Chapter 6. The situation inside the cabin at this moment is quite different...
The situation inside the cabin was very delicate. Mela sat up in the rocking chair, and the blanket that had been draped over her body naturally slipped down to her knees.
Lex stood in front of the cabinet, his expression obscure in the shadows.
Silas, however, remained lost in his daydream, smacking his lips and ignoring everything that was happening inside the house.
"Why not try the effects of the witch's special healing potion?" Mela asked casually, staring at the bottle in Lex's hand.
For a moment, Lex even doubted that she didn't actually know everything all along, including his desire to escape, as he thought.
But when he met those deep green eyes, the shadows that had settled there swayed like seaweed in their depths, and a serene indifference that seemed to see through everything emanated from them, Lex immediately abandoned that ridiculous fantasy.
"Why didn't you stop me?" Lex suddenly asked a completely unrelated question.
However, before Mela could answer, Lex already had an answer in his mind: he was certain that Mela wanted to see him make a fool of himself.
Imagine if Mela had stopped Lex from escaping in the first place, how could she have enjoyed the scene of Lex's carefully planned but ultimately futile attempt?
When Mela saw Lex return with his injured arm as expected, and breathed a sigh of relief, thinking she had successfully fooled everyone, she must have been secretly laughing to herself.
How perfectly in line with the witch's wicked sense of humor!
"Is there any need to stop you? You won't get out of the Dark Forest anyway, without my help," Mela said, as expected.
Lex, who had guessed the truth but felt no joy whatsoever, pursed his lips and struggled to suppress the veins throbbing wildly on his forehead.
When has the once high and mighty Crown Prince ever been mocked like this?
Not to mention treating him like a monkey in a circus for amusement.
Well, Mela didn't miss Lex's reaction; he looked like he really wanted to punch her a couple of times.
However, Mela showed no sign of repentance. Instead, she narrowed her eyes slightly and swayed gently in the rocking chair. It turned out that Lex couldn't stand this kind of teasing more than constantly ordering him around.
Sigh, she answered based on Lex's ideas, but he seems even angrier now.
Although Mela had a feeling that even if she told Lex the real reason, he would still be angry.
It wasn't until Lex quietly left the cabin under the cover of night that Mela, who seemed to be fast asleep, opened her eyes and finally realized what his restraint and silence these past few days had been for.
No wonder, Mela thought to herself. She wondered how the little prince, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, could have such a good temper. He was neither bossy nor arrogant. Most of the time, no matter what dirty or tiring work Mela gave him, he would accept it without complaint.
Of course, under Mela's deliberate teasing, Lex would occasionally lose his composure, but each time he would quickly compose himself and suppress the resentment in his eyes.
He's more like an adult than a real adult.
This piqued Mela's interest, and she continued to observe discreetly, discovering that Lex wasn't always silent. Whenever he tried to extract information from the naive and unsuspecting Silas, he would proactively bring up a topic, asking seemingly casually:
I've never seen the giant beast that was supposedly raised by the witch. Does Mela have other pets besides Silas?
"Of course not! Mela will only ever have me as her one and only pet! Even the legendary giant beast is me; it's what Mela looks like after she cast a spell to make me bigger!"
Sure enough, in order to defend his status as Mela's only pet, Silas revealed everything Lex wanted to know.
"When Mela casts the enlargement spell on me, I can grow bigger than a small mountain and carry Mela around freely in the sky."
Silas proudly used his wings to show Lex how big it was—bigger than a small mountain—and then, feigning distress but actually boasting, told Lex that last time, it was only because of the shadow it cast in the sky that those chasing him were scared away from the Dark Forest.
Lex's mind raced, and he glanced at Mela, who was napping on the table. He had been wondering why, if the pursuers were still chasing him, he shouldn't have been able to wait for Mela to pick him up.
