HCYPBTKIRWO Chapter 12

I glanced over my shoulder. The smooth face was sharply engraved with vigilance.

On the other hand, seeing the eyes that doubted my words, I smiled brightly. Siblings are siblings. That expression looked exactly like Luna.

"The great devil craves noble blood."

When I smiled, the duke's eyes became thinner.

"How dare you lie to the owner of this land? Don't you know that you can be punished?"

Unlike the overbearing words, the duke's voice was light. So he didn't mean to threaten me.

I turned my head without replying. The footsteps continued again.

I entered a place much deeper than the place I came with the children last time. At the end of the mushroom season, many villagers visited, so it was difficult to find mushrooms unless it was in the deep part of the forest.

He followed without hesitation to the dark valley due to the thick trees.

"It bothers me, really."

His gaze stabbed me in the back of my head as I plucked the mushrooms all the way through.

It bothered me, but he suddenly approached and even searched the basket.

"Why are you picking this?"

What he had in his hands was ordinary mushrooms. It was a common mushroom that everyone eats here in autumn.

When I tilted my head with puzzled eyes, the duke lifted the mushrooms and tilted his head obliquely with the same eyes. The conversation seems to be already falling into a labyrinth.

"...Are you going to eat it?"

Why do you ask something obvious? You don't know what mushroom is, do you?

But I snorted at his question and put the mushroom back in the basket. Immediately, a long finger pointed to the base of the tree next to it.

"There's nothing to worry about. This isn't necessarily used for black magic."

At the base of the tree, several strands of white mushrooms with thin stems were sticking out their heads.

Poisonous clown mushroom.

At first glance, those mushrooms seemed normal, but it was a poisonous mushroom that can kill someone even if they take one bite.

‘Oh, because I’m a witch, you think I’m here to collect mushrooms used to make potions.’

When I watched, the duke looked bothered.

"I'm here to pick something to eat. If you want, you can try it too.”

Of course, there is no way that the duke will eat that. He knew it was poisonous mushrooms.

I moved to a deeper valley in search of normal mushrooms. The bee was noisy near the tree where I squatted. When I looked up, a large honeycomb was hanging from the branch.

‘I'm only going to pick mushrooms.’

I'll be safe if I don't touch it.

"Daisy, don't touch the hive!"

I warned Daisy, who was busy walking around alone to mark her territory.

Daisy’s soul is a dog that likes honey, and she’s in the body of a cat that knows how to climb trees. She might get stung by bees trying to climb the tree and steal honey.

Were you really coming close to steal the honey? Not long after warning, there was a rustling sound from the bushes behind the tree.

"I told you not to..."

Suddenly, I got goosebumps on my back. This was because I heard a tight pulling of the bow behind my back.

The only person behind me is the duke. Are you going to kill me?

It was when I urgently looked back, he looked straight at me and held up a bow.

You're really trying to kill me! Why? What did I do?

A quick arrow flew this way like a thunderbolt. Surprised, I exchanged the mushrooms and arrows with my hand.

Tuk.

The mushrooms instead of arrows hit something hidden in the bushes, not me.

"Daisy?"

Were you trying to kill Daisy? Why the innocent cat? This is more vicious than trying to kill me!

I couldn't hold it anymore! Daisy, who was in the bushes, stood up grabbing the arrow as if to break it.

‘Huh? Standing on two feet...? When did you grow taller than me??’

It wasn't Daisy.

"Gasp!"

It was a bear that was more than twice my size.

The bear opened his mouth wide with sharp teeth, perhaps because he felt bad about being hit by mushrooms. A ferocious cry shook the valley.

"Oh my..."

I touched a bear who was trying to fill its stomach before hibernating.

I slowly stepped back while making eye contact with the bear, and a shout as fierce as the bear was heard from behind.

"Witch, what are you doing?"

The bear's gaze fell from me and headed toward the duke at the sound of him pulling a long sword.

"No way… Is that the bear you summoned?"

"It's not like that! I exchanged the arrow for mushrooms because I thought you were going to shoot me!”

Come on. Just warn me that there's a bear.

"Ha... If you're not going to help, get out of my way."

I want to get out of the way right away, but bears chase people who run.

