CHAPTER 461: JUST A LITTLE HUMAN

A few moments earlier...

Prince Simon watched on with smug satisfaction, his lips curling into a twisted smile. ’Soon, she would be mine!’

The repercussions of what was about to be done to Shelby never crossed his mind. Why should they? In his mangled, self-absorbed brain, all that mattered was the outcome.

After all, for him, the end always justified the means. Morality? Consequences? Mere inconveniences to be ignored. Those were all human nonsense that had nothing to do with him!

He saw only the victory, the prize at the finish line, blind to the wreckage that would be left in his wake. He could not get over the fact that another man had touched Shelby before him, and he felt that getting rid of the child would remove that ’stain’.

Still, a storm of emotions raged within him, each colliding like a battle of opposites.

Shelby’s frustrated cries twisted his insides, coiling around his heart with a mercilessness unknown to him. Simon’s fingers twitched at his sides, his body nearly betraying him as an instinctive urge to intervene nearly overtook his reason. What scared him the most was the fact that he had nearly no control over this.

But just as he was about to step forward, a cruel voice in the back of his mind yanked him back,

’Why should I care? This was not my fight. This is a fight FOR me, so why would I want to stop it?’

He had to chant this to himself several times in order to stop himself from doing anything stupid from his point of view.

’She is not mine to save.’

A tiny voice whispered to him, startling him.

’WTF was that? Of course, SHE IS MINE! Why would I be thinking this?’ And yet... Prince Simon’s pulse pounded, his breath shallowed, and the air around him thickened with an emotion he refused even to let himself think!

And then, he saw it.

A flicker of movement, a subtle, calculated shift in the aged witch’s stance. Simon’s eyes narrowed.

’Did she just - ’ His stomach dropped. A rush of raw fury ignited within him, so intense it made his vision blur.

’Did she just try to finish my woman off? WTF is she thinking?!’

Logic crumbled. The ’moral’ tightrope he had walked - teetering between indifference and obsession, snapped. That witch was meant to get rid of the bastard in Shelby’s stomach, but Prince Simon had a freezing, gripping inclination that the witch wanted to harm Shelby. Like him, a few of the onlookers also sensed this: The Witch was not supposed to be targeting Shelby. Shelby was to be queen... so why?

Prince Simon’s hands clenched into fists, and before he even registered his own movements, he was already moving...

***

Of course, Currey had wasted no time following Ian, but it did not mean that his dilemma was cleared.

’How did His Majesty know that he could cross here? How did he even know he could cross on his own? How was he even able to cross? What the hell is happening?!’

Even he, a full Fae, could not understand.... From what Currey knew, if they were using a waterbody as a portal, then it had to have certain elements of the moon.

In fact, this was the first time that he had ever seen the sea being used as a portal. Because of the sea’s vastness, it was usually not used. Faes that Currey knew did not mingle well with the merfolks, so they would never risk such a correspondence.

"Your Highness.... How.."

Currey swallowed all of his questions, his throat dry as he took in the sight before and above him. Ian did not hesitate as he strode across the watery surface as if it were solid ground, his steps unwavering, each movement exuding an eerie calm that masked the storm beneath. If one watched carefully, one would see that he was hovering on the surface as if he was levitating without wings, but that was beside the point at that time.

Currey was far less confident, and as such, his wings instinctively unfurled, catching the damp air to keep him afloat just above the surface. He had no intention of testing whether the water would welcome him the same way it seemingly did with Ian.

But then, as his gaze followed his master’s.

His rare anger flickered to life, mirroring the tension in the air. He clenched his fists, his wings trembling slightly. He wasn’t the type to lose his cool, but in that moment, he could almost feel his master’s fury ripple through the atmosphere, a silent but suffocating force.

It was no exaggeration... whatever lay ahead had awakened something in his master that should have never been provoked. He stared at the vast expense of what looked like a projection.... In the skies was his mistress... but the scene was not that for the faintest of hearts!

