Next morning, I smiled at Will as if nothing had happened.
"Good morning, Will. That’s not good, you have to come earlier and help the maids set up the table."
I"ve already finished eating breakfast so now I"m in the middle of enjoying an after-meal tea. The mansion"s maids have already left.
Will was being sullen but still placed his hand on his chest and quickly lowered his head in apology. I wonder if he reflected on what happened yesterday.
Will became my servant to get a hold of evidence that I"m an 『evil witch』so it would be meaningless if he got fired right away. Looks like he noticed that if he’s not a not a bit obedient he won’t able to find out the information. Or rather, if you don’t warm up to me for a bit, I won’t expose a weakness~
Today he"s wearing a simple shirt and jacket instead of his knight(‘s?) uniform. He hasn"t humbled himself enough to wear a tailcoat but this attire is quite servant-like. Both his face and body are good so everything he wears suits him nicely. Well, the sword that is too big to be simply for self-defense is standing out in a bad way, though.
“Today right after the ceremony of canceling the contract at noon is finished, I’m planning to head back towards Cucurouge so keep that in mind, okay?”
“Right away?”
"That"s right. Sorry but if you want to prepare your baggage or say goodbye to someone, finish it before morning."
Normally it would take five days to reach Cucurouge. But there are more things to pay attention to so there"s no harm in leaving early. Will probably also needs to do some preparations but I won"t wait for him.
"I"ll be content as long I have this sword. I"ve already ordered for all household items to be disposed of and finished all my goodbyes"
"Is that so? Well, it"s better to buy clothes and everyday items over there, so let"s go shopping together. I"m looking forward to it~"
Will didn’t reject me despite feeling dejected and instead touched his sword.
” — I want to ask one thing…..aren"t you going to take away my b.l.o.o.d.y Magatha?”
Witch Killer.
That is a cursed weapon that has been forged with the blood of many witches.
It can nullify magic at the cost of consumption of an enormous amount of magical power. Moreover, when a witch is slain by the Witch Killer, blood smoke rises from the wound. So depending on how you use it, you can also find a hiding witch with it
The sword Will has is his father’s memento, one of the many swords that have been created during the age of witch hunting. For witches it’s an abominable weapon that has put many of our brethren to death.
It seems that for Will it doesn’t make sense why I don’t take something like that away from him.
“Yes. You are going to live with me from now on so you’ll be uneasy with an ordinary sword, right? Besides, if I remember right it should also be effective against magical beasts. It’ll be rea.s.suring on the way home.”
“……Did you not make me into your servant to take this away?”
No. I made you into my servant because you’re my type. Your face, voice and even personality are much more superb than Prince Rain’s. That’s what I think.
Probably because it was an answer that Will couldn’t even imagine, he swallowed his breath.
“Of course, there is hara.s.sment towards the Prince and the others involved too. They should realise it after losing you. Just how much of a valuable Knight Will was.”
In fact, in the original “Anime” there were many scenes where hard situations were overcome with Will’s great efforts. I don’t know about what will happen next, but without Will maybe both the Prince and Miss Emerald will die off easily.
Will was puzzled. “Why is my evaluation so high?”, “Maybe as soon as we’re separated she’s planning to attack the Prince?”, “No, she’s just having fun teasing me and looking at my reactions, huh”, “What an unpleasant person….this is why I hate witches.”….. I can see through his thoughts right away.
I sighed lightly. It would be better to hide your emotions a bit more, Will.
"I don"t mind if you continue holding onto the Witch Killer. Yup, actually I"d rather you have it. Think of it as a sign of trust from me…..however"
As I approached the standing Will, I stole away the string that was binding his black hair. His hair smoothly fell on his shoulders.
“Wh-what are you doing!”
“I will confiscate this. This color doesn’t suit you.”
You got this mint-green hair string from Miss Emerald, right?
I saw it in the original work. After solving a certain mystery incident, a child, who was saved, gave a lot of hair strings to Emerald as a sign of grat.i.tude. "Do you want to use one too, Will-kun?" she asked and Will too chose this color.
Emerald gave it to him on a whim but Will always kept it on himself cherishingly. It’s an item that caused the “viewers” anguish many times.
Will’s eyes chase the hair string. He’s making quite an earnest face.
