Chapter 2. Disregarded

"You! You are not ready to speak? Huh? Let's see how long you can keep your mouth closed. Seize her!" He ordered the guards behind him to take a hold of her.

Alicia did not seem least surprised, she had witnessed a lot of witches get arrested so it was nothing to her. Especially since the head of security was so hard and harsh. He was a completely hot-headed person and was very disciplined.

Alicia allowed them to drag her along. Her eyes were heavy already. Some tears gathered in her eyes when she remembered that her love had deceived her. She felt her heart being slashed by someone. 

She knew love was never easy, it was never about happiness only. To get it there was always a path full of sorrows and pain. Since she fell in love with a werewolf which was forbidden for witches, she knew many obstacles were going to come in her way but what she never knew was Lucian would leave her alone in that path. 

"I will never forgive you for this Lucian!" She murmured to herself as she pushed herself to walk. 

The way the guards pushed her to walk, was as if they had suddenly forgotten she was a lady. They took her directly to the dungeon. 

"So, you have vehemently refused to admit the truth yourself Alicia? You want to have your memory checked instead huh?" The queen of the witches said to her as she stared at the stubborn girl on the floor in front of her throne.

Her mother and other members of the witch's council sat in the room, by the side. All had their eyes on the girl in the middle.

Alicia was on the floor, her hands were tied and she was dirty. Tears filled her red eyes, but she remained quiet. She looked like she had been tortured for a long time, which she had been.

"I told you before my queen, I will not open my mouth sorry " Alicia finally said as she turned her face the other way, trying to hide her tears from everyone present including her mother who looked both angry, disappointed, worried, and confused.

"You will not speak to her majesty like that Alicia! I trained you better than this, do not embarrass me!" Her mother spoke up but Alicia said nothing. Her face was turned the other way, not paying attention to whatever they were saying.

"I can not believe the way she speaks, Trainor!" The queen said to her mother with a dumbfounded voice. She looked surprised at the tone which Alicia had used when speaking to her.

Alicia's mother looked like she was ashamed as she apologized countlessly while she stared at her daughter with angry and disappointed eyes.

"Fine then, since Alicia would not state the reason she was out so late, call in the older witches to check the memory of this stubborn child." The queen announced and everyone agreed immediately calling in the witches.

Alicia tried to hold in her fear as tears burned her eyes.

Alicia tried to stay still her heart was beating at an abnormal rate as if would come out ripping her chest at any moment but the last thing she wanted was for anyone to notice she was scared what was going to happen will happen no matter what, not like she has a say in this.

"You called for us, your Highness?" The voice of an old woman echoed in the room causing Alicia to snap her head toward the lady's direction, she had no idea when she came in.

She was a bit old, with ginger hair. She was very beautiful, just like all the witches are. She looked way younger than her age, which Alicia could guess would be around 80 or something near that. The woman did not come alone, she had two other powerful women accompany her, or maybe they were also strong witches.

"Yes, I did. Thank you so much for honouring my request for your presence Cassandra, I need you to check this girl's heart. We need to know what her memory has been like in the past days." The queen witch said to the old woman as she pointed to Alicia, whose eyes were already red by then from crying a lot.

"Alright, do you have anything specific you want to find out from her, your majesty?" The witch asked the queen politely.

"No, for now, that would be all please." She answered and the witch turned around to face Alicia as she and her friends walked down to where she was kneeling in the circle.

They stared straight at Alicia, their eyes boring into hers. She closed her eyes immediately and looked away, only to receive a mind-blowing slap from her mother. She gasped, as her hands flew to her cheeks.

"W..what!? Why did you do that?" Alicia asked her mother furiously. She had tried to control how she would talk, but to say they were getting on her nerves was an Understatement.

"You know what you did! You disrupted the process intentionally." Her mother said with a bitter voice. Judging from her facial expressions, it was clear the kind of emotions she was currently feeling toward her daughter.

Alicia kept quiet as she looked down, her eyes watered not from the pain of the slap but from that of Lucian's betrayal. She felt hopeless. She had tried her best to stall the whole process for a while as if the universe wanted to punish her nothing was happening in her favour

"Can you look up a child? We do not have all day." The witch said to Alicia her voice was very gracious. She tried her best to push back the tears as she looked up at her, allowing her to carry out the activity she was instructed to do.

The witch closed her eyes as she began to recite some spells, which Alicia could remember. They sounded like ancient spells, very ancient. She could tell that her memory was being read by the dizziness she felt. She could almost hardly steady herself.

Finally, the witch stopped and her gaze darkened as she stared at Alicia with loathing. Alicia knew she probably already knew about Lucian, which was why there was so much anger and disgust on her face.

The destruction was now done there was no hope for her to be recouped neither did she want to she long accepted her destiny She tried to calm herself down, but the thought of the consequences she will be going to face shortly made her shudder to the bones

"Hmm…this girl has brought disgrace to our coven! She is in love with a werewolf, and not only that but she decided to elope with him." The witch spat out with disgust and everyone gasped. Their faces turning pale with shock, Alicia could no longer raise her head.

Her eyes were filled with tears, clouding her sight well.

"No wonder you became so arrogant to me! So that werewolf you like taught you this? How dare you betray your people like this?" Her mother said to her as she started hitting her. Alicia could not hold in the sob that escaped her lips, she regretted everything.

She regretted knowing him, ever setting her eyes on him, falling for him, and trying to betray her family for him. He was the only one she loved with everything she just could not feel anything at all, just the trauma of his disloyalty.

Alicia was no longer interested in saving herself nor in her explanation worth anything. The Queen gave the order

"Guards seize her! She will serve a year in prison, and after that, she is no longer going to be regarded in our coven." The queen declared as she turned her back away from Alicia.

The guards immediately took captive her as they pulled her to come along with them like some kind of animal.

She allowed the tears to roll out of her eyes freely as she gave into the maltreatment.

***

Alicia sat on the floor of her prison as her eyes were fixated on the wall. They were red from crying a lot, just like her face. Her hair was scattered and she looked very Haggard.

"How could you do this to me, Lucian? I thought our love was true!" Her mind is perplexed by the thought of how and where she lacked her love not enough or it was just that his promises were fake and he was just playing with her emotions or he was just a coward who couldn't even stand for their relationship. She lamented as the tears fell from her eyes slowly. She held her chest as she cried.

It hurt, it hurt so bad and she knew no one would understand. Her one mistake of trusting a coward turned her life upside down, her mother turned her back on her, and she was in prison and disregarded by her coven.

She no longer knew the purpose of life anymore, why was she even still alive? When she is left with nothing but a bleeding heart and a demolished self-respect

She wanted to end it, she wished there was a way she could silence the voices that mocked her pain in her mind. She wished she could change everything he left her with no hope to live with no desire to breathe; she just couldn't bring herself to think of her future; she was just a living corpse who was taking everything society was giving her.