Chapter 12 – The Witch and The Prince (1)

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“Mmm. This tea is delicious. The aroma is lovely too.”

Estelle took a sip of the tea Josie had prepared.

The calming effect gradually warmed her body, making her feel relaxed. The aroma was strangely familiar, as if she had smelled it somewhere before. The color was unique too, a bluish hue that reminded her of Josie’s butterflies.

The slightly tangy taste had grown on her, and though it felt a bit plain now, she found comfort in the thought that Josie’s special care had gone into making it.

Her daily routine after waking up was simple: have breakfast with Josie, leisurely drink tea, and then help her with her studies.

A day like any other.

But now, it felt different. Perhaps because something she had taken for granted had gained new meaning.

Mom. Mom, huh? Hehe~

She couldn’t focus on the tea, her mind drifting back to the events of the previous day.

She barely managed to suppress a smile. Every time Josie called her “Mom,” she would blush furiously, and if Estelle laughed, Josie would puff out her cheeks and sulk.

“Right? I dried the petals from the flowers that grow on my body and brewed them. I drank it myself first to make sure it wasn’t poisonous, and it was fine.”

Josie fiddled with the butterfly-shaped flower above her right eye. Now that Estelle looked, she noticed the flower that had been blooming on Josie’s right shoulder was gone.

She even worried about poison? Estelle felt a small pang of emotion and took another sip.

Wait, Josie brewed tea from the flowers that grow on her body…?

That aroma, that taste… it was familiar.

The scent reminded her of the warm, sweet fragrance she had noticed when sleeping next to Josie. It had a calming effect too.

If she recalled her past life, this tea was essentially Josie’s bathwater. She had thought it tasted plain without the tang, but mentally, it was anything but plain.

“Never serve this to anyone else.”

This tea is dangerous.

If anyone found out its true nature, Josie might end up brewing tea for the rest of her life. The absurd thought dominated Estelle’s mind.

“Does it… taste weird?”

“It’s not about the taste. You need to value yourself more!”

Serving someone your bathwater? What kind of nonsense is this?

I didn’t raise Josie to be this shameless.

She had taught Josie magic, alchemy, and herbalism, but she had never given her any basic education about human life or culture.

She couldn’t teach Josie everything, after all. Since Josie became her apprentice, she hadn’t gone back civilization even once. Maybe it was time to give her that opportunity.

“The flowers grow back quickly, so it’s fine.”

Looking at Josie’s innocent smile, Estelle felt like she was the weird one and sighed in defeat.

“Mom, I have a question.”

“A question?”

As they finished their tea and cleaned up, Josie casually asked.

“Why did you become a witch?”

“Huh?”

“Well… witches are usually scary, they curse people, and they’re evil. In the stories I heard as a child, witches were always portrayed as bad. But you… you’re so different from the witches I know. Even if you weren’t a witch, you’d still be an amazing person, right? Like a hero who saves the world or a mage who defeats evil dragons.”

Estelle found it hard to answer.

Witches, who gained immortality by taking on the burden of curses, were often shunned by people. The power of a witch was closer to the concept of a curse, something that easily corrupted the human heart. It was rare for witches to use their power for good.

A witch’s curse was the culmination of selfish obsession. Emotions like love, jealousy, and hatred were at its core, so the more a witch used her power, the more people around her suffered.

In the original story, most witches used their power to destroy nations or plunge the world into chaos, only to be vanquished in the end. It wasn’t until later in the series that a witch’s love story changed the world’s perception of them.

Even if Estelle had chosen a different path, witches wouldn’t have been viewed favorably. The thought left a bitter taste in her mouth.

“Josie, you’ve put on some weight. Should I eat you?”

“I’m being serious.”

Estelle tried to change the subject by pinching Josie’s cheeks, but it didn’t work.

“Didn’t I tell you before? Why I became a witch.”

“That was a lie, wasn’t it?”

It had been three years since Josie became her apprentice. The story Estelle had told her while making love potions as a conversation starter didn’t seem convincing anymore.

It wasn’t a lie.

At the time, becoming a witch was the easiest path that met her conditions. The downsides of being a witch didn’t bother her much.

Curses, witch hunts—whatever.

As long as she survived, that was enough. Eventually, the protagonists would step in and improve the treatment of witches. She had been so excited about becoming a witch that she hadn’t paid much attention to the whispers about the curse. Besides, there were ways to lift the curse later.

Now, witches were shunned and despised, but in the future, they would even be invited as professors of dark magic at academies. That’s how valuable they would become.

But only she knew that. It was only natural that Josie would think it was a lie.

She couldn’t exactly tell Josie she knew the future. The man lying in bed might wake up at any moment, so it was risky to reveal too much.

“We’re family now. You can be honest with me. If it’s too hard to talk about, that’s okay too…”

Saying it was okay not to talk while slumping her shoulders and even using the butterfly on her body was cheating.

Estelle needed to come up with a convincing reason.

“Hehehe. I guess I have no choice but to tell you now.”

Resigned, Estelle sat on the sofa and called Josie over. Josie’s eyes sparkled as she sat close, her expression adorable.

“The truth is, witches have a special power. It’s different from curses—it’s more like a miracle, something truly magnificent.”

Like the ultimate skills in games, often called ultimate moves or finishing moves, which determine victory or defeat.

In Aria Chronicle, there were ultimate skills called [Ulti]. They could only be used once per battle, making them strategic and decisive.

A swordsman could split the sky with a single sword swing, an archer could shoot an arrow to unreachable distances, a mage could summon a meteor to end a war, and a hero could defeat the demon king and bring peace to the world.

All thanks to their Ulti.

A witch’s Ulti belonged to a conceptual realm that couldn’t be seen. In the game, it was implemented as a debuff, but if you dug deeper into the lore, it was described as:

[A wish so pure and noble that it can hardly be called a curse.]

This line, spoken by Zeke Fricks, the protagonist of the fourth series, upon witnessing the Ulti of the Witch of the End, suggested it was closer to a miracle than a curse.

So Estelle’s explanation to Josie wasn’t entirely wrong.

“Someday, a great danger will come to this world. And the power of a witch will be essential to protect it.”

Unlike the earlier series, where witches were treated poorly, the epilogue of the fourth series showed the Holy Kingdom ceasing witch hunts because witches played a crucial role in saving the world.

“But isn’t it the hero’s job to save the world? Is the danger so great that even you have to step in?”

It wasn’t that the hero was weak or anything.

“A hero can’t protect the world alone. They need help, don’t they?”

A hero can’t do everything by themselves.

That’s why they have companions and allies.

“Hmm… I don’t really understand. If witches are good people, why do people hate and fear them?”

Josie had only ever met Estelle, so it was problematic if she started viewing witches in a positive light. In reality, most witches in the story were violent, selfish, and saw people only as tools for their plans.

“Even good people can’t always be good. And evil people can’t always be evil. That’s true for everyone, not just witches. No matter how kind you are, Josie, there are times when you get angry, right?”

“I’ll go check on the patient!”

Josie hurriedly left, as if something had struck a nerve. Estelle sighed.

She didn’t feel good about lying.

If she told Josie everything about knowing the future and the original story, what if Josie decided to become a witch too?

Had anyone ever shown this much interest in her before? Even when she lived with Dorothy, the Witch of the West, it hadn’t been like this.

It felt uncomfortable to be the focus of someone’s attention.

Feeling the need to create a plausible reason for her actions, Estelle followed Josie.

Lucent