My name is Ellara Ashbourne, and this is my story. Before I proceed to tell my tale, I must clarify something upfront–I am not the virtuous heroine who will impart a positive influence on those around me. Quite the contrary, I am the villainess.

You might assume that unfortunate life events paved my path to villainy, but I must disappoint you; I was simply born this way. My existence serves a singular purpose – to inflict harm on others and obliterate any obstacles in my path. I’m simply born to act as a human weapon.

I’m a member of the Ashbourne family, renowned for our long and prestigious lineage. I hail from a family that played a crucial role in founding our kingdom, “Aetherhelm”.

You may be thinking, “What luck to be born an ‘Ashbourne’!” However, allow me to burst that bubble; it is more of a curse than a blessing. As the third child of the family, I am the most despised and loathed. Considered a monster, I’ve grown indifferent to their disdain. After all, who could blame them? I am, indeed, a monster.

My father, Duke Lucius Ashbourne, a power-hungry person, was obsessed with acquiring an heir that possessed “shadow magic”. A very rare and potent form of magic capable of controlling minds, manipulating souls, cursing people, and more. The problem lies in the fact that this magic has become extinct in our kingdom and the surrounding realms. Its origins remain shrouded in mystery. They only recorded it in the ancient royal archives of the royal library.

Each noble family in our kingdom specializes in one of the elemental magic. The Ashbourne family excels in pyromancy, the manipulation of fire magic. We can wield, produce, and manipulate extremely powerful fire energy using our mana. This allowed the Ashbourne family to produce generations of skillful knights, commanders, and sword masters which made us one of the most elite families in four kingdoms but despite that, Duke Ashbourne, my so-called “father” wanted more power. He simply wanted more. He neglected his role as the royal army commander, resigning to focus solely on obtaining “shadow magic.”

He became so possessed by the idea of having the “shadow magic” and it made him nearly lose his mind. He kidnapped children from orphanages, seeking those with the potential for unique magic or possessing a considerable amount of mana. These unfortunate children became subjects of his experiments, conducted by skilled mages he brought from different kingdoms. Despite his relentless efforts, he failed to identify a candidate with shadow magic, turning him into a beast. As a result, he started drinking and lashing his anger in his drunken state at his wife, Duchess Maria Ashbourne, “my stepmother”. He abused her whenever one of his experiments failed. He even neglected his two sons; Ellias, “my oldest half-brother” who was 7 years old back then, and his second son Thorn, who was 3 years old.

But suddenly, one day, Duke Ashbourne decided to leave Aetherhelm and travel to other kingdoms in pursuit of his elusive goal, leaving his family behind.

After being absent for a whole year, he returned to the Ashbourne estate with a peculiar woman. She was a total beauty. Her unique features set her apart in the Aetherhelm kingdom–extremely pale with fair skin, pointy ears, long pitch-black curly hair resembling the night sky, and most intriguingly, vivid red eyes, reminiscent of rubies or crimson blood. From this point onward, my dark and hellish journey began.

23 years back in time …

“Duchess Ashbourne!” The maid called, swinging the bedroom door open.

“What?! Why are you yelling and barging into my bedroom without knocking? Do you want to be fired, you insolent woman?!”

"My apologies, Your Grace, for my rude behavior, but Duke Ashbourne is finally back,” she said in a panicked voice.

“What?! Lucius is back?! Where is he?” the duchess exclaimed with astonishment.

“He’s at the front entrance, overseeing the servants unloading luggage and wooden boxes from the carriage.”

“Hurry! Hurry! Help me dress up then! What are you waiting for?!” the duchess ordered, swiftly discarding her nightgown.

After donning her finest attire and jewelry, she rushed downstairs to meet Duke Ashbourne in the main living room.

As she entered the room, she froze, taken aback by the scene before her—Lucius sitting on the sofa, holding the hand of a peculiar-looking woman while engaged in conversation.

“Lucius!..” she blurted out in shock.

“Oh, Maria, hello, my dear. It’s been a long time,” he said with a smile.

“Yeah... Hello, dear. I’ve missed you. You’ve been gone for so long, but who’s this woman beside you?” she asked hesitantly.

“Oh, yes, my dear. She’s my new mistress. I present to you, Kalista,” he said, gesturing to the woman.

“What? Your mistress? What are you talking about, Lucius? Have you finally lost your mind?”

“Watch what you’re saying, Maria! You’re talking to Duke Ashbourne, the head of the Ashbourne family and the former commander of the royal army. How dare you insult me!”

If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“And you’re talking to me, Maria Wittlebach, the eldest daughter of the previous chancellor of this kingdom. How dare you take a mistress while you’re married to me?” She yelled furiously.

“I don’t care who you are! This woman here is carrying my child, the heir that I’ve dreamed of having for years! The child that’s going to carry the blood of a shadow mage! He’s the future of the Ashbourne! The one that’s going to make us the strongest house of all kingdoms!”

