Caena

‘Activate,’

I activated the twenty-fourth and last ritual charm of the group as the carriage reached the spot.

The ritual charm blazed brightly and collapsed into smoke and dust.

Seeing that, a smile appeared on my face. There have been some failures, but with this, I have succeeded. All twenty-four ritual charms have been successfully activated.

It is a good thing Remus had sent the ritual book and witch’s diary to me. If it had been even a month late, those strings would have snapped and it would have been a great loss.

Till, three weeks ago, I have been working blind.

I knew about the type of ritual that had been cast on the establishment, but I didn’t have a ritual in hand.

There are many such rituals and while they are about 95% the same. The difference is what causes the complications.

I have a ritual book in my hands and notes of the witch. I could now place the ritual charms more efficiently.

Fifteen minutes later, the carriage went through the gates of the establishment and stopped.

Click!

The driver opened the door and walked out.

It had been over a month since I had got the personal carriage and the driver, and I hadn’t gotten completely used to it.

I have become an assistant madam, about a month and a half ago.

Andrea and Lola left, leaving only Della as an assistant madam. The establishment needed new assistant madams. I had been chosen directly, though I had to give a fake interview, so it would seem fair.

Aside from me, Mena was also selected.

Though we two are not the only ones; the other two girls were chosen ten days later.

The changes in the establishment and new building will be finished in the month. More people will need to run them, and thus the promotions.

I was a little disappointed when Remus asked me to take the promotion and wanted to reject it.

Seeing ritual charms is most important to me.

And the method I used to harness the emotions, for my charms depended on having sex with a maximum number of people, but after thinking deeply, I decided to accept it.

The offer was a sign of his trust; I didn’t want to disrespect him by rejecting him.

His trust will help me gain what I want in the future.

It had been the best decision, not because of the authority and privileges I got, which I had come to love a lot and don’t think would be able to live without them.

But also, because I have changed the method to harvest the emotions and now, I could harvest far more emotions than before.

It is now my speed at creating the ritual charms that have started to lag behind.

I looked at the establishment and the pink mist covering it, to hide the changes that were happening.

Nearly the outer changes were finished. For the internal changes, the establishment will need to be closed. Tomorrow is the last day, after that the establishment will be closed for one month.

It is quite regretful that I won’t be able to imprint any new ritual charms into the establishment during the month.

However, I am not as disappointed as I should have been before discovering a better method to harvest emotions from people.

It is true, that I won’t be able to charge new ritual charms and imprint them, but I am going to use this one month, to create as much as ritual charms as possible.

I have already set a big target and I will accomplish it.

Just yesterday, a large batch of resources came; it will be enough for me to create all the ritual charms during the month. Not only the ones on the Remus list but also the ones I have on mine.

I am moving steadily with my ritual charms, creating layers and layers of wonder that would have made my mother and coven proud.

I controlled my emotions and turned to the thing I had worked so hard on. Those twenty-four ritual charms were much harder to craft than the regular ritual charms.

“Eslaynde,”

I muttered, and my vision changed; everything disappeared. Leaving behind a marvel.

I looked at the establishment, the real establishment, a structure of pure magic.

The core is like a sun, shining in multicolored lights of emotions. It is brighter and bigger than it had been a few months ago.

It is becoming powerful every day, absorbing more and more emotions, and there are hundreds of strings connected to it, and on them are ritual charms, twinkling like lights.

I focused on twenty-four new strings, which are far longer than any other strings, and pulling more power than any other.

These strings are not something I had created, but they were formed by the ritual.

The ritual had bonded the establishment with Remus, but also bonded the establishment to the city.

It had been an extremely powerful ritual, and the witch who did it was very lucky.

Looking at her notes, I could tell she was not a powerful witch, someone barely above Lv. 2o, but she had dared to cast the ritual that only Grand Witches dared to cast.

The thing is, that witch succeeded and succeeded spectacularly.

If she had failed even slightly, she would have died a horrible death.

The establishment's connections to the city had been extremely faint, I wasn’t even able to see it.

Every day they were getting weaker due to the presence of the city getting stronger.

The increasing population and level of people made the presence of the city stronger, nearly breaking those strings. They would have broken away by next month if I didn’t use the charms on them.

Now, with charms, those strings could pull power from the core actively and they are pulling a lot of power.

They will force the core to absorb and store more power. If the city continues to grow its presence, the strings will pull more power from the core.

Currently, the twenty-four strings are only helping in strengthening the core, but I am sure, in the future, they will help with more than that.

“Madam Caena, what are you doing?” asked a familiar voice, surprising me. That I cut the spell immediately.

“Nothing, just admiring the establishment,” I replied smoothly, despite knowing the girl didn’t believe me.

“It is really beautiful and from what I have heard, it will become even more beautiful after the changes are done,” she said to me I nodded.

This girl is mysterious and dangerous; I could sometimes feel all the hair on my rise up when she sneaked up on me.

She has a strange ability to do it.

It is hard for people to sneak on me. We witches are more attuned to nature and could even feel the assassins coming at us in the dark, but this girl seemed to wipe away her presence.

This is scary because it is extremely hard to do it without a skill and even the skills related to that are quite rare.

Only Lv. 30 and above rogues have such skills, but I don’t think this woman is using the skill.

“What are you doing out, do you not have any classes?” I asked her, to which she shook her head. “No, the knitting teacher had taken a leave,” she replied, with a disappointed face.

She doesn’t feel disappointed. Instead, she feels relieved, despite the opposite expressions on her face.

“Still, you shouldn’t waste any time roaming around,” I said and walked away.

As I had said, this woman gives me an uncomfortable feeling. I feel like she could see through me; I have never felt something like that.

