Chapter 37 - Of Witches and Witches

“Please. Please don’t do anything terrible to Sister Monette….!!”

Emilia ran in, grief deep in her voice, running straight to her fiancée Alexis…not. She actually ran straight to Rodel, her future brother-in-law.

He made Emilia stand right next to him and rubbed her arms to calm her down. Afterwards, he moved his hands down to her waist in order to support an uneasy Emilia. Slowly, the distance between them shrank, and then it shrank some more.

Rodel was inferior to Alexis in terms of looks, but with Emila wrapped up in such a gorgeous dress standing next to him, don’t they look like the perfect couple?

……No, they probably already are a couple. The fact that His Majesty is not saying anything despite their unacceptable proximity is proof of that.

“I beseech you Prince Rodel…. Please…”

She begged while clinging to Rodel, eventually resting her hand on his chest.

She wrapped her hands around a necklace hanging from Rodel’s neck like she was saying a prayer.

At that moment, my waist gave out and my knees hit the floor. The sudden impact caused vibrations to transmit throughout the armor, and my whole body felt like it was bristling.

When I looked down to find out why I had suddenly collapsed, my eyes were drawn to my waist–specifically at my pouch. Inside I kept all my parchment and ink that I used for my spells.

In addition…, there was something else scratching at the back of my mind, but before I could put my finger on what it was, Rodel–who had been busy trying to comfort Emilia until now–called out to me.

“Emilia truly loves you. Will you please stay by her side?”

“…Me?”

“Emilia is lovely yet still a bit childish. Won’t you stand next to her and watch her become a wonderful princess?”

The tone of Rodel’s proposal, it was like he was truly thinking about her ……… It’s like he actually meant what he was saying. As a matter of fact, when I peered back towards Emilia, I saw the loving look in her eyes as she looked up to him, and I could feel my expression soften slightly.

Emilia as a princess ….. it would be just like all those fantasies we used to come up with as kids.

As I looked over the figure of these two easy-to-understand people, Emilia was looking back at me, wearing her heart on her sleeve. Her eyes that were always lovely were now shining with a mystifying light.

Such an expression from my cute little sister made my chest, hidden beneath this cold, iron armor hurt. A small sigh passed through my lips as I opened my mouth to speak……..,

*Potan*,

Off of my head, I swallowed the words I was about to say when something fell on top of my helmet.

Emilia let out a small scream. The Queen let out a rather breathtakingly shrill voice right along with her, and the eyes of the surrounding knights were stunned.

However, I, who was inside the helmet that everyone was pointing towards and screaming at, had no idea what had just fallen on my head. That’s why I stretched out my iron gauntlet to find out what ….. and I called out the name of my very best friend, the spider that came scurrying down in front of me.

“Robertson.”

Eight hairy legs along with a plump stomach and buttocks. Undoubtedly, it was Robertson who I hadn’t seen since I left the abandoned castle.

My eyes inside this helmet began to shine as bright as this spider’s as he slowly climbed down a hanging thread to Concetta’s head who was still lying in my arms.

On top of Concetta’s fluffy head, Robertson was riding on top like a decoration ………. This combination could not be described as anything less than supreme, and it was impossible for me to hold back the ecstatic squeal that leaked from my lips.

At the same time, I whispered out a small thanks to Robertson whose landing had caused me to swallow the answer I was about to give to Rodel’s proposal.

What a lovely and gorgeous little sister I have. I have no choice, I will stay by your side…….

Why I thought such a thing, I can’t say the reason now that I’ve calmed down ……. I really don’t know why I was going to say that at all. Thinking so, my gaze turned back to Emilia cuddling up to Rodel.

“I can protect her, but I’m afraid I cannot stay by Emilia’s side.”

“But sister …… Why?”

“Because I am a witch.”

Witches are whimsical. Whether it be a request from the royal family themselves or a cute little sister’s wish, we don’t do anything unless we want to.

So right now I would obviously refuse.

“Right now I feel like unraveling Aleixs’s curse.”

Once I said this, a pained expression spread across Emilia’s face while Rodel who was standing next to her and Her Majesty wrinkled his brow. It was probably an innate reaction to the word ‘witch.’

But there’s a witch out there who has cursed Alexis and Percival ……….. the prince and his accomplice who’ve been using government funds to play around, it’s only natural that things would turn for the worse now that I think about it.

Rodel stretched out his arms in some effort to shield Emilia from me, and the surrounding knights strengthened their alertness.

Their piercing gazes seemed to penetrate through my armor and felt like

they were looking right through my whole body as well. I felt sweat start to bead up on my forehead, I tried to divert my eyes anywhere else ………… and the Gina called my name and brought my eyes back up to her.

When I looked up at her, I saw caring eyes radiating love, and with a tone that made me feel like all my problems were somewhere else,

“I’ll take Robertson and Concetta into my arms, my prentice witch.

she said.

Those words didn’t sound like much, but in my bones I understood, Gina was seeing me as a true fellow witch.

Given that, I obediently nodded and handed over Robertson and Concetta who was using Robertson as a crown. As I passed them over, though, I made sure to tell Concetta how pretty he looked like that, and I could tell he also enjoyed having Robertson ride his head like that.

