Without giving any second thought about the possible consequences, Lillian placed her palm on her child’s chest and started to chant the spells.

Soon enough, she could hear whisperings in her ears, whisperings from her dead ancestors to stop the madness. They were warning her that such dark magic always came with a price and that it would corrupt her soul.

But Lillian did not stop. She could now sense the room turning darker as the black mist-like aura started to whirl around Lillian.

The midwife who was still in the room was starting to tremble. “Your Highness, is everything alright? Is this what happens when one performs the spells? Should I call someone?” The midwife asked in a quivery voice because she was feeling chills down to her core.

Lillian was still performing the incantation. She suddenly looked into the midwife’s eyes and held out her hand that was free. Then she gestured her to come closer.

The midwife came closer even though she was scared. Then she did as Lillian asked; she placed her hand on Lillian’s palm.

As soon as Lillian held the midwife’s hand, she was stunned and her life force started to travel through Lillian’s body and went to her son. The midwife was struggling in pain. She had watery eyes and was begging Lillian to leave her but to no avail.

After some struggle, the midwife dropped dead on the floor. And at the same time, the child’s cry could be heard for the very first time.

Lillian looked at her baby with eyes full of tears and she smiled. Her son was alive! She hugged her son and felt the body of the baby slowly warming up.

The Queen stared at the lifeless body of the midwife and a sinister smile appeared on her face. “Thank you for offering yourself for the sake of my child. Your life will be used to the fullest, don’t worry.”

Her personal maids Ida and Esther came running inside the room when they heard the baby crying very loudly. They were very happy for firstborn and congratulated the Queen.

But Esther noticed that the midwife was lying down on the floor and went near her, “Peggy… why are you lying on the floor? Are you okay?” But there was no answer. Esther turned Peggy to see what was wrong but she was startled when she saw her bluish-grey lips and a pale body.

She slid back on the floor and stammered, “S-s-she is d-d-dead.”

The happy expression faded away from the maids’ faces and they were in horror. They had no idea what to do or whom to ask. They were too afraid to ask the Queen about what had happened to her, thinking they might offend the queen.

Still, Esther looked at Lillian with questioning eyes but there was no emotion, no pain in Lillian’s eyes for the dead. Something had already changed.

—

After around two years, Lillian gave birth to her second son Alan. This time her child was born healthy.

The King now had 7 concubines in total. And he had also married Vultrada, the second Queen. But none of this bothered Lillian anymore. She saw that the King was as indifferent with them as he was with her. And as long as the King was not giving his love to any other women, Lillian was unbothered. She still was his First wife and no one could change that fact.

As time passed by, Lillian started to actively practice the forbidden magic. Her hunger for power kept on growing. She started becoming ruthless to her servants and maids, and everybody who angered her. The maids who used to be happy when they were serving her were now scared to face the Queen because of her temper tantrums.

Esther could not take the Queen’s lashing out any longer and ran away from the Palace. And the Queen punished the court lady saying that she was not capable to keep the maids under her control and banished her from the Kingdom. Later, there were rumors in the Palace that Esther had been found dead in the nearby river.

Day by day, the fear in those poor maids’ and servants’ heart kept on increasing. They were sure that if they tried to run away, they would be caught by the Queen and would be punished. And the remaining of the servants stayed put because of the fear for their dear life.

—

Things started to change when King Dragomir took in his 12th and final concubine when he was 40 years old. The concubine’s name was Auvera. And she was the same age as Lillian; they were both 38 years old.

At first, Lillian thought that Auvera was just another concubine whom the King took because of political issues. But later she got to know that Auvera was the exception, that she was the first love of the King.

When the King and Auvera were sitting in the garden, looking at each other with eyes full of love, Lillian happened to see them.

“Mother, Father…” Adeline was happy to see her mother. Just like her father had described, her mother had silver hair like hers. She had light brown eyes and also had dimples on her cheeks. She looked like an older version of the Princess.

But at the same time, Adeline could also feel the burning jealousy felt by Lillian. Lillian clenched her fists and then stormed off.

“No, wait… I want to see my mother up-close…” Adeline wanted to shout to Lillian but that was not possible.

The King openly started to shower Auvera with all his love, the love that he had not given to anyone else till now. He would constantly visit her quarter; sometimes he would visit her more than once in a day. The two would also go on hunting together. They would enjoy their time together, making others jealous of their love.

Needless to say, out of all of them, Lillian was the one whose heart was crushed the most. She had tried so hard to win the King’s heart. She had spent more than 15 years of her life, waiting to get a drop of love from the King. And there he was, giving the ocean of his love to another woman.

“You deprived me of your love and you almost made me lose my first child. I will never let your love sustain for long. I will take all of your happiness away right when you think that you have it all. I will take my revenge.” Lillian clutched her fist and made a promise to herself.

Lillian plotted her sinister plan and then waited for the right moment to take action.

Two years later, Dragomir and Auvera gave birth to their child, Adeline. They were the happiest to have given birth to a cute baby girl.

On the other side, Lillian was also happy, happy that it was the moment that she had been waiting for. She was letting the King live his happiest moments, only to snatch it all away.

Lillian did not instantly kill Auvera. No. She wanted to torture the King as much as possible. So instead, she started to slip slow poison in Auvera’s food. She would use her invisibility spell to get the work done.

Initially, Auvera would just feel nauseous from time to time. But with time, her health started to deteriorate day by day. She could not even breastfeed Adeline because her lactation had stopped months ago.

Lillian had the plan of killing both Auvera and Adeline in one go. But that didn’t work out due to Auvera’s lactation problem. The poison did not get the chance to harm Adeline through her mother’s milk.

King Dragomir was devastated to see the love of his life slowly withering away. He called the best of the best healers and shamans to treat his beloved. But no one seemed to be successful in finding out the real problem. He would carry baby Adeline in his arms and would sit beside Auvera with eyes full of tears.

Lillian would often visit Auvera when the King was inside. She would express how sad she was and would also play with Adeline. She did this so that she could see the sorrow in the King’s eyes and relish in it.

But Dragomir did not ever suspect that Lillian was the mastermind behind Auvera’s situation. 

The poison was taking a toll on Auvera. She was bedridden for about three months. And when Adeline crossed her first birthday, she finally took her last breath.

Seeing her mother like that, Adeline’s heart was once again filled with hatred towards Lillian. A stream of tears rolled down from her cheeks. But before she could let her mother’s death sink in, she got traveled to the day that she was kidnapped by Lillian.

Adeline could see her younger self playing in the garden with Hawisa and Osanna. Her glance turned to see a young maid, “Say to those two flies that Queen Claricia has asked to see them. And offer them that you will look after Adeline for the time being.”

Adeline saw how everything played out. She could not help but pity her naïve younger self.

After sending Osmond and Adeline away, the maid who had given false information to Hawisa and Osanna was called.

“Sibyl, do you know how to read and write?” Lillian asked the maid who was bowing down to her. And in answer, Sibyl shook her head. “Good,” Lillian said with an evil smirk.

She went forward to clutch the mouth of Sibyl. Naturally, the maid was crying and begging her not to do anything to her, that she would keep her mouth shut. But her pleas didn’t work and Lillian carved the tongue out of her mouth. The whole scene that played out in front of Adeline’s eyes was so gruesome that she wanted to vomit.

With a bloodied hand and a smile on her face, Lillian instructed the maid further, “You were useful to me, which is why I am leaving you alive as an appreciation for your work. Now sneak out of the Palace without the guards finding out.”

Then she glared at the maid and whispered, “Else, I will kill you myself.”