Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

When the young Queen and the King of Megaris were in their world of sweet deep sleep in each other's embrace, the other part of the continent had started to uncover in the bright sun rays. Being the eastern part of the continent, Abetha had its sunrise earlier when Megaris was still covered in the darkness of the night. 

"What are you doing out here so early in the morning?" 

The older man asked as he stepped towards the woman sitting on the wooden block made out from the fallen tree. Her calm-looking eyes stared at the river ahead and below the surface where she was sitting at the hillside. Her tired and pale-looking face had no such expressions to let someone know what she was thinking.

"I was thinking about Seren," she replied calmly. 

The man sat next to her and gave her a small pouch, "I prepared this last night. You need to take this medication early in the morning."

She accepted the pouch but looked at it as if it was of no use, "Why are you putting this much effort for me, Erich? You know I can't get any better than this."

"My job is to never give up on my patients," he replied and instructed firmly, "Now have it and tell me what you were thinking about her."

"I was thinking about how guilty I am towards her," she said. 

"Why so suddenly? Wasn't all that to protect her?" he asked.

Martha nodded, "It was but while protecting her, we never thought she would ever get married like this. Her destiny was meant to be in that tower till she turns eighteen and later I was about to take her somewhere else where we can suppress her strong powers that would show up once she comes of age. We even had a place prepared to hide her...but...it was all destroyed as they found us even before we could do anything."

"We?" Erich gave her a questioning look, "I am sure Valin is not a part of this as he is an ordinary human. Then who?"

Martha turned silent, "I can't say it."

Erich Winfield didn't insist and asked, "So you left the palace for long and was caught up with all this? This injury?....."

"They caused it. I was somehow protected or I wouldn't be here," she explained. 

"I think there is nothing for you to feel guilty about. You sacrificed your life to protect her. You were just sixteen when you left and became a mother of someone else's child."

"I took care of her like a mother but in the end, I couldn't be a good mother to her and ended up being her nanny only, who failed to teach her what young girls need to learn before they get married," Tears rolled down her eyes, "I or no one of us ever thought her destiny will change like this. She is still like an innocent child to which there was no need to tell anything as it would have only spiked up a curiosity inside her. It was good the way she was living as in the end she had to end up being hidden somewhere else."

Erich Winfield passed her folded white cloth to wipe her tears. 

Martha accepted it and continued to pour her heart out, "When I was getting treated, we got to the news about the disaster in the palace and then about the third princess of Abetha getting married to the King of Megaris. I blamed myself for not being able to be with her and couldn't even hurry to come to her. Somehow I could get back but it was her wedding the next day. I...I didn't know what to tell her or how to explain anything to her in just one night. On one hand, I was struggling with this and on the other hand, I was holding back every bit of my energy to not fall in front of her and not to show my pain. I didn't want her to see me dying when she was leaving. I wanted her to leave while smiling. My heart hurt when I saw her going away from me... I could do nothing but send her among the strangers. How scared she must be...I am to blame for everything."

Erich Winifield sat quietly to let her take it out. Since the day they reached this old house in the woods which belonged to Erich Winfield but was empty for so many years, he saw Martha only sitting quietly like in a daze. She didn't even talk much but finally after almost more than two weeks, she said something. 

She talked again, "You know, the first thing she said to me when I returned the place and she saw me was- asking me to run away with her. If I was not dying, I might have done it but….And telling her everything in just one night at the same time when she wanted to run away was like scaring her. She is like a blank paper that was kept safe and away from everything and who knows nothing at all. I thought, just like other women, she will get to know and I could only trust King of Megaris for that."

"Why didn't you teach her like any other ordinary girl?" Erich Winfield asked. 

"I told you she was meant to be kept hidden all her life. Telling her anything will only make her curious. Her curiosity had already put her into trouble before and we just wished her to be away from any such things. What was the use of making her curious when she meant to spend her life alone in hiding and in isolation."

"True," Erich Winfield agreed and asked, "Then why did you agree to let her marry a stranger?"

"We talked about him. We were aware of rumors about him and the truth behind them. Though we never thought something like this could ever happen, being Esther's son, we could only look at him as a positive option. After the place where we prepared to take Seren was destroyed by them, we had no other option but to send her away from Abetha. They had already started to sense the essence of her stronger growing powers and would have found her here any moment. That tower wouldn't be able to hide her. What stopped them from finding her in the palace was the powers of the King of Megaris which could suppress her powers."

"Is it?" Erich Winfield was surprised to hear it, "I have witnessed the intensity of his powers but didn't know it was this powerful as I know that girl holds something really powerful inside her."

"For now we had no other option but to send her with him and let her marry him seemed better. Being her husband, he will always try to protect her," Martha explained.

"I don't know much about him but from what I observed, though he is rumored to be a devil, he cares for his people. There is no better king in this world who shed tears for his subjects," Erich Winfield commented, "If he can be this caring and protective towards a mere knight then he will be definitely much more protective to his wife."

"I believe he will try to be patient and understand her. Though I failed to be her mother, I can only expect him to be a good husband to her," Martha commented. 

"What you did for her, even mothers fail to do for their own kids. One day when she will know what you did for her, she will only be thankful to you."

"I don't want her to know anything. I just want her to be happy and live a life like any other woman," Martha commented. After a short pause, she talked again, "Erich?"

"Hmm?" Erich Winfield looked at her. 

"If I die anytime soon, don't ever let her know about it. Though I am just her nanny, I am the only person she had with her as her family. She will feel hurt and might truly feel like an orphan."

Erich Winfield's eyes turned moist but he said, "At least this time try to trust me. I won't let you go away."

Martha could only smile at it but it was a smile that showed pain in her heart, "You are still so stubborn like before."

"I am not stubborn but you should stop talking about dying. You are just in your mid-thirties and not so old to die yet," he countered.

She looked at him and chuckled, "But you look much older now so it's time for you to stop being stubborn and be a good old man."

He gave her a displeased look, "I look older because I was wandering around the continent while searching for someone. I am just in my early forties. I am not old," he declared. 

"You will never change," Martha smiled and continued to look at the river. 

Seeing her finally smiling, Erich Winfield said nothing and accompanied her silently.