"Thank you," she murmured, her voice coming out to be feeble and quiet which Damien heard it anyways. 

"Any time," he responded back, his eyes looking at her lazily. 

Her eyes lowered, looking down at his neck which was long and smooth that connected to his shoulders. Looking back up into his eyes, she saw the red eyes that stared back at her unblinkingly. 

"I will remove the corruption from your heart," she said to have him nod.

"I know you will," she heard him reply back, one corner of his lips raising him, "Father Antonio doesn't have spells regarding the turning toads?" 

Penny thought about it before shaking her head, "I don't think so they have it in there. He said that the black or forbidden magic is what turns a white witch to a possible black witch, both the witches have their own capability and lines that are drawn which one cannot extend to reach out to every possible magic that is in the world."

"That's sad. We could have your aunt and uncle turn to one for a few hours, maybe a few others too," he spoke nonchalantly, "You are the daughter of a white witch and a black witch, did you find out if there is something more that you can do than the white witches?" he asked, his eyes curious, "It is often said that the genes that belong to the white witches dominate the black witches leading to an offspring who is white witch."

"I heard that from Father Antonio the first day I started in the church. He said even though there might be a faint possibility, the witch turns to be dormant. With no dominant gene of the white or black witch in her which makes them appear like humans," Penny stated what she knew. She wondered if it was because most of the black witches were turned ones. 

This made her wonder how her parents had come to meet each other. Was it a forbidden relations.h.i.+p that they had to hide from the society which was why they had moved away from the village? 

She remembered the dream she had a couple of weeks ago. About her and her parents in it. It was possible that it was a fragment of her memory. 

It was also possible that it was part of her dream, a made-up imagination after the need and lack of family around her. Something that her mind now craved, to be bringing up some made-up figment in her mind but no matter how she looked at it, there was a possibility that i t wasn't a dream. It could be a reality in which she had forgotten.

Lately, everything had fallen to the list of questions, one piling up after another which she had no answer to. 

"I want to go somewhere before we go to meet my aunt and uncle," said Penny, receiving a questioning look from Damien making him wonder where she wanted to go. 

The first question that came out from his lips wasn't about where, but instead, "What time do you want to go?"

"Can we go after breakfast?" 

"Sure," he answered. 

And as Damien gave her his word, he took her to the village back where she and her mother lived. But the carriage was pulled further away from the village where the forest started. She walked on the forest ground, her shoes imprinting on the snowy ground which was fresh. 

"There's a riverbank after the forest before the trees continue on the other side," Penny stated as she walked through the woods with Damien as he followed behind her. They had pulled the carriage at the beginning of the forest to be able to walk on their own rather than drag the vehicle around as Penny wasn't exactly sure. 

"There is a river," Damien confirmed as he walked closely behind her. His eyes scanning the trees for any possible creature they weren't expecting. With the law of the council that was placed all around the four lands, creatures they weren't aware of and didn't have truce were often driven into the forest to make a home. The civilized lands were safe but at the same time, the forest had turned to be dangerous and unsafe, "It is one of the rivers that again connects to the lake of bones."

"Isn't it unsafe?" she questioned her brows furrowing in concern. With the number of bodies that were thrown one after another, Damien had told her that it was advised to not go near to the sh.o.r.es as it was considered that the spirits continued to live. One would never know if their body would be pulled in there to never return back again or to touch the land of the living. 

"Hmm, I would say the lake of bones don't stretch too far even though they are connected to each and every river or sea. They are more stagnant, though it is still advised to not step into the shallower part of any river or lakes in the forest," Damien's ear picked something behind them as they walked. 

His eyes moved to both sides of the corners, his ears perking and picking on the person who was behind them. With the moment the person was coming, he could tell that it wasn't a person who wanted to invite them for tea or cookies. 

"Do you know, Penny," Damien started, his voice turning an octave louder as he said, "The bullets that I bought recently, I never got to test them out," he pulled out the gun, pulling the hammer that made a creaking noise.

"We didn't meet any witches in here or deranged vampires, Master Damien, for you to make use of it," Penny replied back mindlessly as she was more focused on finding the rock-like house which was in her dream to notice that they were being followed.

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Scroll to read chapter 273. Family that didn't exist- Part 1