episode_0125

[Episode 125] – I’m always watching.

“Would you like to read this?”

A few days have passed since Titania cut her hair.

Titania quietly placed a thick envelope of documents in front of Veronica and Ainsel. Veronica glanced at Titania, opened the envelope on the table, and took out the contents.

“This…”

Veronica began to drool and read the contents of the document. Most of it contained personal information about nobles working in the royal castle. Starting with ministerial positions, all the way down to the lowest nobles.

What family they belong to, what department they work in, and even what kind of family relationships they have. Veronica frowned slightly as she read the detailed and detailed document.

“…Why are you showing this to me?”

“I want my sister and Ainsel to help me. “No big deal, just to dust off a little bit.”

“dust?”

When Veronica glanced up and looked at Titania, Titania smiled and took the document from Veronica’s hand and continued her explanation. Why did you show this document to Veronica and Ainsel?

“The people listed in this document are nobles who ‘approved’ of expelling my mother from the royal castle. Even though I narrowed it down briefly with the help of Bankshow… there are really a lot of them. right?”

Titania smiles and flips through documents. Veronica looked at that scene and couldn’t help but make a bitter expression. That’s right, what Titania is going to do from now on is the same as Vivian of old.

“…So, are you planning to take advantage of the nobles’ weaknesses and threaten them, just like Vivian did in the past? “They kicked Vivian out of the castle, so are they going to kick them out of the castle too?”

“Sister, that can’t be possible. How can I kick out innocent nobles? Did I tell you? “I just want to dust it off a little bit.”

“That’s that…!”

Veronica tried to argue with her, but when she saw Titania’s expression, she couldn’t continue. The reason Titania had eyes like that was because of herself and Ainsel.

The cold eyes were shining coldly. The red eyes, which were always full of gunfire and had always looked at him with bold eyes, now seemed to contain nothing.

“I have no intention of kicking out innocent nobles either. Really, if you’re a clean person who didn’t come up with anything from your sister and Ainsel’s investigation, they won’t kick you out just because you agreed to kicking out your mother. But, but? “If you shake it off just a little bit and there’s just enough dust to come out… wouldn’t it be better to just grind it up?”

Titania smiled brightly and put down the documents in front of Veronica again. Veronica took the document, then raised her head and looked at Titania once again.

“You said you would help me, right? huh?”

Clearly, a faint smile was drawn on the corner of Titania’s mouth, but her eyes were not smiling. Veronica truly regretted her choice, saying that she would not have shown Vivian if she had known it would end up like this.

Veronica flipped through the documents once again and checked the personal information of the nobles written there. Veronica let out a deep sigh as she saw faces she had seen many times in her life as the documents were turned over.

“…Do whatever you want.”

“Thank you always, sister. “Ainsel will help you too, right?”

Titania turned her head to look at the Ainsel on the table, smiled, and asked with a smile. Ainsel looked at Titania blankly for a moment, then nodded with a tearful expression.

After Ainsel gave permission, Titania smiled. However, neither Veronica nor Ainsel could laugh along with that smile. Because I know Titania isn’t really smiling.

Veronica was worried about Titania’s behavior. What Titania was doing now was as if she was preparing for Vivian’s return here.

If Vivian doesn’t come back like this…

‘…Vivian. I guess we all misjudged Titania. I also thought that only if you left here would Titania be able to stand on its own. That’s why I let you go…’

Veronica sighed softly and shook her head.

Because I could imagine what would happen to Titania if Vivian didn’t come back here. Now, I think we need to bring them back here, not just for Titania, but for Vivian…

I started to have those thoughts.

*

Whenever Titania had time, she looked at Vivian through the mirror on her desk. After my mother left me, I watched through the mirror every day what she was doing, where she was, and what she was doing.

As I continued to watch, I learned about what my mother did after she left me, where she lived, and who she lived with.

My mother opened a small bakery in the countryside far from the capital and lived there. He lived with a ‘witch’ named Katarina under the same roof in a shop they built in the woods as their home.

‘Katharina. Don’t make too much today. ‘I guess the weather is bad so the kids won’t come.’

‘Yes, yes. Well, I will.’

Perhaps because it is a bakery in the countryside, most of the customers who come to the store are young children from the village. Other than that, there are the occasional friendly-looking ladies and elderly people who come for tea.

Most of the villagers who came to the store came to talk to their mothers rather than to buy snacks. My mother seemed to be quite popular in the village.

One day, a woman who seemed close to my mother came to visit me and we had tea together and talked about my mother’s ‘remarriage’.

‘Vivian still has no intention of remarrying? ‘Isn’t it too hard to live alone with my daughter in the store?’

‘I always tell you, I have no ideas yet. There is nothing lacking in living alone with my daughter.’

‘It’s a shame… If it were Vivian, all the men in the village would definitely be lining up. ‘Shall I introduce you to a good man?’

‘I prefer fateful encounters rather than being introduced. ‘Isn’t your wife like that too?’

‘Ahahaha! That’s every girl’s dream! Before I married my husband, I thought he was my destiny. furthermore-‘

The conversation between mother and wife, filled with cackling and laughter, lasted over three hours and ended only after the sun had set.

My mother probably didn’t like long conversations in the capital city, but was it because she felt at ease in the countryside? During the long conversation with his wife, there was no sign of dislike at all.

Only after the wife left did Katarina, with her messy hair, peek out from the kitchen and sneakily approach her mother. Since when did these two become so close?

After that, Titania flipped the mirror over on the desk. It was because he didn’t want to see his mother friendly with another woman when he wasn’t around.

Just like that, another day.

