Chapter 70: Omen (7)

“Wiener Schnitzel! If you’re in Vienna, you have to eat that!”

“Sachertorte is great too! The chocolate’s so smooth—it’s perfect as dessert!”

“Well-grilled bratwurst sausage goes best with beer… hey, wait. Why are you looking at me like that?”

With a bratwurst nearly three times the width of her finger hanging from her mouth and a beer mug in hand,

Eva looked utterly content.

Hitler, however, felt something strange—something suggestive stir inside him.

Both their faces turned red as they quickly looked away from each other.

“…Pervert.”

“I wasn’t staring!”

Nearly a month had passed since Hitler met Eva in Vienna.

They were now sharing a cramped one-room flat.

Living together—alone—with the opposite s*x.

Each day felt foreign to Hitler.

He struggled to suppress the unfamiliar, pounding emotions that swelled in his chest.

“Miss Eva, you should wear clothes when you sleep!”

“…It’s uncomfortable!”

The room was so small that they sometimes saw each other in compromising states.

But Hitler always tried to maintain composure,
distracting himself by imagining his favorite animals.

Eva didn’t like how gentlemanly Hitler was.

‘He could stand to let loose a little…’

They hadn’t done anything physical,
but in every other way, it felt like a newlywed couple’s life.

‘…Marriage.’

It was silly to think of proposing after just a month,
but Eva was desperate.

The witches could catch up to her at any time.

She wanted to propose to Hitler as soon as possible and formally become his wife.

His kind heart and sparkling, pure eyes were… dazzlingly beautiful.

But—

If she truly cared for his safety,
then she had to leave him.

If she were captured, Hitler wouldn’t survive.

At some point, Eva had genuinely fallen for Hitler.

Whether or not he felt the same, she didn’t know.

She wanted to protect him,
but she also didn’t want to leave him.

That was her selfish desire.

‘What does he think of me?’

She wanted to ask, but fear of rejection held her back.

If Hitler liked her too, even just a little…

“G-get…”

“Get… what?”

“I’ve decided!”

“Decided what?”

She’d made up her mind.

“…We’re waking up early tomorrow.”

“I already wake up at 6 a.m.”

“Even earlier than that!”

Nobility or commoner—it didn’t matter.

In love, such distinctions were meaningless.

Times were changing.

Soon, it wouldn’t be bloodlines that mattered, but capital and industry.

Maybe that era had already arrived.

Even the Empire’s Crown Prince had married a maid.

She wasn’t entirely common, but still far from his social standing.

Eva was from a faded noble family,
and Hitler was a rising star as an artist.

‘…Maybe we’re actually well-matched?’

“Uhehehe…”

Eva rolled around on the bed giggling mischievously.

Lying on the floor with his futon, Hitler couldn’t sleep.

‘…A capitalist, huh.’

If Hitler agreed to marry her, she could support him generously.

She had more money than he did.

Treasure the Witch Federation hadn’t taken was still buried in her estate’s garden.

If the mansion hadn’t burned down, it could’ve been their newlywed home.

‘…Father.’

It had been a tragedy brought by magical overload.

Her father, who had raised her alone,
had died by her own hand.

“It wasn’t your fault…”

Eva whispered her father’s dying words to herself again and again.

“…What was that?”

“Nothing. Just sleep.”

Suddenly gloomy, Eva pouted and hid under the blanket.

Behind her dimming eyes were quiet tears.

She was thinking about a tomorrow that felt impossibly uncertain.

***

‘…That was an angel, no matter how you look at it.’

Hitler recalled the classical descriptions of angels in old books.

Beings covered in wings and eyes, with beastly forms that inspired awe and fear.

Angels so overwhelming that mortals were blinded by their splendor.

That was what his sketches now resembled.

‘Miss Eva… is she really fighting these things?’

If Eva truly stood against angels to protect the German people—and all of humanity—
then why were God’s own creations targeting mankind?

It made no sense.

“I’m done.”

Hitler had just finished a rough sketch of Schönbrunn Palace when—

“…Two men, behind us.”

“Huh?”

“They’ve been watching us. Those guys in brown hats and trench coats. They’re Witch Federation agents.”

When Hitler glanced back, sure enough—two burly men with grim faces were approaching.

