Chapter 1267: The Invitation
The so-called "magic pill" would be only effective when the magic was injected into a physical pill. Thylane had never told these n.o.bles that she could actually induce her power into any object. The reason she chose pills was that it was easy for her to control her power, but it also made the n.o.bles forget about the true nature of her ability.
In that party, Thylane had applied her ability to all the food and drinks. This was the only situation where the n.o.bles would put their guard down.
It then appeared that people could also die of extreme pleasure as they died of pain. By the time the n.o.bles realized what had happened, it was too late. They fell to the ground while holding their chests painfully as their bodies spasmed. Even those who did not overdose were also seriously impaired, their strength gone, with a mesmerized and dreamy look on their faces as though they were enjoying the most blissful moment in their life.
The girl slaves in the room all fled in a fright, and the guards outside could not stop them. Thylane and Momo thus escaped from the mansion.
They hence commenced their arduous journey as refugees.
When they heard about the immigration campaign to Graycastle, the two witches decided to try their luck at the Sedimentation Bay.
"I see..." Wendy murmured as she pulled them to her bosom. "You must have suffered a lot. I promise it won"t happen to you again."
"Don"t... don"t you despise us?" Thylane asked while biting her lip.
"Why so? Just because of your miserable past?" Wendy said quietly. "The church treated me like that too. I have no reason to blame the victims. Instead, it is those n.o.bles that I should put blame on."
"But our abilities... may bring misfortunes to people," Thylane said while clenching her fists.
"That isn"t up to you to decide."
"But once you take the pill, you"ll never forget the sensation it has brought to you. You"d like more. In the end, you just want to indulge in the pleasure with no regards to anything else... If we stay, I"m afraid..."
"You fear that the king can"t control it and will view you as demons?" Wendy said. "Rest a.s.sured. Our king... How should I phrase it? He isn"t like any ordinary king. He"s an eccentric but nice person."
Thylane was stunned for a moment and echoed, "An eccentric... but nice person?" This was the first time that someone used such words to describe a royal.
"It means that you"ll never know what he"s thinking. You can"t view him as a normal person. Therefore, there"s no point in worrying about the consequence now. Trust is the most important thing to build a relations.h.i.+p," Wendy said. Her voice suddenly became extremely soft. "He also saved the witches from the Witch Cooperation a.s.sociation in this way."
After a moment of silence, Wendy looked toward Momo and asked, "You said "our" abilities. Does Momo also — "
This time, the two witches hesitated for a long time before Momo spoke, "My previous master didn"t want me to use my power, so he took away my magic eye after I was awakened."
Wendy had noticed that Momo had covered half of her forehead with a dirty rag. She had thought that it was a branding scar underneath, but the truth was indeed much worse than she had expected.
Momo then took off the cloth and revealed her hollow socket.
"But they don"t know that I still have my power. By removing my eye, I only lost half of my vision. Only the G.o.d"s Locket of Retribution can completely block my power."
Wendy heaved a sigh. Only Extraordinaries could integrate their magic power with physical bodies. Momo was definitely not an Extraordinary. The presentation of her ability was through her "vision", so the loss of her eye was just unfortunate collateral damage.
"Those n.o.bles didn"t really take Momo"s ability seriously at first until something happened. Then her master removed her eye," Thylane said in a low voice. "They called Momo the Child of h.e.l.l and inflicted various punishments on her. She barely survived."
Wendy caressed Momo"s scarred socket and said, "What did you see exactly? Could you tell me?"
Momo lowered her head and answered, "... A number."
"What?"
"A countdown number that tells when you"ll die."
It took Wendy a while to understand the implication behind it. She gasped.
"The incident Thylane mentioned — "
Momo nodded and said, "My prediction became true. The n.o.ble labeled with the number one died the next year."
Wendy fell silent.
She now understood why those n.o.bles had done such horrible things to her. n.o.body would like to know when they would die beforehand, especially when they had only a few years to live. Even Momo herself would not want to know that answer.
"But... is the prediction really so accurate?" Wendy questioned after a moment of reflection. "Anything could happen."
The two witches were both mildly taken aback.
"What"s the matter? Did I say something wrong?"
"No..." Thylane said while waving her hand. "I just feel... that you"re quite different from others. I didn"t expect that you would first ask about our abilities."
"Hmm, so, what did you expect?"
Thylane replied in embarra.s.sment, "You"d push Momo away and ask her whether she has used her ability. Then you"d drive us out of the castle and order us to stay as far away as possible."
Wendy burst into laughter and said, "You can"t judge a person by her ability. The key lies in the person who uses it. The more we know about the ability, the better we can use it in the future."
"Do you think... that my ability will also be useful?" Momo asked in disbelief.
"I don"t know, but His Majesty once told me that every ability is useful, only it takes time for some abilities."
Momo remained motionless for a long time before she said slowly, "I can"t predict accidents. I once saw animals still have many years to live before they were slaughtered. However..."
"What?" Wendy pursued.
"Some of the numbers have different colors... I don"t know what they represent for, but I have a feeling that they"re telling me something."
"If you join the Witch Union, you"ll probably soon know the reason. Every newcomer should learn and practice their abilities first. Then they"ll have to do various tests. Only when they know well enough about their abilities can they upgrade."
"Upgrade?" Thylane asked in confusion.
"You"ll see later. The awakening is just the beginning. You"ll have a lot to learn," Wendy said while extending out her hands. "How does it sound? Did you make your decisions?"
Thylane and Momo looked at each other.
"If you can accept someone like us..."
"Then we"d like to join the Witch Union."
Momo and Thylane also reached out their hands, slowly, tentatively and hopefully, and then held Wendy"s hands.