Witch's Daughter And The Devil's Son

This 6th chapter is dedicated to the reader “Monica_Ceja” for gifting Dragon the to the novel. Thank you so much. XOXO

———

“Do you know what you did wrong?”

Drayce nodded, only to hear his mother prod, “And what did you do wrong?”

“I…I should have controlled my anger,” he replied quietly.

“Dray, look at me,” she instructed.

Hesitantly, he lifted his head to look at his mother’s face.

“I am not angry at you, but I want you to understand what you did wrong. Something like this should not happen again.”

“I apologize…”

“Your powers should not be used to harm others. Understood?”

“Yes, Mother.”

“It is normal to feel anger, but you should not let anger control your powers.”

“I will try, Mother—”

“You said that before but you still failed. I’m disappointed.”

He nodded sullenly.

“This time, you will get a punishment.”

He looked at his mother, but seeing her stern expression, he could only accept it.

“For a day, you will not be allowed to step out of your chamber so you can reflect on your mistake, and for one week, you will not be allowed to come to my chamber. No bedtime stories and no sleeping with Mother.”

Drayce looked at her as if he was being wronged, his lips trembling as if he were about to cry. His innocent eyes blinked a few times, trying to withhold his tears.

However, Esther was not finished. “Since you now use your powers on others that means you believe you are strong enough to not obey me. Then, you can be on your own. You don’t need Mother.”

“N-No mother…I…won’t do it again. I promise I won’t…I won’t…”

Esther still didn’t soften with her punishment and asked calmly, “Dray, if you didn’t have powers and those kids made you upset, what would you have done?”

Drayce pondered, but he had nothing to say.

“Without your powers, would you have acted scared and cried? Would you have fought them like a street thug, throwing punches in their face?”

He simply looked at his mother, waiting for her to say more.

“You are a prince, Dray. When you are in a position where you are above people and others look up to you, you will always be judged. What you say, what you do, what you don’t do, people will always have an opinion and these opinions will not always be right. Some will praise you, some will nitpick at your actions, while others will criticize you even without reason.

“Many people do not know you as a person, and there will be many more who will misunderstand you. So if they say bad things to you, will you keep behaving like this, scaring them away with your powers all the time?

“Your father, though he is the King of Megaris, do you think everyone only says good things about him? Do you think everyone agrees with his decisions all the time? If they say things that the King does not agree with, do you think your father will unreasonably use his authority and behead them all?”

Esther waited for Drayce to answer, and this time, the little prince shook his head. Only then did she continue speaking.

“You live among humans so you need to learn to deal with them as a human. When you grow up, you will meet both good and bad people. Some good people speak bad words, and some bad people will speak good words. Some people act badly because of ignorance, while some people hide their bad intentions by acting good in front of you. As a prince, you have to learn how to differentiate them and handle people so you can properly execute your responsibilities to the kingdom.

“In the future, will you continue dealing with those who come your way like this? Will you only use your powers to control them? Will you be a good-for-nothing tyrant without those powers?”

“No, Mother…I apologize…I will do better…”

“You need to learn to deal with people using your brain. Power in the hands of a person with no brain is violence, but power in the hands of a person who uses his brain is righteousness. I know my son is smart. I want him to use his brain to deal with them and not purely rely on his powers.” Esther gazed into his eyes. “Can you do it, Dray?”

Drayce squared his little shoulders.

“I can, Mother.”

“Good. This should be the last time. I don’t wish for this to happen again,” she said.

“I will be careful, Mother.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Esther finally smiled at him, and only then did Drayce feel relieved.

“Hmm, since you made a promise and I believe you will keep it, I have brought you a gift.”

“A gift?” His eyes sparkled. “What is it, Mother?”

Esther called for her lady-in-waiting to enter, and she brought the gift in a wooden case and placed it on the centre table. Drayce looked at it curiously and the lady opened the case. There was a simple wooden sword inside the case.

Though it was merely a simple sword, Drayce could not help but gasp.

“A training sword!”

“You recognize it. That’s good,” Esther smiled. “This is a smaller version of the training sword used by apprentice knights who practice swordsmanship. This is made of special wood that is light but sturdy. Normally, children of royalty and nobility will officially start learning the way of the sword when they reach the age of seven, but I realized that you are special so learning early won’t be a problem for you.”

“This sword is for me?”

“Yes, I have requested this training sword for you, and it’s measured to fit your body. Dray, I want you to learn how to use a sword. When you grow up, I want you to defeat your enemies using the sword and not your powers. I want you to be the best swordsman this continent ever had. Your enemy should feel scared the moment they see you standing with your sword in hand. Even if hundreds of soldiers stand in front of you, you should be able to defeat them as if it’s not a big task.”

His mother’s words were like an absolute decree to him. He picked that small sword from the case and lightly swung it to test its weight.

Observing it carefully, a brilliant smile could be seen on his face. Anything from his mother was the most precious thing to him. “I will do my best, Mother. I will be the best swordsman!”

Esther felt satisfied with his reply and said, “You are yet to make your lantern, aren’t you?”

He nodded, but he’s already busy touching his wooden sword.

“Put it back inside its case. You won’t be leaving your chamber for a day after all. You will probably start training after the festival.”

Remembering his punishment, Drayce let out a wronged face, but Esther did not mind it.

“Oh, are you sad? Do you want Mother to leave? Pity, I was thinking that I have free time to help you make your lantern…” she said with a mischievous smile. Drayce immediately perked up.

Afterwards, the Queen’s servants brought the materials for the lantern inside the prince’s room. Along with it, they brought the sheets on which Drayce had drawn the Red Dragon.

“You drew a dragon?” she asked.

He nodded. “Prince Arlan also drew a dragon. His was a golden one.”

“Seems like you two are getting along,” she concluded. She then pulled out a sheet of paper with a yellow snake-like drawing on it. “Oh, are you talking about this one? It seems his sheet is mixed along with yours.”

“Yes, this is his,” Drayce agreed. “Mother, did you know? He doesn’t think I am a monster even after he saw me create fire out of nothing.”

“Seems like my son finally got a friend,” she chuckled.

Drayce thought about it for a while and then nodded.

“Mother, we should  make his lantern for him as well and surprise him.”

“Sure!”

The mother and son started to leisurely make lanterns, bonding together as if the strange incident that had happened in Vermillion Palace that day was forgotten.

====

Important note-

Among all these 6 chapters, there was a hint about the 3rd novel of “Devil and witch” series. I hope you all could guess it.