Lady of Curses

''WHY AREN'T WE DOING ANYTHING, WHY ARE WE LETTING HIM JUST BE?!'' In a room that looked like an office, a young woman with deep red hair was yelling at someone as she was leaning over the desk that the one she was yelling at was sitting behind. 

''HAVE YOU SEEN THE STATE OF LILY, SHE ISN'T OKAY, AND YOU ARE JUST SITTING THERE DOING NOTHING AS THAT BASTARD IS LEFT SCOT FREE?!'' The young woman's voice was filled with rage because her friend has suffered greatly but the madam, who should be responsible for them and protect them, was right now just sipping some tea and reading a newspaper. 

''WE DON'T EVEN KNOW THE FULL EXTENT OF HER INJURIES, NOT TO MENTION THAT SHE WON'T BE ABLE TO WORK FOR WHO KNOWS HOW LONG, OR EVEN WORK AFTER SHE RECOVERS!'' *TUD* The redhead was getting madder as she spoke and slammed her fists on the sturdy wooden desk, she didn't care if she injured her hands because right now all she cared about was her friend's wellbeing, and making madam take action or at least make her speak, because all this time she was quiet. 

''DAMIT, WHY AREN'T YOU SAYING ANYTHING, WE ARE SUPPOSED TO TRUST YOU, WE HAVE ENTRUSTED OUR LIVES TO YOU, BUT, But, but...'' The young woman's eyes started to water, and soon her rampage calmed down. But even then her anger didn't subside, the only reason it looked like that was because she was tired of yelling, and the tiers didn't make it easier. ''But all you do is just sit there, and let the culprit get away, just why, when we need you the most you do nothing?'' The young redhead was slowly losing fate in madam, the person who should be on their side all the way, was ignoring her when it was needed the most. 

*Tink* Madam put down her teacup and the paper and finally looked at the crying woman. The young woman had fallen to her knees and was crying on the desk with her head pushed into her folded arms. Seeing this the madam put one of her hands on the crying young lady and slowly petted her, trying to comfort her. 

''I understand your anger and grief, and believe me if I could I would make him pay with my own two hands.'' Madam's own face contorted in anger for a brief moment, before it returned to her gentle look. ''But you have to understand, that even if he himself has no real power, the family behind him could easily, at best shut us down or at worst make the rest of our lives miserable.'' Her free hands was balled into a fist as she said that, and her nails dug into her skin. 

''I will take care of Lily, even if she won't be able to work anymore, after all, every one of you I consider as my precious children.'' Madam closed her eyes as she remembered the state Lily was in right now. ''If I could sacrifice myself to make him pay I would, but I'm afraid to leave all of you alone, and if I did do something to him, his family may come after all of you if they found out I did something to him.''

''So I understand if you're angry with me Mina, but I want you to know that I will always love you and take care of each and every one of you, even if it may not seem like it.'' Hearing what madam said, Mina lifted her face from her arms. Mina's face was a mess, her makeup was ruined and was dripping down her face, there were strands of red hair stuck to her face, and her eyes had become red and puffy with all that crying. 

Seeing this mess of a face that belonged to Mina, madam took a nearby handkerchief and started to wipe Mina's face clean. She didn't say anything and with a gentle smile cleaned Mina's face, the redhead, on the other hand, didn't say anything and didn't move a muscle, she only closed her eyes and let the madam clean her face. 

''Thanks.'' After her face was cleaned Mina's voiced her gratitude. ''I'm sorry for yelling at you, but it's frustrating that we can't do anything.'' Madam saw how Mina balled her fists so tight they started to lose color. 

''I know, it hurts me deeply, but sometimes we must endure so that we don't bring more misfortune on us and our close ones.'' Madam took the young woman's balled-up fist in her own palms, so that Mina relaxed her hands, and doesn't hurt herself.

''Mm, I will go now.'' Mina still had a sad look on her face, but now she has calmed down. She stood up and announced her departure to madam. ''I will try to get some sleep.'' 

''Sweet dreams Mina.'' As Mina was leaving the room, madam wished her good sleep. 

*Tuk* The moment that door closed madam's face contorted into the mix of anger, grief, and disappointment in herself. She had failed to protect one of her girls, and the worst part she wasn't capable of getting justice or revenge because of the offending party's backing. 

The guilt was eating her, she would be happy to kill that bastard even if at the cost of her life, but unfortunately, she couldn't do it because the girls needed her. But even if they didn't she was scared that they would find that she was affiliated with this place, and then retaliate involving this place and that would result in multiple lives getting turned into mess. 

After she stopped beating herself up for not being able to do anything, madam turned her attention to some of the documents that were placed on her desk. She looked some of them over while thinking about Lily. She had bought some healing potions, and even enlisted some of the best healer's help, she could get. But even with all that they weren't fully sure of Lily's nature, all they knew was that she would survive but besides that, it was clear as a fog. 

Madam started to work on some papers, making sure that the documents were all in place, checking what supplies they needed to purchase, seeing how was their storage doing, and seeing if anything was running out. But while she did all that she couldn't help but have some thoughts wonder from time to time, and they always involved Lily and her situation. She couldn't stop thinking about it, no matter how hard she tried.

''There has to be a way.'' Madam put down the papers and leaned into her chair while she thought. She could hire an assassin, but again his family was powerful enough, that it assassination could fail and as a result, she and her girls meet a grim fate. Another idea was to pay someone desperate enough for some money and let them do the killing, but again there was a big risk of them finding out it was her doing. 

No matter how much she thought, madam scrapped every idea she had and she was ready to give up on the whole revenge. It would be unfortunate but there was nothing she could do. That is until she saw a book that was placed on a bookshelf. 

The book itself wasn't anything special, it was a classic story about a hero rescuing a princess and the world. The story was quite compelling so madam herself had reread this book a few times. But this time what caught the madam's attention wasn't the interest of experiencing the story again, but a detail in the story.

About halfway into the story, the hero summons a companion, that helps him on his quest. The scene is even portrayed on the book's cover. You could see the hero stretching his hand out as a magic circle formed above his hand and what looked like a fairy was hovering above the magic circle. 

Madam looked at the cover for a while, the gears in her mind moving at full speed, until finally, she found a way to get some justice. 

''Summoning.'' Madam was familiar with summoning to some extent, she hadn't summoned anything in her life, but she had the needed knowledge to do it if needed. 

She remembered one key importance about the summoning. It was that she could summon something that could help her in any situation, so she could probably summon something or someone that could help her get revenge without being discovered. 

So with this new plan in mind madam didn't hesitate to act on it. She took one of the blank papers, grabbed the nearest writing tool, and drew a circle on the paper. Then she stood up and walked to the room's middle. When she got to the middle, she put down the paper on the floor. The circle wasn't necessary but it helped with visualizing.

''Please help me.'' With those words, madam started to visualize the magic circle forming and her summoning someone who could help with her problems. She pushed her mana into that vision, while at the same time she pushed her emotions that she felt when she thought about this situation. 

For a while nothing happened, and madam was starting to lose hope, with the thought that maybe it really was impossible to get revenge. But then a magic circle formed on the floor, and the moment it completely formed black smoke enveloped the nearby area. Madam could see that in the middle of all this smoke, there was a silhouette that suddenly appeared, and before she could see any features of that silhouette, she was greeted by a voice. 

''Hello, how may I help you?''