Chapter 37: Secrets Unearthed

Geneva woke up into a beautiful morning. The gentle sunlight flittered through the window while the birds sang sweets songs of harmony. She rolled to her side to greet her silver-haired friend and tease her about the previous night only to find her spot empty. She must be up and going already. Geneva didn't linger long in the bed to start her morning so she fixed the bed and freshened herself up in Ruby's bathroom which is surprisingly large and grand, filled with extremely expensive beauty products much more costly than the ones that she uses. She helped herself with Ruby's stuff knowing that the silver-haired wouldn't mind.

She soon descended from the second floor to get her breakfast or prepare one in case Ruby hasn't yet. To her surprise, the witch is also nowhere to be found downstairs though she had already prepared breakfast, which Geneva was very thankful for. She took two slices of toasts and sandwiched the bacon with them before taking a large bite. She poured herself a cup of coffee, added sugar and milk before wandering around the house.

As she ate her breakfast, her attention suddenly went to the door in the kitchen. During her former visits, Ruby said that that door leads down to her workshop where she conjures and brew her potions so maybe she's in there right now. Geneva, feeling a little horny for the smaller lady after remembering the things she did last night, wanted to check out on her and flirt a little.

She grabbed the doorknob and twisted it open, seeing a set of stairs leading downwards to another door. She descended the steps carefully feeling a little scared and slowly knocked upon the intricately made door. She waited a few moments but she received no reply so she started climbing up the stairs, however, halfway through her flight curiosity began to prick at the back of her head. Ruby had always been a mystery to her. Though she might've entrusted her with the secrets of her past, all she knows about her history is that she was cursed by her obsessive lover who fleed soon after he inflicted the curse. And if you really want to know a mage or a witch deeper then the right place to know them better is their workshops, right? It's not like she's going to snoop around or anything, she's just going to take a little peek.

Geneva grabbed the door open and allowed herself in. Ruby's workshop is pristine and magnificent. Her grotesque ingredients are arranged neatly in the cabinets, her minerals and gems are orderly sorted and displayed in cases, her books are neatly stacked or lined over tables with perfect symmetry, and her laboratory glassware are washed and dried thoroughly. Purple butterflies flutter about fading and reappearing constantly like Christmas lights giving the room a calming vibe. Geneva noticed an odd summoning circle and went to inspect it. It bore terrifying icons and odd letters that even she couldn't understand. This must be the magic circle Ruby drew for her summoning, where she accidentally freed Dyrroth.

The mage's attention went to the colorful portions lining the shelves. She tip-toed around the summoning circle and inspected the table where the witch seems to have been working not long ago. The first thing she noticed was the red liquid in a spherical glass container. She inspected the table further and found notes about the potion. 

Anti-Love Potion: Cure for Aphrodite's Bane

Ingredients: 

Apathy from the dead (Bargained with Ferris or if you're in good terms with Ventia) 

Tears of Grief from a weeping willow draiad

Tears of joy from a naiad

Phantasmal blood (preferably from a dragon to counter the unicorn blood I used in the love potion, more powerful and hateful) 

A lock of sorrowful true love (material to customize it, get from the maiden who wants to counter the love potion, must be in love with the victim) 

Ruby is making a counter love potion but for who? She looked around the table further and saw fuchsia-colored hair trimmings. She grabbed a pinch of the hair and brought it closer to her face to investigate the owner.

This color and roughness. It is undeniable that the hair trimmings belongs to Leanna but why would Ruby have it? Did she hex the girl on behalf of her as revenge? Was she trying to use a locating magic? Or did she make an anti-love portion specific only for Leanna so that she can free Gallen from the hex? Ruby wouldn't do it, would she? She wouldn't betray her own friend. Certainly not for money since her potions are costly. It's impossible that Ruby would betray her for something trivial.

Geneva staggered back in shock as a butterfly suddenly passed by her face. She fell on her butt making other stuff fall on the ground as well. She heard the distinct clanging of metal on the floor and turned her head to where it fell. A gasp erupted from her lips as she saw the sword that Ophelia usually carries around but doesn't use. Why the hell does Ruby have it?

Then it all clicked. The gears of her head turning, the pieces all falling in place, and the secret is being revealed.

Ruby had betrayed her to get this blasted sword. She conspired with Leanna to hurt Ophelia and get the sword for whatever reason she fucking has then she gave Leanna an anti-love potion to use on Gallen. Tears started falling from her eyes. Grief and lamentation replaced the light feeling in her heart at the treason her beloved friend has committed.

How can she be such a fool? Of course, it was Ruby's doing. What else can it fucking be when Gallen suddenly dumped her for no reason when he had just told her that he loved her, when she had just told him that she was pregnant, and when he had just proposed to her. She had a miscarriage due to grief and she was left by the man she loves because of that blasted witch!! All of these, her happiness, her lover, and her child are all taken from her because her friend wanted a fucking sword? 

How dare that fucking, lying Bitch do that to her and then welcome her in her house as if she was an angel? Geneva felt more disgusted at the events that unfolded last night. She just slept with the devil herself, Brutus who had stabbed her in the back.

Tears stopped falling from her eyes as hate replaced her sadness. Rage started coursing through her blood as she can think about nothing else but killing the witch, burning her, mutilating her, stabbing her, strangling her slowly, and watching the life flicker out of her lips. She wants vengeance and blood.

Her hand found the handle of the Sword and she picked herself up.

🥀🥀🥀

After three days of flying Aleister finally arrived in the Lytebright Capital. Ruby had given him a map of the land and the blueprints of the castle which is very impressive of his little witch. She had also packed non-perishable sets of food rations and given him a handsome amount of gold to spend for his travel.

