"A trip to the devil's den… is definitely something they do not want."
The figure standing a kilometer away from Abel turned around and, into the mist, the person disappeared. A quiet sigh slipped past his lips.
"Your Majesty!" Conan's loud gasp snapped everyone from their trance, perking up on Abel's side. "Are you serious?"
"Never been serious, Conan." Abel's eyes simply gloss over his face before glancing over his shoulder. "Morro."
"Yes..." came out a deep voice before Morro, under the plain, old cloak, dragged his feet to Ismael, and slumped on the ground. He bent over, grabbing Ismael on his bicep, and with a quick pull, Ismael was standing on his feet.
"Wait --"
Ismael's eyes went wide as Morro didn't listen to his plea as he carried him on his shoulder like a sack of wheat. Never in his life, he was carried like this, but Morro didn't even break a sweat as he securely wrapped his arm around his waist, elbow up.
"Isaiah, the only entry you will allow in this place are the witches I want. No one... will leave," Abel told him without even giving Isaiah a look as he gazed at Dexter. "Calm down, Marquess."
"Tch... I will kill all the witches the second they meet my eyes."
Abel stared into Dexter's eyes before averting his gaze. "Suit yourself." His eyes then landed on Morro before nodding.
"Your Majesty, wait--!" Conan stretched his hand out, but Abel and Morro disappeared with a snap of a finger. His lips curved down grumpily.
"Will they return to where everyone was?" he wondered, as it seemed Abel planned to take her back to her tent. "He will give us more work with how many people are in there."
"Why do you even care about having more work when this entire place will literally cease to exist in about an hour?" Dexter scorned as he glared in the direction where Abel and Morro disappeared to. He ruffled his hair in irritation, partially blaming himself for taking his eyes off of Aries even for a second.
Dexter had been watching Aries from afar, just in case, she would be in danger. But after watching her ever since he stepped foot in this land, he had grown complacent since she had everything under control. Therefore, he thought he could focus on hunting for her.
Dexter let out a deep exhale as he straightened his back. But just as he moved his upper body forth, Conan asked.
"Marquess, where are you going?" Conan tilted his head to the side.
"Where else? To my sister."
"Wait —" Conan scrunched his nose up as Dexter run off as soon as the last syllable left his mouth. He clicked his tongue and glanced at Isaiah. Seeing the latter stare into the mist, his expression grew uglier, blaming Isaiah for what happened to Aries.
"You said you can handle the witches in this place, Duke. Look what they did to Lady Aries!" he harrumphed when he couldn't take it anymore as someone needed to address this, since Abel didn't have the energy to do so. "You are already aware the witches were cognizant of the presence of a pureblood in their territory! Now, they know that Lady Aries --"
"Lady Aries knew them already." The rest of Conan's remarks were shoved back into his throat when Isaiah gave him a side-eye. "That's why His Majesty wants them here since... they had already set their eyes on Lady Aries long ago."
"Witches... there's never a good thing that comes out of affiliating with them if you're not one of them," he added solemnly. His jaw tightened as he clenched his teeth. "Lady Aries... needs to wake up or she will sleep for a long time. Worse. She won't wake up anymore."
"She will die?!" Conan gasped as all this witchcraft and its complicated rules were something he hadn't mastered even after all these years.
"Mhm." Isaiah glanced up, and the rain met his pale and stoic face. "The Lady Aries we all knew will. It seemed Maleficent... the most wicked and powerful witch in history chose her."
*******
Back in the open expanse where everyone's tents were set up were frantic nobles at the dreadful news that had returned from the hunting grounds. Many returned injured, some dead. There were still people out there on the hunting grounds who hadn't returned yet, and one of them was the crown princess.
Inez balled her hands into a fist as she watched knights either carrying injured nobles or setting off to search for more people. She heard about the attack and she didn't need to ask anyone how bad it was.
"Your Highness." A knight came to her side, making her immediately perk up.
"The crown princess?" she asked, almost out of breath, heart pounding against her chest and getting louder with every passing second.
"They hadn't found her yet." The knight hung his head low while she paced back and forth, biting the tip of her thumb to think clearly.
When Inez stopped pacing, she twisted her neck in the direction where the crown prince's entourage was coming from. Joaquin was riding his steed as it trot before halting, eyes on Hernan, who was standing beside Joaquin's horse.
"They hadn't found her?" Her voice shook upon seeing the grim expression that turned up on her brother's face. "Prepare my steed. I will go and look for her myself."
"But Your Highness, it's dangerous —" The knight bit his tongue when she glared at him, eyes bloodshot. "Your —"
The knight abruptly stopped as he caught a figure from the corner of his eyes. He slowly turned his head, and seeing how his brows knitted, Inez followed his gaze.
There, coming out of the woods, were two figures carrying each person. One was a towering figure of a man clad with a cloak carrying a man on his shoulder and the other was a man with bright green hair carrying a woman in his arms. For reasons everyone couldn't understand, all their attention shifted to those two figures and their eyes fell on the unconscious and injured woman.
The moment Inez's eyes landed on Aries, her heart sank, and before she could think twice, she yelled. "Your Royal Highness!"
This 𝓬ontent is taken from f(r)eeweb(n)ovel.𝒄𝒐𝙢