Ginny inhaled sharply as she took a step inside the Bloodmoon swamp, the forest was just as scary as she thought it was going to be —- gnarled tree trunks with hollows inside, moonlight as dark as blood shining through the gaps of the canopies of the trees and the howls of beasts echoing through the surrounding. Knowing what lay in front of her Ginny took off her glasses revealing her multiple coloured eyes, it was believed that the eyes of sirens were the prettiest but funnily enough, no one knew that a siren's eyes were never the same colour for anyone. They were the most alluring creations of the Goddess, how can they be so simple as just 'bewitching'? They were much more complex than that.
Drawing in a breath, she started humming a lullaby that her father used to sing to her, given that her mother was incapable of taking care of her, most of the time it was her father who looked after her. " Walking through the stars ——the night showers us with love and goodbyes… oh little baby it has been so long, so long…so watch the shining moonlight shimmer through the cloud and say goodbye to the present."
As she sang the lullaby in her soft and melodious voice, one by one sound of beasts dropping on the ground of the forest echoed through the forest. Every time a beast fell asleep, the ground under her feet would reverberate causing Ginny to stumble and stagger. Seriously, what kind of diet was the Duke of Terranova giving these beasts they weighed tons!
The deeper she walked in the forest the darker the mist became, it was as if it was warning her not to get too close and just stay away. Something Ginny expected from the magic of the forever antisocial archmage, but she ignored it as she has always ignored things that were merely an annoyance to her. She wasn't here for the Duke and she wasn't going to let her plan become a foil because of someone whose mood swings were worse than a PMSing woman.
As she stepped past the dark mist the forest became more and more dangerous and Ginny could no longer take a break from her singing worried that a single mistake might cost her, her life. She was climbing the cliff when her gaze fell on the palace of the Duke of Terranova, unlike the cliff that she was climbing the Duke's palace was free of any beasts, it was as if even the beasts were avoiding going near the terrible Duke with a bloodthirsty history.
And why wouldn't they? The Duke didn't rule the territory with an iron fist nor did he drill his fear in the bones of others—— his presence alone was enough to terrorise others. Born from the womb of the Saintess who betrayed the Gods for an unfaithful man, the entire existence of the Duke was nothing less than a sin—— a sin that even beasts avoided.
She turned her gaze away from the palace that was so close yet so far, and walked towards the south. She didn't know whether it was a psychological mind f*ck from the Royal family or something along the line, but the palace in the Bloodmoon swamp was a mirror image of the Royal family's palace in the capital, maybe they wanted to let their captives know that even though they were away from the Royal family, they will never be free of the hold that they had over them.
And since Ginny was fairly familiar with the layout of the palace of the Royal family, she knew where Leilani was being locked up. What better way was to break a witch's soul? Break her mana core and then lock her in the same tower that once used to be her solitude, knowing how the Crown Prince liked that sadistic kick he got after destroying people, watching them wail and howl in misery after losing everything, Ginny knew that Leilani must have been trapped in the replica of the southern tower of magic, her home, her haven and her safe place.
Now tainted and mangled by the crown prince.
Sure enough, as she walked towards the tower of magic, she found two guards asleep in the front of the tower gates. They must have heard her voice and from the looks of their drawn weapons, it seemed that they were trying to charge at her but fell asleep before they could do that.
She glanced at them and then calm as ever walked past them though she remembered to stomp on their feet as she did that, to think they were thinking of drawing their swords at a lady. Utterly despicable just like their master.
Once she entered the tower, she realised that even though the tower was the exact replica of the tower in the capital, it was lacking the warmth that Leilani had instilled in it. It was cold and detached like it was on the verge of dying itself, she walked towards the stairs and frowned when she saw the silvery threads that were dangling through the bannisters and even housing the horse sculpture that Leilani liked so much——spiders webs realised Ginny and scrunched up her nose. How disgusting, they didn't even clean the place before dumping the wisest witch of the Empire here, no matter what and how she got landed here, she was still the greatest asset the crown prince had, how can they treat her like this?
Wiping her hand on the cloak she climbed the stairs and headed straight to the room where Leilani used to coop herself experimenting with this and that, as she pushed open the door to that room, Ginny's gaze fell on the woman who was tied to the wall with chains bounding her legs and hands, a thick trail of blood dripped down her forehead that was hidden behind the tangled nest of red hair.
Though the room didn't light up when Ginny pushed the door, it did become a lot less dark. Leilani who was sitting on the cold floor raised her head and smiled when she saw who came to see her. " Are you here to mock me too?"