Sensing the gaze behind her, Mela quietly opened her eyes. Fortunately, she turned her head in time, otherwise Lex would have discovered that she had been eavesdropping on his conversation with Silas.
In short, Mela's observation of Silas continued without incident until the very last second before he fled.
Logically, when Mela saw Lex running away, she should have stopped him, at least to repay the debt of saving her life before running away!
Mela isn't really the type to do good deeds without expecting anything in return.
Thinking of this, Mela, who was lying in the rocking chair, made a move. She turned over and curled up in a more comfortable position.
Before Mela arrived, the Dark Forest was already infamous, and few dared to venture in—because those who did venture in had all disappeared without a trace, never to be seen again.
Therefore, the Dark Forest is not only dangerous to witches; Lex alone cannot possibly leave safely.
Mela just needs to wait patiently.
In fact, just as Mela had expected, Lex eventually returned, still injured.
Sensing the faint scent of blood, Mela silently pulled the blanket covering her face down a little.
She always kept the hemostatic powder in a small jar painted with oil paint on the cupboard, making it easy to find. However, this time she wasn't going to give it to Lex for free; it was worth ten copper coins, after all.
Mela hadn't expected Lex to have such a big appetite, as he actually pulled out the healing potion she had hidden in the cabinet.
Mela couldn't help but speak up. What if Lex tried to renege on the deal later by claiming he didn't know the price? She was a witch, not some heartless businessman; she wouldn't do something like forcing someone to buy or sell.
But seeing that Lex really wasn't drinking anymore, Mela wondered if he was worried about the price of eight silver coins. That wouldn't do. What were eight silver coins to the little prince? If he couldn't pay back the debt for the time being, he could always borrow more!
Just as Mela was trying to persuade Lex to drink the healing potion, Lex suddenly knelt down on one knee before Mela in a knightly manner.
"What are you doing? Even if you kneel down, I won't agree to do it for free." Mela was startled and sat up abruptly from her lazy lying position.
"...No, you misunderstand, I'm not after this potion."
Lexton paused, as if he had made a huge decision, before slowly saying, "Your Excellency the Witch, I beg you to make a pact with me to help me take revenge."
Yes, in that short time, Lex suddenly understood why he should refuse or even anger such a powerful witch. On the contrary, he could have used the witch's power to directly achieve his goal of returning to the capital for revenge.
Compared to his already impoverished maternal clan, the missing Knight Commander Cherge, and the Chancellor Fernandez, who was constrained by various factors and unable to serve him wholeheartedly, Lex realized that taking the witch as his advisor was the wise move.
Perhaps the witch is indeed as insidious, wicked, and two-faced as the church portrays her, enjoying betraying others, but so what? Lex believes he possesses the tolerance a king should have, and at least as long as the witch remains useful to him, Lex will not abandon her under any circumstances.
"...Once it's done, I can promise you priceless jewels, mountains of gold and silver in the royal treasury, and even a prestigious noble title and a vast fiefdom." Lex raised his face so that Mela could see the sincerity in his eyes.
“No, I refuse,” Mela said without hesitation.
"Why?" Lex asked, puzzled. He thought that Mela might not be able to keep her promise given his current situation. After a moment's thought, he added, "I can use my own life as collateral. If I cannot fulfill the contract, you can take my life."
Perhaps other people's lives are insignificant to the witch, but Lex prides himself on being of the Nurengal royal bloodline. Hundreds of years ago, his ancestor became the monarch of the kingdom, and this glory has been passed down from generation to generation. Now it has come to him, and as the crown prince, his life naturally deserves the witch's special attention.
Unfortunately, Lex was disappointed. Mela smiled and rejected him once again, saying, "I'm not interested in any of what you're saying. Let you carry out your revenge five years from now."
"Why five years from now?" Before Lex could even feel disappointed by Mela's rejection, he was completely captivated by the conditions she was offering.
“Because for the next five years you will be my servant until you have repaid my kindness to you,” Mela said matter-of-factly.
