TDSWM Chapter 47

Chapter 47

“Sorry? Sorry you couldn’t protect Theodore? What do you mean by that?”

The witch asked as if she were teasing.

“This man, you’re speaking your true feelings, aren’t you?”

“Yes…”

The hand that had just been strangling me carefully wiped away my tears.

Why?

Startled by his warm touch, I opened my eyes.

Right before me, Gerald’s emerald-green eyes were shining as he looked down at me.

“He worries far more about Theodore than about anything else.”

“?”

He gently stroked my hair, then patted my back as he helped me up.

“Since it’s been revealed you’re a witch, I guess she thought my godmother and I were going to kill her. After all, she’s been continually abused and threatened for that very reason in this place.”

“!”

I glanced at him in surprise, then quickly turned away when I realized he was still looking at me.

“I see. But where did you get something like this?”

“I didn’t get it.”

“Then?”

“She’s my wife.”

Though he said it matter-of-factly, the witch’s eyes grew as round as an owl’s, and my mouth fell open.

We both looked up at him at the same time.

Wife? He said wife?

But why am I blushing at hearing this? Oh no, why does my heart feel all fluttery again?

“A wife who’s a witch? Does your world allow such a thing? Did you quit being a Grand Duke?”

Gerald chuckled.

Startled, I looked back at him.

He gave me a look as if to say, What?

I shrugged my shoulders coyly.

“The Emperor gave her to me. Said I should try dying at the hands of a demon.”

“Ah…”

On the young girl’s face suddenly fell the weariness of someone over a hundred years old.

I looked at Gerald in alarm.

But his face had already returned to that of a stern Grand Duke.

“But this witch doesn’t carry out her duties and keeps doing other things instead. It’s exhausting.”

The fifteen-year-old girl simply looked at me.

“She throws herself anywhere, as if it doesn’t matter, just because she thinks she can’t die. Quite troublesome.”

“Can’t die?”

The witch’s thunderous laughter echoed through the cave.

Her voice was so loud I wanted to cover my ears, but her aura pressed down on me so strongly I couldn’t. Then, just as suddenly, her laughter stopped. She leaned in close, her youthful yet ancient face right before mine.

“Child, there is no life that does not die. You know this, don’t you?”

“…!”

Yes. This witch knew who I really was.

I swallowed dryly.

She pulled back from me and looked at Gerald.

“You’ll regret this.”

“Just going along with the Emperor’s plans would be boring.”

“Yes, I suppose so.”

“Let me introduce you. This is my godmother, Lady Yoanna Finger. And this here is Sinclair, the second daughter of Marquis Owen Michael, and my wife.”

“What? Michael’s second daughter? You’re Twinkle’s child?”

Her eyes softened with affection as she approached me, then suddenly she recoiled as if startled. She looked at Gerald. Gerald scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.

His eyes seemed to drip with honey.

Could it be… he truly meant it with me?

The witch looked back at me.

“So, what about you? Will you come with me to the Demon Realm?”

Suddenly, beside us, a great river appeared, with a small boat waiting on it.

Panicked, I looked at Gerald.

“An authorized escape. I’ll announce it as ‘she ran away.’ Even if the Emperor or the Owens try to pursue you, they won’t follow into the Demon Realm. Live freely, however you wish.”

“…!”

His sudden proposal left me completely at a loss.

He lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a kiss there, his magical eyes locking onto mine.

And then—whoosh.

He vanished.

Hic.

He left me alone. Hic, hic!

Left me alone beside a witch I was meeting for the first time, after saying only what he wanted.

Hey, you uncommunicative, unempathetic, brick wall of a man!

My inner scream got swallowed up by my hiccups.

The witch was already aboard the boat.

What do I do…

“Sinclair, is she still inside you?”

Hic. Th-that… hic.

I shook my head.

“I see. Then how did you end up like this?”

“Hic, hic. I—hic—well, hiccup—”

It almost sounded like I could hear the witch’s eyes rolling.

“So you threw yourself in for the sake of the children you taught?”

“Hic.”

I nodded. Hic.

Thankfully, since she could read others’ thoughts, I just had to recall everything that had happened.

“Sinclair died? On her wedding day, no less? Hm…”

I don’t even know how I possessed her. When I woke up, I was already in her body.

She’s not going to punish me for invading someone else’s body, right? Not turn me into a frog?

Or worse, into a rat, the one creature I’m terrified of?

