Reasons to Protect the Witch's Son

“Espel…!”

Elaine’s face lit up when she spotted Espel. In an instant, joy rose like a tide. She almost ran to him. However, residual guilt and regret weighed on her heart, holding her back. She was truly happy to see Espel, but she didn’t know if she deserved to smile in his presence.

When Elaine hesitated in her approach, Espel saw her and proceeded forward with his long legs. Unlike her, he moved without the slightest hint of hesitation.

As he stepped in front of her, Espel smiled softly.

“Elaine, how are you?”

His smile was as sweet and warm as before. When she saw that, she felt like a fool for hesitating, even for a moment. Something dark began welling up inside her.

Elaine swallowed it down and smiled slightly.

“It’s only been a day since we said goodbye.”

“Still… It’s been a while since we’ve seen each other.”

Espel slightly lowered his eyelashes and then made eye contact and smiled faintly. Yeah, it’s been a really long time. How long has it been since they were able to see each other face to face and call each other by name?

It had been much longer for him, no, incomparably longer. From that day to now. He must have lived through twenty years alone before meeting her.

“Shall we sit down first?”

Espel spoke in a whisper and led her to a spot under the large tree. Underneath the old tree was a rock as tall as her knees. It was spacious enough for two people to sit and was quite comfortable. They sat down, side by side.

There was no one else around but them. The shadow of the large tree shielded their figures. Thanks to this, they wouldn’t be visible from the nearby bell tower.

Espel spoke softly.

“There were a lot of things I couldn’t say yesterday.”

The moonlight seeping through the lush branches and leaves was faint. His red eyes, illuminated by the moonlight, turned to face her.

“I’ve thought a lot since I last saw you.”

He asked after licking his lips for a moment as if deciding on words.

“Elaine, you said yesterday that Bella gave you… her heart. Is that why you still remain the same?”

“…That’s right.”

“Then why did Bella massacre Seveka? That day… What exactly happened?”

Espel had said he didn’t know the details of what happened that day. Had he not seen Bella go mad, had he not seen the magic circle above the palace ruins? What would it have been like to hear Bella accused of being a murderer without knowing why?

“…Bella was cursed.”

“A curse… What?”

“What happened that day was not Bella’s will. She was under a curse that controlled her mind. and…”

Elaine recounted the events in Seveka, coldly, without leaving out any details.

Horrible memories, stained with blood. Awakening again after 20 years. The moment when she thought everyone was dead, and meeting Ash again, like a miracle.

“Ever since then, I’ve been praying that you were still alive, that there was some other reason I didn’t see you that day…”

As Espel was in front of her like this now, the reason she didn’t see him there wasn’t because he was killed by Bella. He must have had something going on, just like her. Elaine trailed off and looked at him.

Espel was silent for a long time after hearing her story. A cool breeze blew over the hill, where they were sitting, still and silent. Wherever the night wind touched, the grass rose and fell again.

“…I am.”

And then, as the wind swept across the hill once more, his lips slowly opened. A voice like a groan escaped him

“I wasn’t in Seveka that day.”

She’d already kind of guessed that, actually. Even if Bella had gone mad, he wasn’t the kind of man to run off and leave her, and that was the only reason she could think of for him not being by Bella’s side. So where was Espel at that time?

“As you know, I’ve been investigating the passage for a long time.”

The passage. A door connecting this world and the demon world. Ordinary people may not know about it, but Elaine, who had witches and demons as her family, knew. How exactly do demons come to this world?

The passage was opened only on random days, once every few years or even decades. When the passage opened, energy from the demon world flowed into this world due to gravity, and demons such as Espel could be caught up in the flow and fall here.

In other words, it was not their will that brought them to this world. The only way to get back was to cross through the passage again. However, no one could predict when and where the passage door would open.

Espel wasn’t desperate to return to the demon world, but he had a life there too. If there was regularity in the locations where passages open, one could freely travel between the two worlds. Perhaps with that hope in mind, he searched for a way.

“I went to Genoa to investigate the place where the passage once opened, but why…”

Espel covered his face with one hand and groaned. Elaine looked at him with a bitter face, and then she asked cautiously.

“Then… Did you find out about Seveka later?”

He nodded with a dark expression.

“Yes, when I went back, everyone was gone. Everything had disappeared. Bella, Lloyd, and the entire city were nothing but ashes.”

He continued.

“I searched all over Seveka, every day, but I couldn’t find anyone.”

Still, he’d thought Elaine would be safe. She, too, had left Seveka before the incident happened. But no matter how much he searched, he couldn’t find her.

Elaine, who had been listening to him, asked.

“But… I was still sleeping there. You couldn’t find me at the palace?”

“Yes, I looked there too, but there was nothing.”

Espel said after a moment of thought.

“Now that I think about it, that’s a bit odd. I wonder if there was some sort of magic cast on that place.”

“Magic?”

“It’s just a guess, but I wonder if…… Bella put it there to protect you. She’s the only one who could have cast a spell that I wouldn’t notice.”

“Bella…”

Elaine’s eyes rippled.

Did she know how long it would take her to wake up after receiving the heart? Or maybe it was just for defense. Whatever it was, she felt a tightening in her chest, knowing that not only had she given up her heart, but that she was thinking of her well-being, even as she lay dying. A lump formed in her throat.

Espel’s voice continued.

“I found out later that Ash was alive, the royal family revealed it one day after the dust settled, but Bella and Lloyd were…”

“…”

“It all seems like some twisted joke.”

He said, his eyes narrowing as he ground his teeth.

“A curse. What kind of an asshole would…”

Elaine, who had lowered her gaze slightly, looked up. She cleared her throat, then spoke.

“Speaking of the one behind this, I actually need to talk to you about that.”

“Do you know anything?”

“Not exactly, but I’ve been doing some research on my own… I think it has something to do with the royal family.”

“…The royal family?”

Elaine pulled a piece of parchment from her pocket and showed it to him.

“This is…”

“It’s the magic circle of the curse that was placed on Bella.”

With that, Elaine told him what she had discovered and how she had gotten there.

The ancient curse magic and the battle against the evil dragon. The royal family that ordered it. The suspected current king and Duke Diallo.

“How could that…”

Espel muttered in disbelief, but then burst into laughter.

“Hah, so the battle to subdue the evil dragon back then…”

It was only for a moment, but his red eyes filled with rage. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles popped. The expression soon vanished from his face.

“If I’d known sooner, I wouldn’t have left them alone. No, even right now-”

Then he raised his upper body as if he was going to jump up at any moment. Elaine hurriedly grabbed his sleeve.

“Calm down. Even if we suspect someone from the royal family was behind this, we’re still not sure exactly who it was.”

“It doesn’t matter. Why not just get rid of them all together?”

“No matter what, attacking the royal family is dangerous. What if you get hurt?”

Moreover, there could be innocent people among them. Even though she was angry and it would be difficult to identify the culprit, she couldn’t accuse an innocent person and sacrifice him.

“I understand Espel’s feelings, I had similar thoughts at first. But, we have to back down for now.”

“…”

“I want to clear Bella’s name. To do that, the first thing I have to do is identify the culprit and find evidence.”

After that, the culprits would be punished. When the truth was revealed and everyone knows what really happened. Only then will the hatred towards Bella and Ash be completely washed away.

“…Elaine.”

As Elaine stared straight at him, he pursed his lips. His mouth, which seemed to be about to say something, eventually closed again. Instead, he relaxed his body and sat back down. Then he rubbed his face and sighed.