A Witch Lives In The Emperor’s Bedroom

Posted by Jesshi, Released on November 18, 2023

‘Déjà vu?’

Bella blinked in confusion, looking at Jenos sitting across from her, just as this morning.

“It’s hot, Miss.” A maid approached and served a steak on her plate.

The steak served on the plate was still sizzling. The aroma of rosemary and various herbs sprinkled on top mixed together, creating a heavenly scent.

The maid left the dining room after bowing.

“Eat a lot. You’ll probably need to eat five meals a day from now on to fill those thin cheeks.” Jenos said leisurely, slicing the steak with a knife.

Bella looked down at the juicy steak on her plate, swallowed her saliva, and picked up her utensils.

Right, there was no need to be cautious about her eating habits anymore. The days of barely surviving with a few crushed potatoes and a chicken neck with barely any meat were left in the basement.

For the first time since she was seven, Bella began her meal without saying a prayer.

The texture and moist juiciness of the sweet meat brought tears to Bella’s eyes.

“Do you know that witches are usually born as newborns?”

Jenos said, pouring wine into their glasses.

“Oh, I’ll do it,” Bella said, reaching for the wine bottle, but Jenos pulled it back.

“Why?” Jenos asked, his face contorted.

“Well… because…”

“You still need to be treated much better. Until that slave mentality engraved in your body disappears.”

“…It’s not a slave mentality. Your Grace, who wouldn’t try to serve wine after you, the grand duke, picked up the bottle? Just have a maid do it.”

Bella mumbled timidly, and Jenos chuckled.

“I told you. Act cheeky unless it’s in front of others. Whether I pour wine or kneel and scrub the floor, it’s the same. And the reason there’s no maid is not just because you shouldn’t be exposed as a witch. It’s also because having them do cleaning chores is much more efficient than providing them with meals. Got it?”

Bella nodded after a moment of contemplation.

Well, considering the nearly 15 years of ingrained servitude in her body, it seemed necessary to practice appearing unaware and presumptuous when the grand duke was pouring wine.

“Let’s get back to the witch story,” said Jenos as he sipped a mouthful of crimson wine.

“While it’s common for witches to be born as newborns, it’s not common for adults to awaken as witches. It happened once, 600 years ago, when an adult underwent an awakening.”

“Really? What happened?”

“On the Witch’s Day, she awakened as a witch and made a hole in a knight’s stomach and killed him. Another knight witnessed that. She was dragged away for extensive experiments and died.”

“But if that’s the case, why not monitor all women with the potential to awaken as witches on Witch’s Day?”

“If a newborn is born as a witch, they can be called a completely different being—non-human, evil. Whatever you like. However, if a citizen of the empire awakens as a witch on Witch’s Day, it’s an entirely different story.”

“The people will likely fall into great confusion. Persecution against women might even intensify much more than it is now,” Bella said, thinking about Jenos’ story.

“Exactly. Unpredictable things might happen. That’s why the imperial family didn’t disclose that fact, and the common folks only know that witches are born as newborns.”

“But what if an awakened witch can’t control her power and ends up killing citizens? Are they just gambling every hundred years to preserve their authority?”

“There’s a story about a witch from 600 years ago.”

“A story?”

“It’s said that when asked to reveal everything she knew, she convulsed for a moment, murmuring like someone possessed, spewing red light from her whole body.”

Jenos recalled the contents of the book and continued,

“I am a mistake of the Evil Lord. A witch with the same awakening as me will never appear again. Those as powerful as me can’t be contained in vessels like yours, so only newborns will descend upon the empire as witches.”

“An awakened witch…”

Bella felt a strange sensation as if hearing her second name.

“After that, she didn’t speak a word, even if she underwent torture,” Jenos mumbled as he filled his glass with wine.

“Because of that prophecy, they’ve been monitoring only newborns since then. Even though the prophecy is now broken with your mysterious birth.”

