Reasons to Protect the Witch's Son

A Story from the Past

 

“Your father will be here soon to pick you up soon, so wait patiently. Understand, Lane?”

“Yes, mother.”

“Be a good girl.”

At Elaine’s obedient response, Elaine’s stepmother raised her pained red lips into a smile. Considering her stepmother had always been indifferent to her, it was a rather affectionate response. It was only for a moment, then the kindness disappeared from her face and it returned to its icy indifference.

In a cold voice her stepmother ordered the coachman, “Let us depart.”

As the coach door closed, Elaine could hear a gleeful chuckle leaking through the gaps from inside. It was the complete opposite behavior she has shown the young girl she was cruelly abandoning on the side of the road. She could see through the gaps in the curtain as her step mother lovingly held her infant son close and laughed.

Slowly the wheels started to turn and the carriage moved further and further away, until it was no longer in sight. After they left, Elaine took a look around.

She was in a dense forest, standing on a gravel road. The foliage was so dense barely any light could peek through. The air was chilly. Beneath a large tree, Elaine crouched, waiting for the carriage to return.

“Why… when are you coming back?”

She sat like that for one hour. Two hours. Evan after what felt like hours had passed, there was no sign of the carriage. Slowly the anxiety began to creep in.

At first, she tried to reassure herself that her stepmother couldn’t be that cruel. Then as the night crept in and darkness began to decent, she had to admit the truth, “She abandoned me.”

Elaine Christasia was the only daughter born to the Viscount family. When Elaine’s mother failed to give birth to a son, the Viscount began to treat the Viscountess badly. She then turned her resentment toward Elaine. After suffering from a long-term illness, the Viscountess passed away. Shortly after, her husband, Elaine’s father, remarried.

The new Viscountess, Elaine’s stepmother, disliked Elaine from the moment she stepped foot in the house. She would use any excuse she could find to fault and criticize Elaine at every turn. With the Viscount turning a blind eye, this became a daily occurrence.

After some time, her stepmother finally gave birth to a baby boy. The Viscount was overjoyed and acted as if he would do anything for her stepmother and the newborn child.

Her stepmother was a greedy woman and viewed Elaine as a thorn in her side, always worried of the possibility that Elaine could become a threat to her child’s inheritance. Considering all of this, it wasn’t too surprising what she had done, Elaine just hadn’t expected it to happen so soon.

And as she expected, the carriage never returned.

***

Elaine had been abandoned in a remote forest outside a city. After she had escaped safely from the forest, she wandered the back alleys and streets working hard to survive on her own. At first, she would occasionally wander onto the main streets to see if there was anyone her father had sent to search for her. With her father’s status as a Viscount, he could have easily hired someone to find her.

Nothing. There were no posters with her face or people roaming the streets looking for a lost child. There was no intention of recovering her.

There was a moment that she had a glimmer of hope that someone may come and look for her, but that hope was soon shattered. Elaine stopped going out to the streets and became a child of the alleys.

She spent her days cold and hungry. Sometimes she fell victim to the cruel adults and sometimes she would get beaten by the other children in the alleys who were fighting for their territory. All of these instances would result in injuries.

Now, a year had passed, and she was running for her life.

“Hah, hah…!”

Today, Elaine had found a relatively good spot to spend the night, but unfortunately, it was already occupied by someone else. She tried to leave to find another place, but the man caught her and pushed her into a corner. She bit his hand disparately, with all her strength and as soon as his grip slackened, Elaine took off running as fast as she could.  Soon after she took off running, the man turned and followed hot on her heels.

‘I’ll die if he catches me.’

Elaine was even more terrified when she saw that the man was holding a knife. She ran disparately and at some point, realized she had reached a deep forest. When she turned around to look again she realized the man chasing her had disappeared long ago.

All around the forest was noise. There was the sound of insects buzzing and rustling in the bushes. Every time she heard a sound in the dark, her heart sank thinking the man would jump out of the forest and start attacking her.

Then, the bush next to her shook.

Elaine took a slow, deep breath, raised her head and made eye contact with something that was definitely not the man. There was a pair of large, red glowing eyes staring straight at her.

“Mons…ter?”

In the Christasia territory, monsters rarely appeared so Elaine had never actually seen one. Her instincts kicked in instantly though, she knew this was a monster. This was no ordinary beast. The malevolent force emanating from the beast was unlike anything she had ever felt before. As the footsteps drew closer, Elaine could tell that death was approaching.

‘Did I survive all this time, just do die a horrifyingly painful death? Torn apart by this terrifying beasts’ sharp fangs and claws?’

She laughed silently in despair. A laugh like a sigh, filled with despair and the realization that she had survived in the slums this long for nothing.

‘What a miserable life.’

Her moment of death had finally arrived.

It seemed like her time had truly come. She would leave the world without anyone to mourn her disappearance. Elaine looked back at her life, at all the time she had wasted living like a fool, desperately clinging to that glimmer of hope that someone would come for her. Begging for love that would never belong to her. It was all useless now.

‘Your very existence is a nightmare for me.”

As elaine stood waiting for death, she remembered this phrase. She could not remember if it was her biological mother or her stepmother who had spoken it.

