Episode 1

...The legend of ‘The Witch and The King’ is a tale constantly being recited by generations of the people in the southern province specifically in the empire of Mebluysia, the most prosperous and vast empire....

...The legend that took place roughly a century in the past taking place in the empire of Mebluysia which before used to be a region named Mabel....

...Once upon a time, there lives a female witch who lived alone deep in the woods without other's company ever since her adulthood days. Being alone by herself had been a daily pattern of her life brewing potions....

...One day, a lost gentleman came knocking on her door despite learning well of the rumoured old wicked witch who resides in her dwellings deep into the tricky forest....

...Knock, knock, knock....

...His knuckled gently knocked on the witch's antic wooden door, anticipating for a response from the supposed inhabitant in that old dwelling. His first knock remained unanswered as so he knocked on the door for the second time....

...Knock, knock, knock....

...Yet again, the other side of the door kept complete silence as if no living beings had ever set their foot on the territory. Instead of getting furious, he kept his composure and knocked for the third time....

...Knock, knock, knock....

...Eventually, the witch unlocked the door of the house, inviting him into the old cottage of which astonished the awestruck man to catch a glimpse of a young lady instead of a haggard witch greeting him....

...The man without hesitation asked a question upon sitting on the chair, “Excuse me, are you the owner of this dwelling, milady?”...

...The witch nodded her head as she added, “I've been abiding this cottage all my life. For what would you be here in the heart of the forest for, my prince?”...

...For the second time, he was awestruck and with an unsettled expression that pictured his feelings perfectly he questioned her;...

...“How were you able to identify me?”...

...The witch chuckled amusedly before retorting, “One born of the noble blood, forever remain a noble blood. Dressed in the fancy royal insignia make an obvious hint.” The man flushed as the outfit he wore was decorated with a bunch of the royal emblem....

...“My lord, I certainly could help you find your way out of here. However, in return, would you show up, here again, a week after?” The witch assembled her requirement, simple yet intriguing....

...“I merely stumble upon the cottage by coincidence, so I'm not certain which way lead me here, milady.”...

...“Fret not, my lord as your instinct shall guide you to my abode. I am able to sate your every curiosity of the world, milord.”...

...“... I supposed its appropriate.” As if lured by her smile, the prince agreed to her conditions as he himself find comfort being with the witch whose identity remained unknown....

...The witch grinned of satisfaction as she courtesy before the prince confessing, “Then, I shall introduce myself. You may call me Nadine, my lord.”...

...The witch and the prince break the ice well, getting along like a long lost best friend whose meeting was a given. The witch escorted the prince properly as a guide heading out of the forest....

...“I'm glad to come upon you, Nadine. I've never been so buoyant all my life talking to someone.” The prince acclaimed her highly despite meeting for the very first time....

...The witch simply grinned radiantly as a response....

...“Nadine, I'm looking forward to our next meeting.”...

...“I shall be waiting for your arrival, milord. Be sure to knock three times before entering the cottage.”...

...They separated their ways at the border of the thick woodland with appeased smiles....

...Days passed days, nights passed nights and a week passed by briefly after. The uncommon pair confronted again in a week as promised....

...The prince, as noted by the witch arrived specifically in front of the cottage simply by his instinct....

...As instructed, he patiently knocked three times as he did previously before the witch welcomed him with a smile. Both days were spent on exchanging chatters from individual pasts story to the appetising breakfast early in the morning....

...According to him, as the ninth prince of the kingdom, he was used to being neglected by his father, the old king and was constantly receiving ridicule from his stepfamily members mainly by the older princes....

...Certainly like others, he desired to rule the kingdom but being worthless and powerless rendered it inconceivable to....

...Entranced by his devoted craving and pitiable background, the witch struck him with a deal, a significant contract with her. In return of aiding him ascending to the throne, he shall never betray her trust and make her his only queen....

...The man wasn't fully convinced of her vows still, he completed his pledge under the waning moon. Thereupon that day, the witch requested that the prince brought her to the castle of the royal palace....

...Upon her stays, the young witch utilised her aptitudes in both her robust capabilities and profound proficiency to the threshold to benefit the ninth prince to be acknowledged....

