Chainslock

COMPLETED.

(WARNING: R18 on chapter 200+ onwards. This is a SLOW BURN ROMANCE. Read at your own risk.)

**

On a secluded mountain situated upon a kingdom known as Feuersturm, resides a seemingly trifling cabin with an unlikely duo as its inhabitant—a witch, and her apprentice who presumably comes from a clan sought after by slave traders. 

Faustina is a sixteen-year-old girl who fled the slave market with the help of a sickly witch named Eula, who later on trained her as an apprentice for the span of seven years. 

Plagued with a mysterious disease for several years, Eula died despite the efforts Faustina had exerted to cure her; in her last breath, she left an odd request behind. 

"Sustain the king's life. This is your duty. Do not adhere to the prophecy."

To which the odd plea shadowed a bizarre series of events, a consequential sentence; similar to that of a premonition. The same night the phrase was muttered, the chain of events followed:

A warlock's intrusion to their home, with a peculiar yearning to resurrect Eula from the dead...

and the king himself, asking for Faustina’s aid.

Sustaining the King's Life

For years after the birth of Lucas, the duchess has been in constant unrest, being the center of ridicule. The rumor of her husband cheating with a lowly peasant spread like a haywire upon the empire. She was incapable of bearing a third child due to the complications of her last delivery. Servants shortly talked about how the duchess was now nothing to the duke given that she was not able to provide the duke a daughter he yearned for.


"Alphonsus." says the duchess after a long silence. "Why?"


The duke did not speak, emerald eyes gleaming with tears. "I'm sorry, Adalia."


The duchess' gaze drifted towards the duke, down to her belly. 


"Is it because I could not give you the daughter I promised?" She says. "Is it because I could not fulfill the prophecy your father passed down to you?"


A Dead Child, and Faustina