We held a meeting that night until dawn while spreading out the map Reikart had given us. What to buy, how much to buy, what is the most urgent, and how to acquire it.
As soon as we solved one problem, another would pop up. The order from Bellflower to buy all the seeds in the world was rejected because of me, who can’t get the magic brazier out of my head.
To bring the magic brazier, we had to minimize other baggage. I, despite having strong physical strength for a human, wasn’t as strong as an ox.
Minimal spices and wheat seeds, as well as hunting tools. Herbs and writing tools. And…
That’s how the morning dawned.
“Be careful on your way. Because Miss Hailey has a foolish side. Don’t just pick up anything, help anyone, or follow anyone anywhere.”
“Am I a fool?”
“I’m sorry.”
So she thought I was a fool.
After telling the apologetic bellflower to mind her own business and grow the potatoes, I turned to Reikart, who was watching us from the side.
“Lead the way.”
★★★★★★★★★★★★★
Reikart Winter was a scarred man.
He vowed to exact revenge on the evil witch Hailey after she destroyed his family.
It was his duty; he must do it.
As the ‘perfect successor’ created by the Duke of Winter, he was a man moved not by sadness or loss but by duty and responsibility.
Revenge was his final mission.
Hailey didn’t go down easily. He wasn’t the only one after her. They were always helpless against her forbidden magic, as they knew nothing about it. So many gave up.
There were also crazy ones who claimed that they should recognize Hailey as the first black witch and accept her magic as a faction.
Reikart didn’t give up.
Revenge was the end of his life. He knew that he would die soon after killing Hailey.
Some days he wanted to kill her, and other days he didn’t. Some days he hated her to the core, and other days he lay awake at night wondering what she was really like.
Somewhere along the way, challenging Hailey for revenge became a daily routine for Reikart.
She always emerged victorious, but she never killed him. While he continued to be a nuisance by persistently challenging her, she didn’t avoid him and silently faced him.
“Why do you keep letting me live?”
“So I won’t forget what I did.”
“Why? Do people like you feel guilty?”
“Do you want me to?”
As the failures piled up, the sense of duty that had dominated him weakened, leaving only curiosity about her.
It was ridiculous. She was the target of revenge, yet for the first time in his life, he wanted to know about someone else.
And so the years passed.
Hailey, who attempted to assassinate the king of the Holt Kingdom, was captured at the hands of the crown prince. The judges of the Three Kingdoms insisted on hanging or burning her, but the Holy Kingdom stepped in and insisted that Hailey should be taken to the contaminated lands.
There were rumors that the holy knights abandoned her at Marron Castle.
It was unbelievable. The Holt kingdom’s crown prince kidnapped the woman, who appeared impossible to kill, and left her at Marron Castle.
Reikart had to make a choice.
Should he enter the contaminated zone to seek revenge on Hailey and die, or should he forget everything and live?
It took him a year to decide.
At first, he tried to forget about her and live a normal life like others. He tried to forget his lineage, changed his name, and dreamed of a life where he earned and lived day by day.
But Reikart was already so consumed by revenge that, without it, there was nothing left in his life.
Reikart realized.
He had no “self.”
So he made a choice.
To kill the witch Hailey and die.
But.
That woman wasn’t that wicked witch.
“Who are you?”
He couldn’t help but ask, even as he lay there, dying and tainted by the dark energy of the contaminated zone. Despite having the same face and the same appearance, he felt doubt.
Pale skin like white snow, feeble footsteps, and an excessively slender body that resembled a dry twig.
Barefoot in a simple dress, a hat made of woven straw that was unmatched in its simplicity.
The woman who found him screamed in fear with a face soaked in dread, and when he reached out his hand, she hesitantly closed her eyes in surprise.
Who is she? Isn’t she Hailey?
He didn’t mean to scare her.
He tried to explain, but his consciousness faded.
A lukewarm hand touched his neck. Even with closed eyes, he could tell whose hand it was.
The woman knew his name. Reikart Winter. Calling him by the correct pronunciation, she began to purify the dark energy.
A miraculous vitality flowed into his body, which seemed soiled to the point of imminent death. Clean blood flowed from his heart, which he thought had stopped beating. Warmth returned to his chilled body.
It sounded absurd, but at that moment, Reikart felt reborn. The past him died and vanished, and an entirely new life began.
All the dreadful magic that had dwelled in Reikart’s body was absorbed into her body. Despite absorbing so much dark energy, she remained untainted.
Still looking at him with a face as white as a daisy, she said,
“I am your benefactor.”
Up close, she looked even more helpless and unbelievably frail. There was no hint of malice in her clear eyes. Working with delicate wrists that seemed like they could break at any moment, she lived with a small wooden fairy.
Could it not be Hailey?
Could there be another person with the same face?
The woman standing before him seemed not to be the ‘wicked witch Hailey’ but rather ‘another Hailey’ falsely accused and abandoned in Marron Castle.
Unable to determine her identity, he refrained from speaking. Asking for her name, whether she lived here or if she was the one who healed him, nothing would change.
He had been saved. By Hailey Marron.
Soon, rain fell. It was a clear rain that didn’t suit the contaminated land. Despite the outside still being filled with filthy energy, she said life was beautiful.
She took off her straw hat, faced the rain with her bare face, and smiled. It was a smile like a late spring breeze.
That sight became etched in his mind as a single scene.
It was the first peace Reikart had ever experienced since he was born.
As he toured the purified Marron Castle and entered inside, he saw Hailey sitting on the kitchen floor doing something.
Her small and delicate hands moved diligently.
She attempted to ignite a fire, gripping a fist-sized rock in her arms that seemed fragile enough to break if touched.
It was obvious that she was inexperienced. He had never seen anyone use flint like that before.
When he asked what she was doing, she said she was making a fire.
With a very innocent face.
It was then that Reikart finally realized.
This woman had clearly lost her memory.
He didn’t know how the witch Hailey had been able to purify the dark energy with her mana-deprived body, but she must be living here with no memory of her past.
She marveled at the dagger he pulled out, and she didn’t even know what a magic brazier was for someone who was supposed to be the greatest witch in the world.
Is this woman really the object of his revenge?
Is it right to condemn someone like her—someone like a child with no memories of past wrongdoing?
He was confused.
All the Winter family members were dead, wiped out by Hailey’s cunning tricks in the inter-family battles that were akin to war.
They may have been detestable people, but he believed it was his responsibility as the last survivor to honor their memories.
To the woman who shed tears as she tasted the meat marinated in sugar and spices, for the first time, saying it was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten.
Revenge.
His purpose in life disappeared. It disappeared suddenly before his eyes, as if such a person had never existed in the first place.
So, what should he do now?
Reikart couldn’t easily admit that the goal of his life had disappeared, and he couldn’t bring himself to wield the sword against Hailey while denying that reality.
He was empty. All the years of training and consecutive defeats. To maintain his desire for revenge, he whipped himself and associated with those who condemned her as evil. The more they cursed her with vile words, the more justified his existence felt.
Yet, such a person had saved him.
“I’ll watch over her.”
He decided.
This might be an opportunity. He needed time to stay by her side for a while, to judge whether his heart and their words were right.
