“My, my, my… Harij, this just won’t do. You must always lend your hand to a lady. A knight must be a gentleman in all things.”
She had descended the tower awfully fast. The out-of-breath princess walked toward them. Rose stood with Harij’s help and removed her robe.
“It’s better if we hide the fact I’m a witch from her, right?”
“I’m sorry for putting you through this. That’s a big help.”
Rose literally stripped herself of her robe to lend Yašm a hand. She hid it under the brush and stepped out from behind the trees. The princess looked astonished to see Rose with her light-pink locks cascading over her everyday dress.
“…Wha?!”
“…Oh?”
The princess stilled when she saw Rose, and Rose did the same seeing her. The two girls froze like statues as they stared at each other.
“…Is something wrong?” Harij asked, worried that Rose couldn’t even hide her shock. Rose regained her senses with a gasp and took another look at the princess’s face.
Lulu’s appearance looked far younger than her commanding voice suggested. Rose thought she would be a little older from how she spoke, but she appeared to be around ten. And just like Billaura, she was a stunningly beautiful girl. Her milky-white hair shimmered like a pearl, and her long eyelashes of the same color framed her grass-green eyes. Her petite, round nose accentuated her youthful charm. Her rose-colored cheeks looked soft to the touch.
Rose understood why Yašm struggled to keep her in check. Surely no one could bear to refuse Lulu if she asked for something with that angelic smile of hers.
Yes, Rose felt the same exact way the last time she was faced with this girl.
“You’re—”
“L-L-L-L-Lady Witch!”
The princess was the girl who had fallen into the hunter’s pit. Comb out her messy hair, change her out of those muddy clothes, and return her dignity, and you have the exact same girl.
Lulu suddenly switched from confidently strolling toward them with an old maid trailing behind her to hiking up her skirt and racing at the speed of light in Rose’s direction.
“Wh-Why…today…are you in a place like this?! Why didn’t I? Go? Pick you up…?!”
She had spoken with such elegance earlier, but now she fumbled with her words like a toddler just learning to speak.
“…What’s going on here, Rose? Why does Princess Lulu know you are a witch?”
The princess knew this at first glance, even though Rose had taken off the robe that identified her as such. She knew because Rose had introduced herself to the princess as a witch without her robe on before.
“Um…”
Rose didn’t know where to start. At any rate, she didn’t need to bring up those love letters. If she had been the writer, she would never, EVER want those getting out.
“You…love them…that much…?” Yašm panted out after racing his way down the tower and to Lulu’s side.
“Obviously! Aahhh! It’s like a dream to be in your presence again… I couldn’t leave the palace thanks to my brother here, which must have made me seem so ungrateful, Lady Witch…”
“No way! Please tell me you didn’t go to see this witch on your own!”
“You aren’t one to speak when you seem to be acquainted with her yourself, Brother. You big fat meanie! You knew how much I longed to meet the lady witch you prevented me from seeing!”
Rose also knew exactly how much she yearned for this meeting. In Lulu’s sixth letter, she had detailed in four pages just how much she loved witches and how much their encounter meant to her.
In another letter, Lulu explained that she had fallen in love with witches because she had read and reread books written about them. She spoke about the many archives her family had on witches. That made much more sense now that Rose knew she was a member of the royal family. Any kingdom that lived alongside a witch needed to know about them.
“Ugh. I know, I know! You can stop now. You have already told me about it over and over and over and over again so many times that the blisters that formed on my ears the first hundred times have popped and reformed! I’m sick of hearing about witches!”
Apparently, Yašm’s hatred of witches could be attributed to his sister Lulu. There’s something excruciating about being forced to endlessly listen to something you aren’t interested in.
“O-Oh, that reminds me! Lady Witch, won’t you please take a brief look at the potion I failed to show you last time?!” Lulu requested with flushed cheeks as she undid her dress collar and plunged her hand inside. She didn’t seem to care that everyone was gawking at her in abject horror. Cheeks stained crimson, she pulled out a necklace and the item attached to its chain from her dress.
Yašm’s eyes peeled open when he saw what she had retrieved.
“Wha?!”
Lulu held it out to Rose before Yašm could stop her.
“Um…won’t you please look at this? It’s my attempt at replicating your Witch’s Love Potion!” she confessed in a voice that was all too innocent.
What she held out was a small bottle on a chain. Curiously enough, it was identical to the bottle Rose inspected in the tower.
Yašm flew into action. He grabbed Lulu’s hand and dragged her into the tower faster than lightning. Sensing their prince’s intent, Harij and the other knights followed him inside, confirmed no one else was around, and shut the door behind them. Then locked it tight so no one could enter.
“…LULU!”
“Eek! Y-Yes?!”
Lulu’s eyes were swimming with confusion from the abrupt change in her brother. Yašm was likely always the sweet older brother to her. She must’ve been startled by the impatience and anger she saw on his taut face.
“B-Brother? Whatever is the matter? You are scaring me…”
“You! What…did you just say you made?!”
“The Witch’s Love Potion.”
Yašm brought the bottle he snatched from Lulu to Rose. He slowly held it out to her as she grimly stared at it in his hand.
“Witch, is this the same as the one I showed you?”
“Let me check.”