~°•°Voice: Oh, my dearest lovelies, Love. It is one beautiful thing to experience I must say; it unfolds and renews you. It makes you do the impossible. Evil laughter But who said love was just for those with good hearts? Who said Love has to have an extraordinary happy ending? And most importantly, who said there wasn't an evil side to your so-called love!! Now watch me burn this earth to its void for the one I claimed to love. Evil chuckles
Oh my dearest lovely, this is a story of never-ending madness all in the name of love.
I glared at the cookbook till I felt my sockets were about to fall off, but I still never got the hang of it; the receipts or ingredients were as complicated as the Witches of my mother's land. In a household of 3 girls, I was the laziest; I couldn't lift a broom even if my life depended on it; work just never made any sense to me; we were witches; there was nothing on earth that magic couldn't fix.
But peering through the window, my heart only raced miles after miles; the fresh air was refreshing, calming my soul. Yes! I couldn't mess this up because I wanted to impress my beloved. My name is Leah, and for the first time in my life I want to do something by hand. Cooking wasn't my duty, but what can I say? We do the craziest things for love. I sighed dreamily, looking at the bowl filled with flour. I wanted to bake bread and cake, just to show Sir Philip how much of a wife I was and how my love for him could go.
I could just imagine how he walks in his 6’3 feet, high and gloriously defined in every detail possible. With a clean and calculated look on his face, but he would smile at me, that kind of smile that gives those weird tickles and shivers through one's cord when our eyes meet. And he won't waste a daylight on anything or anyone else but me, all his attention on me till I become his bride eventually and he takes me to his rich mansion where I don't have to do anything ever again in my life. Such a life was exquisite, just perfect for me. And I'd live my happily ever after alongside with him, and of course get this birth hips to work.
I sighed ever so dreamily.
“Oh Leah, would you stop those daydreams of yours and continue whatever it is you're doing?" Mother said.
I wonder how long she has been standing there. My mother, a widow, is ever so beautiful with young, smooth skin like milk. Mother was often mistaken to be our junior sister because she was too brief and small in size. But she was one old lady you don't want to mess with. Get into her bad side, and you're blacklisted for eternity.
“Mother, oh mother, I'm trying, but the receipts are just not adding up.”
“Of course they won't add up; you prefer to bully your teachers and hide around instead of lending a helping hand in the kitchen when needed.”
“Of course I do lend a helping hand, who else eats the food around here.” I chuckled, making mother smile, her unique smile. She was beautiful—too beautiful that she still gets suitors at her age. Sometimes I had this nagging feeling. Envy...yes, I do envy my mom sometimes; none of us took after her beauty.
“Hmm, I see you making preparations; do you mind telling me what the occasion is?.”
I blushed looking anywhere but my mom's face; she can't find out I was crushing or Sir Philip. “It's nothing, mother; I just thought it's time to grace my present in the kitchen since I would be married off soon.”
“Oh my dear Leah, you have so much to learn, especially in the kitchen, if you don't want to poison that poor man of a husband of yours. I just wonder when you would give magic less priority?.”
“Not now, mother.” I knew where this conversation was heading, and I was too excited to mess up my mood.
“Okay, if you say so, my dearest daughter.” She smiles so warmly, reminding me of the sun when it burns into your skin so warmly. And she left me to struggle with a cookbook and a kitchen filled with so many things that were never listed in my magic spell books. Mother was right; I really do have a long way to go.
That night Sir Philip arrived. Sir Philip was a merchant and also a long-lost prince, but rumors have it that he has refused to accept his role as a prince, but all that would change once he finds a bride. As always, Sir Philip looked dazzling with that half smile always on his lips; he was always so generous to think of everyone, giving us diamonds, rare gems, and hair oil that has the most pleasant scent like raspberries and flowers.
Oh, what a fortune in a man; he was quite unique, and I just wanted to sneak my way into his heart so he could see how much I was for him.
Dinner lasted for about an hour; thank goodness Sir Philip didn't make any comments on the bread and cake as he ate, but my sisters had a lot to say. It was awful and tasteless; I felt like I was breaking down a full brick in my mouth. The heavens weren't really on my side. But Sir Philip, as always, just smiled and thanked me for my effort, though thanks to those with leaking mouths on the table he got to know I was the one who did the barking. I signed; my sisters just don't know how deeply in love I was with this merchant.
