Nightingale.
Roland became a little nervous, this kind of battle, would … it be a lucky one?
When Nightingale noticed that the Prince had come in, she got up and slowly walked over. Even only after half a day of rest, her face looked better than how most people would ever look. Her pale cheeks were replaced with rosy ones, and her hair didn’t give her a dull appearance. He thought, I have to say, the resilience of a witch is really amazing.
“You worked hard in the past few days.” Roland coughed, breaking the silence and then continued, “Why don’t you rest longer? Lightning has already told me everything.”
Hearing this, Nightingale shook her head, giving a solemn impression. This gave Roland the feeling that something was wrong, and in her eyes he could see an indescribable dedication. Roland realized that she had made her decision and was converging her emotions towards him. This look of determination was difficult to see in many other people, so Roland waited until the other had found the right words.
However, Nightingale didn’t begin to speak immediately. Instead, she took a deep breath, got down on one knee while holding a dagger in her hand, and slightly bowed her head — this was the etiquette for the standard knight ceremony, when someone part of the aristocracy swore allegiance to a superior, they would often do it this way.
“Your Highness Roland Wimbledon, I, Veronica, also known as Nightingale, swear,” she said in a formal tone, “As long as you will be kind to the witches, I will be at your service, whether as a strong shield against the demons, or as your personal sword during the night, without any fear of regret, until the last moment of my life.”
Roland thought, so this is her decision after the Witch Cooperation Association became such a disappointment to her and destroyed her hope of leading the witches into a better future herself. If it went like he wanted, he would refuse her offer, since he was more accustomed to hiring or working together. If there were further ambitions and a common ideal, they could become comrades.
However, he knew that sometimes it was meaningless to emphasize equality and freedom. As long as there was no suitable soil, even the best seeds would decay. As a prince, he wouldn’t be able to depart from his role as a prince until he unified the kingdom..
After a moment of silence, Roland acted accordingly to the court etiquette in the memories of the former prince. He took her dagger and then touched her shoulders three times with his own sword, “I accept your allegiance.”
Nightingale’s shoulders trembled slightly. It seemed she could finally relax.
Then he stretched out his right hand, holding it in front of her.
Nightingale took his fingers and delicately kissed him on the back of his hand. With this the ritual came to an end.
Although the allegiance ceremony exercised by the witches was extremely nondescript, following through the whole set of actions couldn’t be archived with an ordinary background, And she also called herself Veronica… “Is Veronica your real name? Don’t you have a last name?” Roland pulled her up and asked.
“Yes, Your Highness. I have no intention to hide anything from you. Five years ago, I had left the house of Gilen. Now the house and I have nothing to do with each other.” Nightingale told him everything, and put down even the last barrier to her heart by telling him of her own past.
She was born in Silver City, the city whose name came naturally from their rewarding silver mines. Her father was a viscount, but her mother was born as a commoner. Such marriages were not common, but the two had hit it off well. In addition, Nightingale also had a brother named Hyde. She had spent her whole childhood in Silver City, and that was the happiest period of her life.
Chapter 63 Old Story
Nightingale had spent her whole childhood in Silver City, and that was the happiest period of her life.
However, this wonderful time only lasted until the winter she turned fourteen. In that winter, refugees started a riot in Silver City. Her parents went out to distribute food but they never came back. Nightingale and her brother were sent, to the home of her father’s brother, another branch of the Gilen family.
This was also the winter that Nightingale had awoken to her witch powers.
She carefully hid her abilities, but in the end she was still discovered by Mr. Gilen, who immediately separated Nightingale from her brother and used her brother’s life to threaten her into doing his biddings, so Nightingale had no choice. Mr. Gilen sent her to the thieves’ guild and made her undergo their training. Later, he had her do some shady things, like breaking into the homes of his enemies to steal trade contracts or other important things, and eavesdropping on the town hall meetings. She even had to go to some potential competitors’ homes and put poison in their water tanks.
The Gilen’s family business grew bigger and bigger, but Mr. Gilen’s attitude toward Nightingale gradually turned worser and worser. If even the slightest thing went wrong, she would be kicked. Every time when she wasn’t doing something for him, he would shut Nightingale in a room in their house which had its door replaced with iron bars. The part which made Nightingale the saddest and most puzzled was that she wasn’t able to see her brother Hyde. She began to suspect that Mr. Gilen had already killed her brother.
Having had enough of her repeated requests, he finally brought over her younger brother. However, when Hyde saw Nightingale, he had a look full of disgust and said that he never wanted to see her again because as a witch and the devil’s companion, she should go to hell.
Hearing this, Nightingale’s world collapsed, but the nightmare wasn’t over. Mr. Gilen gave her the final blow — the fact that she became a witch was a secret, but he still told Hyde, and even told him that the farther he got away from a witch the better it would be.
After Hyde bid Nightingale farewell, Mr. Glenn grimly warned her that Hyde would inherit their father’s title, but if she wouldn’t continue to obey his orders, he would make her brother die quietly.
In this way, Nightingale fell deeper and deeper into sorrow and despair and turned into a puppet manipulated by the Gilen family. On her coming of age day, she had to complete a task for the family and was on the way home when she met Wendy. Or, more precisely, Wendy found her.
Wendy told Nightingale everything about the Witch Cooperation Association, and told her that there were many people who had gone through similar experiences like Nightingale’s, but these sisters had not given up. Hearing this, Nightingale’s shattered heart suddenly ignited with a new spark of life.
She didn’t need much time to change from confusion to determination. One week after her coming of age day, she had already overcome the torture, forcing her magic to undergo great changes. Her fog no longer hid only her figure, but also kept the iron bars from holding her back.
On the day that she had finally recovered from the afflictions of her coming of age day, she entered her world of fog to step into Mr. Gilen’s bedroom to take a knife and slit his throat. Mr. Gilen let out some high pitched breaths, and then only the sound of popping blood bubbles could be heard. During the whole situation, Nightingale found out that she was much calmer than expected.
Then, Wendy and Nightingale left the Gilen household. As for her brother Hyde, she ignored him and did not want to see him again.
After this, she and Wendy started their journey towards the Witch Cooperation Association.
When Nightingale came to the end of her story, she waited for a moment, but when she felt that Roland was still immersed in her past, she left the room to retire for the night.