The Devil’s Cursed Witch

Erlos arrived in Ronan in no time, and he went straight to Leeora’s home where he found the elderly elf busy segregating a batch of dried herbs in different baskets and wooden containers. They were ingredients freshly provided to her by a merchant from another city for her elixir-making.

Leeora looked at the young elf who entered her house looking as if someone stole his future away from him.

“What happened to upset you?” Leeora asked as she continued to work.

“What else can happen when I am blessed to have such a wonderfully fair and just master?” Erlos said with a pitifully sad smile.

“Hmm, what happened?” she asked.

The young elf simply sat on the chair opposite the High Elder, not answering her. “Oh, Elder, I came here for official matters.” He proceeded to help her arrange the herbs. “Sire asked me to get your strongest incense available, one that can suppress the scent of any other things,” he informed her idly.

“Huh?” It surprised the elderly woman. “That is quite vague. Did Sire mention what it will be used for?”

“I am not sure, but he has been acting strange this morning. He ordered all the male servants to leave the palace grounds for a few days.” He let out a miserable sigh. “Everyone but me! How can he be unfair to me? I am a male as well. Why did he single me out—”

Leeora smiled at the naive elf who loved to badmouth his master.

“There must be a reason he had all the male servants leave,” she commented, as she was sure it was something about his mate. These days, it was a given that Ember was the only reason making Draven act out of character.

“I am not sure as he didn’t tell me, but I heard the shapeshifters—the beastmen in particular—saying they can smell something sweet. And from what I heard, they were talking about a female being in heat. I tried to smell it too, but I couldn’t really find anything out of place.”

Leeora now understood the entire thing. ‘Seems like it is that time of the month for Ember.”

“That is because you are an elf. Only beastmen can smell it,” Leeora explained.

“That’s my guess too! But still, he sent even the male elves out, all of them but me!” Erlos complained.

“That is because of the possessive nature of the male to his mate. They don’t like any other male’s presence when their female is in heat. About you, you are someone Sire trusts the most.  He must be confident in letting you stay because there is nothing for him to be worried about.”

Erlos sighed helplessly, as if there was no one in this world that would understand him. “You always take his side, Elder. Forget it, just give me what Sire ordered. Let me know how much it costs. I will have the expense sent later through Garros.”

Leeora pondered for a bit before taking out several wooden boxes from her collection. Some of them were dried herbs and barks of trees, while the others were powdered minerals of various colours and small vials of scented oils.

“You are quite lucky since I have enough ingredients to create a single portion. Otherwise, you can only purchase this kind of incense from the territory of the shapeshifters, specifically in the city owned by the werewolves, but even there, this concoction is very rare and the ingredients hard to find.”

“What do you mean, Elder?”

“You know that our people only get offsprings once every few decades. This is used to train the children—I mean, the young beastmen who cannot control their primal instincts so you can say this is a concoction only used every hundred years or so. This essence does not only suppress, but rather, nullifies scents, turning them odourless within a limited distance. Of course, it has other uses as well…”

“Amazing, Elder. I’m surprised you know how to make it even though you’re an elf.”

“When you’ve reached my age, you will know almost everything about everyone as long as you pay proper attention and show curiosity to those around you.”

After mixing the ingredients with measured care, she gave a satisfied nod and brought a small box filled with golden powder to Erlos.

“You can burn it in the incense burner, and it will cover any scent. Considering the size of Sire’s study and chamber, this much will last for a day.”

“Just a day? But Elder—”

“Like I mentioned, the ingredients are lacking. I will need to arrange them to be brought from other cities. Don’t worry. I will send the next batch of incense to the palace as soon as I can.”

Erlos held the box and heard the elderly elf continue. “Since you are here, can you do me a favour? These elixirs are for Ember. Have Yula give them to her.”

Putting all those away with his spatial magic, he nodded and stood up. “Thank you Elder. I shall excuse myself now.”

