HCYPBTKIRWO Chapter 21

"Come on in."

It was Daniel.

"Where’s the witch?"

"I saw her going to the nanny's private room right away."

When he nodded, Daniel began to report, spreading the roll of parchment in his hand one by one.

"The ceremony will be held at the Imperial Palace at 10 a.m. in three days..."

After the final report on matters to be carried out within the duchy during Elliott's absence, reports on tomorrow's appearance continued.

"Daniel, you must have a hard time, but please take care of them while I'm gone."

"Relax and just come back."

"It's a shame that we can't fight side by side this time. But thanks to you, I think I'll be less worried about here.”

"Please take care of yourself."

The subjugation is dangerous. Daniel was disappointed and worried that he couldn't cover his best friend.

However, as usual, Elliott did not show any concern for his life and asked in a light tone.

"So is there anything to report about the witch?"

“Well, as always, she’s witty and doesn’t communicate well.”

Just as ducklings follow their mother ducks, Daniel didn’t say that children only followed the witch.

That was something everyone in the duchy knew, unless they were blind and deaf.

"Suspicious moves?"

"There was nothing suspicious, but there was movement."

According to Daniel's report, on the second day of coming here, a witch went to a shopping district near the duchy during the children's nap.

He followed her, but there was nothing much. She just bought a lot of children's stuff.

"Wait, wasn't that the day you paid her?"

He couldn't believe she gave the salary away to buy things for the children.

In addition, the children are not poor and are rich enough to spend whatever they want for their entire lives.

"I really can't understand…”

"You should be careful because you seem to be misled by her friendly appearance."

"Be careful? Me?"

It was the most ridiculous thing he has ever heard.

"Why would I feel good about the witch?”

"Don't you think we're all caught off guard? The number of servants who are already favorable to the witch is increasing one by one."

That was a serious problem. It was the moment when he told the butler and maid to strengthen the education of the servants, someone knocked on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Your Highness, I..."

As soon as the door crept open, Elliott recalled an old proverb.

‘The witch appears when I say it too.'

The witch looked inside the office through the door and looked sorry when she made eye contact with Daniel, who was holding a lot of documents. It didn't look good on the witch who was famous for being evil.

"I'm sorry. You're busy, but I seem to have disturbed you. I'll come back later...”

"No, the captain of the knight was about to leave. Come in."

Elliott, who was curious about what was going on, sent Daniel out. Daniel gave a suspicious look before he closed the door, but that guy was worried about nothing.

Because he wasn't a person who was tempted by appearance.

If Elliott were a person who was deceived by seductive eyes, he would have already been assassinated.

"Miss Hazel, what's going on?"

When he asked softly on purpose, the witch approached the desk and showed what she had in her hand. It was a wooden box the size of her palm.

Elliott, who was staring at it for a moment, asked.

"What's this?"

"A present."

"Present?"

“Originally, my first salary was to buy gifts for those I am grateful for.”

Elliott tilted his head at an angle. He has never heard of such a custom.

"So Miss Hazel is ‘thankful’ for me?"

"Yes."

As expected, she was a difficult person to understand.

‘Maybe it's not a gift.’

Elliott carefully opened the box.

"Hmm..."

What was in a box covered with white velvet cloth was a silver necklace. In the middle, it was an opening pendant that could hold small objects or pictures..

"I thought it would go well with your highness' silver hair, so I chose silver. I never bought it with silver, not gold, to save money."

The witch smiled, making excuses that wasn’t needed.

She seemed excited and nervous when he saw her hands together and clasped her apron.

That was suspicious in his eyes. In fact, whatever the witch did, it looked suspicious to Elliott.

"That was an excellent choice. I like silver more."

"That's a relief."

The witch smiled innocently like a child.

It was true that Elliott preferred silver accessories to gold. Silver can detect poison.

‘It's not poisoned, is it?'

The locket and necklace sparkled with the unique light without any discolored corners.

He took it out and touched it, but he didn't feel any suspicious energy.

‘Did she use magic?’

The witch suddenly approached Elliott, who was carefully opening the necklace.

"Open it, your highness. The real present is in that locket."

She sounded quite excited.

"Uh... How?"

It's a simple locket, but he pretended not to know how to open it on purpose. If there was nothing on the outside, there might be something on the inside that could harm him.

"Wait a minute."

The witch suddenly lowered her head toward him. Elliott, who raised his gaze, was startled.

Her face was too close. Even the small dots on her lower lip were clearly visible.

In addition, the smell of the sandwich's fresh and sweet sauce mixed with fresh soap stimulated his sensitive sense of smell.

"What's this trick?"

"What trick?"

When she squinted and stared, the witch tilted her head. Elliott couldn't take his eyes off her round eyes.

Now the color of the witch's eyes came into his view. He heard that it was originally cloudy gray, but now it was a mysterious green color that resembled emerald.

Certainly, it was an appearance that people would generally like.

But that won’t gain his favor.

"I'm just going to open it for you.”

Elliott's eyes became thinner when the witch responded innocently.

"This necklace, you can just take it, but why did you come close?"

Back in the cave, he took the teacup that like too.

"Do not approach closely without notice or permission."

Only then did the witch step back as if she had made a mistake.

"Oh... That's right. You're scared of me, right? You don't have to feel that way."

"It's not scary...Sigh...”

Elliott rubbed his face roughly with one hand. At the words of the witch, he became a coward. It was not sarcastic, but sincere, which further stimulated his pride.

"I'll be careful from now on."

From now on. There was no "from now on", because she was the one who would leave the duchy as soon as he returned from the subjugation.

When the witch clicked her fingertips, she removed the necklace from Elliot's palm.

“There are many things you can do. Oh, of course, you can't even have a calm conversation with Luna for more than three words."

Pretending to praise him, she smirked and spoke in a soft voice at the secretly slanderous words. By this point, Elliott had no intention of being offended, and he only laughed.

"Ta-da!"

When the witch clicked her finger again, a wide-opened locket appeared in his palm.

When he saw it, Elliott admired it without realizing it. Inside the oval locket, Luna and Luca were smiling brightly at him.

"Did you draw it yourself?"

"Yes, I used to draw too."

The portrait, which seemed to be painted with a thin brush on high-quality parchment paper, was quite excellent. It will be difficult to express the characteristics of children so well on a single thumb canvas.

Luna was the girl with black hair who smiled brightly and gave off a strangely arrogant energy.

What about Luca, who smiled broadly with glitters in his big eyes and his small front teeth? In addition, light brown fur clumped next to Luca's face, including the dirty rabbit, or Lulu.

‘It’s so real.’

He had no choice but to admit that the witch had a lot of talent.

Elliott, who smiled affectionately at the children in the picture without realizing it, looked up at the witch.

"You drew it well."

"Hehe, right? While you go away, I just drew this because I was afraid you would miss the children.”

“Thank you for the thoughtful gift. Thanks to this, I can vividly recall Luna’s babbling and Luca’s squeaks even on the battlefield.”

Elliott genuinely rolled his eyes, smiled, and gladly hung the necklace around his neck.

“This is actually a bribe.”

One last time before closing the locket, the witch said a strange word.

"Bribe?"

“I want to get along well with Your Excellency.”

The smile on Elliott's face slowly faded.

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