20 Broken woman with a glass hear (2/2)

The goods he was speaking of were slaves mainly from the dark races, collected from various kingdoms and empires throughout the continent.

Elise was unable to stand against the might of the powerful leaders by herself so she was determined to rescue as much people as she could using another method. Although she outlawed slavery in the dukedom, Elise made connections with foreign traders who dealt with people.

Elise was prepared to pay above market price for dark race slaves and was willing to offer monster cores and parts for them. It was not a wise move from an economic standpoint, but the military benefited greatly during the spring months when there was a great deal of pressure from beast attacks.

Of course, not all slaves would choose to join the military but after a few weeks of mandatory education they would be considered free citizens of the dukedom.

”Thank you. You are dismissed for now.” Elise replied calmly. She wanted a few moments of quiet to contemplate how to raise Ashley and start magical training. She would need to summon for a rune seer to analyse what mana circuit Ashley had been born with.

Gerald headed for the door then hesitated for a moment and against his better judgement he decided to speak again.

”There were reports of a crow sighting above your envoy when you entered the city gates,” he said in an almost fearful voice.

The room instantly stilled, and Gerald could hear his heart thumping in his chest as if it were going to burst. Elise stood up and peered out of the window with her back facing the old butler, her body seemed frozen in place and there was a dangerous air around her.

”Leave now before I lose control,” Elise finally muttered.

Gerald quickly bowed then ran out of the room and made sure to lock the door on his way out. He would have to order the maidservants not to approach close to the study from for the rest of the afternoon.

The last thing he needed on his conscience was yet another accident where an innocent servant boy had entered a room when Elise lost control of herself.

His body was found outside the door of the room ripped apart and tossed on the floor in pieces.

Inside the room, Elise gazed at her shaking hands with breath coming out in frantic heaves, goosebumps rose across her arms and she fought the urge to throw up.

The dark tendrils began to spread from her feet and danced around the walls of the room. The shadowy marks on her body started to shift and grow restless.

”Track down that woman and make her pay for what she did to you,” a demonic voice echoed in her head.

”No… no…. no. My father did not kill her, so I won't,” Elise gripped her head with pain and staggered out a reply.

Ever since that day, Elise would lose control whenever the mention of that woman came up. It was part of the reason why no one in the castle dared to even say the name of the Duke's former wife.

Her father had tried to hide the fact that her mother was still alive by faking her death, but Elise knew the truth. When she saw the body in the casket, she knew it could not have been that wretched woman. How could such a powerful woman die in a peaceful way?

Her fears were confirmed when she saw crows gazing at her from a distance as she grew up, they would always stay far away from the castle only daring to peer at her from a distance.

Her father dismissed her fears as mere worries, but Elise knew the truth. Her monstrous talent in dark magic was inherited from her mother, a woman who at her peak was unrivalled among magic warriors of her age group.

Luckily it appeared that her mother had no desire to initiate contact and would be content to just observe.

Elise's vision started to blur, and she collapsed onto the ground with her limbs shaking and thrashing. The voices in her head started to sound louder and louder until she began to scream to drown them out.

Eventually she could not tell if the noise in her head were the voices or the screams of pain tearing out from her throat.

Her sight soon slipped to black and she fell unconscious with a loud thud as she hit the floor.