The Devil's Cursed Witch

Draven walked towards the young elves and the human girl.

"Red eyes?"

"Wait, aren't red only the devil's—"

"T-That's the King!"

The terrified young elves, not knowing what to do in the situation, all fell to their knees. Though they were just a bunch of rowdy kids who knew nothing but play, they had heard from Elder Leeora and their parents countless tales about the King of Agartha.

Seeing the kids fearing him just like the other ordinary subjects of the kingdom, Draven could not help but scowl. He found it burdensome whenever people act like that.

Using his powers, he made them all stand upright, and the bewildered elves had no choice but to remain standing, simply choosing to politely bow to the King. They didn't dare look up and only stared at his black boots.

The human girl felt herself growing nervous at the sight of Draven approaching while those kids were standing with their heads lowered in front of him.

His red eyes pinned at her, he spoke again with a dignified tone.

"Her name is Ember."

'Who is he calling 'Ember'?' she thought. 'Is he talking about me? Is he calling me Ember?'

Just then, a much-welcomed voice chimed in, "Ember…Such a lovely name?"

That was Leeora returning after visiting the patient. She returned in a hurry as she was worried about the human girl being left alone.

"The City of Ronan welcomes King Draven, the ruler of Agartha." She bowed before the King. When she straightened herself, a small smile could be seen on her elegant face. "Have you come to grant the child a name? That's a nice name for her, Sire."

The King didn't react as he didn't wish to get credit for giving a name to this human creature.

Leeora looked at the kids. "You may all stop bowing, children. To be honest, the King hates these formalities. You don't want a devil annoyed at you, do you?"

The kids quickly straightened themselves and nodded like their lives depended on it. They then started murmuring among themselves.

"The King named her Ember."

"So she's now called Ember?"

Zeno, who was still curious, raised his head slowly and looked at the King. "But why did you name her Ember, Your Majesty?"

Leeora simply looked at the King as well, waiting for his response. Knowing the personality of the King, she thought that he would ignore him and not answer, but he actually replied.

"A piece of burning coal in the dying fire."

It was something that kids could not understand. They simply looked at the human girl and then looked at each other and whispered,

"Piece of burning coal?"

"Oh yes, I think I heard my mother use the word 'embers' when she was cooking…"

"Pfft. Coal. Is it because the human girl has burn wounds on her body?"

"Or is His Majesty calling her coal?"

"Well, she did look dirty like she rolled all over coal when she first entered the city—"

Thud! Thud!

Leeora tapped her staff on the ground to get the attention of those kids who were being talkative for nothing. She was having a headache. Though she did say the King hated formalities, that didn't mean they could be rude in front of him.

"Do you all wish me to call your mothers to drag you brats back home?" she scowled as they trembled under her stern gaze.

"No, no, Elder!"

"We will be leaving now to play!"

"Bye, Your Majesty! Bye, Elder! Bye, Ember!"

They waved and shouted before hurrying away, causing dry leaves to fly about.

All the while, the King's pair of red eyes remained unwavering at the cowering girl who was feeling extremely nervous under his gaze. She didn't understand why he was staring at her like that. She hugged Lusca, using the stag as a shield between her body and his gaze.

Leeora didn't fail to notice the situation between Draven and the human girl. She cleared her throat to catch the King's attention.

"Sire, may I know the reason for your sudden visit to Ronan?"

Only then did he put away his gaze from the girl and looked at Leeora. "My good-for-nothing servant came here instead of reporting to his master first."

Thud!

"Ahh…my back again…!"

A certain silver-haired elf fell on the ground in front of them, seemingly coming from Leeora's home, which was quite a considerable distance since her home was the tallest tree in the city.

Everyone who witnessed the sorry sight was stunned, except Draven who looked at his personal servant emotionlessly as if nothing was his fault.

----

Erlos was calmly enjoying the food while sitting inside Leeora's house as if it was his own home. Just as he took a big bite of his fifth loaf of bread, he choked.

"Cough! Why am I suddenly getting a bad feeling?"

Still nibbling on the bread, he stood up and went towards one of the windows, only to see someone he never expected to step foot in the elf city walking towards a group of children. The noble appearance of the black-haired man in a tailcoat looked so out of place in the middle of the forest.

It piqued Erlos' curiosity, and he eavesdropped on the conversation below.

'Ember? Sounds good,' Erlos thought as he continued to listen.

Just as Erlos heard his master mentioning his 'good-for-nothing servant', he felt like lightning struck him, feeling like a punishment was certainly on its way.

'No matter what I do, it will never be enough for my heartless master. Since you say I am good for nothing, then I will exactly be one. Let's run away from here~'

His pointed ears twitching excitedly at the thought of escaping, Erlos looked at one of the larger windows of the house. It was on the other side of the tree, beyond the line of sight of his master, and if he left through it he would land on a different street. He first checked the surroundings, ready to run away using his powers to its fullest, but then even before he could take a step out, he was pulled back by an invisible force towards another large window—

"Aaah!"

—and brutally down towards the ground.