25. The Long Night and the Witch
Now that her personal time has returned along with Harij’s departure, Roze can’t say she is enjoying it…
Especially when there is less potion making and field work in winter.
Usually, she has some activities to do in winter, when the animals and plants are sleeping—however, as of now, she finds no motivation in doing them.
Hence, because she’s unoccupied, there is more time to think.
The memory of a silver haired man flashes in her mind—to which she repels by slamming her head against the wall. To make it worse, Safina comes to deliver a meal once every two days, hence she can’t help but remember Harij’s appearance that day…
Even more ridiculous is when she can’t help but be filled with anticipation towards when the bell will ring. She can’t help but hope for that person to visit…
Never would she have thought that love could weaken her so.
When Harij returns and she has to say goodbye to Safina, that sensation might soon be forgotten.
—at least, that’s what she hopes, anyway.
She wants her restlessness to stop. She wants to return to her peaceful state once again—she almost envies the calmness of the lake’s surface.
Realizing how much melancholy rests within herself, Roze goes out in a hurry. In winter, the sun is only out for a short time, so the mind tends to get dark. She has to do something! Anything!
While exhaling because the cold has bitten her fingertips, Roze scrapes the fallen leaves and branches off her field. She also gathers some firewood. While burning some potatoes, Roze stares at the billowing smoke.
…how long have I been doing this?
Before she realizes it, the forest is a lot noisier than usual. It seems that the children of the village are playing in the winter forest.
Roze is shocked, before straining her eyes to look closer—
—it’s those children who threw mud balls at her before!
Roze is just as mischievous—she takes out a potato from amongst the fallen leaves, and stabs it with a stick.
She then holds it high—the children are alert, they start looking at her direction—
—although they’re now gathered together, they still don’t dare to approach.
It seems that they want the roasted potatoes, however, they are too scared to come directly to the Witch.
Roze stands up. The children flee as if they’ve seen a scary creature and hide in the forest.
She goes to the pier and reels the boat closer. She puts some roasted potatoes on the boat, before reeling it back to the forest.
…For a while now, she has been watching the boat. However, none of the kids approach it.
Roze returns to her dwelling, as she has some chores to take care of.
In the evening, when she checks the boat by chance, the roasted potatoes have vanished into thin air.
—Chirin.
She finally hears the long-awaited bell exactly one month after Harij’s departure.
Safina already visited yesterday—hence, he shouldn’t be coming today. He also never visits at night.
She can’t suppress the excitement in her chest.
She tosses her quilt aside and immediately jumps off the bed. She doesn’t even remember to put on footwear—her soles feel cold.
At night in the winter forest, there’s only silence. It’s as if all living things have retreated to their slumber.
The night sky extends above the silver forest. Millions of stars dazzle in the sky’s blackness—they make the sky appears like a black carpet studded with thousands of glittering diamonds.
Since an early age, Roze loved the starry skies the most. Its beauty can only be rivaled by the lake when it’s dyed pink by the sun at dawn.
She gently slides the curtain away with her fingertips.
Someone is standing on the unlit pier.
It’s dark, and the person is probably wearing a dark-colored outfit. The starlight is too dim for her to make out the person’s hair color.
—however, that silhouette is definitely his—after all, she often gazes at said silhouette from this very window.
Roze presses her palm against her chest—it’s so painful.
However, she has no time for that. Quickly, she wants to see his face.
She adds paper and firewood to the fireplace—the fire quickly rises like a bonfire, before stopping.
—doesn’t he usually bring a lantern with him?
Harij always bring a lantern with him. Not only as a light source, a lantern also enhance’s his ‘traveler’ disguise.
When she stares at the window again, the figure is already in the boat—and still, there’s no light.
The lantern to help him navigate the road at night, did he forget to bring it?
The idea is so absurd that Roze almost laughs at herself.
…I have a bad feeling.
Mayhap, he just didn’t want to disturb Roze. He might not turn on the light because he didn’t want to alert her of his presence—that’s also not possible. If so, he wouldn’t have just stood there on the pier.
Besides, he also knows that the bell will absolutely ring and alert her of a visitor.
Again, Roze looks at the window—
—she can no longer see the boat.
It doesn’t seem that the person riding the boat has lost his way—rather, he has likely altered his course. Instead of docking the boat on the island’s pier, he’s hiding somewhere, attempting to approach unnoticed.
Her premonitions have turned into reality.
Roze runs to the shelves and takes out some small vials—
—Harij!
