Agatha woke up from the unpleasant nightmare several hours later. The moment she opened her eyes, what greeted her was the familiar canopy of her luxurious bed.She was back to her grand room in the palace?
The woman blinked repeatedly for some time to get a hold of herself. Afterward, she breathed a sigh of relief.
She forcibly willed for the horrible images in her mind to disappear as there was no way she would want to have any memories of the nightmare she just experienced. When her mood and mind were back to tranquility, she covered her eyes using one of her arms, a smile of relief about to form on her lips.
But just when she was about to laugh in joy after finding that at least the whole ordeal was only a nightmare, a soft playful voice drifted into her ears.
"Hi! I"m glad you have woken up, my dear old hag."
"What?" Agatha"s pupil dilated and her body automatically got up. And that had been a bad move because it woke her up to the reality that every inch of her skin had wounds or bruises and there was no part of her body that was not aching.
"Aaahhhh!" The villainess screamed from the sudden a.s.sault of pain that came cras.h.i.+ng to her like a wave. She started to tremble.
Margarette sat on the stool by the bedside, elegantly checking her fingernails that had just been painted red by one of Agatha"s ladies in waiting. She was indifferent to the cries of pain of the other woman. But of course, the same could not be said about the maids.
"Your Highness!" Each of them called out one by one, greatly irritating the princess. She mumbled with discontent, "It"s not like she"s dying. If she wants to, she can even heal herself."
Agatha heard what the girl had just said and laboriously turned her head to her, wearing an expression of disbelief.
A couple of seconds later, she regained her wits and realized what just took place. As she couldn"t let the maids have any recollection of the teenage witch mentioning she could heal herself, she had to forcibly ignore the unsettling discomfort and erase the memories of the people around her.
After the energy-draining task, the villainess panted while throwing dagger-like stares at the girl. Heaven knew how much she wanted to kill this person. Yet fear was also blossoming in her heart, reminding her that what she suffered in her nightmare were no products of her imagination.
Margarette only reacted with a provocative smile at the glare she was receiving. Footsteps echoed outside and the lovely arc on her lips became very sincere and happy.
It was Jiang Li who came in, and Agatha almost held her breath seeing that n.o.body obstructed him even though they were at the palace. What did that imply? Simply that the two were a lot more powerful than expected!
"Who are you? Are you two from the outside?"
The question was because she remembered the unconventional black arts displayed by the girl. The method to control insects and bring calamities and diseases through them was recorded in the coven"s ancient tome as a skill of witchcraft pract.i.tioners from the outside!
Jiang Li stole a stool for himself. "Hey, Miss Old Hag, are you sane? No matter how powerful one is, as long as they are an outsider, the seal of the Great Deity will block their entry."
"Sorry, husband, it seems I have gone overboard with the beating." Margarette apologetically glanced at the youth. "I have probably scared her so badly and her intelligence suffers. Perhaps, I should have not held back, burying her alive in the forest would have been a better outcome than turning stupider…"
"Girl, a bit more and even I will be scared away by you." Jiang Li barely held back a wry smile.
The maids were offended and wanted to interject. But Agatha raised her hand and chased them all out. She dispelled her anger and braved her trembling, "Why are you two targeting me?"
Her question was met with an inquisitive look from Jiang Li. "Your royal highness, you seem to be forgetting something. Before your stupid attempt to provoke us and rally your people against us, we didn"t show any malicious intention against you. In fact, we"re even planning to help you with your problem. Do you know how many times I had to beg my wife for this? Oh, wait, I"m sure you"re not aware. But I"m from a family who has a stupid tradition of a.s.sisting a member of your family to avoid disaster once."
"Liar."
Agatha"s face darkened from what she heard, and she didn"t know whether to be in awe of the youth"s glib of the tongue. There was no way she would believe what he said. At least not the latter part. She was from a commoner family and had heard no such tradition from her late birth parents. How the h.e.l.l would her family have some other family"s weird form of allegiance or partners.h.i.+p when they were people barely making ends meet? It was simply impossible. Her face crumpled more at the thought that the youth was mocking her humble origins.
Margarette robbed her of the chance to argue. "Hey, how about we talk about business if you don"t want help then?"
Jiang Li looked at the girl and laughingly followed up, "Good idea." He then looked at the royal consort." Hey, your coven sure is interesting. With so few members that are not even that united. It seems there are two factions within it even though the members only numbered thirteen. That oldest looking hag wants you to lead even though you"re just a gifted member whose personal strength only places you in the middle."
The young girl stood up and leaned forward which made Agatha back away instinctively. "Are you that young to be called a genius of the younger generation?"
"Hisss," all of a sudden, the villainess hissed in anguish.
The villainess" face turned ugly due to the pain akin to stepping on a needle mat after she tried to push herself deeper into the corner using her feet. She was immediately reminded of the curse inflicted on her for cutting a maid"s finger that was still yet to be cured. Ignoring the blatant provocation from the girl, the youth"s statement was also another headache of her which she had been ignoring in favor of focusing on the royal inheritance matter.
Margarette only looked at her, ridicule showing through the arcs of her mouth.
Agatha"s brain worked furiously to a.n.a.lyze her situation, yet she did not forget to make herself all ears to Jiang Li who started mentioning stuff about the political and mystic-related situations of the Borley Kingdom and Holon Kingdom. As she maintained her silence, she was also directing her mind in the correct direction. She could feel herself calming down and realizing how she should approach the matter at hand…
"If it"s all about information…"