Chapter 15

"Someone like you, a terrifying witch, will never be loved. I have never loved you."

"Kiyaaa...!"

The cold voice echoed in her head. The words, like blades that tore at her soul, made Naimiria jump up as if she had been sprung from a trap.

The darkness spread around her. Straining her eyes in the night, she recognized it as a room in the familiar mansion. Naimiria had been lying on the bed.

"You fell asleep... That's not good, for a maid to sleep before her master returns..."

Naimiria turned her gaze to the pendulum clock against the wall.

There was no lamp or candlelight in the room. Even so, Naimiria, with her witch's superior night vision, could easily see the clock's hands.

"It's already midnight. Master, you're late again..."

Naimiria murmured anxiously and bit the quilt with a pout.

Laidor had decided to return to the capital and had been holding discussions with the city's influential figures late into the night every day.

Even if he was just a figurehead, the lord who held the final decision-making power was leaving the town. There were countless matters to hand over, starting with the procedures for dealing with emergencies.

It was already past midnight, yet there was no sign of Laidor returning. Meltina, who had been held as a prisoner, had already been moved to the guild's criminal cell, and Naimiria was left alone in the not-so-large mansion.

"Ugh..."

No matter how late it was, her master would return before morning.

Even knowing this, Naimiria couldn't suppress the anxiety rising in her heart.

She bit the quilt, her eyes welling with tears, and groaned.

Being alone in the darkness like this made her remember the hellish days of the past.

In Naimiria's mind, the memory of her first meeting with Laidor Zain replayed.

"The Six Witches of Destruction"

These were the names of the monsters that had appeared in human history for centuries, repeatedly threatening to destroy the world.

Eldest daughter — The Witch of Fire, Arkasha

Second daughter — The Witch of Water, Carmel

Third daughter — The Witch of Wind, Hufur

Fourth daughter — The Witch of Earth, Osmann

Fifth daughter — The Witch of Darkness, Naimiria

And the great mother — The Witch of Light, Glassreed

Naimiria, one of these calamitous demons, met Laidor Zain two years ago.

In the Kingdom of Zain, located in the western part of the continent, there was a vast forest that covered one-fifth of the country's territory to the south.

A massive mana flow from the dragon veins created a borderland forest that continuously produced powerful mutants.

Deep within this forest, hidden among the dense trees, stood an ancient stone ruin.

The ruin, which might have been there since ancient times, was sealed by magic from the outside, firmly rejecting any intruders.

"Hmm..."

Inside this ruin, Naimiria sighed.

Naimiria's hands and feet were bound by chains hanging from the ceiling and walls. Her body, clad in nothing but a scrap of cloth, was exposed in the pitch-black darkness.

Naimiria's naked body was as pure as untouched snow, and her silver hair, flowing down from her head, was as beautiful as intricate silverwork. Her eyes, golden in color, glowed like the full moon in the night sky, faintly illuminating the darkness.

Naimiria, a figure of art in herself, had no one to admire her beauty in the airtight ruin.

The Witch of Darkness, Naimiria, had spent centuries in the lightless ruin, like an abyss.

"...I'm lonely. I want to talk to someone."

Naimiria's voice, a mere whisper, escaped her lips.

For Naimiria, the Witch of Darkness, the deep darkness was not necessarily painful.

However, spending centuries alone, without meeting anyone, was steadily driving her to the brink.

In fact, she had held up remarkably well. If a normal person were locked in complete darkness alone, they would go mad within a week. Naimiria, who had maintained her mental balance for centuries in such an environment, was the abnormal one.

However, even Naimiria's heart was reaching its limit.

Her spirit, eroded bit by bit over centuries, was on the verge of collapse, and it would only be a matter of days before her mind sank into madness.

How the witch Naimiria came to be an eternal prisoner — this story goes back even further, hundreds of years.

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