“Hold tight.”

“What?”

Hitler quickly packed up his things, grabbed Eva’s hand, and took off running.

They darted through the crowds near Schönbrunn Palace and into Vienna’s tangled backstreets.

Hitler knew these streets better than anyone, he’d painted them daily.

Once he felt they’d shaken the pursuers, he led Eva back to a main road and melted into the crowd again.

The whole time, they clung to each other’s hands.

That shared warmth was enough to soften even the biting winter air.

Eva held tight to Hitler’s smaller hand.

Looking at his back as he led her through the streets,
he looked larger than anyone.

“…I think we lost them.”

“Yeah…”

Once they were sure the chase had ended, they returned to the boarding house.

There, Eva finally spoke.

“I’m sorry.”

“For what?”

“For dragging you into this.”

The Witch Federation was a global web of power.

Of course they had a presence in Vienna, the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

“I’ll leave tomorrow morning. Don’t open the door for anyone.
Say you know nothing about me.
If they press you, tell them… I went to Innsbruck.”

“You can’t. It’s too dangerous right now, Miss Eva.”

“If I stay, you’ll be in danger too.”

Truthfully, Eva wanted to stay with him.

To eat together, talk together, sleep side by side…

To someday raise children and live in peace.

Until the day her life ended,
she wanted to be with him.

Even a modest life would be enough.

Just being together would make everything feel whole.

She wanted to wake up each morning with his face beside hers.

That was Eva’s small dream.

But—

It was also a greedy one.

Now that the witches were practically on top of them,

Eva finally faced reality.

If she stayed, Hitler could be seriously harmed.

He might lose his life before ever fulfilling his dream.

She couldn’t let that happen.

He had saved her.

He had shown her kindness and warmth.

So Eva, swallowing her tears, made her decision.

“Tomorrow morning, I’m going to Innsbruck.
That’s where I’ll meet my end.”

She spoke with grim resolve.

If Hitler begged her not to go, she wouldn’t be able to stay firm.

So she forced a cold tone, wiping her tears as she spoke.

But—

“I’ll go with you.”

Clear-eyed Hitler gave her an answer she hadn’t expected.

“…What?”

“I’m going with you.
I wouldn’t feel right letting you go alone.
But if you don’t want me to, just say so. I won’t follow.”

Go to Innsbruck… with Hitler?

‘Wait—that’s basically a honeymoon!’

Eva smiled and cried, burying herself in the blankets.

“A-are you sure…? Your life could be in danger…”

“Whatever. Let’s take the gamble.”

Unbelievable.

He was willing to risk his life for the woman he loved.
A true prince on a white horse…!

“H-huhu… hu, huhuhu… huhuh…”

Laughing and crying all at once, Eva’s strange noises kept Hitler from sleeping that night, too.

***

“…Princess Luise, the target is confirmed to be heading for Innsbruck.”

“You still haven’t captured her?”

“I sincerely apologize.”

“Useless Junker scum…”

‘The Iron-Blooded Witch’ Princess Viktoria Luise von Preußen sipped from a teacup handed to her by an attendant.

These worthless aristocrats.

At a time when unidentified monsters were on the rise,
they couldn’t afford to lose even one witch from the front lines.

And yet they let the Lightning escape?

They deserved to die ten thousand times over.

“Princess Luise, what should we do about the Austrian civilian accompanying the target?”

“Do I have to give orders for every little thing?

Kill him or spare him. I don’t care.”

“Understood.”

The report on Adolf’s background:

‘Just another common German…’

Princess Luise had no interest in him.

Her focus was on one person only—

Eva von Wallenstein, the cowardly traitor who’d fled the battlefield and refused to submit.

Descendant of Albrecht von Wallenstein, hero of the German people who once opposed Gustav the Lion.

“If you corner Eva, tell her clearly.

She must choose—return as my obedient witch, or die and pass her powers to another.
I’m sure Eva will make the right decision.”

“Understood.”

With the Lightning case closed,
it was time to move on to the “Great War” plans.

“…Princess? The Kaiser is asking for you. Are you here?”

“Tell him I’m coming immediately.”

‘What a crippled idiot to summon me at such a time…’

Luise sneered internally at the Kaiser and left her seat.