“Tell me again in detail what happened during the mine collapse.”
Anna nodded and began to narrate.
Roland was somewhat surprised.
He had expected her to be silent, to plead, or to curse, but she simply cooperated with his questions, answering whatever he asked.
The story wasn't that complex. Anna's father was a miner who was working in the mine when the collapse occurred. Upon receiving the news, Anna immediately entered the mine with other miners' families to rescue him. It was rumored that the North Slope Mine area was once the nest of underground monsters, with many crisscrossing paths. Because the rescuers lacked unified command, they scattered and searched on their own after entering the cave. When Anna found her father, only Aunt Susan from next door and Uncle Angke were present.
She found her father with his leg crushed under a cart loaded with ore, unable to move. A miner was squatting beside him, searching for coins on his body. Seeing that his robbery had been discovered, the miner rushed up with a hoe and knocked Uncle Angke to the ground. Just as he was about to deliver the final blow, Anna preemptively killed him.
The neighboring couple swore not to tell anyone about her deed, and the three of them rescued Anna's father together. But the next day, before dawn, Anna's father went out with crutches and reported his daughter's witch status to the patrol guards.
"Why?" Roland couldn't help but turn his head to ask when he heard this.
Barov sighed. "Probably for the bounty. Discovering and reporting a witch can earn you 25 gold dragons. For a person with a broken leg, these 25 gold dragons are equivalent to a lifetime of security."
Roland was silent for a moment. "The other person was a strong and powerful adult male. How did you kill him?"
At that moment, Anna smiled. It was like ripples on a lake, and the flames of the torch flickered.
"It's what you call the power of the devil."
"Shut up! Witch!" The warden shouted, but everyone could hear the tremor in his voice.
"Is that so? I want to see it." The Fourth Prince remained unmoved.
"Your Highness, this is not a joke!" The chief knight turned his head and said with a frown.
Roland walked out from behind the knight, stepping towards the cage. "Those who are afraid can leave first. I didn't ask you to stay here."
"Don't panic, she's still wearing the God's Punishment Stone around her neck!" Barov comforted everyone loudly, as if also comforting himself. "No matter how powerful the devil is, it's impossible to break God's protection."
Roland and Anna were only an arm's length away from the prison bars. He could clearly see her face covered in dust and scars. Her delicate features indicated that she was not yet an adult, but there was no trace of childishness in her expression. Not only that, but even anger was hard to find—Roland had only seen this kind of incongruous feeling on television. It was the look on the faces of homeless orphans who had suffered from poverty, hunger, and cold when they were interviewed. But it wasn't exactly the same. Homeless orphans always hunched over and lowered their heads when facing the camera, but Anna didn't.
Until now, she was still trying to stand up straight, her eyes slightly raised, looking directly into the Prince's eyes.
She wasn't afraid of death, Roland realized. She was waiting for death.
"Is this your first time seeing a witch, my lord? Your curiosity may kill you."
"If it's really the power of the devil, even a glance can bring misfortune," Roland replied. "Then it shouldn't be me who dies, but your father."
The light in the cage suddenly dimmed. This time it was definitely not an illusion. The flames seemed to be suppressed by something, and soon only a small cluster remained. He heard hurried breathing and prayers behind him, and the thud of someone falling down in a panic.
Roland's heart beat faster and faster. He felt like he was at a wonderful dividing point. On one side was the world of common sense, operating meticulously according to the planned constants and laws. On the other side was the world of the incredible, full of mystery and the unknown. He was now standing in front of the gate to this new world.
Is that the God's Punishment Stone hanging around her neck? What a simple chain, a red iron chain hanging a crystal clear pendant. If it weren't for firmly cuffing the witch's hands behind her back, this thing could be broken with a pull, right?
Roland glanced back at the crowd. While everyone was still praying in a panic, he quickly reached into the cage, grabbed the pendant and pulled hard. The clasp between the pendant and the chain broke with a snap—even Anna was stunned by this action.
"Come on," he whispered. Are you a swindler, a chemist, or a real witch?
If you now pull out bottles and jars and start mixing strong acids, I'll be disappointed, he thought.
Then Roland heard a crackling sound. This was the sound of water vapor expanding when heated—white mist rose from the ground, and the surrounding temperature rose sharply.
He saw flames rising from beneath her feet, gently licking Anna's bare calves. Then the ground she was standing on began to burn. The torches behind him exploded at the same time, as if they had received pure oxygen, bursting with dazzling light. The entire prison cell was as bright as day for a moment, accompanied by the terrified screams of the crowd.
The witch stepped forward, and the flames roamed with her steps. When she came to the edge of the prison, dozens of iron bars turned into pillars of fire.
Roland had to retreat, the scorching air tearing at his skin, making it unbearably painful. In a short span of time, he felt like he had returned from late autumn to midsummer. No, unlike the heat of summer, this high temperature generated purely by flames did not completely surround him. The side facing the flames was hit by scorching heat, while the side facing away was chilling. He even felt like he was sweating.
She's not afraid of fire.
Roland remembered what the minister's assistant had said. Only now did he deeply understand the meaning of those words.
She is the fire itself, so how could she be afraid of herself?
Soon, the iron bars turned from dark red to bright yellow, and began to melt and deform. This meant that they had been heated to over 1500 degrees Celsius. To achieve this without any insulation measures was far beyond Roland's imagination. He and everyone else had moved away from the prison cell and were clinging tightly to the farthest stone wall.
If they didn't, the high heat generated by the molten iron could burn their clothes even without direct contact—like Anna, whose prison clothes had long since turned to ashes, her body surrounded by raging flames.
He didn't know how long it lasted, but the flames finally subsided completely.
Only a small section of torch was left on the wall, burning quietly, as if nothing had happened. But the sweat-soaked clothes, the scorching air, and the prison bars burned like the claws of a devil all told everyone that this was not a dream.
Except for Roland and the knight who were still standing, everyone else had collapsed to the ground. The warden had even wet his pants in fright.
A naked Anna stood outside the cage, the shackles that had trapped her arms were gone. She did not cover her body, her hands hanging naturally at her sides, and the lake-blue eyes returned to their former tranquility.
"I have satisfied your curiosity, my lord," she said. "Can you kill me now?"
"No," Roland stepped forward, wrapped his coat around her, and said in as gentle a tone as possible, "Anna xiaojie, I want to hire you."