Chapter 71

‘Just now.’

When a surprised Serwin turned his head reflexively, Lira did not miss the chance and pushed Serwin away, quickly dragging the broom to her. Then she grabbed the broom and flew up to the sky.

“Damn it!”

Serwin ran to her side to protect Amelie.

“It’s okay. It’s just a mouse biting its feet.”

Lira saw a squeaky little mouse running away from Amelie.

‘It’s not just a mouse. It’s cursed by someone.’

Because an ordinary mouse doesn’t bite someone who is standing still. Moreover, the witch, Lira, was able to recognize the curses of other witches.

Lira took the mouse with her magic and flew high into the sky without looking back.

“I have to follow that person—”

However, her broom was stolen, and Lira’s broom was split in two, so she couldn’t ride on it. If she could transform into a bird, she would follow her even by flying, but it was obvious that she would turn into a hamster.

“It’s impossible.”

Serwin shook his head. Lira disappeared behind the clouds in a blink of an eye.

“Are your feet okay? Suddenly a mouse bites it?”

“It was Charlotte who turned into a mouse.”

“Charlotte is your maid, right? I heard she went missing after the party.”

“I put a curse on the dress. If someone approaches it with a bad heart, they’ll turn into a mouse. Charlotte has turned into a mouse. I’ve been looking for her ever since, and I never expected to see her again like this.”

“Is she colluding with a witch?”

“I don’t know—”

Amelie’s face turned dark. She was wondering if she had found another witch, but she was attacked out of nowhere.

Her neck was shivering as she remembered Lira standing behind her back. Even if it was a little later, she would have lost her life to that dagger.

“Why did she attack me? Did I do something wrong?”

She became anxious when she thought that there were rules she didn’t know and that she might have broken them. Looking back, she had never learned properly about the world of witches.

“It’s not your fault. If there was a problem, she would have moved out sooner rather than hiding and watching. She was hiding from behind and attacked because she was found out. There was a hidden intention from the beginning.”

“Is that so?”

Amelie bowed her head deeply.

“What do you think he was up to? But she’s still the same witch.”

“Everyone thinks differently.”

Serwin hugged Amelie carefully. Amelie rested her head helplessly on his chest.

“I’m so glad Your Majesty followed me.”

“It would have been dangerous if you were alone.”

“That’s true, but if I were alone, I would have been really depressed.”

Serwin lightly patted Amelie on the back, and Amelie hugged his waist.

After a long time, the two returned to the Imperial palace.

******

It’s already past midnight.

As night fell early on the outskirts of the capital, the streets were silent. During this time, there was little chance of being caught no matter how low the sky was. Nevertheless, Lira flew through the sky, covering herself through the clouds.

Then, she quickly came down to the rooftop of a tall building that had been seen in advance.

Tak.

As soon as she came down to the rooftop, she also put the mouse she brought down to the ground. The mouse trembled as if it were about to faint. Lira looked down at the mouse indifferently.

“What are you?”

The mouse kept squeaking as if it wanted to say something. Lira said the spell with an annoyed expression. Then the skinny mouse’s body began to change. The body hairs disappeared as the tail became shorter and the hair lengthened. Her body also grew in the blink of an eye, and she quickly took on a human form.

The mouse, who was a woman, had been through a lot, but her cheeks were dry and filthy, and she was Charlotte.

“Ah, I’m back as a human!”

She was filled with joy. She doesn’t know how scared she was of having to live as a rat. She constantly looked at her hands and feet and stroked her face.

“Who are you and why did you help me?”

Lira asked again. Charlotte was surprised and flinched. Lira’s gaze was indifferent and cold.

“I, I’m Charlotte, the maid of the imperial palace.”

“The Imperial Palace’s Maid? Why did the Imperial Palace’s Maid become a mouse?”

“That’s—”

Charlotte was afraid of Lira. Wasn’t even that terrifying Emperor pushed by Lira’s magic for a moment? Moreover, she was a person who could turn Charlotte back into a mouse again at any time.

‘Still, the only person who can help me is this person.’

Charlotte began her story with a trembling voice.

“I was Miss Amelie’s maid. I was threatened by a noble lady, and so I ruined Miss Amelie’s dress, and at that moment I turned into a mouse.”

She doesn’t know how much pain she has been through since then. The maids just look at her and grab a broomstick. She couldn’t even go to the kitchen, and she was very hungry, so she picked up any food that she could see and ate it and got very sick.

Charlotte realized that Amelie was a witch only after she became a rat. Following the sweet smell, she went up to the attic, and Amelie was making magic pills.

‘How dare a witch come into the imperial palace!’

Charlotte was furious, but all she could do was monitor Amelie.

“Why are you at the hunting ground?”

“I fell asleep among the broomsticks, and by chance— I was lucky. I met such a merciful witch. I really don’t know how to repay this favor.”

Charlotte bent and cleverly hid her intentions. In fact, Charlotte followed Amelie to find her weaknesses to avenge her. She thought she was really dying when she was flying in the sky by hanging from a broom, but thanks to that, she met a witch hostile to Amelie, and she thought she would definitely help her, so she blew herself and bit Amelie’s foot.

“If you want to repay the favor, tell me everything you know. You must know her well right?”

Lira asked with high pressure.

‘What’s that? Even if you’re a witch, you’re still a commoner.’

