I"m feeling refreshed because the engagement has already been annulled so lets organize the current situation while checking it with the summary of the original ”Emerald and the Legend of the Witch”.
The story starts in a small village in the mountains.
Emerald, a bright and innocent beautiful girl who was friendly to everyone, lived with an old woman whom she had no blood relations with. But she had a secret she couldn"t reveal to anyone.
She held the power of precognition since her birth.
Emerald, who was afraid of her own powers, followed the old woman"s advice and lived on without believing in her foresight.
One day, a witch calling herself the disciple of Alonia Carnelian appeared and the villagers prepared a banquet to welcome her. But Emerald saw a prophecy where the villagers were being ma.s.sacred and after much worrying decided to reveal it to the villagers.
Obviously, n.o.body believed her and on the contrary, her life was targeted after her witch power was revealed. After that, she got saved by two young men who just happened to pa.s.s nearby and ended up finding out that she was a Witch"s Hated Child.
At the moment when she took the hand of the beautiful young man, Emerald received the revelation of the destruction of Mistria.
…..If I had to borrow the words from the woman from my previous life, this was the heroine awakening event.
After that came the episodes about the old woman she was living with dying and leaving only「Alonia is the evil witch」as her dying words, finding out that the young man"s true ident.i.ty was that of a prince and warming up to the witch-hating knight.
For the sake of finding out the secret of her birth and protecting the people of Mistria, Emerald decided to go on a journey along with the Prince and Will.
After a.s.sembling allies while in the process of following the mystery incidents and nurturing the affection with Prince Rain, finally, the ident.i.ty of the mastermind behind the mystery accidents became known–
….and, that lead to the marriage ceremony yesterday.
If it was like the original work, from now on Emerald would make every effort for the sake of the ceremony to lift the Prince"s curse. And she would face the final battle exhausted by gathering information and weapons, finding out Sonia"s purpose and having internal discord with her allies. Apparently, this is something that often happens in the ”original anime”.
Finally, Emerald managed to defeat Sonia in exchange for Will"s life and had a happily ever after with the Prince.
However, reality has completely derailed from the original storyline.
It"s because I gave up on being a villainess and did not curse the Prince.
I swear to all humanity that I am not the mastermind behind the mystery incidents.
After my mother"s death, I have been leisurely living in Cucurouge. It was very peaceful.
Oh, but now that I think about it, sometimes thieves would come so I would show them appropriate hospitality. Like making them hug the beasts, letting them go after traumatizing them, having them sleep under cold soil…
It couldn"t be helped, right? it was a legitimate self-defense, after all.
In any case, unlike the original, I am not a natural-born evil witch.
一 I have not committed a sin heavy enough to deserve me getting condemned by the Prince of a nation.
But it looks like till yesterday everything was pretty much following the original work and the real people too seem to have the same personality as in the original.
The thing that I"m curious about is that somebody took over my role to create the mystery incidents and tried to blame it on me.
I did hear rumors of those mystery incidents when I was in Cucurouge, but I didn"t do anything about it. I also stopped prying into it because it felt like it would bring unnecessary trouble.
It"s quite strange. With me not having the motivation to do anything, there was a chance that no development like in the “Anime” would unfold, but because of somebody from somewhere the story started advancing like it was originally supposed to do.
…Still, to be honest this is an insignificant problem.
Because there is no way that I will lose.
I know the flow of the original ”Anime” that depicts this world.
I also know some truths that weren"t revealed in the original work.
I am strong enough to protect myself and those precious to me and I am not foolish enough to be easily outwitted.
With the way I am now, I doubt there are people able to put false sins on me and give me a death like in the original story.
Am I too self-conceited, I wonder?
However, I am conscious of that so I will never let my guard down. I will not become negligent either. I understand what I can and cannot do and always do my best to a.s.sure my survival.
….But, that"s right.
I do not plan on giving up pleasure so that might become the one fatal thing for me.
I did acquire Will but I still don"t know what will come out of it.
A knight closest to being the strongest. It is rea.s.suring to have him as an ally, but because he hates the witches, he"s also a double-edged sword. He is strategically difficult to use as a p.a.w.n.
But that"s alright. I find him charming, so I want to play with him.
I won"t say that I wasn"t influenced by the woman from my past life or ”Anime” at all, but I personally like Will very much.
Born in exchange for the lives of his parents, growing up while being hated by everyone around, watching your best friend and your first love show off their love for each other in front of you, enduring, enduring, enduring, a man who is even now still trying to sacrifice himself for his friends.
I wonder what will happen if from now on I give him something other than death?
If I spoil/pamper him rotten, maybe ――
My luggage is only one trunk with clothes and beauty liquids.
I also brought the wedding tools, but I did not feel like using them anymore so I had them be dealt with it in the castle and exchanged it for the money.
Let"s go back to Cucurouge, shall we? I don"t have any more business in the royal capital.
”Can you handle a Mount Beast?”
”Naturally.”
Black horse magical beast Unika that I brought with me from my hometown. I had him brought to the temple from the castle where I left it entrusted to.
As soon we reunited he rubbed his cheeks with mine, urging me to ride it right away. What a cute child.
However, he doesn"t seem to like Will, since the silver eyes that he directed towards him are frosty.
But this is Will"s fault.
”How unexpected. It"s not a dragon?”
To this muttering, Unika answered with a neigh with his gums fully showing. 「insolent fellow!」he seemed to be angry.
A magical beast is an animal that was born both with the core and ‘Creative Brain". Their physical power is high and depending on the individual they can use magic too. It might sound similar to the witches, but magical beasts can be males too. Unika is also a boy.
Magical beasts are sometimes born from mutations of ordinary animals, but most breed in the wild and create their own ecosystem.
