Chapter 35: Looks Could Always Be Deceiving When It Came to Witches

After Faye left the study, Celeste sat behind her desk. Her eyes drifted toward the tall bookshelves, but she wasn’t really seeing them.

Her mind raced. She was trying to build some kind of plan, a way for a first-trial Witch to beat a red lizard.

But no matter what spell combination she tried in her mind, she kept hitting the same wall.

Mana capacity.

For a first trial Witch, mana reserves were painfully small. It didn’t matter if Faye knew a hundred complicated spells. If she couldn’t afford to cast them, none of it meant a thing.

As the silence dragged on, Celeste’s shadow on the floor began to twist and shift. Titus stepped right out of it.

He crossed the room to the couch and casually dropped into it. "How did it go?" he asked, making himself comfortable.

"What do you think?" Celeste replied dryly. "She’s already losing hope that she’ll ever become a Witch."

Titus frowned. "Do you know why Lady Seraphina picked this exact trial for her? Out of everyone, she should know what Faye is capable of."

He rubbed his chin, looking puzzled. "The way I see it, it almost feels like she’s punishing her own granddaughter for failing."

"I don’t know..." Celeste murmured, her voice heavy with worry.

Her brow lifted slightly, as something occurred to her. "When I reported the failure to my mother, I also mentioned the boy, and his extraordinary body that we are considering to make him Faye’s Shadow. Do you think that had something to do with it?"

Titus went quiet, turning the thought over. "Could be. But he hasn’t become her Shadow yet. If he, or Faye, refuses to form the contract, she will still face that trial all alone."

To a Witch, a Shadow was almost like part of her own body.

Shadows were one of the very few things allowed to participate in a Witch’s trial. If Faye took the trial with Magna standing beside her to protect her, she would actually stand a chance.

Celeste leaned forward over her desk, narrowing her eyes as she fixed her gaze on Titus. "How did things go with Magna?"

"How did what go?" Titus responded, feigning ignorance. His eyes darted toward the books on the shelf, as though he had suddenly found them fascinating.

"A little while ago, you activated my camouflage spell, didn’t you?" Celeste’s voice dropped low, gaining a threatening edge.

"And since I know you weren’t using it to spy on the maids, you must have used it to test the boy."

Titus felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up, realizing he was under mortal threat.

"Okay, fine. I just wanted to spook him a little," he admitted, raising his hands up. "I swear I didn’t do anything else."

Celeste didn’t budge an inch. Her cold, unblinking stare stayed locked on him. The air in the room started to get chill.

Titus finally cracked. "Alright... His leg bone broke, okay? But I wasn’t the one who broke it. The kid suddenly lashed out with a kick, hit me, and snapped his own leg. I wasn’t expecting it at all."

Satisfied that she had pulled the whole truth out of him, Celeste finally let go of her killing intent, though her face stayed as emotionless as ever. "So, what do you think? How far can he grow in a year?"

"What do I think?" Titus let out a low, dry laugh. " Slap a mask on that kid’s face, and I’d call him a monster.

He leaned his head back against the cushion, his eyes drifting up to the wooden beams above. His tone turned serious. "When I was his age, I was nothing more than a toy in my father’s hands. But this kid... I don’t even know if kid is the right word for him."

He started to report everything that had happened, without missing a detail.

How Magna had sensed him even through the camouflage spell. His unbelievable reflexes when dodging his punch, and above all, that eerily calm composure.

Even when he faced Titus’s intent to kill him, Magna was able to think of every possible way to save himself.

Titus himself wasn’t someone ordinary, as he came from a well-known lineage.

He had been raised and trained from the moment he could walk, all to one day become an extraordinary Shadow.

When he was first brought to the Winterborne estate as Celeste’s Shadow, he was only twelve years old.

Even so, when he compared his twelve year old self to Magna now, Titus could not deny the terrifying gap between them.

Everything he said about the boy was full of praise, and he saw a great future for him. But there was one concern.

His expression turned hard as he spoke about it.

"No matter how much I think about it, I can’t figure out what lineage a kid this talented could come from. There just isn’t any family I know capable of creating someone like him, other than those great and ancient families."

It didn’t matter if Magna was a cruel, selfish person or a kind and good one.

After the contract, his life would be bound to Faye forever, and he would have to protect her even at the cost of his own life.

But the problem was his unknown family. If they ever showed up one day, they might want to cause trouble.

For that concern, though, Celeste had no worry at all. "I already mentioned this to my mother in the letter. She told me she’ll send a friend over here soon to check on him."

She even had high hopes that, since Magna had at least two bloodline traits, he came from an ancient family.

Binding someone like him to her daughter would be the best plan for the future, the greatest insurance she could provide for her daughter at all.

"That’s good. I hope she comes fast," Titus said, shifting on the couch.

The faster they learned the boy’s true origin, the sooner his mind could rest, and the sooner he could begin training him.

Though he would never have imagined it would be this fast.

"Is this fast enough?"

The sudden voice from behind him made Titus jump up to his feet. He moved in front of Celeste to take position.

His frost helmet formed on his head, and a tall shield of ice appeared in his hand.

Through the gap in his helmet, his eyes locked onto the uninvited guest who had appeared in the room without warning.

"Who are you? How did you get in?" he demanded. His voice was now fully cold and calm, with no trace left of the casual tone he had before putting on his helmet.

The intruder was a Witch. Her black robe and the matching black pointed hat on her head made that clear.

She did not look old either. Her face was smooth, without a single wrinkle, and her eyes and hair were both a shiny black.

But looks could always deceive when it came to Witches. Appearance was never what decided their true power.

Getting into the Winterborne mansion, and even into Celeste’s private study, so easily was proof enough of how powerful she truly was.

In his head, Titus was already running through plans, ways to get Celeste and Faye out of the mansion safely, even if it cost him his own life.

Then Celeste’s voice cut through his racing thoughts. "Calm down, Titus. She is not an enemy."

She stepped out from behind his massive frame and walked forward to stand before the black-robed Witch.

She tilted her head slightly and smiled, her voice coming out warm, even happy. "It has been a long time, Aunt Azelith."