Children flocked into their mother’s shop reflected in the mirror. The children smiled brightly and called their mother this way, perhaps because they were not afraid of their mother’s sharp face.

‘Witch! Witch! ‘Give me this!’

‘I don’t sell cookies to bad kids who call me a witch~ Go back~’

‘Oh my! Even witches are strict! Just be thankful that you don’t call me ‘Granny’ anymore!’

‘You are prohibited from entering our store from today. I know this because I will tell your mother.’

Crackling, the kids were excited and called their mother a witch, wondering what was so good about it. At first, Titania laughed at her mother’s lament, saying that she was called a devil’s grandmother by the children because of her scary face.

“Witch… Witch… That seems like a cute nickname.”

Certainly, my mother’s face was scary when I first saw it. A bridge of the nose that looks like it’ll cut if you touch it, lips as bright as blood, blonde hair that sparkles like gold coins, and sharp eyes that look like they’re angry.

When I was young, I was really scared of my mother’s face like that, but now I find everything about my mother extremely endearing. It’s such a lovely face that I want to meet her right away and look at her face.

When Titania looked at the mirror again, the child in the mirror seemed to have chosen a snack and pointed at it with his finger and shouted at Vivian.

‘Witch! Witch! Give me this quickly!’

‘Yes, three hundred fairy tales.’

‘Yes, here!’

The child smiled and placed three fairy tales in his mother’s hands. The mother responded by giggling and handing over the snacks the child had chosen.

‘I definitely received it. That’s three hundred fairy tales.’

‘Heehee!’

The child holding the snack in his hand smiled so brightly that his teeth were visible.

The sight of the mother stroking the child’s head and the child’s happy smiling face looked so happy that Titania unconsciously started biting her nails.

It was because of extreme jealousy and nervousness.

Sure, it looks so cute and happy that it warms your heart, but why does it hurt like it’s burning inside?

‘Why on earth am I not there? How can my mother smile so happily after leaving me behind? I…I still think about my mother…!’

Suddenly, the fingernail that I had been biting without thinking broke and made a sharp sound. My fingernails broke, and bright red blood began to flow from between my hands and fingernails.

Titania didn’t even realize that her fingernails were broken, but because of the blood dripping from her fingertips and the fishy taste of blood remaining in her mouth, Titania only looked at the cut and bruised nails.

Titania, who roughly wiped away the blood with a handkerchief, turned her head again and looked at her mother reflected in the mirror.

Seeing her mother laughing and chatting happily with her children made Titania feel like a fire was burning inside her.

‘…Still, there isn’t much left.’

Titania turned her head and looked at the window.

The hot sun has subsided a little, and the wind has started to blow somewhat cooler. Soon, summer will end and fall will come.

When fall arrived, a coronation ceremony was scheduled.

So, before the coronation ceremony begins…

‘I’m going to bring my mother back no matter what.’

*

A female vendor selling fruit at the village market looked up blankly at the sky. The sky was high and blue without a single cloud. The wind was cool, but the sun was shining warmly, making it the perfect weather for sleeping.

“It’s fall…”

The female merchant muttered as she looked up at the high sky. Then he lowered his head again and looked at the fruits placed on the stand. These had to be sold quickly so that they could go to a bigger town and do business during the upcoming ‘festival’ period.

It was said that the country would hold a big event for a week from the coronation ceremony of the new queen, so as a businesswoman, it was an opportunity to make money that she should not miss.

So, as I was praying to God and even to the fairies to quickly sell the fruit, a person wearing a hood up to the top of his head approached the stand and asked the price of the fruit.

“How much is this fruit?”

“welcome! therefore…”

The female merchant glanced, rolled her eyes and looked at the customer wearing a bandana pulled all the way to his head. I tried to cover my face with a hood, but I couldn’t even hide the black hair sticking out when I lowered my head.

His black hair, flowing like silk, proved to anyone that he was not a commoner. A dignity that could not be hidden even with a hood seemed to ooze out of his actions.

As the female merchant looked at the customer blankly, the customer tilted his head as if asking what was going on.

“ma’am?”

“Boo, ma’am. Just call me ma’am. That fruit? Instead of selling just one, we sell three. There were originally 6 fairy tales, but please only give me 5.”

“Five fairy tales? wait a minute.”

The hooded customer searched his pockets and then asked the female merchant.

“By any chance… do you know about a snack shop nearby where a witch lives?”

“Witch…? Oh, if it’s that store, just climb over the fence over there and walk a short distance. “Did you come to look for that store?”

“That’s the way it is. thank you. ma’am. “This is my return.”

The customer took a small coin out of his pocket and placed it in the wife’s hand. A golden coin that shines brighter than a ripe wheat field illuminated by the setting sun. The female merchant looked back and forth at the gold coins in her palm with her mouth wide open.

When I tried to argue that I had given it to him by mistake, the customer shook his head and started walking in the direction indicated by the merchant. However, the merchant began to feel anxious. If you receive something higher than its original value in return, you may be anxious that the other person may have given it to you in the wrong way.

The female merchant, worried that it might be an outsider who came to catch the owner of the snack shop due to rumors that he was a witch, shouted at the customer who was walking away.

“Well, the owner of that store is called a witch, but she’s not a real witch! “It’s just kids playing around…!”

As he continued to make excuses, the customer wearing a hood turned his head and looked at the female merchant. As the wind blew, the front of the hood became disheveled, and soon the customer’s face began to appear.

Hair as black as ebony, and bright red eyes like drops of blood. The beautiful customer, with the corners of her eyes smiling, answered the merchant with a grin.

“I know.”