The throne room was unusually quiet.
No explosions.
No spontaneous fires.
No screaming chefs.
Magnus reclined in his plush throne-turned-sofa, lazily spinning a teaspoon between his fingers, his mind blissfully blank.
Marianne approached, balancing a tray with a teapot that shimmered faintly, like it had been kissed by moonlight. She set it down with a soft clink.
"New blend today," she said in a casual voice. "Thought you could use something to wake your soul. Assuming you still have one."
Magnus cracked open one eye. "Doubtful. Though, I would be glad it's true."
Without waiting for permission, Marianne poured the tea—the liquid a strange, deep green that seemed to swirl on its own. The scent rose into the air: rich, earthy, and slightly electric.
"Whisperleaf tea," she said. "Imported from the Shaded Groves."
He grunted. "Sounds made-up."
"It's not," Marianne replied, setting a delicate cup into his hand whether he wanted it or not. "Bob worked hard to get it... at the request of Reny from the elf realm."
Magnus squinted at her. "Reny? Really? It's been one day since you showed up, Bunny. You're already giving nicknames to othe—"
Marianne cut him off swiftly, her hand tightening on the teapot as if threatening to pour it over his head. "Marianne. Call me Marianne."
She placed the expensive-looking cup firmly on the saucer with a clink.
"Here, Cat—" she caught herself. "—lord."
Magnus stared at her for a long moment, the corner of his mouth twitching.
He took a slow sip of the tea.
It tasted like a forest after rain, but with a side of judgment. In the end, just a good piece of artwork.
"...Not bad," he admitted. Though he liked it more than that.
Marianne crossed her arms, satisfied. "It better not be. Bob almost got mugged by flower spirits to get this stuff."
"Nice. character development," Magnus said lazily, setting the cup on the armrest. "Maybe he'll stop acting like a glorified butler."
From somewhere deeper in the castle, Bob sneezed.
Magnus looked at her, thoughtful for a moment, before a mischievous smirk tugged at the corner of his lips. "Now that I think about it, how about you explain why a nun came to the Demon Castle?"
Marianne's face immediately shifted into a mock pout. "Don't wanna."
Magnus raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Guess you are a spy, huh? I wouldn't be shocked for a bunny to be quick."
Her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Fine. I'll tell you," She grumbled, clearly annoyed with the humiliation. "But only because I want to prove that I am not a spy, also because I don't want the entire castle thinking I'm some kind of... bunny."
Magnus chuckled. "How easy. Enlighten me."
Marianne took a deep breath, her gaze turning distant, like she was looking at something far off in the past.
"I... was the sole nun of a village. I was about 22 years old at that time. The village was near the border of the three realms—Elven, Beastkin, and Human. It was peaceful, considering the position. There was abundance in everything. The children played, the elders spread wisdom, and the men and women worked."
---
A young pastor had arrived just a few days ago. A kind, pretty faced with a skinny body. He would always wear a small, warm smile.
Children would often play with him, elder would talk about the village.
But there was something wrong, something was wrong since the moment he had come to that village.
Marianne and every villager including the new pastor would always talk about it. Dead bodies of animals killed so brutally it felt like it was done for the sake of pleasure than meat. Some had their skulls crushed, others with their own bones stabbing them.
The villagers investigated, yet nothing was to be found. Marianne would seldom be in a state of worry, always wondering what effect this would have on the innocent children.
Just few days after, another calamity struck. A kid had gone missing, everyone searched but in the end, it was said to be a beast attack. The pastor and the people blamed the parents for their child going too deep in the forests.
Day after day, the same incident would happen. Soon, the villagers started to think the village had been cursed. The pastor was the one who brought it up first.
Just like any other day, Marianne went to church. First, cleaning, then organizing, praying. In the middle of all that, she would smell a stench coming from the basement. A smell similar to the ones of those dead bodies of the animals.
After her work, she went to the basement door. It was locked. Strange. There was no lock for this before. She was sure of it, no one would enter and leave the church before or after her. But that was when the pastor wasn't present.
The evidences kept on falling on him. Little by little. Unsurprisingly enough, her trust slowly went downhills.
