Chapter 6: The Little Witch of the Past
GOSSAMER clouds trailed across the sky, melting into a sea of indigo. As the setting sun left, it dyed the mountain’s ridges in gold to the chorus of chirping insects.
It was autumn—the season when the dry, cold winds began to blow, and Rose wanted to wear another layer of clothes under her robe.
She should be preparing for winter soon but couldn’t get into the mood for it.
“…You’re here again?”
For some reason, Safina had shown Rose to the parlor as soon as she returned to the mansion. The words slipped past her lips when she saw Yašm reclining with his legs up on the tufted chaise.
The sun had set, bathing the area in darkness. His presence at this hour meant he had probably been invited to join them for dinner. This was further evidenced by the fact that most of the servants who usually went home by this time were still running about the mansion prepping things.
The droning of bugs and the smell of damp soil drifted in through the opened windows. Yašm snorted, his long black hair hanging loosely around his face as he leisurely reclined on the furniture.
“Put a sock in it. Let’s get one thing straight: I’ve been coming here way longer than you, new girl. Know your place, thieving cat.”
Rose looked around the parlor. Harij wasn’t there. Maybe he was giving dinner instructions in the dining room.
“…Hey, you. Hey, Witch.”
She finally turned toward Yašm when he called her Witch. She distinctly remembered him stubbornly calling her Rose when she told him to call her Witch before. For whatever reason, he seemed to have changed his mind.
“Are you listening?”
“Listening to what?”
A blue vein bulged on Yašm’s forehead after she implied she wasn’t listening.
“I’m asking if you understand how serious the situation is.”
He must have lowered his voice so Harij couldn’t overhear. Rose didn’t know what Yašm came here to do today, but she had a solid hunch the real reason for his visit was to have this conversation with her.
“He may be the third son of the Azm family, but Harij is still the son of the venerable Heizlan count. I’m asking if you understand what he has sacrificed for the mere sake of being with you. Even his future success as a knight hangs in the balance. How could he stain his reputation by marrying some witch…? Don’t you think it’s only right for you to get out of the picture if you care about him?”
There was something intimidating and powerful about the first serious expression Rose had seen from Yašm. Hidden in his voice were his noble intentions and his deep affection for Harij.
Rose tilted her head to one side as she absorbed and appreciated what he said. “…Uh-huh.”
“Uh-huh?! What’s with that dumb reply?!”
“You misunderstand…” Rose locked gazes with the disgruntled prince and explained with a perfectly composed face. “You just made me think how irritating it can be for others to doubt and challenge things you decide for yourself.”
Ever since her grandmother had died, Rose decided everything to do with her own life. She did what she wanted and skipped what she didn’t. She paid the price of those decisions, both good and bad, herself.
Rose couldn’t say if that was the right way, but it was her natural way of life.
And Harij respected that.
“But then I realized I should respect your thoughts and decisions.”
He trusted Rose’s judgment and convictions. His trust became a great source of strength for her. As long as he believed in her, she could take on any challenge thrown her way.
Harij had to be fully aware of the issues Yašm alluded to, which meant he had already carefully thought everything through before letting things reach this point. If sacrifices had to be made, as Yašm said, he wouldn’t have made light of the decision—especially if those sacrifices affected others.
There had been plenty of time for him to pull out of the marriage if he felt the need to. But he didn’t—he kept Rose by his side and continued to pursue her.
Taking all of that into consideration, Rose had but one thing to do as a witch and as an individual: stand by him.
“You’re…less of an idiot than I thought.”
It’s settled. As a witch, Rose paid extra care not to mishandle the witches’ secret potions, but she secretly vowed to herself just then that she would give Yašm a taste of his own medicine someday soon.
“But as long as you are going to live among people—”
“Yašm.”
Rose and Yašm looked toward the speaker with a start. Harij was standing in the open doorway, frowning.
“Did you have too much to drink?”
Yašm squirmed under Harij’s unforgiving gaze. He grabbed his untouched drink off the table beside the chaise and downed it in a single swig.
