Chapter 1267: The Invitation

The “magic pill” was a simplification Thylane had cultivated deliberately.

Her power could infuse any object — not only pills. She had simply never told the nobles that. Pills were controllable, discrete, easy to explain in terms even greedy men could follow. Let them believe the shape mattered. Let them believe she needed to be in the room with the pill to perform the transfer. While they were managing their assumptions, she managed her own safety.

At that last party, she had applied herself to everything: every dish, every decanter, every goblet on the long table. The nobility of Wolfheart had eaten and drunk with their characteristic enthusiasm, and the power she’d built into the feast was not a warm indulgence but an overdose — sensation pushed past pleasure into the body’s breaking point.

It was true, she had learned, that people could die of extreme pleasure with the same finality as they died of pain. The nobles who received the full dose collapsed clutching their chests, spasming. Those who’d eaten less stared dreaming at the ceiling, strength completely absent, expressions beatific and useless. The girl-slaves fled. The guards outside, confronted with a lord on the floor with a beautiful smile on his dead face, had no procedures for this particular emergency.

Thylane and Momo had stepped over the threshold and walked into the dark.

“I see,” Wendy murmured. She had pulled them both against her, and she held them for a moment before she spoke. “You suffered enough. I promise it won’t happen again.”

“You don’t despise us?” The question had been sitting in Thylane’s chest for hours. “For our past, for what we did —”

“Why would I? The church treated me no differently. I can’t blame people for surviving their captors.” Wendy’s voice was level. “The blame belongs to those nobles.”

“But our abilities. What we can do could…” Thylane pressed her fists together. “If someone takes the pill — if they want more — it’s consuming. Even people who know better. Even kings. If we stay here and something goes wrong, I’m afraid —”

“You’re afraid our king will make you tools again,” Wendy said. “And then hate you for it.”

Thylane didn’t answer. That was exactly it.

“Our king,” Wendy said carefully, “is an eccentric but genuinely decent person.”

Thylane echoed the words without meaning to. “An eccentric… but decent person.”

“He doesn’t match any shape you’d expect from a royal. You can’t use normal assumptions on him — there’s no point. So the worrying is also pointless.” Something quieter entered Wendy’s voice. “He saved the witches from the Witch Cooperation Association by being nothing like anyone expected. That’s how I know.”

Silence held for a moment.

Wendy looked toward Momo, whose cloth was still folded in her hands.

“You said ‘our’ abilities. Does Momo also —”

The pause stretched long.

Then Momo said: “My previous master didn’t want me to use my power. When I was awakened, he took my eye.”

Wendy had assumed branding. The truth was the hollow socket beneath the cloth, revealed in lamplight — scarred and empty, the absence of something that should have been there.

“They don’t know I kept my power,” Momo said. “Removing the eye only cost me half my vision. Only the God’s Locket of Retribution can truly block what I do.”

Wendy understood the mechanism. Only Extraordinaries could fuse magic to flesh. Momo’s ability operated through her sight — the eye was the channel, not the source. What they had taken from her was collateral, and permanent.

“They didn’t take it seriously at first,” Thylane said quietly. “Until something happened. After that, her master removed the eye and called her the Child of Hell. She barely survived what came after.”

Wendy touched the scarred socket gently. “What did you see? Will you tell me?”

Momo looked at her lap. “A number.”

“What kind?”

“A countdown. It tells when someone will die.”

The room was very still.

“The incident Thylane mentioned —”

Momo nodded. “My prediction was accurate. The noble with the lowest number died the following year.”

Wendy understood now why those men had taken a child’s eye rather than simply lock her away. No one with anything left to lose wants to see their remaining years printed above their head, visible to a little girl who served their wine. The number was intolerable. So the eye had to go.

“Is the prediction always precise?” Wendy asked, after a moment. “Accidents happen. Any number of things can happen.”

Both witches stared at her.

“Did I say something wrong?”

“No.” Thylane shook her head. “I expected you to back away from Momo. To ask if she’d used her power on anyone here. To throw us out of the castle.”

“A person isn’t defined by her ability,” Wendy said, simply. “The more we understand an ability, the better we can use it. That’s all.”

Momo sat very still. “You think mine could be… useful?”

“I honestly don’t know yet. But His Majesty has told me that every ability has a use — some take longer to find it.” Wendy looked between them. “If you join the Witch Union, you’ll start learning. Testing. You’ll run through exercises until you understand your power, then push further. When you know enough, you upgrade.”

“Upgrade?” Thylane asked.

“You’ll see. The awakening is only the beginning.” Wendy extended both hands, open-palmed. “So. Have you decided?”

Thylane and Momo looked at each other.

Then Momo said softly, “Some of the numbers have different colors. I don’t know what they mean, but I feel like they’re telling me something I don’t have a name for yet.”

“That’s exactly the kind of thing you’ll work out in the Union,” Wendy said. “Nothing about your ability is final.”

Another pause. Longer.

“If you can accept someone like us —”

“Then we’d like to join.”

Their hands moved toward Wendy’s — slowly, tentatively, carrying all the wariness that experience had put there — and then held.

Chapter 1267 - The Invitation

Translator: Transn Editor: Transn The so-called “magic pill” would be only effective when the magic was injected into a physical pill. Thylane had never told these nobles 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 nobles 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 nobles 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 nobles 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 mesmorized 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 nobles 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 assured. 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 relationship,” Wendy said. Her voice suddenly became extremely soft. “He also saved the witches from the Witch Cooperation Association 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 God’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 nobles 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 Hell 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 noble labeled with the number one diedthe next year.” Wendy fell silent. She now understood why those nobles had done such horrible things to her. Nobody 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 embarrassment, “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. Themore 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 abilitiesfirst. Then they’ll have to do various tests. Only when theyknow 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.