“Huh?”
“Are you okay? “You don’t look good.”
The Grand Princess sitting across from the tea table spoke to her. The witch quickly adjusted her expression and waved her hand.
“It’s no big deal, don’t worry.”
In fact, the Grand Princess didn’t look very worried. The Grand Duke sitting next to his sister had a more worried look on his face.
‘Should I call it worry or dissatisfaction?’
Was it because he had such a blunt personality to begin with? She felt a sense of distance from the Grand Duke. It was rumored throughout the empire that the children of the Grand Duke’s family and the witch Hazel were as close as siblings, so she wondered what she could do to chase them away if they bothered her. But it turned out that it was a useless worry.
“It means something special is happening. Is there something you’re worried about?”
Fortunately, the Grand Princess was friendly. That’s how easy she was to use.
“Actually…”
“Yeah, what is it? Speak comfortably.”
“I’m upset that His Highness is cold to me.”
“My brother?”
The Grand Princess asked back, tilting her head as if this was unexpected. She wondered if her brother didn’t know how cold he was, and an unexpected answer came out.
“It was like that originally.”
“…”
“You know that my brother is a tyrant in the Grand Duke’s residence.”
“…Ugh, right. I know, but sometimes I feel sad. No. Let’s stop talking about this and just eat cake.”
She almost made a mistake. The witch quickly vaguely changed the topic.
‘He is a tyrant inside the Grand Duke’s residence. It’s not like his younger siblings ran away from home for no reason.’
By the way, why did nobles spend two hours just for a cup of tea? It was when the boring tea time with the kids was barely over.
“Miss Hazel, it’s time to make the truth potion.”
She thought she would finally be left alone, but no. The head of her guard came and took her to her cabin.
‘Do these damn things think of me as a plowing cow?’
The people of the grand duchy do not let her go even for a moment. From deciphering the magic book to making the potion of truth to be used during the trial. She tried to use magic somehow. And that’s only with difficult, high-level magic.
‘How dare you use my excellent magic skills without paying a penny?’
She was jealous of that, but she was equally upset that she didn’t have time to be alone. The witch stayed in her study in the basement of the hut, and she glanced at the standing man. The guard continues to follow.
‘Could it be that they have discovered my identity?’
That was it, she wondered at first. But if that were the case, there’s no way they would have left her alone. Still, she was annoyed and curious, so she finally asked.
“Why do you keep following me?”
“Protecting the Grand Duke’s lady is also the job of the captain of the guard.”
There were no enemies in the Grand Duke’s residence, so there was no need to protect her. She tried to question whether this was surveillance, not protection. However, she couldn’t even open her mouth to what the knight added.
“Anyway, it was a condition of the contract that I would be in full charge of Miss Hazel’s security when you first entered the Grand Duke’s residence. Why are you suddenly doing this?”
The witch couldn’t even make a sound for fear that people would suspect her identity.
‘Let’s be patient. You have to endure it.’
She was still suppressing the urge to secretly chase away the guy who followed her around like a puppy. He was a person with holy power. It was difficult for her to trick someone into using a potion or a hypnotic spell. Moreover, it was extremely dangerous.
‘I can’t die in vain now.’
The witch did as she was told and made the truth potion, grumbling endlessly within herself. No time, no freedom. Because of that, she couldn’t even look inside the Grand Duke’s residence. Even if she walked around alone, she was not free because there were eyes watching wherever she went.
‘Retirement, breakup. This is why the woman wanted to run away from the Grand Duke’s residence.’
Her sentiments fit perfectly with the Grand Princess’ statement that the Grand Duke was a tyrant inside the house. As she thought about that, she suddenly became curious.
‘But why does the Grand Duke keep a lover that is rumored to be having an affair with another man?’
So, was the love affair rumor false? At first, she thought that the young men and women kept hanging out together like this, which made her angry. So, she thought that the rumors of her affair with the head of the Royal Guard were true.
“Rules of the Grand Duke’s residence.”
When she finished making the truth potion and was about to leave her hut, the head of her guard stopped her.
“You must not go outside the Grand Duke’s residence without His Highness’s permission. You know that includes outside the cabin, of course.”
The interest rate was extremely cold. As soon as she finished making the truth potion, the next thing on the agenda that awaited her was dinner. Drawing pictures with kindling, chatting casually while drinking tea, and even making potions. She was dragged around and moving constantly, and the whole day was over.
