Rose was impressed. Details describing how to apply magic—the most crucial part of any witch’s potion—weren’t likely found in any book.
Witches were raised by other witches. Rose was astonished, for she had believed that the natural order of things. Was it really possible for a girl with no self-awareness that she was a witch, raised by people who knew nothing of her powers, to become a witch?
Whatever doubts Rose had were sidelined by the fact that Lulu had successfully created a genuine witch’s secret potion—without a teacher, completed recipe, or reliable textbook.
Rose could feel her incredible potential. If Lulu chose to live as a witch, she would surely become a great one not even Rose could compare with.
The royal family possessed a unique lineage to begin with. Each generation was made up of the most elite people in the kingdom uniting their families. No doubt there had never been a witch with a superior pedigree in all the land.
“Did the books mention anything about how you are supposed to give the love potion?”
“No… Most of the books about witches in the royal palace are about the witches themselves.”
In other words, Lulu didn’t even know how to administer the love potions. The six nobles likely collapsed because Lulu’s potion was the real thing. That was the same symptom Harij had experienced close to a year ago when he had to be carried to her hermitage—a symptom caused by incomplete magic. It was a type of magic poisoning resulting from not ingesting the user’s fluids. The magic that has nowhere to go is trapped inside the body, and the symptoms disappear with the effects of the magic.
“I highly doubt the princess will be tried for her crimes if you officially announce she’s a witch.”
A witch was different from a normal person, a witch was different from a country, and a witch was different from the law.
Witches weren’t protected by the law, and in return, they didn’t have any obligation to abide by the law of man. It was unheard of for a princess to be a witch, but she wouldn’t be punished if she professed to be one.
Yašm outright rejected the idea. “We could never allow that. Even if Lulu has the witch’s blood flowing through her veins, she also has the king’s blood in her. The fact that Lulu is a witch must be kept secret for the future of the kingdom!” Then he turned on Lulu and sternly told her, “You have to be punished. You understand that, right?”
Yašm’s voice petered off into a hoarse whisper, losing its authority and strength from moments before. He probably had no idea how to handle the situation after learning about what his beloved little sister had done.
“…Yes.” Lulu acknowledged her wrongdoing and was willing to accept the punishment that came with it. After a slight pause, she weakly muttered, “But…”
“What is it?”
“I have…a favor to ask of you.”
“Tell me.”
“…Please just don’t tell Big Sister Lauraaa…”
Everyone present gasped in surprise. The girl’s request was just that innocent and pitiful. Tears spilled over from Lulu’s eyes as if the dam holding them in had finally broken. Though she had managed to keep herself together until now, her face crumpled, and she sobbed. No matter how hard she tried to stop her tears, she seemed incapable of controlling her emotions once they were set loose.
She was probably filled with unending remorse over transforming her beloved older sister’s goodwill gesture into an unforgivable crime.
Tears flowed endlessly from Lulu’s grass-green eyes. Lulu, the girl who admired witches so much, who wanted to be just like them, had studied fervently on her own until she produced the Witch’s Love Potion.
No matter how much someone loves something, some just can’t put in the work or time for it. No matter how hard someone tries, some are just not talented enough to achieve it.
Lulu miraculously had both of those things going for her, and yet it was being born into the royal family that severed her future as a witch. Now she would never be able to go near the thing she loved with all her heart and had turned into her only hobby.
Rose squeezed the Witch’s Love Potion bottle in her hand and looked at Lulu.
“…May I call you Princess Lulu?”
“Y-Yes! Er, no, um, please call me Luu instead!”
“Very well. Luu, then.”
Lulu’s admiration for Rose hadn’t changed one bit despite the predicament she found herself in because of magic. Rose bent down to eye level with Lulu and nodded.
“I turned you down before, but I will take you on as my apprentice.”
“…Eh?”
“I may not be the best teacher, but I hope you will have me.”
Rose bowed her head. As if taken by complete surprise, Lulu stared long and hard at Rose’s cascading pink tresses. A twinkle unrelated to her tears glistened in those grassy eyes.
“Wait, wait, wait! Stop right there. What the heck happened in the past few seconds for you to say that? I never gave permission for Lulu to become a witch!”
“I heard your decision. This is my decision as an elder witch.”
Rose pulled Lulu against her chest and wrapped her arms around her shoulder to protect her from Yašm.
Lulu let out a tiny cry: “Hyaaaah.”
Rose was elated. Of course she would be—this was her first time seeing another witch who wasn’t her grandmother.
This new witch was talented, motivated in every way, and terribly isolated. Rose gained a desire to protect her as an elder like she had never felt toward anything before in her life.
“Mr.…Yašm?”
“Call me Prince.”
“Little Yašm.”
“L-Little?!”
“I am saying I will let you push the blame for this incident on me as you were hoping to do. Be grateful, boy.”
Rose was a witch. Witches guided inexperienced, younger witches.
Yašm stared at Rose with wide eyes. Rose quietly averted her gaze from Harij’s scowl and hugged her apprentice’s head.
I’m not used to this kind of thing. It’s not in my character to help others. But if this will stop my new apprentice and my friend—really more of an acquaintance—who married into a distant kingdom from crying, then I am content, Rose thought.
“Just this once, you hear?”