Cutting the Puppet's Strings

With wobbly knees, Sienna slowly retreated from the door. When she was far enough for her parents not to hear her footsteps, she started running back to her room. 

She locked the door and paced back and forth. Her teary eyes were bloodshot in frustration. She understood she was the biggest disappointment to her parents, but it never crossed her mind that they would go as far as to kill her just to get rid of her.

"H-how could they think of doing something so evil to their own daughter?" 

She slumped onto the carpet while gripping the sides of her hair. She screamed silently, tears flowing down her cheeks.

Sienna wasn't sure how long she cried, but she slowly calmed down after some time. She stood up and walked to the window, feeling numb. Wiping her tears, she tried to figure out what to do with the situation.

With what the Duke of Amstel was trying to do, she understood that their clan would suffer great losses, whether her parents agreed to the duke's plan or let the duke expose to the world how her family had deceived everyone. 

She had heard about those lands where their clan grew special herbs that only grew in Azure lands. It wasn't their clan's only business, but it was a big source of their income, and she knew it helped a lot of their people. If they lost it, it would certainly affect their way of living. But still, she thought her parents would think of a plan to get through this predicament without sacrificing her.

As she drowned in her deep thoughts, a servant knocked on the door, informing her that breakfast was served in the dining hall. 

Sienna fixed herself before heading downstairs. Her parents didn't join her as usual, and she was relieved they were out of her sight at the moment. She didn't know what to feel when she met their eyes.

While eating, she felt the dread crawl under her skin. The family she had married into only intended to use her, and she guessed Lemiel had known about his father's plan all along. And now, her parents wanted to kill her to get rid of the problems the marriage had brought them.

This fueled something within Sienna. It gave her the will to live and free herself from the people holding her strings like she was a puppet.

Now that she knew her parents didn't regard her as their daughter one bit, dying for their satisfaction was the last thing she wanted. She had done everything they wanted for the past eighteen years. She had served them enough.

After her breakfast, Sienna returned to her room. The trunks and chests where her things were packed were already ready. The servants had done it early in the morning yesterday. She was going to depart later that afternoon, and she planned to take advantage of that trip.

'She must be killed in the Amstel Fortress so we can pin the blame on the Von Amstels,' she remembered the last words she heard from her father before she ran back to her room.

It meant they would only do their plan once she reached Amstel Fortress. Sienna's eyes turned hollow.

She had never thought a day would come when she would deem her ability to curse useful. Some witches and witchers had the innate ability to curse, but all of them could also cast spells, and casting curses was considered illegal. It was why a witch who could only cast curses was considered an outcast.

Even though Sienna didn't undergo proper training, with the mountain of books in the castle's library as her companion for the past eighteen years, she had learned a handful about curses. She thought that there might be something good about it and that she could use her knowledge in the future.

Holding a certain book in her hand, she started to turn the pages until she found what she was looking for.