The pupils of the guard who was paying respect to the Grand Duke walking down the hallway and approaching the office shook greatly.
‘How on earth…?’
The Grand Duke, who returned from a brief absence, found something unexpected and out of place in his arms.
‘A rabbit doll…’
While she was dumbfounded, the Grand Duke greeted her with a solemn expression and entered the office.
Widely.
The door was closed. Only then did Elliot relax his expression and open her mouth, which had been closed.
“It’s fine. It’s just the two of us here…”
Elliot, who was about to tell Hazel, who was pretending to be his doll, that it was okay to move, paused when his eyes landed on her in front of the fireplace.
“It’s not like there isn’t one.”
The cat and dog sitting together were staring at him with concern and curiosity.
‘How do I make those people who are worried about Hazel understand that your master has become a doll?’
Elliot asked Hazel, who was still pretending to be dead as she only looked up at the ceiling.
“Can you still use magic?”
“The amount of mana is extremely small, but I think it will be simple, why?”
“I think you owe an explanation to your cat and dog.”
Hazel then turned his head, looked at the cat and dog, and waved his stubby arms.
“Lady, Daisy. I ended up like this.”
The dog and cat’s eyes widened and they ran towards me. Elliot carefully set Hazel down on her floor.
“Oh.”
“Be careful.”
Perhaps because Hazel was unfamiliar with her cotton-ball body, she tilted as soon as she stood on her feet. Elliot tried to support her with his hand, but she immediately caught her balance.
“How did this happen…”
Then, flailing her arms, which had footprints where her hands should have been, she began to explain to Lady and Daisy. It was a story he had already heard on the forest path.
“Then the old lady’s voice suddenly changed and she said, Oh my god, this is a voice I recognize, huh? Can I tell you?”
As if they had asked, Hazel lifted her head and looked up at him, asking for permission. Elliot nodded her head.
“She was the empress.”
Who would have thought that the evil witch they had been looking for was lurking in the empress’s body. Hazel couldn’t see what was going on because her body was taken and only her soul remained, but she said she even heard the Crown Prince’s voice shouting that he had returned shortly afterwards. And then soon…
“Goodbye!”
She said that as soon as the witch shouted this in Hazel’s voice, she heard something soft flop on the floor and then a frog croaking.
‘So the empress and crown prince turned into frogs.’
She didn’t know if she was one of her allies from the beginning or if she was taken hostage by her witch, but Elliot was in trouble. The empress and heir to the throne, who were staying in the Grand Dukedom, have gone missing. She didn’t know it would be a pain in many ways. So Eliot, as soon as she returned from the hut to the archduchy, sent Luca into the forest with her knights. If she is a Luca with holy powers, she will be able to find two frogs that can feel the energy of her witchcraft.
“…So she became Lulu.”
Hazel, who had been explaining things to Lady and Daisy without taking a breath, looked up at Elliot again and asked.
“How did you know that the person who came to the office wasn’t actually me?”
“Your Highness.”
“Huh?”
“You called me to tell you.”
Elliot recalled the moment when ‘Hazel’ came to her office a little while ago.
“Your Highness.”
“…huh?”
“Are you busy?”
“Your Highness is busy.”
Elliot wasn’t busy. At first she thought Hazel was joking or playing a prank.
“Then when can I come back?”
But ‘Hazel’ was serious. Moreover, although I can’t pinpoint it, her expression strangely didn’t look like Hazel. The smile seemed forced. Elliot knew at that moment that something was wrong with her. Of course, the decisive factor was the continued use of honorifics.
“When the witch met us at the palace, she used an honorific to call you to speak to me.”
“I had no idea that the title and speaking style had changed in the meantime. Thank god.”
Hazel was relieved as she stroked her chest, where her short brown hair was covered in curly clumps, and she immediately cupped her cheeks in shock.
“That means she didn’t know that the witch was right under her nose.”
“Feeding the peppers was actually a sinister plan to steal her body.”
She had never known that she had safely passed a dangerous moment.
“Since when has he been in the empress’s body…?”
Questions that no one could answer plagued her.
“Anyway, where is the witch now?”
Hazel looked back at the door and she asked nervously.
“Daniel.”
“Huh?”