Five years later, whether Lex wants to leave or stay, Mela will let him have his way. But during those five years, Mela promises to ensure that Lex will find no way to successfully leave the Dark Forest.
Seeing that Lex's lips were slightly parted as if he wanted to say something, Mela quickly interrupted him, "Don't you think that the debt of saving my life is worth you repaying by becoming my servant?"
Lex simply couldn't bring himself to say the word "not worth it."
That's right. Seeing Lex's silence, Mela continued to persuade him, "Besides, it's only five years. You'll only be seventeen by then, still very young, won't you?"
“…Okay.” Lex finally agreed, not for any other reason than that Mela had truly saved his life.
It was Mela who gave him the chance to go back and take revenge.
If I lose my life, what's the point of talking about revenge?
However, Lex made another request: "I hope you can divine the safety of my knight commander. If he is safe now, that would be wonderful."
Cherk's situation was also weighing heavily on Lex's mind, and now that he had the opportunity to learn about it, Lex had no reason to let it go.
“Sure,” Mela didn’t refuse Lex’s request this time. She winked and smiled, “but the price is that you have to be my servant for another year. How about that, isn’t it a good deal?”
“Of course, you can refuse if you don’t want to.” After thinking for a moment, Mela added that she never forced anyone to buy or sell.
Lex nodded in agreement without hesitation, "Okay."
Regardless, Cherge was in danger because of him, and as the one Cherge was loyal to, Lex could not simply let him go missing.
If, if Cherge has unfortunately fallen into the worst possible situation, Lex's eyes darkened, and he felt it necessary to collect his remains and send them back to his hometown before returning to the capital.
This is the dignity a loyal knight deserves in death.
"Since you've agreed, let me take a look."
Mela made Lex take her crystal ball down from the cabinet—yes, the one that looks ordinary and is covered with layers of dust.
After obtaining the crystal ball, Mela placed it on her lap and gently wiped it with her hand. The ash inside the crystal ball instantly transformed into a mesmerizing cloud of smoke.
"What is your knight commander's name?" Mela asked.
“Chelco, Chelco Furhorst,” Lex replied.
“Chelge Furhorst, the loyal knight of Prince Lex Nurenger, are you well now?” Mela murmured to the crystal ball.
As she finished speaking, the smoke quickly spread out, forming a pattern that only Mela could decipher.
Mela stared at the smoke for a long while before explaining its meaning to Lex: "The crystal ball tells me that Chelge is safe now and very close to us... about a hundred miles to our southeast."
Hearing that Cherge was safe, Lex finally breathed a sigh of relief. As for going to find him, if it weren't for his earlier agreement with the witch, Lex would definitely have considered it.
But now, Lex sighed inwardly. He believed that even if Cherge couldn't find him, he would return to the capital and tell Fernanki what had happened, leaving a record for Fernanki.
What Fernanki does next is his business.
Perhaps she will be won over by the Queen.
Lex gave a wry smile. There was nothing he could do about it. Since he couldn't go back, he couldn't stop his brother from being made the new crown prince. He couldn't let Fernangi go against the queen and the new crown prince under these circumstances—he was the prime minister of the kingdom, not Lex's vassal.
"Oh, and remember to drink that potion you're holding," Mela suddenly reminded him when she saw the potion in Lex's hand.
She hasn't given up on her plan to make a quick buck off Lex.
“But I don’t have enough money to buy this potion right now.” Lex was unusually at a loss.
“It’s alright, you can owe it to me first. Once you return to the palace, this little bit of money will be nothing,” Mela said with a smile. “And I won’t charge you interest.”
However, Lex wanted to say that Mela exuded an aura more terrifying than collecting interest.
However, when you're under someone else's roof, you have to bow your head, and Lex obediently took on the debt.
The experience was quite novel, like having chili peppers spread on bread instead of jam, and having to swallow it even if it brought tears to your eyes.
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