"You should eat properly. You're paler than the last time I saw you."

Avy and Ares were getting ready to leave the cave after spending time with the small child and making sure that he has all the necessities to survive. It was already noon when they decided to go back to town just after Kill performed another spell casting on the Lady to form a new connection with her.

"Yes, Mama." Kill answered with a nod.

Seeing how he looked up to her and cared about her well-being, Avy felt the need to return the favor. She wanted to do more for the child, therefore an idea entered her mind.

"Hey." she walked towards Ares who was busy getting his hands on the books he found.

"What?" he asked, not bothering to take his eyes off the pages.

"Is there a way for me to also know about his state even when I'm away?" her question made her curse servant stop on what he was doing. He closed the book and stared at her for a few seconds, looked at the child a few meters away from them, and then back at her before answering.

"This may not be a good thing for the kid. But recalling Prosperine's memories, she used to put marks on her enemies so that she could monitor their magical state and find a perfect opportunity to strike. It only requires having contact with the target for more than five seconds or so, but she wouldn't be able to hurt them. That's because they were already adults, but I cannot say the same if it was a child. And one more thing, she used those on the people who betrayed her. Do you know why?" he paused for a while with a malevolent grin plastered on his face.

"Her power allows her to use other people as a substitute if ever her life was in danger. That's the reason why she was known as the Immortal Witch. She can get hurt whenever she wants but if things get nasty and she reaches her limits, the one who dies wasn't her but her scapegoats. It requires the consent of both parties to activate the spell, so she forces those who have pointed their weapons at her in exchange for not taking their lives. But that mentally ill woman liked experimenting with magic, and she doesn't trust other people with it, so she uses herself as a lab rat since she won't die anyway. Those traitors just drop dead without knowing that they have been murdered by her." he narrated in detail as if he was there when it all happened.

Avy eyes him with suspicion "How do you know all that?" she asked.

"Did I not tell you? All of Prosperine's memories were passed down onto me the moment she died, including the ones she had already buried and never wanted to remember again. I am the hatred she had in her heart, it was so immense that she was able to turn it into a curse that would live forever." he replied, his tone of voice made it too obvious that she despises the first holder.

"So, how do you do the second one? And what are the benefits I can get from it?" Avy asked once again, coming back to their previous topic.

"Pledges. The one you will mark should first agree before you could perform the spell. Like the first one, you can monitor how much mana the other party has. If it's stable or not. But it also basically gives you complete control over their lives, like a spare puppet that would die for you the before your body reaches the limit of pain it can take."

Avy did not spare a second to think before going back to where Kill was standing and it seemed like she had already made a decision. Ares just watched her from a distance. He has no plans to stop her on whatever she would do, may it be something that can harm other people as long as she doesn't put her life on the line. He's seen worse, a simple act of sacrifice won't make him budge.

Avy kneeled in front of the small boy and spoke. "You have put a spell on me, correct?" he nodded his head in response.

"I will put one on you as well, and it is not as simple as the one you did. This is also my first time, I'm just giving it a try." she said before taking a deep breath "I want you to think of my life as yours, will that be alright?"

'Think of my life as yours... Then she's basically saying he should shoulder her life with his own from now on. What a clever choice of words.' Ares listened to their conversation, waiting for the child's reply.

"Yes." without hesitation, Kill gave his answer, putting his full trust in his Mother.

A few moments later, Kill felt a burning sensation on the side of his neck. He rubbed it with his palm to ease the stinging pain he was receiving and the second he took his hand off of it, a black crescent moon tattoo appeared.

"Did it work?" Avy glanced at her servant to confirm if she successfully performed the spell.

"What did you do...?" instead of his usual poker face, Ares' expression couldn't be painted. He quickly went over to Avy and took her hand to see if anything was in there, but when he saw nothing, he stared at her with a dumbfounded face.

"What?"

"There should be a number one here, the count of the life that became yours." he said

"I took no one's life."

Ares let go of her hand and shifted his attention to Kill, he grabbed his shoulders to maneuver his body, and there he found the reversed crescent moon on the right side of his neck.

"You performed a reverse spell?!"

"So, it did work."

