out loud to this overbearing king who didn’t know how to care for others’ feelings?