The Devil’s Cursed Witch

In the middle of the night, a handsome man with hair darker than the night sky appeared within the city of Ronan while everyone was in deep sleep, unaware that their king had arrived in the elf city once more.

The lively streets were empty, and even the forest animals were sleeping soundly. Only the sounds of crickets and the rustling leaves could be heard, which were the signs of a quiet night.

Draven stopped directly in front of the door of the human’s home which opened slowly on its own. The last time he visited this late in the night to check the wound on her leg, she was already in deep sleep so Draven expected her to be the same tonight.

‘Even if she is awake, so what?’ he could not help but scoff, but remembering his encounter with Morpheus earlier, his face turned expressionless.

With slow and steady footsteps, he entered the house without making any sound, not willing to wake her up if she was sleeping. If he could avoid it, he’d rather not see a drama and relive the scene where the fear in her eyes seemed to be accusing him of being there to harm her.

As soon as he stepped inside her bedroom, he saw a frail body sleeping on the small bed in the corner. She was curled like a ball while wrapped completely in a thick blanket. Only the top of her face was visible while everything below her tiny nose was covered by the blanket.

Draven simply observed her from a distance as if it was the last time he would see her. Staring at her for a while, he shook his head.

‘What am I doing?’

Not even understanding the reason why he even came in the first place, of course, he could not find anything new or draw a conclusion from merely watching her sleep. He was about to leave but stopped in his tracks upon seeing a little movement from the girl in bed.

For a moment, he felt worried that she had woken up, and again, he would see those green eyes filled with fear towards him. It was not new for him to see fear in anyone’s eyes.

How many centuries had he seen his enemies’ fear?

He had seen more than his fair share, and even among the people of Agartha, fear was a common emotion others felt for him. Every day, he would see it in the eyes of his servants in the palace, and even if he were to drop by the territories, his subjects would also feel innate fear for him. Except for those who knew him for a long time, few could even converse with him.

All this time, he was never bothered by other people’s fear, regardless of gender or race, so then why did he feel uneasy seeing that fear in this human girl’s eyes? What was he expecting exactly?

The human girl moved, tossing around with a mumble, and Draven realized she was still asleep.  He watched as she clutched and pulled the blanket that slid down to cover her face as if she was trying to hide. She looked distressed as if she was having a terrible nightmare.

“..please…”

With his sharp sense of hearing, Draven caught the words from her low mumbling. It was similar from that night when he had seen her having a nightmare.

“Fire…It hurts…Save me please…”

Subconsciously, he ended up walking towards the human girl. Though he had decided to stay away, something inside him was urging him to come close.

Looking at her distressed face covered with cold sweat, he sat at the edge of her bed, but the moment he did, his body stiffened and his forehead creased. He smelled a familiar scent, a beastly scent that shouldn’t have been here.

‘Morpheus.’

It was clear why her body had his scent. Hadn’t that shapeshifter boasted over and over again how closely he held her in his arms?

“Pain…It hurts…”

Her painful sobbing pulled him back from his wandering thoughts and he looked at her, who looked like she was waiting for someone to come and save her. She looked scared and in pain.

Without another thought, he repeated what he did before. He put his palm over hers, his large hand enveloping her small one. His intuition was telling him that if he could make her feel someone’s presence with her, she would feel safe since she was no longer alone anymore.

The moment she felt the warmth from that hand which made her feel protected, she mumbled, “Gaia…”

‘It’s that name again.’

Draven still didn’t know who this person named Gaia was, but this time, he controlled himself from getting angry and simply watched her distressed face turn peaceful. Once she looked calm, he thought it was time to leave. He wanted to free his hand but she had held it tightly. Draven stared at her tiny hand that held his and then looked at her sleeping face, only to return his gaze at that tiny hand that refused to let go.

‘Whenever you were in danger, I was always summoned to save you but…but this time, why didn’t it happen? Why was I not summoned? Is it really because Morpheus came to save you? So is there no real connection between you and my past?’

He wanted to pull his hand out as she was nothing but a human who looked at him as if he was a monster. This thought angered him as well as pained him.

He wanted to forcibly tug his hand away, disregarding the fact it might wake her, but…he couldn’t. He felt restless as he couldn’t figure out why he felt like this—suffocated and lost.

With much effort and determination, he slowly pulled his hand out of her hold as he could not stay there any longer. He knew that once this human woke up, she would make a scene that would let others know he was here.

Of course, he would not even give her a chance to make a fuss. He could stop her from moving and shouting with his powers as he did before, but he just didn’t want to.

He didn’t want to see those emerald green eyes filled with fear for him.

He managed to pull his hand out without disturbing her sleep. He stood up slowly, only to disappear in a blink of an eye, as if he had stayed for longer, he would regret it.

This human, he wanted to stay away from her but always ended up going to her somehow, willingly or unwillingly. He didn’t know what it was, but there was something about her that always pulled him towards her.

It was too deep to be mere curiosity and too vague to be called interest. Was there something else about her that called out to him?

Draven didn’t know. He felt like he was going insane.