Suddenly, her face—which had been three meters away—popped right in front of mine, and I fell on my butt.

“Oh, Twinkle, just look at what Michael did. How unhappy must you have been, for your blessing to be meaningless and for you to leave the world so soon…”

Yoanna’s head floated ominously as she glared down at me, and I nearly jumped out of my skin. My whole body trembled.

“Lady Yoanna!”

I couldn’t help but call out to her.

“Yes, it wasn’t your fault.”

Hic.

If she knew my true identity, maybe she’d also know how I could go back?

“Don’t expect that. How would I know the way back? I’m no god. The problem God gave you is one only you can solve. No one else can do it for you.”

Her frightening expression melted away, replaced by the poise of an elegant fifteen-year-old girl. Her words were true, but they disappointed me.

“So then, are you coming or not?”

Well, witches in these stories are never patient. They’re selfish, always living as they please.

“You know well. But I’ve waited long enough—at least now I can face Gerald without shame.”

Yoanna pushed against the ground with her staff.

The boat began to drift away on the current.

I dashed forward and grabbed onto the stern. Startled, the witch’s face twisted.

“You could at least research a way for me to go back, couldn’t you? Hic!”

My body trembled like a taut bowstring, but I stubbornly clung to the boat, trying to drag it back to shore.

“Why would I?”

Cold as always.

Sploosh!

My legs slipped into the water, but my fragile hands clung to the stern with all my weight.

“Welcome, my lady.”

Maids and servants, tall and elegant, stood neatly in uniform before the castle.

My eyes widened. The Demon Realm I’d read about in books was full of monsters and insane demons frothing like rabid beasts, but here it was different. They were like models—tall, beautiful, graceful.

By a lake, the castle stood serenely. In the moat, brightly colored fish shimmered beneath the surface. Far off, horned cattle grazed peacefully, like the white water buffalo of Southeast Asia. My eyes grew round.

“Are you coming or not?”

“Yes, I’m coming. But this castle—is it really mine, given by the Grand Duke?”

I caught up to Yoanna, who was walking ahead, and asked again just to make sure.

“You’re such a suspicious child. He said to prepare it properly, since someone important would live here. That someone is you. A bit much for alimony, isn’t it? Especially since you’re not even the real Sinclair.”

That’s right. I was now in my castle in the Demon Realm. Gerald, after realizing I was a witch, had contacted Yoanna right away.

He told her a new owner would be arriving, so the castle called Colloid Prance should be readied.

According to Yoanna, this land was rich in magic stones, crops grew well, livestock and crafts flourished, and it was one of the Demon Realm’s territories where demons gathered.

Demons living together in a community?

The monsters were bound with restraints, forced to farm under the demons’ command? Just like the Empire had shepherds, this place had beast-handlers. No wonder Emperor Julius fought wars using monsters.

It felt like I was reading a side story.

But Gerald… this man.

He had saved demons—whose lives were precarious in the Empire—like this.

I was moved. My heart still tingled, as if his hands were fastening the buttons near my chest again.

“I can’t stand it. Your thoughts are bouncing all over. I can’t concentrate. Trion Quang.”

“…?”

“I put up a veil. To block your thoughts—I don’t want to hear them.”

“What? So you could have chosen not to read my thoughts, but you still did? Isn’t that a violation of human rights?”

“Yes.”

Gasp. She admitted it?

“But security checks are essential for the safety of this place.”

Well… she wasn’t wrong. You never knew what kind of spy might sneak in. That convinced me to stick close to her and try to befriend her more.

“This land has a protective barrier. Dangerous monsters can’t invade. Perfect for someone like you, with zero mana.”

Wow. She never forgets to crush me.

“Are there other fortresses owned by the Schlezens besides this one?”

“Of course. The Schlezens exist for the conquest of the Demon Realm. Right now they’re managed through demon deputies, though.”

“Ah…”

The Grand Duke’s family was far more formidable than what was described in the book.

“Among them, this fortress is the most beautiful and strongest. Giving you this means Gerald has truly fallen hard. And for a demon, no less.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“Hardly. I’m not frivolous. I only speak the truth. Now that you’re here, wouldn’t you like to tour the Demon Realm? Here, you’re free!”

That’s right. I was no one’s wife anymore. No longer threatened by Marquis Michael Owen or the Emperor. I was free to live and rest however I pleased.

I realized that I had finally gained what I’d longed for when I first possessed this body—an escape.