Her hands shake from fear and impatience—some vials fall to the floor.
In the darkness of the night, the sound of glass breaking echoes.
She freezes.
Oh no, she has inadvertently informed the approaching silhouette that she’s awake!
If the silhouette becomes wary, it becomes more likely that Roze won’t have the chance to escape!
No magic is instantaneous—there are steps to follow. Not only does requires time, it also requires a considerable amount of concentration and calm.
Giving up on the offense, Roze pulls the rug out from under her bed.
She removes the floor board and hides herself within the cellar. She reaches out as far as possible to arrange the rug so that nothing looks out of the ordinary. The more time passes, the more panicked she becomes—her fingers refuse to move.
Outside the house, comes a banging sound.
Roze, who gives up on arranging the rug, finally closes the lid.
The cellar is completely dark.
She stills her breath, curling her body into a ball. She hugs herself with both hands. Her heart is pounding rapidly.
There’s a rattling sound coming from above.
It’s so close, Roze is trembling greatly. The lid is also vibrating because of her. She’s truly afraid. This kind of thing has never happened before—
—for the first time, she feels that living in solitude isn’t that great—
—for the first time, she is afraid.
—perhaps it’s because Roze still want to live.
…I want to eat delicious apples with him again.
Roze closes her eyes tightly and bows her head.
After the banging stops, she can hear the even scarier sound of the door slowly opening.
The person is able to unlock it from outside—there’s no mistaking it, this person is ill-intentioned.
The suspicious person makes his way through the entrance. He comes uninvited, to the place where the Witch grew up, protected, and cherished—to the house of Roze.
She’s scared, and also sad—she grits her teeth in frustration.
Every time the suspicious person walks, the floor board creaks.
—Krieee… krieee…. Kriee ee…
The suspicious person is approaching her location—Roze no longer knows what’s waiting for her.
For some time, the suspicious person wanders aimlessly around the house. Probably because the lights are off. There’s the occasional sound of kicking and something dropping. Each times, the suspicious person curses with a low voice—
—of course, it’s a voice she doesn’t recognize. It’s also a voice she doesn’t fail to hear down in her hiding place—
“—aah, the Witch isn’t here. I heard it’s a young woman. I came all the way here cuz’ I thought I could have some fun with her…”
Roze doesn’t know what kind of ‘fun’ he meant—however, she knows it’s not going to be a good thing for her.
“There’s barely anything in here—she sells lotsa’ drugs, I thought she’d be making way more than this…” Along with the sound of metallic banging, is the frustrated cussing of the person.
…Actually, she does. She’s currently lying on top of the Love Potion fee she had received from Harij. Because it’s a large amount of money, she hid it there.
Her body trembles more, disturbing the coins near her waist.
Thus, the coins falls—Charin.
“…What’s that?”
Roze desperately holds her mouth with both hands—otherwise, she’ll scream for sure.
The creaking of the floorboards indicates that the man is approaching her—
“—you’re there, aren’t you?”
A smile, Roze can feel that the man is grinning a broad, nasty, smile.
**T/N: ///Open up a portal to Roze’s realm/// HOP IN–!!! WE CRUSH THIS FCKER OURSELVES–!!! ARM YOURSELF, BROTHERS AND SISTERS–!!!
I know I’m lat ego the party, but I am solo in!?
I’m more late than you and I never imagined there’s a cute!!! novel that I still didn’t read…
Oh hell, I’m summoning all the good tropes I know that can happen here. PLEASE PROTECT OUR GIRL
Yep, no, no time to even prepare, grab what’s at hand and CHARGE!
Where’s the portal. I’m bringing my gawddamn baseball bat
Here you go fwuummp
I want the kids to help her and Harij freaking out not finding her or smth
But I know this is a romance story and our knight Harij is coming to the rescue
Uh oh…
Why do I have to catch up to find cliff-san.
Toka!!! Check my other story!!!
Which one?
THE noble girl who find a nerdy and plain guy moe
ugh … sorry. That one is too much for mel
“Too much” as in???
How’s the horor gameeeeeeee
same as last time. I have more class to teach until december.
SENSEEEI TOKANYAA. OMG I WANNA BE TAUGHT BY YOU
Oops, I completely forgot about you. Not sure if I’m good at my job or really bad at it. I have 2 extra weeks to teach. Then Pokémon S&S will be live. Which I would be missing from the collective society.
Are you hanging in there?
Well that day i was feeling terrible. Is there a way i could take about this in private? Any line account or NU account?
