The garden is in chaos.
My crow vines are screaming for food.
The crystal roses need new gems.
The other poison herbs are hungry.
I just might have to grab a dead person and toss them in.
You know what? I'll go find Hades for a rotting corpse. Sounds about valid.
I grab a basket, a gem, and turn my hair black.
"I'm off Magi~"
"Meow!"
I wander through the forest, everything's rather dark today. Maybe my plants were starting to drain the life around them.
Pieces of shit. Time to boil them up and sell them on the black market.
I skip through the forest, and I wander to the gates of the mansion.
"Halt! Who are you and what brings you here!"
I grin and flash a smile, and then disappear.
The guards look around as if they've hallucinated, and I search the mansion for Hades. Ah, he's cornering the purple-eyed priests right now. How nice. I can wait, the priests will probably toss me and try to perform an exorcism if I pop out.
I follow them downstairs, and I wait until Hades is alone.
"I know you're there,"
"I figured," I warp from the shadows, and I stare at him. "So... are they the..."
"Purple eyed." Hades stares at them. "They're purple-eyed, and they've been caught controlling the followers mana levels."
"How crude," I grumble. "May I assist?"
"Why so? It isn't a lady's job to take care of their enemies you know?"
"Yeah but I'm in need of a corpse," I hum. "I ran out."
"Ah..." Hades gets it. "You can take all the ones you kill."
I glow. "How nice,"
"So... do any of them need to be tortured for information?"
"Can you summon the crow vines here?" Hades stares at the people. "I need something out of them."
"How many?"
"Seven," Hades stares at the head priest. "Two on the head and the rest on the lower ranks."
"Sure," I smile. I snap my fingers, and the vines start crawling out of the ground. It turns from purple to black, and I infuse it with the shadows. "Two on the center the rest on the side."
The vines attach themselves, and I smile. "green thorns."
The thorns attach themselves into the priests, and I check my clock.
"Twenty minutes Hades." I hum. "I'll wait-"
"Stay here," He speaks. "This involves you."
"Speak."
"W-We were sent on Princess Bria's orders to eliminate the witch in the forest. She said that if we killed the witch s-she would promote us to become k-knights in the royal family!"
My eyes sharpen. That bitch.
"By what means?"
"S-she h-has forged p-passes to enter the a-army!" The priest shakes. "S-she promised us that she would b-bribe the guards-"
"Ah." My voice drops. "Wasn't she dead?"
"S-she hired a replacement and snuck out on the final night!" The priest cries. "W-we helped her! Sh-she and her son are currently residing in the basement of the endland's mansion!"
Hades stops.
"Any more?"
"Where is the child." I turn to the man and tighten the vines.
"H-He's w-with Princess Bria! I-in the area that Duke A-Albert resides in!" He cries, his eyes must sting from the serum. "T-the boy is getting provisions from t-the empress's sisters!"
"That's enough," I smile. "Let's keep the big one, we can feed the other ones to you and the others,"
My vines get to work, and half of the priests are wiped out.
"Hades," I stare at him. "Do you need any?"
"Do you know how to capture souls?"
"Vynnie," The vines form small circles around the dead, and it glows blue.
"Souls," I smile. "Do you have a jar?"
"No I need to merge it with someone,"
"A person?"
"My wife is sick-"
"Hades I don't think it works like that," I grumble. "Replacing one soul with another replaces the dying soul. You'll only have her body left,"
Hades sighs.
"I can get a poison concoction strong enough for your wife to live again though," I shrug. "depends if you'll pay me more than the black market though-"
"I'll give you a new identity," Hades cuts me off.
Huh? Now that's interesting.
"For the reverse concoction?"
"It requires a petal from the crystal rose." Hades mumbles.
"It does," I smile. "You want to heal your wife that bad?"
"Yes."
"Why can't Duke Albert do it?"
"He does not possess a sky-gem rose. His is a rainbow one, that does permanent light. It's more like a decoration compared to yours." Hades speaks. "I want my wife back."
I sigh. "A new identity and a chapel."
"A chapel?"
"I'm tired of hearing about kidnapped orphans," I grumble. "I'm starting a sanctuary."
"-?" Hades blinks at me as I crush the other priests.
"Haven't you heard? Most of the commoner orphans are missing again." I shrug. "someone's gotta take one for the empire."
Hades stares at me. "A sanctuary where?"
I smile. "The Sombre. Princess Lilith's place. The most orphans go missing there."
"It makes sense," Hades sighs. "Alright I'll take it."
"Then give me a week," I hum. "Afterwards I'll go find Bria in her old mansion."
"You know who Bria is?" He side-eyes me.
"Despite the contract, my memory seems to be in tact." I sigh. The vines latch themselves onto the priest once more, and he speaks.
"T-The eclipse temple received a prophecy that the blessed would kill anyone in the way of them recovering t-their memories!"
Hades understands.
"Shall I tell him?"
"No," Because Hades was the most trustworthy out of all of the royal children. He would not say anything even if it cost him his life. Which was why he was used as a middle line, and the reason he was used as a middleman. Secrets kept by him would lie unto death.
Ah the more I looked at him, the more he reminds me of Zachary's. A golden-eyed emperor, a red-eyed sibling, a broken family.
"Ah I heard that Bria's trying to heal Terrence." Hades speaks.
Ah.
"Isn't that an imperial secret?"
"Zach actually ended up killing the prince. His soul is currently wandering around." Hades speaks. "In exchange for your secret, I shall tell you that. The Imperial family never actually kills for the crown, they kill and then resurrect. Zachary was unable to resummon his spirit."
"Ah," I remember now. It was a side story where Terence and Bria lived happily ever together after the revolution. "I shall capture his spirit for Bria to stop her antics then. I shall send her to ... where she belongs afterwards. They can live together in the village. But Bria's jealousy... will prove to be an issue if she doesn't accept that she's lost. Have the servants- nevermind."
"When will the potion be ready?"
"I'll send it in two weeks max. I expect the sanctuary by the end of the year, and then I will deal with Bria after the two weeks. I'm going to go work for the emperor to taste test his food."
Hades stares at me. "Alright. Stay safe."