“You evil wench!”

“Kill that witch!”

“Ptui!”

Someone spat at Louise.

As if that was the signal, people started rushing at her.

“Quick, tie her to the stake and burn her!”

“N-no!”

The girl who came running late with her niece in her arms screamed.

“Waaaaaah!”

The baby started wailing in the girl’s arms.

“The witch, the witch’s sister and child!”

“Grab them! Grab them and burn them too!”

The villagers’ rough hands reached for the girl.

The girl held her niece tight.

As if stopping the baby’s frantic struggles would save them.

It was hot.

The flames that rose from the square to the moon.

The tears that flowed endlessly down her cheeks.

The warmth of the struggling baby in her arms.

It was so hot she felt like she would die.

‘Someone.’

The girl prayed.

‘Please, someone help us!’

That’s when it happened.

A dignified, sharp voice rang out.

“Who dares conduct a witch hunt on Peiren soil?”

Someone walked toward the flames, their long robes fluttering.

***

The person who stepped in front of the stake was Leah.

Seeing the sisters and baby crying in such a terrible state, she was so angry her hair stood on end.

They were kind people who had rescued and hosted them when they were stranded.

Just earlier they had been smiling and waving goodbye.

Helix, standing beside her, whispered.

“Leah, calm down. No need to bring up the kingdom’s name right now.”

“He’s selling God’s name, so I need to go big too.”

Leah muttered back through gritted teeth.

Earlier.

To Leah’s offer to leave together, Louise had said.

Though she was very grateful, she couldn’t leave the village where she was born, raised, and where her husband’s grave was.

So they had left planning to send thank-you gifts later, not knowing this would happen.

‘Good thing we looked back and saw the flames. What would have happened otherwise?’

Leah glared at the priest.

She thought he might try something, but to think he would try to kill people with such a lowly method.

“Uh…”

Seeing the robed man and woman who suddenly appeared speaking like nobility, the villagers froze in confusion.

In that gap, Leah approached Louise and took her hand.

“Stand up.”

Plop.

Tears fell from Louise’s dazed eyes.

“Don’t cry now. You can cry all you want later.”

Leah spoke firmly while waiting for Louise to fix her clothes.

Then she asked the villagers with a fierce glare.

“His Majesty the King has declared there are no practitioners of evil arts in Peiren lands, so who dares accuse this innocent woman of being a witch?”

It’s him.

It’s that guy.

The villagers pointed at the priest with their eyes and timid gestures.

The stunned priest suddenly came to his senses.

“W-while I don’t know which noble house you’re from… the will of God differs from worldly intentions. That woman is definitely a witch!”

He had a slick tongue at least.

‘So that’s how he accused a mother of being a witch?’

Leah suppressed her anger and asked coldly.

“Oh? What makes you so certain this woman is a witch?”

“Monsters threaten the village because of her!”

“Do you have proof it’s her fault?”

There was none.

But he couldn’t back down now either.

The priest spouted nonsense like he had to the villagers, about how monsters increased after Louise lost her husband.

Leah cut him off.

“Not worth hearing. Monsters are rampant not just in this village but throughout the north. How do you explain that?”

“That… but…!”

Seeing the priest unable to continue, the villagers felt something was off.

Come to think of it, this commotion had been too sudden.

Suddenly accusing the village’s young widow of being a witch.

Scaring them with talk of monsters.

It was all just the priest’s claims.

The villagers started whispering.

“Now that I think about it, didn’t the priest have his eye on Louise?”

“I remember too. Last time I heard he wanted to make her his concubine. I thought I’d misheard!”

“Wait. Did that priest have Louise’s husband killed?”

Whisper whisper.

The atmosphere had reversed.

Cold sweat ran down the priest’s back as the villagers looked at him with suspicious eyes.

Backed into a corner, he shrieked shrilly.

“Look at that witch’s face!”

“What about her face?”

“That pretty face! She must be a witch! She must have cultivated it to bewitch men!”

What the hell?

Leah asked back, pissed off.

“So she’s a witch because she’s pretty?”

She sharply pulled back her hood. Long platinum blonde hair cascaded down like waves.

“Then am I a grand witch?”

***

The long platinum blonde hair scattered smoothly with the flames as a backlight.

Her tall figure was elegant, and her revealed face made everyone hold their breath.

Everyone present was dumbstruck by the sudden appearance of such otherworldly beauty.

“…Are you a goddess?”

Louise asked with clasped hands.

Leah shook her head.

“I am Lady Leah Piert of the Piert Ducal Family.”

The priest’s jaw dropped.

The other villagers were the same.

The Piert Ducal Family.

One of the Kingdom of Peiren’s most prominent noble houses, known even in this remote mountain region!

The village chief rushed over and fell to his knees.

“T-to have such an esteemed person in our humble village…!”