Bella stared at the large steak but lowered her utensils. Somehow, her head began to spin.

“Will I be able to hide the fact that I’m a witch?”

“Didn’t you prepare yourself to become a street beggar?”

“…That doesn’t mean I’m okay with dying.”

“Do you know how long that witch from 600 years ago was experimented on?”

“….”

“Seven years. Every experiment is well-documented. Thanks to that, I know very well what abilities someone awakened as a witch possesses and how they behave.”

“….”

“Only the emperor and the imperial family can see those records, so there’s no one who would dare suspect you of being a witch. They don’t even know that an adult can become a witch. Well, I’ll find an opportunity to burn those records soon.”

“But if the emperor or someone from the royal family happens to discover my true identity…”

“The Crown Prince must study the extensive witch records to ascend to the imperial throne. It’s a massive seven-year worth of data. That’s why he hasn’t touched those records yet. The Second Imperial Prince has never even touched a book, fearing that someone might misunderstand something if he reads those records. The Third Imperial Princess, who left to study abroad a long time ago, is the same. The Empress is lethargic and has no interest in anything.”

“But still, the emperor knows about witches, so what if he finds out my identity…”

“What would the emperor know?”

Jenos frowned as if the idea were absurd.

“Spike has been maintaining the emperor’s position solely because of the records. As long as you’re cautious with the archivist, you’ll be fine.”

“Archivist?”

“The emperor has a hidden archivist. The prosperity of the empire, and the constant victories in border conflicts, are all thanks to that archivist. Even elevating the emperor’s honor by keeping the archivist’s existence a secret was the archivist’s idea.”

“Have you seen the archivist?”

“He wears a thick, black cloak, so I couldn’t see his face. I heard an old man’s voice, though. He is probably afraid someone might exploit his abilities and kidnap him.”

“Is that so…”

“After finishing the meal, get some rest early.”

Jenos wiped his mouth with a napkin and left the table first.

Once again, before Bella could get up to say goodbye, he had already left the dining room.

She had lost her appetite, so Bella was about to leave her seat, but suddenly, her shoulders were pushed down.

“Ahk!”

After being startled by the sudden weight, Bella turned around to see Jenos standing there.

“I knew this would happen. Pick up the fork.”

“Yo-your Grace…”

“Eat. I told you to eat until you filled those scrawny cheeks, didn’t I?”

“….”

“Come on.”

Standing, Jenos grabbed a fork and skillfully picked up a piece of steak, bringing it to Bella’s lips.

When Bella opened her mouth in surprise, Jenos softly placed the steak inside.

She stared blankly with the fork in her mouth.

“Eat it all and get up. A maid will be sent to watch you.”

After a stern warning, Jenos finally left the dining room completely.

━━━━ ∙ʚ(✧)ɞ∙ ━━━━

“Miss. Miss.”

In the early morning light, a maid gently shook Bella’s body.

Half-awake, Bella opened her eyes, and the maid politely spoke.

“Please wake up. The Grand Duke is looking for you.”

“His Grace? Why?”

With a sleepy voice, Bella rubbed her eyes and sat up. The maid lit a candle and prepared slippers.

“You need to go to the bathroom. You must wash and get ready to go outside.”

“Go outside at this hour?” Still groggy, Bella looked out the window where the moon was shining and asked in confusion.

“I don’t know either. But you need to hurry, Miss.”

Bella, in her drowsy state, put on the slippers and followed the maid out of the bedroom.

After washing herself and putting on a blue satin dress, the maids applied makeup and styled her hair.

“This makeup seems too extravagant for nighttime,”

Bella remarked awkwardly as she examined herself in the mirror.

“We don’t know either. We were simply ordered to dress you as beautifully and splendidly as possible.”

The maids fluffed Bella’s hair, loosely braiding it and then rolling the braided hair into a bun. They accentuated her eyebrows and lips with makeup, making her facial features more pronounced.

