Aria stood outside the main entrance to the castle, her expression was cold and her eyes seemed to have lost any trace of emotion in them. Her posture was stiff and her back remained as straight as a pole as she patiently waited.
She only took a step away from the entrance when she heard the sound of an incoming carriage.
The door to the carriage immediately opened after it stopped right in front of the entrance, a tall woman with a scar across her left eye stepped out. She was clad in armour, seemingly in her late twenties if her age was to be judged by appearance alone.
Her sharp eyes scanned the castle and its surrounding area.
"So this is the cage of the witch"
A cold chuckle left her lips following her comment.
Aria was angered by her statement but she knew better than to react. A reaction would benefit neither her nor her lady. Her expression remined cold and placid even with the rage hidden underneath.
The two women took firm steps toward each other, both only offering a slight nod as a greeting.
"You are late"
Aria was the first to speak, her voice as cold as ice. Her usual demeanor was completely hidden behind the cold exterior.
"My last mission took longer than estimated"
The woman replied in an equally cold tone.
"Follow me"
Aria turned around and walked into the castle, deciding that any further conversation between them had no meaning. The woman didn't utter a single complaint and simply followed behind her. Aria couldn't figure out the reason why the woman behind her made her feel anxious, she didn't understand how the woman could earn such a reaction from her. The dangerous aura the woman exuded was nothing new since she had felt similar auras from many other knights, she just didn't know why the aura around the woman gave her a different impression.
The Emperor's guardians were not only powerful individuals, they were also a very secretive and mysterious group. It was the Emperor's order so Aria was unable to protest but she just couldn't bring herself to trust this woman one bit. Aria was determined to finish her business in the capital and return to her lady as quickly as possible. She would rather not hand over her role as a guardian to the strange woman, however she wasn't granted any other options.
They both walked in silence until they reached a familiar door.
"I assume you know your duties well"
Aria spoke without sparing a glance at the woman, her eyes never moving away from the door in front of her.
"Of course"
"Good"
A knock rang out soon after.
"My lady, it's Aria"
"Come in"
A melodious voice sounded from behind the door, granting them permission to enter the room.
"My lady"
Aria bowed slightly as a sign of respect to the woman sitting in front of her. Her lady was a figure who had earned her respect long before their first meeting.
"What is it Aria"
Kharis asked with a smile on her face.
"Lady Kharis, I am here to introduce you to the knight who will carry out my duties during my absence"
Kharis looked at the tall woman behind her knight with curiosity evident in her eyes.
Aria stepped aside and signalled the woman to step forward.
"This is Carmen Aceras who will be my substitute for today"
Aria took charge of the introductions and presented the knight to Kharis.
"I am honoured to serve you my lady"
Carmen bowed but unlike the other knight before her, her bow was fueled by duty and nothing more. There was no respect in her actions.
"I look forward to working with you"
Kharis tried her best to suppress the frown that threatened to form on her face. Although, it was rather thin, she could clearly sense the presence of dark magic. Based on how weak it was, she was certain that the knight wasn't a sorceress but may have been constantly around one. It was clear that the woman had been exposed to the powers of a sorceress for quite some time. Some how, she wasn't really surprised by what she had observed, she already had her suspicions in regards to the Emperor's guardians and now a so called top knight of the same group showed signs of being in contact with dark magic. She knew that it was his doing, Grisha continued to allow dark magic to seep into the foundations of the continent without realising the danger or even thinking about the consequences.
"Likewise my lady"
Behind the cool expression she displayed, Carmen could barely control her shock.
As a knight belonging to an elite knight order, she was privy to some of the best kept secrets of the empire, however none of the information she knew was enough to lessen her shock.
Carmen had heard rumours of the witch's beauty and tales from the knights previously assigned to the same task as they tried to describe her. She had dismissed them as exaggerated stories but she had to admit how wrong she was, only now did she realise that all those stories and rumours put together still fell short when trying to describe the white witch. Those stories that she had dismissed as exaggerated didn't even do enough justice to the woman before her eyes. Any attempt to describe her was bound to end in failure as there were some things that words would never be able to capture in their entirety.
