"The witch…. Orphelia is dead," the guard blurted out.
"What?!" Donovan and Zachary said at the same time hearing the shocking news.
"What do you mean?" Zachary couldn't believe what he heard.
"The witch Orphelia was found dead this morning by the soldier guarding her," the soldiers said.
Donovan narrowed his eyes, "Take me to the place," Donovan said and then looked at his father and both of them left the castle hurriedly.
Far from the city, there was a small hut where Orphelia used to spend most of the time. King Zachary has built a big house for her in the middle of the city from where she could heal people and teach other young Witches her craft. But as the woman has grown old she didn't spend much time there but here in a small hut.
Soon Donovan and Zachary reached the place and soldiers standing there made way for them.
Inside the room on the ground was laying an old woman's body, lifelessly.
A trail of blood oozing from her mouth has dried and turned black indicating that the woman has died long ago. Her eyes were open and turned completely white, nails and lips had turned purple.
"How did this happen?" King Zachary snapped at the man who was supposed to guard the witch.
Orphelia was a very wise and powerful witch who was helping king Zachary for many years. It could be said that she was one of the best-hidden swords king Zachary has. Orphelia's bloodline was very close to the Royal bloodline of witches so her blood has saved countless lives over the years.
But now that witch was dead, and it was a very hard blow to Zachary.
"I asked how did this happen?" Zachary yelled at the soldiers.
"I was on my regular round in the morning when I noticed that she didn't come out to fetch water as usual. I hurriedly came in to see what's the matter but it was too late, she was already….dead.." one of the guards replied, trembling.
Since Orphelia was a rare talent, king Zachary has allocated few guards to her security.
Orphelia was a very powerful witch and she was against such a setting so the King has ordered the guards that they don't let her find out about them.
So all the guards could do was to keep an eye on her from afar.
"You were supposed to guard her," king Zachary barked looking at the man.
"It's not their fault father," Donovan crouched down and looked at the woman closely.
Given the power she possessed, it wasn't easy to kill her and the way she was killed proved that the killer was more powerful than her.
Donovan drew this conclusion from the perfect condition of the house. Nothing was out of place which means none of them used their powers or Orphelia did any struggle.
Donovan then took one of Ophelia's hands which were curled up in a tight fist.
As soon as Donovan opened her fist glaring gold light spread in the whole room.
So many colourful butterflies spread out around and then burst in just a matter of minutes. Soon the latter formed on the front wall of the hut, creating a note.
"I hope you liked the wedding gift. As for crest, you can hold on to it for time being," was written with bold letters.
"Kruel…" Donovan gritted his teeth as he saw that. In the back of his head, he has already thought about this possibility.
"He did this, bast**d," King Zachary shouted loudly.
"Calm down father," Donovan said between his teeth. But Zachary was getting angrier and angrier.
"Kill him," Zachary turned towards Donovan and ordered.
Donovan walked towards him and held him by his shoulder.
"I will father, his days are running short," Donovan said.
Orphelia and Zachary have shared a long friendship and that woman had helped Zachary in his tough time. Seeing her lifelessly laying there was a very hard blow on Zachary.
"Take him away," when Donovan saw that Zachary was losing his control he ordered his man.
After the curse, Zachary has lost most of his power and was not as strong as possible. It was his wits and sharp mind that has kept him holding the fort till now.
That was the reason Donovan has already taken most of the charge of his duties. If not for his capable sons the Dragon king would have collapsed long ago.
After Zachary was sent away Donovan stayed there for a while and observed things before he made arrangements to send Orphelia to the house of healers for a future procedure.
At the house of healers, the news of Orphelia's has sent waves of shock and grief.
Julien, one of the disciplines of Orphelia, received the charge of the body. (Introduced in chap 62.)
After Orphelia she was the most talented and trustworthy.
Donovan has ordered the woman to perform an autopsy on the Orphelia's body to find out the cause of death.
The woman solidified her heart and did what she had to.
By the time Donovan came back, it was already noon.
He hesitated for a moment before he dragged his feet in the direction of Silja's chamber.
Donovan thought for two seconds before he pushed the door open.
Silja was sitting across the table with a thick old book in her head. When she sensed his presence she raised her face and met his eyes.
Two pairs of eyes met and sparks erupted but none of them said anything. Donovan took a few steps inside and Silja put down the book.
"I heard someone was killed," she walked towards him and stood behind Donovan who was removing his coat.
Donovan looked at Silja with a little surprise. "Kruel killed one of our main witches," he said.
"That's awful," Silja widened her eyes and then helped Donovan with his coat. Silja looked calmer now, the whole morning she spent thinking about what happened last night.
"Why did he do that?" She asked, looking at him worriedly.
"He misunderstood her with someone else," Donovan turned around and faced her.
Actually, he knew why he killed her. Kruel must have thought that Orphelia was the witch who killed Beth. He was here for that witch and when Donovan didn't comply with his scheme so he took action himself.
But the question was how did he find out about Orphelia?
Whatever it was Donovan was happy that nothing happened to Silja and no one suspected her as a witch.
"What will you do now?" Silja asked and handed him the glass of water.
"Nothing," Donovan replied and sat down.
Silja tilted her head towards him and raised her eyebrows.
That wasn't Donovan's style.
"He thinks that he won this round but he didn't. Let him gloat for a while. By the time he understands what game I'm playing it will be very late," Donovan smiled looking at Silja. The kind of smile that was unique to him. An evil smile that can frighten many.
For now, his main focus is Silja, he has to start training her and finding more about her. If she becomes strong enough to break the curse, defeating Kruel won't be that hard. Silja sighed looking at him.
"Sometimes I would really want to find out about the whole story about this curse and rivalry of witches and dragons," Silja said looking at the man. She knew many of the details, but still, everything was blurry. What happened back then which leads to this condition.
"Sure, when we get some leisure time," Donovan nodded his head and looked at her.
"I'll go get a maid to bring food for you," Silja nodded and stood up but before she could take any more steps Donovan held her hand.
"Silja, what happened last night..." Donovan pulled her back but Silja put her finger on his lips.
"You don't have to explain yourself. We will work this out, slowly," she said and leaned to plant a small kiss on his forehead before leaving swiftly.
Donovan smiled looking in her direction.
###
"Princess…. Princess Genevieve, would you like to go to the garden for a while?" Maid asked Genie who had just finished her meal and came back to her chamber.
"No, I would like to rest for a while," Genie turned around and stopped them near the door.
"Oh... okay," Helga was confused as she looked at the little girl with furrowed eyebrows.
"You can go now, rest, if I need something I'll look for you," Genie said and closed the door in front of the maid.
"But, princess…" Helga's words kept stuck in her throat.
Something was definitely wrong with the girl. Helga has noticed that in the past few days Genie was behaving very oddly. Usually, the girl who liked to spend her time with everyone was now spending hours and hours alone in her own room.
She has to talk to the queen about this, Helga made a mental note and left the area.