“Okay then, let’s listen.”
The exhausted witch wanted to smack the Grand Duke’s shiny face as they sat across from him across a table as long as two carriages.
‘You must endure it.’
Unfolding her clenched fists under her table, the witch smiled kindly at her maid, Jean, who served her.
“Thank you.”
Pretending to be such a nice girl all day played a big part in why she was already exhausted. It took surprisingly a lot of effort to suppress her boiling feelings on the inside and only say kind words on the outside. In her heart, she wanted to make the workers, who were as hard and tight as their master, kneel and crawl on the floor. What about the rules on a fake day, what about the rules? It was to interfere with the subject matter of the employees and prevent them from doing anything they wanted.
‘As soon as I get married, I will completely replace you.’
As soon as she accepted the plate handed out by the chef, her resolve began to waver. Even if she looked for the meat on the plate, she couldn’t see it.
“Hmm…”
The witch glanced at the chef and glanced at the huge roast goose placed in the middle of the table.
“Well, do you eat meat?”
Then the chef seemed embarrassed. Even the witch was confused.
“Oh, no. A little more of that spaghetti behind it…”
Her improvisation skills were improving every day. After a quick prevarication, the chef took the plate again and walked away without any suspicion.
‘By the way, that woman, she doesn’t eat meat…’
While she was recording her new knowledge in her mind, the chef brought the plate back and placed it in front of her. It was natural that the fork went first as the tomato spaghetti became thicker than before.
Clink!
“Oof…”
As soon as the witch swallowed a mouthful of her spaghetti, she spat it out and dropped her fork.
“Oh, the pepper…”
She would have guessed there was pepper mixed into the red sauce. It was so small that she couldn’t smell it at all, but the effect was immediate. As soon as a burning sensation appeared in her mouth, the feeling of the mana fading from her body was eerily clear.
“Oh, no.”
The witch glared at the Grand Duke across the long table.
‘Has he finally discovered my identity?’
She was caught off guard. She tried to put a curse on him before it was too late and all her magic was paralyzed, but she could do nothing.
“Hazel? What’s the matter?”
The Grand Duke ignored him as if he knew nothing and asked the chef.
“Harold, how did this happen?”
The head chef, who was standing far away, scratched his head as if he didn’t understand what was happening and answered.
“I only posted it because Miss Hazel asked me to serve a dish containing peppers every night…”
What? Did that woman eat peppers every day? She was, as expected, a fearsome one.
“I don’t know if you’ve become sensitive to spicy flavors because I forgot these past few days.”
“No way. Is it spicy?”
“…”
“You said it wasn’t spicy at all? Didn’t your magic power remain intact even if you ate red pepper?”
“Yeah, that’s right. It’s not because it’s spicy, but it gets stuck in my throat while I’m eating it and I don’t even realize it…”
“This…”
The Grand Duke pointed to the glass of water and resumed eating.
‘As expected, you were fooled by my excellent acting.’
As soon as she let go of the sorrow, it started again. The witch stared at the mountain of poison piled up on the plate in front of her.
‘What should I do with this?’
Even if she wanted to make the spaghetti disappear, she didn’t have the strength to even lift a single strand of it using movement magic. She thought about trying other dishes that were lying around, but it would have been a big deal if there were peppers in them too. Eventually the witch put down her fork.
“Why are you doing that? You always eat well, but today the food doesn’t suit your taste?”
“I guess I ate too much cake this afternoon and I don’t have much of an appetite.”
“Then you can stand up first.”
She was anxious about what would happen if she was told to eat it all, but fortunately the Grand Duke ordered me to leave.
“Ah, I brought a painter, so go and meet the guard captain right away.”
‘Oh my god, you’re trying to keep people busy until the night.’
The witch stood up, her hands clenched into fists shaking.
‘Let’s be patient. Hold on.’
* * *
Anyway, it might be a good thing that no one could turn him into a frog because her magic was paralyzed now. Elliot’s face, which had been stiff all along, relaxed as soon as he opened his bedroom door.
“What is my rabbit-like lover doing?”
“Oh!”
The moment he asked as he closed the door, Hazel, who was leaning on the leg of the table and wiping her forehead, flinched. Then, she wondered if she covered her body with her chubby arms.
“I must… Don’t you feel like I’m naked?”
On the first day she entered Lulu’s body, Hazel was embarrassed and said that.
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Translator Note:
Hello there! This is RJR. I hope you liked it <3
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