CH 29

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The man’s steps were relaxed. He looked around the market slowly and carefully chose what he needed.

‘Apple, flour, butter.’

He was going to bake an apple pie for dinner. He wasn’t a good cook, but he challenged himself constantly. So now he can make some proper food to eat. He doesn’t know what it would be like by other people’s standards.

The man who bought everything he wanted, left the market. Then he made his way through the alleyway and headed a little further inside. He went to a place where those destined to fail in life or be born poor abound.

Someone could stop him by looking at the basket he was holding, but that didn’t happen because no one could see the man.

‘Elanya’s child.’

More than 20 years ago, Elanya visited a man. She left for the human city with a happy smile that she had found a loved one. There has been no contact since then, but it was not difficult to notice her death. It was thanks to her crystal ball she had left before she left.

At first, he was unfortunate and distressed, but 20 years later, he was finally stable. But he never thought he’d finally meet Elanya’s child.

The man entered the house, hiding his restless heart. He took off his hood; the long white hair was shown. His face was elegant, but his gender was ambiguous.

It was inevitable. Only females were born in his race, and when males were born, most died young. It was because there was no mana to support his body. He was the only one who had survived to this day and became a true witch. The characteristic of such people was that it was difficult to determine their gender except for the same race.

“Luana.”

The man tried to call out the name of Elanya’s child. It was a name that seemed somehow familiar.

***

“Ah Ahh!”

Luana stamped her feet and pushed up the luxury carpet, but it didn’t bother her.

“I really don’t know!”

She ruffled her hair, ran wild, exhausted, and sat down on the bed. It was about the stranger she met out of nowhere at the market. After seeing him, the duke ordered Luana to be confined. It was fortunate that the place she was confined was not a prison, but the misunderstanding was unwelcome.

“Who is he?”

A man who knows her mother. The mother Luana knew was just a lowly maid. Then she just happened to find herself in the eyes of the king and gave birth to his child. Of course, some people know her because she is a person, but she didn’t expect to meet that person at the market in the Empire.

“Besides, he didn’t look very old.”

Maybe that person is in his 20s and 30s at the most? Because Elanya, who gave birth to Luana, was in her early 20s.

“Is that her younger brother or her relative?”

It was not an implausible story. But his appearance bothered Luana. Others may not have seen it, but Luana has seen it all. White hair and purple eyes. He said Luana was identical to Elanya, but the man had no resemblance to her. He was like a total stranger.

“Is he just an acquaintance?”

Luana sighed deeply.

“By the way, I can’t even go to the kitchen because I’m locked up.”

The meal was served, but that wasn’t what she was worried about. The duke’s Meal! That was the only thing Luana had to do herself. By Luana being confined like this, he must have hardly eaten.

‘I don’t know why, but he said only the dishes I cooked were delicious.’

Way was also an excellent cook, but his cooking could not satisfy the duke.

“Argh!!! I really don’t know!”

Luana lay on the bed and rolled over.

“I really don’t know.”

When the duke did something like this, Luana felt betrayed.

“Let’s wait and see. See if I can make you something delicious.”

Even when she talked to herself and pouted, no one would listen. The night grew deeper and deeper.

***

The duke put down his fork and said,

“I’ll stop eating.”

He tried to eat more, but he couldn’t get over it. His stomach growled because he couldn’t eat as much as he wanted after a long time, but he tried to ignore it. It doesn’t matter what he eats right now. He returned to his room, closed the door, sat at his desk, took out a bunch of paper, and held it up.

When he was in the kingdom, he was investigating Luana. No matter how strong he was, he did not bring a princess from a foreign kingdom into the duke’s place without any thought.

The youngest princess of the fallen kingdom. Her mother was a maid of humble origin and was ostracized by others, and she was considered lucky to have a king’s child. The luck ended with childbirth and death. Later, Luana was abandoned by her father, the king, and grew up with her nanny.

The nanny was not a nanny from the beginning. She worked as a maid and became her nanny after Luana’s mother died. Considering that all the other maids ran away, she didn’t mind her and was loyal to her. She raised Luana, and the two of them made ends meet.

