19 Death of Lucienna Roselei

Sienna sat inside the posh carriage owned by the Von Amstels. She was followed by three more carriages containing her trunks and chests, escorted by a few dozen soldiers on horseback. Half of them were from Roselei's, while the other half were from Von Amstels.

Looking out of the glass window, Sienna's knuckles turned white as she clutched the skirt of her dress. The sky, bright earlier that morning, had turned grey and gloomy, as if the weather sympathized with her.

She had never been outside the castle grounds until that moment, but she couldn't bring herself to be happy.

The carriage followed a certain path where they would have to cross a long bridge. Situated on the other side was the Amstel Fortress of Vernon continent, one of the four great lands of Vernon.

Sienna hadn't explored the world beyond the gates of Roselei's castle, but she knew how to read a map, which helped her know where the best place was to execute her plan.

As the carriages approached the concrete bridge, the soldiers escorting the witch princess had no idea what was about to come.

Halfway through the bridge, Sienna sat unmoving inside her carriage, eyes closed and hands at chest level, with her fingers forming a jointed triangle. She muttered inaudible words under her breath, speaking fast.

Not a minute later, the horses neighed, and the carriages had ceased moving. All of the soldiers had their eyes turned all white as if they were blind. Inside their heads, they were plunged into darkness, but soon they saw illusions of what came for them. In their minds, bandits attacked them, and they started fighting each other, as their eyes could no longer see the truth, only the illusion made by Sienna's curse.

In the middle of the turbulent scene, Sienna stepped out of her carriage. Her face carried a hard expression, and her eyes were as cold as ice. The power of the curse emanated from her body, and unbeknownst to her, it was a dark side that was sleeping inside her, awakened by hatred.

Sienna had only tested her ability once on a few maids, and she didn't expect the curse could cover a few dozen men, but she was relieved it worked.

Curses came in different forms, but most witches who could cast a curse didn't have the power Sienna possessed, making her the rarest of the rare cases. However, Sienna was unaware of this and had no plans to further explore her ability to gain an advantage from people.

Even though the soldiers were fighting each other, she designed their illusions in a way that none of them would end up dead, just enough for them to have injuries, so that it would look convincing that they were attacked by bandits.

Sienna pulled a satchel from inside the carriage and looked beneath the bridge, where the water was calmly running. She had snuck out a few times in the past at night just to take a dip in the lake behind their castle when everyone was asleep, so she knew how to swim.

She gulped at the distance between the river and the bridge. She glanced at the soldiers. Her carriage was destroyed by their fighting, and she knew the curse's activation limit wasn't long. She must do the next step of her plan before they wake up from their illusions.

Closing her eyes and taking one deep breath, Sienna jumped off the bridge. Soon, the cold water from the river enveloped her body. She immediately swam her way up. The current of the flow wasn't strong, so it wasn't sweeping her away.

She swam towards the land, not to Azure land's side, but to Vernon's land, and took the things she needed from her satchel.

One vial of blood, three strands of hair, and a piece of cloth, all of which belonged to her.

Sienna placed them in her palms and muttered incantations. The three things rose from her palms, the black aura of the curse emanating from them as they gradually joined together, forming something that continued to grow in the air.

Until it formed a body that was no different from Sienna's body.

The body fell on the rocks with a thud. Sienna was in awe of the replica she had made of herself, only that the replica was only a body without consciousness. No curse or spell could make a replica of someone alive, and it was already rare for someone to possess the ability to create a dead replica.

Sienna took out the dagger she had in her satchel and plunged it into her replica's heart. The body bled like a real person. She also gave it several wounds before throwing the dagger into the river where the fingerprints would be erased. That way, even if the weapon was found, the perpetrator couldn't be traced.