As Valerius accused the woman in the mist— of scheming something against his son, the woman replied after a pause, her tone calm.
"Forgive me my lord. I may not have made myself clear. I do not take any pleasure in your child's misfortune. Quite the contrary actually."
Judging from her expressions, she seemed genuine. Then, she turned to Sophia,
"You wanted to accompany your son? Fine by me but can any of you sorcerers conceal your presence down to the last minute particle of essence?"
Valerius remained silent, neither did Sophia reply. The woman was right. Sophia and Valerius both had ascended to the order of sorcerers a long time ago.
Which meant they both possessed a powerful presence —one that couldn't be concealed without mastering the suppression techniques, a process that took years.
Watching the silence on both husband and wife's faces the woman pursed her lips into a smile,
"I thought so." She said, "A velvian isn't a kind of creature, nor is it limited to a particular species. It's a phenomenon, a way of nature to bless the living. A being made of purest essence given a chance to walk on the path of sentience. And I think we all know how quick a creature would sense your powerful presence who is made of the essence itself."
The woman turned her gaze away, looking at herself or rather the mist swirling around her as she answered the unasked question,
"...as for me. I am but a formless entity. A creature who has no presence whatsoever."
For a moment she glared at Valerius as her anger for him resurfaced within her memories,
"I don't have to explain why I can roam this part of the forest freely without disturbing anyone now do I?"
Valerius sensed her gaze as he looked away, the woman smirked,
"For that I have no one to thank but My Lord and his genius friend Lord Aurelion of course. He did spend quite a lot of time to bind me to this forest after all. Thanks to him, the forest recognizes me as its part."
A mocking chuckle escaped from her lips,
"I feel …included."
"That's enough," Valerius said with a cold attitude. "I know what kind of a person I am and I do know the kinds of things that I've done. You don't have to rub it in my face everytime."
The woman lowered her head slightly but her smile never wavered,
"Oh… what have I done? I seem to have antagonised my lord. May you find in your heart to forgive this insignificant creature."
Valerius let out a sneer at her words,
"You're not fooling anyone. Sophia.." he turned to wife. "Let's go home."
With that Valerius and Sophia started to leave the misty rocky hill of the west gate but Valerius stopped for a moment,
"Say whatever you want about me but spare Aurelion. Trust me you don't want to say things that you will come to regret some day."
His warning sounded more like an advice. The woman in the mist clicked her tongue, as she was the only one left behind. She, her mist, and eternal darkness.
As the cool wind blew making her pearl white hair flutter in the air she quietly whispered under her breath,
"Go to hell."
— —
"...And the monster had dark red eyes but you didn't fear it. You faced it head on punching straight into its nose and then it started crying and fled the battlefield. Hence you saved your followers from danger and fulfilled your responsibility as their queen. Is that right? Have I missed anything?"
August was leaning helplessly on his bed talking to Shelly with his eyes devoid of emotions. No he wasn't playing any mind games but was simply exhausted from the strain that little girl put up on his brain with her illogical, mindless story.
"Nope!" Shelly put a finger on her chin as she raised her brows. "...I think you understood pretty well, ah.. wait? Did I mention the law I passed as a queen?"
August heaved a deep sigh, after listening to her story for a decent period of time now, he had no more energy left to further argue with her, not anymore,
"...yes you made a law that every creature under your command would chew their food forty two times before swallowing it. I …respect what a great leader you are. Way to go big sister."
For quite a while August argued with Shelly every time she referred to him as her little brother. But with time he came to know that you can't argue with someone who doesn't understand what it means to argue in the first place.
As it turns out a person who doesn't use his mind to think could do almost anything in this world and a matter of claiming to be someone's big sister was the least challenging task to be honest.
"That's right brother," Shelly spoke as her gaze fell upon the remaining snacks on a plate, "Ooh another one."
August was wondering how come he is the mature one in the room when this girl is clearly a year or two older than him.
Rather his question was how could a person be this dumb? Is it even possible? Is it allowed?
Well, August wasn't so sure himself. He had lost his capability to think and question a long time ago when he was hearing Shelly ramble about her imaginary tale.
'Why did I have to deal with this?'
Only when he heard the door open as his mother and father walked inside, his condition returned somewhat normal.
— — — — —