The Devil's Cursed Witch
The tale of a man who brings death and a girl who denies it. ---- On the haunted mountain in the kingdom, they say there lived a witch. She was born a princess. But even before her birth, the priest declared her to be cursed and demanded her death. They poisoned the mother to kill the baby before she gave birth, but the baby was born out of the dead mother—a cursed child. Again and again, they tried to kill the baby but she miraculously survived every single attempt. Giving up, they abandoned her on the haunted mountain to die but she still survived on that barren land— A witch ‘Why won’t she die?’ Years later, the people finally had enough of the witch and decided to burn the mountain. But the Devil arrived to her rescue and took her with him from that burning place, because dying was not her destiny even then. Draven Amaris. The Black Dragon, who ruled over supernatural beings, the Devil who no one wished to cross a path with. He hated humans but this certain human girl would pull him towards her whenever she was in danger. ‘Is she really a human?’ He took the human with him and named this mysteriously tenacious girl “Ember”, a piece of glowing coal in a dying fire. A soul tainted with vengeance and the darkness of hell, would rise from the ashes and fulfil her revenge. ------ This is the second book from the series of The Devils and Witches. 1st book - Witch's daughter and the Devil's son. 3rd book- The Devil's Betrothed. All books are connected to each other but you can read them as stand-alone.
The Child Is Cursed
After that, the Crown Prince's family dispersed as they had to prepare for the worshiping ceremony that would mark the beginning of the festival.
That day, the High Priest who had been away from the kingdom, rumored to have gone to the mountains for cultivation, had returned to the temple in order to oversee the worship ceremony. The High Priest was a revered holy man, respected for his foresight, as he had shown countless miracles in his lifetime. Everyone believed in his prophecies as they never went wrong and the trust he had built up throughout the decades were so strong, the people of the Kingdom of Valor treated him like a prophet sent down by the ancient gods.
At the grand hall of the royal palace, the worship ceremony was arranged in a way that not just the members of the royal family, even the high-ranking nobles attended it. The entire process was guided by the priests of the temple like every year.