...Her feet had footed almost in every single continent just to please the king in the name of the ninth prince. That included every month striving on surviving the battleground, attaining only triumph in her hand....

...Complacent and satisfied with the recent performance of his ninth prince, the king penned his will of that the ninth prince shall be named his successor....

...In the subsequent months, the old king passed away from an illness, thus crowning the ninth prince as the new king of their kingdom. The older princes were obviously discontented by the outcome and covetousness illuminated in their heart....

...The witch accordingly greeted the new king and soon claimed the compensation of her hard works rewriting his tasteless fate. That is, being appointed and wedded as his queen...

...The strong faith the current king stored for her determined him on granting her petition. However, his loyal vassals created a huge uproar and protested the king's unruly judgment....

...In spite of that, the king insisted on it and had a fascinating and delightful marriage with the witch, making her his queen officially....

...The enraged step-princes and the insatiable vassals enacted to dethrone their impotent king, nevertheless, to accomplish that, they had to dig into his vulnerable spot and his most productive aids....

...Later on, they sought the newly wedded queen, the witch that supposedly might be the king's shortcoming....

...Gratefully, their efforts went down the drain against the dominant witch, only to decide that sparking a fight between the two is much sufficient....

...The closest vassals loomed their king, whispering bad rumours regarding her queen nonexistent infidelities each day, slowly jamming the false story in him....

...The king's compassion eventually tampered after listening to the worst rumours spread of her....

...He was smudged with outrageousness, imbecility, egocentric and feeling of superiority to that his judgement was clouded with the whispers of the devils lurking in the shadow....

...He agreed on tying the knot with a princess from the neighbouring kingdom, taking her in as the second queen....

...The witch plainly contemplated over her husband's second nuptials as her heart was shattered with no terms relayed....

...The king is coaxed into renouncing and removing his first lowly queen, the witch from her position with rationale such as the queen was impetuous with her chore and keep seducing others despite being the mother of the kingdom....

...The witch had foreseen her future, inferring that her life was at stake by her husband, the king who'd been blinded by his conceitedness. She sighs in sorrows before she rested on the mattress while lingering for her death....

...Knock, knock, knock....

...There was a knock on the door but the witch remained silence. Suddenly, the door was barged open by force and stood the frantic king with a rapier on his hand....

...Forcefully, he hauled the witch and executed her with a slash of the sword....

...Without a sound made, the queen was slaughtered to death by her own king. Each of the passing labourers of the palace gasped in utters terrors upon the bloody spectacles they witnessed....

...Blood splatters everyplace on the white sheets of the bedding....

...Out of the blue, the witch's eyes opened, creating a straight out of horror film scenes. The sword marks garnished with the blood slowly being stitched together seamlessly. The blood traces slowly fading away and everything reverted back to normal....

...The foolish king dropped his bloodstained swords, trembling all over before kneeling on the floor. The screams far from ending. Sorcery, she's a witch, the queen is a witch!!! They screamed their lung in horror....

...“My king, my husband. I wallow in sorrows of you mortals outlandish doings, be it the king, the vassals or the people....

...Milord, you pledged me for that if I made you the king, you shalln't betray my trusts and made me your only queen. However, you broke those vows on your own accord by committing the demise of me and espousing with another queen....

...I'm disappointed how humans never learnt from the past, how their greeds and grudges will slowly engulf them into the wicked path.”...

...“N-Nadine...y-you are a witch?”...

...[HEED TO MY WORDS, LIVINGS OF THIS LUDICROUS LAND! I CURSED THAT THE KING NASTY BLOODLINE SHALL BE ROTTEN ALONG WITH HIS VICIOUS VASSALS AND THE MORTALS BEINGS FROM THIS DAY FORWARD SHALL BECOME THE ARCHENEMY OF US WITCHES!!]...

...“Us witches shall annihilate this nauseating kingdom of yours that you treasured so much to that it crumbled into mere dust.”...

...“NADINE, MY QUEEN, NO!!! Forgive me!!!! I'll do anything you want me to, so please!!!!”...

