Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

After talking with Erich Winfield, King Armen returned to Seren's chamber, leaving other matters related to the kingdom in Cian's care. Nothing was more important to him than his daughter at the moment. Seren being the Third Princess of Abetha, no one had a say against his behavior; after all, they could not dare criticize that the King was caring too much for the health of his own daughter.

Anyone who dared to jump on this issue would face not only the hostility of the Ilven Royal Family, but also be attacked by their peers as cold-hearted and selfish, ruining their reputation. As such, the nobles and officials had to halt the less important things that needed King Armen's presence. 

Soon enough, Cian arrived there to inform his father about the situation of the tasks turned over to him. He sat on the chair beside his father.

"You did well." King Armen nodded after hearing his report, satisfied by how he handled work in the King's stead. His son simply nodded, but he did not smile as his gaze went to his weak-looking sister, who was still sitting in bed and trying to hide herself from others.

"Any progress with her?" Cian asked his father.

"She rejected the food the nurses offered and did not even take medicine," King Armen sighed. 

"I want to have a private word with Father," Cian said. 

King Armen nodded lightly, signaling the nurses to temporarily leave the room.

"That eagle—"

Screech! 

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Thud!

The sudden arrival of Dusk interrupted Cian and caused the nurses to turn around. They realized that the eagle landed at the window sill, carrying with him something heavy with his claws. 

Both father and son stood up from their chairs in alarm, but gradually calmed down when they saw the eagle not moving from his position. They noticed that Seren's attention was also grabbed by the bird and she was currently looking at him.

The people inside the chamber were puzzled by the strange scenario. It seemed like the eagle had come to deliver something to Seren, a square-shaped item wrapped in blue silk cloth.

'Is it something dangerous?' King Armen thought. Beside him, Cian was ready with his sword to deal with the bird if something bad were to happen. 

Dusk merely glanced at the other people inside the chamber before flapping his wings once again and carried that rectangular thing to Seren. He kept it by her feet, which was close enough for her to touch as long as she lifted her hand.

The two royals and the two nurses could only look at Seren and Dusk, not knowing what was going on, but seeing the way Seren only reacted when Dusk arrived, they guessed she knew what that bird had brought.

Dusk pecked on that blue silk-covered box twice and then looked at Seren, but she remained unmoving. She only blankly stared at him and the box. 

Seeing her not opening the box he brought, Dusk tried to untangle the knot on that silk cloth himself, using his sharp beak to pull on the cloth to open it, but it seemed impossible to do it without tearing the silk cloth.

Watching the bird's struggle, Cian suddenly opened his mouth to speak. "This eagle belongs to the King of Megaris." 

King Armen looked with incredulity at his son. "Are you sure?"

"Yes, Father. I have confirmed this with our soldiers and guards who had seen it a few days back flying towards Seren's tower carrying something. They even tried to shoot him with arrows, but he was elusive and dodged well. Later, they searched the whereabouts of this eagle, and the Megaris' knights told them he is King Drayce's pet."

"How come I don't know this? Why didn't anyone inform me?" King Armen asked as frown lines appeared on his forehead. 

"Knowing it belonged to our royal guest, they didn't bother with that eagle anymore. They did not think it was important enough to be personally reported though they included the sightings in their daily report several days ago. However, Father was busy dealing with matters between the kingdoms as well as the war, so I guess that report parchment is simply shelved in the archives," Cian explained.

King Armen did not really blame anyone. He could only frown. "Why is his bird visiting Seren in the tower?" 

"That we need to ask King Drayce," Cian replied.

First, those elixir pills that Erich Winfield mentioned, and now this eagle. Why was the King of Megaris associated with things related to his daughter? Were there things happening behind the scenes that he was not aware of?

While the two were talking, their eyes remained fixed on the bodies of Seren and the eagle the entire time, mostly observing how Seren would react to the bird's struggle.  They suddenly stopped talking upon seeing Seren finally touched that thing the eagle had brought for her.

Seren could see Dusk trying his best to open the knot but couldn't, so she reached out to help him.

With the slow and weak movements of her lightly shivering hands, Seren managed to untangle the knot of the silk cloth but she stopped moving afterward as if she had lost purpose. Seeing her not touching the box itself, Dusk pecked on the cover of the box with his beak. It seemed to be telling her to open it.

As if she was a kid who needed to be guided on what to do, she followed Dusk's instruction. Surprisingly, she could understand what he meant despite the lack of words, as if by instinct. 

With her hand still shivering, Seren lifted the lid of the box. She appeared so weak the nurses wanted to approach and help her, but they could not decide whether they should help the Third Princess first or observe her behavior to determine the progress of her recovery.

King Armen and Cian had no such qualms. They wanted to go see what was in that box, more precisely to check if there was something inside that could harm Seren. However, the moment they took a step closer, Dusk screeched and glared at them, spreadings his huge wings as if warning them to stay put or else he would attack them. 

Seeing the two had understood his warning, Dusk folded his wings back into his body. It then rubbed its head against Seren's arm, as if to apologize for his loud screech that might have scared her.

A mere bird had more authority over their princess than them. He dared to stop them from going to her. 

Cian frowned, "Audacious like his master."

Cian wished to slice that brazen bird in two but seeing his sister's pitiful appearance, he somehow controlled himself. He looked at the nurse standing nearest to Seren's bed, and she understood what Prince Cian wished to say.

"It is food, Your Highness," she informed.

Her response surprised the two royals. 'Food? Why deliver food to Seren?' They already had so many questions in mind, and more were getting added to the pile. 

Drayce was away on a rescue mission just after two days of staying in the capital of Abetha. When exactly did he and his pet meet Seren? Inside the palace? Not possible because she was always inside her tower. After Martha's absence, she didn't go out either. Did the King of Megaris sneak into her tower? Seeing how he could easily cross the magic spell barrier, it was highly possible. 

Dusk signaled Seren to pick up the spoon by rubbing his head against her delicate hand and then pushing it towards the silver spoon inside the box with his beak.

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Seren did what he instructed and picked up the silver spoon. Poor Dusk had turned into her nanny, who had to tell her everything step by step, but he didn't seem annoyed. Instead, this eagle looked worried for her. Despite his struggle, he appeared determined not to give up on her till she ate that food.

Dusk pushed her hand towards the porridge bowl, and finally, Seren dipped the spoon in it. Dusk looked like he would have fed her if he had hands, but the poor thing could only direct her. 

King Armen and Cian didn't know how to react to the bird's efforts to feed the princess, who looked lost.

"Would it be safe to let her eat that?" Cian asked.

"The spoon is silver, and it will strongly react to poison if there's any. Whoever prepared this is clever," said King Armen. "Let's not disturb them."