So, as I slowly stepped back, the bear came out of the bushes and wandered in a threatening position at the bottom of the beautiful tree.

Wait! Why did the bear come to this tree?

I looked over the head of the bear who stood as if protecting a tree. Bees were buzzing and flying around the large beehive.

'Oh, you're here for honey.'

But because I was under the beehive, he attacked thinking I was trying to steal my honey.

"What are you doing?"

I stopped. The bear also stopped and stood up again on both feet.

“It’s over with just one cut, so get out of here, witch.”

Once the target of attack is set, the bear does not give up easily. It means that the bear will come after me no matter what.

I reached out the palm of my left hand, saying not to move to the Archduke, and raised my right hand towards the beehive.

Again the bear's fierce roar echoed through the valley.

Thud.

He sat down, shaking the ground, and as he was about to leap towards me, I made a movement with my fingers.

Drop!

The beehive that had been hanging from a branch fell on the bear's head.

The beehive was turned upside down, and the blind bear rolled on the floor trying to get the hive off.

How thick was the honey? It can't fall off easily.

The bees surrounded the bear that had broken into their home and started attacking with their stinging stings.

As I watched the bear, who had been attacked by dozens of bees, finally run away to the depths of the forest, I laughed.

The situation is over!

…That was an illusion

Daisy, whom I didn’t know when she came back, was chasing after the bear.

"Daisy! Stop it and come here!”

As I was chasing after Daisy, something grabbed my shoulder.

“What?”

The duke's large hand was lightly clasping my shoulder. All my nerves were directed to my shoulder, where his hand touched. The Archduke looked down at me with eyes that couldn't understand my true intentions.

The moment I thought that it was too close, my tightly closed lips opened.

“Isn’t it better for you if I’ve been attacked by that bear?”

Does this guy have any paranoia?

This delusion that the whole world wants to kill him. A crazy man like that is worthy of imprisonment from raising his younger siblings.

“Unless you wanted me to die…”

“No?”

“Then, is this a feat to earn my trust? With your hand...”

The Archduke turned me around and he grabbed my right hand and lifted it. The action was polite, as if asking a noble girl for a dance at the ball, but the words that followed were not at all.

“You brought a bear with this hand and sent it away with this hand.”

Maybe my expression right now was as fierce as a bears’.

“I don’t want the Grand Duke’s trust, but I want to get some alone time.”

“…”

"Go away."

It was the moment I shook off his hand and turned around, the sky rumbled. When I looked up, thick dark clouds were hanging among the leaves that sparsely covered the sky.

Immediately, thick raindrops fell.

But I couldn't go back to the cabin right away.

"Daisy!"

"Next time, add a bell to that cat."

It was too much to go a long way home in the heavy rain in a wet manner. Eventually, I looked for a suitable cave and avoided the rain, but the duke also followed.

I sat with my knees up on the floor of the cave and looked up at the sky where heavy rain poured down.

‘When will it stop…?’

As I sighed deeply, the duke, who was leaning obliquely against the wall and looking at me, not the sky, asked.

"Don't you know weather magic?"

"Sadly, I don't.”

"Hmm..."

The suspicious gaze stared at me.

He was wet too.

He roughly swept the hair flowing down his forehead with his hand. Thick drops of water fell from the silver hair.

Water droplets rolled down his marble-like cheeks and neck. The tendon that stood out straight was like a slide. As I watched the droplets disappear into the collar of the wet shirt on the tendon and collarbone, he asked annoyingly.

"What are you looking at?"

"What?"

I was looking at the water droplets. Can't I look?

I looked up in confusion. When our eyes met, he suddenly stopped talking.

As I was about to ask what, the duke suddenly narrowed his eyes sharply and turned his eyes out of the cave.

"Is this the intention of changing your appearance…?"

"What? What are you trying to say?"

According to Daisy and Lady, the witch's appearance suddenly changed one day.

I thought the reason was my painting.

According to the two, I received a large treasure box from a strange man a few days before I possessed this body.

I opened it and smiled greedily and counted the gold coins, but I suddenly turned into this witch.

A witch who counts gold coins. The only illustration I drew. But was there something else? Does the duke know something?

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