“Yeah, I think I did.”
Rose pointed at Yašm, who had finished his brandy. “This man mocked my intelligence.”
“I said you’re less of an idiot than I thought!”
Harij sighed at their juvenile argument. “…Why do you only pick on Rose like you’re some sort of child?”
Yašm leaned against the armrest and unfurled his hand toward Rose in a pompous gesture. “Isn’t it only fair since she won’t let me give her a proper greeting?”
Rose pulled her hood down further to escape his provocative gaze. “What greeting?”
“Don’t play dumb. You won’t even offer me your hand.”
“My hand?”
It dawned on Rose as she stared at her hand that it was common courtesy in Marjan to kiss the back of someone’s hand. She had only just recently learned this fact. During the whole wedding dress fiasco, Tien had kissed Tala’s fingers to appease her fury.
Rose naturally had no way of knowing how to behave like a lady when she had neither the training nor the upbringing to support it. Although Harij assured her she could remain a witch, it might be high time for her to learn a thing or two about being a lady.
Situations like this were sure to arise from time to time as long as she was with Harij. She couldn’t care less about how people saw her, but she didn’t want to humiliate him.
And when it came down to it, Rose enjoyed learning new things. The only thing she wanted to avoid at all costs was letting the part of her that was a witch die.
Rose reached out her hand. “As you wish.”
“Not mine.”
Rose grabbed Harij’s wrist to kiss him on the hand, but he used his whole body to stop her. While she was all for learning about manners and the like, kissing or being kissed by Yašm was absolutely out of the picture—even for practice.
No matter how hard she tugged on him, Harij’s arm wouldn’t budge. She was smitten by how cool he was.
Yašm clutched his head as he was forced to watch them play fight.
“Enough. I’ve seen enough. Stop showing off how well you two get along.”
Rose wasn’t trying to flirt, but she quickly stepped away from Harij. She wasn’t used to being teased over her relationship.
“I’m gonna be sick… I didn’t think you were this close and intimate. When and where in the world did you two meet?”
Rose’s heart nearly leaped out of her chest. Harij had come to call on Rose at the behest of his former master—Yašm’s younger sister, Billaura.
But Harij had to protect his former master’s prestige and Rose’s confidential clientele.
Rose was a witch. Witches didn’t lie. They also needed to answer this question in a way that didn’t breed distrust and doubt.
He probably couldn’t see her expression under the shadowy depths of her hood, but Rose tried her best to keep her voice flat.
“Well—”
“We met five years ago. In the capital city,” Harij interposed at once, helping Rose.
She could go along with that. It was a fact that he had met Rose five years ago, and one she had shared with Harij. Rose had an easier time working with the truth.
“Yes, we did.”
“Rose fell for me then. Didn’t you?”
Rose was speechless. How did he know? Harij’s smile turned to shock when he saw her gaping at him. She immediately realized her blunder.
He was making a joke to get a laugh out of Yašm. Rose was expected to follow it up with a crisp “In your dreams.” Obviously, Harij was positive she would deny it. Since he only recently became aware of his feelings for her, it wasn’t strange for him to think the same applied to her.
Rose was a witch. Witches didn’t lie.
Red suffused Harij’s cheeks under his wide eyes. He understood what her silence meant.
Rose flapped her lips in hopes of saying something to throw him off, but only air came out. Both “I didn’t” and “In your dreams” would be too much of a lie for her.
“…You deluxe dried mountain of slug turd!”
Those were the words that came out at last. Screaming with tears in her eyes, Rose dashed out of the parlor, her robe fluttering behind her.
“What just happened?” Yašm wrenched his stunned stare from the spot Rose had vanished from to his childhood friend’s face—and his expression grew even more disgusted. “You’re acting just as strange. What in the world are you doing?”
“Pardon me…it’s nothing.”
With his palm covering half of his face, Harij was desperate to maintain his flat expression. His lips were sure to curve into a wide smile if he let his guard down for even a moment.
“You did me a great service just now.”
“If you say so…” Yašm responded in an emotionally dead voice.