2 Lost in the forest, called by the Queen

As the night goes by, the flowers started to glow and the fairies started to dance and welcomed the different kinds of people from coming in to the forest. All of them were wearing hats matching with extravagant robes like Runia. The scene was so stunning it felt like a fantasy.

But not to Irina, a sight that is depicted from a fairy tales is now her reality. She felt fear and was filled with sense of foreboding. Runia saw her worried face and removed her own robe and placed it on Irina's shoulders, "I will help you for 1 month, after that you will be fine on your own."

Irina looked into those purple eyes, "Why? You don't have to waste time on someone like me."

"Giving a little bit of investment is a not bad idea."

"Is that so??"

Giving her an idea of materialistic gain helped Irina trust her a bit. To Runia, her deep curiosity grew whenever looking at those amber eyes, 'She might not be lying from being nobody but I can tell her aura is different from others'. Her intuition for these kinds of things are always correct.

"Being a merchant in front of someone who's obviously has no money, I bet you could get a deal with a demon with the lowest price, Runia."

A small girl with bright blue eyes and golden hair smiled. Her white hat was laced with blue ribbon paired with beautiful white dress. You can mistake her for an angel at first glance but her sarcastic remarks turn the idea into opposite direction, making her into a little shit.

"It's been a while, Aileen. Your talent of making someone hate you is really outstanding."

Irina tried not to laugh at Runia's rolled eyes. It was certainly a cold gesture but she can't help thinking 'cute'.

"At least I have something being good at unlike certain someone."

Irina noticed that everyone is looking at them, murmuring words. She can hear 'They're at it again' 'Fighting like a cat and dog' into a form of whispers. It seems these two are like oil and water. She can even feel the prickling stares they give to each other. Aileen looked at the Runia's side.

As Aileen kept looking at Irina, everyone can tell that her angelic face is darkening. With a low voice, "What the hell are you?"

Everyone immediately stared at Irina. A witch with from nameless tribe and you can tell she was wearing rug under Runia's robe. This is a meeting for witches, Sabbath day and you can tell that you must at least be presentable to the Goddess Lilith.

"Aileen, her majesty has yet to present herself, picking a fight in the sanctuary is asking for excommunication!"

"You don't need to state the obvious, Runia. I know damn well the law here. I simply want to know how she deflected my curse."

The murmuring stopped and the place became silent. Aileen is from a prominent tribe and also one of the major arcana. She uses her 6 years old appearance but her real age is over 80. One can tell that she is not someone to mess with. Deflecting her curse means that Irina is on her level. Runia didn't expect for her to be in that case and smiled internally from seeing a rare treasure.

"???"

'That was the curse?' Irina didn't know whether to laugh or cry at the situation. She indeed felt it but her own curse was so strong to be affected by other.

Curses are not fueled by mana but by 'contract', when certain conditions are met they will simply activate. One of conditions is that the caster must have connection with the victim. One of the examples are when the conditions is to tap the victim twice to let curse be activated. Of course, using curses still has price to pay similar to using mana to evoke magic.

Telling her the real reason will only get her into trouble so she continued her using shocked face, "What do you mean, I deflected your curse?"

Aileen couldn't tell if she's lying but still pressed on, "You looked into my eyes but I can't see any single symptoms on you."Her curse has simple conditions but when activated the severity is not something you can survive with ease and that's why she was able to become one of the major arcana. Highest ranking the covenant that has direct connection to the Queen.

On other side, there was dark skinned girl with white dreadlocks. Under her black robe, she was wearing white blouse tucked in her black pants. Her silver earrings matched with her shiny grey eyes and gazed at the center of attention. Slowly walking forward, "The Queen will here at few minutes and here you two again gathering attention."

Her black leather boots reaching her thighs was so breathtaking, Irina can't help thinking if she dies, she wanted to be squished by those thighs.

She eyed at Irina, 'This girl is odd. As if she pop-up suddenly from thin air. She has fair amount of mana but there's more than that'. Even Runia and Aileen can tell the curiosity of the person.

Irina felt weird from being stared for so long she bowed her head down.

Her voice became gentle, "I didn't meant to be insulting earlier, I am Elai. I would like to talk to you after the ceremony, would be okay for you?"

"Is there a food?"

"Hey I'm still talki-

"Yes"

"Then I wouldn't mind."

Elai smiled and walked away. Everyone was gaping at the sudden turn of events. Elai who was also one of the major arcana invited the mysterious girl. 'Who is she?'Everyone was lost to their wonders. Aileen pouted from being ignored and left the words, "I will check on you later."

After few minutes, the ceremony began. The Queen entered the place and was escorted by people with lavish hats and robes. She was wearing silver crown at top of her black hat but her face was covered with white veil. The collar of her dress was a shaped into v-line, enough to see fair amount of skin, outer layer of fabric was white with intricate design of ornaments and the inside of it was black. The veil was thin but Irina can't tell what kind of face under those layer of fabric. She felt the Queen stared into her and saw those red lips shaped into crescent.

"It seems the Queen is also interested in you." Runia's whisper has playful voice, making anyone hearing it quiver. Irina can't help but bite her own lips from stopping her from thoughts.

The ceremony continued with the Queen's speech. Irina can't hear what words she was saying but she instantly snapped from her reverie when she was called. The Queen was standing in front of the huge tree and at her side, there was Elai smiling. She felt Runia's hand at her back and pushed her forward.

"I will be waiting here."