Chapter 109
“Even if you die, I want to be with you forever.”
Asad’s trembling voice became dry and clear, and he smiled deeply at her.
The anklet he had personally fastened to her ankle also had a tiny lock shaped like a bell.
“Asad?”
Moira’s trembling eyes reached out to her beloved. She couldn’t believe it, even as she felt the powerful magical energy flowing from her ankle constricting her.
“Wh… what is this?”
When Moira tried to exert force, her ankle burned with pain instead.
“The more you try to force it off, the more you’ll get hurt, Moira.”
Asad lowered his head, kissed her anklet, and murmured ominously:
“I love you, Moira.”
In his blazing red eyes, she saw obsession and possessiveness. The man she had loved was already consumed by madness.
“Zinia… that child couldn’t understand me. Foolishly, she tried to escape by her own power and ended up destroying her soul.”
Hearing those words, Moira’s face turned pale with horror.
Could it be that he intended to do the same to her as he did to Zinia? Poor Zinia had been annihilated trying to escape Asad’s seal?
“The anklet was sealed using your own power, so forcing it open is dangerous. Moira, you can’t let that happen.”
The anklet on Moira’s ankle was a shackle created by Asad using her own power. By allowing her to wear it without suspicion, she had been sealed by a powerful magic that couldn’t be undone without the key.
“Give me the key, Asad.”
Asad brushed Moira’s cheek but shook his head.
“Moira, if you touch the key yourself, it will shatter immediately.”
“How could you….”
Asad kissed her hair and continued with cruel words.
“Don’t worry, Moira. The key is safely stored in a magically sealed box that even I cannot touch. Even if another magician opens it, the unlocking magic won’t work unless it’s Clyde. In other words, unless the key comes from my hand, it can’t be undone.”
He had thought carefully about the possibility of the witch finding the key herself or using another magician to break the seal. Now she could see it clearly—he wanted to completely possess her.
“You will always be by my side, lending me your power.”
At some point, the man’s love was no longer for Moira but for the power she possessed.
Thus, the invited head of the Clyde family became renowned as the greatest mage of the era.
People often said it was thanks to his witch wife, but he seemed to believe that all the credit belonged to him.
Even when he had filled her lack of affection, his love turned into betrayal.
By the time Moira realized Asad’s true nature, she had already given him too much.
The man, now wielding uncontrollable power, used it to restrain Moira and indulge himself.
Better to leave him.
While Asad was absorbed in magical research between Ruto, Moira escaped the castle.
After walking across the endless desert, she arrived at a snow-covered plain.
There, Moira met Asad Clyde, who had come looking for her.
“Let’s go back, Moira.”
Bound by the anklet, she couldn’t escape him. Despair washed over her.
She shouldn’t have trusted humans. She should have left with the witches from the start.
The more she tried to break the seal, the more her ankles burned, and pain overwhelmed her entire body.
“Ahhh—!”
Moira screamed and sank to the ground. Soon, the soil darkened, and a sinister energy spread across the plain.
“Moira!”
As Asad approached, she glared at him with bloodshot eyes and shouted:
“Get lost! Asad Clyde!”
Black branches sprouted from the frozen ground, twisting around her and forming a massive dark forest.
“Asad Clyde, I curse you! Let’s see how far you can stop me alone!”
The witch Moira vanished into the dark, towering trees, leaving only a curse behind.
That year, monsters appeared in the west for the first time. Even the desert around the oasis swarmed with monsters, claiming countless lives.
“Father, where is Mother?”
Her children, with red hair resembling her own, searched only for the witch Moira.
“Your mother…”
Asad glanced at the sky, then spoke to the child with a lonely expression:
“She has passed away.”
People believed the witch’s death had caused many disasters in Tegenes.
Asad organized armies to fight the monsters and occasionally visited the Black Forest that had grown in the north.
“I curse you. Your family won’t survive. You have neither the ability nor the right as a magician.”
Whenever she saw him, the witch Moira cursed him.
“Moira, please.”
Asad pleaded as if seeking affection, but even he looked hypocritical.
“If you’re not going to bring me the key to remove the shackle, don’t come at all.”
Still, Asad continued to gather his children and beg, empty-handed as always.