She made a living by plowing a field in a ruined garden, sewing, and buying food ingredients with that money. Luckily, Luana survived well because of her strong will.

She had a twisted life in her way, but it wasn’t unusual. Instead, her singularity lies elsewhere.

“You cooked a lot of unique dishes.”

The nanny said when he was investigating Luana. She had her loyalty, but she was timid and believed in the words that she would not hurt Luana. So she told them a lot of things.

“And she quickly got her hands on the cooking utensils. I didn’t even teach her, but one day I saw her cooking.”

On top of that, the duke is convinced about Luana’s identity because he can only taste Luana’s dish. She’s a witch. Witches were necessarily different from ordinary people in their growth process. Besides, she didn’t admit it herself. Although she said, she was an apprentice witch, the duke intended to use her to find other witches. He thought that he would be able to lift the curse.

But before he knew it, he seemed to have grown attached.

“I didn’t think that would be possible.”

He was careless because he had never deeply cared for anyone. Since he knew she was already a witch, so he’d grown attached. However, he seemed to have been attached to her without realizing it.

Legion unconsciously thought of Luana as his person. But it broke when he stopped by the market today. The new person they met did not look like an ordinary human. On top of that, he pretended to know Luana.

‘Ah, she is.’

Luana was a witch. It was the same race as the witch who put a curse on his family and made him struggle in terrible distress so far. She was being friendly now, but she didn’t know when her behavior would change.

‘Yes, I admit it. I’ve been so careless all this time.’

He shouldn’t have acted like this.

‘Think of the things you were going to do when you first caught the witch. Torture the witch and use her as bait to attract other witches. That’s how you find a witch who put the curse on me.’

Suddenly, he remembered Luana’s small and slender hands. She made a massive amount of food that didn’t match her hands, but it was fair compared to his, who had been holding a sword so far.

Her hands are fixed on the board and tortured. Luana is a timid person, so she might be able to tell everything soon. Red blood. The flowing red blood was familiar to the duke, but she was probably not familiar with it.

‘I’ll tell you everything, everything!’

Her sky blue eyes were filled with tears as she would look up and cry sadly. She might pout her lips out of habit and cry out, “Do not do this.” The duke’s heart began to throb when he got there. A strange sensation had taken over his body.

‘Is this also a witch’s influence?’

The Duke sighed deeply as he grasped his chest, that has been strangely aching.

The duke called in the butler.

“Kane.”

“Yes, Duke.”

“Send Luana to the dungeon.”

“What? To the dungeon?”

The butler asked back, looking surprised.

“Yes.”

“May I ask why?”

“Because she’s a witch.”

The butler knew he would keep a secret, but the duke confessed everything.

‘What do you mean a witch?!’

He looked surprised, but only for a moment. As a person who hated and despised witches, he could not easily believe that Luana was such a being. But his master was no liar.

That’s why he pressed it down even though he had a lot of things he wanted to say. He just bowed his head with a dark expression.

“I will follow your orders.”

The steps to retreat are heavy. However, the butler could not disobey the master’s orders. He headed straight to Luana’s residence, telling her as she was rolling in bed.

“You have to move.”

“I have to move somewhere else?”

“Yes.”

Luana followed the butler without any doubt. Then, as she stepped out into the hallway, she looked scared when she saw a knight sticking next to her.

“I can walk. Can I just go on my own?”

“Yes.”

Luana, who had been walking still for a long time, asked again.

“Is that place underground?”

The butler could no longer answer that. It seems she already noticed everything. After leaving the main building, she arrived at a place far away and stopped. In front of her was a thick door blocking the door from going down to the basement.

As Luana expected! He had a look on his face.

“I apologized.”

In front of her, the butler suddenly apologized. He still couldn’t believe it. The fact that this little princess, who was always for the Duke, is a witch. And even if she was a witch, he didn’t want to do this.

“It’s okay.”

Luana’s hand was trembling softly as she answered him politely. The butler first decided to do what he could to the best of his ability.

“We will make sure that you do not feel uncomfortable during your stay.”

That was all he could do.