Prologue

“Would you like to spend the night with me?”  

Late at night. In an office with just the two of them, Claire, who had uttered such a bold statement, hurriedly covered her mouth.

“What did you just say?”

The man, whose gaze had been fixed on the documents, raised his head, and his eyes narrowed as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard. His normally calm, low voice was now a bit more agitated, perhaps from embarrassment.

“A slip of the tongue… No, I said I want to spend the night with you. Don’t you know what s*x is? s*x.”

“….”

The man’s narrowed eyes widened, and his lips parted slightly in shock.

“Official business hours are over, but we’re still working overtime. So, you could say this is an extension of work hours. But what nonsense are you spouting in the office? You’re not trying to joke around with me, are you?”

Breaking the brief silence, the man tried to pretend he hadn’t heard what he just did.

Of course he would want to deny it. Claire herself couldn’t understand what she was saying right now….

“It’s a joke… No, it’s not nonsense, I want to sleep with you. Those firm muscles, broad shoulders….”

What am I even saying!

As more words escaped her mouth against her will, the man’s face grew increasingly pale. Claire hurriedly covered her mouth again, but it was already too late.

“With that innocent face and clear eyes, what are you saying right now? Are you telling me you’ve been craving my body all this time?”

The man quickly looked himself up and down, then stared at Claire as if she were some strange person.

“No… Yes, that’s right.”

She wanted to say, “No, that can’t be!” but something else came out of Claire’s mouth. Every time she opened her mouth, words she never intended to say just spilled out.

She wanted to say it wasn’t true, that it was nonsense, to please forget what she just said, but every time she tried, her mouth wouldn’t move the way she wanted.

Something was definitely wrong. So Claire could do nothing but keep covering her mouth.

“Did you perhaps had something to drink?”

The man stood up and approached her. She hadn’t drunk anything, so she tried to wave her hand and say no, but suddenly it seemed better to just pretend she was drunk.

Before any more strange words could slip out, Claire nodded her head vigorously.

Then the man’s breath drew closer. Claire’s startled eyes followed him.

He sniffed around her—at the back of her head, the side of her hair, over her shoulder—checking if she was drunk.

“I don’t smell any alcohol….”

No matter how much he sniffed, there was no scent of alcohol, and his eyes narrowed again. As he looked at her with suspicion, Claire, feeling guilty, avoided his gaze.

“Why are you acting like this all of a sudden?”

He seemed to step back for a moment, then lifted her hair to smell it, making Claire’s whole body bristle.

She squeezed her eyes shut.

It felt strange. Maybe it was because they’d never been this close before, or maybe it was because of her earlier slip-up, but her heart started pounding like crazy.

“Are you saying this from the bottom of your heart?”

Unable to answer the man’s question, Claire shook her head with her eyes still closed. She couldn’t take back what she’d already said, so she had to show it through her actions.

This wasn’t her will. She was being controlled by something else she couldn’t understand.

Please, don’t ask questions, don’t get suspicious, just reject me!

The best way to escape this situation was for him to simply reject her proposal without any doubts. That way, things could quietly be forgotten.

At least, she was grateful that only the two of them were in this space. If there had been a witness, rumors would have spread, but since it was just the two of them, the chances were low.

Of course, the man could still spread rumors, but from what she’d seen, he was not the type to talk about others.

Even in moments of embarrassment like this, he was not someone who would tell others. So if she could just endure this brief shame, today’s incident would remain their secret.

She would have to see him many more times in the future, but that was a hardship she would have to bear.

“All right.”

But what came from his lips was an unexpected answer.

All right? What does he mean?

Claire, who had been avoiding his gaze, slowly opened her eyes and raised her head. At that moment, she saw the man unbuttoning his shirt, one button at a time.

No way….

She rubbed her eyes, thinking it couldn’t be, and looked at him again. He was still unbuttoning his shirt.

Why is he taking off his clothes…?

Claire could feel that something was going very wrong.

No, don’t take them off!

She rushed over to stop him from undressing.

“Why? Are you going to undress me yourself?”

But he interpreted her actions in the opposite way.

Claire shook her head, denying it, but the man placed her hand on his firm abs.

Feeling a man’s solid chest for the first time, Claire’s face flushed bright red in an instant. She tried to pull her hand away, but his strength was too much for her to escape.

“My hand… Oh, you’ve got a nice body.”

She wanted to say, “Let go of my hand,” but again, words came out that were completely different from her thoughts.

Why do words keep coming out that are completely different from what I’m thinking! Could it be…?!

Only then did Claire realize she was under a spell.

Yes, this must be because of spell.

It all started with the wish-granting tree and the mage who granted wishes.

All Claire had done was wish for her first love to come true. But something was going wrong.

Because the man she wanted was not the one standing in front of her now.

And yet, here she was, asking to sleep together, touching his chest… In this situation, it was only natural for him to misunderstand that she liked him or wanted him.

No, you’re the wrong person!

She desperately wanted to say it wasn’t so, but unable to say what she wished, she was frustrated and upset.

Why are these ridiculous things happening to me….

A deep sigh escaped Claire’s lips.

* * *

Claire learned about the wish-granting tree at an imperial banquet. As always, she was sitting on a sofa in the lounge, chatting and laughing with close young ladies, when talk turned to a spellally enchanted tree.

“It grants wishes?”

“Want to go see it?”

Claire, who had never heard of the wish tree before, blinked her round eyes in surprise, and her closest friend, Rona of the Clevent family, laughed softly and stood up.

Claire stood up as well, and together they left the banquet hall and headed toward the imperial garden.

Deep inside the garden, in a place where hardly anyone ever went, Rona’s steps came to a stop. There stood a tree as tall as an adult, with various slips of paper hanging from its branches.

“This is the wish tree. See all those papers? If you write your wish and hang it up, it’s supposed to come true.”

Rona, standing in front of the tree, had eyes sparkling with anticipation.

“To me, they all look like blank papers.”

Even seeing it with her own eyes, Claire couldn’t believe it, so she slowly examined the slips of paper hanging from the tree. The strange thing was that none of the writing on the papers was visible.

“If other people could know my wish, would I write it down? See that container hanging on the tree? There’s paper and a pen inside, and the moment you hang your written wish on the tree, a protective spell barrier is automatically cast. So no one else can see it.”

Ah, is that so. 

As Claire nodded her head, Rona laughed softly and continued.

“A skilled mage does this wish-granting job as a side business. But since it’s hard to meet in person, if you write your wish and hang it on the tree, the mage comes by from time to time to read them.”

“Then wouldn’t everyone want to make a wish? There must be a lot of wishes that are hard to grant.”

“They don’t grant every wish—just the ones that catch their fancy. You never know, so write down the wish you want. Who knows if it’ll come true?”

Hearing Rona’s words, Claire’s eyes sparkled. 

Could they grant my wish, too?

“Really? Ah, never mind.”

The curiosity and anticipation in her eyes quickly faded.

“Why? You should at least give it a try.”

“I’ll wait for another chance….”

Turning away from Rona’s disappointed look, Claire tried to change the subject.

She did have a wish she wanted to come true, but it wasn’t something she was desperate enough to ask a mage for right now. It wasn’t that she didn’t want it badly, but it was a complicated issue to ask about so lightly. So she just looked at the tree and had to return to the banquet hall.