Release that Witch

The sun gradually sank behind the mountains and forests, gilding the surrounding clouds. The color of the sky was shifting slowly from blue to white then to red. In the end, the last drop of sun cast a crimson shadow on the thick grassland.

At the end of the Gilen Family’s domain, there was a bulging slope. Standing on top of it, Nightingale could see her family’s houses, farmlands, and forests adjacent to the mountains. When she had been little, she had liked to sit on his father’s shoulders and ascended the slope to see the complete picture of their property. When her parents’ bodies covered with bruises and wounds had been sent back and her servants had asked where she had wanted her parents to be buried, she had chosen the slope without hesitation.

At the time, she had been extremely upset at her parents’ death and had had a hard time believing they were actually gone. She had wished at some point her parents could open their eyes. In that way, they could see her and her brother, no matter where she and her brother were in the mansion.

Now she once again visited her parents’ tombstones, but with a totally different attitude.

There was not much dust on the tombstones. Obviously, somebody had been constantly dusting them. Bending over, she put a pile of neatly folded white paper in front of the two tombstones.

It was Viscount Somi’s judgment.

Faced with the indisputable evidence, the viscount soon collapsed. After Roland promised his underaged children would not be punished for the crime he had committed, he had admitted his crime of smuggling Dreamland Water and had also confessed the entire process of taking the Gilen Family’s properties.

It turned out, beneath the valley that between the two families’ domains, there really are buried treasures, although it was not a gem mine but possibly a gold mine.

The one who had discovered it was a farmer working for the Somi Family.

Due to the different geographical positions, what the Gilen Family referred to as ”valleys” was actually at the ground floor of Somi’s domain. Farmers of the Somi Family had often fetched water and bathed downstream. One day, a lucky guy had found gold dust in the spring water coming down. He had then asked others to help further search for more gold, which had thus attracted Dott Somi’s attention.

Instantly, he had prohibited them from spreading the news and sent his men to search for the origin of the gold dust.

Yet the result of the search had greatly disappointed him.

His men had indeed found more gold upstream and they had speculated that the coarse golds in the river had been a result of the sag of rocks caused by constant water erosion and seepage. However, an increasing amount of evidence had shown that the gold ore might be close to the Gilen Family. As such, they had had no choice but to suspend the exploration.

Due to the special status of Silver City, the numbers of knights and supporters local nobles were allowed to own were more or less limited, so Dott could not just take the gold mine. Seeing that he really wanted this huge treasure, he had laid his eyes upon Viscount Gilen.

He had started his plan with old Gilen, a distant relative of the Gilen Family.

He had a simple yet ruthless plan. Considering old Gilen had no title nor manor, he had tempted old Gilen to cooperate him and promised he could make old Gilen the master of the Gilen Family under the condition that old Gilen would give him a piece of land. Old Gilen could not resist the temptation of becoming a real noble, so he had agreed to help Dott.

Dott bribed the Rats to kill Nightingale’s parents during the refugee riot then old Gilen took the chance to take in Hyde and Nightingale and helped to manage their domain. Old Gilen planned that when Hyde entered his adulthood, he would force Hyde to waive his manor and title, which was as easy as pie—after all, an heir without parents was just as helpless as a bird in a cage. If any other nobles had a problem with it, they could only blame old Gilen for being too greedy.

His plan would have been completed, but Nightingale’s awakening had sabotaged his plan—on the day of her adulthood, she had killed old Gilen and disappeared into thin air. Old Gilen had never got the title he had dreamed of even in his last moments.

Dott Somi had to alter his plan—he could win old Gilen over, but he could not get everyone’s support from the Gilen Family. After all, he had only had one bargaining chip—the title. He had to make the best use out of it.

Ironically, he had turned to Hyde in the end.

When Nightingale had first heard about it, she had found it ridiculous—the thing that was meant to be Hyde’s was used as a bargaining chip for Hyde to earn; yet Hyde was naive enough to believe Dott would help him. So he did not hesitate before agreeing to Dott’s proposal, the man who had murdered his parents.

With the Viscount’s support, Hyde stood out from all his relatives, who were contending for power and wealth, and successfully kept his title of nobility and became the official heir of the Gilen Family. According to their agreement, he would merge with the Somi Family. He had done so not because he had wanted to keep his promise, but because he had had no other choice—after going through internal strife, his family’s industry was on the verge of collapse and most of his subjects had left.

After plotting for 10 years, the Viscount had finally gotten what he had wanted. He had even saved enough capital to exploit the mine little by little by smuggling Dreamland Water. Once the mineral vein was located, the wealth that the Somi Family could gain would last for centuries.

But Roland destroyed his ambitious dream.

For a likely gold mine, Dott had murdered fellow nobles, making several families fall apart... A vicious scheme, which led to the death of nearly 20 people, ended with a noose around his neck.

From beginning to the end, he had not been able to take a glance at the gold mine.

Taking out the flint, Nightingale burnt the judgment paper.

She had heard, from Roland, of an ancient way of mourning, which was to shape paper into the appearance of the item one wished to deliver, burn it, and then the deceased would be able to receive the present. Since a fire could connect spirits, smoke and fire with special wills had a chance to pass through the gate connecting the worlds of life and death, especially at dusk when the two worlds were the closest.

Through this ritual, Nightingale wished to deliver the message that the murderer had been executed to the spirits of her parents. Although Roland also said that he actually did not agree with the idea of the worlds of life and death, she did not care that much.

She was not so much comforting her parents as she was comforting herself.

By the time she walked off the slope, the sky had turned completely dark.

Roland was waiting for her not far away. The moment she saw the familiar figure, she felt relieved and safe.

”Is this really okay? Letting him go unscathed?” Roland twitched his mouth. ”I’ve been longing to teach him a lesson.”

”Oh? As who?” Nightingale asked, raising her eyebrows.

”Ahem...” Roland coughed twice. ”Of course as a king.”

Nightingale shook her head, smiling. ”It’s over. I’m done with him. If you really want to teach him a lesson, you can send men to take him back and beat him up again.”

”Since you’ve dropped the matter, I’ll let him go,” Roland said, spreading out his hands.

”Em, right...” Nightingale suddenly stopped walking, knelt down, saluted with her hand across her chest as she did when she had pledged her fealty for the first time. She said, ”Your Majesty, could you allow me to always stay by your side and serve you?”

”Why do you suddenly mention this?” Roland was startled. ”Haven’t I agreed?”

”Because I want to hear it again.” Nightingale insisted.

Roland shrugged helplessly, walked to her side, stroke her head, and said, ”Listen carefully—em, Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes... 100 times Yes. Are you satisfied?”

The magic string did not vibrate. Instead, it was as peaceful and soft as the earth under the curtain of night.

I’m so lucky to have met him.

Nightingale curled her lips into a smile and said, ”As you wish, Your Majesty.”