Chapter 24: The Witch in the Prophecy

With two Demon Kings stationed in the Dark Domain, any future Hero who came to subjugate them would be walking straight to their deaths.

The most despairing part was that even knowing this information, Wei Anna couldn't relay it to the outside world.

“Open up~”

Xing Yue's reminder came again, and another macaron was brought to her lips. Wei Anna turned her face slightly and said lightly, “Thank you, no need, Your Highness. I'm full.”

“Full? You only ate two.”

“Yes, I'm really full. Please bring the rest to Emily.”

“Don't be polite. I already prepared her share—there's no way that child will go hungry.”

“Then keep them for yourself, Your Highness.”

“Hey! You...”

Xing Yue didn't know what to say to her. The box of macarons she'd brought had eight in total. Even though that seemed like a lot, each individual macaron wasn't actually that big. Xing Yue felt that even a tiny person like herself could finish the whole box in one go.

But the other girl said she was full after just two? Who was she trying to fool?

Could it be that the macarons didn't taste good?

Xing Yue suspiciously stuffed the macaron into her own mouth, chewed twice, and swallowed.

“They're obviously delicious...”

“Or do you just not like sweets?”

“I'll bring something else for you tomorrow, then.”

Wei Anna shook her head. “No, Your Highness. I just don't have much of an appetite today... I'm sorry for wasting your kindness, Your Highness.”

“Alright, then it must be because the cake from yesterday was too rich and greasy, so you don't have an appetite today.”

Greasy? Maybe a little. Although it wasn't really the main reason, Wei Anna didn't bother to explain further, silently accepting Xing Yue's explanation.

Since Wei Anna didn't want to eat anymore, Xing Yue clapped her hands, put away the food box, and got down to business. “Alright, so I've shared my information. Now it's your turn, Holy Maiden.”

Wei Anna acknowledged with a sound, then looked up at the ceiling as if recalling something.

She spoke slowly. “The last time a divine prophecy descended was twenty-four years ago, during the Harvest Festival. The Goddess of Light revealed that in twenty-five years, the Dark Domain, where monsters gathered, would undergo a great upheaval.”

“At that time, the sleeping witch would awaken from the eternal long night, dragging this land into an everlasting darkness.”

“And a group of fanatics chasing a twisted new moon would establish a dark cult on the continent of Zervia, calling themselves the pioneers who would pave the way for the descent of the Demon God.”

Wei Anna's description was like telling a story. Xing Yue listened with great interest, asking without thinking, “And then what? After you received the prophecy, what did you do?”

Wei Anna let out a bitter laugh and continued. “The current Demon King of the Dark Domain, Phyllis, is herself a witch.”

“So back then, after interpreting the prophecy, we feared she might follow in the footsteps of the previous Demon King and invade our homeland, bringing terror and slaughter.”

“Thus, we summoned a new Hero, hoping the Hero could lead us to subjugate the Dark Domain and nip the crisis in the bud before disaster struck.”

“But what we never expected was that Phyllis had already reached the ninth-order Mythical rank long ago, not the eighth-order Saint Domain that the intelligence suggested was just one step away...”

Hearing this, Xing Yue already understood what happened next. She finished the sentence. “And then you all got wiped out.”

Wei Anna's expression was pained as she nodded. “Yes...”

“We failed. Now there's no one left to stop Phyllis. The prophecy of the Goddess of Light is about to come true. It's all over.”

“If only we had noticed sooner, if only we had more time... maybe...”

“Sigh...”

The Holy Maiden's words were filled with despair, and her final regret turned into a powerless sigh.

Xing Yue gently patted her shoulder. “Since it's already settled, there's really nothing we can do about it.”

“Speaking of which, where did you get that intelligence? It's way too unreliable. How could you misjudge a Demon King's power?”

“And even getting her strength wrong aside, Phyllis is clearly a conservative. I bet you misinterpreted that prophecy too.”

“Don't believe me? You came running into the Dark Domain to hunt her down, and you nearly got me killed too. But she didn't even get angry, and she still hasn't shown any sign of retaliating.”

Wei Anna naturally didn't fully believe Xing Yue's one-sided story. After all, since she was captured in battle, she'd been locked up in the dungeon and had no idea what was happening outside.

She already knew firsthand how vicious Phyllis's personality was and how cruel her methods were from their battle.

There was no way she'd believe that Phyllis wouldn't cause trouble outside.

This princess of the monsters was clearly a flower raised in a greenhouse, an innocent who had never known the harshness of the world. She might not lie, but she could easily be deceived by Phyllis.

So Wei Anna only believed half of what Xing Yue said.

Wei Anna probed, “Your Highness, so you think the witch of the eternal night in the prophecy isn't Demon King Phyllis, but someone else?”

“Right. To be honest, I think the witch that prophecy mentioned is very likely me.”

“...”

The air suddenly fell silent.

After a long while, Wei Anna let out a soft laugh. “Your Highness... if someone of your status says something like that, I might actually take it seriously. But...”

“This joke is funny, though.”

Xing Yue said seriously, “I'm not joking. I'm also a witch.”

“...”

Wei Anna fell silent again, hesitating for a long time before speaking. “I don't think Your Highness is the evil witch from the prophecy, unless you're really good at pretending and managed to fool me this whole time.”

Xing Yue shrugged helplessly. “Ah~ Think whatever you want. In the end, it's just my speculation.”

“Since you won't eat, I'm going back.”

Wei Anna didn't say goodbye. She just silently stared in the direction where the voice was fading into the distance. When the dungeon returned to complete dead silence, she lowered her head and forced herself to calm her racing heart.

The amount of information she had gathered from today's conversation was simply too much. She needed to calm down and process everything.

The same thought crossed Xing Yue's mind.

Walking back along the road, Xing Yue couldn't help but rub her forehead in distress. 'I accidentally asked about something huge...'

Actually, after hearing Wei Anna describe the prophecy, she had immediately thought of herself.

After all, her cheap mother was Phyllis, and Phyllis had once called her the Star-Moon Witch.

Although Xing Yue didn't know what the Star-Moon Witch actually was, just by listening to the name prefix, she could guess a bit.

Star-Moon, star and moon—the first thing that came to mind was the night sky.

Even though the prophecy only described the witch's methods, dragging the land into eternal night clearly matched those traits.

And the later part about “fanatics chasing a twisted new moon” was practically pointing straight at her!

Not good...

It seemed she was holding a script that belonged to a world-ending Demon King villain!