Immortal Witch: Eldest Daughter of a Duke

Lilibeth's Memory Part 2

"You... What are you doing hiding behind the desk?" 

A little girl with big brown eyes that is full of curiosity asked me. She's wearing a pink dress and holding a bunny doll in her both arms. Her black hair is curled and she pigtails her hair looking like a living doll. 

Her skin is white, lips are pink as a peach. You could say that this child after ten years will become a peerless beauty. It's my first time seeing this child and she looks wealthy. Sometimes there's always a child going to the back of an orphanage church wandering here. So her case is not uncommon.

She's sitting in front of me, tugging my clothes. "Hey hey, sister... What are you doing here? Are you playing? Rene wants to join too." Her brown eyes sparked while asking me.

"Shhhh" I moved my index finger to my lips. Causing the little girl to become confused.

I'm hiding under the desk of the room used for teaching the children in the orphanage. Elliz is looking for me again, so all I gotta do is hide.

"LILIBETH WHERE ARE YOU?" A sound of a girl yelling and announcing my name is outside the room. I trembled and became alarmed.

"Come come.. here sit beside me. Sister is just playing hide and seek with friends." I whispered to the girl named Rene.

"Really?" The girl raised her voice because of excitement. 

"Shhh" I put both of my hands in the little girl's mouth. "We can't make a sound or we are gonna lose, okay?" I whispered, the little girl nodded like a chicken and she sat beside me.

The door can be heard opening. A sound of footsteps entering inside. 

I feel terrified. Hoping they will not discover her hiding under the desk, I pray and pray to the gods in this world.

"Where is Lilibeth?" A familiar and arrogant voice questioned.

"I heard a voice here, maybe she was hiding." The other girl answered.

"Check! Be sure to check every inch of this room." Elliz gritted her teeth, "That girl, in the past few days kept hiding and I can't even see her hair. Even in her bedroom, she's always gone. I will make sure to teach her a lesson worth three days when I see her." she snickered.

Hearing that Lilibeth trembled. She even hides herself whenever she's asleep because she is scared of being beaten again even in her room.  She always slept under her bed, it's the only way to make her feel secured.

They kept walking around in the room and searching. One of the footsteps can be heard walking closer to the desk.

"Hey, I think I found Lilibeth, Haha". One of the girls exclaimed. "She's hiding under the desk when I am nearing I saw it move."

"Ha. So you're here Lilibeth. Don't think you can run after this again." Elliz chuckled evilly and walked towards the desk. Lilibeth shivered because she knew that after this, she would be beaten again. Lilibeth closed her eyes and began to give up.

Elliz walked around the desk, bending her body and with her crazed smile she said. "You I see-".

"..... Huh!?"  Her crazed face turned into a confused one. 

"There's no one here," Elliz exclaimed looking angry. She looked at the girl who said that she found Lilibeth. "Yooou.. Are you joking with me?" 

The girl trembled with fear, her legs began to feel weak. "Nope, I re-really saw it move," She said while pointing to the desk. 

Hearing that all the girls' faces darkened "Waah... Me too, I saw it move when you are walking on the desk Elliz."

In truth, Elliz noticed it too. But at that time her only thought is the punishment she will give to Lilibeth. Now that there's no one under the desk, the shade of her face turned from red to white.

The room became silent.

"G..gghoost." The girl who has the weakest heart began to flee from the room.  

As if they were awakened from the nightmare the girls began to move and run because of fear. 

Only two people are left in the room. Lilibeth still can't believe what's happening. She saw Elliz looking down under the desk but the latter didn't see her. 'What's happening?'

It is true she saw the eyes of Elliz flaring when she looked under the desk. Lilibeth even wanted to shout and yell at that time because of fear. But before I could yell, I heard Elliz say, 'There's no one here.' After that, I looked at Elliz and became speechless. 'Is Elliz 'eyes really okay? Did she become blind?' 

After they left, I sighed, still my confusion didn't leave my mind. I noticed the shivering little girl behind me. 'She is scared.' I can't help but put all the things that happened minutes ago behind my head. I consoled the little girl, "Don't be scared, they're gone." I hug her. Elliz really frightened the little girl. I still see the little girl shivering in my embrace. My heartache. 

"Puwaahh'' Leaving in my embrace, she raised her head and looked at me. Her mouth is in 'O' shape and her eyes are sparkling. 'Hmmm? that didn't look like a frightened girl.'

The girl pushed me and excitedly left the desk. She stared at me with interest and said with brightened eyes, " Yo-you're the same as daddy." She began to tremble and that tremble is not the look of fear but.... excitement. 

"My daddy said that only when you become 12 years old, you can get the blessing of the gods. But you..." She points at me rudely, "Your looks are so young. What magicka did you use? How old are you, sister?"

What? magicka.. oh the 11 gods. Wait, "Did you see what happened a while ago?"

"Yup yup," She nods, "There's a sparky sparky spark that comes from your neck and covers our bodies after that ummm.." She moved her right hand in her chin, knitted her brow and frowned, "That scary sister didn't see us. You're an awesome sister." She smiled as she happily explained.

What I don't have any blessing though. What magicka? I'm not even 12 years old. Hmm? I subconsciously looked at my neck and took a glimpse of the necklace that the sister gave to me. 'Maybe it's this thing', 'Maybe it's an artifact? If it is then it really is precious. I must talk to the sister as soon as possible and give it back to her.'

"OKAY! I choose you." The girl said to me and happily ran outside.

Many days passed when that happened, and I already talked to the sister about this necklace. I explained to her what happened that day with me and the little girl, but I didn't talk about Elliz and her group, saying that the little girl and I are only playing. She smilingly nodded to me and explained to me that this pendant is indeed an artifact. But when she was young, She already did anything just to make it activate. Sadly she cannot activate it. 

The sister even said to me, "Maybe this artifact is just waiting for the right person. And I think it already found an owner." She looked at me with a warm smile.

Sister told me that this artifact is called, 'Leaf of its master', Sister informed me that the reason why the maker make it is because the maker wants to protect the master that he's serving, thinking that when the time comes the maker can't use any magicka at all, the maker could still protect its master with the use of its artifact.

The 'Leaf of its master' can only be activated when the person who wore it found their destiny master that he/she devotes. And the ability that it can give to the wearer varies differently from the wearer attitude and experience. 

Thinking of that... Lilibeth began to think of the little girl. 'A master?' 'Is she the one?' 'Who is she?' 'What did she mean by 'I choose you'

That pendant is the turning point of Lilibeth's life.