“What? A shadow mage? How?” she said in shock, holding her head.

“Your grace!” The maid screamed as she rushed to catch the duchess, who seemed about to faint from shock.

“Enough of this nonsense, Lara. Take the duchess to her chamber; she’s clearly in great need of rest. Leave me alone with Kalista,” he said to the head maid, shooing her away with an annoyed look.

“As you command, your grace,” replied Lara with a confused and uncomfortable face, bowing her head to the duke.

“Let’s go, your grace,” said Lara to Duchess Maria, supporting her to walk out of the living room.

“Now that everyone is gone, it’s time to take you to your bed for you and my child to rest, my dear. Isn’t that right, Kalista?” He said, bending to grab Kalista’s chin with a mischievous grin on his face.

Kalista nodded at him with a blank face, reaching out for his hand to stand up and go to her room, as he had instructed.

After settling Kalista in her bedroom, Duke Lucius gathered all the servants.

“Listen up, everyone. Kalista is my mistress who’s carrying my future child and heir. You’ll face great consequences if anyone dares to even think to bother her or cause her any kind of discomfort. Understood?” Lucius said, glaring at the servants.

“Yes, your grace,” the servants replied together.

“Good. Now, Alice and Katherine, from this moment, both of you are her personal maids. Take care of her needs, be extremely careful, and monitor her pregnancy. If there’s anything of importance, report to me immediately. Am I being clear?”

“Yes, your grace!” replied Alice and Katherine.

“One more thing. No one shall interact with Kalista or ask her any sort of questions. She’s mute, plus she’s very exhausted from the pregnancy. She doesn’t have any time for your nonsensical questions, so If I catch or hear anyone being noisy around her, they will be fired immediately.”

“Yes, your grace,” the servants replied, nodding with scared faces.

“All right, that’s it. If there’s anything important, report it to me. I’m going out, as I have some important matters to attend to,” he said, heading upstairs.

“Mikael, come here and help me dress.”

“Yes, my lord,” replied Mikael as he approached the duke.

The servants started murmuring the moment the duke left the room.

“What’s going on here?” said Alice, with a confused look on her face.

“I don’t know. I think the duke has finally gone crazy,” replied the chef.

“Shush! Are you trying to get us fired?” Katherine shouted angrily.

“But didn’t you all notice something, though? Did you see his mistress and the way she looks? Did you see the color of her eyes? They’re super scary—so red, like rubies. Plus, the way she looks at people... Her eyes seem so empty, and she has a blank, soulless face. Like she’s some kind of puppet. Ugh,” Alice shrugged, troubled.

“Yeah, you’re right. The way she walks and acts doesn’t seem normal. She’s like a soulless doll, and she has no expressions on her face. I mean, even when the duke was arguing with the duchess and when he presented them to each other, she had no reaction whatsoever, which was really weird!” another servant said.

“That’s so true! I noticed that too! She creeps me out, she has a weird aura around her...” added the chef.

“Enough with the chitchat, all of you! Do you want us to be caught and fired? Is that what you all want? It’s none of our business! We’re here to work and serve the Ashbournes. Let’s not get noisy and get in trouble. Come on, chop chop! Everyone goes back to their work!” Katherine said, shooing the servants.

“Come on, Alice, let’s go check the missus as the duke commanded us. Let’s see if she needs anything,” added Katherine while grabbing Alice’s hands and dragging her towards the stairs.

Knock, knock...

“Excuse us, my lady,” said Katherine as she opened the door and entered Kalista’s room.

“The duke ordered us to tend to your needs. Are you comfortable enough? Do you need anything from us?”

Kalista shook her head to say no to Katherine as she lay in bed.

“Okay, my lady. Anyway, there’s a bell attached beside your bed. If you pull the string, it will notify the staff that you need our help. Now, we’re going to bring you your lunch. We’ll be back. Excuse us,” said Katherine while bowing to Kalista and heading back to the door with Alice to exit the room.

“There’s something weird about that woman, Katherine, I’m telling you,” said Alice.

“Indeed, but what can we do? It’s none of our business. We can’t dig our noses into these kinds of things. None of us can risk being fired, Alice. Both of us need this job; our families need the money. So, let’s stick it up, bow our heads, and get this over with.”

“Yeah... You’re right. We can’t afford to get in trouble, but... I can’t help it. I get this weird feeling about the new missus, like she needs help or like she’s here against her will or something...” replied Alice with a sad and confused face.

“Brought against her will? I don’t think so. She seems too calm to be brought here against her will,” said Katherine.

“I don’t know; maybe... Maybe I’m imagining things. Whatever, let’s just get to business and do our work like you said.”

“Exactly” replied Katherine as she rushed with Alice towards the kitchen.