Erlos left in a hurry as he was instructed to bring it as soon as possible.

After he reached the palace, he went to Yula to give her Ember’s elixirs. He also took incense burners from the storeroom, one he put in the King’s study and the other one in his bed-chamber.

‘It didn’t nullify her scent completely but…’

Perhaps it was due to Draven’s constitution, the incense wasn’t able to totally mask his female’s scent from his sensitive sense of smell. Still, Draven was somewhat relieved since the incense made it bearable for him.

When Ember blinked the drowsiness away, she realized it was time for her to have her midday meal. She straightened her curled-up body and felt the pain in her abdomen become tolerable.

‘Must be the effect of that concoction.’

Reya and Clio arranged the meal for her and once again offered her the concoction that Ember happily drank despite it being too bitter. As long as it can relieve her of her cramps, she was ready to drink anything.

Afterwards, Reya gave her a tiny bottle. “High Elder Leeora sent this elixir for you, Miss.”

“Did the Elder drop by?”

“No, she didn’t. She had this sent to us.”

Ember was aware of what these elixirs were for and accepted it right away. She was sure after drinking it, she wouldn’t feel this exhausted.

‘Thank you so much, Elder,’ she said in her mind as she drank it.

After a while, Ember felt more awake and energized, to the point she wouldn’t mind even taking a stroll outside. She climbed out of her bed and heard Clio ask, “Miss Ember, do you need something? You can tell me and I’ll bring it to you.”

Ember shook her head. “I am tired of sleeping. I want to go out and get fresh air.”

This was something the two servants were instructed to not let happen.

“Miss Ember, apologies but you cannot step out of the southwest wing till your bleeding is over.”

It shocked Ember. “Is there such a rule in this kingdom that women cannot go out?”

“There is no such a rule but females prefer to stay inside their homes during their estrous cycle as they can attract other males and it can become pretty dangerous,” Reya explained.

“What does my monthly cycle have to do with males?”

Reya and Clio shared a glance with each other, as if they were silently arguing about who would take the role of explaining this. In the end, the younger elf lost the staring contest.

“Miss Ember, when females are in their estrous cycle, their scent attracts other males,” Clio started. “For your case, even though they know you are someone else’s mate, sometimes a male with poor willpower can’t resist this temptation and he might harm you. The more considerate males will try to stay away on their own, but even in this kingdom, there are some males who are lacking in character and self-control. They sometimes fail to follow the rules and go rogue.”

Ember didn’t understand most of what the elf said. “What scent? Do you mean the smell of blood? Isn’t it disgusting? And it’s not so strong you can smell it if you are not beside me…”

“From what I understand, Miss, the beastmen can smell something else, a certain sweet smell that triggers their instincts,” Reya decided to help out her cousin.

“And His Majesty had strictly asked you to not step out of this wing, just for the next few days,” Clio said before Ember could ask more questions.

Hearing the King mentioned, Ember could not help but obey them. She had already embarrassed herself in front of him; she didn’t want to upset him by disobeying his order.

“Fine,” Ember agreed, “but can I go to my study at least?”

“Of course, you can go anywhere in the southwest wing,” Reya assured her.

“Thank you,” was all Ember said and they went to her study next door. She could not wait to study more about the common written language of this kingdom, but at the same time, she felt stifled by the fact she was like a prisoner, not able to go out as she wished.

‘Gaia never asked me to stay inside the cave whenever I got my monthly cycle, but here, things are different.’

Reya and Clio observed her being visibly upset.

“Is there anything else you need, Miss Ember?”

“Do you want me to bring you sweet snacks?”

She shook her head. “I just wish I can  get some fresh air outside but…”

“Miss Ember, you cannot go outside in the garden, but you can go there.” Clio gestured towards one door that was attached to Ember’s study.

She had seen that door before but forgot to ask what it was about.

“What is there?” Ember asked.

“It’s a place you might like, Miss,” Clio said while Reya didn’t disagree.