Charlotte twisted inside, but made up a smile on the outside.

“Of course. I’ve always been with her.”

“What’s her name?”

“Amelie Bourbon.”

“Bourbon, it’s bourbon. I’ve never heard of it. Are you sure you know it well?”

“T, that’s right. She said that with her own mouth.”

“Hmm, did she follow her father’s last name? I can tell just by looking at her poor magic skills. She must have grown up without a mother.”

“Y, yes.”

Charlotte didn’t understand Lira’s words, but she nodded reflexively.

“Tell me about the relationship between her and the Emperor. What’s their relationship?”

“The two will die if they can’t live together. They’re so sweet. Everyone thinks Miss Amelie will be the Empress. His Majesty is especially in love with Miss Amelie.”

“The two are lovers?”

“Yes.”

Lira’s face hardened horribly.

‘The Emperor and the witch live close together.’

The Emperor of the empire was the enemy of witches. The witch hunts of twenty years ago only made the continuous persecution more intense, and even before that, witches had to suffer.

‘The emperor is the enemy of the witch. The traitor who colluded with the emperor should not be left alive.’

Twenty years ago, the witches had a history of being severely damaged by witch hunts while leaving the traitor of their kind alone. Lira, who was 10 years old at the time, was also greatly damaged by the incident, and in the aftermath, she was still wandering without settling down. At that time, she couldn’t do anything as a child, but now she was an adult and had the power to do anything.

“Did you say you’re Charlotte?”

“Yes!”

“You’ve got to keep helping me. If you refuse, I’ll turn you into a rat again.”

“Oh, I’m so grateful that you give me a chance to pay you back!”

Charlotte shuddered.

‘Just wait, Amelie. I’ll reveal your whole identity soon.’

Charlotte clenched her teeth. She will repay the humiliation of becoming a mouse. For her revenge, she could bear the humiliation of being under a witch or whatever.

*****

After returning from meeting the witch, Amelie fell ill with a fever.

The fatigue accumulated from running from Dellahaim to the party finally overcame her with last night’s events triggering her fever.

Since the cause of the disease was stress and fatigue, magic pills were useless. The doctor diagnosed that she would get better if she ate well for a day or two and rested well. It was at the level of mild body aches, but the reaction of those around her was more intense.

Mrs. Enard told the chef to make food that was good for the body. While Milena felt sorry for Amelie because she thought it was because she did not properly assist her.

‘People might think I have a deadly disease.’

In fact, Amelie’s problem was not the fever. After meeting Lira, Amelie often became depressed. It was shocking that she was attacked by her. As much as she had high expectations for meeting another witch, she was disappointed by it.

‘What should I do now?’

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t find an answer in her head. While her body was drooping and she couldn’t do anything, only worries lingered in her head.

If she had been in good shape or had not been in mental shock, she would have gotten up quickly. However, since the two fatigues overlapped, it was difficult to get out of the depression.

It was comforting to know that Serwin was by her side. He calmly cared for Amelie, contrary to expectations.

‘You don’t have to do this.’

When she opened her eyes, he was looking at Amelie as if she were sick. Looking at that face, she couldn’t tell him to go and do what he had to do.

‘If not this time, when will I be served by Serwin?’

Amelie liked it when he clumsily wiped her sweat.

*****

On the third day after Amelie was sick, she woke up feeling a familiar hand. At first, she thought it was Serwin, but the hand on the forehead was much softer than that.

Somehow she smelled something she missed.

‘It smelled like a mansion—’

Amelie opened her eyes. Count Dellahaim touched her forehead.

“Father?”

“Oh, no. I must have woken you up.”

She jumped to her feet.

“Huh? Is this really a father? Huh? This is the imperial palace—”

Amelie was confused. The Count smiled and put Amelie’s hair behind her ears to organize it.

“When did you come to the capital? It must have taken a week! Last time you sent me a letter, you said you would come after the harvest season is over— Huh, is the harvest season already over? Have I slept that long?”

“I think you slept for about three or four hours. Am I right?”

“Yes, it’s been four and a half hours since Miss Amelie took medicine and fell asleep.”

At Milena’s words, Amelie was just puzzled.

“His Majesty sent a wizard. Thanks to that, I came to the Imperial palace in a blink of an eye.”

“Wizard?”

“Yeah, a wizard who can travel that long distance without a break. It’s my first time seeing it, too.”

A wizard’s magic is completely based on scientific calculations, unlike that of a witch. The magic power is also used by attracting external power with mana stones, etc.

Therefore, there were limits in a direction and it’s different from witch’s magic. Wizards were rare, and it was even more difficult to find wizards with excellent skills.

In particular, teleportation magic was not an easy magic to do because there were many variables to consider.

‘There is one wizard who can use teleportation, but—’

At this point, he couldn’t be in the Imperial Palace.

“Is there a problem?”

“No, it’s nothing. Anyway, I’m so happy to see you like this. I thought I had to wait another month.”

“His Majesty seems to be very worried about you.”n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“I see. His Majesty—”

Amelie looked around the room. However, Serwin was nowhere to be seen.

“Where did His Majesty go?”

Where did the person who didn’t want to be separate from her ever go?

“His Majesty went to the Imperial Palace so that the two of us can spend our happy time.” Milena revealed.

“I feel grateful for His Majesty’s consideration.”

The Count smiled and said at Milena’s explanation.