~ The Villainess ~

"Catrina Laurente," Winter muttered under her breath as she played with the lilac envelope in her hand. "Just who are you?"

"Is everything alright, Your Highness?" Esme asked, eying the tea pot that had undoubtedly grown cold.

Winter nodded, wrapping her fingers around the curved handle of her teacup. She sipped the cold tea, still clutching onto the purple envelope. Catrina sent her a letter inviting her to tea in order to properly apologize for the misunderstanding that occurred a few days prior.

"Her Highness can easily reject the invitation," Ezekiel stated from across the table, munching on a macaron. "It is very rare for a Royal to attend minor social gatherings outside the Kingdom."

Esme nodded, placing a fresh plate of scones on the table. "I heard the Marchioness and her daughter were rude to Her Highness. How shameful!"

Winter giggled, handing the opened envelope and letter to Esme. "I don't understand why she's trying so hard to meet with me. You can just get rid of this later."

"Lots of young ladies are vying for your favour," Esme explained, slipping the paper contents into a pocket in her apron. "You are the first Princess, after all."

Winter smiled outwardly, but her stomach twisted with uneasiness. Something felt wrong. She couldn't help but feel as if she was forgetting something extremely important.

Ezekiel cleared his throat. "Did that Prince bother you at your banquet?"

"Ah," Winter sighed, remembering the odd conversation she shared with Henrik. "Contrary to how he outwardly appears, he's actually an alright friend. He just comes off differently."

The banquet had abruptly ended after a weird magic presence was detected within the ballroom. Black magic was banned within the Silvermondian Empire, as using it was extremely dangerous and life-threatening. Anyone caught practicing such magic would be given the death penalty.

The knights and mages had thoroughly searched and inspected the guests, but were unable to find the culprit.

Winter rubbed her brows with a free hand, trying to figure out why she felt so uneasy. In "The Cursed Winter", black magic was never mentioned. It made no sense for it to be brought up now. Was this a result of her presence changing the story?

"Your Highness," Esme told her, clearing the empty plates from the table. "You have your magic lesson with Professor Peregrine very soon."

"Ah yes," Winter said, rising from her seat. "Zekie come on, let's go to the library,"

Esme frowned, watching Winter tug the sleeve of her personal knight. Several people noticed how close Winter was to Sir Rothomore. She treated him as more of a friend than an inferior who served her. Furthermore, she never took off the necklace he gave her. Right now the Princess was still young, but their friendship could one day prove to be problematic.

"Aiden," Winter exclaimed, entering through the broad library doors. "Is this boy sleeping again?"

She slipped into the seat next to her twin brother, who was sleeping with his head resting on the wooden table. She giggled, twirling one of his golden curls with her finger.

"Hello, Your Highness." Sir Emris bowed. "How was your morning?"

"It was good," She smiled, resting her head next to Aiden's. "I slept in, practiced embroidery and then had tea with Zekie."

Ezekiel flinched upon being called Zekie in front of Aiden's knight. He had been scolded several times before by the Captain of the knights and Sir Emris for his unusually friendly relationship with the Princess. Sir Emris cast a frown in Ezekiel's direction.

"Speaking of mornings," She asked, fluttering her eyelids closed. "Any news on the investigation? I heard a search party was sent out at dawn."

Sir Emris shook his head. "It seems as if the dark magic user was capable of fully covering his tracks. Unfortunately, all the traces we've found so far have led us to dead ends."

"Ha. Ha." Ezekiel laughed dryly. "It's almost as if he's scattering traces of his magic to throw us off on purpose."

The library doors opened with a thud. Winter jolted up from the desk eying the cause of the sudden commotion. Professor Peregrine's snow-white hair could hardly be seen peeking out from behind a stack of worn down books. He struggled to reach the table, balancing the pile with two hands and bolstering a determined look.

He released the books on the desk, which created a loud noise upon hitting the table. Aiden raised his head in surprise before sneezing from the dust that coated the thick texts. The dust reminded Winter of the attic, further agitating her already uneasy state.

After several magic lessons and long sleepless nights of practicing, Winter was now able to produce healing magic and create minor protection barriers. Aiden, however, was still struggling to make sense of the equations and access his inner mana.

"Today," Peregrine muttered breathlessly, beads of sweat dripping down his wrinkled forehead. "Today we will learn about black magic."

Winter leaned forward in her seat, nudging a half-asleep Aiden with her elbow excitedly.

"Of course this at the request of the first Prince," He sighed, waving his time-aged hand back and forth as if he was swatting a fly. "If it were up to me, I would never even begin to think about such a dangerous topic."

Winter hesitated, eyes scanning the ancient looking books. "Are those books on black magic?"

"Goodness no," Peregrine said with a sour expression. "The use of black magic is strictly prohibited within the Empire. All texts on such topics have been burned and erased. It is still possible to find them on the black market, of course, but the Empire has been hunting down such crimes since the beginning of time."

"What even is black magic?" Aiden asked, running a finger down the dust coated cover of one of the books.

Peregrine cleared his throat. "Well, I assume you know the history of your bloodline. Correct?"

The twins nodded.

"Your bloodline channels powers from the astral gods, just like druids channel powers from the nature spirits." Peregrine told them, flipping through the worn down pages of one of the books. "Since magic that is not mana comes from greater sources, where do you think black magic comes from?"

Winter paused. "Don't tell me..."

"The devil," Aiden said, eying the page Peregrine had stopped on.

It was a faded picture of a creature with two horns and a pointed tail. It had long talons and hallowed out eyes. The creature sat atop what looked like hundreds of burned human bodies and limbs. Winter felt like throwing up.

"Black magic channels energy from the devil. As such, using the power of the devil has tremendous backlash. Not only will it alter your appearance, but it will also eat away at your humanity. Its usage will take away your capability to feel human emotions. It'll completely tear apart your morals."

Winter's mind flickered with a distant memory. It was faded, but she could remember it clearly:

Aiden looked down at the girl, admiring her lovely appearance. Her long dark hair flowed past her waist like spilt ink and her charcoal-black eyes shone with an aura he had never seen before. The girl was a mystery, drawing him in like a trap called its prey.

'I'm so sorry,' The girl trembled in his presence, rising slowly from where she had fallen on the floor.

'Do you know who I am?' He asked her coldly.

The girl shook her head with tear stained eyes, regarding him as if he was a puzzle asking to be solved. She bit her lip, gazing into his ice green eyes with her almost entirely black ones.

'Tell me your name.'

'Oh,' She fiddled nervously with her skirts, shying away from his cold gaze. 'Catrina. My name is Catrina Laurente.'

"Winny?" Aiden asked, drawing Winter back to the present. "You okay? You look pale."

Winter swallowed, nodding slowly. "Professor, how does using black magic change your appearance?"

Peregrine flicked a white eyebrow up. "It changes your appearance completely, darkening your hair and eyes. Sometimes even discolouring your skin."

Winter remembered Catrina's auburn hair and light brown eyes. No way, she thought to herself. Why wasn't anything like this mentioned in the book? Her vision grew groggy as she realized what she had so carelessly forgotten. Catrina Laurente was Aiden's love interest in the book, known for her dark locks of hair and blackened eye colour.

Catrina Laurente would soon grow to use black magic. Aiden would fall in love with her and take over the Kingdom with her support. Winter's head ached. Catrina was described as a loyal lover of Aiden's, so just what is her relation to black magic? She bit her lip, feeling abnormally dizzy.

"I'm gonna pass out now," She said in barely a whisper before falling from her chair and hitting the hard ground.