The Royal Mark-Chapter 200: Escaped

"Aer dromonem in ligno!" Hera cast an air spell and waved her hands as if she were throwing a boomerang at Elsa’s tree. The spell quickly created a sharp gust of wind that cut the giant tree into tiny pieces.

"I’m sorry," Elsa said while scratching her head as Hera approached her.

"Tell me, Elsa. Are you trying to create another Tree of Life?" Hera asked causing all the students to laugh.

"Hehe... It was going great at first. But I should have expected it to go wild just like my fire and water magic," Elsa uttered.

"It’s ok, you just need practice. Go and rest for the meantime. That magic should have drained a lot of mana from you. Do not cast any spells anymore today. We don’t want you to be in a coma again," Hera instructed before she attended to her students again.

Elsa did as she was told. She walked back to Hera’s cabin accompanied by Elandir.

"I will go, princess. I’ll pick you and Hera tomorrow, let’s all have breakfast in the castle. Go and rest for now, you’ll need it," Elandir said before leaving.

Elsa was greeted by Ciel and Gaia as soon as she came into the cabin.

[How is it going, Jack?] Ciel greeted.

"Jack?" Elsa was not sure if she heard her dog right.

[Jack and the beanstalk, hahaha!] Ciel and Gaia laugh causing Elsa to chuckle too.

"How did you know?" she asked her dog.

[I felt you use your earth element and I called up Ciel. We ran there and saw the tall tree from afar so we went back to the house. I know this is not my day,] Gaia narrated.

"Oh come here," Elsa begins to scratch Gaia’s jaw. "I promise to train hard so that day will happen soon. But I will rest for now and start tomorrow. My mom was right, it drained a lot of my energy, and I am tired." Elsa left her two dogs and went straight to bed, not knowing that she would sleep all throughout the afternoon and night.

"Girls!" Hera yelped after checking on Elsa.

[Yes?] Ciel replied while yawning and stretching.

"It’s Elsa! She’s in a coma again. I tried waking her up! Hera said.

[Oh, she’s fine. Just sleeping. Se will wake up in the morning,] Gaia assured.

"Are you sure?"

[Yes. I feel our connection opened up and I can sense her fatigue, so can we go back to sleep now?] Gaia answered.

"Alright. Rest well, Gaia," Hera said before going to the front porch of the cabin.

She sat on a wooden swing staring at a distance.

[Do you miss him?] Ciel’s presence jolted Hera, not expecting the dog to follow her.

"You startled me, Ciel. I do. Tell me how is he?" she inquired.

[He was a great dad to Elsa. But I still don’t understand why he pretended that he died.]

"He must be planning something. I just wish that he would visit me. But I don’t understand why I get this feeling that he is not okay?" Hera pondered.

[How can that be? Someone like him rarely gets in trouble right?"]

"Yes, but I am afraid that staying in Novus for that long weakened Nathan a lot. It is the world that the likes of him were not allowed to go. If they were not permitted to mingle with us, what more with the people in Novus," Hera explained.

[Do you think he went back to his home?]

"I cannot say for certain, but he would surely not stay in Novus since he has nothing to do there. But he hasn’t visited me, ever since he sent Elsa to Vectus. And I know that he wouldn’t miss the chance. That is why I am getting worried," Hera said.

[Don’t worry he will not die,] Ciel mentioned making Hera laugh.

"That I know. Nathan can never die... Come, Ciel, join me." Hera then patted the spot beside for Ciel to sit. The two stayed there for hours before returning inside.

—------

Just like Elandir said to Elsa, he came in early to pick up the girls the next day. To Hera’s surprise, Elsa was already waiting for her in the living room when she woke up.

"Good morning, Mom! I hope you don’t mind. I saw these pants in your closet yesterday so I took it. I would be more comfortable in training wearing this rather than wearing a dress," Elsa expressed.

"Sure, and I will sew more pants for you but they may not fit you anymore once your belly grows big."

"Shoot, I forgot about that, and now that you reminded me I suddenly felt hungry. Shall we go? Elandir is outside."

—------

When they arrived in the dining hall, Elsa’s mouth was watered with all the dishes that Queen Ydril prepared for her.

"I am not sure what food you are craving so I asked the cook to make different kinds," Queen Ydril said.

"I think my baby is not picky, I like all that I see," Elsa chuckled and so did everyone.

"A letter came from Zemaria last night," King Tyrion handed the letter to Hera and Elsa before adding, "Queen Irina has been exiled to a monastery located on an island in the south of Zemaria. Apparently, she escaped and word has it that she went to Saldivar Territory in the middle of the night."

"But how can they say that she fled? What if she was abducted?" Queen Ydril naively commented.

"According to the letter, she took her things with her. And it looks planned so they are removing abduction from their theory," the king explained.

"Well, I believe that he ran away. She’s the type to exactly do that," Elandir stated.

********

"Well, well, well. You have the audacity to ask for my help when you have not accomplished anything that we’ve talked about," Queen Yvonne said while sitting on her throne beside King Alaric.

"I was able to do everything that you’ve asked, but the result is something beyond my control," Irina answered.

"Fine! You can stay in Saldivar and take care of my castle while I am here in Arcanis. Also, take this," Queen Yvonne handed a large book to Irina.

She opened up the book and frowned, "What will I do with an empty book?"

"There’s something written there. It’s the book that was being passed down to the Divine Archmages of Zemaria. But the annoying angel did something to it so that the book would appear blank. I will order my converts and witches to work with you and help you figure it out," Queen Yvonne instructed.

"What exactly are you looking for?" Irina asked.

"I was informed that the location of the sleeping divine mages was written there. I want to know where they are," the witch queen answered.

"Sleeping mages? It’s a myth. Even the king doesn’t believe in that. The children in Zemaria even created a song about it," Irina clarified.

"Then why did Archmage Nadezhda gave it to Hera? And why did that angel conceal its content if they are not hiding anything?" the witch queen asked.

"Most probably it was because of the spells written in it," Irina replied.

"Oh, come on, Irina. They are divine mages, even if we get to read their spells, we cannot use them. Only they can use it. That’s why I think they wrote the information about the sleeping mages in that book because no one will take interest in it knowing that it was a book of divine spells," the witch queen explained.

"Alright. But how do you want me to do that when I have no powers?" Irina questioned

The witch queen smiled, took her wand and purple glass orb, and walked closer to Irina, "Simple... by using this..."

Queen Yvonne raised the purple glass orb and started enchanting "Per magicam obscuri tatem mihi praes titam, ad vene ficae te converto."

She then used her wand to stab Irina in the stomach, surprising both Irina and King Alaric.

Irina gripped the want piercing her stomach but noticed that she was not in any pain. She looked down at the wand and saw purple and black mist surrounding the wand. She looked at it closely and saw that it was definitely inside her body but there was no blood.

Her body suddenly felt warm and she was becoming dizzy. She gazed back to the witch queen who was repeatedly enchanting the spell. Soon, she lost her consciousness and dropped to the floor.

"Take her to my castle and train her. Don’t make her lose her sanity, I still need her," the witch queen commanded to one of her trusted witches.

"What did you do to her?" King Alaric asked in curiosity.

"I just turned her into a witch with demon magic. She’s useful to me that way. If she insists on staying as a human then I would dispose of her. I don’t like trash in my castle," Queen Yvonne stated.

********

A/N: 1/6/2024

Hang in there everyone, we are almost at the climax and ending soon. I hope everyone will stay until the end. Thank you for all your support until this point.