The next morning, Seren and Drayce had a meal and were ready to go downstairs.
"Your Majesty, Prince Arlan is here," Azer informed.
Drayce nodded and the knight left. Seren looked at Drayce, "Dray, I can sense the strong presence of the darkness, it's like the person is nearby."
"We will know once we go downstairs," Drayce assured.
The door to the drawing room opened and the King and Queen of Megaris looked at a certain someone who was standing behind the chair Arlan was sitting on. That person happened to look at Drayce and Seren as well and looked shocked.
The person standing behind Arlan's chair was wearing man servant's clothes though she was a woman. Drayce recognized her and seemed like she had recognized Drayce as well, the shocked expressions on her face were the proof of it.
Seren and Drayce were sure that this person was a black witch they came across on the Azures Island. She had her head wrapped in a dark cloth and Drayce was sure it was to hide her long hair. On that island when he happened to pull her headwrap, he clearly saw her long red-blond hair. Her hazel eyes, Drayce was sure they were the exact same pair of eyes.
Moreover, that aura around her, they knew it was her.
But why was she in a disguise of a man and why was she with Arlan? Was Arlan not able to sense she is a black witch? If Arlan had known about her, given his hatred towards the Black Witches, he would have killed her. Was she deceiving Arlan?
Seren shared a known gaze with her husband to which he assured as if asking her to stay calm. He gently squeezed her hand to calm her. The two approached Arlan who stood up and looked happy to see his friend.
Drayce and Seren paid attention to Arlan for now as they needed to know more about this person standing behind Arlan.
"You reached here earlier than expected," Arlan's voice disturbed their train of thoughts.
"The journey was smoother than I thought," Drayce answered as he led his wife to sit on the sofa opposite Arlan, "but were you late?"
"When you have a troublemaker with you, delay is bound to happen," Arlan answered as he sat back
Drayce's gaze kept moving between Arlan and that black witch to observe her. Drayce asked again, "Troublemaker? I am sure Imbert got rid of them even without you needing to lift a finger."
"Some troubles can not be dealt with Sword," Arlan answered with a teasing smirk.
Drayce watched the black witch pursuing her lips at Arlan's remarks. He could understand the things between Arlan and this black witch were not as simple as it looked.
Meanwhile Seren kept observing this Black Witch as well. From her sense about the aura surrounding this Black Witch, Seren could sense she was not evil and felt relieved.
Finally Drayce asked, "I see someone new. A new attendant?" and looked at her.
Drayce could see she felt a little wary of him and he was sure she had already recognised him. She had seen his face when he almost caught her on that island. He found her lowering her gaze and doing her best to not look at him. Before Drayce could tell anything to Arlan, he needed to find out about this witch first. If she was a threat to Arlan, he would not blink an eye before killing her.
He heard Arlan, "I envied you for having that clever Orion guy as your personal aide, so I got one Orian for me."
'So her name is Orian. She is really deceiving Arlan and everyone by disguising herself as a man.' Drayce concluded and spoke, "Sadly my aide Orion is not here to hear about your envy."
Arlan smiled and looked at Seren, "Your Majesty, I hope your husband entertained you well? Did you have fun?"
Seren moved her attention to Arlan from that Black Witch, "Yes, it was fun. I got to see various places in Othinia. It's a beautiful kingdom with different tastes in aesthetics."
"True," Arlan agreed.
They continued to talk where Seren could sense that young witch's gaze on her and wondered why she was staring at her. Just like others was she looking at the scales on her face and wondering why she was wearing a veil?
Yorian had entered the drawing room a while ago but stayed quiet. From a distance he was observing that young Black witch standing behind Arlan. He already heard this witch was Arlan's personal aide and so many questions arose in Elf's mind just like Drayce. One of them was- Can Arlan really not tell she was a black witch?
Just then he heard Arlan talk, "...where is that priestess?"
Yorian was used to such remarks from Arlan and spoke with a smile on his face, "Are you talking about me, Prince Arlan?"
Arlan looked at the elf, "What happened to your ears, Yorian?"
Yorian had changed his long pointed ears into human-like ones to disguise himself as a human. "Wearing hoods in warm weather is uncomfortable so I have to disguise them."
The weather of Othinia was much warmer than that of Abetha and Griven.
"Doesn't suit you," Arlan remarked, seeing those human-like ears.
"I don't like them either," Yorian replied and then looked at the young witch who was looking at him as well but lowered her gaze the moment Yorian looked at her.
"I see someone new with you," Yorian kept his gaze on the witch.
"Seems like you people are still muddled from the long journey to be interested in my new aide."
"This child wasn't with you last time in Selve," Yorian countered.
"I said this earlier, but Orian is new."
Yorian exchanged the meaningful gaze with Drayce. They were somewhat sure that Arlan was not aware that his new aide was a Black Witch and she was disguising herself as a woman, deceiving the Prince blatantly.
As they talked for a while, the friends decided to go out. Drayce looked at his wife, "My Queen, would you like to accompany us outside?"
"I would prefer to stay inside. You can go ahead," Seren declined politely, with the intention of letting the pair of friends catch up.
"Alright," Drayce pecked on her forehead, "I will be back soon."