He arrived in the capital at a daytime so he had to wait until the sun sets for him to be able to make a move and sneak inside the palace. In the meantime he watched the rotations of the guards and studied the blueprints of the palace, memorizing and marking all the entrances and exits he could use for his break-in and escape.

Once twilight broke in, the demon was already inside the palace infiltrating its halls. He went up and down the tedious stairs, crawled left and right through vexing hallways which all looked the same, and hid every time he heard footsteps like a mouse which is very degrading for a person like him but his little witch begged him to spill as less blood as possible and let no one know that he was even there so he had no choice but to comply since she was very cute when sending him away.

After what felt like an eternity of searching through the labyrinth-like palace he was finally able to find the room of the prince. He twisted the doorknob and not surprisingly, it was locked. He extended his index finger and inserted his extremely sharp nail inside the keyhole, twisting and turning it until he heard the lock click. He entered immediately hearing footsteps approaching the hallway he was in and shut the door behind him, pausing for a while.

When he heard their footsteps fading, he proceeded to look around. His little witch didn't really specify where the "scabbard" was located and which one it was since the room is very spacious, bigger even than Ruby's own cottage minus the compartment dimensions in her bathroom. There also appears to be hundreds of swords with scabbards and other blades, all impressive and shiny, making his search more difficult. He would have thought that the place was an armory if it wasn't for the bed and other luxurious furniture and bookshelves organized neatly around the room. However, there seems to be a certain solitary and imposing feel about the room that he feels comfortable with, exactly what he wants if he were to design his own room. It feels like a fortress where no one can disturb him and where he can be at peace, though there seem to be excessive tapestries inside the room which are quite annoying.

He started analyzing the different scabbards in the room, confirming if one of them is what he is looking for, a golden scabbard bearing a vertical lettering of an unknown alphabet with simple blue designs. She said that the scabbard doesn't rust nor can it be scratched but after the fiftieth scratch on the hundredth scabbard there seems to be nothing here that fits the description. So he started pulling books out from the shelves, thinking that they will lead to secret passages that hopefully will bring him to the scabbard.

After draining the shelves of all the books, piling them on the floor with still no secret passages or much less boobie traps (There were a few books about sex with vivid illustrations though and he spent quite some time checking that out. He might be able to use those information when he gets back to his little witch. Hehehe), he paused and sat on the crimson cushioned throne-like chair and took out one of the food rations that Ruby packed for him. He took a large bite on the three-day-old sandwich wrapped in tissue paper from a ziplock bag and was astounded to still find it edible and as good as new as if it had been recently made. His little witch must've used a preservation magic on it to maintain its freshness and delicious taste just for him. How sweet. Plus she also packed a small casket of his favorite elf blood mead, which he somehow didn't feel until his hand was inside the bag taking out whatever is food. What a crafty little trick.

After devouring his meal he packed away the casket back in his bag and approached a large wolf tapestry over the bed and tore it to pieces because it looked stupid, then he welcomed himself on the prince's bed which is surprisingly not dusty. Someone must still be taking care of this room because it was spotless and clean. Sucks for them because he had just trashed the whole place. Just as his body hit against the mattress, he felt his spine crunch as his back collides against something very hard. Like metal.

He instantly bolted upwards and tore through the sheets digging for what he wished to be the scabbard. His hand soon felt something hard and cold so he pulled it out and there it was. A golden scabbard with no rust nor scratch, all pristine and perfect.

"Fuck, yeah. Finally found this bastard." he said laying again on the soft mattress for a little rest before he goes on his way back to the forest. The smile on his lips soon faded and was replaced by confusion as he saw a collage on the wall which was formerly obscured by the hideous tapestry. He looked at it inspecting the theme it bore and noticed a huge similarity in all of the images. They were all about the same woman, golden-haired and pretty, wearing fancy dresses or tunics or revealing armors usually in scarlet, crimson, vermillion, or any other variant colors of red. The prince seems to be obsessed with the woman, probably even masturbated while looking at the images, making him cringe and leave the bed immediately.

He tore down the other tapestries and saw the same woman in different settings, some seemed to be taken from portraits while most are candid shots. He even found one where the woman is bathing naked on a river but a few leaves obscured the important parts. Such a shame she was really pretty. She even kind of looks like Ruby.

"What the fuck..."

Realization suddenly dawned on him. The girl doesn't just look like Ruby, it is Ruby. Or was Ruby because this chick was blonde and green-eyed while his Ruby is silver-haired and golden-eyed. The girl looks like the sunshine itself in human form warm, adventurous, and exciting while his Ruby felt like moonlight, gentle, mysterious, yet oddly comforting and reliable to lead your way on the dim nights. However, the similarity is undeniable and the witch herself told him that she's hundreds of years old so maybe some of her features changed over the course of the years.

He took a step back in shock. Ruby must have been in a relationship with the prince himself. The thought of his little witch being in the arms of another man-made his blood boil, especially since the man seemed to be very obsessed with her. Just what sort of things did this prince do with his little witch?

He suddenly tripped on a large book as he was walking around checking out the tapestries. He groaned and grabbed the book to flung it across the room until he saw something drop from its pages. He paused and picked up the object. It was a photograph of Ruby and a man who seemed to be at the same age as her at that time. The guy had a duller shade of golden hair and a vivid set of violet eyes. He was dressed nicely in white fancy garments with blue accents and golden designs while Ruby wore a nice vibrantly red dress. Both of them are smiling happily at the photo while the guy had a possessive arm wrapped around her waist. The image had a caption under the picture written with the pretty curving penmanship of his little witch.

Ruby and Rel first Polaroid picture ❤️ P. S. It took him an hour to figure out how it works hahaha.

He soon turned the book over to check it's title. On the cover, among the pretty colorful gems and butterfly designs is a title of bold golden letters that brought a sudden shiver to his body.

🌹Ruby and Aurelius🌹