The Devil's Cursed Witch

Just as Ember was about to focus on reading, her fingers happened to touch her nose as she pushed back a few stray strands of hair behind her ear. She stopped upon realizing something. She touched the tip of her nose once more, this time with a little pressure...

'It is not hurting at all?' she asked herself in wonder. 'I was sure it was bruised. How come it's fine so soon?'

She then remembered that after Draven gingerly touched her nose, she saw a glow at  the tip of his finger. At that time, she didn't pay much attention to  it as his next words angered her. Even now,  his annoying words calling  her 'clumsy' and 'liar' were bringing a frown on her face.

'Did he use magic to heal my nose?' she wondered, but the next moment, her expression changed. "Well, his chest was the one that hurt me in the first place so it's his duty to make the pain go away. There is no need for me to feel grateful towards him. Who asked him to stand so leisurely in the middle of the hallway anyway? With his sharp eyesight and ears, he should have been able to evade a human like me even when I was in a hurry.'

Feeling that she was absolutely right about what she was thinking, she moved her attention back towards the book. 'Let's read now. I will have to make note of what a proper wife is supposed to do.'

The book was a tale of romance between royalty of two warring nations. The story started with the newly-crowned king having to marry a tribute princess of a neighboring kingdom that was defeated in the war. The princess had no choice but to comply despite not wishing to marry him to guarantee the lives of her family. She hated the king of the enemy kingdom since he was the root cause of her suffering, but then she gradually fell in love with him after their marriage. She  learned what kind of person he was, and he too tried to make amends for his shortcomings. It was a journey of her feelings, from hating to loving her husband, and at the end, they both led a good life together.

Reading the part where the princess outright announced that she didn't want to marry the enemy king, Ember had a funny thought.

'Why does it feel somewhat similar to me and His Majesty?' She chuckled. 'But I am no princess and I have no family to protect.' She flipped to the next page where it had the description of the wedding ceremony and how the princess was contemplating running away. It even had an illustration of the wedding day.

She looked at the drawn image of the king and the princess.

'This king is frowning so much, he looks as if he hates the entire world. He looks so scary... just like His Majesty. Imagine having been forced away from your homeland, only to meet such a scary man... No wonder the princess didn't want to marry him. She should have just ran away.

'If I had been given a choice, I wouldn't have agreed to be His Majesty's mate as well. He scares me all the time. Should kings always be so scary like this? Is having a scowling face a requirement to become king?'

She then reached the part of the story after the royal couple's wedding ceremony. On their wedding night, the king didn't meet the princess, much less proceed to consummate the marriage, as he was aware of the princess's hatred towards him. Even during the days after,  she never failed to show it to him. She was straightforward and openly rude whenever the two encountered each other. With her bitter words, she would always remind the king how his greed destroyed the peaceful lives of the people of her kingdom.

'Hmm, they didn't consummate the wedding?' Ember sighed. 'I was looking forward to the part where they will act as a couple and be good to each other, but I do not think this is a good reference. Their relationship is terrible. Forget about how to be a good  wife;  this princess even schemes bad things for her husband, angering him every chance she gets. If I act like her, His Majesty will not only throw me out of the palace, he might even have me banished from Agartha. They didn't even consummate the wedding so I don't even know what married couples should do. Shall I skip this book and read another one?'

Ember thought of closing the book, but before that, she flipped near the latter part of the book and saw an illustration of the king and his wife--

'They are kissing?!'

Ember's hand froze as she looked at the illustration for quite a while. It reminded her of the kiss she had with Draven and felt her cheeks turning hot. Unknown to her, even her heartbeats suddenly raced faster.

She took a  deep breath and thought, 'I...I think I should continue reading this book. Their relationship seemed to have improved...'

Just then Clio, who found a few more books, had approached the table to stack more books for her master to read, but then, she found Ember staring at nothing in particular in a daze.

"Miss Ember?"

Ember flinced. She felt like she was caught doing something wrong and immediately closed the book. She turned towards Clio with wavering eyes. "Ha ha, oh, I didn't notice you, erm, were you saying something?"

Clio placed three more books on the desk. "We found a few more books for you, Miss."

"Ah, yes, thank you. I will check them once I am done with this book," Ember said as she let out another awkward laugh.

Clio didn't comment on her strange behavior, while Reya blinked in her direction with a curious gaze. They could both see Ember's discomfort as she carefully closed the book she had in her hand, pushing it slightly to the side of the desk while keeping her palm placed over the cover.

"Is that book not up to your liking, Miss Ember?"

Ember blinked a few times in confusion as she didn't know how to answer it. Was she doing anything wrong by staring at the illustration of a married couple kissing? It should be fine, but she couldn't understand why she was embarrassed, and neither could she comprehend why she didn't want her servants to know what she was reading.

Seeing her not answering the question, Reya spoke up, "Would you like  to check another book, Miss?"

"Ah, no. I mean, I will first finish this book," Ember rejected right away as she wanted to read this one now. She wanted to understand how the princess changed--wasn't she cursing the king in the chapter she read? How come in the latter part of the book, things proceeded to what she had seen... and since that wasn't the end of the book, what more there could be? "I'm fine. You can continue searching for more."

"Understood, Miss."

The two servants brought to her more books they had found with illustrations of couples and families and placed them on Ember's desk. She looked at two stacks of the book, each of them having five to six books.

"These are what we found till now from the first and second shelf. We will go through those books on the other shelves and find more of--"

"I think these many are enough for now. Thank you for helping me," Ember interrupted them. "After I finish them, we can find some more if there's a need."

She was forcing herself to remain calm as she waited for the two elves to move away. She was yet to open the book under her palm, the one that she had closed due to the embarrassing illustration because she didn't want them near her when she continued reading.

"What is the first book about, Miss?" Clio asked with an innocent smile.

Ember cleared her throat awkwardly before answering, "It's a story of a husband and wife who started out as enemies..."

"Oh, will you later tell us about it? I have never read a story written by a  human before, much less one where it's about a pair of human lovers."

"Sure, I will once I finish reading it." Ember pulled out a light smile. "You two don't have to accompany me here. You can continue your other work. I will call for you when I need anything."

The two servants obeyed their master as they decided to leave. "We will come to call you for your midday meal, Miss. Enjoy reading."

Ember finally let out a sigh of relief the moment the servants left.

Now Ember was finally alone, there was no reason for her to feel like a thief who was trying to hide something. She opened the book and once again looked at the illustration.

'Didn't she hate the king? Why is she...?.Ah, I should resume reading the part where I left off...'

Ember found the story amusing, especially the parts where the princess tries to annoy the king again and again, but as she read further, she gradually understood how the king and his wife landed themselves in this situation. The princess was showing her usual bitterness towards the king, and in response, the king finally lost his calm and kissed her to shut her up, leaving her shocked. Then Ember read what the king said to his wife.

"If I am truly as evil as you claim, do you think you will still be standing in front of me, my lady? I would not have left you alone on our wedding night, nor would I have shied away from our marital bed for all those nights that came after our wedding three months ago."

The princess was taken aback but she was not one to be intimated so easily. She wiped her lips with the back of her palms angrily.

"My lord, you say it as if I should be grateful for your benevolence, but I am sure that in your mind, you must not find my face up to your liking."

The king chuckled at her response. "Under the dark veil of the night, should I care if the appearance of the woman in my bed is up to my liking or not? I care about nothing but satisfying myself. If you don't believe me, I can show you by satisfying both of us thoroughly at this very moment."