The Devil Duchess Adopts The Villainess - Chapter 4

The Eternia kingdom was not a particularly powerful kingdom especially compared to others on the continent. The neighbouring powers constantly eyed the borders as a juicy slice of meat to be carved up amongst themselves a fact that the upper nobility were all too aware of.

The border areas were managed by the five duke households for many a century, but the king had a grand vision. He had secretly struck a deal with the neighbouring kingdom of Redthorne to give up a large slice of the border in exchange for an unimaginable sum of money and troops. Naturally no duke household would be willing to give up their entire territory so all that needed to happen was a tiny accident and a territory would be left without an owner.

The king chuckled to himself and opened his mouth intending to award the guardianship to one of his puppet houses.

“I will take in the child as a ward of house Blackwolf”

A voice rang out from the upper stands and the room instantly quieted in disbelief, before the disbelieving eyes of the crowd a woman stood up from her chair and walked slowly towards the child. The cold indifferent look in her eyes intensified as she swept over the noblemen who lined up to approach the girl.

Her intimidating air made them unable to look at her directly as she seemed like an untouchable queen. She approached Ashley and then knelt down and came face to face with her.Elise did not know why she was doing these actions, according to the voice in her head it would simply be easier to kill the child or ensure she would become nothing but a tool.

Her cold heart had no room for compassion or care but when she looked at the little girl who hung her head down and refused to meet anyone in the eye, she suddenly felt uncomfortable.

She softly whispered, “Raise your head and look at me”.

Ashley slowly looked up and was immediately stunned, the lady before her was beautiful as a fairy. She was tall was a curvy body and piercing violet eyes that seemed to look into her very soul. She did not know why but being seen by those eyes made her feel a sense of warmth and care.

Ashley was rather puzzled by this until she compared her eyes to the gaze to the nobles from before. This lady did not have a single speck of greed or emotion in her eyes, from the beginning to the end of their meeting, she simply looked at Ashley. Ashley was dazed and did not hear the woman speak again.

“Will you accept me as your mother?”

Elise said this casually but unbeknownst to her, her hands were clenched tightly into fists and her shadow started to flicker unsteadily as if sensing the changes in her mood. The girl did not seem to hear it the first time, so she repeated the question again.

Ashley’s ears perked up and she looked at the lady before her and hesitantly nodded her head. Immediately a wave of voices of protest and outrage came from all sides of the chamber.

“Your majesty this is a great travesty of justice!”

“How can we allow the duchess to hold the power of two houses?”

“The little girl is clearly lost and confused”

Elise drowned out the voices and carefully approached the little girl, she wasn’t sure what came over her, but she slowly unhooked the coat over her dress and draped it over the child. She could not stand to see her new daughter wearing a simple dress. Elise was a rather possessive woman so even she herself did not notice that her form of address had changed.

On the throne the king was almost beside himself with rage. This wretched woman just had to throw his entire plan into a wench. How dare she ignore the imperial decree that the child be given to a lower noble house. The simple and straightforward declaration of guardianship was now thrown for a loop. Thinking carefully, he opened he spoke,” I am sorry Duchess Elise, but not one duke households will be able adopt this child and maintain her lands”

However, on the floor, the woman in question was ignoring him entirely. Her entire focus was on the adorable little bundle wrapped up in a coat too big for her size. Her face remained cold and indifferent, but she picked up the child in her arms and began to whisper to her in a soft tone words of comfort.

“How dare you insult your majesty by ignoring him!”, a nobleman shouted. “Put down that child immediately before his majesty executes you”.

Boom!

The ground suddenly cracked, a fearsome magical power swept over all the nobles present causing the weaker ones to kneel and even spit blood. The shadows under her dress lengthened and began to twist around like tendrils. The room darkened as if nighttime occurred and Elise’s eyes began to glow strangely in the dark with the air of a predator hunting its prey. She allowed her power to rampage freely and the sense of dark pleasure swept through her body.

In her arms Ashley squirmed a bit and noticed the room turned dark but did not feel any ill effects unlike the rest of the nobles present. She did not know that Elise was protecting her from the magical power she was sending out. Wuxiaworld for visiting.

Lithea grimaced as she held on to her seat trying desperately to stop herself from fainting under the effects. She who was known as one of the most powerful magic users in the capitol, defeated many people much more experienced and was given the title of magical prodigy. Her fame and success quickly went to her head. She still remembered the day when she first visited lady Elise, feeling confident she ventured north to challenge the so called ‘Devil Duchess’ to a series of duels.

She lost every. Single. Fight.

The house of Blackwolf were known for producing strong magic swordsmen but Elise had talent that ranged far from the realm of genius and into the realm of monstrous. Her shadow magic killed her opponents before they could even react, with her swordsmanship that was unparalleled in skill and an insanely high combat sense engraved into her body. The blood lust she emitted could cause whole swarms of beasts to freeze.

She was known as a one man army on the battlefield.

The reason the king could not demand Elise to hand the child over to him was because there was no one in the kingdom who could stop her. The royal family had seen her as an eyesore but since she was generally kept in her own territories up north, they turned a blind eye. Of course, other nobles far more reckless had sent assassins but this quickly stopped when Elise caught one and traced it back to the noble’s house where she slaughtered everyone inside.

No assassin dared to take a contract to kill her again.

Elise took a small hunting knife from a slit in her dress. She was beginning to lose control of herself, she could feel the shadows darkening then twisting her mind and heart. A small hand tugged on her shoulder and she looked down to see little Ashley looking at her with a smile.

Immediately, just as quickly as the aura appeared, it abruptly vanished. There was a collection of sighs and gasps ringing around the room as nobles climbed to their feet and looked towards her in terror. This was the true ability of the ‘Demon of the North’, without even casting a spell but just using her magic power she was able to suppress everyone in the room. If she wanted to kill them all they would have no means to resist. As the thought flashed into their minds the looks given to Elise became more fearful.

A sense of hapless rage welled up in the king and a dark look crossed his face, he wanted nothing more than to kill both the woman and the little girl. Where was his face as the son of heaven if word spread that he had to take back his command simply because the duchess was too powerful?

Elise thought carefully and then said, “Your majesty I simply wish to adopt this girl as my ward, pertaining to her future titles and properties I have no desire to mange them”.

Elise had no desire to make herself a target of hatred for all the nobility, while she was not afraid for her own safety, she did not want to put Ashley at risk. The main source of the disagreement was the management of the lands and titles and not the guardianship of the girl.

The king leaned back and smiled to himself, it looked as though this woman understood the true purpose behind the assembly. There were rumours that the duchess was an unreasonable woman but it seemed even she understood the purpose of the assembly.

His smile faded as he thought to himself,” She is too powerful to not have a fail safe against.” He did not want his dignity to be challenged again.The nobles were shocked, why would the duchess give up management of the lands and titles? The whole purpose of adopting the girl as a ward would be to increase one’s own coffers, if not then there was no reason to take in the girl.

“Granted,” said the king after a short while.

Elise bowed respectfully and left the chamber with Ashley in her arm wrapped around in her warm coat under the gaze of all the nobles present. Ashley peered out through the crack in the coat and saw the side profile of the kind woman who was carrying her away from the bad people.

Her little heart was overflowing with warmth and despite the cold expression on Elise’s face, to little Ashley the lady’s figure suddenly shone brighter than the sun.