The Devil’s Cursed Witch

Leeora rarely lost her composure, but this time, she was truly angry.

She returned home in a hurry to get one of the remaining elixirs she had in hand. Though they weren’t as rare as the potion made by the Head of the Witches, they were still a product of her effort, a precious medicine made of carefully nurtured herbs she processed with her powers. She had given many of them to Erlos and Ember, and she also gave one to the wife of the herbalist yesterday, so she only had three remaining bottles in her chest.

Leeora took one bottle with a sigh before heading back to the other house. In her unconscious condition, Leeora somehow fed Ember the elixir she made, hoping it would somehow ease the obvious pain this  weak human was feeling. After that, the High Elder tended to her wounds.

After treating her wounds, Ember’s body was once again covered in bandages from below the head. Her neck, her arms, her hands, legs, ankle…

It looked pitiful, yet somewhat funny.

Leeora looked at the bandage on Ember’s thigh. Though she didn’t know if it was Ember herself who treated her own injury, Leeora thought it was safer to personally check if it was treated right. She unwrapped the bandage and washed off the herbal paste that had dried over the wound.

“Stitches?”

A well-stitched wound came into sight, and it surprised her. The cut was longer than a handspan, and scarring had formed, yet the way it was stitched was extremely skilled, almost as skilled as hers.

Leeora wondered how Ember could have learned to stitch so well given that stitching your own wound was not an easy thing to do. Not only that, it seemed she used a cautery technique in order to close the wound through burning parts of the skin, which was an effective but excruciatingly painful way to close a wound.

She’s having doubts, especially since from what she observed so far, Ember seemed to have little to no medicinal skills.

‘Who was here?’ Leeora thought. She applied fresh herbal paste on her wound and wrapped it with a new clean set of bandages again.

‘So, this mysterious person probably unintentionally attacked Ember. He must’ve treated her wound but stole the precious elixirs I made as well as the potion made by the Head of the Witches.’

Leeora frowned in anger as she started cleaning up the blood-soaked bedsheets.

‘If that person wished to save her, why he or she didn’t give her any elixir? Does that person mean to let this child suffer? So cruel!’

——

That same morning, Erlos came searching for Leeora after he was ready to leave for the palace. Not finding her in her home, Erlos thought she must be in the human girl’s house, and when he checked, he saw that the door of the house that was on the other side of the hanging bridge was open.

“Elder~”

Using his fast speed, he appeared inside the house in a good mood, only to frown when he smelled the thick scent of blood coming from inside.

“Elder? What the heck—pfft!”

Upon entering her room, Erlos almost laughed seeing the human girl rolled in bandages like a dumpling. If not for her mahogany hair and small body, he would not have recognized that ‘creature’, as his master loves to quote. However, seeing the dark expression on Leeora’s face, Erlos adjusted his own expression. Still, his ears were twitching as he pretended to be serious.

Before he could open his mouth again, Erlos noticed the human girl sleeping in bed was wearing a torn dress that left a good part of her body exposed. Being a gentleman, Erlos turned around and used his powers to move the blanket to cover that human girl’s body up to her shoulders.

He turned around and Leeora looked at him. He awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

“I was about to call you so the three of us can have a meal.” He looked at Ember. “By the way, what happened to her?”

“She is hurt again but I am not sure how. Moreover, the medicineI have kept here are all stolen,” Leeora replied.

“Stolen? A thief came here?” Erlos exclaimed in shock and his handsome face twisted in anger. “Stealing is not accepted in our clan! I don’t know who this thief is, but he sure is brazen to target this human. Once I find this thief, I will make sure to hang him on the tree and punish him so no one ever will try to do it again.”

Leeora nodded. “If it’s really a theft then we have to set an example.”

“Is she fine?” Erlos asked. “Did the thief attack her?”

“That is my guess. For now, she is fine. But not only did the thief take my elixirs, he also took the vitality potion from the witches, and it’s bad news for this child” Leeora replied with worry on her face. “Her condition is terrible because she bled a lot. My elixirs can heal wounds, but they are not effective in replenishing lost blood and strength. It will take her a long time to recover since her constitution is very weak in the first place. My elixirs won’t be of much help for her to get better.”

“Is that bad?” Erlos asked, feeling a bit guilty for laughing at the pitiful girl earlier.

“Before coming here, she’s suffered a hard life so her body is already weaker than a normal human. Then, she’s hurt in a fire, andnow, her body is badly battered and she’s lost blood. Human bodies are not as strong as ours to bear suffering like that, especially since she’s still young,” the High Elder explained.  “We should inform Sire that something like this happened to her.”

“That heartless man would probably not care even if she dies, but as he is the one who brought her here, it does seem reasonable to inform him,” Erlos said with a sigh.

“Sire has left her in my care so I need to inform him personally.” Leeora stood up. “You should have your meal and leave. I will arrive at the palace after I secure this house so that no one would enter when I am not around.”

Erlos agreed and left after taking one last look at that pitiful human.