"I will gift you a new one in exchange. There hasn"t been any magic cast on it so rest a.s.sured. If you don"t believe me, you can put it up for examination later…..Hey, bend down, Will"
Looking at the crimson hair string I held out, Will groaned slightly. But he didn’t resist strongly and quietly let me tie his hair with it. I let him keep his witch-killer sword so there’s no way he could oppose this.
“Fufu, it suits you quite well. Want to look in the mirror?”
“No, I’m good. I got it. I’ll use this from now on……So, please return that hair string. It was a gift from someone else.”
“I don’t want to. You’ll be content as long you can kill witches, right? This shabby thing is an eyesore. –【Ignizard】
“Wh”
With my chanting, the hair-string burns up. It quickly turns into ash and falls on the floor, and the fire disappears.
Will dropped his shoulders, trembling with his eyes closed.
I thought he’d flow in rage but he seems to be holding it in well. Or rather, his grief seems to be stronger than his hate towards me.
He’s a bit pitiable, but I have to exchange the collar.
Besides, it’s better to get over her already.
Be it in the original work or in reality, she will never become yours. As long as I’m here, that’s for sure.
In the afternoon, I came to the temple for the ceremony to annul the engagement
The county’s sorcerers are surrounding the magical circle and diligently arranging the offering. There are only frighteningly expensive things like rare magical beasts’ fangs or scales. It can"t be helped because magic of this sort needs an enormous amount of magical power.
“The total sum is about 10 million Venke? Is the national treasury alright?”
This will definitely call forth the citizens’ disapproval. It would be one thing if it was for the sake of holding a wedding ceremony, but the taxes they managed to pay after pouring in their blood, sweat and tears will be used for canceling the engagement. It would not be surprising even if riots were to happen.
Will answered with a hollow voice.
"I heard that most of the offering this time comes from the private funds of Prince Rain or from his close a.s.sociates….."
“Oh, is that so? That’s a good att.i.tude, I’m relieved.
Guess that was to be expected. As for Prince Rain, he probably doesn’t want to provoke more displeasure from other people, while the country too can restrict the Prince’s further movements by confiscating his private property.
In any case, it is hard being a human without a core. You have to go out of your way to buy the magical powers for which 3 ordinary witches would be enough.
But the magical formulae itself has been prepared so perfectly that there’s nothing to complain about. It is an advanced thing that can not be a.s.sembled by just any witch.
Well, witches don’t get involved in things that are outside the field of their interests so it can’t be helped. A binding contract between people might be the biggest example of that.
As I was thinking about things like this while waiting for the place of a ceremony to be prepared, the Prime Minister approached me.
“Prime Minister, thank you very much for inviting me to the lovely mansion yesterday. Thanks to that I was able to spend the time comfortably.”
“I am pleased to hear you say that. Sonisama…..His Highness Rain also arrived here just a moment ago. And, um….he seems to want to apologize for yesterday’s matter.”
“What?”
When I looked closer, I noticed that the Prime Minister’s forehead was sweating.
“O-of course, he won’t offer to start over again after all that time. You can also decline it. By all rights, meeting face to face with His Highness must be painful for you, but, er….”
As a Prime Minister who’s been entrusted with the country, I hope you’ll accept the Prince’s apology, or so he means.
Hmm, I wonder what I should do~
I feel like it won’t end with a simple apology. He couldn’t have believed in my innocence just in one day, so by exchanging words with me, the Prince must be trying to find out the truth.
It’s troublesome, but I also have something I want to ask.
“I understand. I will meet him.”
“Really?!”
Yes. But only between me, Prince Rain and my servant Will, us three.”
Both the Prime Minister and Will opened their eyes wide.
“Umm, that is….”
“You….what are you thinking about?”
“This is a person I’ve been engaged to for 16 years, after all. I wanted to have a final talk with him in a place that’s not too formal. But it’ll be worrisome with just us two, right? That’s why, Will, follow me.”
Prince Rain was already waiting in the private room of the temple.
He’s as divinely beautiful as usual, but the signs of exhaustion can’t be hidden. I get the feeling that he got quite thin in a day.
“Thank you, Miss Sonia. First, I offer thanks for your generosity.”
But too bad. Judging from his blue eyes, seems like his heart hasn’t broken yet.
Rather, it feels like he’s full of fighting spirit?
"Enough preamble. There is not much time before the ceremony and I also have something to ask. Let"s finish Rain-sama"s business first."
There are two plain chairs in the room.
I and the Prince sat down opposite each other and Will stood behind me. Stop exchanging looks between you two!
