CHAPTER 2. The Night of the Witches and an Intruder

Stepping into the forest where the moonlight had vanished, she literally couldn’t see a hand in front of her face. Between the dark ancient trees that had been rooting themselves into the earth for hundreds of years, only a violet pendulum glimmered faintly.

It took an hour by carriage to her destination, but cutting through the forest meant she could get there on foot in two. Rieta retraced the map she’d gotten at the station and kept walking.

The forest, a breeding ground for unsettling rumors, was so silent not even a birdsong reached her ears, and so vast that one wrong turn could leave a person lost forever. Any other time, Rieta wouldn’t have gone looking for trouble by defying the adults’ warnings.

But……

With a fairy-blessed pendulum in hand, there was nothing to fear. The violet gem she’d received as a birthday gift had a talent for pointing her exactly where she needed to go, even in the middle of chaos.

Steeling herself with that thought, she pressed forward for two hours. In a night where even the moon had gone dark, Rieta drew a deep breath at the blaze of light that filled her vision.

“Oh my, it’s been ages! I thought I’d lost that face!”

“Who swapped out my frog? Give me back my assistant!”

“It was you, wasn’t it? The one who copied my potion recipe. This is a violation of association rules!”

The moon had vanished completely, but the ground blazed with light. Though it was nearly midnight, it felt like dawn had arrived early here, or like someone had stirred the night with a streak of early morning……

Soft violet radiance dissolved into a silver sky, navy-blue stars and rippling gold like a veil hung close enough to reach out and touch. Rieta stood overwhelmed without even realizing it, utterly lost in the breathtaking scene.

The deep breath she’d drawn to steady herself refused to leave her lungs.

“My goodness……”

She’d only ever heard about it. She’d never imagined it could be anything like this.

The Night of the Witches. A festival where witches scattered across the kingdom gathered to eat, drink, and show off their craft.

It was a witches’ gathering, but that didn’t mean ordinary people couldn’t enter. And entering didn’t mean they’d steal your eyes or turn you into a crow, like in some old fairy tale. Still, the reason the adults had warned her was simple.

The risk of being enchanted.

It hardly happened anymore these days, but up until a hundred years ago, stories of people bewitched by witches disappearing without a trace had circulated once or twice every year.

Well, a young woman who’d just come of age had little interest in whether those stories were true or not. Above all, Rieta was confident she wouldn’t fall for a witch’s tricks. Even if her eyes were spinning three times with every step she took.

Not for a single moment did she forget why she’d come all this way, defying her father’s wishes.

Whether it was nerves or excitement, something damp and unsettled settled into her palms. Rieta was fiddling with the collar of her robe and steadying her breath when a stranger’s voice crashed into her ear.

“Hey, you there, the young lady from the seaside!”

“……”

“Oh, come on, just a moment. You’ll need me.”

Snap. A light flick of thumb against forefinger.

In the blink of an eye, a woman with white hair tumbling in loose curls was standing in front of Rieta, grinning with her teeth showing.

“Huh……?”

She hadn’t taken a single step, yet the scenery around her had changed. Rieta, her robe pulled low over her head, sharpened her senses and tried to step back. But the witch’s whisper cut through her faster.

“Easy now. Everything you’re looking for is right here, I’d wager.”

“I’m not…”

“I know, I know. You came because of someone you love, didn’t you?”

“……How did you know that?”

“I know everything.”

A milky-white crystal floating in the air, the witch’s bitter scent, a meaningful gaze and smile.

The wariness in Rieta’s eyes softened by a fraction. While she hesitated, the witch let out a warm laugh and snapped her thumb and forefinger together once more.

Again, in the blink of an eye. A bare stall filled to the brim with jewels in every color.

“Now……”

“Careful, don’t go touching things at random. You wouldn’t want to have nightmares every three days, would you?”

Her hand, which had shot out before she could stop it, gave a small flinch. Rieta clasped both hands firmly together and swept her eyes over the dazzling display. She wasn’t particularly knowledgeable about gemstones, but the pieces laid out looked less like wares on a worn stall and more like exhibits that belonged in the Royal Museum.

The witch, watching her entranced customer with quiet attention, picked up a ring from the far edge and gave it a gentle shake.

“Now then, this one is perfect for you, miss.”

“What is this? An emerald?”

“Not just any emerald.”

Not just any emerald, then what?

The stone was large and deeply colored, which made it look expensive, but it didn’t have the distinctive appeal of the other pieces on display. The witch seemed to see right through that thought and murmured in a low, suggestive voice.

“This is the very emerald the emperor of the Amaro Empire gave to his lover.”

“The Amaro Empire fell over a thousand years ago.”

“True. But this emerald survived. Isn’t that remarkable?”

Put that way, it did seem remarkable.

Looking more closely, the flawless brilliance without a single impurity was no ordinary sight. Reflected in the crystal, the emerald was beautiful all on its own.

“You want a love that lasts forever, don’t you? A heart that never wears down or runs dry.”

“That……”

“This emerald can make it happen. There are conditions, of course……”

“……What kind of conditions?”

“For fifteen days from the day you buy it, you have to let it receive moonlight. Without enough moonlight absorbed into it, it’s nothing but a plain stone.”

“……”

“But if you wish sincerely, with a true heart, under the moonlight…… the miracle will come to pass.”

Eternal love. A heart that never wears down or runs dry.

Rieta’s parents, who had promised to be faithful to each other for life, became strangers with a single sheet of paper. Two people who’d met at the right time and married were good guardians but ill-suited spouses, and they’d parted after dividing between them one child each, both bearing half of the other’s face.

The lifetime they’d promised before marriage had clouded over far too easily in the face of ordinary conflict. Rieta thought of a face she’d been seeing less and less of as things got busier.

She truly didn’t want to go through another separation. She was done with sitting in a rearranged room and turning old memories over in her mind. Done with measuring the growing distance while guessing when a letter might arrive.

Even bonds protected by the kingdom could dissolve in an instant…… and yet, contradictorily, the only thing left to trust was a heart, fragile and fickle as it was.

The heart. When it was genuine, it worked more powerfully than anything else.

Rieta needed a bond that wouldn’t break, one with no room for farewell. Ten years ago she’d been too young to understand and had let things slip through her hands, but she was grown now. That was different.

‘Keep going, just like this……’

I’ll never let you feel lonely. The voice that had promised her gently, last summer.

Her heart, hidden beneath her robe, thudded hard. Rieta drew a deep breath and made up her mind.

“H, how much is it?”

“Good thinking! It’s not something money can ordinarily buy, but because I want to cheer on your special bond…… I’ll let it go for this much. What do you say?”

The number scrawled on the paper far exceeded three years’ worth of Rieta’s allowance. As for whether she had the money on hand right now… she did, technically, but……

“Well……”

“Miss, this is true love. True love.”

The arithmetic turning slowly in her head came to a stop. Her pocket held money she’d saved diligently over several years, and it was an amount she’d already resolved to pay if it meant achieving her goal.

What had she come all this way for, after all.

Like a habit worn smooth over years, the thumb, forefinger, and middle finger of her right hand curled into a circle. Whether it was the sweltering heat or the robe pulled over her head, the back of her neck had gone damp.

“I’ll, I’ll take it.”

“Wise choice. You’ve just grabbed a stroke of luck you’ll never find again…”

“I’ve heard enough. I can’t stand to watch this.”

An unfamiliar voice.

Rieta turned her head toward the sound without thinking. The man who’d appeared behind her wasn’t particularly short, yet he was tall enough that she had to look up at him. The robe pulled deep over his face kept his features from view, but the jaw it left exposed was pale and finely shaped.