“I told Daniel it was suspicious and asked him to keep an eye on me.”
So now, Daniel was working with ‘Hazel’ on an unplanned inspection of magic tools and holy relics. Of course, it was just a strategy to tie his feet so that he could not roam around the palace as he pleases.
“Not only did you assassinate my parents, but you took over their bodies and shamelessly walked around in front of me. What are your intentions?”
From finding out, to killing the witch and getting Hazel’s body back. While he was struggling, Hazel suddenly approached him at a trotting pace and clung to his ankle.
“Elliot.”
“Huh?”
“I met Elliot’s mother.”
“…what?”
For a moment she thought it meant she had been taken to heaven and returned, but no.
From his mother to Hazel’s grandmother, who he thought was in eternal rest in another world. It was said that he clearly heard the conversation between two souls.
“It’s thanks to Elliot’s mother that I didn’t die.”
Moreover, with the help of her mother, Hazel’s soul was able to enter Lulu’s body. Elliot stared at her mother in the portrait on her office wall. Then she smiled fondly.
“There really was such a thing as a guardian spirit.”
She had heard many stories about there being a guardian spirit that protects loved ones. There were even knights who claimed that her life was saved thanks to her guardian spirit. Elliot said that whenever she heard something like that, she dismissed it as superstition.
“Thank you so much!”
Hazel waved his short, chubby arms in the air. Unable to see where his soul was, he even walked around in circles and waved his hands all over the place.
“But you said that the dead cannot use their hands on the living…”
Elliot pondered what Hazel had told him.
“Are you saying you can’t get her body back after it was already stolen by her witch?”
It wasn’t difficult for her to kill that witch. There were only three people with holy power in this grand ducal residence. No matter how experienced and strong a witch she is, it will be difficult for her to defeat the three of them. But she told Elliot that he shouldn’t step forward. Because she has destructive power.
“We have Daniel and Luca, who have purifying powers.”
“But if she purifies the witch…”
Hazel’s nervousness was evident at the end of her drawn-out words.
“Manipulating the soul is black magic, so the moment the witch’s soul is destroyed, all black magic will be dispelled and your soul will return to its original state.”
“I mean, it’s in its place.”
“Huh?”
“I believe that this body is mine because I created it, but the God of this world may not believe that.”
That was something that no one but God can know. Elliot couldn’t calmly reassure Hazel that her guess was wrong.
“Then what happens to me?”
“…With your soul gone, your body loses life, and you will have to live in Lulu’s body for the rest of your life.”
The thought of having Daniel or Luca cleanse the witch right away was fading away.
“Your Highness, it is me.”
‘Hazel’s’ voice was heard from outside the door.
“Here.”
Elliot opened the door, hiding Lady, Daisy, and Hazel, who were frozen in fear, under her desk. The first person that caught his eye was a witch standing in front of the door, smiling sweetly. She could feel the intense caution in Daniel’s eyes as he stood behind him. He felt it himself that it was not Hazel.
“What’s the matter?”
Elliot shifted his gaze to the witch and asked her in her normal tone.
“I have a story to tell you. This is a really important story, however…”
The witch glanced behind her. She glanced at Daniel, whose eyes instantly changed to a somber one, and then added these words:
“I would like to have a long talk with you alone.”
It meant sending Daniel. However, Daniel had to be here in case an emergency occurred and the witch had to be killed.
“If it’s a personal story, it’s work time now, so later…”
“That’s not the story…”
“Then?”
“It’s a story about the deaths of the previous Grand Duke and Grand Duchess.”
Elliot found her speechless for a moment. Why did she bring this topic up when she did it herself?
‘What on earth are you planning?’
As much as I wanted to immediately bury my sins and purify myself, I couldn’t, so I decided to find out his true intentions first.
“Then Daniel can listen.”
He had an excuse thanks to the witch asserting with her own words that it wasn’t a personal story. The witch’s face darkened as he stepped aside and held out her hand for them both to come inside.
“You know that Daniel knows this better than anyone else. What’s wrong with you all of a sudden?”
When she acted like she looked strange, the witch didn’t want to arouse her suspicions even more, so she obediently went inside without saying anything.
“So, what do I have to say about my parents’ deaths?”
Elliot asked her witch as soon as Daniel closed the door.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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