Will is in position to aim at my neck from behind. I wonder if I messed up the timing to burn the hair string.
Well, it’ not like he can lay a hand on me in this place though.
Outside the door, there are guards standing and signs of magic can be felt too. It’s better to think that we’re being eavesdropped on.
Neither I nor the Prince or Will can do anything suspicious.
"Then, once again…..Miss Sonia Carnelian, I deeply apologize for yesterday"s multiple reckless actions and thoughtless words. Without solid evidence, I defiled the honor of you and your dear mother. This is not something that could be forgiven no matter how much I apologized with words. I think that I wouldn"t even blame you if you tried to kill me right now at this place. Rather, I can not help but wonder why I am still alive."
“You must be joking. I would not do such a dangerous thing. The words of apology have been certainly received. As for me, from the point when I received a wonderful knight as a compensation, there were no ill-feelings left. As a result I also managed to fulfill my mother’s dearest wish of telling the truth, so please do not mind me, go ahead and become happy with that girl.”
“…… You really are a generous female and holder of an unbelievable farsightedness. It is frustrating as a senior, but I can’t help being impressed. The biggest factor of my failure must be the fact that I couldn’t understand your nature as a human being. Things probably wouldn’t have come to this if I had talked with you at least once. I committed a mistake.”
"I also had a misunderstanding about Rain-sama. 一 I was thinking that being the Prince of a nation would be inconvenient since being oppressed from all sides should be painful, but you turned out to be a person able to throw such warped words at me. It is a wonderful thing."
I and the Prince were talking while smiling, but the atmosphere inside the room was gradually getting colder.
Because inside the polite words of both of us there were thorns hidden.
Prince’s were words of a sore loser, while mine were of sarcasm.
I am glad that we didn’t end up getting married even by a mistake. We would surely become a married couple that would freeze the surroundings. As a proof of that, Will is frightened.
“Since the apology has been done, would you listen to my story too this time?”
“Yeah, of course.”
“Who in the world is that girl called Emerald? Under what circ.u.mstances have you become acquaintanced with her?”
When I complained about how Will would not tell me anything, Prince Rain slightly nodded.
“There is no point hiding it now. Knowing how smart you are, you probably already realised it but she is a 『Witch’s Hated Child』”
As I thought! Or more like, I’m relieved that it’s as it was in the original.
Witch’s hated child.
It is what those who while having the qualification to become a witch missed the opportunity to become one are called.
To start with, what is a witch?
Flying the sky with a broom, transforming into frilly costumes, exchanging secret agreements with devils….is something we do not do.
I was amazed by the witches from other "Anime". You can"t see their underwear no matter how short of a skirt they"re running around in. Do they have a special barrier, I wonder?
Putting that aside, the definition of a witch in this world is 「A woman who can freely exercise magic by combining two magical systems – Core and the Creative Brain」
Magic is a miracle caused by magical powers and magic formulae.
For this, the core and ‘creative brain’ are essential.
To start with, the core,
A place where magical power is created. Its location in the body is different for each person.
Although all creatures of this world have magical power, people with cores can refine much more magical power than ordinarily.
People who possess cores have good physical abilities so there are many who become adventurers or mercenaries. I’ve also heard that if you crystallize magical power with exclusive magic tools and sell it, you can earn a decent living.
Next is the ‘creative brain’.
It concerns a part like a laceration in the brain. It’s a must-have place for the sake of planning out magic.
People who possess the "creative brain" can invent magic tools and feel the flow of magical power in the natural world. You can also use magic if you extract magical power from crystals and offerings. You"d need to do quite a bit of studying?
And when you become a sorcerer – you’ll have a stable life. You would be a talented personnel in great demand by the kingdom and the other a.s.sociations, after all. 「In any world brain workers get preferential treatment…Keh」- or so the woman from my previous life used to curse.
There are also quite a number of people who are born only with either a core or the ‘creative brain’.
But people with both of them are extremely rare. Moreover only women are born like that.
Though, even if you have both the core and the ‘creative brain’, you still can’t be called a true witch just yet.
That’s because to master magic you must train thoroughly from the very young age.
There"s no problem if your parents are witches, 一 but if a daughter with the potential to become a witch is born from common people, it"s a disaster.
There’s no other way but to summon a witch and entrust your daughter to them to raise. Witch’s help is absolutely necessary for them to grow normally.
