61. The Witch’s Dwelling is Floating on a Puddle (5)
—even though she studied, Roze doesn’t possess common sense.
Even when he said that the wedding is up to her, in the end, the decision is on him.
Five days after the coldest winter day, when the bell rings at noon, their wedding ceremony will be held in a cathedral with beautiful stained glass.
The attendees are, of course, mostly Harij’s acquaintances. When he said he would just invite the minimum number of people, there are 74 attendees—no, 75, including Tien.
Preparations for the dresses and shoes to be worn at the ceremony are also progressing steadily.
Every time she sees the sewing process, she can’t help but think—can I wear such a thing and move?
Despite her anxiety, after trying it on, she discovers she can actually move. The seamstress’ skill is amazing.
Roze is anticipating the day to arrive so she can finally triumph over her fear of lacking knowledge about marriage.
The arrival of a lettuce-colored letter knocks Roze into confusion.
The time at which the sun rises gradually lowers each day.
Orange clouds flow across the purple sky and gradually change to yellow.
As Roze further pulls down her robe, she ties her shoelaces more carefully than usual and steps into the forest.
—pyururu…
She can hear a crow crying over her head. She makes a branch she found along the way her walking cane. She climbs up the slope, occasionally reaching for the ground. The sound of stepping on the floor of leaves echoes in the forest.
When she reaches her destination, Roze crouches. If she digs through the fallen leaves on the tree’s roots by hand, she’ll find her desired mushroom.
She picks up as many herbs as necessary, packs them inside some baskets, and returns to her dwelling.
After she has hung the freshly picked mushroom under the eaves, she hears the bell announcing a visitor. As she walks around the dwelling, it seems that a letter has just been left inside the post on the other side of the pier.
It’s only then when she realizes that the area is quite dark.
It’s time to return to the mansion. When all the mushrooms have been hung, Roze leaves the dwelling and crosses the lake.
She pulls the boat ashore with her thin arms, and hides it within the depths of the bushes.
She unlocks the post and takes out the mail.
There are two letters inside.
“…again?”
Roze pulls her face at the sight of the initial ‘L’—at this point, she’s already accustomed to it.
In fact, in a matter of days, a new letter will be delivered to Roze.
She wonders if that girl does so because she harbors a grudge due to Roze’s refusal to accept her as disciple—however…
…all the letters ever talk about is how much the girl favors the witch. In fact, they don’t seem like a threat at all.
They’re neither curses nor a talismans. Since they’re basically harmless, Roze opts to leave them alone. In the first place, she doesn’t really know anything about the sender, much else the address she needs so she can tell the sender to stop.
The other one is a lettuce-colored envelope.
The beautiful handwriting is unmistakably the sender’s—Bilaura’s.
Bilaura is the Princess of the Kingdom of Marjan who married into another kingdom.
She’s also the customer who requested the Good Witch of the Lake for a remedy.
If Bilaura hadn’t resorted to using such means, Roze would have never been able to converse, or even get married to Harij. Roze would have ended up enduring a one-sided love.
In addition, she’s immensely glad that Bilaura spoke fondly of the ‘Witch’s Secret Potion’.
Fortunately, their friendship could continue through exchanging letters.
Since Roze has never exchanged letters with a woman of the same age before, her heart goes aflutter whenever she opens the seal.
Needless to say, it’s different from the trepidation she feels whenever she unwraps the love letters coming from ‘L’.
While reading the contents of the love letter from Bilaura, Roze picks the nearby blooming flowers. As she turns to them for comfort, the bell-shaped flowers sway.
However, as she continues to read Bilaura’s letter, Roze stiffens.
—potori.
The flower she had plucked fall to the ground.
“T-T-T-Tara-san!”
“Ah, since when do I have such a lengthy name, I wonder?”
Upon entering the mansion, Roze heads to the kitchen.
Tara, who’s cooking, welcomes Roze with a bright smile.
“Tara-san!”
“What is it, Milady?”
Roze tightly squeezes the letter inside her robe, telling her of the astonishing event that the letter conveyed.
All the while, she’s anxious due to the fear of being of thought as a liar, or plain being made fun of.
But, Tara quickly asks Roze.
“Yes, that is quite right.”
Shocked, Roze becomes wobbly.
The surprised Tara tries to support Roze, but Roze dismisses her help and stumbles into the hallway.
“M-Mona!”
The thin shoulders of Mona, who is replacing candles, tremble. She looks back at Roze in a terrified manner, as if she’s sure she has incited the Witch’s fury.
“Y-yes? What is it?”
Mona dubiously asks Roze, thinking Roze would start preaching about her blunder.
