The Devil's Cursed Witch

Draven was soaking inside the pool attached to his bedchamber with his eyes closed. The dream he was seeing these days flashed in his mind once more.

A hand wielding a sharp weapon, flowing blood from a stab and the sound of someone crying.

He opened his eyes, and this time, he didn't look shocked, as if the vision no longer affected him. Every time his vision came to the part where the assailant would stab that weapon, Draven would feel sharp pain in his chest, as if he was personally experiencing the attack.

'A weapon made of divine magic, a creation that bears its creator's bloodlust, Its very existence will stop at nothing until it fulfills its purpose. A weapon that brings death.' He was determined. 'If that is the case, I should be the one to take that hit. I cannot lose more of my people.'

Unpleasant memories he had long buried began to resurface, causing his normally expressionless face to twist in anger.

'If only I find that weapon.'

However, despite searching the entire kingdom, Draven was unable to sense any divine weapon with malicious energy. A weapon that brings death was a monstrosity that could not coexist peacefully with nature. It was not possible to hide such an accursed divine weapon in a kingdom full of powerful supernatural beings.

This made Draven wonder if this meant an outsider would cause trouble on the day of mourning.

Just then, he heard the sound of his mate cursing him from the main chamber.

"Draven Aramis! You monster! Don't you dare come in front of me!!!"

All the worries he had in mind disappeared in a blink of an eye, and an uncharacteristically pleasant smile spread across his normally expressionless face.

'Seems like she is finally awake.' At the thought of what kind of face she's making, the smile on his lips widened even more. 'She sure sounds adorable when angry. I overdid it but…maybe I might not get another chance to be with her like this. I need to be with her as much as I can.'

He stepped out of the bath and went out after drying himself and wrapping a towel around his waist. As soon as he stepped out of the side chamber, he found his mate staggering under the sheets. She was trying to sit up in bed with much effort when she felt a figure approaching him.

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Ember gritted her teeth, refusing to look at him. "You! I don't want to see you!"

"You are the one who called my name and dared me to show up in front of you," he countered as he approached her to support her aching body.

"I don't need your help," she snapped and shrugged his hand angrily, but the next moment, she froze.

The moment she turned her head, her gaze landed on the perfectly sculpted body of the half-naked mate in front of her. She could not help but appreciate those beautiful muscles, forgetting her anger for a moment.

He also paused upon finding her bold gaze on him. "I thought you didn't want to see me."

She immediately turned her face away. "Who wants to see you? I don't want to anymore."

"You might get your wish fulfilled soon," he said under his breath, too soft for her to hear properly, and despite her not wanting to get help from him, he held her upper body up. He went ahead and arranged the pillows behind her and pulled up the blanket  for her to cover herself.

Before she could say anything more, Draven beat her to it. "Maybe you will feel less angry with this." A rolled scroll came flying towards the bed and spread open in front of her. It was the map of the continent.

'Oh! I forgot about this…'

She looked at the map and then looked at Draven with a doubtful gaze, tightly clutching the blanket in front of her chest.

Draven sat at the edge of the bed. "I am not going to do anything now. You can just focus on the map."

"Liar! You always lie."

"I never," he countered with a genuine gaze. "I will make up for the delay by teaching it to you properly and answering every question you have in mind. If you want to tell me anything, I will listen to it as well."

Ember stared at him with a suspicious gaze and wondered, 'Why is he being so gentle and patient? Is he trying to make up for what he did wrong? Hmph, you should apologize if you're sorry, what's this trying to spoil me?'

Despite thinking like that, she felt her anger lessening.

Draven straightened the map as he explained, "The continent is large, and there are parts yet to be explored, but the possibility of civilizations on those areas are small so they remain as unmarked territories on this map. These in the map are the confirmed current human kingdoms, principalities and other claimed lands that I've seen for the past few years. Is there any particular place you are interested in?"

Ember felt herself relaxing with the serious conversion taking place.

"This one"—she put her finger on the map—"Valor, where I used to live."

"What about Valor?"

"Tell me anything you know about it."

Draven gave her a brief introduction about the Kingdom of Valor, like how it was built centuries ago, about how it was a small kingdom with a single religion, and how the royal family had been ruling it unimpeded since its foundation.

"Anything in particular you want to know about this kingdom?"

Ember stared at the map of Valor. It had marks of its terrain and cities, but the labels on them were only handwritten names, not a single symbol could be seen. "I want to see the family crests of each of the territories within Valor. Someone mentioned to me those symbols put on flags were used to represent which land belongs to them. I don't see any drawn on this map."

"Those kinds of maps are sold to adventurers and mercenaries. This map is different since it is only meant for my personal use."

"That makes sense"

Seeing the disappointment in her gaze, Draven did something with his fingers, and on the map, flashes of light appeared on the scroll. As they dimmed, one could see various crests made of magic appearing above the different cities and regions of Valor. In particular, the crest hanging over the capital city was eye-catching due to its size being larger than the rest.

A downward-pointing celestial sword with its crossguard shaped into fierce-looking wings.

"This?" Her eyes lit up and she explained to Draven where she had seen it.

In response, he said, "This is the symbol used by the Valor Royal Family and the Kingdom of Valor itself."