If they become adults without training and are unable to control their magical power, then they might ruin their own bodies. Or with powers that can"t even be called spells, they might bring harm to their surroundings.
You must let them become a witch"s apprentice before the age of 6, and they must not come back to their parents until they become true witches.
That is the rule of this world.
Still, even if they understand it with their brains, there are also parents who don’t want to give their daughters to the witches.
Within the witches, there are also those who demand money in exchange for taking in the children. Even if they"re my brethren I must say that they are vile women.
There are also old legends like 「The daughter I sent as an apprentice was eaten by the witches」or 「She came back with a dangerous ideology and destroyed the village」remaining in various places. It can"t be helped if parents who grew up while hearing these kinds of stories instead of the fairy tales don"t trust the witches.
So, a child which grew up in a human village without being taken in by a witch in the end is called witch"s hated child.
Even if you try to become a witch’s apprentice in panic after growing up, it’ll be already too late.
It’s like a bomb trying to come closer, a huge bother even for the witches.
That’s why they are called “witch’s hated child”. Though not limited only to the witches, they are also an existence to hate even for ordinary humans.
After my mother saved the country twenty years ago, the trust in witches recovered in Mistria, and the number of hated children dropped considerably.
There also seems to have been established a way to avoid becoming a witch by severing the core.
That’s why in this era Miss Emerald’s existence is extremally rare.
“Until recently she didn’t even know that she was a hated child. She was also strictly warned by her parents to not reveal her power of precognition under any circ.u.mstances. It seems like she tried to not trust her powers.”
“I see. But it really is rare. For the hated child to have the power of precognition…..”
Most hated children either destroy themselves or are purged after creating problems for the people around. Even just growing up safely is a hard task.
If a hated child"s "creative brain" developed abnormally and miraculously acquired a rare ability that would be more believable, but Miss Emerald said that she had the power of precognition 「since birth」
No matter how much of a talented witch one is, it"s not something that can be mastered on purpose. Of course, it"s also impossible for me. It becomes a matter of talent or perhaps luck.
Is this the thing called protagonist’s compensation?
It makes me very angry.
"But I am relieved. The power of precognition aside, you must be well aware that a hated child"s power is unstable. The credibility of the prediction that I will bring disaster to Mistria is getting lower and lower."
But Prince Rain didn’t nod in agreement.
"I think, that there is room for discussion about that lack of credibility. Both I and Will couldn"t believe Emerald"s words at first, but we saw it over and over and over again. Emerald"s predictions coming true, that is. We also saw her avoiding a tragic ending by hair"s breadth after taking actions that overturned the prediction. I am sorry to say this right after the apology but I still believe in Emerald."
“……I understand your feelings of wanting to protect your beloved person.”
“It’s not just that. By no means.”
I direct a cheerful smile towards the serious Prince Rain.
“I have one suspicion. Please answer me it if it’s possible.”
The Prince"s nervous voice echoes in the chilly room.
Fufu, I wonder if I also underestimated the Prince a bit?
“Miss Sonia, do you by chance know the future?”
—-
Notes:
Here comes that exposition chapter
oh s.h.i.t wazzup
That.Was.f.u.c.king.Long
This time we have a big-a.s.s sweet, sweet exposition time.
We found out about the world and the magic, witches and “hated children”
We also found out that Prince Rain sucks at baiting and that Sonia is very petty and possessive (it’s what makes her cute though! can’t wait for her deredere <>
As for the translation itself (since I can’t footnote):
1. b.l.o.o.d.y Magatha in aren"t you going to take away my b.l.o.o.d.y Magatha? is apparently actually written as Witch Killer but read as b.l.o.o.d.y Magatha
2. There was a big temptation to put “Venke” down as w.a.n.ker because that’s just what the kana was
3. the ‘creative brain’ is 機関 and honestly, I have no clue about what the f.u.c.k that is. j.a.panese explanation for that is 脳にある裂傷のような部位のこと and when I asked around I was told that it could be this or you can just look at this pic
4. When Sonia says to stop exchanging looks with each other she emphasizes on “between you guys”. In short, she’s telling them to stop exchanging pa.s.sionate gazes before her.
Sonia @ Prince
P.S Big thanks to everyone for helping me with this cursed chapter
P.P.S Thanks to Asd.i.c.k as usual
P.P.P.S There are bound to be mistranslations because I mostly use google so pls correct me and I’ll fix things right away
P.P.P.P.S Fake Cinderella next