"You lunatic..."

~~~

"Please. Give me another month, I will surely give the money." a woman in her early forties with light brown hair and dark brown eyes pleaded with the group of men standing in front of her.

"As I told you, You could've paid the debt already if you sell those kids." one man told her, glancing at the group of kids peeking from the door frame of the kitchen with worried eyes.

"Leave the children out of this. I will pay you the next time you come back, just don't touch them." the woman begged but still held her head high and made eye contact with a strong gaze.

"Three weeks. I'll give you three weeks. Might as well take some costumers to make easy money, 'cause I will take something as a substitute if you won't be able to meet the ends." the man gave her a dirty look before turning around to leave, his companions smirked at the kids, already thinking on how much money they could sell them for.

They exited the rundown house with filthy smiles.

"You could've just given that woman a week. You're too generous, Boss." the other man said to the person walking ahead of him.

The man snickered "Where will she get fifty gold coins when a normal citizen could barely earn one in a week? Just notify the slave traders that we will sell them goods by next month."

"They would fetch a high price, they seem quite healthy for orphans." the other one commented.

"We could give the little girls to the Lord, he would surely give us credits for it–" he was cut off by someone accidentally bumping onto him.

"You met him just a week ago! How could you put such a risky spell?" Ares exclaimed and didn't even bother to look at the person he bumped into.

"That bastard..." the man was insulted, he was about to go after them when his boss stopped him from taking another step.

"Don't. The lady next to him doesn't look like a normal girl." he said. "A magic cloak of that quality is pretty expensive. She must be from a noble family. Making them our enemy would not do us any good." he added and just watched the back of the two before continuing to go on their own way.

"I won't die from it. Stop nagging me." Avy nonchalantly told Ares, he was still nagging Avy about the reverse spell she performed earlier before they left the cave.

"How is that possible? You just reversed the spell, that means you'll be the one dying in place of that kid." he said.

"I just said I won't. I read from a book that visualizing is the key for spells, and I did exactly the same, just like a ritual. It's just like a game, if you lose too much HP, I mean power, you will die. I made it so that if he hurts himself too much, mine would automatically keep him alive in exchange for having to know not only his mana status but also anything that enters his body." she explained to him but that didn't convince the man curse.

"That Kid is not your responsibility." he said

"I adopted him so he's basically my problem now."

"But–"

Avy didn't let him finish his sentence and spoke. "We're here." she said, standing in front of the run-down building where she dropped off the kids she met a couple of days ago.

"What are we doing here?" he asked.

"Visiting some acquaintances." Avy answered and pushed the door open before entering the two-story house.

The sight of a woman sweeping the floor and kids returning the furniture and other things on their original place greeted them. They were cleaning up after the men started chaos for not being able to take the money from them.

"Yes, may I help you?" the woman set aside the broom to greet them properly.

"I'm–" but before Avy could utter another word, a familiar voice shouted from a distance.

"Sister!" she turned her head to the direction of the voice and saw a kid with curly ginger hair and excited shining eyes.

"Ethan? Do you know this Lady?" the woman asked the child.

"Sister? What are you doing here?" it was the voice of Leo who just came from the kitchen after hearing Ethan's shout, Tertius was standing next to him, holding a ladle on his right hand.

"Leo, dear? Am I missing something?"

"She's the lady we told you about Mrs. Lewis. The one who saved us from the gangsters downtown." Tertius answered her, giving Mrs. Lewis the realization.

"Oh. I'm really sorry. Please take a seat." she said and offered them chairs on the big table.

"Please, let me prepare tea–"

"I don't drink tea so it's fine." she stopped her and sat on the chair, Ares following his example.

"Then would you like water?"

"She likes hot chocolate. But I am fine with tea, thank you." Ares answered but Mrs. Lewis gave then an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. But All we have is Milk." she said.

"I'll have that." Avy stated, the older woman smiled.

"Then please give me a moment." she said and went to the kitchen to prepare their drinks.

"I told you, she's really pretty." she heard Ethan bragging to the other children.

"Sister. Why are your eyes gold?" Leo, who noticed the change in Avy's appearance asked her.

"I changed it." she replied "It's troublesome having eyes that give away identity with just a glance."

"Then is this man... Your older brother?" Tertius asked from the side, looking at Ares and then back at her because they do have so much resemblance. His eyes were also the same color as hers since he can't go around with his original eye color or people might mistake him for the Ducal Household's eldest son.

"Hello there kiddo. I'm–"

"No. He's no one important." Avy cut him off.

"Wow. You're really rude." he eyes her with a scornful gaze.

"Right. I've seen Sister's older brother when he was with the knights and he doesn't smile like that!" Ethan commented.

"He looks like this." he then copied Ashton's stern facial expression and his serious eyes but ended up looking constipated for trying too hard.

Avy covered her mouth and tried to restrain herself from letting out a laugh while turning her head away.

"Hey hey. Do the thing when he tripped a thief running after stealing." another kid commented and the other children started to form a role play with each of them acting like another person.

Avy was doing her best not to laugh while Ares watched the children with an amused smile.

"What should we do to this thief, Young Master?" the Kid holding down another acting like a knight pinning the thief said.

"Please. Lord Raven of the flower field, spare me!" the Kid acting as the thief cried in an exaggerating manner causing Avy to snicker by the nickname.

"Is there a reason why I should?" Ethan seriously said, but his words didn't fit his fluffy innocent image.

"Please!"

"Put this man in prison and make an example for the others what happens when filth overstep their bounds." Ethan dramatically turned his back at the kids, remembering how the Arkwright heir did it.

Avy burst out laughing "You should apply in the theatre." she guffawed, smacking Ares' arm continuously as if she was having fun doing it over and over again.

While she was tearing up in laughter, he was tearing up because of the pain whenever her hand made contact with his skin.

"S-stop! It hurts!" he hissed and tried to avoid the lady's hit.

"I want to see Ashton doing that too. You're lucky." she told the children who smiled at her brightly, for someone who insists on saying that she hates kids, she sure gets along with them pretty well.

And for the first time in her life, she thought...

'I should go out often.'

~~~

Was I too late? Please tell me if five days before the update is too long. And also, tell me if the chapters are too short.