Tearing away my gaze off of the two of them, I turned my eyes back towards Alexis and Percival. Their expressions carried a tint of despair that has never been there before, and when I saw it, a murky mist rose up in my chest.

I reached out to my pouch in order to push back that mist and took out a pen and piece of parchment from inside. That muddy feeling only felt worse when I saw Emilia was still holding her hands together as if she were in prayer.

“Hey, what are you doing!?”

Raising his voice, a knight grabbed my arm.

Although he put a bit of force in his grip, it was an arm made of iron. There wasn’t any pain when he grabbed me, but the sudden movement did cause the parchment and pen I was holding to fall to the floor.

“Hey, knock it off! Don’t touch Miss Monette!”

And then Percival’s voice rose up as well.

Several other knights joined in on holding him down, but Percival continued to twist and jerk his body around despite the increased hold. Even though his own circumstances were like this, his eyes were still pointed towards me.

At the sight, I stood back up off the floor.

It’s my job to curse him …….

Those words ran through my mind, and I forcibly pushed away the hand of the knight who had so rudely grabbed me.

However, these were knights who underwent rigorous training on a daily basis. Being so forcefully shaken off, he did not hesitate to swiftly draw out his sword from its sheath and pointed it at my head.

With a sharp blade in front, I closed my eyes.

However, the impact I had expected did not arrive, and after working through that moment of fear, I opened them back up.

Rather than a cold edge, golden hair shook before my eyes now along with a broad back. Grasping the raised arm of the knight …………..

“Percival…..”

Although I called out his name, he did not turn around nor did he answer me.

It was a knight whom he had trained beside, yet it was a knight he now stood against. Especially now that he had fought off several other knights holding him back, there had to be a limit to his strength against one of his peers. Even now I could see his arm trembling.

“Percival, what are you thinking!? Why do you do so much for such a prince … !?”

I guess the knight in question was acquainted with him as he put forth this question. Perhaps they were close. Of course, Percival was a knight, so him standing against his comrades like this, men he had spent his days alongside, could not be called amusing.

I can not see what type of expression Percival carries on his face. Still, when he asked, “What is a knight’s loyalty for?” I could see the power returning to his outstretched arm.

“If a knight’s loyalty means turning my eyes away from the facts and taking not even a second to doubt these follies lodged against our prince, then I’ll gladly give up the title of knight here and now!”

Percival strong declaration pushed the confronting knight back for a second …… before he returned to his senses and stared him down with a stern expression.

Even if Percival had grabbed hold of this knight’s sword arm, that only meant that the rest of Percival’s stance was off-kilter and fragile. With that gap in mind, the knight gave Percival his reply by shaking his arm free after giving a straight punch to Percival’s gut.

The sound of the blow echoed inside the castle hall. Following it was a low groan from Percival. Still he did not move and remained as a wall standing before me.

Only being able to watch his back until now, my gaze was eventually drawn to the sight of the knight raising his sword above his head, aimed squarely down on Percival.

It’s my job to curse him.

I won’t forgive anyone other than myself who tries to hurt him.

“Do not touch a witch’s prey with those filthy hands of yours!”

I ripped off the armor covering my right arm, and I stuck my pen not at the piece of parchment lying on the ground ……. but to this knight’s palm.

The nib made a sound as the pen tip broke skin. In a moment, red hot pain would rush through me, but I still continued to press forward and dug the pen further into my flesh.

“Alexis!”

It was Gina’s voice who called out to the captured prince.

She saw my actions and tossed Concetta from her arms towards Alexis. As if Concetta was also aware of his Lord’s intentions, he put out his paws, sticking to Alexis’s body while his fur glowed a dazzling light with Robertson riding atop his head. At the same time,

“{Prostrate}”

my voice resonated with the surroundings.

In the next moment everyone let out a low groan as if they had just been hit before lying down and stretching their arms on the floor. The king, the queen, of course Rodel and even Emilia ……

Although some people quickly raised their faces up afterwards, the distorted facial expressions they carried showed this was all they could do. There were lots of people wriggling their fingertips, scratching at the floor, but they were unable to move their limbs.

It was like a work of art to those who could still stand which included me, whose breath had gone rough inside my helmet as blood trickled down my exposed hand, Alexis who was stunned and could not grasp the current situation, and Gina who looked extremely satisfied while looking around her ……. and Percival who was looking down at the knights wondering what had just happened.

While moaning was the only sound that continued to reverberate inside the room, my senses quickly returned to me.

As soon as they did, the pain from my palm became apparent, but I don’t care about that right now.

“Let’s go …….. Anyway we have to get out of here!”

“Well, … shall we head for somewhere else for now? Percival, since you’re still standing, please bring Alexis with you.”

“………Yes, Prince, let’s retire for now.”

Following Gina’s orders, Percival rushed over to Alexis. Alexis was not lying down, but his feet would not respond to him, and he could only walk with Percival’s assistance.

Concetta descended from his arms and ran alongside their legs. On his head sat Robertson, the two’s combined glow acting as our guiding light.

I quickly left the room following after these two. ……..Disregarding Emilia’s voice calling out to me from behind.