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There is another feeling I get from her, which confused me the most.

A kinship.

I pushed that feeling and glanced at the circle; it was nearly finished. In a month, it would open the same day as the establishment.

Tomorrow is the last day, the classes will be held at the establishment. It will also be the last night; the girls will sleep there.

The day after tomorrow, the girls will be shifting to a different place, and they will be there for a month. Their classes will be done there, till the circle and the establishment open.

Remus is also coming tomorrow and will be staying for two days before going back.

There is a very important thing I have to discuss with him. It is related to the things he had given me to purify.

…

After finishing all my madam duties. I went to my quarters.

Yes, I have quarters now. Every assistant madam has one, but unlike all of them. I have an extra room.

Click!

I pushed the cupboard and entered the secret room.

The room is filled with heavy drawers and has a dense herbal smell. There are resources here that cost millions of crowns.

Remus is pouring massive money into the ritual charms. Especially in the past two months where my speed in crafting the charms has increased, with a higher success rate.

I walked into the room and took out the things from the different drawers before sitting down in my chair.

I took a deep breath and started.

My hands moved, and while they were moving slowly, each movement was deliberate and precise.

It is necessary to have perfect control over hands and energy, as well as skills and emotions when crafting ritual charms.

The slightest mistake and everything will be finished.

To become a mage, Mana is necessary and fair big intelligence. For a witch, is a mindset that matters the most.

Finally, I am finished and slumped back in my chair with a tired smile on my face.

There are now two ritual enchantments in front of me. With three I had created in the morning; I have finished today's target.

I am creating five rituals daily. If I am lucky, the number would go to six, and one time five days ago, I had created seven.

It wasn’t a long time ago that creating a single ritual charm daily had been a challenge to me, but now a few months later, I am creating five daily.

It is not just the levels and skills, but also the practice that helped me improve and the generosity of Remus. Who is providing me with everything I want, without asking a question.

That is why I am feeling guilty about my parallel project.

It is for his benefit as well as mine, but I can’t tell him about it. He shouldn’t know till it is the right time.

I rested for a while, as the process was tiring, before cleaning the table and putting the ritual charms into my purse.

My speed at creating the charms is increasing, but it is still much slower than what the witch of my level should be. If my mother had been alive, she would have been quite disappointed with me.

Charms are a staple of witches; it is our basic craft and most registered witches, could do it under laws.

Unlike most witches, I have been in a brothel, hiding. I didn’t create charms for years, much less practice daily.

Now, I am working hard to make up for the time I have lost.

I walked out of the secret room and got undressed before stepping into the shower.

Ten minutes later, I came out of the shower and wore a robe before walking out of my quarters.

It is four and a half and the preparations for the work begin. The girls have begun to get ready.

Girls would sit in front of the large mirrors, and beauticians would work on them.

Eudo would only watch; the beauticians had become good enough that now Eudo didn’t even have to do the finishing touches.

He would just stand and watch, helping when he felt something was wrong.

He had shifted his focus to teaching. It is something he seemed to enjoy very well.

He is a one-talented man with secrets of his own.

Soon it was my turn, and I sat down on the chair while Cooper and Lenore began to work on me.

They already know the type of make-up I want. So, I stayed quiet and let them do their job.

In less than five minutes, I was finished with make-up and hair and walked to the podium, where I removed my robe. The girls came and began to clothe me; in less than a minute, a seductive dress appeared on my body.

It is a black shimmering semi-transparent dress of magical threads. That leaves little to the imagination.

It provokes, daring them to tear it apart to see what they could see only a little through the fabric.

Some even tried and got thrown out of the establishment.

Even for a brothel, such dresses are extremely bold. Madam Margaux needed to think for hours before giving me permission to wear it.

I don’t like to wear such revealing dresses, but since I have become an assistant madam, I have begun wearing them.

It is important for my purpose.

…

A few hours passed, and it was nine in the night. The gates of the establishment are closed as usual, with every seat packed with guests.

There is not even a stool that is empty.

Even when gates opened, they didn’t remain open for more than a few minutes, before they closed.

The popularity of the establishment had increased tremendously, and now everybody wants to come inside for experience.

My ritual charms, play a big part in that.

Another surprising thing is happening; people taking girls for sex has decreased.

They are coming less to vent their lust and more for the company of charming ladies. I have seen the plans for the new changes, and Remus seemed to have understood that as well.

He is making the changes, taking that in mind.

“Mr. Ager, I hope you are having a good time,” I said to the middle-aged man who was with Jessa.

“I am, and it would have been even more wonderful if you had been able to join us, Caena,” he said, looking at me unabashedly in lust.

Of course, there are people who come for sex as well as the company, and there is nothing wrong with that.

We are here to serve their desires. Give them the experience, they could never get anywhere.

“You are such a tease, Mr. Ager,” I replied while swatting his grabby hands playfully before leaving with a seductive smile on my face.

I felt the lust of him and many others toward me. I am absorbing that lust and sending it to the charms hidden in my dress.

While sex gives far more lust in a short time.

It still couldn’t be compared to the small amount of lust I receive from a large group of people constantly. It is so much that I would charge up all my ritual enchantments by midnight.

This is the reason why I wore provocative clothes and flirted with patrons every minute.

I am harnessing their lust to charge the enchantment and also it is a thing I enjoy.

I like it when people lust after me.

They rarely showed such intense lust toward me in my previous brothel, especially at the first meeting. I had an average face, and I needed to seduce them with my words to feel attracted to me.

Here, that job is being done by the clothes and make-up, while my words and body language act as oil, to burn that desire brighter.