The Devil Duchess Adopts The Villainess - Chapter 18

(Small cottage in an unknown part of the northern dukedom)

A black raven crowed harshly and landed on the open palm of a middle age woman tenderly stroking the flowers in her garden. The cottage nearby was humbly built with a small road of dirt leading to the nearest house which was roughly two hours away.

Surrounded by trees in the middle of a forest, it was a scenic site to behold. The woman was clearly once a great beauty in her youth and the small ravages of time did little to diminish her sense of grace and dignity.

Perhaps what would startle anyone who looked at her would be the sharp violet eyes that bore traces of guilt and sorrow. Elise was the splitting version of the woman’s younger self, but she had not seen her daughter in years.

Caw! Caw! Caw!

The raven rubbed its black head on the woman’s shoulders with small beady eyes staring lovingly at his master. The woman listened to the calls of the crow while swaying her body from left to right gently as if she could understand the creature.

Numerous other crows swarmed the roof of the cottage with a sea of black feathers and red glistening eyes peering at the woman silently standing amongst the flowers.

“I see my daughter has returned to home,” she muttered quietly to herself.

It was a bad habit, almost an obsession but every time her daughter would leave the dukedom, she would track the number of days Elise had gone. It made her feel like she was a proud mother watching her child go forth into the world eagerly counting the days till she returned.

One could hardly believe this woman was once the esteemed wife of Duke Blackwolf, one of the most important and powerful nobles in the north. Outsiders only knew that twelve years ago, the duke announced that she had passed away and the funeral was held privately among family members. Wuxiaworld for visiting.

Her heart was filled with anger and fury when her own husband declared that she would be banished to a small corner of the dukedom never to return to the mansion and the life she enjoyed.

But over the years as she recalled what she had done, the anger turned into bitterness and regret. Sleepless nights were spent trying to convince herself to go back to Elise and tell her daughter that her mother was alive and sorry.

Every time she made the choice, she would simply recall the broken look and the scar on her daughter’s shoulder and would slink back under the blankets like the coward she was.

That night, she told herself it was just the tradition of her people, that her daughter would unlock her mana circuit if she could just push her enough. That her daughter would thank her in the future for a single unpleasant night.

When the mana circuit did not show itself, well that was when she made the biggest mistake of her life.

The raven cooed gently in her ears and the woman frowned slightly.

‘Elise had brought back a child?’

(Main story)

Elise rode swiftly through the open roads of Arcadia pointing out the sites and places to visit to her daughter. Ashley was open eyed with excitement and asked questions non-stop all along the journey.

“Mommy what’s that funny statue of?”

“That is the ancestor of the high elves sculpted to look like a court jester, apparently the dark elves aren’t too fond of him and erected that statue as a bit of a joke”

“Won’t the high elves be unhappy?”

“It is unlikely that they will ever see the statue in the first place, high elves are mainly found in the Amelneis kingdom and guard the sacred tree of life. They tend to see themselves as the physical embodiment of nature and are pretty prideful. Their interactions with other races are limited.”

Speaking of dark elves, Elise glanced backwards to see the Valkyries following her closely although Servia was clearly getting distracted by the food stalls lining the roads. Her poor sister Luxia kept pulling her shirt trying to get her to pay attention to Ashley.

Elise contemplated briefly and gave a short command,

“I will take Ashley and Elena with me to the castle to get them settled in. The rest of you disperse and go visit your families, it has been a long couple of weeks!”

“Aye Aye My lady!”

Cheers rung out from the remaining Valkyries as they immediately split up and headed to different directions.

“Bye bye little duchess”, Servia and Luxia winked and smiled at their favourite small human.

Servia soon pulled her sister towards a steamed bun stall and the twins began to eat with great enthusiasm. Elena rode her steed and drew level with Elise, she was thrilled to be able to stay longer as a personal guard.

(Elena’s POV)

“Okay come on Elena, you can do this!”, Elena began to give a small speech to herself to raise her confidence. She had a small book hidden in her bag called ‘Love and Seduction Techniques’, if any other sirens had seen the book, she would be laughed it.

It was unthinkable that the most seductive races of the oceans would be unable to snare a human. Elena had tried all the siren techniques, but nothing seemed to work!

Singing a love song with passion and feelings.

(Elise simple nodded and said that she was a wonderful siren with a pretty singing voice)

Gently pouting out her lips and seductively winking

(Elise thought she had something in her eye and told her to wash it before it got infected)

Siren mind control/ aphrodisiac charm

Elena had never done this option, despite the popularity of this method among her fellow sirens, it did not feel right to her. She wanted Elise to fall in love with her from her own charms! There was no need to use mind control.

“So … my lady have you shown Ashley the famous taverns?”

She awkwardly began to start up a conversation but fortunately for her Ashley interjected with a quick,

“What taverns mommy?”

Whenever the conversation between the two ladies turned quiet, Ashley would blurt out a couple of short sentences to resume the flow. Elena was very thankful to the little duchess and sent her a quiet nod which Ashley returned with a sly smile and a wink.

(Main Story)

The two horses ventured out of the city and galloped onto a sandy road which lead to a castle on the outskirts of Arcadia. The castle was large and intimidating with none of the gaudy ornaments similar to the mansions in the capitol.

Ashley stared a little bit frightened of the tall black spires that rose from the castle ground. The castle was built in the image of functionality rather than style and iron spikes jutted from walls to warn off potential intruders from scaling the building.

Two statues were placed at the entrance of the drawbridge, a wolf with open fangs snarling and a man with a saber grasped in his hands with a small plaque on the bottom reading ‘It takes a monster to make monsters fear.’

The drawbridge slowly lowered, and rows of servants streamed out of the castle forming a neat line as they welcomed back their mistress. An elderly gentleman in a top hat and expensive suit approached the party.

He walked towards the horses then a few steps away from Elise, he dropped down the ground in a half kneel,

“Welcome back my lady”, the man muttered in a raspy voice.

“No need to kneel Gerald, how many years have you been my faithful butler do I have to tell you not to bow down before me.” Elise was displeased and her violet eyes sparked with an unknown emotion.

“My apologies my lady,” Gerald nodded but then continued to kneel. The servants did not dare to stand while the head butler himself was on his knees, so they also bowed carefully.

Sighing slightly Elise just shook her head, the old man had never changed.

Gerald looked up and finally saw the little girl hidden in his ladyship’s arms, he was confused at first and thought that he had seen incorrectly. Why was the duchess holding a child in her arms?

Elise saw his confusion and declared in a soft tone, “This child is Ashley Blackwolf and from the royal assembly, it was declared that she will be my adopted daughter.”

The tone was firm and matter of fact and all could tell the seriousness of the declaration.

Shock and confusion showed on the face of the butler and most of the servants of the castle, but good training prevented any whispers of gossip echoing throughout the courtyard. The butler was shaken but years of experience quickly allowed him to respond.

“It is my honour to serve you lady Ashley,” he smiled and bowed at the little girl.

“I like you too old grandpa!”

Elena stifled a chuckle as she saw the look on the old butler’s face, as she saw the friendly gaze that Ashley held towards the man, she knew that the castle was never going to be the same.