For example, the dragon race originally derived from reptiles, but now they have already turned into a different creature.
Unfortunately, wild magical beasts often attack humans. It seems like they are becoming ferocious under the influence of the ‘Creative Brain".
Therefore witches have been more or less persecuted from long ago, claiming that much like magical beasts, they were crazy monsters.
The human brain is outstandingly good at handling magic and can also withstand the strain of the ‘Creative Brain". It was rather recently that I learned that.
”If you want to go home fast why don"t you buy a sky dragon …or at least an earth dragon? That way wild magical beasts won"t approach you and it"ll be safer.”
Will proposed this while ignoring Unika"s protest. To be more exact, he was about to get hit by his hind leg but avoided it without looking back. Amazing reflexes.
I do understand what Will is saying.
When the magical beast is provided with magic power, it obeys the person as a Mount Beast. Among them, dragons are the fastest, strongest and the highest grade Mount Beasts. It is difficult to catch them, getting them used to people and nourishing them, so basically, only aristocrats and rich people can ride a dragon. The witches and the people with core who can provide their magical power are an exception though.
…..Come to think of it, the original version Sonia was riding a shining gold dragon. It was just the worst because she was giving out I am truly an evil witch vibe.
”I like this child. Dragons are carnivorous, they won"t work unless I give them a lot of magic powers and can betray easily. I do not like them that much.”
On the other hand, Unika is a herbivore, he"s also a hard worker and there"s no worry that I will be betrayed because we"ve been together since I was 12. In addition, he has a smart and gentle character so he won"t go berserk either.
”Good fuel consumption is the best virtue. Isn"t that right, Unika?
As if to say ”It is just how you said, master!”, Unika nodded lively. How truly cute. Won"t Will get attached to me this much as soon as possible, I wonder?
”…..I got it.”
Will half-heartedly soothed Unika, hung up the trunk and started checking the saddle.
He has a scary face on and slightly seems to be in a bad mood. Is he feeling depressed because at last his life with me is going to start?
After the ceremony Will was talking about something with the Prince. It didn"t look like bidding farewell, so he was probably getting some kind of instructions.
I was keeping my distance because I didn"t want to get involved with the Prince anymore. Truthfully speaking, I should"ve probably given him a warning to make him behave, but I don"t feel like doing it anymore. It can"t be helped, right? I don"t care what will become of him.
“Getting to the next city till sunset, huh…we probably won"t make it in time if we take the main road.”
Will took the reins and I decided to ride while sticking to him from behind. A proposal to buy another beast Mount has been rejected since it"s too wasteful. Unika is slightly bigger and stronger than a normal horse, he can withstand two adults riding him just fine.
……Actually, this is my first time riding him with two people while entrusting the reins to someone else. I did let a kid from the neighborhood ride with me but at that time I was the one holding the reins.
With my heart beating rapidly I encircled my arms around Will"s body. This must be what they mean when they say “body like steel”. It"s st.u.r.dy enough to entrance you. There is also a subtle smell of soap.
Will is a Core holder so I felt the enormous magic power as I touched him.
“Kyaaa!”
As soon we began moving, a voice that was unlike me leaked out.
It"s shaking. I can"t see the front. The sound of cutting the wind is sharper than usual and it"s scary.
I certainly did ask him to ride fast because I didn"t want to spend a night outside. Both Will and Unika are responding to my request. But still, this speed is hard on me.
“Will! You are riding a bit too fast!”
I might get thrown off. I clung to Will"s back with all my might
“D-don"t cling to me too much! My hands might slip! Are you doing it on purpose?!”
“Huh?!”
I had the self-awareness that I let out a disgraceful voice, but it still wasn"t to Will"s extent. After thinking for a bit and realising “Oh, I"m fully touching it” I relaxed the strength in my arms.
…….It honestly wasn"t on purpose. Even I know that using s.e.x appeal against a person who hates you will only end up in the opposite effect.
After entering the forest, to avoid the branches and stones, the vibration increased even more. Neither of us can afford to talk about pointless things anymore. As soon as you open your mouth, you might bite your tongue.
However, soon Unika suddenly stopped as if he sensed something.
“…..is it a magical beast?”
The highway that avoids woods or mountains would be the best countermeasure against magical beasts, but today I specifically chose a straight route to the side, so I was prepared to encounter a magical beast.
“I wonder if it is better to back you up?”
“That"s unnecessary.”
As soon as Will got off to the ground, a growling voice was heard from the bushes.
What appeared before us was a big wolf magical beast. A so-called silver wolf. It has high magical power and is very strong, but I guess we"re still better off because it"s not a pack.
Now, let me observe your skills~
—
Notes:
Another exposition chapter that made me want to cry because of the terms
so, Mount Beast is actually 騎獣 and I tried really hard to make it similar to magical beast because they have the same kanji but the first part gave me a f.u.c.king headache. I did ask around wtf to call this thing but all I got was just the Mount and I wasn"t feeling that because Mount can be anything that can be ridden right? and this thing is a beast so in the end with a suggestion from someone else I decided to make it into a Mount Beast, tho technically it"s a “beast that can be ridden”. Tell me if you"ve got anything better pls
I translated どうなっても知らない。as I don"t care what will become of him but tbh it can be I don"t know what will happen too or something like that so if you know what"s better suited you can hmu
I finished this chapter about 3 days ago but my laptop was still s.h.i.t and I didn"t want to edit typos and stuff with my phone so I had to wait till I bought the new laptop (and I did buy it) and here we are
Anyway, you know the drill about mistranslations and stuff so don"t feel shy and correct me
P.S thanks to Asd.i.c.k for proofreading with me
P.P.S soon I might be going to a 2-week long vacation but I"ll try to get at least one more chapter out before that