Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, Who's the Witch of Fate’s Great Call - Chapter 25
Unintentionally, she shouted back in defiance, but it didn’t go over well.
“I thought I told you to watch your tone, yet you can’t manage even that.”
Vylon tormented her until she finally uttered the words, “I’m sorry.” Yet, hearing her call him a fool didn’t seem to satisfy him. He remained within her, not withdrawing until morning.
“Please, just take it out, Your Majesty. I won’t speak arrogantly again. Please, forgive me.”
At her tearful plea, he finally tried to pull out, but by then, he was so tightly lodged inside her that it was another struggle.
“Some moisture is needed to release.”
Before she could ask what he meant, he leaned in to kiss her, his hands grasping her small chest and teasing her n*****s, which he often mocked. Her n*****s, sensitive from his nightly touches since their marriage, reacted easily. Just his slight touch caused her to moan suggestively.
“You’re quite wet. Now it’ll come out more easily.”
Instead of simply withdrawing, he began thrusting slowly and released himself fully inside her once more before finally letting her go.
During the day, she was scorned as a witch—at night, she was told that being a witch made her strong, making it easier for him to have his way with her. Kalynia’s days were difficult.
And there was another person having a similarly rough time—Harriette, Kalynia’s lady-in-waiting.
‘Witch’s lackey.’
Such labels were attached to her as she tried to distribute the potions on Kalynia’s orders. Though she was only following the queen’s commands, people still called her a lackey, while Kalynia grew angry, wondering why not a single person would accept her potions.
Stressed, Hariette’s old illness flared up, and one day, she collapsed.
Receiving emergency treatment from the palace physician, she was sent to Duke Hamilton’s estate to recover. Ultimately, she could not regain her health and had to take leave.
“The queen cursed Harriette out of jealousy over her beauty!”
A new rumor then began to spread.
“I’m not jealous! Why would I be? If I find whoever spread that rumor, I won’t let them off!”
When she finally heard about it, Kalynia was furious. But seeing her rage led a maid to spread yet another story that the witch queen intended to curse every woman in the palace.
Those who heard the rumor grew more afraid of the queen than ever, especially the young ladies who had temporarily replaced Harriette in the castle. When they brushed Kalynia’s hair, their hands trembled visibly.
“Enough. I’ll do it myself. Leave.”
Unable to bear it, Kalynia dismissed them. As she sent them away one by one, a problem emerged—everyone was afraid of her, and there was no one left who wasn’t.
Thus, the queen found herself dressing and bathing alone. She had not lived a life where others did these things for her, so she thought it would be fine. But there was a difference between having no one and having once had them.
Kalynia felt incredibly lonely during the days, with no one to talk to. At first, she busied herself with potion-making to ward off the loneliness, but even this soon felt empty.
“What’s the point if no one will drink them?”
The potions only piled up, unused. Eventually, Kalynia stopped making potions altogether, except for her daily contraceptive.
In her spare time, she wrote letters to her sisters. Though a comfort at first, she soon realized it was meaningless, growing sadder when she remembered she couldn’t send them, afraid that revealing her location might endanger her family.
“Being queen is such a lonely life.”
She recalled her bustling home, filled not only with her seven sisters but with their growing families as her older sisters married and had children.
She had never felt such loneliness there. In fact, she’d often yearned for time alone.
“Bored, lonely, and miserable.”
*
This solitude carried over into the night.
“Why are you so weak?”
Vylon noticed her gloom and asked. Kalynia shot him a glance. Humans are truly fickle creatures. Not long ago, she had been lonely because no one would speak to her, and now that she was getting attention, a sense of rebellion surfaced.
Thinking about it, wasn’t it his fault that she was stuck here in this miserable state, isolated as though she were imprisoned? How many nights had passed since she began to feel this lonely and worn out? And he was only noticing now?
“What’s it to you? Don’t pretend to care when you clearly don’t.”