***

The Time Witch thought back to her sister’s mothed words, .... ’Wait for it!’

Wait for what? With each second the Time Witch spent on this human, the more agitated she got.

The Time Witch was angry! One could say that it had been centuries since she felt that useless emotion, but there was no denying that she was. Her frail body trembled - not with weakness, but with rage. Her bony fingers, gnarled by time, curled around her staff, knuckles whitening as if they could crush the very air. Her hunched frame straightened in jerky, unnatural movements like an old puppet being forced upright by an unseen force.

The veins on her thin, wrinkled hands pulsed with dark energy, stark against her papery skin. Her sunken eyes, normally dulled by age, burned with an unnatural fire, flickering like dying embers rekindled. Her breath came in sharp, rasping hisses, yet when it finally tore from her throat, her voice was laced with a fury so potent that the walls trembled... she continued with her spells, her eyes trained on that measly human!

She took one step forward as if shedding the weight of centuries—frail one moment, brimming with terrifying vigour the next. Her spine cracked back into place, her brittle limbs surged with newfound strength, and a vicious snarl twisted her withered lips.

’I would not be humiliated in front of this many people!’ The storm within her had been awakened, and it would not be contained.

It was supposed to be effortless. A mere human? Hardly worth her time. The Time witch had approached this with a level of disinterest, convinced that it would be over before she even needed to exert herself. Humans were weak. They had always been and would always be.

Perhaps The Time Witch should have heeded the warning of her big sister. Big sisters are called big

for a reason: they had seen more of the world than their younger siblings, no matter how short the year gap between them was.

The fact that the Timeless Witch was at least half a century older than her sister, according to rumours, should have made her rethink her actions.... But she had trusted her own power too much and dismissed the idea that any human could pose even a fraction of a threat to her.

Now, standing there, reeling from what she had just witnessed, she felt something she had not experienced in centuries. Fear.

She had not expected anyone to come in at the last minute to help the girl... but the Time Witch had barely held her composure when a guard burst in, panting heavily. His expression was grim, his forehead damp with sweat.

"My Prin-"

The Guard never completed his words, but all in the room felt something rush past them. They barely had time to register the gust of wind that brushed past them, cool and fleeting, like the whisper of something unseen.

A shiver ran down their spines, but when they turned back, there was nothing. Not even a shadow, no blur of movement, just the empty space. It was the audience on the streets watching through the projection that saw him first.

Then, his voice ... smooth, commanding, and laced with an undeniable pull—echoed from the front, pulling the attention of those in the throne room. It wasn’t loud, yet it demanded attention, drawing every eye forward as if they had no choice but to obey. It was magnetic, rooting them all in place.

A heartbeat passed. Then another. When did he even get there? No one knew, but the Witch’s anger had now been replaced permanently with fear.

It gnawed at her bones, slithered into the depths of her mind, and coiled tightly around her heart. That brief, impossible display of power... it had frightened her... more than she would care to admit. Her, who had lived for too long... was afraid!

But the most terrifying part?

She had no idea that the worst was yet to come. And soon ... very soon ...she would find out. She did not have to wait long.

With a wave of Ian’s hand, The Witch froze. She literally could not move. Call that karma! Her limbs locked in place as if unseen chains had wrapped around her body. Panic clawed at her chest. She struggled, but it was useless. An unbearable weight pressed down on her, like a thousand hands pushing her into the ground.

Her breath hitched. This wasn’t normal.

She had faced countless enemies and endured centuries of ’battles’, but never had she felt this level of power restraining her. Her heart pounded, a wild, frantic rhythm against her ribs. Her fingers twitched, desperate to summon her magic, but it was like reaching into a void ... nothing answered her call.

Her throat dried as she met his eyes ... molten grey like larva, cold, unwavering, merciless. It was then that she knew.

For the first time in her long, wretched existence, she was afraid ... she was scared shitless!

To add salt to injury, a playful child’s voice whispered, ’I told you so, little sister!’

*********

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