Chapter 54: Not her first life

Hazel was taken back to the exact place where Caius had risen from his coffin, and the moment she recognized the old building, her eyes moved around in disbelief. She could still remember the strange room, the ancient walls, and the dark energy that had filled the place when Caius first awakened after two hundred years. They were still inside the same abandoned building, yet nobody from the palace had found them.

How haven’t they found us yet?

Hazel looked toward the old windows and suddenly remembered what Susan had said about the powerful spell protecting the place. If Rita could not locate her, then perhaps even the moon goddess could not see her either. The thought made her nervous because she had been hoping that the goddess would somehow appear and help her.

Instead of panicking, Hazel lazily sat inside the strange symbol drawn on the floor and watched the three witches prepare their spell. She was already tired of everything happening around her, so she decided to save her energy and simply watch them make a mistake.

Susan stood in front of the ancient book while Scarlett and Janet stood beside her. Several candles surrounded Hazel, and each one had a strange black symbol carved into it.

Susan lifted both hands as the three women began chanting together.

"Lure Caius, the son of moon goddess, here."

"Lure Caius, the son of moon goddess, here."

"Lure Caius, the son of moon goddess, here."

Their voices echoed through the old building while a strong wind suddenly rushed through the room. Hazel’s hair flew around her face, and the flames of the candles danced wildly, but she remained seated in the middle of the strange symbol.

For a few seconds, nothing happened.

Then black smoke suddenly began pouring out of the ancient book. Susan quickly stopped chanting and stared at it with frustration. "Why is it not working?"

Hazel rolled her eyes. "You want me to answer that?"

Susan glared at her. Janet, however, suddenly looked worried as she studied the spellbook. "It has to be because we are doing something forbidden. The book clearly states that we must not use someone who has been reincarnated or reborn as the sacrifice, because the candidate will absorb the energy instead of giving it to the spell."

Before anyone could respond, the candles suddenly changed.

White smoke began rising from them, twisting through the air like living snakes before rushing toward Hazel.

The three witches froze. "What the heck?! Kill those candles now!" Susan screamed.

Hazel felt the white smoke enter her body, but instead of pain, she suddenly felt warmth spreading through every part of her body. The tiredness she had carried for so long began disappearing, and the weakness that had always followed her seemed to be fading away.

She looked at her hands in surprise. "Oh wow..." Her fingers felt stronger. Her body felt lighter.

Even her breathing became easier, and for the first time, Hazel felt as if she was no longer carrying a heavy weight inside her body.

It was almost as if the candles had taken away every weakness she had ever suffered from.

Susan and the others desperately rushed around the room, destroying the candles one after another until the white smoke finally disappeared.

Hazel remained seated, staring at herself with satisfaction. She had never felt this healthy before.

Susan slowly turned toward her, her face filled with disbelief. "You have lived another life before?"

Hazel blinked. "What are you talking about?"

Janet frowned. "Stop pretending. You were dead before. I don’t know exactly what happened to you, whether you were reincarnated or transmigrated, but your soul isn’t normal."

Hazel stared at her. "How would I know that if it’s true?"

Susan scoffed. "She doesn’t even have her memories."

Janet looked at Hazel carefully. "Judging from everything connected to the moon goddess, she must have come here because of a wish the moon goddess granted her."

Hazel’s brows pulled together. A wish?

Again, everyone kept talking about a wish.What wish were they talking about? What had the moon goddess supposedly granted her?

Before Hazel could ask, Susan closed the ancient book. "It doesn’t matter. We will continue with the spell."

Janet’s eyes widened. "What? That’s forbidden!"

"I don’t care anymore!" Susan snapped. "If we can’t use Caius, then we’ll sacrifice her instead." She turned around to pick something from the table, but the moment she looked up, her entire body froze.

The object slipped from her hand. She slowly stepped backward. Hazel noticed the sudden fear on her face and turned around.

The others followed her gaze. Everyone became silent.

Caius was standing near the large window. He looked very calm, with both hands behind his back, as if he had been standing there for a long time and had simply been listening to everything they had said.

Hazel’s eyes widened. Is that really Caius? For a moment, she wondered if Rita had somehow transformed herself into him just to frighten the witches.

Scarlett trembled and quickly moved behind Susan. "Don’t worry," she whispered. "The spell we cast was meant to lure him here, so maybe it worked."

Hazel frowned. But something was strange. The witches had been talking about how their spells could not affect Caius, yet he had appeared right in front of them.

Caius slowly stepped away from the window. He jumped down from the raised platform with effortless strength before walking toward them.

His eyes remained fixed on Susan. "You are tempting me to kill you, Susan."

Susan’s eyes widened. "He came himself..." Her voice trembled. "I thought the rumors were lies. They said spells don’t work on him..."

Janet stared at Caius in horror. "So you mean... he is here with his full mind?" She suddenly realized what that meant. "Ahh!"

Caius chuckled. Before anyone could move, a flash of blue light appeared in front of them, and Rita suddenly appeared. She raised her hand, and powerful magic immediately wrapped around the witches, holding them in place.

"I will deal with the witches myself."

Caius glanced at her. "No. They touched what belongs to me."

Hazel unconsciously looked at Caius. Her heart gave a strange jump. What belongs to him? She quickly looked away, pretending she had not heard it.

Rita swallowed but nodded and stepped aside. Caius’s eyes moved toward Scarlett. The moment their eyes met, Scarlett immediately fell to her knees. "Your Majesty, please forgive me! I didn’t mean—"

Caius stared down at her. "I knew you would be interesting the moment Gabriel told me about you. That is why I told him to keep you in his pack and continue pretending you were his daughter."

He paused before giving a small nod. "I am glad you didn’t disappoint me."

Scarlett’s face became pale, no wonder Alpha Gabriel kept her.

"Stand."

She quickly jumped to her feet. Caius then turned toward Hazel. "I heard she is a very good friend of yours."

Hazel almost opened her mouth to argue.

Friend? Scarlett was anything but her friend. They were enemies. But Hazel suddenly understood the strange look in Caius’s eyes.

He was giving her the chance to decide what would happen to Scarlett. She looked toward Alexander, Janet and Rita, and all three of them were watching her with raised brows.

Hazel took a deep breath. "I will deal with her myself."

The moment she said it, Caius’s expression changed. He frowned and immediately looked away. His eyes suddenly turned golden, and his canines became longer.

Scarlett instinctively stepped backward. Caius raised one hand to his head as if trying to control something inside him, but it did not work.

Rita’s face changed. "Your Majesty, are you alright?" Then she suddenly looked at Hazel. "The magic potion I gave you has faded. Your scent is affecting him."

Hazel froze. She immediately stepped backward. "I took several of them! I didn’t know they would stop working after two days!"

Rita did not waste another second. She rushed toward the center of the room and released a powerful burst of magic.

In the next moment, the entire room disappeared.

Hazel, Caius, the witches, the coffin and everyone else were suddenly teleported straight back to the throne hall.

Susan and Janet stared around in shock. Rita had just teleported all of them, including the enormous coffin, from that distant building to the palace without even struggling.

Hazel, however, did not stay to watch their reaction. She immediately turned and ran toward her room.

Once inside, she quickly grabbed the scent potion and rubbed it over her body.

Only after making sure her scent was covered again did she sit on the edge of the bed with a bitter sigh.

She didn’t even understand why she hated using the potion so much.

Maybe it was because every time she covered her scent, she felt like she was hiding herself from Caius.

She looked toward the mirror. Her expression slowly fell. "The moon goddess must have forced him to save me."

She lowered her eyes. "Because there is no way he would come for me on his own."