Jack was in his study room, reviewing some documents. He wearing a pair of glasses while scribbling on his paper works, thinking about what Apollo had told him.
"She can't get pregnant."
Those words were playing over and over his head.
'It's not like I care... But won't she feel sad to know about it?" He sighed losing hope little by little.
"I wanna kill Ethan so bad right now. It's all his fault!" He slammed his desk in rage.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Someone knocked at his door. He glanced towards it.
"Come in." He ordered with his usual cold tone.
"Your majesty!~" A sweet woman's voice spoke excitedly while entering the room. It was Leila. She was wearing a grey and blue dress with her grey hair down.
She rushed towards Jack's desk. "I miss you so much." She stated with a grin on her lips.
"Why are you here again?" Jack sighed as his cold expression darkened.
"Oh, calm down. My brother already told me to be careful so the queen won't misunderstand us. Don't worry majesty, I won't do anything that will cause you harm." She said sneering.
'Hah. You're talking like there's something between us. If someone heard you, they would think I'm having an affair with you and forcing you to keep quiet!' Jack thought while getting more pissed.
"Say what you want and get out."
"Oh well, I came here to personally invite the queen at the Glaid's tea party hosted by me. I hope the queen can come." Leila handed over an envelope with a blue-coloured seal that represented the Glaid's duchy.
"Why come to m? You should have asked the queen directly." The king glared at her.
"W-well we aren't close and..." she baffled.
"Mhm, okay. Now get out." Jack ordered with a firm tone, giving her deadly glares.
"Y-yes, yes." She hurriedly walked out of the room frightened.
'He's always so scary.... Ever since that day.' She thought while leaving the study room.
"Ah." Aveline made a faint noise, surprised by what she witnessed.
"Hmm... Calm down, Aveline. Maybe it's not what you're thinking." She told herself while heading inside the study room.
Jack who noticed the door opening again didn't even bother glancing towards it. He knew it was probably Leila again.
"Leila, get out! I don't want to see you!" He yelled as he fixed his glasses, still writing on the documents.
"Heh. Husband, what?" Ave smirked joyfully feeling amused. She didn't expect that she was misunderstanding the relationship between him and that woman for so long.
'Ah, I should have known. He's too loyal to the late owner of this body. He wouldn't dare cheating on her...' At that thought, she felt a slight disappointment for some reason.
"Avi!" Jack rose from his chair as soon as he heard her voice. His face had already brightened up and his glasses couldn't cover his shining eyes.
He stepped towards her and wrapped his arms around her small waist.
Ave was surprised and gazed at him. He looked more handsome then usual somehow. Was it his glasses? His breath was closer against her ear making her feel ticklish. She shivered as her cheek turned pink. She closed her eyes tightly in embarrassment and quickly hid her face with her hands.
Jack chuckled and removed them.
"You look so cute." He spoke with his usual gentle voice.
"S-shut up." She mumbled while averting her eyes from his gaze.
"Alright, alright." The man let go of her and walked back to his desk. He picked up the envelope on Leila has given earlier and handed it over to her.
"What's this?" The blonde woman asked as she took the letter in her hand.
"Invitation at a tea party. You can accept or refuse. For all I care, just do what you like. But be careful of these nobles, they are not always reliable. It's in a week." Jack said with a sharp gaze.
Ave nodded.
"I'll go. I wanna see what they are capable of and what I'm not capable of." She sneered evilly.
***
At an abandoned village, everything was burned down to ashes. Only a few pieces of metals that didn't burn were visible. At the end of the village, there was a blue river flowing. On the other side, some villagers were living their usual lives. They probably got lucky that the fire didn't reach their village thanks to the vastness of the river.
Zain and a few knights came there on their horses. Zain looked around, examining the whole place.
"So this is where the witches were burnt down." He mumbled and slowly stepped further inside the burned area.
Suddenly, a little bit of movement was visible inside the river. A knight noticed and hurried towards the captain.
"Captain, I think something moved inside the river." He spoke panicked and frightened.
"Maybe you're imagining things." He sighed and continued his steps further.
He stopped only when he felt coming heading towards him. He quickly turned around and was an arrow thrown in his direction. Zain grabbed the arrow with a frown on his face.
"Who dares?-" He stopped talking as he saw a magnificent woman coming out of the water.
Her long pink hair looked like cheery blossoms which reached her waist. She had emerald-like eyes and her body was extremely had the form of an hourglass. She had only a piece of seashell that covered her chest.
The woman smiled as she looked at the humans in front of her.
"My, my. Would you look at this? Who might you be? And why are you here?" Her green eyes glowed giving the knights chills.
Zain, on who it didn't work, walked towards the river.
"C-captain!" The knights yelled, hoping he would stop but he didn't.
"Who are you?" He asked with a grimace on his face and a cold tone.
'Oh my, looks like my charm didn't work on him. Who's he?' The female wondered as she got more intrigued about the black-haired man approaching her.
"I'm the woman of the river." She answered after a few seconds with a sneer on her rosy lips. "See the villagers there?" She pointed the few families at the other side. "I rule over them." She spoke proudly.
The knights started laughing loudly, finding how ridiculous it was.
"Hahaha. Oh my god. I'm going to have a stomachache from laughing so much." They laughed without being able to stop.
That didn't please the pink-haired woman. She greeted her teeth and threw some arrows at them that came out of her hands.
Zain was surprised and knelt to look closer at the woman.
"Wait... are you perhaps... a witch?" He asked looking at her more intensely.
"Hah. So you know? Who are you? Witch hunters?" She raised an eyebrow as she used magic that pulled her out of water. She had a fish's tail and not legs! She was standing in the air without even shaking a little.
'There's no doubt. She's the one!' The red-haired man was finally sure he had completed his mission.
'Now I need to bring her back. But how?' He wondered, searching for a way to bring the female into the palace.
"Umm... I came here because the king ordered me to bring a witch." He said truthfully. Zain was too honest of a man to lie on the first try.
"Oh. Did your new king had the urge to sleep with a witch?" The mermaid chuckled, mocking the king.
'Pff. Some old man thinking they can get anything just because they are the king!' She thought rolling her eyes.
"No. He needs you. If you don't believe me, just follow me. You can ask him on your own." Zain stated firmly.
He wasn't the type to back up from his missions easily. He wasn't expecting to find the witch so soon but he was glad he knew at least one was still alive.
"Hmm." The witch thought for a second and moved her index signing no. "No, no. Do you think I'm stupid like those other witches who believed that the king would reward them but burnt them down??" She frowned while asking that question.
"I swear, my king won't do that. He needs you. Please, come with us.' Zain pleaded after a very long time. He stopped pleading with people but since it was for Jack he didn't mind. After all, everything he had now was because of him.
"Hmm. If you dare betray me, you will see. After all, I'm not that weak like those witches centuries ago." She proudly spoke as she jumped on the ground and her fishtail changed into human legs instantly.
"Hey, guys! I'm going somewhere. Don't miss me too much!" She yelled joyfully waving goodbye to the villagers.
They weren't surprised since this witch loved fooling around but she would always come back. After all, she lived for thousands of years already...