The Duchesses

Chapter 91 : Preparation Complete

The Emperor of Angelos Empire causes another catastrophe again, hiding under the name of the witch, Natalie Wilson Smith, for her wrath about people destroying her manor last time. He sets fire at one town, near the dark alley where the poor reside the most, attacking one store. Since it is the other building made from wood, the fire spread wildly like a contagious disease.

People are howling in pain, running away from the fire, letting the tears away, watching their properties slowly getting eaten by the fire, turning into ashes. Some are also trapped inside, their hollow voice wailing in pain for burning alive. Some even go sink their knees on the ground, gripping it while helplessly watching their loved one burn alive.

"It must be from that witch Natalie!" Ares lets one of the men question the situation, raising the stimulators from their brains to think of the worst about Natalie.

"Oh no! We must kill her at all cost!"

"She kills our family brutally!"

"That witch must pay for the blood that she causes."

"An eye for an eye. A life for a life."

The fire keeps licking away from one residence to another, as the heart of the Empire's sky is dark with ashes and smoke. Speaking of the devil, the devil they eagerly search for is here, lighting on some secluded part. The smell of burning air invades her nostrils, with the sounds of people wailing in fear, cursing her name for doing that. It smelled weird, that quench and twisted her guts for the scent.

Like Natalie said, she is neither a saint nor a demon. It would be a lie if some part of her didn't resent these people for marching to her manor a couple days ago, burning, ravaging her estate, and almost destroying her parents' properties like it is just nothing in the first place. To think she would come here to save those people is an understatement. Deep inside her heart, she knows she hates these people, with a mixed conflict.

"Seeding resentment in people's souls would only grow in time, taking up any space in their souls, until no more. So, did I choose to resent those people? Or is it I sympathise over such idiocy of them?"

Everything that she mastered from Valienth, she tried to break down the magical barrier again. Well aware that Ares may lay his trap around here, watching those people disintegrate from their war would be a crime.

"Mercy is an understatement."

The Duchess of Light manipulates the water molecule, pulling it back to the nearby area, which hasn't spread from the fire, preventing it from getting swallowed by the blazing fire. Only then does she makes heavy rainwater above the sky, wiping out the burning fire. People watching this in bafflement, shaking their heads wildly, witnessing such a miracle moment.

Some of them look at each other and the surrounding, convincing themselves they aren't witnessing that alone. Many of them, eyes on the same thing, wonder where the water suddenly comes from.

"What happened just now?"

"Are you people witnessing that?"

"Yes."

"How? Where does it come from?"

The sounds of the horses neighing from the side shifted their attention to the one who had just arrived. It is the Emperor himself, Ares, along with his Imperial Knights. Their gleaming hope is here, the protector of the Empire that they would have faith in defeating the evil witch. Little did they know, they were naturally siding with the wrong side.

"Your Majesty!" their spirits brighten up, meeting with the man and the gaze from the sapphire eyes.

The Emperor nods to the other, as they understand the discreet gesture, dispatch to another place, leaving him and a few knights alone. Ares dismounts himself from the horses, fixing his attires while misery is written all over his face, flooding his sapphire eyes. He opens the palm of his hand, reaching the injured ones, while people's gaze is stuck on him.