Roze worries this might affect the distance between them. After all, she has managed to make Mona less afraid of her as of the recent.
“There’s something I would like to inquire.”
“What could it be?”
Mona stretches her back, determined.
Roze swallows her saliva—gokuri—and asks the same question she has previously asked Tara.
Apparently, it’s as if Mona hasn’t heard her. It’s only a second later when the Maid finally processes Roze’s questions. With a nod, she says—“y, yes…?”
“I… I think that’s natural? Generally, that’s how things go…”
Despite the vague answer, the damage to Roze is immeasurable.
“…Umm, Milady?”
“N, no, I’m fine… thank you for answering…”
“B, but, Milady… that, oh, b, be careful!”
Mona pleads from behind as Roze begins to stumble again.
“…Safina-san.”
Roze is as pale as ghost.
Safina, who’s working inside Harij’s private room, shakes his shoulders.
“…If it isn’t Milady. Are you in need of something?”
“Is now a good time? There’s something I would like to ask you…”
“Of course, what do you want to know?”
Safina sits on the sofa in Harij’s room and instructs the nearby attendant to bring warm tea.
Roze drinks the tea, which helps moisturize her throat. Then, she covers her face with both hands.
“Both Tara and Mona answered the same but… it’s still too much of a shock for me, it’s just too unbelievable!”
Her voice comes out stifled, she’s almost crying.
Safina slowly rubs the back of Roze.
“I see… what happened?”
“It’s, it’s one of my customer… I exchange letters with her… she’s an acquaintance of mine…”
“I see, it’s the friend of Milady.”
“I wonder if it’s alright to call her that… but, the problem is, she…”
Roze finally erupts in tears. She remembers the passage of the letter she received from Bilaura—
—I can’t go to the ceremony because it overlaps with the month I will be delivering, however, I hope it will be the happiest day for you. If you don’t know how to behave, just leave the vow to Harij, the ceremony itself should end after the kiss to mark your oath.
“T-there’s a kiss of oath, in the ceremony…?”
“Yes.”
“Gyaaa—!!!”
Roze stands up for about a minute—she’s that surprised.
With her face red, Roze turns towards the direction of the voice, only to find Harij.
Her eyes glisten with tears.
“W-w-w-why are you here…?”
“Why? It’s my room.”
After realizing how silly her question is, Roze shuts her mouth tight. She’s really surprised at his sudden appearance.
“Since I’ve been gone for a while, I decided to return home today.”
“…Too bad for you.”
After Safina has undrestood Roze’s worry, he leaves with a gentle smile, entirely leaving Roze to Harij.
All that is left is a hot tea pot, Roze, and Harij.
E/N: Everyone in the mansion: This is the witch everyone lives in fear of…
***T/NL: Holy shit, each chapter, Roze is becoming more and more of a saint! ///shield her eyes from her holy radiance///
Well Roze, you are gonna be more shock when the wedding night comes..?
How can she be this pure? >_< Ya better protect her Harij-kun
My doctor took me off insulin, I might die from overdosing on sugar.
LMAO MAYBE YOU SHOULD BE THE ONE WHO HOST THE WEDDING SO EVERYONE WILL PLAY BY YOUR RULES
My Roze is so pure to be so shocked about a kiss……and here I thought Bilaura said something unbelievable in the letter for Roze to react like that.
Wait……Roze already told Harij that she likes him right?? So Roze being shocked about the kiss should not create a misunderstanding with Harij right??
P. S.
Is the prince gonna be invited in the wedding……if so I wish someone to beat him up physically or at least verbally as part of the ceremony.
(I was having a hard time typing this cause a eurasian sparrow got inside the house and is flying above my head. I think the bird decided to join us in our home quarantine…lol)
Eurasian sparrow… Can you like, sell it for a high price?
No, cause no one buys it here, they are as common as rodents here. I already drove it out of the house but it came back and is now chirping noisily. I don’t know why but they love building their nests inside our house just yesterday we discovered some newly born bird in our stairs. We did not touch it or remove it from its place but now I think it is dead cause it doesn’t make any noise anymore.
WELL THIS STORY OF YOURS STARTED AS WARM AS PANCAKE AND END ON A BLEAK NOTE
Just checked it is alive. It seems it became quiet cause it is hiding itself from my little sister cause she scares it but just now it was staring at me as if it was looking at it’s enemy…….and I suddenly felt like eating some bird soup…….hahahaha
DONT GABE DONT. SAVE IT UNTIL LATER.
You are right…..it is so small right now I will only get bones and skin. I should fatten it up first and serve it in Roze and Harij’s wedding banquet.
omg she is so cute. i love this story so much. thank you for updating so quickly! I constantly check the website for it. 🙂