The Devil's Cursed Witch

Since she and her mate were stuck on what she wanted that night–the most important issue– then discussing others things was out of the question. Moreover, given Draven’s personality, she was sure he would not take her anywhere to mingle with a crowd. Not like she wanted him to take her out, but she had indeed grown curious to see what a festival looks like.

Clio and Reya looked at each other and then towards their master who was lost in her thoughts. In their eyes, they saw her behavior as one done out of disappointment.

“Miss, it’s fine. Not every pair of mates goes out to play in the city,” Reya comforted her.

Clio offered her a displeased look, chastising her cousin for saying some nonsense, and then looked at Ember. “Miss, maybe His Majesty planned to give you a surprise and that’s why he had not informed you about it.”

Reya chimed in, “Yes, Miss. Maybe His Majesty had prepared a gift for you already.”

Ember waved her hands at her servants. “You two don’t have to console me. It’s fine as I am not thinking much about it.”

The two servants stopped coaxing her.

Ember believed, other than getting her answer and completing their bond, Draven would not have thought about anything else. He was not like those male characters in the romance books who showed sincere affection to their wives. Her mate probably knew nothing about such tender things.

‘I should not expect much. Not like he loves me so there is no reason to show that kind of affection.’ She sighed but then thought something else. ‘What about me? Do I love him?’ She shook her head.

‘What do I know about love? How can I know if I love him? If I use the books as reference where the wives think of their husbands as their entire world, then no.’

Ember held her chin as she pondered.

‘His Majesty is good to me and takes care of me. I feel grateful to him but I don’t like that I’m indebted to him. Does that mean I should love him or I already love him? I don’t even know if I like him as a person. But then again, we are still basically strangers. I barely know anything about him… but I am attracted to him…I think…’

She sighed again and again.

‘So confusing. I can’t tell.’

“Miss, would you like to have more tea?” Reya asked, bringing her back to reality.

Ember shook her head and then asked, “Do you know what happens if someone won’t complete their bond on the night of the full moon?”

“Why do you ask this, Miss?” Clio asked.

“I am just curious.”

She had read about the pair of mates suffering, but she wondered if what was written in the book was the same as how things were in reality.

“Umm, well, I do not know anyone who has personally experienced that, Miss,” Clio said. “It is normal for someone marked to have their bonds completed in a matter of days so to wait for more than a month is rather…” She then turned towards her older cousin. “Reya has a larger group of friends. Perhaps she knows?”

Reya pondered.

“Umm, it’s just what I have heard from other beast females that the male and female suffer a great pain on the night of full moon if they won’t complete the bond. It’s less for females but for males, it’s beyond one can imagine. The power of the bond is at its highest on the night of a full moon and it demands the bond be completed. That beast female also said no sane female would want her mate to go through the pain.”

Listening intently, Ember understood. ‘So His Majesty will suffer if I refuse to complete the bond?’ Her mind was chaotic–torn between two decisions. She was worried about hurting her mate, but at the same time, she could not force herself when she felt she was not ready for it…more like she was afraid of it.

While her servants continued to chatter by her side, Ember took that chance to simply enjoy teatime. After a while, her gaze caught the sight of Draven walking along the open corridor with his aide, Wind Fae Melion, busy discussing something.

They were far away from where she was seated and she didn’t know what they were talking about, but her gaze was firmly fixed at her mate.

‘His Majesty looks so strong and reliable…to see him in pain…but…to agree for that reason…do I even have romantic feelings for him?’

She tried to figure out what she felt for him but things looked confusing to her.

Only thing she knew was that whenever he was within her line of vision, she would stare at him as it was hard to take her gaze away from him. Most of the time, she even felt her heart going unruly, as if she was sick of some heart disease.

Before she realized it, she had spent hours outside. Golden colors dyed the garden as the sun began to set, causing even the gazebo made of white marble to be dyed with the colors of yellow and red.

“Miss, it is getting cold. Would you like to return back to your chamber?”

Ember shook her head as she felt better outside than staying cooped up inside an enclosed space like her chamber. “I haven’t enjoyed the view of this garden at night.”

“Oh, it looks beautiful, Miss. Especially when the lanterns are all lit up, you will find it even more beautiful.”

“If you are staying here, please wait a moment so that I can fetch you a coat.”

“It’s fine. If it gets too cold, I will head back inside.”

With that, Ember stood up and decided to take a stroll. By then, the sun was nothing more than a red line peeking above the horizon, and the vast sky was more indigo blue than anything.

Just as she stepped out of the gazebo, all the lanterns in the garden lit up. Ember looked around in surprise as the moment made it seem like the entire garden was sprinkled with many sparkling stars.

More than Ember, Clio and Reya were surprised.

“How come the lanterns are lit up so early today?” Reya asked as it was not entirely dark yet.

“Maybe by mistake? The newly-arrived servants must have done it,” Clio answered.

As they were supernatural beings, there were many tasks they didn’t have to manually do, such as things that required elemental powers. Lighting the lanterns was normally a task given to those capable of wielding the fire attribute.

On the other hand, the two male servants who were in charge of it were surprised as well. They were yet to even step on the garden premises.

“Did you light up those lamps?” asked one servant.

“I didn’t. It’s not even time yet,” the other one answered.

Both felt confused, but one of them simply shrugged it off. “It’s fine. Anyways, that means we got ourselves some free time so we should be grateful–“

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