“It’s a lie! Why would Lady Piert be in such a backwoods place!”

The priest shouted angrily.

“That woman must be a grand witch, just as she claimed with her own mouth!”

Should I just burn his head off with a Fireball?

Leah barely held herself back.

If she used magic here, Louise whom she’d just saved might be accused of being a witch again.

Still, she needed to put that priest in his place somehow.

Poke poke.

Someone jabbed Leah’s arm. It was Helix, still standing behind her with his hood up.

He spoke with his eyes.

‘Leave it to me.’

Nod.

Leah gave a slight nod.

Having received her consent, Helix naturally reached out.

Swoosh.

His large hand pulled the hood back over Leah’s silver hair.

“There’s no need to show your noble countenance for too long.”

Speaking lowly and respectfully, he swept his gaze over the gathered villagers.

After the surprise and awe had passed. A few who had begun looking at Leah with lustful eyes hurriedly lowered their heads.

Snap.

Deciding he’d given sufficient warning, Helix stepped in front of her.

“How dare you wag your tongue so rudely at my lady.”

He spoke in a low voice.

“If not for my lady’s merciful nature, I would rip out that tongue as an example…”

Helix glared at the priest.

Punishing such a vile man would be a pleasure as a guardian.

Step step.

He approached the priest and lifted him by the head like pulling up a radish.

“Y-you… gyaaaah!”

Grabbed by the hair and dangling in the air, the priest flailed.

“L-let go! God will not let you get away with this!”

“Is that all your god’s wrath amounts to.”

Helix spoke calmly.

“This is the wrath of the Ducal Family.”

Shake shake shake shake.

The priest, held by his hair, started getting vigorously shaken up, down and sideways.

“Urk! Ack! Ugh!”

“Endure it. The Ducal Family’s wrath isn’t over yet.”

“Gyaaaah!!”

***

“Hmm.”

Prince Patrick was watching the scene hidden in the bushes.

When flames rose from the village, he had sent the guide to see what was happening, and he brought back unexpected news.

That the priest was trying to burn a witch at the stake.

Witch hunts.

Something the King had banned because too many innocent people were being victimized.

‘I must stop this.’

He couldn’t let an innocent woman be burned to death.

After careful consideration, the prince had the guide and subjugation force stand by while he snuck in with just Ruyan.

They planned to watch for the right timing to rescue the woman.

“Sir Piert, rescue the woman if she’s about to be tied to the stake.”

“Can’t we kill that priest bastard and run while we’re at it?”

“…Just save the woman, just the woman.”

But then Lady Leah Piert suddenly appeared.

The lady quickly and boldly subdued the priest and cleared the woman of witch accusations.

Ruyan beside him looked ready to rush out when Lady Leah revealed her face, but after seeing how she handled things, his face became proud.

“You’re… really devoted to her.”

“Our Leah deserves it. You saw, didn’t you? How smart and brave and beautiful and perfect she is!”

“You’re right.”

Prince Patrick honestly admired her.

The chivalrous spirit and courage to save a woman accused of being a witch in front of so many people.

The logical coolness when dealing with the priest.

If she were a lord instead of a lady, he would want to recruit her as his aide immediately.

‘Regretful?’

Ruyan stared intently at the prince.

“…Why are you glaring at me when you agree?”

“It’s nothing.”

Ruyan took his eyes off the prince’s profile.

Though he was quite displeased seeing him sparkle while looking at his sister, there was something else bothering him more right now.

He turned his head toward Leah. The tall hooded figure mercilessly shaking the priest beside her seemed very unfamiliar.

Ruyan narrowed his eyes.

‘Was there someone like that in the knights?’

No matter how he looked at it, this was someone he’d never seen before, but he seemed quite close with Leah.

‘Who is that guy?’

***

After saving Louise from the witch hunt, Leah and Helix escorted the sisters home.

The two sisters bowed deeply.

“We are forever indebted to you for such great kindness.”

“You’ve already repaid it.”

Leah pointed at the potato stew bowl still on the table.

“I received help too. I just helped because I could.”

“My lady…!”

“But Leah.”

Helix, who had been quiet beside her, asked.

“Your way of speaking was different from usual.”

“Mm. I was trying to show noble dignity.”

It happened sometimes.

Getting too into the role of ‘noble and dignified aristocrat’ and not being able to break out of method acting, you could say.

“Noble dignity?”

“I need to use it sometimes. Speaking exactly like you do tends to work well.”

Helix asked back, seemingly not understanding.

“Do you really need to act with such dignity? Aren’t you actually a great noble?”

“Even great nobles have people who try to put down young women.”

At those words, the sisters looked at Leah.

Zing.

It was an intense look of sympathy.

They looked at Leah, then at each other, then spoke as if having made up their minds.

“My lady, we want to repay your kindness, even if just a little.”