Harvey Coven

"Are you saying that Corbett killed the previous Duke and Rosina helped her kill him?" repeated Melva after she spent some time taking in the surprising revelation Rosetta had just dropped on her.

The more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it sounded. They did not seem like people who were capable of taking lives. Vance gave her more of that impression, and he indeed had used to kill people. At least when Vance had admitted, it had been easier for her to accept.

Corbett was sly, but she had never expected he would be capable of killing. Rosina was friendly to her, thus it was even harder to believe. There was a reason why Melva found it difficult to trust people.

"And she had the nerve to visit me like she did nothing wrong," added Rosetta spitefully.

"That does not make sense. Why did His Grace let people who killed his father stay inside his manor?" Melva was unable to find an explainable reason for this.

Even if they were step brothers, Vance had every right to kick him out of the manor because the establishment was rightfully his. He had mentioned the idea before, but he had never intended to actually do it. He might want to keep the enemy close, so that he would know what he was planning. However, that was not enough to explain that he would let his father's killer roam around freely inside his manor.

"Of course, the Duke does not know this. I am keeping this from him," whispered Rosetta secretively, as though Vance was right behind the door and able to hear her if her voice was a little louder.

"Why? Are you protecting your sister?" Melva remembered how Vance had been hostile and overbearing towards Rosetta. She knew the reason now. It was either he had been suspecting her of protecting her sister or hiding something from him.

"No. I am protecting Harvey Coven's secret. She could die for all I care, but I would not let her take the coven down with her." Rosetta seemed to belatedly realise that she had talked too much, saying something she was not supposed to share with outsiders. "Do not tell the Duke anything about today."

Melva shook her head in reassurance. "I do not plan to. Whatever is said here stays here." When Rosetta nodded her head in gratitude, she assumed that she was allowed to ask more questions. "I take it that your sister is also a witch. How do you know for sure that she helped Lord Corbett kill the previous Duke? How are you so sure of that?"

Rosetta was hesitant to say the next sentence. "If I am going to tell you more secrets of mine, then I have to be completely sure that you will not tell anyone about this."

"Alright. What do you need me to do?"

"Vow it," said Rosetta in a serious tone, causing Melva to gulp nervously. "And I will seal your words to your tongue. If you go back against your words, you will lose your ability to speak. That way I will be sure that you will not betray me. Tell me when you are ready and I will cast the spell."

"W-what do I say?" stammered Melva, anxious to say anything now that she knew the words would bind her.

She could not help but think the extreme consequence was a little bit too much. However, the rational part of her thought that it was a better method to ensure there would be no betrayal between them. It was the perfect alliance with no loopholes to lie. Still, it was nerve wracking to think that if she somehow accidentally blabbered about her secret, she would be mute.

"Relax. If you are not planning to betray me, then you will be fine." There was certainly a threat in her words, but Melva tried not to think about it or it would make her even more nervous. "You can say whatever you want as long as you promise you will not tell anyone about the coven."

Taking a deep breath to relax herself, Melva mustered her courage. "Alright. I will say it now."

Rosetta said a sentence in an unrecognisable language before she nodded her head at her, signaling her to start saying her vow. She must be casting the spell that would bond the vow to her ability to speak. It was understandable now why the townspeople in Ichorhold were so afraid of witches. After experiencing firsthand, she could tell how frightening they were.

"I will not tell anyone about the coven," said Melva firmly.

"Harvey Coven," corrected Rosetta to make the vow more specific.

"I will not tell anyone about Harvey Coven," repeated Melva after adding more detail.

Rosetta continued her spell and finished it with a wave of her hand. Melva did not feel anything after she finished casting, but she did not dare to try anything risky. She would not want to accidentally be mute.

Satisfied that her wish was fulfilled, Rosetta was smiling brightly. "That should do it. I advise you to be careful from now on. Do not mention Harvey Coven to anyone other than me. If you so much as think of saying it, you will lose your ability to speak before you are able to finish saying the word Harvey."

Melva nodded in understanding. She was already bound to a contract. Binding herself to a vow would not make any difference. She knew that she had been trapped from the beginning. She might as well gather information for her own benefit to survive in this demon world. "I did what you wanted me to. Will you tell me about your coven now?"

Rosetta invited her to go inside the forge behind the shop, as though she was worried that someone might be able to hear what they were saying. There was no one other than them inside the shop, however, this was a magical world, so there would be a lot of methods of eavesdropping. Melva guessed there was probably some kind of protection barrier surrounding the forge that Rosetta had casted, because she was going out of her way to take her inside her personal space to talk.

The forge was more like a witch dungeon with all sorts of potions, herbs, and grimoires on display. There were some cauldrons hanging above the fireplace where she was brewing her potions, most likely. There was no forge whatsoever. Where did she make her weapon then? Did she cast a spell to create weapons from scratch? Could she call her a blacksmith if she did not actually forge any weapons?

Rosetta led her to sit at a small wooden table with a tea set on top of it. This must be where Rosetta rested while waiting for her potions to finish brewing or her weapons to finish creating themselves. Rosetta poured some tea for Melva before sitting down on the chair and sipping her own tea.

Putting down her cup of tea, Rosetta began to tell her story. "Harvey Coven is a witch coven led by me and Rosina. It is wrong, but we kind of dabble with black magic once we find out a grimoire telling about it. I guess curiosity won over us. Black magic is dangerous and more than half of the coven members died when we tried casting a dark spell. Because of the tragedy, we made an oath not to do it again, afraid of losing the remaining members we had left. However, the war broke out."

Melva could not imagine what Rosetta and Rosina had gone through. Trying something out and ending up killing half of the members of their coven must have been traumatic. "What happened during the war?"

"Harvey Coven was supposed to work for the Duke of Nightwind, which was Duke Vance's father during that time. Rosina and I were the leaders of our coven. We were losing the war and Rosina brought up the suggestion of using the black magic again. I was strongly against her idea because I did not want to lose our people more." Rosetta paused as if she needed to take a break from telling the story that reminded her of her painful past.

"Then Rosina walked away from your coven?" guessed Melva, prompting her to continue. She had put her voice on the line for learning the story about Harvey Coven. She surely would not be satisfied with only parts of it. She wanted the whole story.

"Rosina met Corbett, who planned to kill the Duke and his son. He asked for her help in exchange for more power."

As far as she remembered, Corbett was an alpha werewolf. She failed to understand how a werewolf could give a witch more power. Rosina must already be very strong in the beginning for being the leader of her coven. "What kind of power did Corbett offer to her?"

Rosetta sighed at her own twin sister's fall from grace. "Corbett promised to turn her into a werewolf and make her his mate. Rosina has always been infatuated with werewolves ever since we were young."

Being a werewolf might be tempting for some people, particularly for the ones who were hungry for power and immortality. However, being a witch was already more than enough. The deaths of the coven members must have shaken her up pretty badly and turned her into someone she was not. That was only her wild guess. She could not possibly know how Rosina was actually feeling.

"So, Rosina helped Corbett kill Duke Vance's father," concluded Melva. "What about Duke Vance himself? Lord Corbett asked her to also kill him, right?"

Rosetta shook her head grimly. "Corbett killed Duke Vance's father while Rosina casted a black magic spell on his son."