I have NU account with this name. probably the same photo too.
sorry it is because my phone is acting up lately. Did I make you expect that it is someone else like Roze expecting that Harij was the one who arrived just to see a fake and scary Harij?
https://me.me/i/you-expected-a-clever-comment-but-it-was-me-dio-12252522
again the reply went somewhere sorry
GABE IS A CONFIRMED SADIST.
https://memegenerator.net/instance/37982404/phineas-and-ferb-why-yes-yes-i-am
Thank you very much benevolent translator-sama
https://me.me/i/gratefultam-memegenerator-net-grateful-i-am-yoda-meme-generator-376a7a4486aa4b5ab01d3735ec96d596
^ this was supposed to be a reply to your reply on my comment earlier I did not know how it ended up here.
///sheds tears of betrayal///
Time for a town lynching.
“Even more ridiculous is when she can’t help but be filled with anticipation towards when the bell will ring.”
And here we learn that Harij conditioned Roze Pavlov style, This is the reason why people study psychology.
Me when the thief came and scared Roze:
Imma kill this guy….
https://me.me/i/ight-imma-head-out-anybody-know-which-episode-this-is-dd5ae61aa5f94946a4c002979bc4bb4e
FIGHT ME YOU FAKE HARIJ!!!!!!!!!!
When I saw that it is already chapter 25 I suddenly felt like singing.
And now, the end is near
And so I face the final curtain
My friend, I’ll say it clear
I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain
——skip to end——> I really ship them
The author wrote another 5 extra chapters sooooo
Theres still 10 chaps before this end
Then I’m gonna relish that last 10 chapters. But still knowing there are only 10 chapters left …..sighs………..why only 10????
Once thats over there is still Sharina~
Then i ll come up with even more great stories for y all. One that is free of abusive/ plain asshole male lead.
I’ve never read words this beautiful before (✧∇✧) xD
True to Commander’s words, you did brought us good novels (Tia is good for dissing) free of abusive/ asshole male leads (except Tia) but unfortunately, there were abusive/ asshole princes in exchange of the male lead.
Its the law of equivalent exchange Gabe.
Roze don’t panic! Hit him with anything!! And Harij hurry up!!!!
god! Will Harij come to the rescue?
I bet its the grey haired thief..
Kill this fucker
grabs baseball bat and a rope and follows through the portal YOU’RE SO GONNA GET IT YOU SON OF A *****!!! ( ಠ益ಠ)
xD thanks for the chapter~
THATS THE SPIRIT
My god… JUST when you think this girl cannot possibly get any stupider, here we go. Truly, she is a supreme cotton-headed idiot of a heroine among idiot heroines.
For feeling fear and acting human in an unforeseeable circumstance?
Being a witch is nothing but a profession to Roze. In the end she is a young maiden who lives alone.
Usually, no one visited her dwelling because she always hide her face and everyone deemed her as scary. The thief especially stated that he came all the way here cuz he heard that she is a young woman. You see, this kind of thing only happened now and its only natural for her to be fearful.
After all, Roze is not THAT isekai modern girl who became a cold blooded empress that makes everyone lick her feet, or THAT “”””idiot heroines”””” who live in a bubbly naive way and still gets everything goes her way because thats just the kind of story it is.
Roze is a girl who lives in solitude on the secluded part of the forest, whom everyone stayed away from, and work to provide for herself by making potion with a touch of magic. It shows you the fact that now everyone knows she is actually a harmless young girl who provisioned day to day basis potion for them do not always bring advantage to her. An introvert who is used to rely on herself. Roze is… Roze.
Yes it soften villagers’ attitude towards her which is great, but also bring THIS kind of unwanted visitor up her door.
It doesn’t make her idiot to cower at a home invasion done by someone who especially targeted her. And she did realize he isnt Harij didnt she?
An idiot would swung her door open without noticing any signs and leapt on the figure with open arms.
Roze is not a cotton headed idiot. If some suspicious person enters your house won’t you also feel scared. Heck even just seeing a stranger in the dark can scare someone and even if you say she is a witch it was already implied in the previous chapters and even this chapter that her magic is not omnipotent. She had already said earlier when Harij asked her what she does when a suspicious person enters her house that she just hides. Roze is not an idiot she is just a overly cute and fragile girl that must be protected like a national park.
or endangered species
OOHHHHH NNNOOO. BIt its a good thing that the crazy guy came in the month Harij is expected to come back. ROZE THROW GLASS AT HIM. HIT HIMBWITH THE COINSSSS
Many thanks