Her beauty wasn't the only thing about her appearance that shocked Carmen.
The white witch had first appeared six years after the war began, it had already been twenty years since her emergence in the war but the person she was currently looking at appeared to be around twenty years of age, even younger than Carmen herself who was just a child during the first appearance of the white witch on the battlefield.
Carmen had never believed the rumours of the white witch being ageless even once, if the woman before her was truly the white witch, then she was forced to acknowledge those rumours as the truth. She wondered if the witch was ever a human in the first place as no human she had ever heard of never aged and could display even a fraction of the level of power that the white witch was known for during the war.
"Are you leaving immediately?"
Kharis turned her attention towards the other knight in the room.
"The carriage is already waiting for me at the castle entrance"
Aria immediately replied.
"Then I won't keep you here any longer"
"I will return as soon as I can"
"Goodbye"
"See you soon my lady"
Aria bowed again before making her way out of the room. She didn't even consider how long that goodbye would last.
"I hear you are a top knight within the Emperor's guardians"
Kharis was the first one to speak after the two of them were left alone.
"Yes my lady"
"You must be very talented then"
"I do not deserve your praises my lady"
"Even though, your achievements are already a testament of your talent, you are still humble, that is a good quality for a knight"
Carmen was taken aback by the sudden interest the witch seemed to have in her. From what she had heard, the witch was more of the quiet type and hardly engaged in any conversations.
"There's something I would like to ask, if you would be so kind as to clarify my doubts"
"It would be an honour to assist you my lady"
Carmen didn't think much about the question and simply expressed her willingness to answer.
"I'm really curious about the training methods of the top knights among the members of the Emperor's guardians"
"They must be rather special if I'm not wrong?"
Kharis was able to notice a slight change in the knight's expression before she could hide it.
"They are really no different from the methods used to train normal knights"
Carmen didn't like the direction the questions were heading to. She tried to put on a calm facade but the wariness within her only continued to grow.
"Oh really"
"Yes my lady"
"Then I guess I will have to be more direct"
"What do you me..."
"I wonder why a knight of the empire has dark magic laced within their aura"
Kharis interrupted her before she could finish speaking.
"You must have made a mistake"
Carmen managed to squeeze out those words, her expression turning stiff. The growing wariness had already turned into full blown panic, she didn't understand how the white witch could have noticed. She had taken extreme measures to hide the aura of dark magic, she even had a spell engraved into her body just to hide its traces but the aura was still discovered and she couldn't help but wonder how it was possible.
"Dark magic is quite distinct you know and I also happen to be a bit sensitive to it so I'm sure there is no mistake"
"Those training methods must be really special, am I right?"
Carmen was stunned into silence. She couldn't reply or rather all the words in her mind seemed to have abandoned her.
"He is using black magic to enhance the power of his knights, I can't say I'm surprised"
"You should rethink your actions as your words may be considered as slander towards the empire"
Carmen finally mustered enough courage to speak but only earned laughter in return.
"Now you speak, you are quite funny you know"
Kharis slowly got up from her seat, taking unhurried steps toward the knight.
"You already helped me confirm that I was right"
"He should really learn to teach his prodigies how to school their expressions"
She stopped right in front of the knight and looked straight into her eyes.
"I see you are still trying to defend your master's honour, it doesn't really matter though"
Carmen trembled at the sight of those eyes staring into hers, it felt like they were piercing her soul and prying into all her secrets. She couldn't identify what the feeling was but it didn't take long to realise that it was fear. Those eyes brought with them a fear so deep that it made her blood run cold.
"I think you should go to sleep now"
After hearing those words, Carmen suddenly felt her head turn heavy with her eyes becoming blurry following that.
"What are you..."
She didn't manage to complete her sentence before falling into darkness.