Seren watched them leaving and her gaze was at Arlan's aide who followed them as well. Xena, who was next to Seren, asked, "Is anything troubling you, Your Majesty?"
Seren shook her head. 'I hope Drayce would find out why she is here and why she is hiding her gender. I hope she has no bad intentions towards Prince Arlan.'
Just then Martha arrived there. Seren looked at her, "Martha, come here quickly."
Martha hurried towards her, "Yes, Your Majesty."
Yorian didn't deny it as what Evanthe said was right. "For now, just give her half of it. She needs it."
Martha agreed. Just then, Eva entered the chamber, "Your Majesty, Prince Arlan's aide is here and he wishes to see Her Majesty. Prince Arlan said he is a physician and asked permission to let his servant check on Her Majesty."
Drayce looked at Yorian to which the elf nodded.
"Send him in?" Drayce said and stood up from the bed.
Arlan's aide, the black witch disguising herself as a man. Why did she want to check Seren? They needed to know her intentions to be around them.
The door opened and a young servant entered the chamber. Her hazel eyes looking at the Queen lying on her bed. She bowed to the king and walked towards the bed.
Yorian let go of Seren's hand and looked at her, "You are a physician?"
"I am trained under Erich Winfield," she replied.
The moment she said Erich's name, they looked at each other. They were all surprised to know it.
"You know Erich Winfield?" Drayce asked, still having so many doubts about this young witch.
Only if his mother was here, things would have been easier to know this witch's intentions. For now they could only be quiet and observe her.
"Indeed, Your Majesty," she replied politely. "I am Orian, one of his apprentices."
Drayce and Yorian once again looked at each other. Yorian spoke, "Go ahead."
The young witch went to the side of the bed where Seren was lying with her eyes closed. She reached out to check the pulse on the young queen's wrist, and there was shock and confusion in her eyes.
The moment the young witch touched her, even Seren felt something strange and opened her eyes only to find this young witch staring at her in confusion, but lowered her gaze the next moment, making Seren feel suspicious of her.
Seren wondered, 'When she touched me, I felt her energy. Did she feel the same when she touched me? Can she feel I have divine power? Will this witch be greedy for my blood now and come after me?'
Seren found this witch holding her scaly hand and she was observing those scales. She looked at Drayce and Yorian who were quietly observing this witch, so Seren didn't say anything either.
The young witch kept Seren's hand down and asked as she looked at her, "Your Majesty, have you been exhausting yourself a lot?"
Seren nodded and Oriana spoke again, "Has your body always been sickly, Your Majesty?"
The Queen shook her head.
"Do you suffer from diseases, or does your family have hereditary problems in health?"
Seren shook her head once more.
"What about—"
This young witch kept asking her many questions like a proper physician and Seren answered them all.
"...I see. Your pulse is weak. Fortunately, it is not anything alarming. It is merely fatigue. You need to sleep and eat well on time, Your Majesty," Oriana said. "I suggest you stay indoors for the next few days.
Also, I will have to ask your servants about your diet and the medications you drink. That way, I can check if there are conflicting ingredients and see where you need more supplements to help you recover faster."
"Thank you," Seren replied.
"Do not mention it, Your Majesty," Oriana smiled at her lightly and then stood up.
She turned towards Drayce with her head lowered. "Your Majesty, please allow me to prepare medicines for the Queen."
Drayce didn't agree right away. She had so many doubts about her and he feared she might harm his wife. If she was someone Zaria had sent and her intention was to approach them using Arlan, then they had to be careful.
He only looked at her coldly but then Yorian spoke, "I am sure His Majesty means yes."
Drayce threw a displeased look his way, but the elf offered him an assuring smile, seemingly saying 'do not worry'.
"Thank you. I will need ingredients and assistance to prepare medicine. May I request someone who knows the Queen's daily routine well?"
"You will be provided with everything you need," Drayce replied. "Martha will assist you."
Hearing Drayce's response, the young witch looked delighted as if it was what she wanted. Martha led her way out and the young witch followed her happily.
Once they left, Drayce looked at Yorian, or more like glared at him, "Why did you allow her?"
"King Drayce calm down. Didn't you see. That witch was looking at Martha again and again since the moment she entered the room. The person that interests her is none of us but Martha. Her eyes turned happier the moment you said Martha will assist her."
Drayce thought about it and realized Yorian was right. He ignored these things as his mind only paid attention to his wife's safety.
"She is a witch and she must know Martha is a witch as well because witches can sense each other's presence," Drayce spoke.
"But Martha can not sense she is a witch," Seren informed.
"Are you sure?" Drayce asked.
Seren nodded and explained them what happened a while ago when Martha failed to sense that witch.
"So we were right," Yorian spoke, "Just like Martha, even Arlan can not sense she is a witch."
"What shall we do?" Drayce asked, "If we inform Arlan, he will kill her without even bothering to know her reasons."
Yorian nodded, "Let's not infrom him for a while. For now, the important part is, we need to know why she was seeking for Martha." He then sighed and looked at Drayce, "Shall I make it easy for us?"
"Please do." Drayce agreed immedietly.
Yorian smiled mischievously, "Eavesdropping is a bad thing but sometimes it can be forgiven," and he left the chamber.