After dinner, we all gathered in the sitting room, talking about non-existent things. I was bored out of my mind at some point, then I noticed Mother and Sir Philip weren't with us. This gave me a chance to go look for Sir Philip; I doubt he would dare refuse to be betrothed to me, he was still very single and young, men his age were ripped for marriage. Though I was nervous, what if I might not be the kind of lady he would want as a wife.
As I wallowed in my self-doubt, I heard voices coming from the west wing, particularly where Mother's Garden was. As I approached the garden, listening to the voices, if they were thugs or thieves, I’d come to the realization that the voice actually did belong to Sir Philip and someone else. Wait, and mother.
“I have missed you so much, Isabella; you have no idea.” I heard Sir Philip's voice; he sounded so different, almost desperate with love and compassion; he has never talked like that towards me.
“Philip, you know we can't do this anymore; I have nothing else to give but this old and weak body of mine.” Mother said.
I think I forgot how to breathe when I heard that. My heart rapidly increased as I gasped for air, but there was none coming forth.
“Don't you ever say that; I have had my eyes on you from the beginning, and you know it; I only came to inform you that I'm taking you as my wife, and I'm not taking no for an answer.” Sir Philip went on.
“So please marry me, Isabella; you have my heart in your hands.”
“Oh Philip, I want to accept this with all my heart, but I'm a witch and a mother of 3 girls already; I don't know if I could ever bear children again.”
“Of course you can, Isabella; we can work through this together.”
“Philip, as much as I want to agree with you, you are forgetting you are human; my late husband wasn't a human, and my first pregnancy lasted for a year; my second daughter was just six months; we don't know how that would work if we go further than this.”
“Isabella, that's not an issue; I have done my research, and just like any other human child, we just have to wait for nine months to hold out litter, and you can also be my queen; if it's not you, Isabella, I want no other.” Sir Philip argued.
And I think my world crumbled in front of my eyes. Mother and Sir Philip were a thing, how? I didn't have the habit of eavesdropping, but I think I had heard enough. My heart was in so much pain, I didn't remember how I had appeared in my room or how I had climbed my bed; all I knew was that I felt so much pain, anger, envy, and hatred, and all of it was directed to my mother.
Why!!! Everything was fine, until Mother ruined my entire dream; everything was down the drain. Why didn't she refuse him? For heaven sake, she was older than Philip; she was immortal, and she was known to be betrothed to Philip. She had to break her bond with our father; she had to break her vows to him, knowing that meant she was breaking away from us too.
The more I cried, the more I saw how selfish my mother was. She thinks because she had a younger body and face, she could go around destroying people's lives and my love for Philip. She knew if she made the same bond with Philip like father, he wouldn't survive it; he was just human unless she made him immortal.
And it dawned on me that mother actually wanted to make Philip immortal, killing and rebirthing as one of us; he won't age; none would have the capacity as humans to die; he will be like one of us, yet he would lose all sense of his being, both his memories and everything connect external to him. It's like she was trying to give him another life and control it and if it so happens that he becomes a king and marries her, she will surely be the queen. My eyes widened in realization.
Witches are naturally selfish and hungry for control and that explains a lot from my mother. I knew that I had to stop her and beat her to her game, but she was stronger than me and I needed power, so I hunted for the darkest of spells, an ancient power only passed down to witchers with the darkest of intentions. And I had one; taking my beloved mother out of the picture was my greatest desire.
Of course, to cut the story short, I was gifted the power of void and hatred; stealing one of the most powerful spell books from my mother was quite easy, and now look at her standing like a statue. Yes, yes, I turned my beloved mother into stone with my sisters; I wasn't ready for their nagging. But that made my beloved Philip mad; I made him watch as I turned his most delicate flower into nothing but dust.
He had not stopped screaming until he lost all form of sanity. Of course I could undo his curse, but I never did, because he would have paid more than just his sanity to be like one of us.
Everything was just fine, beautiful even. I once had a mother I loved dearly, sisters I couldn't stand but were tolerant, and a man I dearly wanted for myself until love destroyed it all, until my mother made me the villain. And if you ask if I regret it, of course not, why would I regret it when she never had him. Evil laughter