‘Does it really matter?’

She was despised by both. There was nothing strange in hearing either of them saying this.

‘What was it about me that you hated so much?’

 

Elaine stared into the monsters red eyes as if trying to find the answers to the questions she had always had. She then closed her eyes in resignation. This is it.

Kyaaaah!

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light as a blue flame erupted and illuminated the dark forest. It was an incredible sight. Elaine widened her eyes in shock. The gigantic black beast as big as a house was being swallowed by those blue flames. Where the monster had stood before, now there was only a pile of ashes and charred remains. In front of those remains stood a woman with long black hair. She had stood motionless as she watched the monster’s life end.

When she turned around to face Elaine, they made eye contact.

“… …!”

All she could see was a pair of vibrant purple eyes that shown brightly in the dark. And soon after, Elaine lost consciousness.

***

After Elaine lost consciousness, she suffered from a severe fever for several days. In her dreams, she was being chased by a large man with a knife, threatened by a terrifying monster she had never seen before in her life, the she was saved by something that could possibly be even more dangerous than the monster.

All of these events were too much for a mere 9-year-old child to handle.

“…”

When Elaine woke up, she found herself in an unfamiliar cabin. She blinked her eyes and observed the room around her. It was neatly organized and had a cozy feel to it. At the same time, she could hear the chattering from the room outside.

“Did she see it?”

“She must have seen it.”

“I guess so… I mean, who could have expected there would be a child in a place like that in the middle of the night. I was so surprised…”

There were two people talking. One voice sounded like it came from a young man, while the other was from a young woman. As the conversation continued, the sound of footsteps drew near. When they had finally reached the other side of the door, the conversation came to a halt. Soon after, the door to the room was opened quietly.

Subconsciously, Elaine quickly closed her eyes and pretended she was still asleep. Because of this, the two lowered their voices and continued the conversation they were having.

“What are you planning to do with the child?”

“I’ll think about that when she wakes up.”

“There is no need to think about it. As I mentioned earlier, it saw you using mana. It’s has probably recognized what you are by now.”

“This kid is a human, not an object or an animal.”

The man laughed at the woman’s words and spoke in a sarcastic voice.

“Among humans, there are many who are worse than animals. You have experienced it as well, so you should know as well how cruel they can be.”

“…”

As the man started walking back toward the door but turned back and added, as if to solidify his stance on the child’s presence.

“Anyway, I can never accept a human child. You should know that as well.”

“Shh Espel, you’re going to wake the child. Be quiet.”

“Really, you…”

He let out a sigh as he left the room.

The woman then turned back to the child and began to carefully wipe down her face with a warm wet towel, when she noticed Elaine’s eyes were now open. The woman let out a surprised shout

“Oh, my!”

“Are you awake?”

“…”

“Does it hurt anywhere?”

“…”

Elaine looked up at the woman in silence. The purple eyes she had seen just before losing consciousness in the forest were filled with worry.

‘Witches’, who had existed long before the kingdom of Philion was built, are said to be immortal. With their unfailing youth and absolute power, they have become objects of awe and fear to humans.

Although it is unknown exactly what a witch looks like, everyone from a child to the elderly know the folk tales of the witch’s blue flames that have been passed down for hundreds of years. Elaine knew at once what those blue flames she had seen in the forest had meant.

Elaine looked straight into the woman’s eyes and asked.

“Are you a witch?”

“As expected, you know exactly what I am.”

The woman laughed bitterly as she put the cloth down. She spoke calmly in a voce devoid of any emotions.

“Okay. If you are asking of the name I am referred to by humans, then a ‘witch’ is correct.”

“So then, what is your real name, not the title we humans refer to you as?”

With that one sentence, the woman’s face changed. Her eyes widened as if she was in shock and she seemed to be embarrassed. The woman was unable to say anything, her lips moving but nothing escaping past them. Elaine then laughed, wondering what was so shocking about such a simple question.

“This is my first time being asked that question.”

She chuckled with a hint of amusement. The woman had indeed lived for a long time. So long, that the young child in front of her could probably not even dare to imagine.

All the humans she had met during that time had been afraid when faced with a witch, prayed in awe or were blinded by greed for immortality.

However, she saw no fear, awe or greed in the eyes of the small child in front of her. She was different from those whose attitudes had changed upon learning she was a witch. On the contrary, Elaine’s consistent attitude of ‘what’s the big deal’ was very unfamiliar to her.

The woman smiled slightly, closing her eyes that had been wide in surprise. With an arc at the corner of her lips, she spoke in a pleasant voice.

“Bella. My name is Bella.”

Bella. Elaine rolled the name around in her mouth. The name was soft and pleasing to the ears.

“That’s a pretty name. “

“Tell me your name as well.”

“My name is… It’s Elaine. “

The day that she had decided to become a child of the alleys, she had given up the name of Christasia. A child in the alleys had no use of a noble background.

Bella suddenly began to speak when she saw Elaine go silent.

“By any chance, do you have a home to return to?”

A home to return to. The only place Elaine could return to was the dark back alleys, where the cold and hunger waited for her.

“…no.”

Elaine slowly shook her head. Bella then asked in a light tone.

“So… Do you want to live with us then?”