“We’re done, Miss. We’ll escort you now.”

As soon as the maid put down the makeup brush, she gestured politely as if to follow her.

Feeling like she was being swept away, Bella followed behind.

When the maid opened the door, Bella locked eyes with Jenos, who was waiting in front of the washroom.

“It seems you’re ready.”

Jenos dryly commented as he glanced at her face.

While Bella was undoubtedly beautiful, Jenos wasn’t the type to be swayed by a woman’s beauty.

“Let’s go.”

Jenos took the lead and started walking.

She followed suit, although she was still doubtful about the sudden night journey.

As they exited the mansion, a shabby and worn-out carriage, different from the one she had ridden before, was prepared in the yard.

The coachman opened the door, and Jenos extended his hand to Bella.

When she hesitated to take it, the grand duke tilted his head slightly.

“Is the future grand duchess refusing to hold hands with her husband?”

“No, Your Grace.”

Bella cautiously took his hand and climbed into the carriage. Jenos followed suit, taking a seat opposite her, and once both were seated, the coachman closed the door and mounted his seat.

The carriage set off smoothly, and Jenos lowered the curtain, covering the window.

“The witch’s abilities are broadly classified into three categories.”

Jenos spoke in a deep tone, his voice subdued due to the early hour.

“Strength, magic, allure. Today, we’ll find out which one of these you excel in the most. Every witch has a predominant ability among these three.”

“Where are we heading?”

“Where danger lurks.”

Danger.

For a moment, Bella felt a sense of fear. However, strangely, that feeling didn’t last long. Her heart raced, and excitement surged within her.

Bella had spent her entire life living in monotonous danger.

Occasionally starving and sometimes enduring beatings were part of her daily life.

It was a routine that didn’t go beyond the boundaries of hunger and corporal punishment.

While it was infuriating and painful, it was also unbearably dull.

The agony of knowing exactly what hardships awaited became tiresome.

Thus, when Jenos spoke of heading towards a place where danger loomed, Bella’s heart fluttered with a new feeling, like a fish finding water.

After the carriage traveled for a while, a bustling sound started reaching their ears.

Jenos slightly moved the curtain.

They were in Tanje Street, the back alley of the Empire.

Tanje, more lively at night than during the day, was filled with retired dishonored knights, people doing dirty work, and those selling their bodies to earn food or money.

It was a place where nobles wouldn’t set foot throughout their lives.

“Halt the carriage.” Jenos opened the glass partition connected to the coachman and spoke.

“Put this on.”

Jenos handed Bella a large cloak, and, after putting one himself, he took a small pouch from the pocket and handed it to Bella. Inside, she found several silver and gold coins.

“Use it when needed.”

As she put it into the cloak’s pocket, the coachman opened the door.

As the two stepped out of the carriage, all eyes on the street were focused on them.

“Return just before sunrise.”

“Yes.”

With a deliberate omission of formalities, the coachman bowed and quickly left on the carriage.

The people on Tanje Street were rough. Although Jenos intentionally brought a shabby carriage, they were the type who would steal even the carriage wheels if it stopped for just a bit longer.

“Why didn’t you bring guards?”

“Because I’m more than enough. Besides, it would be troublesome if the guards found out that you are a witch, wouldn’t it?”

Jenos glanced around and adjusted Bella’s cloak.

“Let’s go inside before attracting more attention.”

He led Bella, and they walked together. The place they arrived at was a rundown tavern deep in the alley.

When the grand duke pushed the door, a creaking sound—typical of an unlubricated and greasy door—echoed.

“Steal the bracelet from the man with brown hair sitting in the middle of the bar.”

With the door half-opened, Jenos turned back and whispered to Bella.

“I want you to give this money to the men here and tell them to snatch the bracelet from that man.”

She looked at him and gave him back the pouch he had handed her.

Jenos chuckled.

“Not gonna do it?”