“From now on, there is nothing more I can say to you but curses, so expect nothing.”
Even hearing the witch’s cold words, Asad did not give up.
“Moira, I’m trying to find a way for us to be together forever. A world where it’s just you and me again, happy. Can’t you understand my wish to always be strong and unchanging with you?”
He murmured as if still in love, still believing she was his past lover. Moira quietly watched him and said:
“Ridiculous. Humans always die, Asad.”
Unlike witches.
Moira finally understood the words of the witches born before her.
Humans are weak and pitiful. That’s why they are evil.
They desire eternal life only to satisfy their own greed, yet talk of love.
“Did you find life as a revered archmage sweet? Even though it’s not your power, you want to continue enjoying it, don’t you?”
“The witch… if it’s the witch’s power, it can be done. Moira, help me!”
Asad pleaded desperately. At his earnest call, Moira slowly spoke.
“If you make a contract with a witch, you can have your wish granted.”
Asad’s face lit up, and he grabbed her arm.
“I’ll make the contract, right now!”
“But the price is life. The natural lifespan of life cannot be reversed by any means.”
Asad’s hope shattered, and he expressed his displeasure:
“That’s possible! There’s magic to sacrifice someone else’s life and extend lifespan! How can a witch not be able to do that?”
Black magic summons demons. In exchange for extending life, the contractor’s soul is ultimately corrupted.
Asad Clyde seemed sincere enough to even explore that path.
“Do you want to become a demon, Asad?”
Did he dream of a god-like, immortal life using the witch’s power?
Asad Clyde was no longer the man Moira had loved.
He was merely a madman blinded by power and greed.
Ignoring the searing pain in her ankle, Moira reached out and clawed at Asad’s red head.
“Unfortunately, Asad Clyde, you will leave nothing behind.”
Her long nails dug into his skull.
“Ughhh—!”
He struggled to escape but could not break free.
Clutching his contorted, pain-stricken face, Moira etched a spell into his red eyes:
“I will curse you to the end!”
“Ughhh—!”
Asad swatted her hand away and fled, leaving the jingling bells behind.
His red back became a dot at the forest’s edge, then disappeared entirely.
After that, Moira never saw Asad alive again.
It would be over fifty years before the witch Moira would meet Asad’s descendants.
Asad Clyde manipulated records and left false accounts until his death.
Stories portrayed him as a great archmage, blessed lands, descendants, and family, living harmoniously with the witch’s favor.
Sigh.
Moira shook her head, as if ending the tale.
“Fifty years later, the silver-haired, purple-eyed Clyde appeared to greet me.”
She pointed at Hannibal’s eyes.
“Since then, nothing has changed. Only my bloodline survived, just as I cursed.”
“Was that why you told us that Asad Clyde was the impostor? To show that we inherited the witch’s blood, not Asad’s?”
Records of Asad’s appearance did not exist in Tegenes, so the witch’s appearance naturally became associated with the Clyde lineage.
Her hand suddenly pointed toward Count Arthur.
“Eeek—!”
Startled, he clutched his head. But the red tinge in his eyes could not be hidden.
“Yes, it appeared before me again.”
Arthur was shocked at her gesture.
“Ah… ah!”
He tore at his hair and turned suddenly to Hannibal.
“Give it to me, Hannibal! The key! Never let the witch have it!”
Now Arthur understood clearly who the “Clyde” the witch had ruined really was.
Regretting his own actions, he lunged at his son, but was stopped instantly by Miss Mighty’s magic.
“Father!”
“Ugh—let go of this!”
The count struggled.
“Hannibal! Even if you inherited the witch’s blood, you are still Clyde! You are the lord of the west and must protect your house! Give me the golden key! Never let the witch have it!”
The witch glanced at Miss Mighty, who had restrained the count, then focused on Hannibal.
Sitting upright at the altar, she slowly reached out:
“It was mine all along. Hannibal, give me the key.”
Hannibal’s clenched hand trembled with tension. A Clyde without the witch’s blessing was unimaginable.
But if the people learned that the lord of the west was cursed, could they still trust and follow him?
He had protected the land and taken pride as its lord. Yet thinking of leaving the witch’s favor made it hard to let go.
At that moment, Anne placed her hand over Hannibal’s fist.