...“How sickening... The scents of remorse out of selfishness.”...

...“Nadine!!!”...

...After that day, the king was always on his sickbed while his stepbrothers passed away from an unknown and incurable disease....

...The vassals too are suffering from types of obstacles and slowly, the Kingdom of Mabel was ruined under the rulings of the king who broke his pledge towards the witch....

...The end of the story......

“Mother, mother!” The seven years old younger twin, Celestia excitedly called for her mother right after the storytelling session ended.

Today's tale is a legend that originated in the empire of Mebluysia.

“Yes?”

“Is it because of this tale that humans despise us?” Celestia wandered her words. But why?

“Hmm...no. Actually, there's another altered version of this tale of which human read. That version has tampered heavily to that the witch appeared evil, as an antagonist.” Celeste thoroughly explained.

There are two versions of the legend The Witch and The King and the one she enlightened her children were the original one which she was told by her grandmother and mother too.

“Eh, human really did that?”

“They are livings of who's souls can be both kind and evil like us too. That's why it is dangerous to expose our identity and blending in with them will help us live peacefully as long as both sides inflicted no harms.”

If the witches who are of scarce quantity in comparison to the human decided to wage wars, it'll simply sacrifice a lot of their magical powers and was exhausting.

Still, the chances are they would still win as the witches strongest clan was deemed immortal and to mortal humans, fighting would be effortless.

However, to avoid bloodsheds, some decided to blend in with normal humans as a typical mortal.

“Mother, why does the witch wait for the third knock instead of just opening her door after hearing the first one?” Celestine raised his concerns which seemed to pique his interest the most.

“That's a good question, Celes. Like I said, a human can be both evil and good, correct?”

“Yeah.”

“Only an imperturbable and patient person would tenderly knock the door three times in total as knocking thrice is a hassle to those who are impatient.

As you could notice, in the beginning, the king properly knocks three times before entering the witch's cottage. However, as greed devoured him, he was unable to patiently knocked three times and wait for the witch to open the door for him.”

The witch never opened her door to those who didn't slowly knock thrice. That was truly a brilliant move for her who despised those black-hearted folks.

“Then, does the witch deliberately did that, learning all the results?” Celestine concluded his understanding.

“Indeed, she did. The witch knows for a fact that she is able to guess the compassion of each person who knocked on her door.”

“Mother, is this based on I true story or merely legend?” Celestia questioned her mother.

“It is a true story, this version I read you of course. Why so?”

“The witch's called Nadine, isn't that our great-grandmother's given name, mother?”

“Haha, how sharp. Yes, it is your great-grandmother, mother's grandmother, Nadine Felicius Diane Cassandra, the great witch.” Celeste chuckled as her hands gentle patted on Celestia's head.

“Umm... are they actually in love?”

“No, my dear as the marriage between the two was solely a commitment made on spur of the moment. Nonetheless, she was heartbroken when the king broke their pledges and distrust her.”

Celeste still remembers that the witch was simply listless of her ordinary life and the king's presence added a special particle playing the role of a friend to her life.

“Then, how about great-grandfather?” Celestine was intrigued by Celestia's topic regarding the sentiments they held close to the heart

“Your great-grandfather is also a witch. I heavily doubt that they weren't in love, I ensured. Rather, they were madly in love with each other.”

The pair of a lovebird whose ages are nearing hundreds of decades now still falling in love with each other every second. Showcasing their love is part of the couple speciality every time the family gathered.

“Where are they now, mother?”

“Hmm... I think on the eastern continent? Travelling is a habit of theirs, so it's almost impossible to see them in recent decades.”

“What about our grandparents?”

“They are still residing in the southern province but in another region. They use to stop by when you both are still so small, I'm not sure if you'd recall that.”

“Mother what about... father?”

“Your father... he, he is a gentleman who's soul is incredibly tender and heart is extraordinarily beautiful. I'm glad that those aspects of him live inside both of you, my precious children.”

Celeste hugged the two small physiques, holding back her grimness when the father issue was touched.

“It’s late now, shall we headed to the resting chamber?”

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