She broke the lock with a stone, throwing the rock away outside the church before entering the basement. The stench kept getting stronger and stronger. It was a dark and crude environment. Each step was like stepping on mud.
She went back to the surface and brought a lantern with her. A small, candle-based lantern.
Again, she slowly descended into the basement. The same feeling of stepping into mud on each step of the stairs.
Curious, she looked down and pointed the light on the ground. A bright, thick, red liquid, was covered on the steps.
Her eyes widened in horror. She almost fell before catching herself, putting her hand on the walls.
The same sensation fell on her palm. Goosebumps ran across her body, she looked again, it was blood. Dried blood.
Disgusted yet unyielding, she descended deeper before reaching a room. The strong smell of blood, and rotten bodies filled the room. She guessed it would be the animal bodies.
"Ughh!" She covered her nose, "How is this even inside the chur-"
Before she could utter anything else, she paused. Unfortunately, her guess was wrong. There were dead bodies indeed. But they weren't animals.
The dim light fell on the tables filled with the corpses. Children corpses.
"Auggh!" Marianne immediately vomited, the horrific sight was too much even for the stoic nun.
It was so atrocious that one wouldn't even describe it correctly. She could only see the first row of the poor dead children. They had their skins peeled, some didn't have eyes, others lower parts weren't even there.
Marianne ran back, throwing away the lantern in that state of hurry. She had to tell everyone about this. At least, someone about this.
Her bloodied feet left behind trails of bloody footsteps as she reached out of the basement. It was dusk, the warm, reddish yellow light of the sun shone right through the church windows.
As she had reached halfway, the door suddenly opened. The same pastor entered, calm and without a single worry on his face. That is, until now.
He immediately realized that Marianne had seen it. But he still put on the facade, checking just in case if she knew the culprit or not.
"Pastor!" She shouted, panting heavily, "Thank god, I met you. Please, listen to me. There are dead bodies in the basement of the chu-" she paused. A realisation came into her mind. As if all pieces had finally been completed.
It all happened after the arrival of the pastor. Every incident involved him, directly or indirectly.
Swiftly, she pushed him away. Bolting away from the church. She knew there was a meeting at the centre of the village today. There always was at the end of each day. She hurriedly reached there, but the pastor was already present.
"H-how?!" She cried, and before she could even talk. Someone from the crowd shouted.
"You demonic witch! How dare you even show your face?!"
Marianne, confused at the sudden accusations, backed off. "What do you mean? He's the culprit! He was the one who killed the children! He eve-"
A rock hit Marianne's head. The small rock hit hard, causing her side of the forehead to bleed. She covered it with her hand, and before she could protest. Another one fell on her.
She slowly backed away, before running off into the forest. But as she was leaving, she saw just a single glimpse from the corner of her eyes. The pastor was smiling.
With rage boiling in her blood, she had no choice but to leave the village.
The forest she had entered was the forest of the beast realm.
It wouldn't be wrong to say that she was walking to death. The forest was a lonely one. There were trees, and soft winds that would gently shake the leaves occasionally but no animals. Not even bugs.
She walked for days, living on fruits and lake water. It was a big stroke of luck for her to not encounter any beast. But for her, it would have been much better if she had.
She reached a shore. It was at the time of a sunset, a beautiful sunset. The light of the sun painted the nautical horizon in strange hues of pink and yellow, while the cirrus clouds had their edges splashed with the same pink. It was the kind that would uplift one's morale, just not her's.
She was filled with countless emotions, anger, sadness… and most of all, hatred. Hatred towards those who didn't believe in her, hatred against that devil in human skin.
The waves of the salty ocean would come back and forth, as if inviting her. She thought, once..
She thought about it again. "What will really happen if I were to jump."
She was there for a long time, a very long time. Indulged in her thoughts of life and death with her tiredness growing with each second as if she could faint at any given moment.
It was night time. Midnight to be exact. It started to get darker and darker, but the cloudy sky was gone. The stars above could gift out their faint lights with no expectations of receiving something.
"How selfless." She thought.
Then, with no reason to stop her, she got up. Turned around to stare at the dense forest she had come through, the same forest which had her hometown next to.
She turned back. And jumped into the sea.