Chapter 25

Lauro stepped out before assisting Priti off the carriage; he had a bad sense from the place that threw him off. It made him want to get them out of there, but he did not even have time to find out the background of the orphanage since they had just bolted there. "Madam, is this the location we had to go to too?" While Lauro was speaking to Priti, the two children got off from the back of the carriage and snuck to hide from the adults.

"Yes, this is the place. Come on, we cannot stand here all day looking at it. We have to find the person who sent us the letter." For some odd reason, Priti did not fear or worry. She started walking up to the front door, knocking on it as soon as possible. The two children still followed behind as they hid behind a large boulder in front of the old building. Their eyes were peeking out; they had to be agile and quiet. The door had creaked open, seeing a very old woman covered with a cloak.

"Oh, are you the madam of Maximus Household?" The woman spoke out in a raspy voice, staring at Priti and the beast folk beside her.

"Yes, now tell me more about what you know. Laonn, tell me what you know about him and what he has done to the girl before." Priti did not want to sound rash, but she had to know more about Celia's history while trying to look more into Laonn's case.

"Of course; why don't the two of you come in?" The woman opened the door wider, but Priti and Lauro remained outside. The woman waited, but nothing happened. "Do you both not wish to come in?"

"I do not think that we need to come in to get answers. We are fine with getting it out here." Priti felt like going inside would only bring trouble. She did not know why, but the woman also gave her a bad feeling.

"Do you really not wish to come inside when you are with child?" The woman would then look at Priti's belly, and it was almost like she was aiming for that child. Almost like she knew that Priti was due any moment now.

Priti was about to deny once more before she gritted her teeth, feeling her contractions kick now. 'Damn it. This is the worst time to start.' Priti had wished that it would not turn out like this, but she still wanted to fight for the answers.

"Madam, maybe we should come back another time." Lauro did not want the archmage's wife in this situation. The woman before them did not seem to help with what was happening. It only made her more suspicious because she then had a grin on her face.

***

Reg and Celia sensed something was wrong once Priti and Lauro entered the old woman's home. 'Something is definitely wrong.' Celia was about to run there when Reg stopped her and shook his head.

"What are you doing?" Reg knew that this was going to be dangerous.

'I can't just stand here, dumbass.' Celia growled at him, pushing his hand off her shoulder before seeing the old woman shut the door. Pushing the door, it was locked until she saw an open window there. Her eyes fixed on it, but she quickly leaped up and through it. Even Reg did not see or expect her to fit right through it. The open window gave her a good advantage to get through as she landed on a tabletop. She avoided trying to make any loud sounds as the three adults were in the other room. Leaving Reg behind, she slowly went over to see what was happening in the living room.

***

Priti fought the contractions, holding them back while sitting down and looking at the woman. "Now, tell us about what you know. Tell us about Laonn and the girl." Priti gritted her teeth, sitting down on the couch while Lauro was very concerned about his madam.

"Laonn, he would come here every winter for some odd reason. It was the hardest time and the time when children were the most expensive to take in since they needed more food and materials for the winter." The old woman brought a platter of snacks that looked inedible. Both Lauro and Priti glanced at each other in return and did not touch the food.

"What more? What did he do or say that he would do for the children?" Priti gripped her stomach, feeling the contractions hit from time to time. It made it unsettling for the most part that she could barely focus on questions to ask.

"There was not much said, but he did offer a good deal. If I took part in the experiments, it would be quite an honor." The woman sat down; they glanced back at her before their eyes widened to realize something. The woman had hard, sharp fangs with her eyes holding that of a snake; she stared at the two before her neck extended out. She was ready to dig her snake-like fangs into Priti before Celia growled, jump-kicking the woman's head that had her neck extended out.

'I knew this was sketchy!' Priti and Lauro had not expected to see Celia there, but it was clear on their look that they were expecting the woman to do something—just not that. Lauro was about to attack the woman's head, but Celia had reached it before he could.

"Celia!" Priti was shocked before she winced in pain, holding her stomach only tighter to the extreme pain from her belly. "Why are you here???" Celia could only glance at Priti before the woman shook her head and long neck.

"Oh, a small child is here too. It seems like I get to have more than one of my favorite meals." The woman hissed along with her snake tongue sticking out to find where her targets were.

"Madam! Please take the young miss and get out of here!" Lauro took out his sword, holding it in front of the old snake.

"Do you really think a sword as dull as that can stop me?" The woman's lower half started to be revealed, with it only being the look of a snake. Her tail swung around to attack Lauro. Lauro knew swordsmanship, clashing it with the snake, whose scales were tough and hard to penetrate.

"Come on!" Priti urged Celia to follow her, taking the girl around the shoulder while opening the front door. The snake woman's head came behind them, ready to bite down on Priti's neck. Before she could do that, Reg had cast a spell to strike a lightning bolt at her.

"Mother!" Reg shouted, looking at both his mother and Celia, who hugged him.

"Ahhhhhh!" the snake woman wailed in pain, swinging her face, which had been scared. Her face was not fully scaled, and it had burned. "I'll get you for this!" she once more tried to strike at them. Lauro was wrapped tightly in her snake tail, and some of his bones were breaking.

Celia leaped forth, digging her claws into the woman's eyes with her hands covered in blood. Reg grabbed his mother, seeing her panting and breathing heavily due to her contractions. "Mother, you have to get back to the carriage." Reg urged for his mother to hurry back.

"We can't leave her," Priti complained, but Reg wouldn't let his mother stand there and complain.

"Sorry, Mother." Reg used his magic, gaining it from none other than his father. He had his mother lifted into the air and taken into the carriage, casting a barrier around the carriage.

"Reg! Reg! No!" Priti could only look through the window before clutching her stomach again with more intense pain. She knew that there was no other choice but to give birth; she had done it before, so she knew that she could do it again. 'We can't pause anything.' She sweated while using the carriage as the birthing room, and it was her only choice.

***

Celia growled, keeping her claws dug into the snake's eyes before flinging back and hitting the grassy terrain. The snake woman's eyes were gone, and with the pain hitting her, she had released Lauro, who struggled to get up and breathe. Celia stood up, seeing the old snake keep wailing before trying to withstand the pain.

"You wretched mutt! You dare to ruin me!" The snake woman's mouth only grew wide, her fangs directed at Celia, who grabbed onto her two upper fangs. Celia kept her hands gripped onto the set of fangs with poison that started oozing out from the gums and down to the fangs. "Why don't you have a little taste of this juice? It is very sweet." The old snake knew that Celia was there because her snake tongue allowed her to smell her. The old woman only pushed further down to bite the little girl. The poison seeped down, burning into Celia's small hands that had some scratches.